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Today is October 13th, 2026. This is the Port of Kennewick Regular Commission business

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meeting. And I'd like to call this meeting of the Port of Kennewick Regular Commission

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meeting on October 13th to order at 2 p.m. And I'd like to thank everybody for joining

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us today. Before we begin our meeting, I have a few procedural items to go over.

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The Port of Kennewick Commission chambers are open to the public during commission

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meetings. The port provides telephone, video access, and in-person options for the

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public. Commissioners are in person today, but some of the poor team will be attending

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remotely and some are currently in the room. Often people attend remotely and we

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appreciate your patience and understanding as we work our way through the meeting.

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If you're participating remotely, please make sure that you're accessing the meeting

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with only one device to reduce audio feedback, and please mute your microphone unless

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you're speaking. The agenda for this meeting may be viewed on our website if you'd

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like to follow along. We'll also be using the share my screen feature today. There

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will be an opportunity for public comment at the beginning and at the end of the

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meeting. In addition, public comments will be received on each item if the commission

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may take action. When it's time for public comment, it may be difficult to determine

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who is speaking if multiple people try at one time. So please be patient and respectful.

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Then again, as a friendly reminder, please mute your microphone unless you're speaking.

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To verify who's participating in today's meeting, I'd like to take roll call. I'll

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start with commissioners. I'm Commissioner Skip Novakovich. Mr. Present. Tim Arnson

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present and now I'd like to ask the port staff that's in the room to introduce themselves

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and their position, Lisa. Lisa Shoemaker, special projects coordinator. Uh, good

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afternoon, Nick Quaker. I'm the deputy CEO of the board. Thank you. Tammy Story,

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the CPA CFA CF CFP and um advisor. Hello, Mike Biny, director of operations.

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Rochelle Olson, director of governmental relations. Amber Handshay, director of real

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estate.

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That's it, I guess you already introduced. We got him. How about, um, who's online?

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Any staff online to introduce themselves, Bridget?

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Thank you, Commissioner. You're Bridget Scott, executive assistant. David, you have

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a couple other employees on the line. Hello David Puna, marketing and capital projects

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coordinator. Thank you, David. Who else is online this is now?

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Carolyn Lake at council. Thank you, Carolyn. I was gonna introduce you one more.

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Who is?

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Feline Go senior accountant. There we go. Great, thank you. Thank you all. Well,

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we'll go back to the agenda and could all rise for the pledge of allegiance, please.

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I'd like to ask my fellow commissioner to lead us.

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To pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic

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for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for

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all. Thank you.

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And before we go on, I've got um a little trivia question. How many new jobs approximately

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were created in the Ports Finley area from 1952 to 1964?

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Anybody wanna take a wild guess?

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Nobody? 1000. 1000. OK, there's a guess. Not quite, but anyway. Anybody else? 999.

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This is not the Price is right.

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Teresa, you wanna take a guess? Huh, I don't know. Well, OK, there was 250 approximately.

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You should have spoken up. You should have. I said 203. Uh, you were close. All right,

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so now we're at our first session of public comment. It's an opportunity for any

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of the public to address the commission on anything on the agenda or anything you'd

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like to make us aware of. We just ask that you state your name, city of residence

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for the record, and limit your comments to 3 minutes. Would anyone like to make a

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public comment at this time?

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I don't see anybody online or in the room, so we'll move on to the consent agenda.

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These are items considered of a routine nature taken by one vote of the commission.

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Any item can be removed, placed further on down the agenda, or tabled for another

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meeting. Do we need to remove any item from the consent agenda? Uh, Commissioner

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Alvakovic, I motion to approve the consent agenda from October 13, 2027 as presented,

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I mean 2026. Thank you, I'm time traveling. Thank you. I'll, I'll second that motion.

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All those in favor of approving all items on the consent agenda signified by saying

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aye. Aye. Those opposed say no. The consent agenda is approved unanimously. Our next

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item is presentation WPP environmental seminar, Tim. Yes, thank you, commission.

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Uh, we have some pictures. What I would like to do is just give the overview of this

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and then I see I have Ms. Lake and uh Commissioner Novakovich joining me in the presentation.

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So, I'll just kind of give the brief flyover and then I would like to turn it over

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maybe to Commissioner Novakovich to offer your comments and then perhaps Ms. Lake.

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And then if there's any follow-up, I'd be happy to jump back in. But this was the

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Washington Public Ports Association environmental seminar, and as you can see from

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the slide that's on the screen, it was on September 24th of this year. And we were

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asked to address the group. There's probably 250 people in attendance. Many of them

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were either attorneys or environmental employees of various port districts, consultants,

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and so forth, and they had an interest in many of the environmental and scientific

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activities that ports are going through. And uh while they had another presenter

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that talked about PFOS, which is the topic we talked about, much of the presentation

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that the prior presenter talked about was PFOS. These are what are known as forever

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chemicals, PFOS and drinking water, because that has been a hot topic across the

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country. But we were one of the first jurisdictions to have the honor of dealing

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with PFOS in soil. It is a very new activity that is just being regulated by the

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Environmental Protection Agency at the federal level and Department of Ecology at

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the Washington state level. So we were one of the first few that um had the opportunity

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to deal with PFOS in soil, and as far as I can tell, we are, if not the first out,

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we are one of the first out of the process, you know, we got in with uh some of the

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others, we were able to conclude our activities in about a year time frame, which

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is very quick for this. And I think the reason why we were asked to participate is

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that we did have an exit strategy, and that's kind of the key. In environmental matters

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is finding the exit strategy. Sometimes that takes, uh, not only years but decades.

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So this was a great opportunity for us to share our observations with the, uh, group

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of people there. I felt that, um, our panel did very well. You can see we had Commissioner

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Novakovich that was the opener, uh. Then we had myself, Carolyn Lake, the port legal

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counsel. Then right next to Carolyn, you see John McCorkel. He is the principal for

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the Landau firm that did the um environmental work for us. And then on the far end,

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we had Richard Dubay, who's a An attorney that started his practice with the federal

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EPA and then did a lot of environmental law at a large firm in Seattle. We brought

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Richard on board to provide expertise throughout the process. So again, I felt we

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had a really tight presentation. We had a lot of audience engagement afterwards.

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We had a lot of questions related to our presentation, so I felt it was a great opportunity.

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I do feel sorry for Commissioner Novakovich, however, because he had to ride over

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to Seattle with me. That's 4.5 hours away. I do it. He had to hear all my stories.

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Then we went down to Tacoma for other business. He had to hear those stories all

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over again. So you should get the Survivor Award, Novakovich. It was entertaining.

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Thank you, Tim. Carolyn, anything to, to add or comments?

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The only thing I'd add is that this picture really doesn't tell the story because

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I remember when we were on the panel, everyone was smiling and laughing. We had a

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great time doing it and I think because it just it was, it was a Good memory to look

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back on for all of us and a good memory to share with the audience about how everyone

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worked together as a team and that really was kind of the theme of the day that the

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teamwork and the respect shown amongst all the members of the team was really what

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um what made it a successful process, um, let alone the outcome. Um, and I

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was also really happy that we had tons of questions afterwards from the audience,

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and usually your presentation is boring. They just want to get out of there, but

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there were quite a few questions from the audience in general and then people randomly

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after the presentation. So, um, just can't say enough about what a great job the

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members of the panel did. So I was happy to be a part of it. Thank you. Thank you,

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Carolyn. We're glad you were there too. And I would just add that it was a great

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presentation. The, the panel, the people that put together the team that handled

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the PFOS did, did amazing and as Tim said, there was maybe 250 people there or so.

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And I heard a lot of comments. I, I think perhaps this was the finest panel that

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they had for this, for this seminar. So it was great. So thank you all for doing

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this. Um, thank you to the team. Carolyn and Tim, you're here, so thank you very

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much for, for your job and what you did because I think it was excellent and I was

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proud to be a member of this team. So thank you. Tim, anything else to add? No, I

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think you, uh, you and Carolyn have, uh, summed it up very well. And again, um, you

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know, the guidance from the Port commission was to be transparent throughout the

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process. We had a lot of meetings with the people that have bought, uh, ground from

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us in Vista Field. They were concerned, even if it wasn't found on their property,

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they were concerned with the process. Uh, we interface with the media quite well.

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And again, this is a, uh, kind of a Pat on the back to the port commission because

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you know the guidance that you gave me was to be. Thorough with the process, but

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to make sure that transparency was at the top of our list. So, thank you for that.

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And then here's a picture of um myself at the luncheon that is uh Director Six Killer.

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He is the uh head of Department of Ecology. And after his luncheon presentation,

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I was able to publicly thank him. Because he gave a little bit of nudge to his agency

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to kind of conclude things because they recognized we had all of our paperwork in,

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and that we wanted to get back to selling property and get things, you know, on the

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tax roll and so forth. So, Director Six Killer did a nice job of kind of helping

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us get across the finish line. We did make a little bit of a wager there. I'm a Ducks

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fan and he's a Huskies fan. So we've got a little bit of, uh, wager, not financial,

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but it will be maybe some level of public service or public humiliation based on

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who wins the Ducks or the Huskies. Right now, I'm thinking I might have to figure

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out what I gotta, I gotta do for him the way the Ducks have been playing. And didn't

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you invite him to come visit us? And yeah, we, we did. I invited him publicly to

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come join us to see the joint success we've got. So we'll see if we can get that

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worked out. But I will tell you this, that Director Six Killer is a very fun guy,

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and he wants to bring a practical approach to the Department of Ecology. So this

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was a really good opportunity for him to see how we worked closely with his agency.

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Yep, good job and thank you. All right, we'll move on then to Vistafield blue chart

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meeting. Amber? Yes, thank you, commissioners. So now that we have our PFOS, uh,

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pause in the rearview mirror, and, uh, just to follow up on our environmental seminar,

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that was a twelve-month pause that we took. We took a, a pause on construction of

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some of our parking lots, so that, um, Uh, really was lightning speed and a record

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probably for any jurisdiction to get out of, um, that PFOS pause. So as we came out

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of, um, This period of time, we are now re-engaging with those builders and developers

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that took uh their time and their investment prior to that to work with us on a number

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of projects in Vista Field. So, uh, prior to um putting on the pause, we had, um,

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contractual uh arrangements with Blue Chart. And Blue Chart is a uh partnership between

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uh Chartwell Land Company and Blue Fern Development to do this, uh, single-family

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home project just for Vista Field. Uh, they understand our urban concept of what

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we want to do that's different. Uh, they understood what the houses should look like.

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Uh, so they are, we are in an agreement with them to do, uh, several phases of single-family

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homes. And that would be attached or detached. So attached could be townhomes, maybe

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some townhomes sprinkled in there. Uh, we did this conceptual drawing, which I'm

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gonna speak to, um, A little bit early on, but at the end of September, we re-engaged

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with Blue Chart and met with them, uh, for a whole day of, uh, working because our

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next step is to come up with an approved development plan where both the port and

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Blue Chart agree on certain amenities, uh, that will come from the First phase. And

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if they do well on their first phase, and we like that, then they have uh takedown

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options for future phases. So, potentially 8 phases of um neighborhoods uh with,

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with homes sprinkled throughout. So actually, Bridget, if you could go back to the

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first one, there's a few things I wanted to share on that 1st, 1st slide.

