PORT ANGELES — The Harbor-Works Public Development Authority will be without a chief on Thursday.
Jim Haguewood, who has served as interim executive director of the new entity for nearly six months, will not ask for a contract extension from the five-member Harbor-Works Board of Directors.
“I had an agreement that I was to be done around Dec. 1, and I have committed to other projects out of the state,” he said.
“I felt like I was not going to be able to fulfill those duties.”
The board hired Haguewood, who is the Clallam County Business Incubator director, on July 14 for $2,000 a month.
Harbor-Works was formed in May by the city of Port Angeles and the Port of Port Angeles to acquire, or get control of, the 75-acre Rayonier Inc. property at the end of Ennis Street through an agreement, and then direct the site’s environmental cleanup and future development.
The city and the port contributed $150,000 each from their economic development funds to Harbor-Works.
The cleanup of the Rayonier site since 2000 has been supervised by the state Department of Ecology, Rayonier and the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, with no actual cleanup having happened.
Under a portion of the waterfront site is a buried ancient Klallam village.
It is contaminated with pockets of PCBs, dioxin, arsenic and other toxins left by the pulp mill, which operated there for 68 years before closing in 1997.
Selection delayed
The board had scheduled to select a permanent executive director on Dec. 1, but decided to delay that action to allow the Port Angeles City Council and a quorum of the Port of Port Angeles commissioners to review the reasons for the formation of Harbor-Works.
At a joint meeting of the two in early December, no motions were made for more special meetings on the subject or for giving Harbor-Works any direction, though several council members voiced support for the public corporation continuing as planned.
Orville Campbell, Harbor-Works board chairman, said the search for a permanent executive director will have to begin again.
The position is budgeted to pay $12,000 monthly.
Eighteen people had applied for the job. The board had narrowed that down to three in November, but none were selected, Campbell said.
Harbor-Works, through the city, will advertise the position for about one or two more weeks, he said.
Harbor-Works had reimbursed the city $436 for advertising the position previously.
Campbell said that some of the board’s top candidates remain interested in the job.
Additional interviews may be needed, he said. Selection could be made within a month, he said.
Campbell said that the board may contract with another interim executive director until the permanent position is filled.
“I don’t anticipate that it’s going to have any large negative effect,” he said.
Campbell said that he and Jerry Hendricks, Harbor-Works board member, will work on the 2009 budget and work plan in Haguewood’s absence.
Hendricks is a former Port of Port Angeles executive director.
Effective manager
Reflecting on Haguewood’s time with Harbor-Works, Campbell said:
“Jim Haguewood has been a very effective manager for Harbor-Works through a very difficult startup phase and has done a terrific job at keeping things on track and managing the board’s affairs.
“We regret that he can’t continue because of other obligations. We have been very pleased with his support and his professional conduct.”
Haguewood said that the board has accomplished a lot during the last six months.
“It’s a standing organization now,” he said. “It is paying its bills, meeting with stakeholders, learning about the complexity of the project.”
Haguewood said that his out-of-state obligations include economic development projects in southern Illinois and New England.
Liability
While city documents prior to the formation of Harbor-Works refer to the public development authority assuming cleanup liability, it can’t become a liable party in Ecology’s eyes without acquiring the property, said Rebecca Lawson, Ecology’s toxics cleanup program regional section manager.
By becoming a liable party, Harbor-Works can apply for an Ecology grant that could cover 50 percent of the cost of the Rayonier site cleanup.
City documents also refer to Rayonier paying Harbor-Works the estimated cost of cleanup, though no agreements have been made.
Marian Abbett, Ecology’s Rayonier site manager, has estimated that the cleanup would cost tens of millions of dollars.
Both Rayonier and Harbor-Works would be liable parties if the public development authority acquires the property, Lawson said, whether or not they have a liability agreement between themselves.
If Harbor-Works agrees with Rayonier to assume responsibility for the cleanup and can’t fulfill that role, Lawson said, Ecology would look to the company to again become the lead in the cleanup.
She said she wasn’t sure what may happen if Rayonier would use an agreement with Harbor-Works to challenge that in court.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in 2000 that the Rayonier site was “moderately contaminated,” perhaps 2 or 3 on a scale of 10.
________
Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
breakout precedes story
THE HARBOR-WORKS Public Development Authority has spent $30,925 to date, including $7,405.45 approved by the five-member Board of Directors on Wednesday.
Those expenses include:
• $2,691 in payment to Harbor-Works attorney Rob Tulloch.
• $3,771.25 to Jim Haguewood for work as interim executive director.
• $943.20 to Karen Kilgore for clerical services.
Previous expenses include:
• $9,500 for one year of insurance.
• $7,500 for Haguewood.
• $5,036.84 for city staff time.
• $436 in advertising for the executive director position.
• $257.75 for meeting recording equipment.
• $488.58 in lodging for three executive director candidates, supplies, domain name and e-mail and refreshments during a meeting.
Harbor-Works is funded by the city of Port Angeles and Port of Port Angeles through two $150,000 loans from their economic development funds.
