PORT ANGELES — Port of Port Angeles commissioners will start seeking a new executive director next year — provided they can devise a description for the job.
Dec. 31 will mark the end of Ken O’Hollaren’s 29 months in the position.
At least one port commissioner hopes it also marks the end of much of the post’s administrative authority.
The new year also will see the replacement of 12-year commissioner John Calhoun of Forks by commissioner-elect Connie Beauvais.
After her election, Beauvais expressed satisfaction with O’Hollaren’s announcement he would resign.
She will rejoin Commissioner Colleen McAleer, who has repeatedly complained in public about a lack of details about contracts, leases and personnel decisions that O’Hollaren has furnished to commissioners.
McAleer and Beauvais will meet publicly but unofficially at 9 a.m. this coming Wednesday — Dec. 2 — in the Olympic Bagel Co., 802 E. First St., to discuss their plans. They have invited the public to attend.
One of their initiatives would be weekly work sessions similar to those at which Clallam County commissioners discuss pending issues without taking action, which they usually do the following week.
On Tuesday, the third commissioner, Jim Hallett, brusquely said he would not attend such sessions.
“I’m not going to be meeting weekly,” he said. “That’s just not possible.”
The comment from Hallett, a former Port Angeles city councilman and mayor who has served on the port commission since 2011, brought McAleer’s head up in surprise.
After the meeting, he reiterated that he could not afford another 52 meetings a year away from his business as an investment advisor.
Hallett followed up his renunciation of weekly work sessions by saying he didn’t want to tinker with the current division of authority between commissioners and their director.
Under the present arrangement, commissioners set broad policies and leave administrative duties to the executive.
“Maybe there are candidates [for O’Hollaren’s job] out there who want to be figureheads,” he said, “but that isn’t the model I want, and I don’t think that’s what the public wants.”
Hallett, however, moved to allow Beauvais to attend — before she takes office — commissioners’ executive (closed) sessions at which they are permitted to discuss in private litigation, real estate issues, and personnel matters.
Beauvais signed a confidentiality agreement before attending the executive session that followed Tuesday’s open meeting.
The preview of the apparent future 2-1 split among commissioners came during a lengthy discussion of how they should conduct their search for a new director.
Jeannie Beckett, the Gig Harbor consultant who has helped them develop a strategic plan, said, “It’s going to be a very challenging time.
“You have to define what you’re looking for. Right now you have a delegation of authority. Are you going to continue?
“Do you want a stay-at-home executive director? Or do you want that person to be out of the office 80 percent of the time not only with local customers but also with international customers?”
She posed a choice: Hire a recruiter to advise the commissioners on the director’s job description, or draft a job description for a recruiter to try to fill with candidates,
For now, commissioners agreed to ask Karen Goschen, interim director and finance director, to assemble a list of recruitment firms from which commissioners can make a selection.
“The sooner we engage a recruiting firm,” Calhoun said, “the sooner we can start on all this.”
Hallett also urged starting the search.
“I am in no way going to delay the process,” he said, “but if you want to change things, I want to hit ‘Pause.’”
The commission’s last meeting in 2015 is set for Dec. 15.
McAleer reminded her colleagues that in March she had asked for a workshop to discuss the roles of commissioners and director, but received no support from Calhoun or Hallett.
“I once again am putting that forward as my position,” she said Tuesday.
Calhoun acknowledged her position.
“You haven’t had support for that,” he told her Tuesday.
“You might with the new commissioner.”
McAleer said she chafed at commissioners being limited to setting policies when she thought they should engage in details.
“We can delegate authority,” she said.
“We can’t delegate responsibility.”
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com.