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So the whole day.

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Like The whole day was. Spent on 3 key areas.

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This Wonerf, which is a quiet street, This part of the road is already constructed,

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so this would be an extension through that neighborhood. The second item that that

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we focused on a lot was this Half Moon Park, which is a public amenity. And then

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the third item that Blue Chart felt was very important was this um entry right off

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of Deschute. So this is Deschutes right here. So, um, the, the homes are very similar

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into what they're probably gonna do. This little area across will, will most likely

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be additional homes, but this Half Moon Park, uh, is an amenity. So the port has

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committed to the infrastructure. So putting in the roads, the little Half Moon Park,

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these roads, and delivering to them, uh, shovel-ready parcels. So they will pay us

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as they take down parcels and build homes, that's how we will recoup our investment.

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The distinct feature of the the quiet street here is that they really wanted a unique

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material. So we're coming in this as you have a, uh, you have a base price, right?

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In a custom home, you add on. Amenities or you add on nicer countertops or different

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carpet. So this is where our bases, if they want to come in and do a pavers or something

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like that, then their per parcel price will probably increase a little bit. Uh, this

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Half Moon Park is part of the amenities that we are committed to taking a portion

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of that, those dollars, uh, with each lot sale and putting it towards the amenities,

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towards those public spaces. We already have the pavilions. Uh, which is part of

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our public spaces. We have the great water feature, which is a, a public space, but

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for a neighborhood, uh, they wanted something where the neighbors could come in,

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throw a frisbee, or have a gathering area, or maybe part of this is where their,

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their mailbox cluster will be located, and then you might run into your neighbors

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at the mailbox cluster. So they're thinking about how you build community and how

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you congregate people together. So a lot of conversation was around potentially this

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is still drivable for um emergency, but maybe it's blocked off with bollards so that

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it really becomes walkable. And as you're working uh to spill out onto the, the pathway,

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it almost becomes another amenity for that. Um, neighborhood, which they're trying

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to build community. You're, you know, getting out and you're exploring rather than

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just staying in your house and being in your backyard. You're spilling out into the

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front. Another aspect that was really important to Blue Chart is our manner of arrival.

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So, We have our Crosswind Boulevard manner of arrival, and that brings you into our

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more of our retail space and our restaurants and kind of our vibrancy core. This

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is, they're looking at a manner of arrival for the residential piece for that first

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neighborhood. Here's another way when you come through, you know, you've entered

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into kind of the residential area. Uh, so there was a lot of conversation about what

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will that look like. Uh, will it be something that has some, some more, um, plantains,

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maybe some unique use of our existing boulders that we have out there, which we have

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a lot of. We have a lot of boulders out there, that might be some landscape feature.

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So, uh, there was a lot of conversation on how this can look for coming into Vista

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Field. So those three. Ideas, those three concepts is what we need to agree on as

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part of our approved, approved development plan, which is that next step. So, as

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a real estate person, I'm pushing that process because we want to get to the next

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step and the next step. So, uh, a lot of great work was done. They were in a room

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from 8:30 to 2 all day, just kind of re-engaging, um, but coming up with some definitive

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decisions because this is something that we need to produce and Larry needs to go

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out to bid and get all those infrastructure costs, get it in front of you for your

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approval. Uh, and they want to go through a plot process. We have a binding site

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plot process, so is OK with the city, but they want to go through the plot process.

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So we need to get those ducks in a row. So there's lots of parallel lines that we're

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running here. But I just wanted to show everybody that these three areas is what

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we spent all day on and made them eat lunch and work at the same time. So, well,

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this worked out really well. OK, Bridget, next, next couple slides. This is collaborative

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design in action, ta da. So, um, This is all of us around one table for

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most of the day, and let's see if you could go to the next slide, and then I'll introduce

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who all the players are. We had from the port, we had myself, Tim, Bridget, and Larry.

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And then from the, and then, uh, Matt Lambert is our Vistafield town architect. So

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it was crucial that Matt was there. He kept the momentum going and he would, uh,

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look for things from the course perspective and how to simplify. Uh, something that

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was fun is that he used a pen when he drew. He didn't use a pencil that could be

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erased, so he's very confident in, uh, his feedback that he was giving. And then

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here is Darren. He's with Parametrics. He's also on our team. He's our civil uh engineer.

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He worked with us on all those first improvements with um Vista Field on Crossroad

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Boulevard, the, uh, water feature. He's been with us for a very long time. And then

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from the blue chart team, this is Levi Holmes, and this is Brad Callover. Um, he

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is a landscape architect that is also on Levi's team. And he's the one who's giving

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some different perspective and ideas on what those spaces could look like. So it's,

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it's very interesting to have him there in an outside, uh, viewpoint. And then Lawrence

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Kumar, who has worked with the port quite a bit, um, on our charette process, and

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he's, he's a friend and he's familiar to us. He's actually on the Blue Chart team.

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So, uh, we know that there will be some continuity there between our master plan

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and what Blue Chart is doing. Uh, next slide, I think Bridget's got one more.

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And then this is just another. Yup, another viewpoint of everybody sitting around

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the table, um, and we literally when, when Levi got there with all his big papers,

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we started because he was, he was wanting to get going and he's very serious about

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getting this all started for us. And then, uh, just another little note from Levi.

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He and his family were here on this weekend, uh, and they just wanted to experience

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the Tri-Cities. He's got 4 little kids and 1 on the way. So they went to Middleton's.

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I was texting him ideas and examples, and he said, oh yeah, we went up to Middleton's

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and then Uh, they, they spent a lot of time walking around Vista Fields, just being

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in the space, going over to Lawrence Scott Park. So, so they're serious, they're

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serious about continuing this project with us, but that's all I had. Tim, you got

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anything you wanna back line up? Well, let's see. Oh, there's my favorite slide,

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um, as Amber mentioned the guy in the white shirt is Lawrence Kamar, and we remember

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him. He's one of the DPZ disciples helped us with our Uh, Charette process helped

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us with our master plan. He's now on the other side of the table, figuratively and

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literally. And, um, Lawrence has got a lot of really fabulous ideas. The guy is a

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dreamer, he's a creator, and he comes up with a lot of really interesting attributes

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for a project, so I'm glad he's involved. But we were able to kind of Um, with Lawrence,

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you have to kind of give him some of the parameters. We have to talk a little bit

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about affordability and, you know, we tell him that there's time frames on things,

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but if you let him go, he'll keep designing. He'd still be down there if we let him

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go. But, uh, even though he's, he was on their payroll, we said we do have to wrap

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up at what, 2:30. So I wanted this picture of Lawrence, uh, actively drawing something

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very creative. So whatever we're able to bring back to you, commission. Hopefully,

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there will be a lot of creativity left in it, but we'll have to also put, um, you

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know, our, uh, pencils into it as far as the columns and the numbers to make sure

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that what we're gonna bring to you, we don't get you excited about, we'd love to

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have this, and we haven't done some rough math on it. So, what you're likely gonna

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see is something that has Lawrence's creativity into it, but a little bit of fiscal

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responsibility into it as well. And that was the benefit. Of this group because,

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you know, when we first started out in the morning, we were able to just throw out

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all of the ideas and then we kind of work some of them back. We, you know, like Amber

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brought in uh the concept of, OK, for the wounder if the narrow street. We could

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do some of these pavers, but we also have to have the alternative. Maybe we do the

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concrete, the stained concrete like we did in some of the other stuff that's already

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out there. So as we got working through it, we kind of dialed back some of the really

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nice to have things as we put some of the financial perspective on it. And what we've

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left it with is that our team is going to talk to their team now as we're going to

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crunch some numbers and then like I said, hopefully when we come back and show you

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something. We've at least got some order of magnitude to it number-wise, you know,

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because again, we don't want to show you something fantastic that we could just never

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pay for. But great process. And early on, I was, um, I don't want to say admonished,

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but I was advised by Amber and Larry that if I got to a place where I thought it

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was too boring, that I could go take a break. And I remember Bridget went out with

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me one time, we walked around a little bit. And they were quarreling over how wide

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a parking lane should be, 8 ft or 10 ft. And that's when Bridget and I decided, we'll

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just take a walk for a while, and then when we came back, they had it solved. And

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I don't know whether it was 8 or 10 or anything in between, and frankly, I don't

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care, but it got solved. Well, thank you, Amber, that was a, a wonderful presentation.

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Thank you for that a lot of information. A couple, maybe a few questions. Three improvements

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that they want us to make. Is there any ballpark idea what that's going to cost?

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You know, that was part of uh this process was identifying what it is, and then we

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need to put the numbers to it, uh, which is this next little piece of the puzzle,

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putting the numbers to it and then saying, OK, well, this is what it's gonna cost,

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and this is what we had agreed upon you paying. Uh, if you want all these things,

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then you're gonna have to pay more, you know, we're gonna have to increase the price

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of the parcel in order to have these amenities. If that's, if they're that important

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to you, then we need to make some adjust adjustments to price. So we don't have all

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the details quite yet on what those areas are gonna cost, but that's our next step

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is to put price to it. We need that for, um, construction of the improvements too,

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you know, we need to know what that is. So, would we have to finance those? Improve

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those 3 improvements upfront, or would they be buying lots first and then pay, that's

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how we would pay for the improvements. So we're providing them with shovel-ready

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parcels and those roads and those improvements. So it's almost like while we're doing

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our construction, they're gonna be pre-selling and then they have timelines, so we

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will have You know, we'll be paying bills and as they're taking down we'll have some

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upfront costs and then we'll be recovering those as they take down parcels. Perfect,

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yeah, perfect. commissioners, any questions, comments?

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Thank you, Kim. Yeah, my understanding, and Nick is here to correct me, but my my

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understanding is that this is already in your budget. We've kind of put in the phase

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one in the budget. So again, we have to keep, make sure that we keep within the budget

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with this. So unless I'm mistaken, Nick, we've already put this in your budget, so

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the phase one would be funded. And then like I say, like Amber said, if they want

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to upgrade a little bit. And that goes above our budget, then we say, OK, let's negotiate

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up the lot price. So Nick, how did I do on that one? Yes, no, Tim is correct on that

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one. Great, thank you. Again, great job, great presentation. This is kind of exciting.

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Uh, we're finally getting closer to that, so I'd like to, I'd like to see that happen.

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That's awesome. OK, how about, uh, Nick, how about the draft budget workshop? Yep,

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just one second here. Perfect. They're gonna let me control. OK. What's that? What

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do you mean? Can I just collect that?

