PORT ANGELES — Jeff Robb is the new Port of Port Angeles executive director, 25 years after he began working for the agency.
The three port commissioners unanimously approved a $115,000-a-year contract for Robb at their meeting Monday.
Robb, 55, has been the port’s director of aviation and marinas since 1999.
Robb said one of his first priorities will be to help the public understand more about the Harbor-Works Development Authority.
“We are all very pleased,” John Calhoun, port commission president, said before commissioners George Schoenfeldt and Jim McEntire joined him in voting unanimously to approve the contract for Robb, a Sequim resident and a 1972 Sequim High School graduate.
“I feel very confident that you will lead us well,” Calhoun told him.
“I’m very pleased to reach this milestone.”
‘It will be an honor to serve’
Robb succeeds Bob McChesney, who was paid $123,000 in the position and resigned May 15 to become Port of Edmonds executive director for $120,000 a year.
Bill James, the port’s director of finance and administration, has been acting executive director for three months.
“This is a big chair to fill,” said Robb, who had applied for executive director when McChesney was hired in 2004.
“I will work with the seasoned staff of the port and we are up to the task.”
Until Monday’s vote, Robb was known to the public only as Candidate A.
Robb was chosen by the three port commissioners from two finalists Aug. 10.
The commissioners authorized their attorney to enter into contract negotiations but refused to identify the person until Monday’s meeting, calling the person only “Candidate A.”
Robb’s agreement includes a $400-a-month car allowance and six months of pay — $57,500 — if Robb is terminated but willing and able to perform his duties.
He receives nothing if he is terminated because of an illegal act that involves personal gain or is grossly negligent, insubordinate or convicted of a crime.
Calhoun lauded Robb for his “experience and knowledge of the community and issues.”
Robb immediately signed his new contract, then sat in the executive director’s chair with the commissioners at his side and started his new job.
Educating the public about the Harbor-Works Development Authority is important, Robb said in an interview.
Harbor-Works was created by the city of Port Angeles, with financial assistance by the port, to acquire the former Rayonier mill site on the Port Angeles waterfront, direct its redevelopment and its level of environmental cleanup.
The port gave Harbor-Works a $150,000 loan in 2008 and a loan of $500,000 recently. The city matched both loans.
Robb first joined the port in 1984, working as a project engineer and public works manager, then serving as the port’s airport and marina manager from November 1996 until November 1998.
He left at the end of 1998 to become director of airport operations and real estate for the Port of Bremerton but returned to the Port of Port Angeles in October 1999.
In 2008 Robb was hired to become public works director for the city of Sequim.
He then declined to take the job, deciding instead to stay with the port.
Commissioners narrowed 22 applicants to three finalists during three closed-door executive sessions.
They individually expressed their final preferences between Robb and another candidate behind closed doors Aug. 10 after one dropped out.
Concerns about the selection process were expressed Aug. 16 by two legal experts on state open meetings law, lawyers Tim Ford, state assistant attorney general for open government, and Greg Overstreet of Olympia, who held Ford’s position before Ford did.
In separate interviews, they said any discussion on whom the commissioners should appoint should have taken place in open session.
They said commissioners can discuss qualifications for employment but cannot deliberate secretly on their choices and make selections or other decisions, including narrowing the field of candidates.
Calhoun said in an interview Monday that there was no need to discuss in open session the candidates’ qualifications — or specifically why they selected Robb.
“That’s because the commissioners had those discussions already among themselves,” Calhoun said.
He said the public “clearly would not be served” by hearing the commissioners debate the pros and cons of executive director candidates.
As to concerns expressed by Ford and Overstreet on whether the port followed state open meetings laws, “they were not privy to the process,” said Calhoun.
“I don’t agree with them,” Calhoun added. “They were speculating on a process they didn’t see or witness.”
Calhoun is running for re-election Nov. 3 against Brad Collins, director for resource development and capital projects at Serenity House.
McChesney had a four-year college degree, but Calhoun said in an interview that commissioners dropped that requirement when they advertised for McChesney’s replacement, allowing equivalent experience.
Robb holds an associate’s degree in civil engineering from Peninsula College.
Calhoun said it’s “fairly common” to advertise for a position and allow equivalent experience in place of education but said he did not know how common it was for port executive directors.
“The commissioners just thought it was a better way to get a wider array of candidates,” he said.
One of Robb’s first duties will be to hire his own replacement to oversee the airports and marinas, he said in an interview.
Until a replacement is hired, he will continue covering his old position.
Robb did not know what the salary will be.
The position paid him $89,000 a year.
Robb also will be preparing the 2010 budget and, as part of that process, sat with commissioners Monday afternoon during a workshop with port tenants and business owners about what they would like to see in next year’s spending plan.
As executive director, Robb will manage a budget that in 2009 is $6.6 million and a staff that numbers 33 full-time and 16 part-time employees.
He and his wife, Laura, a professional investment adviser who was in the audience Monday, have two children, ages 20 and 17.
After commissioners named him executive director, Robb introduced her.
“She’s my triage in the evening times,” he said.
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Staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
