PORT TOWNSEND — A public hearing to potentially consider a corrective action plan for the Fort Worden Public Development Authority has been set for Aug. 21.
The PDA continues to struggle with financial troubles.
The Port Townsend City Council voted with six yeas and one abstention Monday evening to hold the public hearing after discussing the matter with David Timmons, Fort Worden Lifelong Learning Center Public Development Authority executive director, and Board of Directors Chair David King.
Council member Aislin Palmer — who works for Fort Worden Hospitality, one of the fort’s operating companies — abstained from the vote.
Council members expressed frustration at the meeting with the PDA’s delays in submitting financial statements and asked how the city could provide additional support.
The PDA filed its annual report with the city on June 9, more than 60 days past the March 31 deadline.
At the meeting, King and Timmons said the current PDA had inherited an unstable financial position and was understaffed as it sought to manage a large campus with multiple tenants.
“We’re doing something that, at least for my knowledge, has never been done before at Fort Worden, which is figuring out what it costs to run the place,” King told the council.
“I don’t think it’s a secret to anybody that we are not currently sustainable.”
King said the PDA was looking at how to reduce costs through deferred maintenance and repairs, but those costs were also adding to Fort Worden’s burden.
Timmons said the PDA had inventoried buildings to determine operating costs, but limited staffing was making developing a business plan difficult.
“The problem is that we just don’t have the funds to throw at a consulting team at it, which was the original plan,” Timmons said.
Throughout the meeting, council members and city staff said they understood the PDA’s troubles and that the possibility of a corrective action plan was not meant to be punitive but was one of the few mechanisms the city had to provide support.
“One of the things we’ve been having problems with is getting those (financial) reports in a timely fashion. I understand there’s been staff challenges, but we keep offering help and it keeps not happening,” said council member Libby Urner Wennstrom.
“Hear this not as big, scary ‘corrective action plan,’ but how do we collaborate more effectively to help get the PDA the traction it needs,” Wennstrom said.
Council members noted that if the PDA were to produce the monthly financial reports as has been requested by the city, then no corrective action plan would be needed at the August meeting.
The PDA has been struggling with finances for several years, made worse when operations were shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic and when a former official was charged with stealing funds.
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Reporter Peter Segall can be reached at peter.segall@peninsuladailynews.com.
