At the heart of the pending election of three Port of Tacoma commissioners is whether the board did its due diligence, asking questions about a massive port development project that has since fizzled.
The two candidates for an open seat and the two challengers vow to do a better job of vetting projects before approving them.
The incumbents say that while they could have done more in retrospect, they did the best they could with the information they had – and they promise to do better if re- elected. The five-person board has one open seat – being vacated by longtime commissioner Ted Bottiger. Foss Waterway Development Authority Executive Director Don Meyer and former Pierce County Auditor Cathy Pearsall-Stipek are vying for the position. Commissioners Connie Bacon and Dick Marzano are being challenged by engineer Bill Casper and businessman Charles Kelly Creso, respectively.
The past few years have been trying ones at the port. The port planned to develop the Blair-Hylebos Peninsula into shipping container terminals, spurred by a 2007 deal to build a terminal for new customer NYK Line. The recession derailed NYK’s plans, and the shipping line decided to use an existing terminal instead.
But the past two years of the project’s planning were fraught with problems including significant increases in cost estimates. The port spent $190 million for the development – mostly on land, though $35 million was spent on planning and design.
Container volumes remain down, which hurts the port’s revenue. The agency cut its staff by nearly 15 percent this spring. And last week it was announced that Executive Director Tim Farrell was leaving following closed door sessions with the commission.
COMMISSIONER POSITION NO. 1
Connie Bacon said that in retrospect the commission could have asked more questions about the Blair-Hylebos project, but she’s not sure whether the answers coming from Farrell and staff members would have been any different.
“The commission did ask questions,” she said. “The answers we received along the way led us to believe it was better to move on than to stop.”
The commission voted more than 20 times to approve funding for NYK-related projects in the program’s two years. Most of the vote were unanimous, though Bacon abstained or dissented on at least two occasions.
She says Farrell’s pending departure and a new deal with NYK put the port on solid footing.
“The port is in a very strong position for us to move forward,” she said. “It’s the same port that has always been and we have the opportunity to look at this new economy and choose the leadership.”
The commissioner also wants to push the port to look for new revenue streams beyond containers. She touts her 10 years of experience on the commission, saying there’s “opportunities for the future and the best people to decide it are the ones with experience.”
Casper, too, thinks his experience makes him highly qualified to be on the commission. He is an engineer and runs a company that specializes in maritime projects.
Casper points to a lack of engineering expertise as the cause of many of the port’s missteps, including the increased cost estimates for the NYK project.
“That’s one good reason why there hasn’t been the due diligence and the ability to provide due diligence,” Casper said.
In August, Casper sent a letter to Farrell asking the port to hire his engineering firm to supplement the agency’s engineering department – something current commissioners agreed would be a direct conflict of interest.
Casper said if he’s involved with the search for a new director, then he would make sure that director has an appreciation for engineers and advocate that there be a professional engineer at the senior management level.
He advocates getting rid of the port’s international sales representatives, noting that getting customers is the shipping line’s job.
In a recent e-mail to The News Tribune, he pitched an idea to the current commissioners to build a nuclear power plant on the property once designated for the NYK Terminal.
“The Commissioners should team with Tacoma Power and apply for a license to build a nuclear plant at the NYK site. They should also try to get a license for Maytown in order to increase the value of that property,” he wrote.
COMMISSIONER POSITION NO. 2
Dick Marzano said the commission certainly made some mistakes with the Blair-Hylebos Peninsula Redevelopment, but at the same time, much was accomplished.
He touts the numerous properties the port acquired in preparing to develop the peninsula, and notes that the land consolidation will benefit the agency in the future.
Marzano said Farrell’s pending departure is the “right decision for both sides,” and when it comes to finding a replacement, he wants an open process.
“I would want us to have an open public study session that gives us some guidelines of what we are looking for in a new director,” he said. “Taking input from the public is welcome.”
He said the port could have more study sessions on critical issues.
If elected again, Marzano said that while he doesn’t want to micromanage the port, he plans to put more time into decision making “to make sure that the information brought to us is the complete information.”
He said his expertise on the commission – derived from decades of work as a longshoreman and 13 years as a commissioner – is needed.
“My opponent has talked about his international business degree, but I’ve been down there for 40 years hands on, working with what the port does,” Marzano said. “I envy his education, but at the same time, people working in that business for the amount of years I have also have an education.”