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OK, so it's October, and you're all thinking exactly what I am, right? What hockey

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season started and it's budget time. Budget is even more important than hockey season

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to me, believe it or not, but, um, it's always a difficult, um, process. It takes

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a lot of time. Um, the one thing I will say is say we're gonna review the 27-28 budget,

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and then we're gonna do all the legal, uh, publications over the next couple of weeks

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and bring it back on the 27th for final approval. Um There are no surprises in this

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budget. I want to get that out there. And um everything in here, it's taken staff

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a lot of time. It's basically everything we've heard from the commission in the current

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budget cycle about, you know, what, what needs to be in this one. So, direction we've

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received from you guys um is what's in here. So there's no surprises. Um, the last

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thing, I know it sounds um cliche, but I do. This was a staff effort across the board,

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and I really mean that, and everybody, um, we've had probably more of this budget

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cycle than others, but um A lot of meetings that were um trying to get the right

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word, but, um, you know, we were looking at ways we could trim some expenses back.

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And that's always kind of one of those things that's hard for people to do because

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they've been doing the same thing for so long. Um, but everybody contributed, um,

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and it was a very successful process, although it was, um, stressful at times, right?

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Um, and then I also want to recognize Tammy. She's right next to me, and you, I don't

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know if everybody knows Tammy, but, uh, she's been here for longer than me. Um, her

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job titles have changed, and some we can't publicly talk about. But, uh, to me, she's

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my right hand in terms of very detail-oriented, and she did the legwork on the budget

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for the most part. Um, and to me, her, the name of her position is Director of Financial

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Reporting, which is a very important job for the port. So she helps with budgets

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and audits and things like that, and state audits when they come visit us. So, um,

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before we start, I think I should pass off to Tim and see if he has anything he would

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like to add. Well, just wanna say Nick hit it, you know, out of the park with this.

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It was quite a team effort. And again, you know, not to repeat too much what Nick

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said, but when we roll out the draft of the budget to the commission, there really

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should be no surprises because it's things that you've said, we've jotted down notes

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throughout the year prior to this on things that the commission feels is important.

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Um, but it's always good that We shared the draft with you, so in case we've missed

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something completely, it's nice for you to catch it in the first draft rather than

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us getting this far along. But you know, and I said this earlier, I said it's a paradox

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because it might be one of your easiest budgets because you've already committed

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a lot of the funding. For example, blue chart phase one, there's a nice chunk of

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money. So in that sense, it was easier because there wasn't a lot of other discretionary

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funding to go around. But on the other side of the coin, it was more challenging

357
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because then you say with the scant resources we have left, how do we allocate that?

358
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I know you put some money in your opportunity fund for things that could come along

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that are either anticipated or unanticipated. So, it was really, like Nick says,

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it was a tough budget, but you have to look at it from, in a sense, it was easy because

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a lot of your big projects had already been defined. But then again, sometimes it's

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like when I go out on my property on a Saturday with an easy project, it turns into

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3 weeks, you know, I thought it'd be 15 minutes, but that's kind of how this budget

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was, even though you had some of the bigger items out of the way, then there was

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the jockeying of the other things, you know, perhaps your discretionary funds. But

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again, staff effort, I remember we had a lot of meetings at one point. You know,

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Tammy likes to project out what we might look like in a few years. I remember one

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day Larry thought that his job was going to be cut, so I had to take him down to

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Ice Harbor and buy him a sandwich and tell him that wasn't the case. And then as

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the budget cleared up a little bit, Larry became the happiest guy around, and I don't

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know how he Up with that, but sometimes, when you have planners and financial people

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talking, there's a little bit of a disconnect. But there was a lot of scary times

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in our staff negotiations. There's a lot of fruitful times, there was actually a

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lot of comical times. I got a couple of laughs along the way, but here we are, and

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I think it's a great budget. And I do appreciate Nick and Tammy and everybody else

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that cooperated, but I do have a grin on my face right now because I was remembering

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some of the stuff we had to get through to get to this point. So, after this presentation,

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commission, it's all yours, right? It's your budget, but we did have some fun with

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the process, and I hope you guys did too. Thanks Tim. Thanks, Tim. Reporting pyramid.

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We found this probably about 10 years ago and we really liked it. Um, and so really

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what it does is describes everyone's roles in the budgeting process. Uh, the leaderships

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of the elected officials are at the top of the pyramid. That means we give them summary

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level, um, information to work with, and they can make policy decisions and guide

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us. I'm at the bottom. Tammy's at the bottom. We're in every line by line. We're

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looking at insurance costs. Um, landscaping costs, very high level of detail. Tim's

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more in the green in the middle of the pyramid. Um, we try to pull him down to the

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lower part, but he doesn't like that. So we first stay a little bit higher up, higher

388
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level oversight of things. Um, but anyways, we found this to be very valuable, uh,

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just kind of showing where people should be in their roles in the budgeting process.

390
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Um, economic data, we like to start with some economic data. I like that. Glad you

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came. So, this does affect the poor, believe it or not, and unemployment, I found

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it is interesting. Washington State unemployment went up and Benton County went down.

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And I'm not sure what the reason was, but I found that to be a very positive thing.

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Um, and we're more, uh, the national unemployment rate went down as well. So we're

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more on track with the national unemployment rate than the state of Washington. So

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that's very positive for the poor. Inflation, and we all know this has been Really

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difficult to deal with in the last 5 years, um. And this is finally starting to stabilize,

398
00:35:26,067 --> 00:35:31,012
and this does directly affect the port. It really does. I mean, all of our projects,

399
00:35:31,048 --> 00:35:36,008
um, well, and in 2021, I think was the only year. Since I've been here and Amber

400
00:35:36,008 --> 00:35:41,088
and I've been here 13 years that we actually considered doing a cost of living salary

401
00:35:41,088 --> 00:35:48,001
adjustment mid-year because I mean, the same bag of groceries was almost double the

402
00:35:48,001 --> 00:35:53,021
price. Um, so, 2021, 2022, massive inflation and it's kind of leveled out a little

403
00:35:53,021 --> 00:35:55,037
bit. So that'll really be advantageous to the port.

404
00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:02,007
Any good budget starts with the question of where are we now? And this is where we're

405
00:36:02,007 --> 00:36:08,003
at now. We have about $11 million in cash, which is about standard for every other

406
00:36:08,003 --> 00:36:14,026
budget cycle. The second one, our original $5 million loan, we owe about $2.8 million

407
00:36:14,036 --> 00:36:21,002
on that loan. Um, the thing I love about this is our interest rate is 3.45%.

408
00:36:22,068 --> 00:36:30,029
And our investment earnings are 3.5%. So we actually have an arbitrage, uh, situation

409
00:36:30,043 --> 00:36:37,014
advantage to the port, um, although our rate is gonna reset at the end of 2028, so

410
00:36:37,014 --> 00:36:41,027
that's something we'll have to be thinking about. Our revenues are higher than we

411
00:36:41,027 --> 00:36:45,071
expected, our expenses are lower, and our net position, so the port's net worth is

412
00:36:45,071 --> 00:36:49,079
about $67 million. And then the last one is our levy rate. It's actually under 20

413
00:36:49,079 --> 00:36:57,027
cents. Uh, it's 0.198. Um, I actually just rounded it up to 20 cents, but, um, that's

414
00:36:57,027 --> 00:37:04,016
really, so if you have a $400,000 house, that's about $80 a year. That's what you

415
00:37:04,016 --> 00:37:07,048
pay the poor Kennewick. Uh, so you're getting a lot of bang for your buck. And then

416
00:37:07,048 --> 00:37:15,006
you can see the left, that's the 2001 tax levy. And That's the maximum capacity a

417
00:37:15,006 --> 00:37:21,008
port can levy, 44 cents per 1000. So, the spread, the difference, 44 to 20, that's

418
00:37:21,008 --> 00:37:25,052
what we call our bank capacity. So, we have a lot of levy capacity and what's going

419
00:37:25,052 --> 00:37:28,008
to happen is this is going to continue to go down at 20 cents per 1000.

420
00:37:32,004 --> 00:37:38,015
All right. So, the, we call it the BFOP. It's the budgeting philosophy. We passed

421
00:37:38,015 --> 00:37:42,087
this, the commission passed it, I want to say in 2017. And it's kind of a guiding

422
00:37:42,087 --> 00:37:48,076
document. I find, we found it really valuable, in my opinion, at least. Um Couple

423
00:37:48,076 --> 00:37:51,006
of things here, I'm not gonna talk about all of them, but the very bottom one, the

424
00:37:51,006 --> 00:37:57,032
reserve fund. OK, environmental pollution claims against the port, and we had that

425
00:37:57,034 --> 00:38:03,019
money set aside before PFOS happened. And so this is the fund we use to fund the

426
00:38:03,019 --> 00:38:07,067
approximate $700,000 we paid. Um, and it could have been more, it could have been

427
00:38:07,067 --> 00:38:13,077
way worse than it was. Um, so, If you can get out one thing in this presentation,

428
00:38:14,026 --> 00:38:20,093
the $700,000 we funded it out of the current budget. So, the way the budget philosophy

429
00:38:20,093 --> 00:38:24,029
document reads is that you can either fund it at a current budget or the next one.

430
00:38:25,001 --> 00:38:28,071
But the way we saw it was we want to pay for it right away because we will be fiscally

431
00:38:28,073 --> 00:38:34,036
responsible. Um, and we've all I don't think any media is here, but we've seen the

432
00:38:34,036 --> 00:38:38,099
news lately with all the other various entities that are having budgeting problems,

433
00:38:39,025 --> 00:38:43,064
and we don't want to be in that situation. We budget conservatively, and so we've

434
00:38:43,064 --> 00:38:48,008
actually um paid that upfront, so we don't have to worry about it in the future.

435
00:38:48,025 --> 00:38:49,025
Just put it behind us.

