Port of Vancouver Board of Commissioners

0:00 [ Music ] >> And I'm calling the public meeting to order 930 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 LeBrant and Temple Lance. We are conducting a hybrid meeting today along with our in-person meeting we're having here.

0:56 We're also set up so those who are not physically able to provide oral testimony can do so virtually. Please join me in a 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 and indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

1:26 >> 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. >> Okay. 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, do you want to join us at the podium here? >> Absolutely.

2:26 >> Good morning commissioners. >> Good morning. >> So this action item is to approve a lease agreement between the port and St. Joan's Stevedoring Company. The port's 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 utilizations of our assets. Joan's 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. Joan's began stevedoring at the port in 1913, one year after the port was formed.

3:25 And it's been performing stevedoring services at the port in some capacity since that time. Joan's previously acted as the port's receipt and delivery, R&D, contractor since 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. Joan's began leasing the building 2685, which is shown 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 25,593 square feet on a site area with 84,425 square feet.

4:21 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. Joan's 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 Joan's initial term is projected to be $967,415.40, plus leaks sold excise tax and insurance and utilities. Joan's has been here a long time, and we expect that they will extend for all of their extensions,

5:18 and unless it changes for longer than that. Joan's 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 Harbor Side between the Port of Vancouver and Joan's Stevedoring. Are there any questions? >> Thank you. Questions? >> Thank you. I'd asked the CEO about this when we talked about this, so I'm just -- 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 necessarily tied to each other? >> Sure, they are not.

6:13 With the R&D, though, it is important for them on the port to have a place for them to repair the equipment, have parts, storage, and you can see 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 Joan's 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. Joan's has -- like I said, they've been here

7:10 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 hard facility that they can work in and out of is there. >> And if I could just add that the operating agreements, 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 lease is not directly tied

8:07 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 a 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. >> R&D for the layman is receiving -- >> Receipt and delivery at Fargo. >> There's -- I think they call them gear lockers down, clear down toward the green elevators, are those --

9:03 >> 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. >> Uh-huh. >> You want to try that 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, Juliana. >> Next, we have Angie -- sorry, Hansloven,

10:01 real estate specialist, who will present our next action item. Good morning, Angie. >> Good morning. >> Good morning, commissioners and Juliana. I'm here this morning to present an action item concerning the deepwater channel navigation maintenance and the new plan coming up for the next 20 years. The action item is to approve resolution 2-026, 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,

11:01 anchorage, turning basins, and the shipping channel. The Port of Vancouver, along with three other Washington ports, consisting of the ports of Calama, Longview, and Woodland, collectively the Washington ports, that cooperatively joined with the Port of Portland and the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the Corps, in the project cooperation agreement dated June 23, 2004, which we'll call the PCA. For construction of the navigation improvements and ecosystem restoration in the shipping channel of the Columbia River, under the PCA, the Washington ports are responsible for acquiring the necessary dredge material disposal sites in the state of Washington, which the Corps identifies as necessary for the Columbia River channel improvement project. We'll call that the project going forward.

11:57 On June 1, 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 Corps issued a notice to proceed on June 9, 2026 to the Washington ports and the Port of Portland identifying a total of 29 dredge material placement sites for acquisition, including 1 feet acquisition and 24 temporary work area easements of 5-year duration located in the state of Washington. Collectively, the pauperty. 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 8.26 RCW.

12:56 Resolution 2, 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 to 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

13:54 years and anticipated costs for 2026 were included in the 2026 budget. The recommendation is that the Board of Commissioners approve Resolution 2, 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. Just wanting to clarify, so this resolution, and it says it in it but isn't to complete the negotiations, but it's really just to get the process going and authorizing

14:50 that work of the negotiations and then completed plans will be brought to the commission for approval. So it's a multi-step process. >> Yeah, and it's a different process than like if you were going to go out and do an 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 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 in that amount to the commission for approval. >> Thank you. >> This is one of the things that I have fun explaining

15:49 to folks out in the community is the cooperation between the different, between the lower Columbia ports on putting this all together. Because it does come up, you know, do we compete with Longview or do we compete with Kalama? And 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. >> Yes, there are many issues that it's beneficial for all the Columbia River ports to cooperate on, especially getting ships 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 doing that work.

16:48 >> Okay. Any other questions? >> I have nothing to say if you wanted to try that. >> Sure. I'll move that we adopt the recommendation as presented. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Aye. >> Unanimously. >> Thank you, commissioners. Thank you, Angie. >> Unfinished business? >> No unfinished business. >> Finished? No. New business. >> No, new business. >> CEO 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 commissioner's reports. I think they told me what order to do it in. Go, yeah. >> All right. >> They did. >> Well, I guess I'll go first then. >> There you go. >> It's on the paper.

17:47 Let's see. Well, several of us were at the two millionth 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 a really nice event and a wonderful celebration of this partnership. And I hope that it continues. I'm not sure if I hope to be here when three million happens because it took a while. But I think that was really wonderful. Also, last week went to the opening of the Edlin Trade Center at Fort Vancouver High School which is 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 hopefully, all the kids who are going through there and are going to get well trained and be able

18:45 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. [ Inaudible Remark ] >> Just 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.

19:40 And hopefully, we'll continue to engage in that partnership at least until we're able to get that across the finish line. And then I also had the opportunity to attend the two millionth Subaru coming across the docks. A lot of-- a number of Subaru dignitaries and really 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 economically steady, it is nice to have that stability continuing. That concludes my report. >> Mine is relatively short.

20:37 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 haven't had the opportunity to go behind the fence at the port. I think I ran out of words. Europe. Julia, it says 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 8 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,

21:34 you can do that through the website 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 e-mail 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 a workshop today. We have no administrative work session. We've completed all the items on today's agenda. Next, we'll sign documents and I will adjourn the meeting. Thank you all.