PORT ANGELES — Clallam County commissioners have approved a $99,000 debatable budget emergency to support the Feiro Marine Life Center and Olympic Peninsula Visitor Bureau.
The unanimous Tuesday vote authorized a $75,000 appropriation to Feiro to study the feasibility of a new center on the Port Angeles City Pier and a $24,000 payment to the visitor bureau to increase marketing, branding and tours.
Money for appropriations comes from the county’s hotel/motel tax fund.
The payments were recommended by the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee, County Administrator Jim Jones said.
Four people testified in favor of the allocation to Feiro in a public hearing on the debatable budget emergency.
Officials with the marine life center at 315 N. Lincoln St. said an expansion would enhance education for Clallam County students and attract tourists.
“It’s an appropriate use of lodging tax funds because it will draw tourism, not only in Port Angeles but across the county,” said David Morris, who sits on the Feiro Marine Life Center board.
More funding may be available for the Feiro expansion, Morris added, “if we can get to the point of a shovel-ready project.”
“It’s much harder to get support for the preliminary steps that are necessary, and that’s what we’re still working through,” Morris told commissioners.
Feiro officials asked the county to support a feasibility study in April.
Last year, the center drew 22,000 visitors and provided education for 3,200 students.
“Things that relate to the marine environment are near and dear to my heart as a personal matter, so I’m happy to support this resolution,” said Commissioner Jim McEntire, who studied oceanography at the Coast Guard Academy.
Barring a court challenge on the debatable budget emergency, commissioners will authorize warrants for the funds next week.
The public hearing was preceded by a general discussion of the board’s new process to amend the annual budget.
Retired Commissioner Mike Doherty has publicly criticized the board for changing the budget without proper public participation.
Commissioner Mike Chapman launched a counterattack Tuesday, saying the board is now holding public hearings on budget emergencies every month rather than every quarter, which had been the practice since 2002.
Chapman said he did not dispute that there has been a material change on the board since Commissioner Bill Peach replaced Doherty in January.
“The material change will lead to — I want to repeat this — this will lead to more public hearings, more public process and more public input as opposed to previous boards of commissioners who limited that process to four times a year,” Chapman said.
Commissioners this year have authorized the spending of $300,000 for shelter providers, restored a 40-hour work week for employees who had been working 37.5 hours, reduced the sales tax rate by 0.2 percent and have tried to award $1.3 million in infrastructure grants to the port and city of Port Angeles.
Public hearings will be held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday on the proposed grants to the city and port in Room 160 at the county courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.
Chapman noted that a majority of the board did not support the 2015 budget, as he voted against it and Peach was not yet in office last December.
“So of course there would have been some changes, some different philosophies that have come forward, some different viewpoints,” Chapman said.
“From day one, this budget has been in somewhat of a flux because we did not have a majority of the board sitting who supported the budget.”
McEntire quoted a “famous dead German general” who said “no plan survives contact with the enemy.”
“The budget is simply a plan with numbers in it,” McEntire said.
“It changes continually, and that’s the reason why state law and our financial policies provide for certain procedures to handle certain kinds of changes.
“What the public has seen since the beginning of this year is the kind of government that the Open Public Meetings Act calls for,” McEntire said.
“I am, in fact, proud of the work we’ve done together over these last 7½ months now.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
