|
|
|
|
From the Washington Public Ports Association |
|
|
|
May 2011 |
|
Upcoming Events June
15 – 17, 2011 A Broad Range of Topics
Showcased at WPPA Spring Meeting WPPA Finance &
Administration Seminar Registration Deadlines Approaching It’s
That Time Again: A Quick Guide to Redistricting Washington
State Tourism Launches Promotion to Boost Local Economies Wetland
Bank Invests in Clark County Habitat State
Auditor’s Office Announces Trainings WPPA's
Spring Meeting at Semiahmoo Resort in Blaine was praised by guests for the
variety of interesting topics presented and speakers present. From the effects of major Washington
Department of Transportation (WDOT) projects on port freight traffic, to how
ports can prepare for seismic events, the topics were timely and educational.
On Thursday,
Johan Hellman and Ginger Eagle delivered a musically-driven presentation on
the 2011 legislative session which gave attendees an overall picture of the
outcome of bills affecting ports, including the passage of bills on port
commissioner salaries and on public records act penalties. Immediately following, United State
Representative Rick Larsen spoke
on the Federal Transportation bill and the importance of freight mobility to
our region. He elaborated on his
support of a national freight transportation program.
Also presented were the
always-popular Port Reports. The Port
of Columbia’s manager, Jennie Dickinson, gave a very well-received
presentation on the changes and improvements in her district, which included
a significant rise in tax-base and population. Bob McChesney, Executive Director of the
Port of Edmonds, discussed
the port’s Harbor Square development and its challenges as they relate to
zoning height restrictions. The panel
concluded with Nelson Holmberg, Executive Director of the Port of Woodland,
who gave a report highlighting new tenants bringing new jobs into the area.
During the business
meeting, the $1,500 Lewis R. Holcomb Scholarship was awarded to Kate
Pattison, daughter of Port of Seattle’s Scott Pattison.
Kate plans to use her scholarship at Yale University this fall. The Board of Trustees was also provided
with an update on the WPPA building purchase.
As always, we’d like to get a better sense how
attendees felt the meeting went. Meeting attendees should have received an
email survey from Zoomerang. It’s a quick survey
that won’t take up much of your time and your responses will help us continue
to build meetings better suited to your needs. If you attended the meeting,
but did not receive a survey, you can fill one out here: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/U2JTR5CLSR92. Mark your calendars now for both the 2011 Annual
Meeting, to be held November 30 - December 2 at the Hyatt Regency
in Bellevue, and the 2012 Spring Meeting, which will be May 16-18 at the
Davenport Hotel and Towers in Spokane.
The
registration deadline for the the 2011 WPPA Finance
and Administration Seminar is quickly approaching! This year’s seminiar
will be held from June 15th to June 17th at the
Skamania Lodge, overlooking the beautiful and scenic Columbia River
Gorge. This year we’re
covering the impacts of the federal health care reform legislation, public
records retention and social media strategy, creating a culture for workplace
responsibility and how redistricting may affect your port. Technical issues
will also be addressed including navigating the municipal bond market and
writing policies for investments. The deadline to register is June 10th. To register, please visit http://www.washingtonports.org/member_resources/events/eventregistrationfin.asp.