436
00:38:51,043 --> 00:38:55,086
Budget assumptions and then really, these are kind of a given, but the far right

437
00:38:55,086 --> 00:39:00,000
one maintaining poor investments. This has always been a value. Um, one thing we

438
00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:03,095
could sacrifice is our properties. You know, if you're walking around Clover Island

439
00:39:03,095 --> 00:39:09,069
and you want to see weeds that are growing, etc. It would be cheaper for us if we

440
00:39:09,069 --> 00:39:13,038
did that. But that's one thing we've never wanted to sacrifice, and that's what we've

441
00:39:13,038 --> 00:39:19,062
heard from the commission. And so this um budget doesn't sacrifice anything. So maintaining

442
00:39:19,062 --> 00:39:27,000
our investments. Tammy, do you have anything? Yeah, OK. Any, any questions up to

443
00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:31,016
this point? Well, it's great, Nick. Thank you. OK, so we have really 3 categories

444
00:39:31,016 --> 00:39:36,087
the operating expenses, the non-operating ones, and capital. So, and then from there,

445
00:39:36,095 --> 00:39:40,078
we further divide them into divisions. So, our first operating division, which means

446
00:39:40,078 --> 00:39:45,023
the day to day operations of the port, is the marine division. So, this is our marina,

447
00:39:45,051 --> 00:39:52,075
field dock, and um Boat hall out And so this division, um, you can see there's a

448
00:39:52,075 --> 00:39:56,067
little bit of a spread there, about 20,000 bucks, but, um, I would forecast or I

449
00:39:56,067 --> 00:40:01,055
would assume because we budget conservatively, our expenses of 783 are going to be

450
00:40:01,055 --> 00:40:07,052
lower. I would like to think they will be. I'm very positive they will be. Um, so

451
00:40:07,052 --> 00:40:11,023
really the best. The scenario we can have in the marina is that this is a complete

452
00:40:11,023 --> 00:40:15,015
wash. So that means that everybody in the marina is paying for the services they're

453
00:40:15,015 --> 00:40:20,001
providing, getting provided. That means other taxpayers aren't supplementing them

454
00:40:20,064 --> 00:40:24,087
as marina tenants. Uh, so I find that to be a really good number. We made a lot of

455
00:40:24,087 --> 00:40:29,079
really good changes in the marina for 2027, and there's various different ones, but

456
00:40:29,079 --> 00:40:34,075
the biggest one we went to was we actually reduced the insurance requirements, uh,

457
00:40:34,088 --> 00:40:41,023
for tenants because it became too onerous for poor staff to audit it. Um So actually

458
00:40:41,023 --> 00:40:47,044
reduce the cost for marine attendants, um. And then, uh, what else? Oh, we moved

459
00:40:47,044 --> 00:40:52,069
to a flat electricity billing. So, one thing that's been difficult is we have 150

460
00:40:52,069 --> 00:40:57,021
marina pedestals, power pedestals. You have to go manually read them every month

461
00:40:57,021 --> 00:41:01,093
and try to calculate how much electricity they use. And it's been a real headache

462
00:41:01,093 --> 00:41:07,013
for my department and for, I guess it's Mike's department, the operations division

463
00:41:07,013 --> 00:41:12,034
to read them. And uh so we went to a flat rate. So based upon your slip size, we're

464
00:41:12,034 --> 00:41:16,081
gonna charge somebody like 10 bucks a month. And so that's all there is to it. And

465
00:41:16,099 --> 00:41:20,062
so I think there's a lot of good improvements we made that are gonna take effect

466
00:41:20,062 --> 00:41:25,089
in January. Um So Nick, just a little on the process of the utilities to be fair,

467
00:41:25,098 --> 00:41:30,001
we did a two-year rate study so we went back through all of our 150 marina tenants

468
00:41:30,001 --> 00:41:34,048
plus our boat houses and analyzed the last two years of what we're charging them

469
00:41:34,007 --> 00:41:38,012
and then we kind of forecast out what we should be charging them currently and then

470
00:41:38,003 --> 00:41:45,001
that'll be effective January 1st, 2027. So, and then we'll reevaluate it to um every

471
00:41:45,001 --> 00:41:49,072
year so we won't be going out there every quarter to go read 150 marine attendance

472
00:41:49,072 --> 00:41:54,089
utilities and then And then sometimes they leave before the quarter's ended so we

473
00:41:54,089 --> 00:41:59,073
won't get to, we weren't able to recap the utility from them. So this time will be

474
00:41:59,073 --> 00:42:03,002
happening in real time. So and there's a few other ports that have been doing this

475
00:42:03,022 --> 00:42:08,082
pretty successfully too. We put a lot of time and effort into that, not just Tammy

476
00:42:08,082 --> 00:42:12,086
and I was a lot of team effort, our marina committee or at the port, uh, to make

477
00:42:12,086 --> 00:42:19,046
that positive change. The other thing too is our insurance costs. I mean, I, I looked,

478
00:42:19,055 --> 00:42:25,045
I, I mean, in detail here a few weeks ago, and we spent almost $500,000 on insurance

479
00:42:26,011 --> 00:42:31,062
last year. And it's much, it's very painful, but um we've met with our insurance

480
00:42:31,062 --> 00:42:37,012
providers and we're very well covered. So, we don't want to sacrifice that either.

481
00:42:37,027 --> 00:42:41,042
So, there's a cost of being conservative. And the problem is, is if we have a massive

482
00:42:41,042 --> 00:42:45,017
claim, you know, we don't necessarily, we have our reserve fund, but we don't have

483
00:42:45,017 --> 00:42:49,009
enough. Capital to cover a massive event at the marina, for example.

484
00:42:51,056 --> 00:42:55,003
OK, let's move on to the property management division. So you see more of a spread

485
00:42:55,003 --> 00:43:01,013
here. This is The cost of maintaining what we have. So this is, you see Anthony there

486
00:43:01,013 --> 00:43:06,081
working down the boat ramp. Uh, this is Clover Island, the lighthouse, Vista Field,

487
00:43:06,094 --> 00:43:12,001
I mean, these are maintaining our properties and Columbia Gardens. Um, the revenues

488
00:43:12,001 --> 00:43:15,031
are lease revenues we have associated with all of our properties, the expenses are

489
00:43:15,031 --> 00:43:18,057
all the, uh, various different costs and whether they go along with them.

490
00:43:21,012 --> 00:43:25,083
OK, let's scroll down. This is the corporate cost, the corporate division. This is

491
00:43:25,083 --> 00:43:29,054
overhead for the port. This is the cost of doing business. This is our cost right

492
00:43:29,056 --> 00:43:34,061
now as we sit here, uh, cost, um, salary, commissions, uh, for the commissioners,

493
00:43:34,072 --> 00:43:39,071
benefits. Um, also, there's insurance, liability insurance in here as well, uh, cause

494
00:43:39,071 --> 00:43:45,026
we have various kinds of insurance and that's all, a big part of that factor. One

495
00:43:45,026 --> 00:43:50,008
thing too we should probably reference um well I copiers and office supplies etc.

496
00:43:51,003 --> 00:43:58,049
um what's that insurance insurance yeah um we went through expenses line by line

497
00:43:58,049 --> 00:44:03,081
but most of them have a 5% inflation factor on uh but unless we had a reason to believe

498
00:44:03,081 --> 00:44:09,008
otherwise, which there was a few that we overrode but um we're Assuming that inflation

499
00:44:09,008 --> 00:44:13,044
is going to be 5% on our expense side, which we feel is very conservative, and we

500
00:44:13,044 --> 00:44:17,032
kind of do a linear regression analysis where we look back 3 or 4 years and then

501
00:44:17,032 --> 00:44:20,008
project it forward to see kind of what it would look like on a trend analysis and

502
00:44:20,008 --> 00:44:25,073
then we also take our Current contracts in place and we um add all those up and try

503
00:44:25,073 --> 00:44:30,005
to take the higher of the two and then mark it up with a 5%. So we're pretty conservative

504
00:44:30,005 --> 00:44:33,065
in this number so we don't like coming back to the commissioner and say we need more

505
00:44:33,065 --> 00:44:37,025
money. We want to make sure that we have enough money and we can afford the staff

506
00:44:37,025 --> 00:44:41,006
and not have all these budget cuts um like City of Pasco is doing right now, so.

507
00:44:42,013 --> 00:44:45,064
Um, yeah, so it's pretty conservative budget and like with the revenues too like

508
00:44:45,064 --> 00:44:50,053
Nick was saying, we, we only put the contracts that are the leases that are in place

509
00:44:50,074 --> 00:44:54,071
through 2028 unless they're highly likely to renew. So we work with Amber on that

510
00:44:54,073 --> 00:44:58,004
to make sure that these guys are going to highly like renew. So usually we're always

511
00:44:58,004 --> 00:45:02,028
going to exceed our revenues and go under expenditures on these budget processes.

512
00:45:03,053 --> 00:45:07,067
Yeah, and that, and that protects us from issues like you're seeing at school districts,

513
00:45:07,072 --> 00:45:12,078
cities, probably counties, and other ports. So we like to be insulated from that.

514
00:45:13,059 --> 00:45:18,006
Um, this is a non-operating division, the expense side of things, and you see that

515
00:45:18,006 --> 00:45:25,002
number 1,081,000. This is, um, Rochelle, this is her division, and this, that's not

516
00:45:25,002 --> 00:45:30,008
her salary, I promise you. Um, but there's so many things that go into that. I mean,

517
00:45:30,013 --> 00:45:35,052
our tri-ech dues, our big one visit Tri-Cities, um, our ribbon cuttings, as you can

518
00:45:35,052 --> 00:45:39,067
see a picture here, um, there are so many things that go in here. And then the third

519
00:45:39,067 --> 00:45:44,083
bar, elections, regulatory, and other. I always find it funny because elections,

520
00:45:45,021 --> 00:45:49,028
we have to pay for those, even if we don't have a commissioner up for election. We're

521
00:45:49,028 --> 00:45:53,061
always paying our share of elections. And then audits, you know, we actually pay

522
00:45:53,061 --> 00:45:58,005
them to come harass us for 3 months, which I always find kind of funny. Um, but the

523
00:45:58,005 --> 00:46:02,011
state auditor's office sends us a big bill, uh, anytime they spend time with us.

524
00:46:02,026 --> 00:46:08,098
So that's what those primary costs are. Anything on that one, Tammy, um, we, we did

525
00:46:08,098 --> 00:46:13,021
reduce the state audit costs because we went to a 2-year audit cycle instead, so

526
00:46:13,021 --> 00:46:17,001
we did some cost savings there trying to save as much as we can as we went through

527
00:46:17,001 --> 00:46:20,073
this budget process. That's a really a point. I think I briefed the commission on

528
00:46:20,073 --> 00:46:26,073
that, uh, that we switched to a 2-year budget or a 2 year, um, audit, um, which I

529
00:46:26,073 --> 00:46:30,077
thought would save us. They actually gave us a 3-year choice, but the problem with

530
00:46:30,077 --> 00:46:36,088
the 3 years, it's a long time window. And your recollection of events is less than

531
00:46:36,088 --> 00:46:40,044
3 years and 2 years is what we did before, so we really like the thought of 2 years.

532
00:46:40,053 --> 00:46:42,001
We thought it was a good middle ground.

