Paul Crowner will make the Port of Centralia transparent and accountable. Does the Port of Centralia have any goals for the future? It doesn’t appear so. Their plans for Centralia Station are currently stuck in limbo. Proper management procedures have come into question on many occasions also, such as being non-compliant when it comes to submitting reports that are required by federal and state agencies for permitting.
The port and the taxpayers can be put into an expensive situation. Also just treating the public with respect and to at least attempt to answer sincere, thoughtful questions should be part of normal port procedure.
An urgent suggestion would be for the port commissioners to set up an executive director’s performance evaluation. Long overdue I believe. Enticing and helping businesses coming to the port and succeeding is an important duty of port commissioners. It’s also important to listen to workers at the port, the neighbors of port property, the traffic impacts from the port and to include the community. We taxpayers are your partners, not adversaries. For instance, the Centralia Station project has changed plans more than once, with no input from the public and sometimes to the dismay of city officials.
The port website needs updating in order to be current and relevant. There should be training opportunities for management, staff and commissioners also. I encourage the public to attend port meetings and or attend meetings on the phone to truly understand the need for transparency and general cooperation between all relevant entities. In my opinion, a commissioner is committing a conflict of interest when supervising a port business tenant. Paul’s opponent is a manager of a port tenant.
A vote for Paul Crowner is a vote for transparency and accountability at the Port of Centralia.
Brian Dow
Centralia