As
a reminder, the new Census data was made available to the state redistricting
commission on April 1, 2011. Census
data is due to county and local jurisdictions by May 16, 2011. All cities, counties, and special districts
must prepare a redistricting plan, notify the public, and hold a hearing on
the plan within 8 months of receipt of the data. Because
port district elections will occur in 2011 before redistricting can be
finalized, the redistricting plan adopted and finalized in May, 2012 will not
apply to port districts until December 17, 2012, with precinct change
finalization due by May 3, 2013.*
If
you are a county-wide port: A countywide port district with three commissioner districts in a county
with three county legislative authority districts must use the same
boundaries as the county commissioner districts. (RCW 53.12.010) If
you are less than county-wide or have five-member or seven-member county
councils: Your
plan must meet the following criteria (RCW 29A.76.010): · Each
commissioner district shall be as equal in population to one another as
possible. · Must
be as compact as possible. · Must
be geographically continuous as possible. · Must
not favor or disfavor any racial group or political party. · Should
coincide with existing recognized natural boundaries. *Notice and hearing are
required before the adoption of any plan.*(RCW 53.16.020) For more in-depth information
please visit: http://www.sos.wa.gov/_assets/elections/RedistrictingGuide.pdf *Guide to Redistricting, Washington
Secretary of State Who do you wish would visit you in Washington? How about your mother,
your best friend, or your nieces and nephews? Now is your chance to invite
them to experience your neck of the woods, and simultaneously support our
local economy, with the launch of Washington State Tourism’s “Share Your
Washington” promotion. Created in partnership with destinations around the
state, Washingtonians can send their family and friends a special Share Your
Washington invitation online at www.ShareYourWashington.com.
Running through June 15, the Share Your Washington promotion
encourages Washingtonians to invite their loved ones to visit them, while
also entering the inviter into a sweepstakes for the chance to win a
significant grand prize from Alaska Airlines. Entering is simple – residents
of Washington may visit www.ShareYourWashington.com
to send electronic postcards to friends, which automatically enters the
sender into the sweepstakes. There is no limit to the number of times
residents can enter – the more friends and family they invite, the more
chances they have to win the grand prize from Alaska Airlines! The one grand
prize package consists of two components: 1. Unlimited air travel
within Washington State on Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air numbered flights
for the winner and companion for a whole year, beginning July 1, 2011,
and ending on June 30, 2012. 2. Two round trip coach tickets for
two people anywhere Alaska Airlines flies. The round trip travel vouchers
may be redeemed between July 1, 2011, and June 30, 2012. Travel must
be completed by June 30, 2012. Share Your Washington is also great for invited friends and family, as
each electronic postcard includes special deals and discounts for the visitor,
such as shopping discounts or special rates at local hotels. In addition to
the electronic postcards and sweepstakes, the Share Your Washington website
features a two-minute video “PSA” that showcases how tourism matters to local
and state economies. “Tourism is Washington’s fourth-largest export-oriented industry, and
our local economies depend on travelers to support local jobs and
businesses,” said John Cooper, President of Washington State Destination
Marketing Organizations Association (WSDMO). "The Share Your Washington
program allows residents to make a difference in helping support their local
tourism economies. If we all get one person to visit, we could help create
20,000 Washington jobs.” In 2010, travelers spent $15.2 billion in Washington, according to the
recently released Washington State Travel Impacts Study, making 2010 the
second-best year on record for the state. Visitor spending generated nearly
$1 billion in tax revenue and supported 143,800 jobs. “We’re proud to support tourism across our home state as we know
firsthand just how important it is,” said Joe Sprague, Alaska Airlines’ Vice
President of Marketing. “We look forward to providing someone a once-in-a-lifetime year-long air travel pass throughout
this incredible state.” For more information about Share Your Washington, or to invite a
friend to visit Washington, please visit www.ShareYourWashington.com
or www.facebook.com/ShareYourWA.
You can also find related Twitter discussions using the hashtag
#ShareYourWA. Five years
in the making, about 154 acres of wetlands on Port of Vancouver property is
helping balance development with restored habitat. The port, working
with Habitat Banc NW, a company that restores and prepares wetlands as
mitigation for future development, identified portions of a former farm in
the Vancouver lowlands that could be restored into high-quality habitat, with
access to ample water. This week the first pieces or credits of habitat for
wetland mitigation from the Columbia River Wetland Mitigation Bank were
released for sale to developers, agencies and other customers. “Wetland banks are a highly effective way to
preserve valuable habitat and ensure responsible development by restoring
healthy wetlands before you begin construction,” said Patty Boyden, Port of
Vancouver environmental services director. The port has
worked with Habitat Banc NW to develop a pro-active approach to compensating
for lost wetland habitat resulting from port and other regional development.
