PORT TOWNSEND — Today’s inaugural sailing of the MV Chetzemoka adds stability to the Port Townsend-Coupeville route, but is shadowed by the fear that the route will never return to two-boat service.
The new vessel is designed to hold 14 more cars than the Steilacoom II, the ferry leased from Pierce County that the Chetzemoka replaces, and is better equipped to handle the rough tides in Admiralty Inlet.
“Once the Chetzemoka is in place, we will have better service than we’ve had for the last few years,” Tim Caldwell, Port Townsend Ferry Advisory Committee chairman, said at a meeting of the group Friday.
“But there is still the concern that budget cuts will break the loop that connects all the local terminals with each other and with Canada,” he added.
The plan is to follow the arrival of the Chetzemoka, the first Kwa-di Tabil class boat the state has — and the first boat built in more than a decade — within six months by the twin MV Salish, which would provide the route with complete service for the first time since the Steel Electrics were taken offline three years ago.
But a demand by Gov. Chris Gregoire to cut $17 million from Washington State Ferries as its share of the overall state budget cuts prompted Assistant Transportation Secretary David Moseley to suggest that the Salish be reassigned to the San Juan Islands, which would contribute to that savings.
On Friday, Moseley said the reassignment was only a possibility and that the final decision will rest with the governor and the Legislature.
But, he added, something has to give.
“The ferry system is not sustainable with the current revenues and level of service,” Moseley said.
At Friday’s meeting, the ferry advisory panel sought to develop a strategy for Caldwell to present at a meeting of all committee chairs Thursday in Seattle.
Decreasing service, it resolved, lessens transportation options and hurts all the local economies.
Other options — such as cutting the state ferries system’s engineering staff — should be exhausted before service cuts are initiated, the panel said.
Moseley said that 35 people have already been cut, resulting in savings of $2 million, and that all departments are under scrutiny.
“We are looking at design and engineering and will make cuts where we can,” he said.
“But you can’t make $17 million in cuts without decreasing some services.”
Lobbying strategy also will be discussed sometime this week, though details are not yet final.
“We are trying to get all the people together who will be affected by this,” Port Townsend Mayor Michelle Sandoval said Thursday.
“We want to look at this with an objective eye and be clear about our needs,” she added.
Sandoval said she understood economic realities and did not want to request more than Port Townsend deserves.
Sandoval did not know who would be in the group or if the meeting would be open to the public but expected that it would include those involved in government, business and education.
Sandoval, and others, said that the full two-boat service the city enjoyed three years ago is essential for future economic growth.
The installation of the Chetzemoka seems to be the only sure thing with regard to boat service, and the use of the Salish in the San Juan Islands would cause a ripple effect that would reconfigure all of the routes.
One scenario, according to Moseley, would be to replace the Evergreen State with the Salish and move it to the triangle route — Southworth-Vashon-Fauntleroy — move the current triangle boat, the Issaquah, to the Bremerton route and decommission one of the boats now on the Bremerton route.
The Kennewick, the third ferry in the Kwa-di Tabil class, is currently planned for the Point Defiance/Tahlequah — Tacoma to Vashon Island — route, with the fate of the boat now on that route, the Rhododendron, uncertain.
If the Salish is not allocated to Port Townsend-Coupeville, that route will be left vulnerable should the Chetzemoka go out of service, said Caldwell, who pointed out that the Kwa-di Tabil class are the only state-owned ferries that can navigate Keystone Harbor at Whidbey Island.
“If the Chetzemoka goes out of service, Port Townsend will be stranded, but that’s no different than how we are today,” he said.
The disposition of the Salish and the future of the ferry system will be a likely topic of discussion during today’s maiden voyage, as many legislators representing ferry districts are scheduled to attend, along with Gregoire.
As these discussions occur, no decision will be made for several months. The Office of Financial Management will consider the options, some of which may be incorporated into Gregoire’s budget proposal, which will be issued in December.
The governor’s proposed budget will be debated by the state Legislature after it convenes Monday, Jan. 10, for a session extending until April.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
