PORT ANGELES — Clallam County commissioners will wait another week before considering a pair of Opportunity Fund grants to port and city governments.
Commissioners voted 3-0 to postpone action on a $1 million grant to the Port of Port Angeles and a $285,952 grant to the city of Port Angeles for infrastructure projects after hearing copious testimony in two public hearings Tuesday.
“We’ve got to get it right,” Commissioner Mike Chapman said.
“That’s what the public demands of us today.”
Commissioners will again discuss the payments in a Monday work session, with action expected Tuesday.
“I am very anxious to take action,” Commissioner Bill Peach said.
“I can think of 300 people that have lost their job in the last year that would really prefer we get on to the business of providing jobs.”
Mill closings
Peach was referring to the lumber mill workers whose mills have closed in the past year.
Commissioners approved the controversial grants in May but voided the warrants after County Treasurer Selinda Barkhuis rejected them on the grounds that there had been no public hearing or contracts with the city or port.
The board has discussed the grants in numerous work sessions and board meetings, saying they have gone above and beyond the necessary public process for releasing Opportunity Fund money for a pair of worthy projects.
“I, for one, believe we need to move with some dispatch because this is the second go-’round,” Commissioner Jim McEntire said.
If approved, the port would use the Opportunity Fund money to match federal and state grants to build out an empty shell building near William R. Fairchild International Airport as the potential site for a composites recycling technology center.
City officials plan to use their grant to complete the second phase of the waterfront improvement project, which is already underway.
“We’re kind of frozen in time,” Councilwoman Cherie Kidd told commissioners.
Public testimony
Public testimony was largely split on the proposed grants.
Five people, including Kidd, Port Angeles Deputy Mayor Patrick Downie and city Community and Economic Development Director Nathan West, spoke in favor of the city grant.
Five others raised concerns over the public process or mechanism used by the county to transfer the funds.
Later in the 3½-hour meeting, seven speakers testified in support of the port grant to complete the 25,000-square-foot shell building at 2020 W. 18th St., including port Director of Business Development Jennifer States.
Five others raised concerns over the fund transfer, environmental hazards or lack of a business plan.
Three speakers addressed the port grant but did not take a position on the project.
Retired Clallam County Commissioner Mike Doherty said he was not for or against the composites center but recommended more due diligence on the part of the county.
Chapman said the full board, including Doherty, signed a letter to Gov. Jay Inslee last October supporting the Composite Recycling Technology Center.
Doherty said he carefully inserted the words “will consider” into the letter.
“I meant that,” Doherty said, adding: “I would have done a lot more due diligence.”
The county board; port commission; Port Angeles City Council; Peninsula College; U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Mountlake Terrace; Inslee; his clean technology lead; the state Department of Commerce; and others have supported the port project, Chapman said.
“I think it’s a good project, and I’m not going to pull back my support,” he said.
Although he disagreed with Barkhuis’ public positions, Chapman said he respects her as an elected official.
“I don’t believe after today’s public hearing, should the board move forward, I don’t believe she’ll release [the warrants] again,” Chapman said.
“It could be that we just need to put it in next year’s budget.”
Barkhuis did not attend the public hearings.
“I, for one, am not interested in taking [Barkhuis] to court,” Chapman said.
“I do not support that action. Nobody wins.”
Peach and McEntire said their main interest was getting the funds into the community to help spark the economy.
McEntire said his support for the port’s composites recycling project is “steadfast and unwavering, as it has been from the beginning.”
“This board, I believe, is attempting to go the extra mile — and by my count, we’re on extra mile No. 8 or 9 right now — to make sure that community has had a full and fair opportunity to express their views, both pro and con,” McEntire said.
Opportunity Fund
The Opportunity Fund is a portion of state sales tax that is returned to rural counties for infrastructure projects.
An Opportunity Fund Advisory Board makes recommendations to county commissioners for uses of the funds.
The advisory board twice voted unanimously to approve the city grant.
It voted 5-1 the first time and 4-1 the second time to recommend approval of the port grant, Chairman Alan Barnard said.
The county Opportunity Fund had balance of about $2.2 million as of June 30 and will be near $2.8 million by the end of this year, County Administrator Jim Jones said.
In the 16-year history of the Opportunity Fund, it has been used for 25 grants and two loans totaling $11.5 million, Jones said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
