Commissioners Present: Benye Weber and Ann McDonald

Others Present: Jim Patton (Executive Director), Molly MacLeod-Roberts (Edwards & Associates), Nathan Whalen (Whidbey News-Times), Tom Baenen (GFMG President), Donna Keeler (Master Site Plan Coordinator), and William Bell (KWPA Radio - Whidbey Island Center for the Arts)

Call to Order: The regular meeting was called to order at 10:34 a.m. by Commissioner Weber in the Island County Commissioners' Hearing Room located at #1 NE 6th Street, Room B-102, Coupeville, WA, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING:
Weber stated that the Minutes for the regular meeting of November 14, 2007, and the special meetings of December 3 and December 11, 2007, were available for approval and signatures. Due to a technicality, Weber deferred the approval and signature of the Minutes for the special meetings of December 3 and December 11, 2007, until the next regular meeting in February. Weber explained there was not a quorum in attendance at today's meeting that also attended both of those special meetings. She is researching the parliamentary procedure to be followed under that circumstance and the Minutes from those meetings will then be considered on February 13, 2008. A motion was made by Weber and seconded by McDonald to approve the Minutes for the regular meeting of November 14, 2007, as submitted. The motion passed unanimously.

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS:

Island Transit (Tim Goodman): Martha Rose of Island Transit (IT) introduced Tim Goodman from Carletti Architects as the Project Manager for IT's Park & Ride lots on Whidbey Island. Goodman was on hand to discuss IT's proposal for a Park & Ride at Greenbank Farm. He explained that IT is trying to create a map of their Park & Ride lots, and they noticed that there are large distances between some of their lots. Their goal is to space out their lots accordingly to create a better traffic flow. IT would like to work with the Port to create a Park & Ride on the Port property at the Greenbank Farm. Goodman displayed a map showing IT's current lots and noted that there is a large gap between Coupeville and Freeland. He then showed the Board a drawing of Island Transit's Harbor Station as an example of the kind of architecturally and esthetically pleasing, functional project IT has accomplished. Goodman next presented a drawing of the current Park & Ride in process in Langley in collaboration with Fire District #3. He explained that Island Transit's Park & Ride lots have an emphasis on park and pointed out there is much more landscaping than hardscraping. Rose noted that rather than ugly retention ponds at the Langley site, there will be rain gardens that complement the landscaping, providing low impact development.

Weber explained that Donna Keeler is the Master Site Plan (MSP) Coordinator and Keeler is also doing the Asset Inventory for the Greenbank Farm. The different MSP focus groups are set to begin their committee meetings next week. Weber said she would refer IT's proposal to Keeler, because those groups would want to review it and ask questions. Weber asked Goodman to contact Keeler to schedule a presentation for the pertinent focus group. Keeler said the agendas for the January meetings were already full, but she would contact IT and schedule them possibly in February for the Commercial focus group meeting.

Rose said that IT has a timeline on spending funds and moving forward with Park & Ride lots, so any consideration the Port can give to this project as soon as possible, together with good public involvement would be greatly appreciated. Weber said the Board appreciates and understands that concern and she is sure consideration will be given to IT's proposal

Executive Director Jim Patton referred the Board to the letter (attached to these Minutes) from Rob Harbour dated January 7, 2008, regarding the Park & Ride facility at Greenbank Farm. Patton recommended that the Board forward that letter to the Master Site Plan Coordinator as one of the initial pieces of input from the public. At Weber's request, Port Clerk Molly MacLeod-Roberts read the letter aloud, and Keeler was given a copy of the letter. Weber asked Patton to advise Harbour that his letter was read into the record. The Board thanked Goodman and Rose for their presentation.

MEETING OPEN TO PUBLIC INPUT: Weber opened the meeting to public input. No one wished to speak and Weber closed the meeting to public input and returned to the public meeting.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

Port Executive Director's Report: (Patton)
Boating and fueling activities: Patton reported $2,400 in fuel sales for the month of December 2007 and $15 worth of moorage revenue. He explained that once he has received the Island County Treasurer's Report for December 2007, he intends to provide the Board with a Budget Analysis for 2007 and a Fuel Analysis. The Fuel Analysis would go back over several years and show the peaks and valleys of fuel sales and fuel costs.

Status of Wharf space rented to Whidbey Island Center for the Arts (WICA): Patton said WICA continues to have a difficult cash flow problem and did not pay their November or December rent. Patton subsequently asked William Bell of WICA to attend today's meeting and explain his recovery program. The Board had copies of Bell's written report in their folders (attached to these Minutes), and Bell was on hand to answer any questions.

