PORT TOWNSEND — District 3 incumbent Leif Erickson wants to see Executive Director Larry Crockett out of the Port of Port Townsend’s top executive position, he said during a candidate forum last week.
Erickson, who is seeking re-election to the seat he has held for four years, will face Pete Hanke, owner of Puget Sound Express, in the Nov. 5 general election.
The contest is not on the Aug. 6 primary election ballot because only two candidates are running. Washington state’s top-two primary is for contests in which three or more have filed; the lowest vote-getter is out of the race.
“I think that in the day-to-day running of the port, there has been far too much delegation and not enough leadership,” said Erickson, 62, at the forum sponsored by the Port Townsend Marine Trades Association, which he helped form.
“I don’t see any reason that a single person who works for the port should be unhappy in his or her job, but they are, and my main fix for that would be to refresh the director’s job,” he continued.
“Larry’s due for retirement, and I’d like to help that along.”
Later in the forum, Erickson said he voted against a retroactive pay raise for Crockett, who was not in attendance.
On Friday, Crockett sent out an email to Erickson and eight other people stating, “The raise that I was given for 2011 and the cost of living increase for 2012, I voluntarily choose not to take.
“[Commissioners] Dave [Thompson] and Steve [Tucker] voted for a new motion to raise my salary and it starts with my next paycheck and is not retroactive,” Crockett said in the email.
“Retroactive pay raises are illegal.”
Crockett, 65, has served as port director since 1999. He has said he will retire “when I’m ready and it’s appropriate.”
Erickson — a consultant and project manager with his company, The Leif Erickson Co. — helped form in 2005-2006 the Port Townsend Marine Trades Association, according to his port commission biography.
He resigned the position of vice president when he was elected to the port commission, his biography says.
At Thursday’s forum, Hanke, 54, lauded Crockett and Deputy Director Jim Pivarnik “for taking the port out of the red and into the black” and developing reserves, which puts it into the position to deal with unexpected expenses.
“We have the ability to couch situations that are coming up. The breakwater at Point Hudson is pretty tenuous,” Hanke said.
“If we lost the breakwater, it would be disastrous, so there’s an expense that will come up at some point, but at least we have the reserves to deal with that.”
Hanke credited staff with creating a situation “where they are not living hand-to-mouth one month to the next.”
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
