PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles City Council voted 4-2 on Tuesday to give the Harbor-Works Public Development Authority a $150,000 loan, bringing its startup fund to $300,000.
The authority, created by the city and Port of Port Angeles, wants to acquire the Rayonier pulp mill site, oversee and hopefully speed up its cleanup and eventually market the property.
Council members Karen Rogers, Don Perry and Dan Di Guilio and Mayor Gary Braun voted for the loan, while Cherie Kidd and Deputy Mayor Betsy Wharton voted against it.
Council member Larry Williams was absent.
Both Wharton and Kidd said they supported the authority’s goals — but needed more time to go over the loan agreement.
Council members had received the loan papers only minutes before the meeting started, and Wharton and Kidd were vocal about wanting to review the contract in more depth before approving it.
There were also concerns voiced about whether the city would have any liability for the site cleanup. City Attorney Bill Bloor said the loan documents had language protecting the city.
Wharton said she was voting no because she wanted time “to address any questions. Caution is high because we want to get this right.”
“This is a flawed process,” said Kidd, who added, “I need time to thoroughly look at this [loan documents].
“I can’t do justice to you, or the people, without the time to look at it.”
The loan documents had been prepared by the city staff, not Harbor-Works, Wharton pointed out.
The public development authority was granted a $150,000 loan from the Port of Port Angeles last week.
Revenues from sale of the mill site, which is still owned by Rayonier, hopefully will pay back the $300,000 in loans, said Orville Campbell, chairman of the Harbor-Works five-member board that was formed in June.
Rogers moved to approve the city’s $150,000 loan. Perry seconded the motion.
When Di Guilio voted with them to approve it, Braun said that he had intended to vote against it — so he could have time to study it further —but that he would instead approve it, breaking what would otherwise have been a 3-3 deadlock.
“I will vote for it because we want it to be moving on, but I am voting with caution,” Braun said.