Bell thanked the Board for the opportunity to speak. He said WICA is planning to recover their back rent payments in February, and they have projected a 90-day payback period during which they will pay their current rent plus the rents in arrears. WICA recognizes the importance of maintaining a good relationship with the Port. Bell noted that WICA had just recently formed a formal Board of Directors and filed incorporation papers this week. WICA has considerable momentum in terms of recognizing the financial situation they are in and they hope it will be resolved very quickly.

Weber said she had no problem with WICA's proposed repayment plan. McDonald said the plan was just fine and added that she welcomed the opportunity that WICA will be bringing to Coupeville. The Board thanked Bell for his presentation.

Results of State Accountability Audit: Patton reported that the State Auditor's 3-year audit was finished and an Exit Conference was held on January 7, 2008. There were no findings or management letter items. There were only 2 or 3 items noted and all have been corrected. The only important item was the handling of cash receipts for the marina-related activities. The State Auditor's Office recommended that the Port make daily deposits unless the amount to be deposited is less than $500, per RCW 43.09.240. Patton prepared a resolution to that effect, but subsequently learned that there was a complication: The Port needs to get an exemption from the Island County Treasurer to delay deposits when the accumulated sum is less than $500. Patton said he would write a letter to the Treasurer citing the law and the Auditor's recommendation and requesting the exemption. Once the Port has received the exemption, Patton recommends going forward with the resolution.

Patton said the courtesy and the work performance of the State Auditor's Office was excellent. Weber agreed and thanked Patton, the Port Clerk, the Port Accountant (Edwards & Associates), and Harbor Master Long Bechard for their efforts and fine work during the audit.

Status of Comprehensive Plan Initiatives:
Letter from Island County Commissioner Phil Bakke re: Conservation Easement: At Weber's request, the Port Clerk read the letter (attached to these Minutes) into the record. Bakke agreed in principle that the County would consider accepting development rights on some or all of the Greenbank Farm but he recommended that the Port first obtain an opinion by the State Attorney General as to whether the Port could surrender its development rights. Patton said he and Michael Stansbury, Treasurer for Greenbank Farm Management Group (GFMG) will meet and draft a brief for the Attorney General. The Board will be advised as to progress on the draft and the draft itself by email, and no further action will be taken until the Board directs it. Patton said that the best course of action would be for the Port to ask State Senator Haugen to put the request forward to the Attorney General. Patton feels the request letter to Senator Haugen should be signed by the Board's President and not by the Executive Director, and Weber agreed.

Weber then took the opportunity to explain the absence of newly appointed Commissioner Bronson. Bronson is away on a vacation that was scheduled prior to the position opening on the Board and his application for the position. Patton verified that Bronson would receive all the information from today's meeting.

Progress on the Marine Education Center: Patton said he would be meeting with Washington State University (WSU) representatives tonight. As requested by the Port, WSU has identified the stakeholders interested in helping to design the Marine Education Center at the Wharf and Don Meehan is preparing a video presentation that will be shown to all of the stakeholders

Progress on the Master Site Plan for Greenbank Farm (Donna Keeler): Regarding the Asset Inventory, Keeler explained that she had asked Patton for an extension. In order to make the study more effective for the Focus Groups, she had changed tactic and decided to do a more thorough inventory of each of the buildings and to address what the needs are for the main rooms in each building. She said that Laura Blankenship had done an excellent job with the Comprehensive Plan in addressing the bigger, broader concepts. Keeler thinks the Focus Groups will benefit more by starting to address more detailed needs of the different areas of the Farm. She will continue to meet with people at the Farm who are there on a daily basis and can provide assistance in completing the inventory. Keeler will then set up a chart system by room and address the size, the needs, the description, what the room is used for, etc. She hopes to provide the Board with that draft in two weeks. Keeler said she would also meet with the person in charge of the water system at the Farm, Andy Campbell of Whidbey Water Services, to get more detailed information.

Keeler said the first meeting for the Master Site Plan has been scheduled, and she will send the Board that Agenda shortly. Keeler said she would hand out copies of the Comprehensive Plan as a homework assignment for all the committees at that first meeting. She said she would like one Board member or Patton to attend and describe the Port's role regarding Greenbank Farm and a little of the history and background of how the Farm came to be under Port ownership. Keeler has also asked the GFMG to provide an overview of the role of GFMG and how they function at the Farm on a daily basis. She said it is important that the committee members understand fro the get-go the roles of the two entities: the Port and the Greenbank Farm Management Group. Keeler said each meeting will be limited to 2 hours, and the subsequent focus groups meetings will have different agendas based on their areas of focus. Weber said she planned on attending the first two meetings, Bronson had indicated that he plans to attend all of them, and McDonald intends to attend some of the meetings as well. The Board thanked Keeler for her report. Keeler asked if the Board had any questions regarding the Work Plan she previously sent to them. Weber said she was still considering it. She had some concerns and points she would discuss with Patton first to get his views and then she would get back to Keeler.

