Port of Ridgefield

Regular Meeting Minutes

July 27, 2016

Present: Joe Melroy Bruce Wiseman Scott Hughes

Laurie Olin Bill Eling Brent Grening

Jeanette Ludka Nelson Holmberg Allene Wodaege

Susan Trabucco David Morgan John Barbieri

Sandra Day Mark Burton James McPhee

Ron Onslow

1. CALL TO ORDER AND PLEDGE:

At 3:00pm Commissioner Scott Hughes called the Port of Ridgefield Commission meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance.

2. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES AND AGENDA:

July 13, 2016 (Regular Meeting): Commissioner Joe Melroy made a motion to approve the meeting minutes as presented. Commissioner Bruce Wiseman seconded the motion. The motion was carried.

3. CALENDAR:

WPPA Commissioners Seminar: The seminar is held at the Alderbrook Resort in Union, Washington. The dates of the seminar are August 1-3. All Commissioners will attend.

APEX: The Port’s Annual Expedition meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 31 from 8:00am – 5:00pm and will be held at the Hudson Building located at 101 East 6th Street in Vancouver.

Ridgefield Coalition Dinner Meeting: This meeting will consist of the Port Commission, Ridgefield City Council and the Ridgefield School District board members and will be held at the Ridgefield Community Center on Tuesday, August 9, 2016 from 6:00 – 8:00pm.

4. PUBLIC COMMENT

Allene Wodaege reminded everyone that U-Haul will be in Ridgefield August 9th to install a new sign at the 45th St round-a-bout.

Sandra Day would like to thank the Port for cleaning up so many yards.

Allene has talked to Betty T, she said to say hello and she misses everyone. She is interested in how everything is going.

5. FINANCE:

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

Monthly Finance reports for June are also in the Commissioner’s Dropbox.

6. REPORTS AND BUSINESS:

Innovation

Dark Fiber Optics Summary – Nelson introduced Resolution 2016-310, A Resolution of the Port of Ridgefield Commission, in support of public investment in greater broadband & connectivity within and for the Port of Ridgefield District. Bruce asked Bill Eling if the resolution had been approved by him and Bill said yes. Commissioner Bruce Wiseman made a motion to approve this resolution as presented. Commissioner Joe Melroy seconded the motion. The motion was carried.

Brent explained that this resolution would allow for the exploration of broadband to move forward with a needs analysis, feasibility study, physical plant/network plan, business plan, etc.

Nelson reported that the Port will be submitting the application for a 2016 CERB Planning Grant for dark fiber optics work. The Port has received letters of support from CREDC, Washington State University, Vancouver Business Journal and Clark County Fire & Rescue. The application will be filed on Friday.

Social Media Strategy - Nelson introduced the social media strategy that the Port is implementing. It includes the new website which is designed by intent to be a repository for information and also be interactive with persons using tablets and phones.

This plan will include using Twitter (breaking news, quick announcements, meetings, direct users to a post on the website and hashtags), Facebook (casual engagement, promote events), YouTube (port produced videos – 18 - 30 seconds, longer videos of events, such as “Dark Fiber Event”), Instagram (visual experience, a picture is worth a 1,000 words, photographs and hashtags), Periscope (live video streaming of events, shows and programs), and LinkedIn (to reach business persons to share stories, blog features, etc.).

Some discussion of amount of time to keep up with this kind of posting and which platforms work better for different persons. Nelson stated that the Port would take this step by step and consider what works best.

Mark stated that there is a lot of junk in Facebook and LinkedIn and he pays more attention to his personal email. James McPhee reported that he uses Twitter and YouTube and suggested an additional app called “Nextdoor”.

Operations

WDFW Building – Everything is going very well, the Port will be opening the grading bids on Friday, July 29th at 2:00 pm. The contract will be awarded next Wednesday or Thursday and at the Port’s next meeting that announcement will be made. The engineer’s estimate is $500,000.00. Work will start August 15th and be done by October 21st.

The port will go out to bid on the construction of the building on August 22nd, contractors will have three weeks and the bid opening will be September 9th with the bid award being September 14th. Construction will begin October 3, 2016 and it needs to be done by June 30, 2017.

Dioxin Clean-up Project Update – Laurie stated that the project has been increased to 19 homes as the paperwork needed has been obtained. The contractor has been finding old septic tanks and sewer lines but it has not slowed down the work. If we do have any rain then any digging up of the contaminated dirt must stop until the rain stops.

There will be a planned power outage on Wednesday, August 3rd, this is to prepare for tree removal in close proximity to power lines.

Laurie reported that a homeowner called about new sidewalks, the City is putting new sidewalks in later this summer in certain areas so Laurie has a call into the City regarding this request. Laurie wanted to report that the City has been wonderful on both of the Port’s projects concerning permits, comments, etc.

Rail Overpass Project – Brent reported that a meeting is scheduled with Burlington Northern concerning the crossing closures and permits. He will report back after that meeting. Funding might become available sooner than expected. WSDOT has not gotten back to the Port about that yet.

Joe remarked that his thought is to assume that all funding will be available immediately to put pressure on the railroad to get permits quickly. Also we should have our Congresswoman up to speed on the situation in case she has an opportunity to speak to the railroad. Brent will contact Shari, district director for Jaime Herrera-Beutler.

Bruce asked who with the railroad are we meeting with and was told it was Rick Wagner.

Laurie remarked that the City would not be reviewing the overpass plans that WSDOT will be doing that work as they have a bridge department.

Commission

Scott reported that it had been announced that Clark College had been approved to award its’ first Bachelor of Science degree.

Bruce reported that he and Brent had met with the Corps of Engineers yesterday to discuss the dredging of Lake River. The meeting was well attended and the work discussed would be environmental sediment characterization which would be included in the Corps’ 2018 budget with the dredging being done in 2019. There was discussion of the amount that was in the budget and in what year it would be available.

Susan wished to schedule meetings with the individual Commissioners to discuss background information for each module that the Commissioners would be presenting at APEX. She will meet with Bruce on August 15th at 10:00 am, Joe on August 15th at 11:30 am and with Scott on August 10th at 1:30 pm.

7. PUBLIC AGENCY COMMENT:

Sandra Day announced that the City may be naming the new police chief next week, hopefully in time for National Night Out. National Night Out is August 2, 2016. The Cowlitz will have a table at National Night Out.

Sandra also remarked that Vancouver Business Journal will be hosting their “Top Project of the Year” award at the site of the ilani Casino. Also the YMCA research report has gotten very good feedback. Big Paddle update; there was a late contribution from UNFI which paid some of the late bills.

Mark reported that the planning commission did not have an agenda as yet for their next meeting.

8. PUBLIC COMMENT:

None

9. ADJOURNMENT:

The regular meeting adjourned at 4:00pm with no further business or public comments. The next regular Commission meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 10, 2016 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.

______

D. Joe Melroy Scott Hughes

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R. Bruce Wiseman

Respectfully submitted by

Jeanette Ludka

7/27/2016 MinutesPage 4