PORT ANGELES — Amid criticism that the Harbor-Works Public Development Authority was created without public input or knowledge, the Port Angeles City Council will consider making closed-session information about the formation of Harbor-Works public, and forming a task force to review the reasons for creating it.
Deputy Mayor Betsy Wharton made two motions on Tuesday night that were tabled unanimously by the full council until Dec. 2.
One motion would free council members to discuss with the public what had occurred during past executive sessions dealing with Harbor-Works.
The other would form a task force made up of representatives from the city, Port of Port Angeles, and Harbor-Works to re-examine the reasons for creating the authority.
“We need to make sure they are still valid, and we are still on the right track,” Wharton said.
Created last May to acquire mill site
The city of Port Angeles and Port of Port Angeles created Harbor-Works on May 20 to acquire the 75-acre former Rayonier pulp mill site on the Port Angeles waterfront — worth approximately $5.2 million — as well as assist in its cleanup of toxic containments — and direct its redevelopment.
Harbor-Works’ start-up costs were funded by two $150,000 loans from the city’s economic development fund and the port.
The discussions among the city of Port Angeles, Port of Port Angeles and Rayonier have come under scrutiny from Port Angeles residents since the agency was formed in May.
Ron Richards, former Clallam County commissioner, has called for the dissolution of Harbor-Works because, he said, its formation violated Port Angeles municipal code.
The municipal code says that public corporations like Harbor-Works can’t be formed until 30 days after the charter is introduced.
The charter was introduced on May 20, when it was approved by the City Council and port commission.
City Attorney Bill Bloor said that the ordinance that created Harbor-Works says that any conflicts with the code are overruled, including the 30-day waiting period, and that the action was legal.
Richards and Port Angeles attorney Shirley Nixon have said that the 30-day waiting period could not be changed at the same time as approval of the charter.
“You can’t change the procedure to form it,” Nixon said.
Richards said: “That absolutely cannot be done. That is the most bogus excuse I’ve ever [heard].”
‘Ultimate secrecy’
On Tuesday, Port Angeles resident Norma Turner criticized the formation of Harbor-Works, saying it was without public input, which she said violates the state Open Public Meetings Act.
She also said its board of directors should have advertised positions for its treasurer and conducted interviews of executive director candidates in public.
“[Harbor-Works] was established with ultimate secrecy, and it’s functioning in the same mode,” she said.
Turner and Nixon filed a request for the state Auditor’s Office to investigate the legality of the formation of Harbor-Works on Sept. 11. The request is pending.
City and port representatives say that the proper place for public input during the process was when the documents had been presented to the City Council and port commission at the joint May 20 meeting.
Bob McChesney, port executive director, said the port “abided by the letter and intent of the [state] Open Public Meetings Act” during the formation of Harbor-Works.
“We don’t feel like there was an attempt to rush or hide” the process, he said.
McChesney said the public wasn’t informed of the formation of Harbor-Works prior to May 20 because the city and port needed to sort out details first.
Jerry Hendricks, one of the five Harbor-Works board members and former port executive director, said it was necessary to hold interviews of executive director candidates in private to attract qualified candidates.
“I’m not sure we would have had all of the candidates” otherwise, he said.
Darlene Schanfald, Olympic Environmental Council Rayonier project coordinator, said it was inappropriate for the city and port to hold such a policy on public knowledge since taxpayer money is involved with funding Harbor-Works.
“The whole process has been orchestrated to keep the public out,” she said.
“This is public money . . . and the public has the right to comment.”
The City Council minutes of the May 20 meeting don’t list any public comment period prior to the vote.
During a public hearing on the city’s 2009 budget at the Tuesday meeting, Richards spoke in favor of using the economic development funds allocated to Harbor-Works to fund the William Shore Memorial Pool.
“I would not want to spend a dime on [Harbor-Works],” he said.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