Greenbank Farm Management Report: (Baenen) GFMG President Tom Baenen was on hand to answer any questions the Board had regarding the December Report he previously submitted via email and which is included in these Minutes as follows:

GFMG President and Port Executive Director met with the Architect, the Development Manager and Operations Manager of Island Transit (IT) at the Farm on the 5th. They walked the site IT is considering as a possible park and ride lot.

GFMG representatives and Port Executive Director met with County Commissioner Phil Bakke and County General Services Administration Director Betty Kemp on December 11th. They discussed the County acting as the Conservator when a Conservation Easement has been developed for Port property at the Greenbank Farm.

GFMG was represented at the second public meeting regarding the Master Site Plan for the Greenbank Farm. The meeting took place in the Coupeville Recreation Hall. Additional members of the public in attendance volunteered to serve on various work groups.

The 2007 End-of-the-Year Appeal Letters were mailed between the 15th and the 20th of December. The new database software, Etapestry, is working well.

Events Manager Missy Villapudua gave notice on 12/7 that she was resigning and 12/21 would be her last day. Missy was with us only 5 months. She has done a fine job and will be missed. Her husband has taken a job off-Island. Missy will be staying home to operate their Bed and Breakfast. The Farm Manager is reviewing the now vacant position. It is possible it will be separated into two positions - Market Manager and Events Manager - or some other configuration of various duties.

Five successful weekend Holiday Markets were held between November 23rd and December 16th. The Holiday Markets are a great marketing opportunity for many of the Island's home-based businesses and supporting the economic development goals of the Farm.

The November Finance Report for the Managed Property was reviewed with Port Executive Director, Jim Patton, and Commissioner-Appointee, Marshall Bronson, on December 27th.

Baenen previously submitted the 2008 Goals of the Greenbank Farm Management Group via email and those have also been attached to these Minutes. He said the GFMG feels those goals are vital elements to be included in consideration of the Master Site Plan for the Farm. He read aloud the three Strategic Directions of GFMG. Patton drew attention to Strategic Direction #2, item 2: Collaborate with the Port of Coupeville on the development of a Master Site Plan that includes a Conservation Easement for the Farm. Patton said he salutes that and all present agreed. The Board did not have any questions and thanked Baenen for preparing the report.

Weber wanted to point out that newly appointed Commissioner Bronson had accompanied former Commissioner Bryson and Patton to last month's meeting with GFMG at the Farm, and Bronson received a little orientation information training.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Marine Resources Committee (MRC): (Weber) Weber read aloud a newspaper article from the front page of the Whidbey News-Times titled Feds fund Northwest Straits. The article is attached to these Minutes.

Weber explained that the MRC's presentation to the Island County Commissioners was rescheduled from the December 4th meeting to December 19th. Weber summarized MRC's December 4th meeting and a draft of those minutes is attached to these Minutes, along with the agenda for the December 18th meeting. Linda Lyshall of Puget Sound Partnership (PSP) was the guest speaker on December 18th. Weber said PSP has pulled money from different pools and different pockets of money and put it all under the PSP in order to have more oversight of the projects throughout Puget Sound. Weber said David Dix is the new director of PSP and he is the keynote speaker for the Sound Waters Workshop on February 2nd. Dix will explain how the PSP will interact with local government and planners. He is tentatively scheduled to meet with the Island County Council of Governments (COG) on February 1st. Weber will keep the Board informed regarding the schedule.

Weber said she had a lot of information on low impact development. After she has reviewed it, she will take it to the Port office. She suggested having a little library there so others could have the opportunity to learn about low impact development.

Weber said the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) seeks to establish a reserve area with the two islands up north that are a part of Island County. The MRC doesn't understand exactly what that is all about and has asked DNR to come to MRC's next educational meeting on January 15th meeting and explain it further.

She encouraged everyone to attend the Sound Waters Workshop, and said there were several sessions of interest, such as the Tidal Energy Project. Keeler said the class descriptions were available online.

Central Whidbey Chamber of Commerce (CWCOC): (Weber) Weber reported that the next meeting of the CWCOC is tomorrow, January 10th, at 6:30 p.m. at Miriam's. She said they would be installing their incoming officers.

Weber also attended the League of Women Voters last Saturday, and had the opportunity to talk about the Port of Coupeville with State Representative Barbara Bailey, State Senator Mary Margaret Haugen and Norma Smith (who has received votes from 27 of the 28 decision makers charged with selecting Representative Chris Strow's replacement).

