POG Manager Report 1/11-17

POG Manager Report 1/11-17

+          Staff meeting on Tuesday.

+          Finished reviewing draft report from Vision Plan consultant, wrote staff report with recommendations, met with staff, Val and Paul to share concepts and distributed packet for workshop. This will be the last significant component of the Vision Plan that I will be working on, though the plan will not be completed until March. The remaining elements that Scott Keillor will complete will be a land use compatibility matrix (administrative), design guidelines/standards (policy), review of mission, vision and goals (policy).

+          Email exchange with auditors and staff about coming up with a better report to show the written checks but not cleared related to the Wharf Fund. It may clarify the large swings in fund balances especially when they dip deep into the red! The red ultimately goes away once the grant funds are deposited, but it’s not readily apparent in the current reports.

+          Reviewed and approved OPPA letter supporting Columbia River Crossing project as member of executive committee.

+          Distributed and took comment on commission packet.

+          Liane Welch, County Public Works Director, agreed to serve on the Commission’s technical review committee as part of the Port Manager recruitment. Liane has significant background in public contracting and will be a great addition to the process.

+          Finalized Port Manager prospectus, announcement, job description and advertisement for Jennie Messmer’s review. She noted that new rules Jan. 1 require a Veteran’s Preference opportunity for public opening. Added the preference form along with other pertinent information on to the Port’s website and Jennie will begin placing the announcement. The port has already received one letter of interest!

+          Discussed exit conference details with Office Manager for review by the Commission at the workshop.

+          Continued to work with Office Manager, Grant Administrator and Construction Manager on smoothing out the grant reimbursement/reporting processes.

+          Staff met with Corey Bush, Hudson Insurance, on options available to employees regarding health insurance. Next year, the options will increase with the Affordable Care Act, but this year the port may want to look at the rate increases and possibly consider increasing the HRA contribution to “self insure” for the increased deductible in exchange for the decreased monthly premiums.

+          Talked to Ken Valentine about progress with TIGER on the project scope for engineering services. The engineering scope should include the traffic analysis at So. Seventh and Biak and potential truck access to Commercial Ave. Issues discussed at Vision workshop.

+          Good news from DC for small ports as congress – as part of their omnibus appropriations bill – included a $40 million pot for “low use” or small ports.  This pot is where the south jetty engineering or the north jetty root repair could come from and it will be critical for the port to work closely with the USACE Portland District to ensure that Tillamook ranks high among coastal small ports, especially considering the other federal investments that have been made here in the last year.

+          Continued to review wharf project transmittals including look ahead schedule and updated logs.

+          Long conversation with commercial guest moorage holder (season pass) and office manager about getting large bill paid. Tried to explain port policy about six month pass and will continue to work with the boat owner before sending to collections and forcing F/V Sunrise out of the boat basin.

+          Designed a Port Manager prospectus including photos from port activity. The four-page summary of the port district and challenges is posted along with the other application materials for the manager recruitment.

+          Received weekly Wharf report and shared with Commission.

+          Correspondence with Sue Becraft in the Commissioner’s Office to fine tune language in the County’s letter of federal priorities. Added job and economic contributions to the jetty summary.

+          Let the Bay City Fenceport writer (Karen Rust) know that the Commission will be having their February meeting at Bay City City Hall and hoped that she could let folks over there know of the opportunity.

+          OPPA Exec. Committee meeting to discuss renewing membership with the Oregon Transportation Forum.

+          Registered for SDAO Conference in Seaside. Office Manager and Maintenance Supervisor will also attend HR-specific training.

+          Touched based briefly with Scott Keillor to give him update on Commission’s Vision Workshop.

+         

CALENDAR NEXT WEEK

1/19   Merkley Town Hall at TBCC

1/20   MLK Day (Office Closed)

1/21   EDCTC

1/22   TIDE

1/22   Going Away Reception at Museum

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POG Manager Report 1/4-10

POG Manager Report 1/4-10

+          Presented with Comm. Folkema to the County Commission and jetty system was once again named the County’s #1 federal priority.

+          Made presentation on the jetty system and wharf project to the Rockaway Beach City Council.

+          Port Commission Board Meeting.

+          Attended NOHA meeting in Warrenton.

+          Finallized contract for commission review for interim management with Jennie Messmer and had port attorney review as to form.