533
00:46:44,042 --> 00:46:49,001
OK, so let's do non-operating revenue side. OK, property taxes, you see the big bar,

534
00:46:49,003 --> 00:46:54,081
11.1 million over a two-year period, about 5.5 million per year. It goes up about

535
00:46:54,081 --> 00:47:00,095
60,000 per year with the 1% increase that we're allowed by statute. And then the

536
00:47:01,033 --> 00:47:07,056
interest income 1 $365,000 we've actually never been able to budget for that. Because

537
00:47:07,059 --> 00:47:12,062
interest rates were near 0 for so long. Uh, so now it's really nice. That's a really

538
00:47:12,062 --> 00:47:20,041
nice extra revenue for us. Um, so, Any questions up to this point? Commissioners,

539
00:47:20,083 --> 00:47:25,008
how you doing? Yup. All right, let's move on to the real estate division. This is

540
00:47:25,008 --> 00:47:32,044
Amber's division. Um, Revenues almost 3 million. Um, this is obviously estimated

541
00:47:32,044 --> 00:47:36,044
and that number is comprised of blue chart assuming we sell a bunch of lots of blue

542
00:47:36,044 --> 00:47:42,049
chart and that uh Dulo Foster is that the right name and we're the five-story building

543
00:47:43,053 --> 00:47:49,054
batique, OK, um, and the expenses, the blue bar is what we estimate will be the time

544
00:47:49,054 --> 00:47:54,076
allowed um it's, it's really hard to predict obviously, but We all code our time

545
00:47:54,076 --> 00:47:58,024
when we're working on these projects. So that would be like an expense related to

546
00:47:58,024 --> 00:48:05,052
the sale. And transaction costs, etc. um. To Tammy's point, we only put in here what

547
00:48:05,052 --> 00:48:09,063
we have under contract. I mean, obviously the next couple of years. Amber is really

548
00:48:09,063 --> 00:48:15,006
good at her job, obviously, and she'll probably drum up other land sales aside from

549
00:48:15,008 --> 00:48:20,052
those. So those will go in here as well. So, but we just budget for what we had in

550
00:48:20,052 --> 00:48:20,088
hand.

551
00:48:23,037 --> 00:48:28,044
OK, Economic Development division, the revenues here, the $3 million that's RCCF

552
00:48:28,044 --> 00:48:34,058
funds. Um, in the current budget cycle, we received a grant from HF, um, I think

553
00:48:34,058 --> 00:48:41,092
that was 150,000. Is that right, Tammy? Or was it 175? Well, OK, and that,

554
00:48:42,036 --> 00:48:47,072
that, um, paid for the pavilion parking lot, all the A&E design work at the pavilion

555
00:48:47,072 --> 00:48:51,071
parking lot, and the other 3 million here is for the remainder of that parking lot,

556
00:48:51,081 --> 00:48:55,012
and that's what we get reimbursed for. And it's been approved by the county. Tim

557
00:48:55,012 --> 00:49:01,015
and I went and got approved from the county. Um, and then the 10.5 million, that's

558
00:49:01,015 --> 00:49:05,047
all our capital expenses, which will match your work plan that you approved at the

559
00:49:05,047 --> 00:49:06,019
end of September.

560
00:49:09,023 --> 00:49:13,074
OK. The other thing we have to do is, like I said, we actually code our time to projects

561
00:49:13,074 --> 00:49:18,006
we're working on. And we do that because we want to make sure our financial records

562
00:49:18,006 --> 00:49:21,078
are more accurate, right? It makes sense to code your time to what you're working

563
00:49:21,078 --> 00:49:27,007
on. You can make yourself more effective as a business. And so, uh, the problem with

564
00:49:27,007 --> 00:49:30,094
that is when you're doing a tier budget, you have to forecast this out to put it

565
00:49:30,094 --> 00:49:37,043
in the budget. So that's what we did here. Um, that's an estimated Um, staff costs

566
00:49:37,043 --> 00:49:42,059
that includes pensions and benefits and federal taxes, all the stuff nobody wants

567
00:49:42,059 --> 00:49:49,027
to hear about. Um, but that's our estimate there. And then capital projects, a few

568
00:49:49,027 --> 00:49:57,005
notes here. Um, I, I'll put my cursor over here. Infrastructure West construction.

569
00:49:58,031 --> 00:50:06,003
Um, $2 million. That is an RCCF candidate. So if we decide to I'm

570
00:50:06,003 --> 00:50:09,075
assuming the commission will approve this, uh, capital budget because this matches

571
00:50:09,075 --> 00:50:15,038
the work plan that was approved. Um, at some point, Tim will have to go to the county

572
00:50:15,044 --> 00:50:19,065
and get this approved by them. We currently have about $1.6 million in our fund.

573
00:50:20,016 --> 00:50:24,015
As you can see, you can't go to them until you have $2 million and request it. So

574
00:50:24,015 --> 00:50:28,095
we'll probably be to $2 million in the spring, I'd say March or April. And so at

575
00:50:28,095 --> 00:50:33,095
that point, we can have Rochelle put together an application and we can go present

576
00:50:33,095 --> 00:50:38,067
to the county and I wouldn't expect any problems, um, but that's gonna be an RCCF

577
00:50:38,067 --> 00:50:44,085
candidate uh project. The other thing is, one thing we didn't necessarily expect

578
00:50:44,085 --> 00:50:52,076
was the $350,000 for marina pairs. And that is a fairly recent thing, um, and

579
00:50:52,076 --> 00:50:58,023
Amber's hired a consultant, um, actually the company that designed our marina. We've

580
00:50:58,023 --> 00:51:01,094
worked with them quite a bit and come up with the improvements we need to make to

581
00:51:01,094 --> 00:51:06,057
the marina. And the marina now, I mean, what do you think, Amber's 25 to $30 million

582
00:51:06,059 --> 00:51:13,033
to rebuild it? Oh, and we wouldn't be able to rebuild this, uh, as covered mortgage

583
00:51:13,064 --> 00:51:16,071
along the river. That was one thing our consultant said you would never be able to

584
00:51:16,071 --> 00:51:24,005
rebuild this marina as covered because of the fish, you know, restrictions, um, and

585
00:51:24,013 --> 00:51:30,083
what was it, $9 million when we originally constructed almost 20 years ago. Uh, so

586
00:51:30,083 --> 00:51:36,009
yes, so it's, it's in our best interest to Make improvements to it to keep it um

587
00:51:36,009 --> 00:51:43,093
nicely maintained in those maintenance, um, repairs are treated differently under

588
00:51:43,093 --> 00:51:48,049
our, our permit. So you can do repairs. You do, would not wanna take something out

589
00:51:48,049 --> 00:51:53,029
and try and put it back in. Um, so we have some repairs that need to be made from

590
00:51:53,054 --> 00:51:59,007
wear and tear, um, you know. The otters eating, you know, a float or something like

591
00:51:59,007 --> 00:52:05,086
that. We've, we've, we've got, um, a consultant that's helping us with a dive team

592
00:52:05,086 --> 00:52:10,082
came in and did some dive for us. We're looking at some things that he inspected

593
00:52:10,082 --> 00:52:15,084
on the boat launch and potentially our field docks. So these improvements to maintain

594
00:52:15,084 --> 00:52:21,032
our asset, which is obviously valuable, um, just from what Amber said, then the cost

595
00:52:21,032 --> 00:52:25,086
to rebuild it. I mean, that consultant said it would be, um, it's a beautiful marina.

596
00:52:25,089 --> 00:52:30,056
It's the most beautiful one I've ever seen. Obviously, I'm biased, but, um, This

597
00:52:30,056 --> 00:52:34,039
$350,000 would just be in this budget and then probably in the next one as well,

598
00:52:34,041 --> 00:52:39,006
because $350,000 won't cover the repairs in entirety. We need to make some repairs

599
00:52:39,006 --> 00:52:45,044
to the floats on the dock and some concrete uh decking. Um, so, this is gonna be

600
00:52:45,044 --> 00:52:50,044
one that you're probably gonna see in the 2930 budget as well. Potentially beyond

601
00:52:50,044 --> 00:52:55,004
that, I'm not really sure, we'll have to figure that out. But, um, The last one I

602
00:52:55,004 --> 00:53:00,052
want to bring up is the $100,000 for the opportunity fund right here. Um, I want

603
00:53:00,052 --> 00:53:06,076
to highlight the commission's already obligated that to the CTUIR Powwow event. I

604
00:53:06,076 --> 00:53:10,044
believe it's gonna be next summer at sometime. Uh, so I just want to make sure the

605
00:53:10,044 --> 00:53:15,021
commission's aware that that's not, um, Can't go elsewhere at this point. It's committed

606
00:53:15,021 --> 00:53:20,052
to that project. And then, you know, my last slide is really just summary budget.

607
00:53:21,042 --> 00:53:26,037
And this looks very simple. It's a very simplified version of a lot of detail, right,

608
00:53:26,053 --> 00:53:31,033
Tammy? I mean, there's a lot of different lines that summit into these, but, uh,

609
00:53:31,046 --> 00:53:34,053
this is a summary budget that the commission will pass, and this will go to Benton

610
00:53:34,053 --> 00:53:41,027
County, um, and so we can establish our tax levy in January. Um, that's all I have.

611
00:53:41,036 --> 00:53:47,015
I, you know, I really, again, appreciate everyone's time. And, um, you know, this

612
00:53:47,015 --> 00:53:51,071
budget I think is very sustainable and I think um we're setting ourselves up for

613
00:53:51,071 --> 00:53:57,063
success. So, any questions from the commission? Questions, commissioner.

614
00:53:59,043 --> 00:54:03,001
Um, I just wrote a couple of notes down. Um, no, I just wanna say thank you guys

615
00:54:03,001 --> 00:54:07,065
for enduring these headaches, uh, and creating this great communication between all

616
00:54:07,065 --> 00:54:13,061
the programs here, um, taking in national and state level stats into our budget,

617
00:54:13,074 --> 00:54:20,043
you know, always staying ahead of the what ifs. Um, yeah, just focusing on making

618
00:54:20,043 --> 00:54:25,023
sure the operations are at full staff here, um, and that our projects keep continuing.

619
00:54:25,052 --> 00:54:29,091
So just thank you for all the numbers and thoughts that you guys put into this. Welcome.

620
00:54:31,002 --> 00:54:35,007
Nick, I do have some questions. You mentioned the RCCF fund, and we've got a balance

621
00:54:35,072 --> 00:54:40,008
there. How much does that balance grow a month? It's about 50,000. It does, yeah,

622
00:54:40,016 --> 00:54:44,011
it's based upon sales tax revenue, OK. And that, that'll continue. Do we have to

623
00:54:44,011 --> 00:54:47,091
do anything with that? Is that automatic? No, actually, the county, um, was that

624
00:54:47,091 --> 00:54:51,009
last year, Tim? They actually hired a lobbyist to make sure that funding kept coming

625
00:54:51,092 --> 00:54:58,055
to the cities. And uh ports and so there was some discussion at some point of legislator

626
00:54:58,055 --> 00:55:05,003
swiping that money from the counties um but they, they went to, I mean to battle

627
00:55:05,003 --> 00:55:09,042
for us is the way I view it so really helpful because that money is valuable for

628
00:55:09,042 --> 00:55:13,005
us. We did a lot. The loop road at Columbia Drive was our CCF. That was our first

629
00:55:13,007 --> 00:55:18,017
one. It was actually the first county project, I believe. Um, so yeah, that, that

630
00:55:18,017 --> 00:55:23,092
should continue on. There's some new agreement in place for, it was like 30 years,

631
00:55:24,046 --> 00:55:30,047
longer than I'll be working, hopefully, hopefully, we'll see. We'll talk about that.

