Port Commissioner Evans Harding opposes hybrid administration building/marine center  

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Port Commissioners Amy Evans Harding objected to the planned Marine Center, citing concerns about how the project will be funded.

“I do not think this is a good use of public funds,” Evans Harding said. “I don't agree with this potential funding scenario as far as how it is accounting for the costs that the taxpayers are going to have to pay for us to have a new administration building.”

Evans Harding made these comments after port staff proposed contracts for two contractors on the project during a meeting held yesterday, November 14.

“I think that if my fellow commissioners decided that we want to do this admin/marina building, then we need to have a plan of how we're going to pay for it,” she added.

The Marine Center would house marine and maritime-related non-profits and be co-located with the Port’s new marina and administration building.

Under the proposed 2023 capital investment plan, $425,000 will be allocated for the planning, designing, and permitting developments in the marina and admin offices. The Port is set to cover $175,000 of this amount, while Washington State provided a grant of $250,000 to support the project in April 2021.

Evans Harding was concerned that funds would be used for an unnecessary office when the operating budget of the Port in 2023 is at a loss. The 2023 operating budget sees revenues at $15.8 million and expenses at $14 million, with an income after depreciation at a negative $2 million.

“We are embarking on spending funds that we don't have,” Evans Harding said. “Looking at the port operating budget, we have increasing costs and decreasing revenue. I don't understand why we would spend more money to office ourselves when we have completely adequate office space.”

Port Executive Services Director Lisa Parks said they will comply with the decision of the port commission, which will vote on the proposed contract on November 28.

“If the time is not right and the appetite is not there to take this project on, then that is completely the prerogative of the commission, and we just await your direction,” Parks said.

The two contracts are for Thomas Architecture Studios (TAS) to design the Marine Center and MIG Inc to conduct work related to programming and designing aquariums and exhibits. MIG Inc. would also assist with funding strategies for the portion of the building it is designing

TAS has been working on the project since its original contract was signed on September 2020 under the authority of Port Executive Director Sam Gibboney. Port staff is proposing to extend its contract until the end of 2023 and increase its not-to-exceed amount to $360,000.

Port staff also recommended entering into a sole-source professional services agreement with MIG Inc. The term of its contract will be from December 2022 until the end of 2023 and will have a not-to-exceed amount of $70,000.

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  • FirstOtter

    You know what another waste of public funding is, Port? Your plan to expand the Olympia Regional Airport into one serving hundreds of passenger and cargo jets.

    That's not just a waste, it's a travesty, it's theft through 'eminent domain'..

    Wednesday, November 16, 2022 Report this