POG Manager Report 2/23-3/1
+ Attended
OPPA Legislative Committee to discuss where ports stand on various bills in
Salem. The Port Commission alerted OPPA to SB303 and the association is
opposing the bill after discussion. This is the bill that would restrict
fishing within ½ mile of river mouths (except the Columbia). Two other bills
regarding permitting wave energy sites are being “monitored” by OPPA as there
are some ports that are interested in seeing that further developed.
+ Travelled
to Washington DC with Commissioners Folkema and Browning on Monday, Feb. 25 for
a full day of meetings on Tuesday. We flew back on Wednesday. I’ll further
elaborate on the trip later in this report.
 |
| Oregon Business lobbyist, Ray Buchegar; Commission President, Val Folkema; Commission VP, Bob Browning at the National Building Museum which is located across from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters. |
+ Fielded
complaints regarding RV park customer. Talked to parties and hopefully
communicating face-to-face will help things. The Port will continue to monitor
the situation.
+ Responded
to HHPR in some detail regarding their change order on the wharf project.
Communicated to the Commission that this will be in front of them at their
March 13th meeting.
+ Reviewed
Office Manager’s “safety and health” program edits for port employees.
+ Received
email from Mary Sause apologizing that she will be unable to serve on the
Budget Committee. She has served admirably during her several years of
volunteering for the port and we hope her the best.
+ Monitored
PNWA and FBB Federal Relations correspondence regarding the PNWA Mission to
Washington. The “Mission” is hosted by PNWA and is a week-long lobbying effort
by Pacific NW ports to tell their story to the USACE and elected officials on
the Hill. The POG has not attended the conference due to cost issues, but we’ve
donated locally grown and processed products from Tillamook County to the
Mission as PNWA is a major advocacy association for Port projects.
+ Excellent
phone meeting with Kate Groth, USACE, who visits POG annually. We’re scheduled
to meet here on April 1st to discuss projects that the USACE
Portland District is considering for our area. Even though POG projects have
been zeroed out of the President’s budget for a few years now, the Portland
District continues to identify needs here. For example, the $600,000
engineering/survey work for the south jetty is one of the “packages” that the
Portland District submits to headquarters in DC for consideration. This year,
the Portland District is also submitting a $1.3MM repair to the root of the
north jetty, $120k study of the morphology of the shoaling on Tillamook Bay
(this was actually completed this last year), $120k for a CDI buoy for data
collection and $250k for the study of an ocean disposal site. This last package
is extremely interesting. One of the issues that the Port has discussed with
the USCG and USACE is about dredging a 40-ft. “hole” in the shoal that would
absorb the wave energy as it comes in. The idea is that when the building wave
hits the hold, the bottom would fall out eliminating the crushing breakers.
There’s also a thought that a small pit would allow for some natural scouring
of the shoal as well. This effort would be a fraction of the cost compared to
re-building the south jetty and could be done as a band-aid as it may be
several years before funds are available for the rebuilding the south jetty.
The biggest issue right now is that the USACE does not have an “ocean disposal
site” for dispersing the dredge spoils. The Portland District sees a possible
need down the road for this site. The Portland District is also identifying a
need for eel grass mitigation for Tillamook Bay and Charleston (Coos Bay). This
could be helpful for the Port as well as we look to renew our boat basin
dredging permits this summer.
+ Received
confirmation of our $22k reimbursement grant from IFA for work on the wharf
project.
+ Conversation
with EDA. They’re waiting for the reviewers to get back to the Program Manager
for confirmation. No further requests of the port at this point.
+ Talked
with staff regarding an OSMB grant application for re-building the launch
float. Reached out to Jeff Folkema at the Garibaldi Marina and shared the plans
with him for input. There was some talk about extending the launch, but with E
dock so close it could be cause a problem. Even if we reconfigure E-dock it
would still be pretty tight to extend the launch float.
+ The
guys have been working hard to rebuild charter finger docks (about one a week).
The barges near the launch are being used to put the docks in place. We’ll be
moving the barges on the weekends out of the way to keep access clear for
launch users.
+ Staff
received reduced copier quote for budget consideration.
+ Received
final paper back from Human Resource Management course. Shared paper (with
professor’s comments to Commission).
+ Picked
up City of Garibaldi Application for the Rezoning of Land. Wrote letter of
clarification to the City on their process. Will review with Blair Smith and hope
to discuss
at next Commission meeting for further
direction.
+ Received
comments back from Bill Sargent regarding live-aboard enforcement. Will develop
staff report for next board meeting. Dock staff is continuing to track
liveaboards.
+ Received
invitation to the 2nd Annual Tillamook County Tourism Symposium for
March 18th. Port Commissioners should have received invitations as
well via email.
+ Sent
email to Mark Ellsworth about the Governor’s pool of $$ for regional solution
team projects. He noted that the funds will be available by 2Q 2014 and that
our wharf project is under consideration.
CALENDAR UPDATE NEXT WEEK
3/4 Garibaldi
Tourism Commission Meeting
3/6 Budget
Workshop @ 6pm
3/7 NOHA
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