Council of Governments (COG), Regional Transportation Policy Organization (RTPO), Economic Development Council (EDC) and WPPA Legislative Committee): (McDonald)
COG: McDonald said she doesn't have the minutes yet and she cannot make a good report on the meeting without them. It will have to wait until next month. Weber also attended that meeting and reported that State Senator Haugen, State Representative Bailey, Oak Harbor Mayor Patricia Cohen, Coupeville Mayor Nancy Conard, and the Board of Island County Commissioners were also there. Keystone Ferry: The main topic of conversation at the meeting was the Keystone Ferry and the lack of service for Whidbey Island residents. Weber said Bailey and Haugen had also addressed the Keystone Ferry issue at the League of Women Voters meeting. Weber told reporter Nathan Whalen that the Whidbey News-Times has done a great job of keeping the public informed of the progress and status of the Keystone Ferry. McDonald commented that there was no Port of South Whidbey representative at the meeting with the legislators. Weber noted that the Port of Coupeville and the Port of South Whidbey rotate the one seat on the Committee every two years, and 2008 is the beginning of Port of Coupeville's two year period. Weber directed Patton to write a letter to the Port of South Whidbey indicating that the Port of Coupeville would be taking over that seat as a voting member. RTPO: No meeting in December. EDC: No meeting in December.

Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) and Greenbank Farm Liaison: Former Commissioner Bryson's role on the SMP Committee and as the Greenbank Farm Liaison has not been assigned to anyone yet. Weber explained that the Port will reorganize the Board at the next regular meeting, when there will be an election of officers and assignments for committees.

NEW BUSINESS:

Discussions with Puget Sound Partnership regarding Low Impact Development: (Patton) Patton said he had also attended the MRC meeting to hear Linda Lyshall speak about low impact development. After the meeting, Patton asked Lyshall if she would come and speak to the Master Site Plan focus groups, because the Port would like to make the Greenbank Farm a pilot project for low impact development. Keeler agreed to put Lyshall on the agenda for future focus group meetings.

Discussions with the Northwest Agriculture Business Center regarding farm revitalization on Whidbey Island: (Patton) Maryon Atwater approached Patton after the December 11th Master Site Plan briefing and said she would like to discuss the new availability of the Northwest Agriculture Business Center (NABC) with him. Subsequently, Keeler hosted a meeting and Patton met David Bauermeister who is the new director of the NABC. Patton read aloud from the NABC's Fact Sheet that is attached to these Minutes. Since one of the Master Site Plan focus groups is Agriculture, Patton said the Port has a natural point of tangency with the NABC. Patton looks forward to learning about NABC's capabilities and how NABC can help the Port. He invited Bauermeister to come and speak to the focus groups and Keeler will arrange that. Weber noted that NABC is funded through the state legislators on a 2-year basis. She was pleased that Patton made that connection and that Bauermeister has agreed to speak to the groups. Keeler noted that Atwater is a member of the Agriculture focus group.

Executive Director's vacation plans: (Patton) Patton said he would leave on vacation on January 23rd and return the evening of February 12th. In his absence, Harbor Master, Long Bechard, would be collecting the mail. Patton would inform Bronson about emergency procedures, alarms, etc. so that Bronson can take Bryson's place as Patton's back up in terms of responding to any emergency on the Wharf. Patton said he would provide the Port Clerk with all the invoices to date prior to his departure so she could prepare the vouchers for the February 13th meeting.

Letter of appreciation to Webmaster Robert Elphick: (Patton) At Weber's request, Patton had prepared the letter for her signature and a copy of that letter is attached to these Minutes. Weber said the letter was very nicely done and she signed it after MacLeod-Roberts read it aloud.

ANNOUNCEMENTS & ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS:

Next Port regular meeting: The next regular monthly meeting of the Port's Board of Commissioners will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, February 13, 2008, in the Island County Commissioners Hearing Room located at #1 NE Sixth Street, Room B-102, Coupeville, WA.

Monthly Financial Status Report: MacLeod-Roberts submitted the final November 2007 financial statement and the preliminary December 2007 financial statement.

ACTION: A motion was made by Weber and seconded by McDonald to accept the final November 2007 financial statement as submitted. The motion passed unanimously.

Approval of Current Vouchers: MacLeod-Roberts submitted vouchers audited and certified by the auditing officer as required by RCW 42.24.080. She also submitted expense reimbursement claims certified as required by RCW 42.24.090.

ACTION: A motion was made by McDonald and seconded by Weber to approve by signature the January 2008 vouchers, numbers #615 - #633 for a total amount of $17,348.04. The motion passed unanimously.

ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business to come before the Board, Weber adjourned the meeting at 11:45 a.m.