+          Messmer visited with port staff on Monday.

+          Reviewed State and Federal grant reimbursement requests for next month. Finally received last month’s request today! That helped our bank accounts.

+          Reviewed OCZMA meeting agenda in Newport. Commissioner Barnett is scheduled to represent us next week.

+          Received Garibaldi Charter letter. Forwarded building quotes plus the inspection report that we had commissioned on the apartment to maintenance manager who is working on finalizing bids in the next week or two.

+          Continued to monitor wharf transmittals. 20% of pile have been driven as of this week. Bergerson may be dropping back to five days.

+          Conversation with governor’s office on Garibaldi’s permitting needs for dredging the boat basin. There could be a grant program established next year allowing for a 75% reimbursement on costs related to permitting with a limit of $30k. Could be a great opportunity for Garibaldi.

+          Continued to field calls related to the manager’s job opening.

+          Responded to request from MTC Works about getting another group of summer youth workers to help around port facilities. Will follow up in spring.

+          Reviewed all invoices for this month and tagged the wharf invoices for scanning and “special treatment”. This will be the second month in working through the kinks of making the grant reimbursement process as efficient as possible so we can get our contractors paid!

+          Received prevailing wage sheets and forward to grant administrator.

+          Visited Pacific Oyster to see how the Ebel house barge was doing. They are actually getting it moved out fairly quickly and I think they’re appreciative of all the help they’re getting from the community.

+          Received a letter of support from Governor’s office that was originally sent to DC regarding the Water Resources Development Act. Karmen Fore, who we had met in DC when we visited deFazio’s office, is now working for the governor and has a great perspective on this issue. Hoping for some success

+          Edited articles that will be appearing in City newsletter on port activitiy.

+          Received positive response from City regarding the work our crews did to correct inflow through the RV park into the sewer system.

+          Worked with Jessi to get an “air miles” credit card for port staff. Our current cards don’t generate any benefit.

+          Talked to Jack Scovel about finishing the design on the bathroom. Unfortunately, he’s not used to completing a full design set of building plans with the intent of going out to bid. His approach is to work with a builder and develop the plans as the project progresses. Unfortunately, this project will need to wait until the manager is hired.

+          Read draft report from Scott Keillor and summarized recommendations to the Port on six key opportunity sites. Forward to Scott for additional comment. Will need to get information out to Commissioner on Monday.

+          Talked to IT guy about backing up our file server, preparing to change our email system for a more generic “manager” email address and prepping our backup Windows for interim manager.

+          Received a request for the Hawaiian Chieftain to come into Port in May. Will need to discuss topic with Bergerson and Hatch about availability, but it looks like we should be able to accommodate the tall ship.

+          Finalized review of audit and sent back to Accuity to be published. Should get back from February regular meeting.

+          Follow up with Hatch Mott about slowing down the pilot car that escorts the pile truck.

+          Conversation with Kari Fleisher in the Assessors Office about going rate for wharf space. It’s not as high as we’d hope. Looking at an average of about 70-cents a square foot per month. This will be a key data point when determining the degree of debt that can be serviced to build the shells.

+          Talked to US-DOT about finishing the grant agreement. We’ll need to hire HHPR out of their $150,000 contract to complete the attachments (scope, budget, etc.) at a cost of about $3500. This is necessary since the original TIGER application included the wharf and the engineers need to back those components out now that the pile driving appears to be going smoothly.

+          Wrote letter of support for the Rails and Trails Salmonberry connectors. Part of a Brownsfield grant opportunity.

+          Talked to Liane Welch about serving on the interview Technical Committee. She said she’d be happy to help.

+          Updated quite a bit on the website including waiting list, minutes, policies that have changed over the last quarter.

CALENDAR NEXT WEEK

1/14   Staff Meeting

1/15 Vision Workshop

1/16-17         Kevin’s Off

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POG Manager Report 12/28-1/3

POG Manager Report 12/28-1/3

+          Worked on Board Packet for next Wednesday’s meeting.

+          Talked to interim manager candidates. Received information and prepared packet for Commission.

+          Reviewed Safety Manuals prepared by Maintenance Supervisor. He did a great job pulling policies from neighboring governments and under advisement from Special Districts.

+          Follow up with Jack Scovell and Peter Bambe to prepare plans for RV park building. Awaiting their SOW and contracts.

