PORT ANGELES — The two women who will form the Port of Port Angeles Commission’s majority promise more meetings, more openness and more scrutiny starting Jan. 12.
That’s when Commissioner-elect Connie Beauvais will join sitting Commissioner Colleen McAleer.
The third incumbent commissioner, Jim Hallett, has said he doesn’t intend to participate in more than the bimonthly meetings commissioners currently attend, plus whatever special sessions are called for, such as budget workshops.
McAleer and Beauvais held an informal gathering in the Olympic Bagel Co., 802 E. First St., Wednesday morning.
The meeting was announced and the public was invited to join the two.
They proposed adding two work sessions each month to discuss pending actions at least a week before they adopt or reject them.
Under the state’s Open Public Meetings Act, such sessions would be public if attended by any two commissioners.
Either the work sessions or the regular meetings, they said, would be moved to Friday, usually in port headquarters, 338 W. First St., or occasionally in Forks or Sequim.
“It’s going to be a new day as far as the port is concerned,” McAleer announced as she opened Wednesday’s meeting that about 10 people attended, including Clallam County Commissioner Mike Chapman, former county Commissioner Mike Doherty and Jason Linnabary, owner of Platypus Marine Inc.
Linnabary last March revealed his proposal to buy the 3 acres that Platypus occupies at Cedar Street and Marine Drive. Commissioners rejected the sale, and Linnabary said Wednesday that Platypus likely will remain in Port Angeles.
Neither Beauvais nor McAleer indicated Wednesday they would change the decision to continue owning the site.
There’s plenty more, though, the pair plans to alter about how deeply commissioners delve into the details of contracts, leases and requests for proposals that they now simply accept or reject.
“There are numerous loopholes that allow for decisions to be made [by the port staff], and we don’t find out about them,” McAleer said.
“We are just told, ‘This contract was signed; this lease was signed.’ We not only don’t sign them; we don’t see them.”
If commissioners question the staff’s recommendations, she said, “it’s a confrontational situation instead of being a dialogue.”
The additional work sessions may justify raising commissioners’ reimbursements, McAleer said. They currently receive $114 each day they spend on port business, plus $254 a month. They also are covered by the port’s medical insurance.
“Other ports pay their commissioners thousands [of dollars],” she said. “Bremerton pays their commissioners $1,000 a month.
“If the expectation is for much more involvement, maybe we should bring up the idea for more compensation for commissioners who are elected in the future.”
McAleer long has battled the port’s administrative structure.
Formerly the port’s director of business development, she was elected in 2013 after filing a whistleblower complaint against then-Executive Director Jeff Robb, alleging the port had not charged market rates for its leases.
The port’s current executive director, Ken O’Hollaren, who replaced Robb, will leave the post Dec. 31 — and commissioners have yet to frame a job description for the position.
They must decide if the administrator will supervise the port’s Port Angeles-based staff or market its development opportunities across the region, state or nation.
As for upcoming decisions, Beauvais and McAleer said commissioners must question whether the harborfront log yard should remain open or if logs should be stored at Fairchild International Airport.
Relocating the log yard could reduce costs of a harborfront stormwater collection and treatment system, they said.
“I’d like to talk about whether the log yard is the highest and best use of that 25 acres.” McAleer said, even though she said the port receives nearly three times the rent per acre on the harbor as it receives for storage at the airport.
“I question what the future holds for our ability to continue to put logs into the water.”
Should commissioners approach the issue, Beauvais and McAleer would like to tackle it in at least two meetings — a work session to discuss it and a subsequent meeting to approve or reject it.
Such a “two-touch” policy as it is practiced in Sequim City Council protocols may not make the decisions more popular, but it will make them more transparent, McAleer and Beauvais said.
“Half the time, half the voters are not going to like your decision,” McAleer said.
“But the commissioners need to have the strength of character to own their decisions.
“If bad decisions are made, they ought to be made publicly, and we ought to get full credit for it.”
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com.
