Naming of new PA Port boss today?
PORT ANGELES — “Candidate A” is the new executive director of the Port of Port Angeles — but the person’s identity has been kept a secret for two weeks.
A formal announcement revealing Candidate A is expected at the port commissioners’ meeting today.
It begins at 9:30 a.m. in the commissioner’s meeting room at port headquarters, 338 W. First St., Port Angeles.
The commissioners also will conduct a public comment session at 10:30 a.m. on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s decision to relocate its Pacific fleet from Seattle to Newport, Ore., rather than accepting any of the bids from Port Angeles, Bellingham or Seattle.
Last week, John Calhoun, port commission president, said he would recommend that the port not file a formal appeal with NOAA, estimating that the effort would cost at least $75,000.
Candidate A was chosen by the three port commissioners from two finalists Aug. 10.
The commissioners authorized their attorney to enter into contract negotiations with Candidate A.
Those negotiations were reportedly completed last week.
Robert McChesney resigned last spring as the port’s executive director to take a similar position at the Port of Edmonds.
He had been the executive director in Port Angeles since 2004. He earned $123,000 per year.
The salary of the new executive director is expected to be revealed when the new executive director is named.
The port’s finance director, Bill James, has been interim executive director since May.
In addition to his annual salary of $98,286 he receives an additional $1,500 per month plus a monthly car allowance of $400.
Sequim hopefuls
SEQUIM — The public is invited to a one-hour public reception for the four Sequim city manager candidates in the Sequim Transit Center, 190 W. Cedar St., beginning at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The candidates are Vernon Stoner, former chief deputy at the Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner; Steven Burkett, former Shoreline city manager; Mark Gervasi, Tillamook (Ore.) city manager; and Subir Mukerjee, Olympia’s assistant city manager.
The public reception will be followed by a 7 p.m. closed-door City Council executive session at the Transit Center to discuss the candidates’ qualifications.
Possibly the council members could emerge into open session and choose one of them.
State open meetings law allows elected boards to meet in executive sessions to evaluate the qualifications of applicants for public employment — but does not allow the elected officials to deliberate on or make selections or other decisions.
The four candidates will also be interviewed by three panels on Tuesday beginning at 9:30 a.m.
One panel will be City Council members, another will be the city department heads and the third will be community members.
Sequim has been without a permanent city manager for more than a year.
Health forum
SEQUIM — Health care reform will take center stage in a public meeting Tuesday.
A group of Oregon physicians calling themselves “Mad As Hell Doctors” will promote universal health care and discuss the current proposals for reform.
Tuesday’s meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the Sequim High School Auditorium, 601 N. Sequim Ave.
“We have, for the first time, a group of physicians that is stepping forward in this moment of total confusion and fear that’s been fomented on the health care issue,” said Bill Kildall, coordinator of Reform Health Care Now, which is sponsoring the event.
“These doctors will give us their personal opinion in regard to what the problem is and what the solution is.”
Kildall is expecting a packed house from “Bremerton to Forks” in an auditorium that seats about 670.
“This will not be a ‘political town hall meeting,'” Kildall said. “This will be an educational town hall meeting.
“We don’t anticipate any kind of disruptive behavior.”
He added that “Mad as Hell Doctors” is kicking off a 20-city “care-a-van” in support of a single-payer health care system Sept. 8 in Seattle.
In addition to Tuesday’s forum, U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, who received an earful from North Olympic Peninsula residents on whether he should hold a town hall on the government health care plan, announced last week that he will sponsor one at Fort Worden State Park Commons on Monday, Aug. 31.
The veteran Democratic congressman said he will hold the town hall meeting from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Fort Worden, followed by a second one at the Kitsap Conference Center in Bremerton from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