The partnership saves both time and money to meet its mitigation
requirements, while providing a funding source to maintain the wetland from
sales of mitigation credits. Wetland banks are required to restore and repair
wetlands before development has occurred, to ensure the habitat is functional
and in place. The wetland bank at the Port of Vancouver can be used to offset
development in an area which extends along the Columbia River between
Bonneville Dam and the City of Longview. State Auditor’s Office Announces
Trainings
In
conjunction with the Washington Finance Officers Association, the State
Auditor’s Office is teaching the following classes during 2011: BARS,
Cash Basis Accounting & Reporting, Federal Grants Requirements &
Management, and GASB 54 Overview Webinar. For a more detailed
description of each class and to register online, go to www.wfoa.org.
Budgeting,
Accounting and Reporting System (BARS): Applies to all government types except ports, transits and PUDs.
This class provides an overview of BARS for GAAP and cash-basis governments.
Federal
Grant Requirements and Management: This
course provides an overview of auditing and accounting requirements related
to federal grants.
Port
of Olympia Partners Donate Bottled Water to Japan Relief Effort
When the Global Wisdom sailed from the Port of Olympia on April 20,
2011, it carried 56,840 bottles of water—7,505 gallons—to the people of Japan
affected by the recent earthquake and tsunami. Jeff Olsen of SSA, which provides stevedoring services for the Global
Wisdom, coordinated the relief effort while the vessel was being loaded with
Weyerhaeuser logs destined for Chugoku Lumber Company in Japan. When Olsen
asked Chugoku what relief was most needed and how he could help, the answer
came back: “We need bottled water—it’s hard to come by!” The Global Wisdom volunteered the space on the vessel and free ocean
transport. Volunteers from International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU)
Local 47 and employees from Weyerhaeuser, Port of Olympia and SSA donated
time and $5,600 for the water. At the end of the day, the longshore workers
and SSA staff voluntarily loaded the 29 pallets of bottles onto the vessel. Keith Bausch, president of ILWU Local 47, worked alongside other
longshore volunteers. “We appreciate the work that we receive for
shipping logs to Japan,” said Bausch, “So it is a great privilege to be able
to give something back to help the people of Japan through their time of
suffering.” Scuttlebutt Brewing Co. Opens at the Port of Everett's Waterfront
Center to Record Crowds! On April 15,
Scuttlebutt Brewing Co. opened at the Port of Everett's new Waterfront Center
and drew record crowds. The popular
waterfront restaurant and brewery now located at 1205 Craftsman Way, almost
doubled its best day volume at its previous location off West Marine View
Drive, Scuttlebutt Co-owner Phil Bannan said. "We are
really happy to be in our new location, and would like to thank Gaffney
Construction and all the others that worked so hard to meet our opening
deadline," Bannan said. The Port
signed a six-year lease with multiple options with Scuttlebutt in August 2010
for 5,560-square-foot space. "Waterfront
Center was a perfect site for Scuttlebutt," Director of Properties Steve
Hager said. "The building was designed to meet the needs of the boating
community, yet also provide an outlet for non-boaters to come down have a
meal and enjoy a walk around the waterfront – Scuttlebutt provides for
both." Scuttlebutt
has been a tenant of the Port of Everett since its company started in 1996.
Its former location is part of an environmental cleanup and the building,
along with the other abandoned structures will be removed in 2012 as part of
the cleanup effort. The area is part of the Port's waterfront revitalization
effort. Green Gateway Environmental Excellence Awards Recognize
Sea-Tac Airport Tenants In conjunction with Earth Day, the Port of Seattle
announced the first-ever winners of Sea-Tac Airport's Green Gateway
Environmental Excellence Awards for airport tenants. Both Alaska Airlines and
HMSHost won in the Environmental Performance Category for their recycling and
composting accomplishments. Alaska Airlines earned the honor for increasing its
in-flight recycling capture rate from 28 percent in 2009 to 46 percent in
2010, and for increasing recycling at its Sea-Tac flight kitchen from 25 tons
in 2009 to 106 tons in 2010. HMSHost won for both recycling and composting. This
airport partner diverted about 90 percent of its pre-consumer food scraps
from landfills by using composting procedures at all of its Sea-Tac Airport
food preparation areas. In addition,
HMSHost recycled 70 tons of cardboard, 83 tons of glass and large quantities
of other recyclable materials through its efforts in the terminal and
off-site airport support locations.
