PORT ANGELES — Port of Port Angeles commissioners unanimously approved a $330,000 purchase of a building at 313 W. First St. for office space and parking to support the Marine Trade Center.
The property’s proximity to the MTC, the port’s administrative offices and the parking lot it owns next to the North Olympic Healthcare Network made it an excellent location, said Caleb McMahon, the port’s director of economic development.
“This is a location we’ve been tracking for a number of years,” McMahon said Tuesday. “It’s what we need to support the services and future development of the MTC.”
The lease of the building’s tenant, Port Angeles Baby Store, runs through Dec. 31, 2026.
Meanwhile, the performance of PetroCard, which has a contract with the port to manage services at Port Angeles Boat Haven, has drawn commissioners’ attention.
Executive Director Paul Jarkiewicz said that by not billing some users at the site monthly and remitting those payments, PetroCard is essentially relying on the port to underwrite debt that currently amounts to about $60,000.
“They’ve been allowing people to go ahead and use the port’s credit to carry that for several months, and now it’s actually becoming quite a large payment,” he said.
Commissioner Steve Burke agreed, saying it was “one more trust element that we’re dealing with with PetroCard.”
PetroCard also is supposed to market boat haven, but Jarkiewicz said the port’s marine trades manager, Marty Marchant, essentially has taken over that role during the slow months of January, February and March. The result, he said, is that in April and May, it had occupancy rates of 91 percent and a 100 percent rate in June.
“The reason why we have occupancy at the levels we have this year is that Marty made the decision to go ahead and make a seasonal offer available to the boating community and offered some reduced rates for the off-peak months in the winter,” Jarkiewicz said.
If Marchant had not stepped in, it is likely that boat haven would be seeing much higher vacancy rates, he said.
In other port business, Burke asked Jennifer Baker, the agency’s director of finance and administration, about the security of the port’s cash investment, currently valued at about $5.5 million, held at First Fed Bank, which has seen the recent departure of two key executives and a lawsuit filed against it in King County Superior Court.
“I want to make sure the money we have in there is actually insured,” Burke said. “It’s prudent at this point.”
Baker agreed to furnish the commissioners with that information.
Also, Chris Hartman, the port’s director of engineering, said the agency received a low bid for the taxiway reconstruction and rehabilitation project at William R. Fairchild International Airport, but it is waiting for the Federal Aviation Administration to release funding.
“We’re hoping to hear back by the end of August or early September and for construction to start next summer,” Hartman said.
Commissioners waived second consideration and unanimously approved a resolution designating Baker the port auditor and Sarah Kuh port deputy auditor, and relieving Karen Goschen of auditor duties. Goschen, a former port executive director, was designated auditor last year after John Nutter left the port.
Commissioners also unanimously approved a resolution recognizing former board clerk and human resources administrator Braedi Joutsen for her six years with the port. According to the resolution, Joutsen was “a proven professional, dependable coworker, and most importantly, a trusted and genuine friend.”
Joutsen and her family relocated to Lacey in June.
The port assisted with fuel spill containment on Friday after a PetroCard truck veered off U.S. Highway 101 and into a feeder creek to the Elwha River, where it leaked an estimated 3,000 gallons of gas and diesel into the water. Jarkiewicz said the port sent two trailers stocked with oil-absorbent material and booms to site.
The incident was serious reminder that the North Olympic Peninsula needs to be better prepared should a major hazmat event occur, he said.
“I’m sure this will be talked about in the debrief,” Jarkiewicz said.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
