Bryan and Watts sworn in

DAYTON–The newly elected Port of Columbia commissioners Seth Bryan and Johnny Watts took their oath at the meeting January 12, 2022. Watts then accepted the position as board Secretary.

A training workshop was scheduled for January 27 where Port policies will also be reviewed and adopted. The Capital Facilities Plan was adopted, updates on Port assets and projects were provided by Executive Director Dickinson and approval was given by the Commissioners for a contract with Petrichor for consulting and network management, and ZEROdB for the design and engineering services for the broadband project.

The commissioners reviewed the changes to the Capital Facilities Plan and it was adopted. They also discussed the meeting format. A motion was made by Bryan to move to hybrid meetings as guidelines allow. While all Commissioners shared the goal to move in that direction, they discussed holding off changing the format from being held exclusively by Zoom to give time for COVID cases to fall, so the motion failed.

Updates on Port assets were provided by Dickinson. A high bid came in to replace the roof for the Rock Hill Industrial Park office building No. 3 and so additional bids were sought that came in at a lower price. The Commissioners gave approval of the bid from Gillespie Roofing to move forward. Another update is the concessionaires at Lyons Ferry Marina have invested in providing Conestoga Wagons as additional sleeping arrangements at the KOA.

Commissioners approved the bid for broadband design and engineering services from ZEROdB out of Spokane. Also presented for approval was an agreement with Petrichor for consulting and network management services. These services include mapping of the broadband project, assurance there is proper capacity for service and excess capacity for the system to grow and to check that there are no conflicts with the design.

The Touchet Valley Trail design is expected to be 90% completed in July. Currently Anderson Perry is working out the design of the alternative Main Street route instead of the path following along Commercial Street west of the Touchet River. Results will also be provided from the short plat survey determining the rail right of way.

The Zoom meeting was attended by 42 participants online with Commissioners Bryan and Watts attending in-person.