— from Susan Malins —
I’ve been attending Port of Orcas Commission meetings for the past 18 months, carefully reading all related public documents and requesting public records. Just as with the ORS/The Exchange public effort (where I was on the Board for seven years), the Port of Orcas Master Plan challenge is of vital importance to the future of our beloved island. Our involvement at this critical juncture is required.
Several months ago I attended a Port Commission meeting where approval of the Master Plan was on the agenda. Unfortunately there were only two people from the public present (and we only happened to learn of the meeting at the last minute) because there was woefully insufficient public notice of this meeting or agenda. The commissioners did the right thing & tabled the Master Plan vote to their next meeting.
At that meeting there were 30-40 citizens present. Many eloquently expressed their valid concerns about the Master Plan presented. The commissioners listened, & then without much if any discussion voted unanimously to approve the Master Plan as presented by DOWL (the $600,000+ consultant hired by The Port.) I found this astonishing, and somewhat arrogant. The majority of those voting had been appointed to their position within the recent weeks or months, yet chose to follow this path.
It is on this basis that I will not vote for any of the sitting commissioners, and ask you to join me in electing a new Port Commission. Michael Triplett is a pilot and an excellent candidate. Pierette Guimond has proved herself an honest community servant, has attended numerous commission meetings, and is also worthy of your vote.
I will vote neither for Bea Von Tobel nor Gary Abood, because Bea voted approval and Gary dropped in early on the meeting in question specifically to urge each commissioner individually to “get it over with and vote it in.”
We have another choice to make, between Greg Ayers and Mia Kartiganer. I find Greg Ayers’ website and public comments about the Port to be vague, full of buzz words, and generally seeming to lack specific knowledge of the issues and plans on the table. Mia Kartiganer has a diverse background of accountability, has attended Port meetings and researched the issues, and has the humility, creativity and apparent backbone to meet this community challenge well.
Thank you for reading this, and I invite you to join me in voting for a new and improved Port Commission.
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Thanks for this, I won’t even send in my near duplicate letter now. Clean sweep time at the Port, no more good old boys (and girl) to oversee crucial development questions. Good work, Susan, Sadie and others who stepped up to take back some power.
Bravo, Susan! I couldn’t have said this better or more clearly. Detractors will try to discredit us because we’re such “poor losers” about a Master Plan hardly anyone knew about or wanted, – despite the rhetoric that there were “many” public meetings about it. There were 3 DOWL meetings/”workshops” total, and by the time most people knew anything about what was really afoot, two of those had passed.
All the arguments in the world that the master plan won’t happen, doesn’t have to happen, are lies. Short of a huge market crash, these projects, because they are embedded IN the master plan – some of them for the first time – very likely WILL happen, against Public will. This is why I can’t in good conscience vote for those who betrayed us without even trying to postpone approving this Plan or learn about it Just reading DOWL’s and Tony’s responses to the comments against or for Alternative 1 (presented by DOWL but never a true option, unbeknownst to us!) are telling enough. Have the appointees even read them? Doubtful.
My endorsements are the same as Susan’s for 3 out of the 4 seats up for election. However, that said, I can’t ignore the fact that Bea Von Tobel set the dominoes to fall by buying up a lot of real estate when she was manager, then hiring Tony, who took this thing way too far with WH Pacific and DOWL (same engineer in charge of BOTH projects – Eric Strong), including the Eastsound Forested Wetland clearcut that now needs “mitigation,” apparently without any oversight by the commissioners. These are the reasons why I think we need a clean sweep, since the job of the Port Commissioners is to govern and oversee the manager.
I certainly agree with your comments. A deeper view of my actions that evening however seems appropriate.
I did, in the parking lot, urge all 5 commissioners to approve the master plan in the near worthless state it was and still is in. My reason for this was to demand they move back to managing the port and not to be fixated on a master plan which I feel we, as a community do not support. The endless support for this plan can be rectified with the election of a new board.
While continuing to work on a plan which should be over turned by the next commission, the board was and continues to neglect the on going maintenance and oversight of our port. The terminal is completely run down because “staff” planned on building a new one. I think many other neglected things at the airport need to be addressed. The excessive wages of too many employees and oddly reported finance documents were and continue to be neglected. Having turned policy making over to the former manager, the current board still needs to go around the current manager and seek help from the former manager. Yikes. They themselves do not seem to know what to do out there. By simply passing the road block of the master plan, it was my hope we could move the commission on to matters of real importance. The board has not done so, choosing to continue to move forward on the plan and little else. The plan must be drastically changed moving forward. An entirely new board can restart the planning process with real community input.
Excellent letter, Susan! I also support Michael Triplett. Mia
Kartiganer and Pirette Guimond for guiding the port in a direction that supports the Orcas Island community in a more open manner.
Gary, thank you for explaining your reasoning behind telling the commissioners to approve the Master Plan. It helps to see where you were coming from and where you stand on this and other issues the Port faces.
If what you say is true that an entirely new board of Port commissioners with different aspirations can still address FAA safety issues but also start over with planning for new Plan, then I’m sure I’m not the only person in support of that.
I have wondered long, for many reasons, about the viability of this Master Plan and the entire process so far. I want to see strong oversight on any decisions any Port managers make – past, current, and future. An educated and attentive Commission will do their job of governance AND representation of the entire community.
Susan, thanks for your thoughtful comments.I attended the last meeting you mention, and was astounded that the commissioners, the majority of whom had been appointed, not elected by the citizens,and aware that an election would be happening in the near future, voted on such an important and controversial matter. This ignored the will of most of the people attending. I agree with your analysis completely.