Port meetings lapse as manager cites broad powers

Published 6:34 am Tuesday, April 9, 2024

NAHCOTTA — It will have been two full months before the next Port of Peninsula Board of Commissioners meeting, scheduled for April 23. The most recent meeting, set for March 26, was canceled at the last minute due to a power outage that impacted the north end of the Long Beach Peninsula.

Late last year, the board opted to cut back meetings in 2024 from two meetings a month to one. The reasoning was stated to divert port workers’ time and effort to more pressing port operations — like day-to-day projects.

Port meetings so far in 2024 have been short-lived, and executive director Jay Personius and board chair Phil Martin have repeatedly pushed through agenda items. Commissioner Bill Derion has regularly joined the duo, and Commissioner Chuck Mikkola has advocated for more deliberation.

Delegation of authority

According to Personius, a formal monthly board approval is rarely needed since a delegation of authority gives him broad powers, including pushing through warrants without their signature. The board did not have to authorize any warrants for March.

“Financial transactions covered by the port manager delegation of authority from the board are valid and legal because that delegation means that those transactions are already authorized by the board and are not dependent on a subsequent board meeting to be valid,” Personius said.

“So, for example, it would be illegal and unethical, as well as a recallable offense for that matter, for the County Treasurer to halt payment of port employee paychecks or any authorized financial transactions covered by port manager delegation of authority,” he added.

Kept under $10,000

Pacific County Treasurer Renee Goodin confirmed that Personius’s assertion is correct as far as she knows. The delegation was outlined in Port Resolution 16-418, which explicitly states, “No prior port commission approval shall be required but shall not exceed $10,000 per warrant.”

To avoid needing commission approval, Personius and staff have divided all payments, including employee payroll, into separate warrants — each less than $10,000 — to avoid hiccups.

The cancellation of the meeting raised some questions, as most of the meetings held in 2023 were outdoors and either exposed to the elements or in a bay at the Port. Several of the meetings were held in the cold, mist, or wind without the use of any power.

“While the board and attending public have enjoyed the occasional port meetings in the sunshine, the published locations at which our regular meetings are scheduled for 2024, our cute little Willapa Bay shellfish museum, was cold and dark during the power outage,” Personius said.

“As it is not served by our marina generator, and the port could not hold the meeting at another location that day because to change address of a regular public meeting requires 24 hours advance public notice. The agenda was also very light as well and could be easily combined with another meeting agenda to save taxpayers’ money as well,” he added.

Interest in recall

The move outdoors came after former commissioner Bonnie Cozby began challenging decisions made by Personius and her board colleagues. She brought several issues to the public eye and acquired interest in residents who wanted to attend meetings.

“As a commissioner during most of 2023, the board and the public endured horrendous public meeting locations,” Cozby said. “Wind was almost always present; mist and light rain made appearances as well.

“To imply that the meetings were held in sunshine and were enjoyable is baloney because even if it was sunny, the acoustics of the park and the port work bay were terrible. It was next to impossible for the public to hear anything,” she added.

Cozby and others went to the port’s interpretive center on March 26 and asserted that it was not dark or cold. It was warm and sunny with a bit of wind, she said.

“There was no valid reason not to have held it on the 26th, as meetings without power in much more dire circumstances had been the norm for a year,” Cozby said. “What was achieved, however, was an outpouring of people willing to work on the organization and support of a recall of Chair Martin, which is in progress.”

The public is also exploring seeking a recall of Derion for an incident on Jan. 22 in which he egged the Chowder Stop in Long Beach while wearing a Port of Peninsula jacket. He has repeatedly ignored questions about the incident.

Slow audit

Beyond meeting issues, the port is still being audited by the Washington State Auditor’s Office (WSAO). The audit was initially expected to be completed in January before moving to February, March, and April.

“Sounds like it’s been going slower than expected,” WSAO Assistant Director of Communications Adam Wilson said last week. “[It is] not coming out in the next week or two [and] can’t say for sure when it will publish just yet.”