Transition looms large at Port of Orcas commissioners meeting

— by Minor Lile, Orcas Issues reporter —

In this last regular meeting for 2019, it was apparent that the future of the Port Commission is up in the air as significant changes are imminent. In November, three new commissioners were elected to the five-member commission. All three incoming commissioners were present at the
meeting as observers, two in person (Mia Kartiganer and Michael Triplett) and one by phone (Pierrette Guimond).

While several topics were discussed during the meeting, most decisions were deferred until the reconfigured Commission takes office early in the new year. These included extending contracts for acting airport manager Dwight Guss and contract employee Tony Simpson, review of a recently released draft of Chapter 6 of the Airport Master Plan, updating the Port’s Bylaws, and reinitiating the search and eventual hiring of an airport manager in the new year.

First up on the agenda was public access time, which began with several expressions of appreciation for the Commissioners who will be leaving office at the end of the year. Sadie Bailey then asked a question about the status of the land swap for the eventual construction of an Eastsound Water District Desalination Plant that the draft airport master plan anticipates happening sometime in the next zero to eight years. Acting Airport Manager Dwight Guss confirmed that the project is included in the draft master plan and that based on his current understanding the Eastsound Water District does intend to proceed.

Bailey also asked if SEPA review would be required for this project. Commissioner Clyde Duke noted that environmental review is ‘the next plateau’ after the master plan is adopted, and that ultimately any decision about proceeding with this project will be up to the Commission.

Commissioner Greg Sawyer added that the way the master plan works is that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) role is to confirm what is acceptable to them and then the Port Commission decides what projects to proceed with. According to Sawyer, ‘the Master Plan is a list of things you’d like to do’, not necessarily what will actually happen. “The thing the FAA
balks at is paying for something that isn’t in the Master Plan.”

After the public access period, acting airport manager Dwight Guss provided a staff report. He reminded the Commissioners that his contract as acting manager expires on December 31. He noted that ‘it has been a pleasure to work with this group of commissioners’ and added that although his current contract is expiring, he is open to continuing on a part time basis as an independent contractor to help keep the airport running until a new airport manager is in place.

Guss advised the Commissioners that Tony Simpson’s contract also expires at the end of the year and that, in his view, it should be renewed because Simpson has a lot to contribute to the review of the master plan and is ‘the only one’ at the airport who is sufficiently knowledgeable about many areas of airport operation, including fueling operations.

Discussion ensued among the Commissioners. Chair Greg Sawyer, noting that he did not want to speak for the incoming commission, suggested that the incoming commission hold a special meeting early in the new year (prior to the regularly scheduled January 9 meeting) and come up with a plan by that time ‘for how operations are going to run and by whom’.

Commissioner Clyde Duke added that the new commissioners are likely to want to have someone in place to keep things going until a new airport manager is hired. Sawyer responded that it might make sense to ask Guss to continue as airport manager on a month to month basis.

Following these comments, Commissioner Bea vonTobel made a motion that both Guss and Simpson be hired on a month to month basis beginning in January. Sawyer proposed amending the motion to leave the question of continuing to contract with Simpson to the new Board. After this was agreed to, Guss commented that he felt Simpson ‘is really needed with everything that is going on, but (the Board) will decide that at the next meeting, and depending on that decision, “I’ll let you know if I’m staying on.” Following this the motion was approved.

The agenda turned next to Old Business. Commissioner Sawyer advised the Board that he had recently been approached by Aeronautical Services regarding some new ideas that they have come up with for eventual expansion of their facilities at the airport. This topic was last discussed at the July 2019 Board Meeting. Sawyer did not go into any detail, simply noting that this is another issue that will be coming before the new commission soon after they take office.

Under New Business, two items were discussed. One was a proposal that the time of the regular meeting be moved from 4:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the second Thursday of the month. This led to a more general discussion about the Port of Orcas Bylaws. Commissioner vonTobel proposed that outgoing Commissioner Poke Haffner be contracted with to review and update the bylaws. This idea was deferred for further discussion after Haffner said that in her view this was another decision that would best be postponed until after the new commission takes office.

The second item of new business was regarding Chapter 6 of the Airport Master Plan. This chapter of the plan discusses implementation and financial feasibility. The FAA has completed its initial review. The current timeline calls for release of the draft to the public in late January. The interim between now and then is intended to allow for review and comment by both current and incoming Commissioners. The draft was sent to the current Board of Commissioners earlier in December. As a result of this discussion, Commissioner Sawyer directed the airport manager to also send the draft of Chapter 6 to the incoming commissioners.

UPDATE: As of December 20, Chapter 6 of the Airport Master Plan is now available for public review.

The meeting was then opened for additional public comment. Susan Malins asked a series of questions about when the public will have access to Chapter 6 and if there will be opportunity for public comment on the draft. In response Commissioner Sawyer said that while no specific date has been set, the current intention is that this section of the master plan will be released to the public in late January. Sawyer’s response on the question about public comment on Chapter 6 was less certain, stating only that ‘there should be’ an opportunity for comment without providing any further details. This may have been because the timing is such that this is another
topic for the incoming Commission to address.

Next, incoming commissioner Michael Triplett asked whether there were steps that can be taken now to recommence the process of hiring a new manager for the airport. In response, it was pointed out that the primary reason the process was suspended was because the job announcement was issued before the Commissioners had reached a shared understanding on
what the job would include. This lack of agreement, combined with the approaching November elections, led the current Commission to suspend the search for a new airport manager and, in the words of Commissioner Sawyer, “punt and let the new Commissioners take it on.” It was also noted that there had been several well qualified applicants. Eventually, it was agreed that providing the incoming Commissioners with access to the applications that were received would be a good starting point.

With this, the public access period was concluded and the meeting came to an end.