minutes from the regular meeting
of the Port of Hoodsport Commission
august 22, 2007
Call to order: 5:00 p.m. Adjourned: 7:13 p.m.
Roll Call: Commissioner Frank Benavente
Commissioner Dick Patterson
Commissioner Tom Young
Introduction of Guests:
Jack Hamlin, Port Commission candidate
Rand Riedrich, Small Business Development Center
Approval of Minutes
Commissioner Benavente made a motion to “Approve the minutes from the regular meeting held on August 8, 2007 as presented.” The motion was approved unanimously.
Approval of Vouchers
Commissioner Benavente made a motion to “Approve vouchers for R&G Handyman Services for park and dock maintenance in the amount of $572.99; Northwest Land and Tree for rock removal and bulkhead repair in the amount of $324.90; Carol Ferguson for administrative services, mileage and postage reimbursement in the amount of $444.85; and UpBeat Inc. for the Doggy pet station in the amount of $282.” The motion was approved unanimously.
Commissioner Benavente made a motion to “Preapprove recurring vouchers for the month of September 2007.” The motion was approved unanimously.
Agenda Changes
None
Open Items
Rand Riedrich, Small Business Development Center
Mr. Riedrich explained that his organization is new in Mason County and that their function is economic development with individual businesses for whom they act as coach/mentor. He has met with 50 businesses so far, concentrated in Belfair and Shelton. He offers free management consultant services and all of their offices are associated with institutions of higher learning. Mr. Riedrich is affiliated with Olympic College. His focus is to help businesses to work through problems and to help them to survive and/or grow. There is no minimum or maximum amount of time that he will spend with individual businesses.
Commissioner Young commented that the commissioners thought that they could hold an open house/seminar for the benefit of local businesses and Mr. Riedrich said that he would like to facilitate that forum. The goal would be to expand the seasonality of our area. Mr. Riedrich emphasized that we need a united effort by all businesses in the area. His feeling is that we have to offer events on an ongoing basis to pull in tourists. Port Gamble is a good example, with something going on almost every weekend. We could even do things like a rain festival. We have to find a hook to pull people in and we have to do it on a consistent basis.
We have the canal, the Olympic National Forest, Lake Cushman, camping, hiking trails, etc., and we should pull in resources from the extended community like the casino. It was suggested that we could host an open house luncheon and that, in addition to Mr. Riedrich, he could pull in Matt from the EDC and other resources. He will also pull together some financial data related to expanded hours of operation. We will likely concentrate on the Union to Lilliwaup areas, including Lake Cushman.
Mr. Riedrich will prepare a tentative program and the commissioners will look at the timeframe, location, food and agenda. Commissioner Benavente will check into the possibility of using Glen Ayr and we’ll target the last week of September or the first week in October. The commissioners and Mr. Riedrich will coordinate via email.
Action Items
Pumpout
Commissioner Benavente reported that he talked to the person in charge of the permit process. The county has everything they need and will be setting a hearing with the examiner, probably in September. She will contact us when the date is set.
Dock Repair
A draft letter was given to Commissioner Young for his review. He’ll coordinate with Carol to get it out. Commissioner Benavente will re-inspect the area and measure for the necessary brackets.
Park Dedication Resolution
Carol prepared a draft resolution to officially name the waterfront park the Ingvald J. Gronvold Park. A motion was made to “approve Resolution POHR07-03 to officially name the park the Ingvald J. Gronvold Park.” The motion was unanimously approved. Carol will have the document recorded at the county and send a copy of the recorded resolution to the family.
Grant Process
Commissioner Benavente met again with the CTED representative. We can apply for a $50,000 grant, with a 20% match, for feasibility/planning/pre-planning for the downtown Seaport Village. This would not include property acquisition. There is a simple 2-page application to which a narrative section must be attached. We could include the build-out pier, restrooms and an extension to our current dock system to support the Tall Ship project. Commissioner Benavente added that we can submit multiple applications simultaneously, and that we might want to consider an application for a diver program, to which the EDC might contribute. Commissioners Benavente and Young will collaborate on the narrative portion and Carol will complete the application and email it to them. A motion was made “to submit a grant application to CTED for a feasibility study for the expansion of our dock system to accommodate a larger vessel, add a pier and a restroom facility.” The motion was approved unanimously.
Hiring Process
Commissioner Young recommended that, since Carol knows what the requirements are, and knows how to work with the commissioners, she could narrow the resumes down to the top three applicants and do the initial interviews. She would narrow them down again to two applicants to be interviewed by the commissioners. Commissioner Benavente suggested that Carol notify the commissioners of her choices and allow the commissioners the option of adding other candidates of their choosing for the interview process.
Foothills Park and Hoodsport Trails Park
Commissioner Benavente reported that there would be no progress on Foothills Park until we find a funding source for design work and a feasibility study. The Parks Department has shifted priorities and has not yet updated the playground equipment as planned. Commissioner Young responded that it would be almost impossible for the Port to obtain a grant for facilities on county-owned property. He suggested that we need some individuals who attended the Parks Department’s public meeting to ask why the equipment hasn’t been installed. Commissioner Benavente will push them, too.
Commissioner Young received an email packet on the Hoodsport Trails property transfer. The person in charge of the project is in the midst of a controversial transfer in our region and will not be able to look at our request until that transfer is completed. They commented that they don’t foresee any problems with our request.
EAB
Commissioner Young will review Carol’s draft a letter to all members regarding their commitment to this group and will coordinate with her to get the letters out.
Individual Commissioners’ Reports
Commissioner Patterson reported that the doggy dump station has been installed. He believes that we need a source for new bags and Carol will find one and place an order.
Commissioner Benavente reported that he attended the RTPO Enhancement Grant meeting. They selected three projects totaling $182,000, which are all connected to the Discovery Trail. They will all go to the statewide competition. He also attended the EDC luncheon with Norm Dicks.
Commissioner Young will be working on the budget for 2008, and hopes to have it ready for the second meeting in September. The county process should begin in the next three or four weeks. He would like to put something together that would include dollars to support hiring a part-time contracted project manager who could then find grant/loan dollars to fund projects as well as a part-time or full-time permanent position. Commissioner Benavente commented that CTED would fund a consultant position, which might work for this purpose.
Correspondence
We’ve taken in $50 in moorage fees since the last meeting. Sheril informed Carol that we might owe B&O and Sales Tax on the fees. According to the Department of Revenue, we will have to file a quarterly return and pay the taxes. Carol talked to Paige at the county, who will forward the forms to her to be filled out. At some point, we should make that one of the pre-approved vouchers.
No Executive Session was needed.
Agenda for the September 12, 2007 meeting:
Open Items:
None
Action Items:
Pumpout
Dock Repair
Small Business Workshop
CTED Grant
Discussion Items:
Commissioners’ Responsibilities for 2008
2008 Budget Process
Staffing
Individual Commissioner Reports
Correspondence
The regular meeting was adjourned at 7:13 p.m.
Thomas Young, Chairman Frank Benavente, Commissioner Dick Patterson, Commissioner