And I'm calling the public
meeting to order at 9:30 a.m.
There was no executive session
held this morning. Please note
this meeting is being recorded.
My name is Don orange and I am
the Commission president for
the Port of Vancouver. Joining
me are Commissioner Eric
LaBrant and Temple Linse. We
are conducting a hybrid meeting
today along with our in-person
meeting we're having here.
We're also set up so those who
are not physically able to
provide oral testimony can do
so virtually. Please join me in
the Pledge of Allegiance.
Pledge allegiance.
>> To the flag of the United
States of America, and to the
Republic for which it stands.
One nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
>> Next up, the approval of the
minutes from the last meeting.
>> I've reviewed the minutes
and find them to be in order
and move approval.
>> I'll second the motion. All
those in favor?
>> Aye, aye.
>> Unanimously. Next is the
open forum.
>> Yes. Good morning.
Commissioners. We did not have
anyone sign up virtually, and
we do not have anyone
interested in speaking this
morning.
>> OKR. Next. Next is the
action items.
>> Yes. So we have two action
items today real estate related.
So the first one is going to be
presented by Kathy Holtby, our
real estate manager. Good
morning Kathy. If you want to
join us at the podium here.
Absolutely.
>> Good morning commissioners.
Good morning. So this action
item is to approve a lease
agreement between the Port and
Jones Stevedoring Company. The
Port Strategic Plan has a goal
to pursue opportunities that
utilize the port's property and
infrastructure investments to
create jobs and support the
economy. This lease is a result
of the port's efforts to
successfully retain an employer
within the port. To maximize
utilization of our assets.
Jones Stevedoring Company was
established in 1858. That was a
surprise to me when I got into
some of the history and is a
fifth generation, family owned
business, privately held. They
have operated in the state of
Washington since that 1858.
Jones began stevedoring at the
port in 1913, one year after
the port was formed. And it's
been performing stevedoring
services at the port in some
capacity since that time. Jones
previously acted as the port's
receipt and delivery R&D
contractor since the 19 in the
1970s and 80s, and then in 2017,
they were again awarded the R&D
contract for providing the
stevedoring services for truck
and rail. Loading. Ever since
that time, Jones began leasing
the building 2685, which is
shown on on the exhibit there
on a short term lease. And the
purpose of this agreement is to
approve a long term lease for
them within the building. 2685
has 255, 93ft² on a site area
with 84,425ft². The initial
term is for five years
beginning September 1st, and
that will go through August
31st of 2031. There are three
two year options to extend the
lease. Jones uses the building
as a gear locker and indoor
mechanical work and storage for
their parts and small equipment
to repair their equipment for
the stevedoring services. Lease
revenue to the port over Joylyn.
Jones's initial term is
projected to be $967,415.40,
plus lease sold. Excise tax and
insurance and utilities. Jones.
I said Jones is has been here a
long time, and we expect that
they will extend for all of
their extensions. And unless it
changes for longer than that.
Jones revenue, as I said, is
967, $415.40. And this revenue
was included in the port's 2026
budget. Would you like me to
read the recommendation, please?
Okay. That the Board of
Commissioners approve and
authorize the CEO to execute
the lease agreement at 2685
Northwest Harborside between
the Port of Vancouver and Jones
Stevedoring. Are there any
questions?
>> Thank you. Questions?
>> Thank you. I'd ask the CEO
about this when we talked about
this. So I'm just I and I
thought it was interesting. Can
you talk about how this lease
does or doesn't relate to the
R&D contract that they're in?
Like they're not, they're not
necessarily tied to each other.
>> Sure. They are not. With the
R&D, though, it is important
for them to be on the port, to
have a place for them to repair
the equipment, have parts,
storage, and you can see the
the little small areas for
storing their parts, but they
have equipment all over the
port. If you drive through the
terminal, you'll see Jones
labels and emblems on all the
different equipment. So being
on the port, they need to
quickly be able to have a
facility, a building where they
can go there and fix something
quick because they may be in,
you know, in the midst of
unloading a ship or moving
cargo or something. So it is
really imperative for them to
have a facility within the
terminal so they can quickly do
these services. Jones has, like
I said, they've been here and
they were here and have been at
the port. They were still doing
stevedoring when they weren't
the R&D contractor for the port.
But as the R&D contractor, they
do significantly more business
by operating for the port on
our services that we need. And
so that's why the importance of
having an actual heart facility
that they can work in and out
of is their.
>> And if I could just add that
the operating agreement. So
they are our primary R&D
stevedore, but they do provide
other services in addition to
R&D. So we do have multiple
stevedores that do operate at
the port as well. So in the
event that there is a. So they
don't necessarily have to
directly align because they
might not be doing R&D, but
they could be doing other
services at the port as well.