632
00:55:31,039 --> 00:55:36,054
And then what about um because you had the levy rates that were, I don't know what

633
00:55:36,054 --> 00:55:41,005
year it was 2001, 2001, and then you had the current one. Any comparison to other

634
00:55:41,005 --> 00:55:45,094
ports, especially the local ones, about what their levy rates are, um, off the top

635
00:55:45,094 --> 00:55:50,033
of my head I'm not sure. I do think we're lower. Yeah, well, a while back I did a

636
00:55:50,047 --> 00:55:54,092
rate study and we were one of the lower ones, really. Because that's, that's pretty

637
00:55:54,092 --> 00:55:59,004
amazing. I mean, I just like to brag on that one, you know, the levy rates go down,

638
00:55:59,013 --> 00:56:03,032
but the value of what the port has for the public goes up. It's just great management

639
00:56:03,032 --> 00:56:07,067
of funds. Thank you, and I, I like the fact that you're talking about maintenance

640
00:56:07,097 --> 00:56:12,047
and keeping things in order of what we have. Um, I think that's awesome, you know,

641
00:56:12,068 --> 00:56:16,038
especially after Amber's talking about the marina and the possibility you could never

642
00:56:16,004 --> 00:56:19,083
build that again. So yeah, let's take, let's take good care of things. You guys are

643
00:56:19,083 --> 00:56:26,074
doing great. So thank you very much. Any other questions or comments? Great, thanks,

644
00:56:26,082 --> 00:56:33,029
Nick. Great. OK, we'll move on to, uh, commissioner appointment update, and that's

645
00:56:33,029 --> 00:56:38,053
Carolyn and I. And as I mentioned on behalf of the board of commissioners at our

646
00:56:38,053 --> 00:56:43,007
last meeting, all the applicants were, were required to fill out a district one commission

647
00:56:43,007 --> 00:56:48,065
seat vacancy would be accepted until the final deadline of October 8th at 4 p.m.

648
00:56:50,015 --> 00:56:54,002
With that deadline now behind us today, we're announcing the names of all applicants

649
00:56:54,002 --> 00:56:59,024
who are registered voters and live in Port District 1. As confirmed by Benton County

650
00:56:59,024 --> 00:57:07,019
Election Division, these are Matt Binke, Don Britton, Barry Bush, Van Cummings,

651
00:57:07,004 --> 00:57:13,099
Nicholas Haberling, James Hempstead, Marie Moseley, and Robert Rob Welsh.

652
00:57:14,096 --> 00:57:18,063
And as we've said multiple times, there's no advantage of when these individuals

653
00:57:18,063 --> 00:57:23,068
applied because it was during our first um invitation for nominees or this current

654
00:57:23,068 --> 00:57:28,019
one. And they're all eligible to be considered on equal basis for the important role

655
00:57:28,019 --> 00:57:32,042
to serve our community. You know, and I find it very, very interesting with these

656
00:57:32,044 --> 00:57:36,014
people. If you look at them, if you know who they are or did any research on them.

657
00:57:37,028 --> 00:57:41,094
The Port of Kennewick is in a very, very unique position of what we do and how people

658
00:57:42,024 --> 00:57:47,011
view what we do. We have an awesome staff, um, that's just done quality work as we're

659
00:57:47,011 --> 00:57:50,035
talking about the marina, you know, it's, it's just, you'll never find another one

660
00:57:50,035 --> 00:57:56,076
like it. And there's, I think these people that applied. Really want to be part of

661
00:57:56,009 --> 00:58:01,052
the success that Port of Kennewick's enjoyed and be part of this team. So I just

662
00:58:01,054 --> 00:58:06,001
did a little bit and just think about this. We've got 8 applicants, 5 of them have

663
00:58:06,001 --> 00:58:12,001
held elected positions previously, 3 served on the Kennewick City council, 2 of them

664
00:58:12,001 --> 00:58:17,081
have served as mayor, 1 is a former city manager, 1's a school administrator, and

665
00:58:17,081 --> 00:58:22,041
1 is serving in the Washington State legislature. Legislation. So just think about

666
00:58:22,043 --> 00:58:25,066
the quality of people that applied and why do we have this quality? Because like

667
00:58:25,066 --> 00:58:29,034
I said, I think it's the Port of Kennewick, and I think we've got a reputation for

668
00:58:29,034 --> 00:58:33,014
doing good things and that people want to jump on board and be part of what we have.

669
00:58:33,097 --> 00:58:38,047
So, with that said, um, I'd like to invite Carolyn Lake to share the next steps in

670
00:58:38,047 --> 00:58:41,035
our appointment process. Carolyn

671
00:58:43,098 --> 00:58:49,009
Thank you, Commissioner. Yes, we have a couple more steps in this very important

672
00:58:49,009 --> 00:58:55,025
process. Now that you've announced who the applicants are, the commissioners will

673
00:58:55,025 --> 00:59:02,094
independently review the applicants' applications, and then at the October 27th

674
00:59:02,099 --> 00:59:08,068
regular public meeting, you commissioners will determine if you want to. Finalists

675
00:59:08,068 --> 00:59:14,044
to interview or if you want to interview all the qualified applicants that um commissioner

676
00:59:14,044 --> 00:59:20,075
you just named. Then on November 4th, the court will hold a special meeting open

677
00:59:20,075 --> 00:59:27,019
to the public at 5 p.m. at the Tri-Cities Business and Visitors Center boardroom

678
00:59:27,019 --> 00:59:32,001
in Kennewick, and the purpose of that meeting is to interview finalists for the vacant

679
00:59:32,012 --> 00:59:37,083
position. And all this is posted on the port's website in case you're frantically

680
00:59:37,083 --> 00:59:43,035
taking notes at that November 4th meeting, in addition to answering questions, each

681
00:59:43,035 --> 00:59:48,007
applicant interviewed will be asked to speak up to 3 minutes about the value they

682
00:59:48,007 --> 00:59:53,046
would bring to the commission. And the special public meeting will also include a

683
00:59:53,046 --> 00:59:59,048
public comment period after the interviews and applicant remarks are concluded, uh,

684
00:59:59,063 --> 01:00:03,086
so that the commissioners can have the benefit of hearing from community members

685
01:00:03,086 --> 01:00:10,014
on various applicants, um. The commissioners may choose to discuss the qualifications

686
01:00:10,014 --> 01:00:16,038
of the of the applicants at the special meeting or most likely defer that until November

687
01:00:16,038 --> 01:00:21,064
10th, um, which is the, uh, following regular public meeting of the commissioner.

688
01:00:21,099 --> 01:00:27,002
At that time, the commissioners will deliberate and actually appoint their selection

689
01:00:27,002 --> 01:00:32,057
to fill the vacant district one position. Then that appointed commissioner will then

690
01:00:32,057 --> 01:00:40,013
serve in that capacity until certification of the 2027 election. During the November

691
01:00:40,013 --> 01:00:47,077
2027 election, voters in District 1 will then elect an individual to serve as a representative

692
01:00:48,006 --> 01:00:54,054
on the board of commissioners for the full six-year term. And a little bit unusual.

693
01:00:55,007 --> 01:01:01,009
The candidate that's elected will take place immediately after the certification

694
01:01:01,009 --> 01:01:07,088
of the vote. They won't wait until January. They'll assume the position after. Um,

695
01:01:08,017 --> 01:01:14,064
the vote in 2027 is certified and of course, whoever is selected by the commission

696
01:01:14,064 --> 01:01:20,064
as the appointee, uh, this year, uh, is free to decide whether to run in that election

697
01:01:20,064 --> 01:01:27,018
or not. Thank you, commissioner. Thank you, Carolyn. Any questions of the appointment

698
01:01:27,018 --> 01:01:27,074
process?

699
01:01:29,081 --> 01:01:37,076
Nothing. Snap, any comments or questions or? I just, Tim. Sorry, earlier

700
01:01:37,076 --> 01:01:41,004
I told you I wasn't gonna say anything, and Rochelle gave me my script, which was

701
01:01:41,004 --> 01:01:46,071
a blank piece of paper, but you know me, I can't resist. Um, from my point of view,

702
01:01:47,005 --> 01:01:52,092
as your executive, this is kind of a sad time. We saw a great commissioner retire

703
01:01:52,092 --> 01:01:58,096
that left a, you know, a big hole to fill. But it's an exciting time, as, as Commissioner

704
01:01:58,096 --> 01:02:02,092
Novakovich mentioned, we have some great applicants. I mean, this is, this is an

705
01:02:02,092 --> 01:02:08,075
all-star field. But from my perspective, And I've said this a number of times. My

706
01:02:08,075 --> 01:02:14,051
job is to learn. Who the new commissioner is, what he or she likes, what their thoughts

707
01:02:14,051 --> 01:02:19,051
might be on moving forward with the port. So, I've got some learning to do. But also

708
01:02:19,051 --> 01:02:24,071
another thing that I've said repeatedly is, I have to learn the entire commission,

709
01:02:25,012 --> 01:02:30,032
because as you get another person to join you, it's likely gonna influence how you

710
01:02:30,032 --> 01:02:36,057
approach things and, you know, I've always said it's 1/3, 1/3, 1/3. But as a group,

711
01:02:36,079 --> 01:02:42,018
I'm looking forward to some new dynamics. It will give us a new recharge of energy.

712
01:02:42,055 --> 01:02:47,056
There will be opportunities for interesting debates. So my job, not only is to learn

713
01:02:47,087 --> 01:02:51,054
the likes and dislikes of the new commissioner, but I've got to relearn this entire

714
01:02:51,054 --> 01:02:55,095
board. And although I've been here 24 years, I do have some background saying that

715
01:02:55,095 --> 01:03:00,005
because when we get a new commissioner, You know, it's kind of like scrambling the

716
01:03:00,005 --> 01:03:04,078
deck a little bit, and it'll be fun. It will really be fun. This is a great opportunity,

717
01:03:05,015 --> 01:03:10,054
not only for the commission, the staff, but the public. And, you know, I think that

718
01:03:10,054 --> 01:03:16,068
uh you're seeing people that are energized, that want to be a part of this organization,

719
01:03:16,099 --> 01:03:22,006
and they will likely have some interesting insights and views on how we should go

720
01:03:22,006 --> 01:03:28,083
forward. So, it's gonna be a fun time. Thank you, Tim. Anybody else comments? Carolyn,

721
01:03:29,008 --> 01:03:29,095
anything else to add?

722
01:03:33,054 --> 01:03:38,005
Uh, I do not. Thank you. Thank you. Just thanks to the support team, um, that put

723
01:03:38,005 --> 01:03:43,049
together, um, the, the great process and, and supporting that process along the way.

