POMEROY-Wrandall Brenes-Morua, Outside Plant Director for Pocket iNet, attended the Port of Garfield Commissioners regular monthly meeting Tuesday, November 19, to discuss the fees that the Port will be charging internet service providers (ISPs) for hook-ups to the broadband system for consumers, and who will be responsible for paying for the construction of the drop to each location of hook-up.

The commissioners had decided at the previous week’s meeting on November 14, that the one-time, non-recurring hook-up fee would be set at $40 to the ISP. Brenes-Morua stated that the $40 initial hook-up fee was not as much of an issue as the cost of constructing the drop to each customer. Pocket iNet does not charge the customer an up-front fee, but if they are required to incur the cost of constructing the drop, they would have to charge the customer more per month to be able to recover the drop expense. They also generally require two-year contracts from customers, but if they cancel after two years and switch to another provider, then Pocket iNet hasn’t had enough time to recover their investment of the drop construction. He suggested that the Port pay for the construction of the drop, and then they would own that drop, no matter which ISP is providing the service through it.

A separate contractor will be installing the broadband fiber throughout the service area, but will not be including the drops to each individual user. That would be the responsibility of the ISP, at a cost of $200 each. Brenes-Morua asked the Port to waive the monthly fees to the ISP of $20 per customer for the first year, as a way of compensating for the $200 drop construction expense, and the Port retains ownership of the drop. The commissioners agreed.

To begin construction, work the first of February or March Brenes-Morua stated it is probably going to be delayed because of the risky nature of boring during icy conditions and the lift trucks place on construction workers. An April 1 start date would prove less problematic, but to meet the end of October completion date would increase construction costs. Port Director Diana Ruchert, suggested that they extend the completion deadline to the end of November, 2020.

Brenes-Morua asked that language in the construction contract which protects the Port, also allow flexibility to the contractors. They should specify that a certain percentage of homes could be “lit” within a specified period of time as the project progresses. Otherwise, construction would need to be complete before connecting individual homes. The commissioners agreed to the new stipulations noting that would prefer to connect to broadband service sooner than later.

Port Director, Diana Ruchert, reported to the commissioners that she was not able to get a grant application completed by the deadline set by the Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB) because she did not have all of the information needed, such as a bond and maps. Therefore, the Port will not be able to include the Garfield County Fairgrounds in Phase 1 of the project as the County Commissioners had requested.

Commissioner Cody Bye investigated meeting conduct protocol and discovered discrepancies in the manner the Port of Garfield meetings were executed. After checking with the Port of Tacoma meeting operations and witnessing Garfield County Commissioners and Pomeroy City Council meeting, he stated that Port meetings should be run by the chairman of the board, rather than the Port Director. The chairperson is to read through the agenda and direct the meeting, inviting discussion of agenda items. It is the responsibility of the Director or Clerk to set up the agenda. Bye expressed the importance to follow procedure, especially when having discussions about things such as salaries.

Ruchert responded that the Port has a “delegation of authority” established but offered to amend that protocol in whatever manner the commissioners decide. She also stated that bigger port districts do things differently because the commissioners of smaller port districts don’t get paid enough to spend time making agendas, and the directors have more knowledge of what is going on.

Bye asked for an executive session to discuss personnel issues, and when the session was completed and the regular meeting was reconvened, he made a motion with the following statement: “As Port commissioners, we have been entrusted with the responsibility to help see Garfield County and Pomeroy grow through the use of taxpayer money. So, I believe it is critical that we take the time to debate and analyze any requests regarding use of those funds. Therefore, I would just like to make a quick motion to rescind the resolution to provide Director Ruchert a raise and table the motion for one month. This motion will then be voted upon at the next regularly scheduled meeting, which should provide the commissioners with enough time to collect all the pertinent facts about the request, just to be sure that everyone is on the same page.” This motion was in reference to a previous motion passed at the November 14, 2019, Port of Garfield Board of Commissioners meeting where a $16,000 pay increase for Ruchert, for one year only, was approved with affirmative votes by Commissioners Crawford and Scoggins, but a negative vote by Commissioner Bye. There was no second given to Bye’s motion to rescind the previous motion, so the motion failed.

During the previous meeting on November 14, Ruchert requested a salary increase be approved by the Commissioners. She is asking for an increase of $16,000 for 2020 only, which is in line with other Port Directors in other counties, and still less than some. The requested increase is due to two issues: that Garfield County recently announced that it is changing an employee policy regarding insurance benefits that has allowed spouses, both employed by the County, to actually profit from dual coverage under the benefits package. Ruchert, whose husband is also covered under the County’s insurance, has been using the extra funds received to pay a deficit in her state retirement fund. The deficit was caused by the fact she was not put on the state retirement plan for several years after her initial hire. To be able to make up for those lost years, she has been making payments to the state for both the employee and employer contributions that were missed. The total amount owed is the same as the amount she has requested as a salary increase, which must be paid to the state by 2021. Without the insurance benefit money she had been receiving, this creates a financial hardship for her. Commissioners Ed Crawford and Larry Scoggin voted to approve the salary increase, but Commissioner Cody Bye opposed, citing that this was the first time he had heard anything about the request, and felt he needed more time to research the issue. However, the two-to-one vote did carry and resulted in an approval of the salary increase.

Ruchert also asked for a wage increase of 3.2533% for Tina Keller, Office Assistant, which includes a slight increase over the approved increase for all County employees for 2020 due to the fact that the Port District employees must pay the full amount into a state-mandated “Paid Family Leave” account due to the small number of people employed by the Port. Garfield County pays a portion of the family leave benefit for its employees. A 10% increase was requested for Doug Leuck who does maintenance work for the Port, to bring him more in line with maintenance employees at other Port Districts. The commissioners approved these increases, and to keep their own wage of $312 per meeting the same for 2020.

In other business, the status of the Columbia Pulp plant in Pomeroy that has been closed since September, 2019. Because of the ongoing work at the new plant in the Starbuck area, where the Pomeroy employees are now being utilized, the Pomeroy plant will not reopen before the end of 2019. The company is still considering other uses for the Pomeroy facility.

The Port has received an inspection report for the U.S. Forest Service building, and they are in the process of repairing some minor items listed in the report. Ruchert also reported that they received an increase in user fees of $863.32 per year.

The 2020 Budget for the Port of Garfield has been advertised as available to the public for review. The Final Budget Hearing will be held on Monday, December 2, 2019, at 6:30 p.m., at the Port Offices, which will be the next meeting of the Port.

Invitations to bid on construction were to go out Thursday, November 21, 2019, due December 19 at 1 p.m. A pre-bid meeting December 3 is for contractors. The Port will move its regular meeting from December 17 at 6 p.m., to December 19, to discuss the bids received earlier in the day.