MINUTES FROM THE REGULAR PORT COMMISSION MEETING FOR THE PORT OF HOODSPORT
September 7, 2022
Call to Order: 9:05am Adjourned: 9:49 am
Meeting Held at: 24113 North Highway 101, Suite A Hoodsport, WA 98548 / Virtual Zoom Conference Meeting Room ID#406-238-9936
Roll Call: Commissioner Kincannon – Chairwoman / 2nd Trustee, Commissioner Brazil – 2nd Chairman / Trustee
Commissioner Morris
Staff Present: K. Wyatt, Executive Director, S. Lindgren – Maintenance Supervisor
Public: Forest McCullough – NW Land & Tree
Approval of Agenda: Commissioner Brazil motioned to approve the agenda dated September 7, 2022, as written; Commissioner Kincannon seconded; all in favor, unanimously approved.
Minutes: Commissioner Kincannon motioned to approve the regular port commission minutes for August 17, 2022, Commissioner Brazil seconded, all in favor, unanimously approved.
Vouchers: Commissioner Kincannon motioned to approve the Vouchers for August 2022, in the amount of $15,755.60, Commissioner Morris seconded, all in favor, unanimously approved.
Public Communication:
F McCullough provided an update on the removal of the dead, diseased and damaged trees in the Hoodsport Trail Park. We moved our operation over to the disc golf course side of State Rt 119 a week and a half ago and are a quarter of the way through. We will move to the residential area due to concerns from the neighbors on the adjacent properties which will require more technical maneuvers for safety purposes, they are very anxious to have these danger trees removed. There are so many diseased and infected trees, you can literally watch the trees show signs of dying daily. The bark beetle is prevalent, you can tell where they are, their burrowing looks like piles of sawdust around the exterior of the tree bark and down by the base of the tree. Commissioner Kincannon asked what the estimation of completion is now. F McCullough said it will be the end of October or later before we are finished depending on what we find when we cross back over the creek on the North side, there is an open area in the middle with a lot of tangled blow down trees, it’s a mess. They will have to be carefully removed for obvious safety reasons.
Commissioner Reports Commissioner Kincannon asked the commission if they reviewed the Digital Presence Proposal from Zech Design. The web designer checked into why the port’s website presence is inadequate, it’s because there are no google analytics, people have a hard time finding the webpage. Also, the WordPress platform is antiquated and must be updated, we can update it and plug it into the old website. Plugging the old website into the new platform will look the same with the same navigation but will update the entire website. This portion will cost $950.00 We will need to create a master Gmail account; it will cost $95.00. If we start by claiming the Port’s business page, we can update its presence with correct information that will carry over to the main Ports website listing. We can table the social media part at this time, Facebook the Port of Hoodsport by virtue of being tagged. Commissioner Morris said the incremental approach makes more sense in managing the 22/23 budget, so the cost is easier to handle. The proposal makes sense having to play the google game to appear, first master the Gmail account, do the website update breaking it in to two parts, the scope of work makes sense to me. Commissioner Kincannon made a motion to accept part of the digital presence proposal. Updating the website $950.00, create a Gmail address $95.00 then claim it’s google business page $400.00. Total cost to start this process now is $1,445.00. Commissioner Morris seconded the motion. All in favor, the motion was approved. Commissioner Morris said if we claim the Facebook page, can we lock it in to prevent comments. The director said we will have to find a way to store all records on Facebook as it becomes public record. Commissioner Morris said, that is a topic we can discuss with other ports at the Small Ports Conference. Commissioner Brazil said in looking at the Facebook pages, it shows the Hoodsport Trail Park as a state park. Commissioner Kincannon said a Facebook page was created by default as people on Facebook added tags so it’s out there but we need to claim it and own it so the facts can be updated, but once we claim it, we must manage it as a public record. Commissioner Kincannon said let’s gather information, see where we all are next year and discuss concerns by the director and ports attorney. Commissioner Morris said it would be interesting if someone wrote a program that covers government agencies on how to make them public record in social media.
Port Maintenance Reports:
Hoodsport Trail Park & Disc Golf Park: Currently closed for fallen and hazard tree clean up
Hoodsport Marina, Dock & Waterfront Park: The weather is attracting lots of people to the waterfront park, dock, and marina. It has been tremendously busy; people are dumping trash in all 5 garbage cans consistently. Our second maintenance person left; I could use someone to help with garbage in the winter months. Commissioner Kincannon asked if we could advertise. S Lindgren said he may have someone in mind. Commissioner Morris said he has someone in mind as well.
Portable Restrooms: During the summer season, the Port rents 3 portable restrooms with hand washing stations for the publics use, have them cleaned 3 times per week and checks them for trash and toilet paper in between services. The grocery store also rents 3 portable restrooms for the publics use. Starting in October, the Port will rent 2 portable restrooms for the public and cut cleaning to twice per week.
Port parking/Office building/Maintenance shed: S. Lindgren monitors live stream surveillance cameras overlooking the public restrooms, office building, port shed, parking lot, waterfront park and marina dock. The same people continue to dump household garbage in the trash receptacles.
Port Directors Report:
The Port director asked the port commission if they had questions after reviewing the application to renew the Aquatic lease with DNR. The director and Commissioner Kincannon had a conference call with the WA State DNR representative to go through the application process and to ensure the correct content is filled in the required sections of the application. The director will complete the application, obtain proper signatures then will go through the list of surveyors provided by WA State DNR. In response to YSS dive shops email regarding a past event in April 2022 and an upcoming event on September 24th, the port commission approved the PADI clean up event and responded in an email with an Event application and Facility Use agreement for their information and to be filled out and returned along with their certificate of liability insurance and the event deposit. The Digital Presence proposal was previously discussed. The director and Commissioner Morris visited the Hoodsport Trail Park after the September 7th meeting and met with NW Land and Tree. They toured the logging operation and were shown diseased trees that had Poria Laminated Root rot, in looking at the diseased cut trees, they were unbelievably spongy and hollow in the core of the tree trunks, you could put an entire foot inside of the tree. In looking at the standing trees, you could not tell they were diseased until looking up at the tops which were not green. A core borer takes a sample of the interior and shows layers of hardwood then a spongy material further into the tree trunk. A sample of the interior of the diseased trees was brought back to the office so the commission could see what it looks like. Trees with bark beetle infestation showed beetle bore holes, sawdust around the hole and down the exterior of the bark, leaving a mound of it at the bottom of the tree. Entanglements of blow down trees from last years winter storm were being carefully removed like pick up sticks to prevent them from springing up and damaging the crane operator and live trees. Log trucks were at the staging area in the parking lot, it was very interesting to watch the log crane operators pick up huge logs and set them perfectly on the truck trailers to be hauled away. The port director reminded the commission, this was the last regular port commission meeting in the third quarter of 2022 and a timesheet will be emailed for their payroll.
Budget: August financial statements were reviewed
Old Business: As discussed above New Business: As discussed above
Next Meeting: October 12, 2022
Adjourn: Commissioner Kincannon made a motion to adjourn the Regular Port Commission meeting, Commissioner Morris seconded, all in favor, unanimously approved, meeting adjourned at 9:49 a.m.
2022 Regular Port Commission Meetings are scheduled as follows:
Wednesday’s at 9am October 12th, November 16th, December 14th
_______________________ _____________________ _________________________
Commissioner Kincannon Commissioner Brazil Commissioner Morris
MINUTES FROM THE REGULAR PORT COMMISSION MEETING FOR THE PORT OF HOODSPORT September 7, 2022