724
01:03:43,058 --> 01:03:47,057
Thank you. And to add to that, you know, I just wanna thank Rochelle and Bridget

725
01:03:47,057 --> 01:03:53,046
and anybody else that, uh, prepared all this information for us because they prepared

726
01:03:53,046 --> 01:03:57,069
a binder that's full of information with notes and everything on what happens at

727
01:03:57,069 --> 01:04:01,094
every meeting and it's just You guys have done a great job, so I just want to thank

728
01:04:01,094 --> 01:04:05,003
you for that because I don't know how in the world we would have done that. And that's

729
01:04:05,003 --> 01:04:08,038
what I always say, kind of, kind of listen to these people because they know what

730
01:04:08,038 --> 01:04:11,085
to do and then they've done it and they do a better job than we do. So thank you

731
01:04:12,014 --> 01:04:12,007
very much.

732
01:04:14,022 --> 01:04:20,016
Anything else to add to? Appointment process. OK, seeing then we'll move on to uh

733
01:04:20,016 --> 01:04:26,022
CEO report if needed. Yeah, thank you. I've got a couple of items. Start off with

734
01:04:26,022 --> 01:04:31,059
the, um, an update on the passenger boat. Uh, I had worked a little bit earlier in

735
01:04:31,059 --> 01:04:38,037
the summer to get a letter that would come from Triports that would have some support

736
01:04:38,064 --> 01:04:44,043
for the passenger boat concept, and we got um support from our two sister ports,

737
01:04:44,052 --> 01:04:49,017
Port of Pasco, Port of Benton. And not only just support in the form of a letter,

738
01:04:49,025 --> 01:04:55,004
but when I talked with each of the CEO's very enthusiastic support for the concept.

739
01:04:55,073 --> 01:05:01,064
And then, um, as we were talking with um the city of Kennewick folks during our normal

740
01:05:01,064 --> 01:05:07,038
monthly meetings, we brought this up and we learned that The Kennewick Fire Department

741
01:05:07,038 --> 01:05:12,095
would love to have access to a vessel like this that they could use for emergencies,

742
01:05:13,012 --> 01:05:17,071
not firefighting, because that would be a specialized boat with pumps and firefighting

743
01:05:17,071 --> 01:05:21,063
equipment, but they mentioned that they don't even have a way to get on the water

744
01:05:21,063 --> 01:05:25,059
in case there was an emergency. Remember the plane that hit the power lines recently.

745
01:05:26,018 --> 01:05:31,033
That was a good example for them because they could have come down here, got in the

746
01:05:31,033 --> 01:05:36,022
boat, gone out there, and if there were people in the water, survivors and so forth,

747
01:05:36,058 --> 01:05:40,068
they could have picked them up using this vessel. And again, the vessel would be

748
01:05:41,066 --> 01:05:45,085
small enough that it could be maneuverable. It'd likely be a jet drive boat, so you

749
01:05:45,085 --> 01:05:49,041
don't have props in the water if you're trying to pick people up. It's better to

750
01:05:49,041 --> 01:05:53,081
have, you know, no props in the water that could be of danger to people that are

751
01:05:53,081 --> 01:06:00,022
in the water needing to be rescued. And looking at it, I'm quite confident that the

752
01:06:00,022 --> 01:06:05,046
vessel we would need for our purposes, primarily passenger capacity, with a couple

753
01:06:05,046 --> 01:06:11,098
of modifications could be very helpful for the fire department, and it would be styled

754
01:06:11,098 --> 01:06:16,066
somewhat off of the new Coast Guard boats that are off the Oregon Washington coast

755
01:06:16,066 --> 01:06:20,099
where they have drop down areas on the sides where they can pick up people from the

756
01:06:20,099 --> 01:06:26,079
water that could easily be modified into a passenger boat. And it could then be very

757
01:06:26,079 --> 01:06:31,087
useful for the fire department. So the Kennewick City manager working in conjunction

758
01:06:31,087 --> 01:06:37,027
with the fire chief, wrote us a fabulous letter that we attached to our packet. And

759
01:06:37,027 --> 01:06:43,007
then we also included a write-up about the vessel in the Journal of Business. When

760
01:06:43,007 --> 01:06:47,007
Rochelle and I were talking to the Journal of Business reporter just about various

761
01:06:47,007 --> 01:06:52,023
port projects, we did not mention the passenger boat to the writer, and she brought

762
01:06:52,023 --> 01:06:56,099
it up. She said, what about the passenger boat? And then on her own, she did a side

763
01:06:56,099 --> 01:07:02,005
story about that, showing that there was at least enthusiasm from the Journal of

764
01:07:02,005 --> 01:07:07,002
Business about the vessel. So we included that with our packet. I turned it into

765
01:07:07,002 --> 01:07:12,086
Carl Dye at Trideck, and Carl has the opportunity to maybe help us with some funding

766
01:07:13,019 --> 01:07:18,005
for the vessel. So I met with Carl last week, and he's gonna kind of move it up the,

767
01:07:18,035 --> 01:07:22,089
up the incline, so to speak, within the organization to see if there'd be an opportunity

768
01:07:23,002 --> 01:07:28,018
for some funding. So, that was very positive, and I'll go over my last two thoughts

769
01:07:28,018 --> 01:07:32,041
here with you and then I'll pause, see if you have any questions. Uh, towards the

770
01:07:32,041 --> 01:07:37,072
end of this week, on Friday, Commissioner Novakovich and myself are making the journey

771
01:07:37,072 --> 01:07:43,066
to Lewiston, Idaho. We will be staying there for a couple of days. We will be attending

772
01:07:43,066 --> 01:07:50,044
the Powwow, and I believe it's the Nez Perce tribe that um has it at the casino that's

773
01:07:50,044 --> 01:07:56,091
just a few miles from Lewiston. And well, we have seen a powwow about this time last

774
01:07:56,093 --> 01:08:02,066
year in Pendleton. We wanted to see another one, maybe in a slightly smaller venue.

775
01:08:03,025 --> 01:08:08,068
Because if we are being asked by the Confederated tribes to help them plan their

776
01:08:08,068 --> 01:08:14,036
first ever powwow in Tri-Cities, we figured it'd be a great opportunity to see another

777
01:08:14,036 --> 01:08:20,067
one in action and get a chance to interface with the promoters and the folks that,

778
01:08:20,069 --> 01:08:27,033
uh, implement the event. So that'll be an opportunity for us as well. And, um, Then

779
01:08:27,033 --> 01:08:34,096
my final point on my CEO report is that um we used to have something called Triports

780
01:08:34,096 --> 01:08:38,092
where the three directors would get together, we'd meet monthly and we just kind

781
01:08:38,092 --> 01:08:43,068
of talk about things that are going on in the ports, maybe nothing that rises to

782
01:08:43,068 --> 01:08:48,041
the level of a public meeting or media attention, you know, something. That might

783
01:08:48,041 --> 01:08:52,097
be a little bit more mundane, we get a chance to just kinda chew the fat, so to speak,

784
01:08:53,002 --> 01:08:58,008
on what happens internally in the ports, any new ideas we could share. When I, uh,

785
01:08:58,001 --> 01:09:04,081
broached the topic with Adam Lincoln, the CEO for Port of Pasco, he asked if, if

786
01:09:04,081 --> 01:09:09,065
he thought it would be prudent that we joined 1/4 port with us, Port of Walla Walla.

787
01:09:10,004 --> 01:09:14,011
And as you remember, they have property now that is just across the Snake River,

788
01:09:14,002 --> 01:09:20,067
so really almost a member of the Tri-Cities community. So we invited our good friend

789
01:09:20,067 --> 01:09:26,057
Pat Ray and, the executive from Porta Walla Walla. We met over at Puerto Pasco. No

790
01:09:26,057 --> 01:09:31,029
agenda. We just started talking and it was a lot of fun and we were there for probably

791
01:09:31,029 --> 01:09:35,097
an hour and a half talking about some ideas and it was so positive that we thought

792
01:09:35,097 --> 01:09:40,028
that we would do it again. So that is my report and I'll pause, see if you have any

793
01:09:40,003 --> 01:09:45,098
questions or comments. Yeah, that, that is awesome. Any questions? Well, I think

794
01:09:45,098 --> 01:09:51,022
it's great too, you know, the passenger boats started a conversations about uh the

795
01:09:51,022 --> 01:09:55,051
trip ports, and I think it's just great to have Walla Walla join in. Yeah, I think

796
01:09:55,051 --> 01:09:59,089
it's all these opportunities of working together. I think it's gonna be good. Yeah,

797
01:09:59,094 --> 01:10:04,061
I totally agree. Passenger boat or the boat is just a great idea. I mean, we Talked

798
01:10:04,061 --> 01:10:09,014
about the marina. We have all the facilities to take care of that boat and to make

799
01:10:09,014 --> 01:10:13,001
sure it's, it's taken care of well, a place for it to, I don't know what you call

800
01:10:13,001 --> 01:10:18,017
it, harbor it or store it or whatever, but anyway, we've got everything. So I think

801
01:10:18,017 --> 01:10:22,005
it's great and the fact that the city and the and the fire chief are excited about

802
01:10:22,005 --> 01:10:28,044
it. I think this is great. Good job. Good job. All right, we'll move on then to,

803
01:10:28,055 --> 01:10:30,092
uh, Commissioner meetings.

804
01:10:35,056 --> 01:10:39,031
Um, we went to the reception, the elected leader's reception. I went with, uh, Rochelle

805
01:10:39,031 --> 01:10:44,021
and, uh, Tim, I think was that 2 weeks ago now, yeah, and then, uh, also I was invited

806
01:10:44,024 --> 01:10:48,026
to the, um, women helping women in, uh, luncheon, so I attended that as a commissioner,

807
01:10:48,084 --> 01:10:56,071
and I think that was it for me. OK. And as Tim talked about, I attended the WPP environmental

808
01:10:56,071 --> 01:11:03,002
meeting and, um. Uh, virtually, I attended a WPPA legislative committee meeting.

809
01:11:04,097 --> 01:11:06,095
OK, we'll move on then to nonscheduled.

810
01:11:09,073 --> 01:11:15,097
Lisa, anything? Nick I do have just one item. Rochelle slipped me a note, and I want

811
01:11:15,097 --> 01:11:22,093
to correct the record. The HIF grant was $325,000 and that paid for the A&E at the

812
01:11:22,093 --> 01:11:27,053
pavilion parking lot, and the RCCF will pay for the construction part. Great, thank

813
01:11:27,053 --> 01:11:28,017
you for that.

814
01:11:30,019 --> 01:11:36,079
Like anything? I just have one quick thing, this is Rochelle. On, I guess last Monday,

815
01:11:36,096 --> 01:11:41,007
October 5th, the Tri-City Rivershore Enhancement Council held a field tour for the

816
01:11:42,018 --> 01:11:45,097
US Army Corps of Engineer Walla Walla District new commander, Lieutenant Colonel

817
01:11:45,097 --> 01:11:51,085
Doug Dresch. And part of the tour included a stop at Clover Island, as well as a

818
01:11:51,085 --> 01:11:56,021
lighthouse inspection that, to talk about the incredible partnership that we had

819
01:11:56,021 --> 01:12:01,069
with the COR, the, the CTUIR, the City of Kennewick, and Benton County, um, as well

820
01:12:01,069 --> 01:12:06,002
as Washington State. To, um, enhance and restore the shoreline on the north side.

