PORT TOWNSEND — Tim Caldwell has announced his resignation as general manager of the Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce, effective the end of this month.
Caldwell has accepted the position of community partnerships manager with Puget Sound Energy. He will be based in the new PSE offices in downtown Port Townsend.
PSE is facing a possible challenge to its expiring electricity franchise in East Jefferson County from the Jefferson County Public Utility District and some local government officials on the Port Townsend City Council and Board of County Commissioners.
He has offered to continue working with the chamber board to smooth the transition and assure the success of ongoing projects, including the new visitor information center, replacement of vehicle ferries, passenger ferry from Seattle and the ferry mitigation process, said Kim Jons, Port Townsend chamber board president.
Caldwell has been a tireless advocate for the local business community for more than 15 years.
He began work with the chamber in 1992, with fewer than 100 members.
Under his leadership the chamber has become a stronger and more active business organization growing to include over 420 businesses, said Jons.
“Tim represents the chamber with multiple government agencies and nonprofit organizations. He has a history of advocating for ferry service to Port Townsend, well before the current crisis, and serves as the governor’s appointment to the state Legislature’s passenger only ferry task force, developing long term policy for statewide passenger only ferry service on Puget Sound. He also serves as a member of the Washington Sate Ferries Advisory Committee,” said Jons.
He is a charter member of the Jefferson County Higher Education Consortium and The Port Townsend Victorian Festival. He also serves on the city’s Lodging Tax Advisory Committee, the Fort Worden State Park Advisory Committee and Jefferson Transit Citizens Advisory Committee.
In addition, Caldwell organizes proctoring for SAT testing with proceeds donated to the Jefferson County Technical Trades Scholarship Fund.
Born and raised in Port Townsend, Caldwell graduated in the class of 1968 from Port Townsend High School.
Caldwell, along with his wife, Carla, son, Gregory, and daughter, Courtney, returned to Port Townsend in 1992 to live closer to his extended family.
He has been nominated for Business Leader of the Year every single year since its creation nine years ago, but this year the nomination committee, made up of past Business Leader winners, and the chamber executive board felt compelled to address his perennial nomination, said Jons.
The award was named in his honor and is now known as the “Tim Caldwell Business Leader of the Year award.”
A full report appears in Wednesday’s editions of the Peninsula Daily News.
