Part of the Port of Peninsula is pictured from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Shellfish Laboratory.

What’s true about dreaded IRS audits is also true of accountability audits of government entities by Washington state: If you make a good-faith effort to follow the rules, there’s not much to worry about.

In more than 30 years of covering local news, the editor has never seen audit results close to as bad as those nearing public release for the Port of Peninsula in Nahcotta. They are shocking.

Some disorganization might be understandable considering the period in question — two of the peak pandemic years. Personnel turnover and absences, gnawing uncertainty, shutdowns and other covid-related factors were tough on everyone. However, most businesses and agencies still managed to provide goods and services, send out bills, pay invoices and all the other basic functions of commercial life.

The same cannot be said of the Port of Peninsula, according to auditors.

Our story today delves into audit details. An eventual final version of the audit will include the port’s justifications and the state’s responses.

Didn’t beg for mercy

It’s obvious that the best recourse by the port’s management and directors would have been to promptly throw themselves upon the mercy of auditors back at the start of this year, in essence pleading “no contest” and offering the excuses provided by being a small organization thrown into disarray by the public health emergency.

Instead of doing that, port executive director Jay Personius — backed by elected commissioners Phil Martin and Bill Derion — has played a tiresome delaying game, adamantly denying anything is wrong. Taxpayers are on the hook for paying the lawyers Personius employs to help fight the audit, to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars.

Before obtaining the report, we contemplated chiding state auditors for allowing the process to be dragged out many months beyond its initial due date. Now reviewing the results, it’s apparent the auditors were at least equally dismayed by all of the port’s delaying tactics, missing records and other obstacles to completing their work.

The auditing team, as well as former port Commissioner Bonnie Cozby and current Commissioner Chuck Mikkola all are vindicated. What Cozby and Mikkola have said in a variety of ways — that the port is sunk in a deep morass — is borne out by the audit.

This fits the general pattern of the port’s previous controversy involving violations of state environmental laws. In that episode, the Washington State Department of Ecology mysteriously chose to impose minimal consequences, a toothless response to significant issues. It conveyed a message that Pacific County is “out of sight, out of mind” for those responsible for enforcing state regulations.

Voters and enforcement agencies should show no such forbearance this time around.

Another problem

Also in print in this edition is sad news about trouble at the Pacific County Tourism Bureau, with its formerly promising executive director fired after discovery of financial irregularities. A formal investigation continues, no charges have been brought, and ex-director Katja Spitz is presumed innocent unless proven otherwise.

The bureau, a tax-supported private entity, appears to be making progress. A fresh rebranding of Pacific County’s promotional outreach is plausible. Tourism is an important mainstay of our economy, and we can’t afford to allow this scandal to get in the way of charting a better way forward for attracting a high-quality audience for our many attractions.

Recruiting and retaining well-engaged citizens to serve on oversight boards is a constant challenge in rural communities, where we all are stretched thin. It’s difficult identifying a solution.

In the case of the south county ports, merger is an increasingly tempting answer. As Mark Twain observed, “Put all your eggs in the one basket and — WATCH THAT BASKET.”