Challenger Charles Creso does promote his educational and business background – he has three college degrees and sells and leases commercial real estate.
“You need the ability to ask the right questions,” he said. “It’s an important thing to have the ability to do the research.”
He said that if elected, he’d make sure that the commission gets contracts and information with ample time to review them before casting a vote.
“No commission should be making decisions on a do-pass recommendation from staff or because a project has been sold so enthusiastically,” Creso said.
Marzano said that already happens and that if the commissioners feel like they don’t have a good understanding of an issue then they take it off the meeting agenda.
Creso also thinks the port was too optimistic in its economic forecasting of a few years back when container volumes were on a steep climb and most ports counted on them to keep growing.
“I’d do my own forecasts instead of relying on other economic forecasts,” he said.
COMMISSION POSITION NO. 4
Don Meyer and Cathy Pearsall-Stipek both said the port commission and staff didn’t do enough homework regarding the NYK project – and contend their skills will provide the port with more analysis.
They are vying for the seat being vacated by longtime commissioner Bottiger.
“I’m glad to see NYK accommodated,” Meyer said. “It’s a graceful way to end a bad decision.”
Pearsall-Stipek has questioned how the port commission “would allow a contract to be signed without knowing the full cost of the project.”
The candidates come from varied backgrounds. Meyer is the head of the Foss Waterway Development Authority and familiar with the Tideflats and businesses there – at one time he was deputy director of the port.
The main mission of the agency he heads now is to redevelop the west side of the Foss Waterway.
“Having spent almost 25 years negotiating major transactions, I believe I can fundamentally ask the right questions,” Meyer said. “I have what’s needed to understand very complicated transactions and making sure decisions are really understood from a risk standpoint.”
Pearsall-Stipek says her experience on policy setting boards, including six years on the Tacoma school board, has prepared her to be a commissioner. The current commission doesn’t understand their responsibility, she said.
“It’s exactly like the school board,” she said. “It’s where you monitor and keep a close tab; you don’t micromanage what the executive director is doing but you lay out the expectations – it’s been a runaway port the last few years.”
She has said that she doesn’t know much about the port, but added that she has the “tools to get the bottom of issues.”
Pearsall-Stipek was the Pierce County auditor for nearly 10 years, served on the Pierce County Council and as a state representative.
Her prime mission if elected is to “set out how to go about finding a new executive director.”
“I don’t have any other priorities,” she said, though she added that the port should think about creating an incubator for maritime businesses.
Meyer said the port should focus on productivity and being competitive and work toward improving rail capability. He wants to improve the public’s access to the water – whether that’s on the Tideflats or beyond, and explore options for new forms of revenue.
Pearsall-Stipek questioned whether Meyer is fiscally responsible, noting that he recently asked the Tacoma City Council for $300,000 to help fund the waterway authority.
“I don’t see any fiscal responsibly there,” she said. “When you are having to go ask for more money then there’s something wrong with your fiscal management.”
Meyer said the situation is actually opposite – he said managing money and budgets is his strong suit. An investor who was supposed to buy property from the waterway authority walked out on the transaction, he said.
Considering that and noting that the real estate market is unpredictable, Meyer said the $300,000 is a proactive action aimed at making sure his agency has enough funds to do its work in the future.
“It’s very good management when you have a volatile market,” he said. “You need to talk about the problem beforehand and not after the fact.”
Kelly Kearsley: 253-597-8573
Kelly.kearsley@thenewstribune.com
Professional engineers have a very high professional standard regarding conflict of interest. Under special circumstances and if all parties agree to the arrangement, an offer to provide professional services in a case like this is not a conflict of interest. My personal standard is that all parties must proactively encourage an arrangement otherwise there should not be an arrangement. An offer to help deal with an emergency was offered. It was just an offer to be accepted or rejected. As Tim Farrell suggested might be the case, my offer was rejected, and that was the end of it. If I were in a situation where I was in a position to be a voting member of the committee, I would have abstained from this vote based on any potential conflict of interest or the perception thereof.
It turned out that the NYK emergency was beyond help by the time it was acknowledged. NYK is joining with APMT to share APMT’s existing long-term lease. The Port neither gains nor loses except NYK is no longer a potential Port tenant. Hopefully Longshore gains jobs they lost when Maersk stopped using APMT.
Bill Casper