MINUTES

PORT OF PEND OREILLE

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING

Date: July 14, 2015

Chairman Whysong called the meeting of the Port of Pend Oreille Board of Commissioners to order at 9:00 a.m. in the Port office located at 1981 Black Road, Usk, Washington. In attendance: Chairman Whysong, Vice ChairmanHarkness, Secretary Shanklin and Port staff members Kelly Driver, Susan Bluff, Cliff Bauer, and Brad Byrd. Also in attendance, Kevin Hee and Brian Rice with WSDOT; joining at the field trip location were Howard (Mike) Manwill and Lee Kasper.

For purposes of clarification, the minutes are presented as listed on the agenda, not necessarily in the order they were discussed.

MINUTES: Commissioner Shanklin made a motion to approve the minutes of June 9, 2015 as presented. Motion seconded by Commissioner Harkness, so ordered by Chairman Whysong.

COMMENTS:

None at this time.

OLD BUSINESS:

1. PAINT BOOTH CHANGES:

A. DISCUSSION: The SEPA process is under way; this must be approved before anything else can move forward.

2. RODEO PARADE:

A. DISCUSSION: The Board had a great time and enjoyed being a part of the Newport rodeo event.

3. AUGUST MEETING DATE:

A. DISCUSSION: A reminder that the next meeting will be held on August 4th; the legal notice for this change has been sent to the Miner.

4. STATE OF IDAHO TAX ISSUES:

A. DISCUSSION: Staff is continuing to work with BNSF on getting the State the information requested.

5. OTHER OLD BUSINESS:

A. MOTOR CAR RIDES:

1. DISCUSSION: Kelly reported that the insurance for the August 15th motor car rides has been received. Cliff will work to find a POVA employee to accompany the group.

B. JUNE 26TH LEADERS MEETING:

1. DISCUSSION: The was discussion on how to increase attendance, the setting of dates and on information discussed at the meeting.

FIELD TRIP:

At 10:20 a.m. Chairman Whysong stated that the Commissioners and Staff would be traveling to a location for a requested, and previously denied, private crossing. Kevin Hee and Brian Rice with the WSDOT, Mike Manwill and Lee Kasper will be joining the Port at this location, near Highway 20 milepost 406.

The site was inspected and confirmed that it does not meet the railroad’s requirements for slope and angle. WSDOT also commented on the ingress and egress for the State highway requirements. Discussion was held and a possible solution for Mr. Kasper’s issue was discussed between the Port and the Manwill family.

Staff will continue to work on this matter. At approximately 11:40 a.m. the Board and Staff left the site location to return to the office. Commissioner Whysong resumed the meeting in the office at 12:00 p.m.

NEW BUSINESS:

1. LEADERS MEETING DATES:

A. DISCUSSION: Kelly shared possible September meeting dates that the County Commissioners had available. Two of those potential dates were selected by the Board. Kelly will continue working on the matter with the County, PUD and Tribe.

2. CREW SAFETY:

A. DISCUSSION: With weather conditions ranging from 90 to over 100 degrees for the extended periods of time steps had to be taken to ensure crew health and safety. Crew starting times were changed and Gatorade and water bottles, as well as electrolyte tablets, were purchased to keep crew members hydrated.

B. ACTION: The Board agreed with these expenses to avoid heat exhaustion or other health issues.

3. STORAGE CARS:

A. DISCUSSION: Kelly reported that a storage agreement for 235 empty crude oil cars has been entered into. These cars have already started arriving and could be on line anywhere from a month to a year; the amount of time the cars will spend on POVA will depend on the economy.

B. ACTION: The Board was in agreement with the storage of these empty cars.

4. OTHER NEW BUSINESS:

A. 2016 SPECIAL TRAIN RIDE:

1. DISCUSSION: Commissioner Shanklin requested consideration of a special train ride for September 17, 2016 for the Great Northern Railroad Association. The group, estimated at 100-150 people, would like to tour the POVA shop before heading to Ione for the train ride. There was discussion regarding costs to do this ride, to rent portable toilets for the number of participants, and for the down time of shop personnel.

2. ACTION: General consensus was to allow this special trip; however, no guarantees would be made at this time on possible Acts of God, trestle conditions or other situations which could prevent the ride.

STAFF REPORTS:

1. ROADMASTER – CLIFF BAUER:

  • Track work including tie replacement, ballast and tamping on the Idaho portion.
  • Worked on two (2) crossings on the north end of the line.
  • Working on hauling rock to put under the Wolf Creek Trestle. The water run off this spring created a trough which has to be filled in to protect the integrity of the trestle. It will take about 200 yards of material.
  • The north end of the line is about ready for Lions Club rides. He does need to patrol between Usk and Ione.
  • He did some gauging of tracks for Ponderay Newsprint.
  • Due to high temperatures, two (2) sun kinks occurred. At Albeni Falls he had to cut out a two (2) inch piece from each side to allow the rail to expand.
  • Hearing and vision testing, as well as CPR training, has been completed.
  • The dry weather has forced us to begin fire patrol with unit 4. The fire patrol vehicle travels approximately 15 minutes behind the train watching for any fires. Several small fires have been extinguished all of which occurred in old ties and were between the rails. The locomotives have been inspected and brake shoes changed as a precaution. Fire patrol will continue until weather conditions change.

2. MANAGER- KELLY DRIVER:

  • Working on a new updated timetable.
  • LEPC – two (2) meetings. The first was to set up a mock crash scene to allow picture taking. These photos will be used for a tabletop drill later in the year. The second meeting was the standard quarterly meeting.
  • Attended training in Pasco on public works rules and regulations.
  • BNSF has agreed to the extension of the current rental rate and will continue this rate through 2016. They are not ready to begin discussions on extending the line lease.
  • Discussion on the inspection of the dike and culverts.

3. FINANCIAL OFFICER- SUSAN BLUFF:

  • Susan presented the financial report and storage report information for the month ending June 30, 2015. She also reported on an upcoming training on changes to Railroad Retirement reporting requirements and updating accounting and payroll software. She will be attending training in Chicago August 26, 27 and 28. She will also be attending a Notary training in Spokane next week.

4. CHIEF MECHANICAL OFFICER- BRAD BYRD:

  • The two (2) PAML locomotives and one (1) MRL locomotive were shipped out.
  • Worked in Warden.
  • Will be in the Tri-cities tomorrow.
  • MRL locomotives.
  • Did fire prevention work on POVA locomotives.
  • Work to do on EWG locomotives.

RECORDS FOR APPROVAL:

A. TIME AND EXPENSE SHEETS: Approved as submitted.

B. WARRANTS: Operating Expense warrants 41026-41164 totaling $ 185,462.97 were approved as submitted.

EXECUTIVE SESSION:

At 12:50 p.m. Chairman Whysong recessed the regular meeting for an executive session on a personnel performance issue. At 1:01 p.m. he brought the regular meeting back to order stating that no decisions were made in the executive session.

ADJOURN: There being no further business Chairman Whysongadjourned the meeting at 1:15 p.m.

Van Whysong, ChairmanKelly J. Driver, Manager

Date Approved: ______