Port commission to vote on expanding the board to five members

The Port of Bellingham could soon pose the question to voters on whether they would like the port commission to be expanded from three to five members.

Port commissioners said during their June 17 meeting that they planned to vote on including a ballot measure on the November election regarding the expansion. The commission will vote on the measure during its Tuesday, July 15 meeting, which would be the last meeting the commission could approve the measure for it to be placed on November ballots.

If approved by voters, a special election would then be held for the two seats.

The commission’s discussion builds on previous conversations held late last year about expanding the number of port commissioners that drew significant public comment.

Commissioner Michael Shepard brought the ballot measure expansion at the end of the meeting, garnering support from commissioner Ken Bell. Commission president Bobby Briscoe said he was opposed to the expansion.

Under the Open Public Meetings Act, two commissioners cannot discuss port business outside of a public meeting together because it would create a quorum, port attorney Holly Stafford said. However, if the port was expanded to five members, two commissioners could have a private conversation as long as they didn’t share what they communicated with other commissioners. The OPMA would still prohibit one commissioner from speaking individually to the other commissioners about the same port business.

Bell said he wanted the option to speak to another commissioner outside of meetings, especially during the past couple of weeks. The commission voted 2-1, with Briscoe opposed, to removing former port executive director Rob Fix during its last meeting.

“I can find nothing more valuable than a one-on-one discussion to flesh out ideas, to find out if your intuitions are correct, to find out if you have a proper read on a situation, than to be able to talk to a fellow commissioner and not have it filtered through staff or anybody else in the community,” Bell said.

Briscoe said he believed expanding the commission would mean decisions would be made outside of meetings between commissioners, as he said he’d seen in the county council and local city councils. He also warned the position could stray from being nonpartisan.

“It is up to the people, but it is my belief that we cannot be any more transparent than the Port of Bellingham commission is right now,” said Briscoe, who joined the meeting remotely. “If the people of Whatcom County want that transparency in their port to go away, then add two more commissioners, because that is what will happen over time.”