The Port recently established the awards program at
Sea-Tac in conjunction with the Port's 100th anniversary in 2011,
and the Port's commitment to be the Green Gateway for its environmental
leadership and award-winning programs. These awards are designed to recognize the environmental
accomplishments of airport tenants and airlines each year, and acknowledge
the critical roles they play in meeting the airport's environmental
goals. The award program accepts nominations for any project,
process or action that promotes environmental leadership and stewardship at
Sea-Tac Airport.Entries are evaluated using
criteria established for the categories of Environmental Education and
Outreach, Environmental Innovations and Environmental Performance. Port of Camas-Washougal Releases 2010 Economic Report The Port of Camas-Washougal today announced
the availability of the 2011 Community Report, a detailed financial report
for the year ending December 31, 2010. An electronic copy is available online
at http://portcom.com/index.php/about/finances/.
·
The port recorded a positive net income of
$1,559,099. By proactively planning ahead to deal with anticipated lower
property tax revenues, the port reduced expenses, lived within its means and
did not draw on cash reserves. · Operating revenues have continued to exceed operating expenses for the
last five years. Port taxes are not used for operations or any day-to-day
business of the port. · Port residents with a home assessed at $200,000 pay approximately $82
in port taxes per year. · A bond refunding will save the port $288,931 over the next 11 years.
Port of Vancouver Receives $15 Million for High
Speed Rail Improvements The Port of
Vancouver has been awarded $15 million from the U.S. Department of
Transportation’s high speed rail program. The announcement came from U.S.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood as part of a national investment program
to speed up trains on the U.S. system. The grant
will be invested in the port’s West Vancouver Freight Access (WVFA) project,
a multi-year, multi-phased effort to improve the movement of freight through
the port and reduce congestion on the regional rail system. The U.S.
Department of Transportation (USDOT) funding will be specifically invested in
construction of rail access point at the east end of the port that is
separate from the mainline. The project will reduce delay on the freight and
passenger mainline by up to 40 percent while tripling the port’s rail volume
during the coming years. Construction on this $38 million project element
will begin by April 2013, with scheduled completion in January 2016. “This award
demonstrates how our partnerships with the Washington State Department of
Transportation, our congressional representatives and the BNSF Railway
Company have effectively demonstrated the passenger and freight rail benefits
of this project to the region and the national rail system,” said Port of
Vancouver Executive Director Larry Paulson. The grant is part of $2.02
billion awarded by the USDOT for 22 high-speed intercity passenger rail
projects, part of a nationwide network that will connect 80 percent of
Americans to high-speed rail in 25 years. With
completion anticipated in 2017, the $150 million West Vancouver Freight
Access project is expected to attract more than $400 million in rail related
private-sector investment and create between 1,000 and 2,000 new, permanent
jobs. In addition, the project generates an anticipated 4,000 construction
jobs over the life of the project. Employment
Grows at Port of Skagit Facilities The First
Quarter Employment Census, prepared by port staff, showed port tenants
employed 842 people full-time during the quarter, an increase of 25 from last
spring. Part-time employment also grew, from 109 jobs last spring to 165 now,
the census also revealed. “This is the
first time since the start of the recession that we have seen year-over-year
improvements in both full-time and part-time employment in the census,” said
Patsy Martin, executive director of the Port of Skagit. “I hope this is the
beginning of a trend that will continue.” The numbers
were mixed compared to the third quarter 2010, however, with employers
reporting 91 fewer full-time jobs but 51 more part-time jobs. Martin noted
there were 11 port tenants reporting at least 20 percent growth in full- and
part-time jobs since last year. In addition, the port attracted four new
tenants in the past year, bringing in a total of 16 new full-time jobs and
four part-time jobs. Port Staff Completes FEMA Disaster
Training Specialized for Sea-Tac Airport The Port of Seattle Commission this
week recognized sixty (60) Port staff members who completed a week-long,
specialized FEMA disaster training exercise to test emergency preparedness at
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Sea-Tac is only the second airport to
complete the Community-specific Integrated Emergency Management Course. The scenario of the exercise centered
on a progression of earthquakes that ranged in magnitude from 4.5 to a major
7.4, the kind of disaster predicted for the Puget Sound region. The quake
scenario caused significant damage to the runways, collapsed bridges on
entrance expressways and terminal drives, damaged buildings and additional
airport infrastructure. "You never know what a disaster
is going to feel like until you are in it," said Commissioner Gael
Tarleton, who participated in the exercise. "But through exercises like
this, staff members experience some of the stresses and challenges involved
in an emergency, and we are better prepared to serve the public when a
disaster happens." As the course progressed, the
scenario-related events increased in complexity, threat, and pressure
allowing real-life roles to be practiced in realistic emergency situations.
