PORT ANGELES — The board of a new agency created to clean up Port Angeles Harbor heard a proposal that it contract with an environmental engineering firm that could serve as its staff.
Port Angeles City Manager Mark Madsen suggested seeking such a firm during the Port Angeles Harbor Works Public Development Authority’s first regular meeting at Port Angeles City Hall on Wednesday.
“No decisions have been made,” said Orville Campbell, chairman of the five-person board.
He added, though, that the board is interested in considering the idea.
Madsen’s proposal followed a presentation by Bob Coons, human resources director, who said that given the broad range of skills needed for the agency’s executive director, recruitment will be difficult, and could take up to four months or longer.
“It’s kind of like when we went recruiting for an archaeologist. There aren’t too many of them,” Coons said of a person who would run the public development authority.
Madsen has estimated the executive director’s salary at $150,000 annually.
The executive director’s skills should include community involvement, brownfield redevelopment, budgeting, marketing and real estate development, according to a handout prepared by Coons.
“It’s really a unique set of skills,” he said.
“It will be a real challenge for recruitment.”
