Thursday, October 1, 2026
The Port of Olympia is commissioning a study in order to get a better understanding of its economic and community impact in Thurston County.
At a meeting on June 8, the Port of Olympia Commission authorized Executive Director Alex Smith to sign a $85,355 contract with BERK Consulting to conduct the study.
Community and Economic Development Director Mike Reid said the study would provide a baseline understanding of the economic impact of the port's activities, including its tenants and subtenants.
He added the study would support staff with grant applications and allow comparisons to other ports. The study is going to cover economic and fiscal impact modeling to analyze direct, indirect and induced effects.
Reid said the study aims to provide a transparent breakdown of the economic multipliers, alongside clear classifications of jobs generated by the port’s operations and tenants.
The study is also going to analyze ongoing and anticipated costs for operational needs, capital projects and climate-related initiatives.
A qualitative community impact assessment, which would include storytelling and business vignettes the port can use to better communicate their value, is also going to be part of the study.
Reid said the port has commissioned the study every five years since 2010.
For this iteration, Reid said staff selected BERK Consulting among seven firms who responded to the port’s request for proposals issued in October 2025.
The only commissioner who voted against the study was Krag Unsoeld, who said he wasn’t satisfied with the scope of the study, particularly with how it excludes environmental impacts
“I really wanted there to be an assessment of the environmental services that are being degraded and being lost as a result of port activities,” Unsoeld said. “Because that's not in there, I'm going to make a symbolic vote against this proposal.”
In defense of the project, Commissioner Jerry Toompas said the study is valuable even without environmental data.
“I don't believe it's flawed. It doesn't encompass everything, but we as a commission really need some data in order to make our decisions,” Toompas said.
Commissioner Joel Hansen agreed. He said as a former member of the port’s citizens advisory committee, they reviewed bids for the project and favored BERK Consulting’s proposal over competing firms.
He affirmed that community feedback has been integrated into the study's scope, but admitted the committee had to limit the cost of the study within a certain budget.
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VDRAKE2
$85K for a study? Unbelievable. If it's been done every year since 2010 it's over ONE MILLION 425K! Think of the improvements that could have been made with that putting in sidewalks on the West end Making a park somewhere along the industrial side. The possibility of ever getting enough money to do those things is being busied away with fiscal reports. TYPICAL from the city council. We really had hoped with a new commissioner things could change. NOT. environment be damned.
Friday, June 12 Report this
mmfam3
Agreed VDRAKE2, we don't need another study, the Port already takes too much from the budget at the expense of needed services like the Superior Court.
Friday, June 12 Report this
JnNwmn
Seems like the Port just did this study. It will be all rosey about the marine terminal making money when it does not make money. The debt service costs are quite large and do not get mentioned. The Port needs to supply services to Thurston County by helping small farmers market their crops. Quit building airport hangers for rich people, and borrow less money.
Saturday, June 13 Report this
Person of Interest
These studies are very common and are especially important to ports being subsidized by tax dollars. The commissioners need data to help support the rationale behind why these business units (marine terminal, boat yard etc) are beneficial to the community. The problem is that not all members of the community may agree on how benefits are defined so hopefully flaws from prior reports have been addressed in this project.
There really is no way to measure environmental degradation and loss in these reports. What baseline would you use (1880, 1940, 1970)? Some of these baselines would show environmental improvement versus degradation. So a symbolic (meaningless) vote against funding the study for the reason stated is just puzzling. We cannot wish our way back to 1800. I can just imagine what the consultants were thinking when faced with this inquiry.
The Commission loves studies like these. Once the report is completed how will the data be used? How will it benefit the community? The commission should be evaluated not on what studies they spend money on but how they directly improve the economy of Olympia.
Saturday, June 13 Report this
Snevets
The Commission loves studies like these. Once the report is completed how will the data be used? How will it benefit the community? The commission should be evaluated not on what studies they spend money on but how they directly improve the economy of Olympia.
@Person of Interest
Saturday, June 13 Report this
BobJacobs
Portwatchers are familiar with these every-five-year studies. They inflate community benefits and understate community costs. Thus, they are more propaganda than accurate analysis.
Some of the costs that have been routinely omitted in the past are the cost of taking about 8 million dollars in taxes away from taxpayers, the cost of heavy log trucks pounding our local roads, and the cost of loud aircraft noise (including three helicopter training organizations!).
As citizens we should watch this process closely and evaluate the outcome carefully.
Bob Jacobs
Saturday, June 13 Report this
HappyOlympian
Close the port, this monster a complete fraud.
Monday, June 15 Report this
Boatyarddog
HappyOlympian any business that continually operates in the red at the publics
expense is usually closed or is altered in a meaningful way to correct the ongoing problems. The Marine Terminal has operated at a loss for decades, the marine terminal al IS a Farce. It serves Weyerhauser only. So now we have Huge Potholes in the roadway on Plum St. And that is supposed to be Armored to prevent this. WHAT a Sham. This port wastes money and subsidizes 1 Very LARGE logging company to keep The Longshore family's employed. This is not The Mission of The Port. Infrastructure is. We must move the Marine Terminal into a position of doing what it is required to do. Not serving special Intrests for themselves. This is The People's Port not the logging Industries. CLOSE THE MARINE TERMINAL, save Dredging costs, protect Olympias Fragile Environment, that is for the generations to come. That is the Infrastructure that is suffering the most.
Monday, June 15 Report this
Wesley
"Port already takes too much from the budget at the expense of needed services like the Superior Court."
Guess what? The Port is a standalone municipality. It's budget has nothing to do with the County's budget. Learn how your government works before commenting.
Thursday, June 18 Report this