Guest Opinion | First days on the job

— from Mia Kartiganer, Port of Orcas —

The onus is on me. No two ways about it.

It doesn’t take much twist of the vernacular to imagine what the acronym for Port Of Orcas says about our current show.

Without excuse but by way of an explanation; there was a sense of urgency about covering the Port’s potential for liability in some circumstances. Our much valued Facilities Manager doesn’t want to take on the additional responsibility of administrative duties or being the emergency contact. Understandable.

That leaves Tony Simpson, who I finally had the pleasure of meeting and have experienced as nothing but informative and helpful. It is unclear whether every emergency we may rely on Tony for would be covered as a contracted employee rather than a salaried member of the airport staff.

We were attempting to remedy that with another temporary part-time manager while working through the search for a new full time permanent Port Manager.

The next Special Meeting on February 10 12-4 p.m. that I had hoped would be a retreat for the commissioners will now necessarily become a work day focused on compiling our questions for DOWL. We won’t be giving them as much time as I’d hoped before the next Regular Meeting on the 13th when we will have our conference call with them. One of my most immediate concerns is the devaluation of the properties of our neighbors effected by the Master Plan. Whether or not we act on this plan, that damage has already been done. 

The rest is a prescriptive process that is unavoidable and must get done. There is time. As I have recently been reminded, at least twice, government does not move quickly.