+          Lunch appointment with Val Folkema to discuss interim manager ideas and recruitment options.

+          Month end wharf grant reports submitted by grants administrator.

+          Participated in Special Meeting with Commission to discuss options for the Port’s manager recruitment process.

+          Worked half day on New Year’s Eve and Port Office was closed on the 1^st for the holiday.

+          Received maps from BergerABAM to finalize vision concepts with Commission. Should schedule a workshop third week of January.

+          Finished MD&A and final edits for the financial reports in Port’s audit.

+          Worked with Port’s attorney to craft a temporary personnel agreement for interim manager.

+          Received and reviewed Hatch Mott Weekly Report on wharf progress and shared with Commission.

+          Met with Gary Cox, Diana Walker and Mike Puckett to discuss a drone filming of the wharf work in the next few weeks. Idea is to fly Gary’s drone with a GoPro and get a visual survey of the wharf project. Discussed safety issues and “no fly” areas.

+          Met with Diana, Dave Olson, Blake Lettenmaier and Paul Daniels to discuss design criteria for 5-ton wharf crane. I appreciate Commission Daniels’ input on the crane; as a retired commercial fisherman he brings great knowledge about what actually will work.

+          Received letter of support from City of Rockaway Beach and Barview Watseco Neighborhood Association for Jetty advocacy.

+          Talked to OBDD about finalizing our planning grant final report. Need to study a discrepancy on the last reimbursement request.

+          Signed off on EDA reimbursement request for $440k on wharf work.

+          Working to create an immediate back up plan for the file server with Tech4 Computers.

+          Reviewed several submittals from wharf CMs.

+          Began making reservations for Port officials to the SDAO conference in Seaside. SDAO Conference … https://www.sdao.com/ac

+         Ken Valentine, HHPR, is back from his month-long sabbatical and we had a good conversation about finalizing the TIGER grant contract. The Port will sign a small contract to have HHPR finalize the scope, budget and timeline including potential alternates as part of the project. It will be great to get this signed before the end of January.

+         Also need to coordinate with Mary McArthur and US-DOT about the best process for selecting our engineer. We’d like to use HHPR (since they’ve done 30% design) but we may need to re-issue an RFQ to meet federal contracting standards. This issue needs to be ironed out with the feds before we proceed.

+         Talked to mill about their expansion needs and reaffirmed that the Vision Plan will include an option for them.

+         Reviewed Col-Pac/NOEA/NWACT meeting packets for next week.

+        

CALENDAR NEXT WEEK

1/6     County Federal Priorities Workshop

1/8     Rockaway Council Presentation (6pm)

1/8     POG Commission Meeting (7pm)

1/9     NOHA Meeting

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POG Manager Report 12/7-27

+          Reviewed draft financial (audit) letters and reviewed with Port Commission. Approved signatures.

+          Reviewed insurance limits with Cheryl Spellman on our leasehold certificates.

+          Learned that the Port will be responsible for paying a BOLI fee (1/10 of 1%) that had been unbudgeted. It’s not a budget buster but a surprise nonetheless. The fee is paid on all federal construction contracts and services the regulatory aspects of BOLI.

+          Submitted information and a draft letter to the Barview-Watseco-Twin Rocks Neighborhood Association for support on the north jetty.

+          Finished board packet and distributed to members.

+          Finalized review of Maintenance Manager’s timesheet after it was determined that the position is non-exempt. (New job descriptions now list the position and Maintenance Supervisor.) This will result in a payment for overtime that had initially been considered as “flex” time. It’s important that this issue get resolved as it violates state and federal employment rules. It will also remove the liability from the Port’s balance sheet.

+          Coordination of grant administrator (GA) and funders to get the process ironed out. It always takes a month or two of working out the kinks and the holidays were in there as well. This process is important as it assures that our contractors will be paid quickly … which is a good thing!

+          Also, GA and the Port’s auditors also had a discussion about making sure our record keeping will meet the single audit standard. Since we will be using federal money on the wharf project, the audit will be much more detailed. The GA is doing a great job making sure that our reimbursement requests and record keeping are keeping up.

+          Wooden pile removal began earlier in the month. Took video of the old pile removal. This will serve as insurance and proof that the pile is being properly dealt with which is a condition of the EDA grant.

