PABA to Discuss Rayonier at Next Meeting

The Port Angeles Business Association will be discussing the Rayonier cleanup at this Tuesday’s meeting. (Joshua’s, 7:30 a.m.) The meeting is open to the public.

Guest speakers will be:

Darlene Schanfeld of the Olympic Environmental Council; and

Robbie and Jim Mantooth of the North Olympic Peninsula Land Trust.

American Marine Bank to Convert on Monday

The North Olympic Peninsula has three branches of the failed American Marine Bank. Three of them are located inside a Safeway.

This Monday the bank will reopen under the ownership of Columbia State Bank. The FDIC says all deposits are safe, and all regular transactions — loan payments, check processing, access to accounts — can proceed the same as before.

Public Records Officer for Clallam County?

Because of the increasing number of public records requests, Clallam County officials might hire a dedicated public records officer. The main question is how they will get the funding to pay for this position.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Mark Nichols said: “In short, we feel that based upon the ever-increasing number and complexity of public records requests that have been made to Clallam County and its several departments that the time has come to fund such a position. Ultimately, we feel this will help the agency comply with the update of the Public Records Act, and further, it will fill a need and allow us to more efficiently respond to what has become an ever popular public service that is being requested.”

Clallam County receives about a thousand public records requests per year.

Kaj Ahlburg Selected for Harbor-Works Vacancy

The Port of Port Angeles commissioners have voted unanimously to appoint Kaj Ahlburg to the Harbor-Works Development Authority board. He was formerly an attorney and a Wall Street banker.

He’ll be replacing Bart Irwin, who resigned in December.

Brad Collins Appointed to City Council

The six Port Angeles City Council members have voted unanimously to appoint Brad Collins to the seventh seat.

Brad Collins retired as community development director in 2005, and he's a deputy director of Serenity House of Clallam County. If he wants to complete the second two years of this City Council term, he will need to run for re-election in the Fall of 2011.

Seven Applicants for City Council Vacancy

As of today’s 3 p.m. deadline, seven people have applied for the City Council seat vacated by Larry Little.

The Council members will interview the applicants at a special meeting on Wednesday, January 20th at 5 p.m. in the City Council chambers. The applicants are:

Brad Collins, Serenity House of Clallam County development director and former Port Angeles planning director.

Thomas Davis, a musician, who formerly served as an Indian Council chairman in El Dorado County, CA.

Rick Burton, Nippon Paper Industries USA employee.

Dan Maguire, former Clallam County Family YMCA executive director.

Glenn Wiggins, a former Port Angeles city councilman and mayor and currently a forestry consultant.

Sheryle Outcalt, registered nurse.

John Matthews of the planning commission, and you probably know him from the Post Office.

City Council to Use Shorter Minutes

Starting this coming Tuesday, the Port Angeles City Council will be using shorter minutes. This new condensed version will no longer include council discussions or presentations or comments from staff members.

They say it isn’t an attempt to conceal anything; it’s just to save time and make it quicker for people to see how council members voted.

City Clerk Janessa Hurd said: “It’s more of what happened than what was said.”

The Council will be using these shorter minutes for a 6-month trial period. Mayor Dan Di Guilio said feedback from the public will determine whether these shortened minutes will be a permanent change.

Three Candidates for Harbor-Works Vacancy

The Port of Port Angeles has selected three finalists for the position vacated by Bart Irwin when he resigned from Harbor-Works in December.

Grant Munro, Harry Bell, and Kaj Ahlburg have been invited to give a short presentation at the next Port of Port Angeles meeting on January 25th.

Port Commissioner John Calhoun said: “It isn't an interview per se. We just want to hear why they want to be on the board.”

Tourism Up in Clallam County

Based on 2009 lodging tax receipts, tourism was up slightly in Clallam County. Forks was mostly responsible for bringing up Clallam County’s total. Sequim and Port Angeles both had declining receipts, but their decline was less than the state average.

Jefferson County remained roughly the same, with Port Townsend declining.

Let’s hope we’ll have some momentum now. PenPly is about to fire up again (if they haven’t already). Census jobs will be available starting in March or April, with wages starting at $13.25 an hour. Hopefully this will be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Mayor Dan Di Guilio

The Port Angeles City Council has chosen Dan Di Guilio as the next mayor. The vote was 5 to 0 with Di Guilio not voting.

The vote for deputy mayor was a tie between Cherie Kidd and Don Perry. Max Mania and Pat Downie voted for Kidd; Brooke Nelson and Dan Di Guilio voted for Perry. Kidd and Perry each voted for themselves.

The City Council voted 6-0 to postpone the deputy mayor vote until they've appointed the seventh member of the council.

Paratransit Drivers Vote to Strike

Paratransit drivers in Clallam County have voted 25-0 to strike. It will be at least a week before the strike begins. Paul Bachtel, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587 president, said: "We'll take that [vote to strike] back to the bargaining table. It will be up to the members to decide the date the strike will start."

Paratransit Services is a nonprofit organization based in Bremerton. They operate under a contract with Clallam Transit.

Larry Little Resigns from Port Angeles City Council

Well, that was short-lived. Larry Little was sworn in last Tuesday as a new City Council member. Then two days later he resigned, via an e-mail to Kent Myers and the rest of the City Council.

His wife has cancer and is in the middle of chemotherapy.

“She is stronger than me and I know that she is saddened that I am making this decision to resign. I thought I could do it. But already things have been forced to slide in some of my other obligations. First in my list of priorities is the physical and emotional health of my family. My obligations with the Volunteers in Medicine clinic are second.”

Best of luck to Larry Little and his family.

At next Tuesday’s meeting, the City Council will discuss what process they’ll use for filling the vacancy.