Port of Orcas year in review

— by Minor Lile, Orcas Issues Reporter —

By island standards it was a turbulent year for the Port of Orcas and its management of the Eastsound airport. Much of the turmoil was grounded in a long range planning process that seemed to suddenly burst to public attention after an extended gestation period.

Public concerns around plans for wetlands protection, the expansion of facilities, and particularly the rerouting of traffic from the portion of Mt Baker Road that cuts across the runway protection zone just south of the airport were the most significant sources of controversy. Although the planning process, which began in September 2017, was to have been completed by March of 2019, at year’s end it seems in some ways to be no closer to completion than it was at this time last year.

The turmoil also had a significant impact on the makeup of the Port Commission. The year began with the January resignations of two commissioners. In February, a third member of the Commission, Dwight Guss, resigned in order to be appointed as the interim airport manager following previous manager Tony Simpson’s departure from that position.

Then in November three first time commissioners were elected to the five-member Commission, Michael Triplett, Mia Kartiganer, and Pierrette Guimond. In addition to the three newly elected Commissioners, former airport manager Bea vonTobel also won election after having been appointed to a vacant seat earlier in the year. The remaining seat on the commission is held by long time Commissioner Steve Hopkins, whose term continues until 2021.

The appointment of Guss as interim airport manager was initially to have been for up to six months. However, the search for a new airport manager that began in late 2018 was eventually suspended due to a lack of consensus among the Commissioners over various planning related issues, particularly the future staffing structure at the airport. At year’s end, Guss is continuing as interim manager on a month-to-month basis. Re-initiating the search for a new airport manager is high on the Port Commission’s to-do list.

There are many diligent citizen watchdogs who deserve credit for their attentiveness to activities at the Port over the course of the last year (and longer). These include Susan Malins, Sadie Bailey, Katie Wilkins, and Kim Secunda, as well as the three newly elected Commissioners, each of whom has expressed their commitment to improving relations between the Port and the island community as they prepare to take office shortly after the first of the year.