Port of Ridgefield

Regular Meeting Minutes

March 8, 2017

Present: Joe Melroy Bruce Wiseman Scott Hughes

Brent Grening Bill Eling Laurie Olin

Susan Trabucco Jeanette Ludka Wonder Baldwin

Nelson Holmberg Lee Wells John Barbieri

Tevis Laspa Allene Wodaege Greg Thornton

Dave Kelly Mark Burton

1. CALL TO ORDER AND PLEDGE:

At 3:00pm Chair Bruce Wiseman called the Port of Ridgefield Commission meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance.

2. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES AND ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA:

February 22, 2017: Commissioner Joe Melroy made a motion to approve the meeting minutes as presented. Commissioner Scott Hughes seconded the motion. The motion was carried.

3. CALENDAR:

PNWA Mission to Washington DC: The mission is March 12 – 16. Nelson Holmberg and Commissioner Hughes will attend.

CREDC Spring Luncheon: The luncheon is Tuesday, March 21 at 11:30am at the Hilton Vancouver. The Commission, Brent Grening and Nelson Holmberg will attend.

Executive Session: The Commission will hold an executive session to discuss litigation on Friday, March 24 at 9:00am here at the Port Offices.

4. PUBLIC COMMENT

Tevis Laspa thanked the Port for their support of the 2017 Ridgefield School Bond. The School Bond passed!

New Ridgefield Library Campaign Update: Tevis provided an update of the proposed new Ridgefield Library: the campaign has received two $10,000 donations that were matched by the Community Foundation. He stated most of the funds have been raised by the Ridgefield community. The campaign has raised an estimated 33% of the funding for the new library. He mentioned the Trustees of the Fort Vancouver Regional Library is looking at two sites: the City of Ridgefield property between Main and Mill Street (the plot north of the Post Office) and the View Ridge Middle School is located.

Tevis announced that today from 3:00 – 9:00pm Vinnies Pizza has offered to donate 10% of their proceeds to the Ridgefield Library Building Campaign.

City of La Center: La Center Mayor Greg Thornton stated that at their January city council meeting, the council passed an ordinance to issue a special revenue bond to finance a sewer extension that would connect from La Center to I-5. He stated currently the City is waiting for the permit to start the bidding process.

Mayor Thornton also mentioned they approved a Moratorium sign code ordinance at the Junction.

Commissioner Joe Melroy invited Mayor Thornton and the La Center community to participate in the Ridgefield Big Paddle event that will take place on June 3. Mayor Thornton stated he enjoyed participating last year, plans to attend this year and will let the La Center community know the date for this year’s event.

Nelson Holmberg thanked Jeff Sarvis from the City of La Center for assisting the Port of Ridgefield with the Port’s fiber optics mapping process.

5. FINANCE:

Payment of the Bills: Commissioner Joe Melroy found the bills for the month of March to be properly prepared and made a motion to pay the bills. Commissioner Scott Hughes seconded the motion. The motion was carried. The bills totaled $1,117,890.95.

Cash Graph: The weekly cash graph is in the Commissioner’s dropbox.

6. REPORTS AND BUSINESS:

Innovation

Nelson Holmberg provided the following updates from his legislative meetings in Olympia last week:

The Washington Public Ports Association supports the 3-Ports joint legislative agenda and broadband. The HB 1702 (supported by Senator Mary Dye) died in committee. However, the companion bill, SB 5679 has been approved by the Senate by a vote of 48-1. What happens next is ESSB 5679 will go back to the house for a hearing, the date and time for the hearing will be announced next week. Brent Grening will testify at the hearing if the date is next week. There was also mention of the Port asking David Morgan to testify at the hearing.

Nelson stated that James Thompson, from WPPA did a good job representing the Ports throughout the session.

Nelson stated the Port has decided to withdraw its legislative capital budget request for $4M and concentrate on finding funding support for the Port’s fiber optics project.

Brent Grening added there was possible mention of funding possibilities for Port projects from the meeting he attended yesterday with governor Jay Inslee.

Nelson stated the CERB funding legislation is still alive and the WPPA Team is working on this.

Commission

None

7. PUBLIC AGENCY COMMENT:

Councilman Lee Wells reviewed the agenda for tomorrow’s Ridgefield City Council meeting. He stated there will be a public hearing and first reading regarding the Ridgefield Heights Development Agreement. They will also discuss the Quail Hill Development agreement and the I-5 Corridor Improvement.

8. PUBLIC COMMENT:

Dave Kelly mentioned his new winery is coming along and an anticipated grand opening will be Memorial Day weekend.

9. EXECUTIVE SESSION - LITIGATION:

At 3:42pm Chair Wiseman adjourned the regular meeting to enter into an executive session to discuss litigation, he stated no action will be taken.

10. ADJOURNMENT:

The regular meeting reconvened and adjourned at 4:40pm with no further comments or business. The next regular Commission meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 22, 2017 at 3:00pm. The meeting will be held at the Port of Ridgefield offices in the downstairs conference room located at 111 West Division Street in Ridgefield.

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R. Bruce Wiseman D. Joe Melroy

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Scott Hughes

Respectfully submitted by

Wonder Baldwin

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