821
01:12:06,007 --> 01:12:10,081
They were, um, impressed with what had been done and that the plantings have continued

822
01:12:10,081 --> 01:12:15,078
to thrive. Um, and we had representatives from all the cities, all the ports, Benton

823
01:12:15,078 --> 01:12:20,022
County, uh, Tri-Dec, and Visit Tri-Cities on that tour. And so there's a few pictures

824
01:12:20,022 --> 01:12:24,022
you can see of them at the top of the lighthouse as well. So, um, it was a good tour

825
01:12:24,022 --> 01:12:31,058
and, and good to meet him. But thank you. Amber, anything? Kim? Anything non-scheduled?

826
01:12:31,079 --> 01:12:36,006
Yeah, I just want to, uh, say it's nice to see our good friend Cal Cooy in here,

827
01:12:36,011 --> 01:12:40,018
and Cal has probably been coming in here for what, at least 30 years? Yeah, pretty

828
01:12:40,018 --> 01:12:46,003
close, OK. OK, thank you. Uh, how about Bridget? Anything unscheduled?

829
01:12:49,025 --> 01:12:54,032
Thank you, Commissioner. Um, just a reminder for you to discuss your, uh, Ben Franklin

830
01:12:54,032 --> 01:13:00,053
Council of Government meeting coming up on Friday. Thank you. Celine, anything unscheduled?

831
01:13:04,005 --> 01:13:07,012
I have nothing, Skip. Thank you. Thank you, David.

832
01:13:10,007 --> 01:13:14,017
Nothing for me today, thank you. Thank you. How about Carolyn? Anything unscheduled?

833
01:13:20,034 --> 01:13:24,055
I do not. Thank you. Thank you, Carolyn. Commissioner, is anything unscheduled?

834
01:13:27,023 --> 01:13:31,075
OK, well, I, I have a, probably a bunch of stuff here. One of them is, I will be

835
01:13:31,075 --> 01:13:35,018
gone on Friday when the Ben Franklin Council of Governments is having their board

836
01:13:35,018 --> 01:13:40,074
meeting and, and, uh, our fellow commissioner will be attending. And there's several

837
01:13:40,074 --> 01:13:47,027
action items on there. I don't know if you've reviewed any of them. Um They're probably

838
01:13:47,027 --> 01:13:51,099
pretty routine things. You can, you can review them. There's, uh, oh jeez, there

839
01:13:51,099 --> 01:13:58,068
must be 200 pages in this. Packet that went out Um, I, if I were you, I would just

840
01:13:58,007 --> 01:14:05,036
take a look at the resolution 0826. 09 26, 1026 and

841
01:14:05,036 --> 01:14:10,096
1126. Those would be the, the resolutions that you'd have to take action on. And

842
01:14:10,096 --> 01:14:14,072
from what I can read in those uh resolutions, I think they're just fine. If I was

843
01:14:14,072 --> 01:14:19,096
there, I would vote positive on, on all of those. But you can take a look at it.

844
01:14:20,005 --> 01:14:25,076
The other thing is we got an email from uh Michelle Holt who says that there's some

845
01:14:25,076 --> 01:14:29,087
group that got message of the Council of Governments meeting and it's, it's about

846
01:14:29,089 --> 01:14:35,008
the, oh, they're the anti, um, what, what is that called, the media things that are

847
01:14:35,008 --> 01:14:41,008
coming data centers, yeah, data centers, and, and they sent out some notice and said

848
01:14:41,017 --> 01:14:46,087
stack that meeting with people. So this morning I talked to Michelle about that and

849
01:14:47,015 --> 01:14:54,091
actually wrote um. Some script for their presiding officer to govern public

850
01:14:54,091 --> 01:14:59,082
comments, but they might have a stack room, and I'm, they're a little worried about

851
01:14:59,084 --> 01:15:05,007
that, but uh I'm sure my fellow commissioner can take care of it just fine. The other

852
01:15:05,007 --> 01:15:11,003
thing I've got is, um, we need to, or I would like to schedule a meeting on the powwow

853
01:15:11,003 --> 01:15:15,027
committee with Fred Hill. He's currently in Norway, but when he comes back, and I

854
01:15:15,046 --> 01:15:20,046
think he said November 6th might be a good date. I don't have it with me, but, uh,

855
01:15:20,059 --> 01:15:24,082
it would be nice if we could have the meeting in the Tri-Cities instead of Pendleton,

856
01:15:24,091 --> 01:15:30,028
but that's gonna kind of depend on Fred. And then a long time ago, I talked about

857
01:15:30,028 --> 01:15:34,079
my good friend Les Minthorne and how he, uh, before he passed, said he'd like to

858
01:15:35,016 --> 01:15:39,012
have me write some kind of publication about how he and I got along and how the board

859
01:15:39,012 --> 01:15:44,043
and the CQI got along. Well, I read a book by a guy named Fred, I think, Fred, no,

860
01:15:44,065 --> 01:15:50,044
Rick Stebert, I think. He's from Prineville, Oregon. He's an author, a pretty recognized

861
01:15:50,044 --> 01:15:54,009
author, and I read this really good book, so I congratulate him on the book. Well,

862
01:15:54,014 --> 01:15:59,034
we got to talking quite a bit and he's very, very interested in taking on this project

863
01:15:59,034 --> 01:16:03,061
and writing this book, and we'd like information. I know you guys have gathered a

864
01:16:03,061 --> 01:16:09,029
lot. I've got a lot, and he said maybe I could take a trip down there with information

865
01:16:09,029 --> 01:16:14,029
and meet him if you guys are willing to move forward with that. But he also told

866
01:16:14,029 --> 01:16:18,069
me in the phone call yesterday that he lost everything in a fire, lost his house,

867
01:16:18,082 --> 01:16:24,007
lost absolutely everything, and he was living in a tent. So he does have a a commercial

868
01:16:24,007 --> 01:16:27,066
building in Prineville, uh some kind of a retail store. I'm not sure what he does,

869
01:16:27,076 --> 01:16:32,086
but um he's he's pretty interested, but he says he wants a lot more information.

870
01:16:33,000 --> 01:16:38,078
So anyway, that's what I've got. Anybody else? Anything, Tim? Yeah, just to follow

871
01:16:38,078 --> 01:16:45,045
up on your data center, and I, I, I'm not speaking with 100% accuracy on this, but

872
01:16:45,098 --> 01:16:51,046
you know, the data center controversy is heating up and we might see these people

873
01:16:51,046 --> 01:16:56,054
come to other jurisdictions. And just wanted to get this out here in advance. My

874
01:16:56,054 --> 01:17:03,097
recollection is that the Port of Kennewick really isn't in the hunt for data centers.

875
01:17:04,019 --> 01:17:08,007
I remember a number of months ago getting a phone call to see from somebody saying,

876
01:17:08,083 --> 01:17:15,003
do we have any property that could be available. And while we have some acreage mainly

877
01:17:15,003 --> 01:17:19,031
in the Finley area that potentially could be available, when I had a chance to visit

878
01:17:19,031 --> 01:17:24,099
with Larry, our planner, and Amber Real Estate, found out that it likely would not

879
01:17:24,099 --> 01:17:29,031
work because the data centers require a lot of electricity. I think the limiting

880
01:17:29,031 --> 01:17:34,051
factor was this property that we have wouldn't have the availability of electricity.

881
01:17:34,006 --> 01:17:39,001
So when I shared that with the person that had interest, you know, the lead went

882
01:17:39,001 --> 01:17:44,021
dead. So I think if people came in here to talk about it. You know, we might save

883
01:17:44,021 --> 01:17:48,041
a little bit of time by letting them know that we likely don't have properties for

884
01:17:48,041 --> 01:17:53,053
this within, you know, in Port of Kennewick Holdings, and I know it's never been

885
01:17:53,053 --> 01:17:56,097
talked about at the commission level, so I would assume that we don't have any interest

886
01:17:56,097 --> 01:18:01,053
in pursuing this, even if we did have property, but again, I don't think we have

887
01:18:01,053 --> 01:18:07,058
property available, uh, and as you see from our budget, our interests in financial.

888
01:18:07,096 --> 01:18:12,061
Um, interests are pledged to other projects, so might save people some time, but

889
01:18:12,061 --> 01:18:15,051
if people want to come in and talk, you know, I suppose you got to let them talk.

890
01:18:15,006 --> 01:18:20,041
But you know, I, I find it a little bit amusing that they're going to talk to Heath

891
01:18:20,008 --> 01:18:24,059
and Heath doesn't have a dog in the fight on the data centers, but it sounds like

892
01:18:24,059 --> 01:18:28,035
they're just wanting to make the rounds. But I want to get a little bit ahead of

893
01:18:28,035 --> 01:18:33,051
this to let folks know that we're not looking in any way, shape or form for data

894
01:18:33,051 --> 01:18:38,005
centers because. A, I don't think there's interest from the commission, and B, I

895
01:18:38,005 --> 01:18:41,057
don't think we have property that would be suitable for that. Tim, thank you for

896
01:18:41,057 --> 01:18:44,069
getting that on the record and putting that out there. And, and you're right, council

897
01:18:44,069 --> 01:18:51,051
of governments that they're, they're going to um Attack maybe Friday has no dog in

898
01:18:51,051 --> 01:18:55,009
the fight either. So I think you're exactly correct. I think they're just trying

899
01:18:55,009 --> 01:18:59,043
to make the rounds everywhere they can. Sure, and just an observation from the peanut

900
01:18:59,043 --> 01:19:05,099
gallery is I don't think Commissioner Novakovic intended to have Commissioner Contreras

901
01:19:05,099 --> 01:19:10,019
take the arrows on this one. I really do think he had an obligation to go to Lewiston

902
01:19:10,019 --> 01:19:13,018
with me, right? That is correct, because I want to hear some more of your stories

903
01:19:13,018 --> 01:19:18,012
or the same ones over again. I'm not sure. Great. Thank you. All right, then we're

904
01:19:18,012 --> 01:19:21,076
in our last session of public comment. If anyone would like to address the commission

905
01:19:21,076 --> 01:19:25,079
on anything, um, we just ask us to state your name, state your residence for the

906
01:19:25,079 --> 01:19:29,071
record, and limit your comments to 3 minutes. Would anyone like to make a public

907
01:19:29,073 --> 01:19:30,006
comment at this time?

908
01:19:33,076 --> 01:19:38,023
All right, I'm seeing none. I don't see anything online. Uh, is there any other business

909
01:19:38,023 --> 01:19:40,044
that needs to come before the commission at this meeting?

910
01:19:43,054 --> 01:19:46,009
Seeing none, then this meeting is adjourned at 3:19. Thank you.

911
01:19:49,007 --> 01:19:50,017
Cal did,