PORT TOWNSEND — Port of Port Townsend commissioners have narrowed the field to four finalists for the executive director position.
The candidates — Eron Berg, Andy Haub, Travis Matheson and Tony Warfield — will participate in a two-day interview process starting Tuesday, said Jim Pivarnik, interim executive director, after commissioners acted Wednesday afternoon following an executive session.
The public session will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Northwest Maritime Center, 431 Water St.
Other interviews will be with staff and a stakeholders group. Commissioners will talk with finalists during an executive session Wednesday.
Berg is the current city manager of Sedro Wolley, Haub is a former water resources director for the City of Olympia, Matheson is the director of the property management division for the State Patrol and Warfield is the senior manager for facilities development for the Port of Tacoma, Pivarnik said.
Decision coming
The commissioners’ decision is expected to be made by the end of the month.
In other action Wednesday, commissioners extended lease contracts with two port tenants.
The commissioners approved leases with Peter Chaffee, who owns Pete’s Marine Metal, and the Northwest Maritime Center, which owns the Marine Thrift store.
The three-year agreement with Chaffee’s Pete’s Marine Metal (also known as Pete’s Marine Services) at 315 10th St., contains an option to extend twice for one year for a total of five possible years before another agreement is needed, port documents said.
Chaffee has been renting the shop space at the Boat Haven industrial area since 2007, and has been in a hold-over month-to-month status since 2014, documents said.
The 2,400-square-foot space that houses Pete’s Marine Metal has a rental cost of $1,392 per month (calculated at 58 cents per square foot), with the possibility of a base rental adjustment starting at the beginning of the third year of the agreement, documents said.
Deputy Director Eric Toews is glad to see a long-term tenant staying at the port.
“I’m happy to see this moving forward,” Toews said to the commissioners.
The two-year agreement with the Northwest Maritime Center’s Marine Thrift store contains the possibility of three one-year extensions, documents said.
The Northwest Maritime Center has been renting the retail space at 315-B Haines St., since September 2015.
Rent for the store’s 750-square-foot space is $577.50 per month (calculated at 77 cents per square foot), with the possibility of a base rental adjustment starting at the beginning of the third year of the agreement, documents said.
Both agreements also are subject to a rent adjustment in year two and annually thereafter by “an amount equal to the accumulative amount found on the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers for Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue,” documents said.
In the event that either of the renters respective leases to expire, they will shift into a “holdover” month-month status and will see a rental charge of 125 percent of the rent of month proceeding the lease expiration, the documents said.
For example, if Chaffee’s lease expires, his base rental rates would go up to $721.88, documents said.
The full leases can be viewed online at portofpt.com.
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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5, or at [email protected]
