PORT ANGELES — Both finalists for the Port of Port Angeles executive director position were already port employees, Commission President John Calhoun said during an election debate Tuesday morning.
The position was filled Monday by Jeff Robb, airports and marinas manager for the port. Until then, he was referred to as Candidate A.
Calhoun declined to say who the other candidate was.
“We didn’t want to create an election-like atmosphere where the public were writing in support of this one or that one, and leave both candidates in a bad position,” Calhoun said.
Brad Collins, who is challenging Calhoun for his position on the port commission in the Nov. 3 general election, said he would have revealed the names publicly sooner.
“Being in public government is a sticky thing,” he said. “But having everything public is better than keeping it private.”
Calhoun said that commissioners wanted to handle the situation delicately with two internal candidates.
Collins applauded the decision for executive director, saying that he supported Robb for the position, but said that he would have preferred a more public process.
Robb takes the place of Bob McChesney who resigned May 15 to become the Port of Edmonds executive director.
Bill James, the port’s director of finance and administration, has been interim executive director for the past three months.