So the, the lease is, is not
directly tied to, to the
operating side of it.
>> No. Thank you. And I just I
think that's an interesting
point. And I love their
longevity and specifically
longevity in a relationship
with the port. So I think it's
wonderful that they also want
to have the lease for all of
their equipment here.
>> As well. Absolutely.
>> I have no questions. And
I'll move that. We adopt the
recommendation as presented. I
had a question before you got
ahead.
>> Of me.
>> R&D for the layman is
receiving.
>> Receipt and delivery. Okay.
F cargo.
>> There's there's I think they
call them gear lockers down,
clear down toward the toward
the grain elevators. Are those.
>> Yeah. And so those so for
example. UGC they have a
millwright gear locker, so to
speak, shop for their facility.
So if they have to repair any
of the elevators or equipment
or cranes or anything that's
for their operation, it's not
for anybody else's. And so
they're probably, I know there
probably are some other ones
for each of our tenants that
are moving cargo, because when
they start moving, it has to
keep moving.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Do you want to try it again?
I'll move that. We adopt the
recommendation as presented.
>> Second.
>> All those in favor?
>> Aye.
>> Aye. Unanimous.
>> Thank you. Commissioners.
>> Thank you. Thank you. Kathy.
>> Next up Giuliana.
>> Next we have Anjali and
Angie. Sorry. Hans Evinn, real
estate specialist, who will
present our next action item.
Good morning, Angie. Good
morning.
>> Good morning, commissioners
and Giuliana. I'm here this
morning to present an action
item concerning the deep Water
channel. Navigation,
maintenance. And the new plan
coming up for the next 20 years.
The action item is to approve
resolution 22026, authorizing
the port to negotiate the
acquisition of certain real
property necessary for the
Lower Columbia River channel
Maintenance plan. This agenda
item supports the port's
strategic plan goal to continue
to play a key role in
maintaining navigability of the
Columbia River system,
including berthing systems,
Anchorage turning basins and
the shipping channel. The Port
of Vancouver, along with three
other Washington ports
consisting of the ports of
Kalama, Longview and Woodland.
Collectively, the Washington
ports that cooperatively joined
with the Port of Portland and
the United States Army Corps of
Engineers. The course in the
Project Cooperation Agreement
dated June 23rd, 2004, which
we'll call the PCA for
construction of the navigation
improvements and Ecosystem
Restoration in the shipping
shipping channel of the
Columbia River. Under the PCA,
the Washington ports are
responsible for acquiring the
necessary dredged material
disposal sites in the state of
Washington, which the course
identifies as necessary for the
Columbia River Channel
Improvement Project. We'll call
that the project going forward.
On June 1st, 2026, the Corps
received a record of decision
pertaining to its channel
maintenance duties for the next
20 years under the Lower
Columbia River Channel
Maintenance Plan. Dredge
Material Management Plan dated
May 2026. As a result, the
course issued a notice to
proceed on June 9th, 2026 to
the Washington Ports and the
Port of Portland, identifying a
total of 29 dredge material
placement sites for acquisition,
including one Fayte acquisition
and 24 temporary work area
easements of five year duration.
Located in the state of
Washington. Collectively, the
property the Washington ports
are required to acquire the
property in accordance with the
uniform relocation assistance
and Real Property Acquisition
Policies Act of 1970, as
amended and as codified by the
State of Washington in chapter
8.2 6CW resolution two, 2026
will allow the Port of
Vancouver to move forward with
the necessary pre-negotiation
requirements, such as surveying,
environmental and other
investigations and appraisal,
and enter into enter into
negotiations with the property
owners for the purchase of the
property. Once agreement on the
terms of each acquisition is
reached with the respective
property owner, port staff will
seek additional approval from
the commission of those terms,
as well as authorization to
proceed with closing. This
action does not include
authorization to use the port's
eminent domain power to acquire
the property and separate
commission action would be
necessary to do so in the event
negotiations fail to reach
agreement with the property
owner. The Port of Vancouver's
portion of the anticipated
acquisition costs will span
multiple budget years, and
anticipated costs for 2026 were
included in the 2026 budget.
The recommendation is that the
Board of Commissioners approve
resolution two, 2026,
authorizing the port to
negotiate the acquisition of
certain real property necessary
for the Lower Columbia River
channel maintenance plan. Any
questions?
>> Questions.
>> It's more of a statement
than a question, but thank you.
And you got the report with all
of the complicated words. So
right on. Good job. Just
wanting to clarify that this so
this this resolution and it it
says it in it but isn't to
complete the negotiations. But
it's really just to get the
process going and authorizing
that work of the negotiations
and then completed plans will
be brought to the commission
for approval. So it's.
>> Yes.
>> A multi-step process.