The course is designed to verify existing emergency plans by testing
participant knowledge, awareness, flexibility, leadership, decision making,
and interpersonal skills under extreme pressure in the Emergency Operations
Center (EOC) environment. Participants in the exercise included
Port staff from Airfield and Terminal Operations, Security, Maintenance,
Concessions, Police, Fire, Planning, Finance and Emergency Preparedness, plus
participation from Corporate and Seaport Senior Team Executives including CEO
Tay Yoshitani. In addition, eleven other partner agencies participated to
work on coordinated regional response including Alaska Airlines, King County
and Washington State Emergency Management, the Cities of SeaTac and Kent,
King County Sheriff and the Red Cross.
Participants
listen to an instructor at the FEMA Emergency Management Institute as part of
a community -specific disaster training specialized for Sea-Tac Airport.
Courtesy Port of Seattle. Port of Olympia Foreign
Trade Zone (FTZ) Expands Its Opportunities Increased flexibility and expanded boundaries are two goals behind the
Port of Olympia’s efforts to have its Foreign Trade Zone No. 216 reorganized
under the U.S. Department of Commerce’s new “Alternate Site Framework
Program”.
Port of Vancouver
receives $800,000 CERB loan The Port of
Vancouver announced today that it will receive an $800,000 loan from the
Washington State Community Economic Development Revitalization Board (CERB).
The funding will be used to make improvements to an existing port facility
that are necessary before the aluminum extrusion company, Sapa Profiles,
Inc., locates at the port. “This loan will
allow us to make necessary building improvements to attract a major employer
to the region, and help bring nearly 100 family-wage jobs to Clark County
where unemployment is still hovering near 13 percent,” said Port of Vancouver
Executive Director Larry Paulson. “Our private sector partner Sapa Profiles,
Inc. has a proven track record of success with tremendous potential for
growth and will be a valuable new business in Clark County and Washington
State." The port and Sapa
Profiles, Inc. are currently working toward a final lease agreement for the
former Panasonic building, located at 2001 Kotobuki Way. The building has
been vacant since the electronics manufacturing company closed its doors in
2008, laying off more than 200 fulltime and
temporary employees. Total cost of the necessary renovations is $1.3 million and includes replacement of the building’s current asphalt floor with a reinforced concrete floor, as well as electrical and HVAC upgrades. In addition to the $800,000 CERB loan, the port will provide $500,000 in matching funds to complete the improvements. The private-sector investment by Sapa Profiles, Inc. in manufacturing equipment and additional facility upgrades is anticipated to be more than $8 million in the first 12 months of occupancy. Director of
Engineering, Port of Tacoma Manager (Real
Estate), Port of Tacoma Maintenance and Repair Manager, NW Marine Terminal Operating Company Systems
Analyst/Account Analyst, Port of Longview PO
Box 1518 * Olympia, WA 98507 |
|
