PORT ANGELES — Port commissioners Monday closed the final chapter on the defunct Port Angeles Harbor-Works Development Authority by writing off $564,053.86 in loans that will never be recovered.
The Port of Port Angeles commissioners annually remove accounts from the books that were not collected so accounts balance.
In most cases, outstanding debts are still pursued through credit agencies.
But in Harbor-Works’ case, the debt will not be pursued, said Business Director Bill James at Monday’s meeting of the commissioners.
Seven other accounts that were removed from the books totaled $7,517.08.
“Although these are being written off, it does not mean that the other seven will not be pursued,” James said.
The commissioners voted unanimously to remove the accounts from the books, which essentially and formally forgives the loan to Harbor-Works, the public development authority quickly formed by port commissioners and the Port Angeles City Council in May 2008 to speed the cleanup of the Rayonier Inc. pulp mill site.
Rayonier eventually bowed out of any cooperation with Harbor-Works in cleaning and redeveloping the former pulp mill property the company still owns, and Harbor-Works was deemed as an agency with no more purpose.
The public development authority was officially dissolved last October.
The city and port in 2008 each “loaned” Harbor-Works $650,000.
Each agency received about $85,950 back.
Monday’s port forgiveness of the remainder of the loan followed similar action at City Hall last month.
The City Council on Dec. 7 voted 4-2, with council members Cherie Kidd and Max Mania opposed, to retire the city’s $570,450 loan.
Despite the lost funds, port commissioners on Monday gave Community Service Awards to the three port representatives on the Harbor-Works board.
Kaj Ahlburg and Jerry Hendricks accepted the awards in person while Bart Irwin’s award will be mailed to him in Corpus Christi, Texas.
“It was an interesting project and I thank you for the opportunity,” Hendricks said.
“I’m sorry that it didn’t go further than it did, but maybe we got the ball rolling.”
Ahlburg said he believed the studies conducted by the authority would still be used.
“Hopefully what we put into it will go to good use,” he said.
Port Commissioner John Calhoun said he was glad for the studies done by the group.
“Nothing worthwhile seems to come easy,” he said.
“It fell into our values of ecological restoration and it is something we continue to pursue.”
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
