Port Considers Funding $15,000 for Flood Advocacy Work

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The Port of Chehalis commissioners last week tabled consideration of funding $15,000 toward flood advocacy work happening in the Chehalis Basin until the board can see how the expenditure would impact its yearly budget.

The port received a letter from the Lewis County Economic Development Council asking for the $15,000 to help fund J. Vander Stoep’s work on helping the flood-prone region.

Vander Stoep is part of the governor’s Chehalis Basin Work Group aimed to address the issues of flooding in the area. 

“This process is the most comprehensive public policy process going on in our area, period,” Vander Stoep told commissioners.

His work is largely funded by governmental agencies and businesses who contribute money, this year through the EDC, to help continue his work on fixing the issue of flooding. 

According to Matt Matayoshi, director of the EDC, a letter was sent to both ports in Centralia and Chehalis, as well as the cities of Centralia, Chehalis and Lewis County, each one asking to fund $15,000 toward the effort. 

As of Monday, Matayoshi said the EDC had not yet received any confirmations from those entities.

“I think the key thing is that the governor’s work group moves forward and that there’s support to find a solution to our flooding,” Matayoshi said. “We’ve got some potential solutions in place; it’s a concern from business owners and from residents and so it affects a lot of people, so it becomes an economic development issue.”

Even if the funds are awarded, Vander Stoep will perform a lot of the work pro bono.

The discussion was carried over from the port’s last meeting, and Vander Stoep answered a list of nine questions the commissioners had supplied to him.

Last year, Vander Stoep said he had six and half weeks of billable time for which he did not ask compensation. At his hourly rate of $225, the total amounted to about $53,000 of free work. 

If the port decided to not fund the $15,000 toward his work, Vander Stoep said that number would likely increase to about eight weeks of unpaid time on his behalf. 

Even if all the agencies participate with the funding through the EDC, Vander Stoep said, about one third of his time will not be compensated. 

“I’m not only willing to do it, but I want to do it,” he said. 



Randy Mueller, chief executive officer of the port, said the port has previously contributed funds for the work Vander Stoep does, although the asking price was less last time. 

Mueller said most of the port’s $400,000 operations budget is used for capital improvements on properties. 

“It’s certainly not a question of the effort being worthwhile, it’s a much tougher lift for us,” he said. “These guys make me put all our money to work.”

Mueller said the port runs a “tight ship” with only three and a half employees. The entity’s cash reserves are not where they would like to see them, and although conditions are improving, Mueller said those funds are not readily available.

Commissioner Mark Giffey said that although the effort is important, he does not want to fund a motion that is impossible to achieve.

“I know $15,000 doesn’t sound like a lot of money when you have an operations budget of $400,000, but I know how tight it is,” he said.

The commissioners directed Mueller to come up with a supplemental budget so they can see how funding the money would impact them. They plan to make a decision at the port’s second commissioner’s meeting in May.

After the meeting on Thursday, Mueller prepared a modification to the port’s 2016 supplemental budget.

Although the budget is still in draft form, it offered suggestions on where the $15,000 could come from. 

The proposed supplemental budget would decrease the amount of money available for the completion of the fiber optic data line project by $7,000; decrease additional permitting contingency by $3,000; and decrease the amount allotted to a joint study on improving local permitting by $5,000. 

The supplemental budget will be provided for the commissioner’s consideration at the May 26 meeting. 

Other entities will soon be meeting to discuss the funds as well.