PORT ANGELES — Port of Port Angeles Commissioner Leonard Beil and Commissioner-elect John Calhoun faced a grilling Tuesday morning over a Port-Clallam County Public Utility District computer services contract and the hiring of the port’s next executive director.
“I think it’s important for public companies to work together, but if a private company can offer service for less,” Beil said, the private company deserves consideration.
If a public company can offer the Port something a private company cannot, Beil said he believed the public company should be considered for the contract.
Beil and Calhoun addressed more than 50 attending the weekly breakfast meeting of Port Angeles Business Association at Joshua’s Restaurant.
Although he was placed in a position of defending the port commission’s decision, Beil on Nov. 11 voted against the Port-PUD contract, casting a lone no vote.
Commissioners Bill Hannan and Glenn Beckman voted for it, saying the price difference in the bids was small — and that the contract was a good opportunity to share resources with another public agency. In addition, Port staff felt more comfortable working with utility district staff.
The decision angered representatives of Port Angeles-based Capacity Provisioning Inc., which submitted the low bid.
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The rest of the story appears in Wednesday’s Peninsula Daily News Clallam County edition.