It seems like the Port of Bellingham commission, recently notorious for authorizing $100,000 of public money to be spent on making the public like them, isn’t fond of uppity city council members. Executive administrator Carey Hansen reported at the commission’s August 20 meeting that she had sent invitations to every Blaine City Council member for a port/city meeting to discuss the port’s investment plans for the harbor.
Just two councilmembers responded. Mayor Mary Lou Steward said she’d be happy to attend but Richard May said that’s not the way they do it in Blaine, according to Hansen. “He said that that’s not how they work, and if we want to have a meeting with them, that we need to do a work study. And he said the only available date this year for work study is at 4 p.m. on August 26,” said Hansen.
Port director Rob Fix jumped in at that point and said he recommended setting a date to send to city council and see who responds with an interest “because so far we’ve only talked to one” councilmember. “Let me reach out to the mayor and the city manager and try to work through this because I don’t want to just write this off. I think the city’s interested in that and I don’t want one councilmember to shoot it down,” Fix said.
Commissioner Ken Bell was in agreement with the meeting idea but not with the invitation list. “I don’t think we invite Richard [May]. Now invite everybody but Richard, it doesn’t work for him anyway,” said Bell.
It looks like the consultant the port hired to make people like them will have to work extra hard to win Richard May over.
(Bell announced at the port’s September 3 meeting that the port would meet with Blaine City Council on September 19).
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