>> Yeah. And it's a a different
process than like, if you were
going to go out and do a arm's
length transaction, it's a
federally and state mandated
process. So we do anticipate if
the property owner either
accepts the formal offer off
outright and the amount to be
paid for the properties
outright, or if we have to
negotiate a resolution, once
that point is reached, we will
bring the final documents and
that amount to the commission
for approval. Fine. Thank you.
>> This is one of the this is
one of the things that I have
fun explaining to folks out in
the community is the the
cooperation between the
different between the lower
Columbia ports on, on putting
this all together because it
does come up, you know, do we
do we compete with Longview or
do we compete with Kalama? And,
and it's, it's a fun nuance of,
you know, we might compete for
certain business, but we
immediately turn around and
cooperate very heavily on stuff
like this.
>> So, yes, there are issues
that it's beneficial for all
the Columbia River ports to
cooperate on, especially
getting ships up the up the
channel to bring cargo in or
out.
>> And it's a delicate ballet,
rather complex finding, my
understanding is finding all
these various sites to store
the millions of tons of Cascade
Mountains that come down the
Columbia. So thank you for
thank you for doing that work.
You're welcome.
>> Any other questions?
>> I have nothing to say. If
you wanted to try that again.
Sure. I'll move that. We adopt
the recommendation as presented.
>> Second.
>> All those in favor, I
unanimously.
>> Thank you, Commissioner.
>> Thank you, thank you.
>> Unfinished business.
>> No unfinished business
finished.
>> No new business.
>> No new business.
>> She your report?
>> I don't have anything for
today.
>> Oh my goodness. We can't
have that. I think we go to the
next place we go is
commissioners reports. I think
we oh, they told me what order
to do it in Google. All right.
We did.
>> Well I guess. I guess I'll
go first then. There you go.
It's on the paper. Let's see.
Well, several of us were at the
the 2,000,000th Subaru
celebration, which was really
fantastic. It was well done,
well put together. So everybody
who worked on making it happen.
Thank you. It was just it it
was just a really nice event
and a wonderful celebration of
this, this partnership. And I
hope that it continues. I'm not
to be here when 3 million
happens because it took a while,
but I think that's that was
really wonderful. Also last
week went to the opening of the
Trade Center at Fort Vancouver
High School, which is a
primarily like a welding
training facility. And it was
really just a remarkable
facility. And it's nice to see
community investment in the
trades. And I hopefully all the
kids who are going through
there and are going to get well
trained and be able to find
good jobs like the day after
graduation. I'm really excited
for all of them. So good things
happening there. Met with the
CEO also last week. Went to the
Portland Business Journal's
Grow Vancouver event with a
number of speakers from the
Vancouver area talking about
the growth that we're seeing in
this region and how businesses
are learning from adapting and
managing that growth for
themselves. So that was really
helpful to hear from a number
of different sectors related to
that. I'll leave it there.
>> Cool. You grew up.
Commissioner. Just two two
quick things to touch on. I had
an opportunity last week to
attend the Identity Clark
County Summer social. They've
been heavily involved in
advocacy for the I-5 bridge
replacement project, and
hopefully we'll continue to to
engage in that partnership at
least until we're able to get
that across the finish line. So
and then I also had the
opportunity to attend the the
2,000,000th Subaru coming
across the docks. A lot of a
number of Subaru dignitaries
and really a just a fantastic
event, especially within the
context of Subaru having
recently renewed their lease or
extended their lease, I guess
so, yeah. Fantastic. Long time
partner for the port. And as
we're trying to keep things,
keep things economically steady,
it is nice to have that
stability continuing. So that
concludes my report.
>> Mine's relatively short. I
did some of the same things as
these other folks, and I got to
ride along on a tour, which is
they're always well done. And
you get to meet folks in the
community. That that haven't
had the opportunity to go
behind the fence at the port. I
think I ran out of words.
Europe. Julia says it better
than that in here, I'm sure.
>> So we have some upcoming
events. Our next commission
meeting is Tuesday, September
8th, 930 here at the office.
And as you can see, there are a
lot of community events. I
would like to highlight. Our
Port Public tour. Number eight
is going to be Saturday, August
29th. I will note that it is
full. However, if you are
interested in getting on a wait
list, you can do that through
the website and and or call the
office. And just a reminder on
ways to communicate with the
Commission. Folks can join us
here during our two Commission
meetings for the month during
open forum, you can email the
commissioners, you can call the
office, we'll get folks in
touch with the commissioners,
and then also always encourage
people to get on the port's
website. There's a lot of great
information on what is
happening at the port.
>> Excellent. I think with that,
we do not have workshop today.
We have no administrative work
session. We've completed all
the items on today's agenda.
Next will sign documents. Then
I will adjourn the meeting.
Thank you all.