+          Correspondence with ODFW regarding status of cultural/economic impacts required for marine reserves. They are wrapping up their first baseline monitoring report and is hoping to have that out early in the new year. This will be an interesting document for the community to review and it is one of the last reports required by the MR process.

+          Received SOW of work from City for C/M services on the TIGER road improvements. The SOW was also sent to Jason Morgan so he could begin preparing the RFQ process for the engineering part of TIGER.

+          I’ve been dragging my feet a little on the TIGER grant agreement as we await the pile driving portion of the wharf project. There was some concern that there might be cost over-runs and it would be important to identify those in the TIGER contract. Early in the new year, the Port will have a better handle on potential risks (cost overruns) and can proceed with getting the TIGER contract finalized.

+          Continued review and approval of CM submittals.

+          Continued update of FY1314 weekly timesheet spreadsheets. Also finalized proof of weekly time receipts and ordered print run of receipt books which will hopefully make it easier for employees to fill out and submit weekly hours.

+          Received and reviewed our general insurance coverage. Looks like we’ll be going up 10% due to some losses this year. Even though we removed two buildings on the wharf, the stolen equipment/vandalism plus the new truck pushed our coverage up.

+          Nice conversation with Linda Buell about the Port’s Vision Plan. Felt that there should be some opportunity on the new wharf for more retail opportunities to encourage tourists to visit down into the port district.

+          Commission President, Val Folkema, will be working to bring federal delegation (Wyden, Merkeley, Shrader) to spend quality time in Garibaldi to view progress on the wharf project. The Port Commission felt that making a concentrated effort to bring our delegation to Tillamook to spend an hour or so would be more valuable than making the annual trip back to Washington DC.

+          Received support jetty letter from Bay City Mayor, Shaena Peterson.

+          Attended OPPA meeting via conference call in Salem.

+          Have about a quarter of the 110’ pile on site. Some issues with current crane and hammer, but vibrating crane seems to be working as well as removing the more difficult wooden pile. Vibrating crane is not preferred and the port may need to work with Bergerson to come up with a back up plan if the current crane system doesn’t get fixed.

+          Successful Vision Plan Open House. Awaiting draft report of the meeting to share with Port Commission. I believe the Commission has received lots of valuable information. Will recommend that they have a work session (public may view but not comment) to begin pinning down site development in middle-January.

+          Working to get Irish’s Mooring on separate water meter. Should get finished up early in new year and shouldn’t be too big an expense. Will definitely save them headaches as the RV park project progresses.

+          Reviewed draft financial documents with auditor. Minor changes but it’s important to get it right.

+          Received draft IGA between City and Port for CM services related to TIGER funding.

+          Received emails from all three budget committee members that they’d like to renew.

+          Began researching and putting options together for the Port Commission on recruitment for new Manager (assuming contract issues get ironed out).

+          Signed off on Pacific Rim Boatwash Sign Permit. They’re getting close to opening

+          Reviewed draft powerpoint on the economic impact study of ports on the state’s economy. Will forward to Commission as it’s actually very inspirational!

+          Continuing to get more information from peers (in this case Bill Cook) on dredging assistance. Bill is a great resource.

+          Received Marine Insurance requirements from peer ports for consideration in annual rate resolution.

+          Looking into scheduling some improvements for Garibaldi Charters per agreement.

+          Discussed lease issues with TEP; no problems they just need additional space for storage.

+          Continued discussions about changing the spec on the 5-ton crane on the wharf. HMM will be researching. Would like card lock system that would be issued upon completion of training.

+          Reached out to DLCD about the EPA denial of the state’s non-point solution control program. The funding from EPA to the state manifests itself in local grants. This will be a blow for a lot of the positive coastal zone stuff that the state is doing (for example, the changing of the zone to allow for more varied uses was funded through EPA funds.)

+          Signed off on an extension of our audit with the state. Pretty much ran out of time to complete some of the management analysis, but should be able to tackle it in January.

+          Reached out to the Tillamook Model Airplane group about taking some aerial video/photos of the wharf project. Will facilitate with HMM and Bergerson to ensure safety issues.

+          Still working through issues on the TPUD easement with mill. Sent over updated 10’ x 10’ easement for the transformer that would ultimately be pulled out of their lease. Waiting to hear back.

+          Conversations with County and Jack Scovell about what needs to happen next on the RV park building. Awaiting for quotes next week.

+         

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