PORT ANGELES — The city of Port Angeles officially forgave its loan to Harbor-Works on Tuesday.
The City Council voted 4-2, with council members Cherie Kidd and Max Mania opposed, to retire the outstanding $570,450 loan with the now-defunct public development authority. Council member Brad Collins was absent.
Kidd said she voted against retiring the loan because she had voted against funding the Harbor-Works Development Authority.
The city and Port of Port Angeles each loaned Harbor-Works $650,000.
Each received about $79,550 back.
“I recalled when we were asked to approve to create a Harbor-Works, we were very specifically told . . . that the city wouldn’t have to put any funds into this,” Kidd said.
“I can’t support this because I didn’t vote for the funds.”
Mania, a critic of Harbor-Works, said he voted no because he thought the motion should have referred to the loan as defaulted.
Mayor Dan Di Guilio explained why he supported the loan and Harbor-Works itself despite criticism from some residents.
“I had hoped we would not get to this point where we would have to write this loan off,” he said.
“When Harbor-Works came to us, I think a majority of the council at that time believed it was a good strategy to try to secure the Rayonier property . . . Until the very end, it was my position that, because we had loaned this money to Harbor-Works and we were hoping to be reimbursed at some point down in the future and benefit from any development that may occur, that it would have been an investment in the city that would pay off for us.”
Port Executive Director Jeff Robb said the port commission will retire the loan when it formally closes the 2010 budget Jan. 10.
The city, with support from the port, formed Harbor-Works in May 2008 to acquire Rayonier Inc.’s former mill site, assist in its environmental cleanup and direct its redevelopment.
The public development authority dissolved in October after Rayonier chose to end negotiations.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsula dailynews.com.
