At a Wednesday, Feb. 1, regular meeting, Port of Centralia commissioners voted 2-1 to pass a resolution amending rules governing the transaction of port business, specifically the port’s public comment guidelines.
The move comes as a longstanding dispute between the port and a group of citizens concerned about a perceived lack of transparency by the port boiled over, resulting in multiple occasions where Commissioner Kyle Markstrom stopped an attendees from speaking during a public comment session.
Markstrom ended the public comments of Centralia resident Jan Banevich twice during December meetings citing concerns with Banevich’s use of the word “rape.” Banevich had taken issue with the port director’s contract including a clause that makes it more difficult for him to be fired.
The clause included the term “a felony involving moral turpitude” and Banevich was attempting to use rape as an example, she said.
As for the resolution itself, many of the rules for public comment at the port’s meetings remained the same, such as the three-minute time limit for comments. A total of 30 minutes will be set aside for public comments per meeting.
However, if there are more than 10 people wishing to comment, port commissioners reserved the right to defer additional public comment until after the port has addressed business on the agenda.
The major changes revolve around the port commission president’s power to end an individual’s public comment. If a comment goes over three minutes, is beyond the reasonable scope of port business, is overly repetitive or lengthy or includes disruptive behavior, the president can end the comment, according to the policy.
The port’s rules outline what constitutes disruptive behavior, reading: “Disruptive behavior includes speaking beyond the allocated time limit, preventing members of the public from hearing or viewing the discussion of the commission, using crude, offensive, abusive, discriminatory or derogatory language, making personal attacks on port employees or officials, and speaking in a volume louder than low, conversational tone when not recognized by the president for public comment.”
The port’s commission president can curtail any public comment at their discretion with a warning to follow the guidelines first. Markstrom currently serves as the port president.
If a public commenter fails to comply, the president will deem the individual out of order and end their comments. Additionally, the new rules state that if the individual presents a threat to those in attendance at the meeting, the president can direct them to be removed and request law enforcement assistance if needed.
A paragraph was also added stating the president may request security at meetings where sensitive or controversial subjects will be discussed.
Centralia residents in attendance at the Feb. 1 meeting voiced opposition to the changes. During the public comment section at the meeting, they questioned why the port continued to refuse to move the public comment section to the end of meetings to allow for the public to hear what the port is discussing before commenting on it.
“I feel, and I sound like a broken record, but public comment time should be done at a different time on the agenda. Could be, should be done after motions are made so the public can speak on them or after commissioners give their reports or something,” Centralia resident Brian Dow said.
Dow compared how public comments are handled at both the neighboring Port of Chehalis and Centralia’s City Council meetings. In both of those settings, public comments are allowed during each agenda item.
For non-agenda items, the Centralia City Council holds a public comment period at the beginning of regular meetings while the Port of Chehalis holds it at the end.
Banevich questioned the constitutionality of the public comment rule changes.
“The public comment amendment seems to be designed to stifle or prohibit free speech as it relates to a person’s viewpoint or opinion. It should not be left to the discretion of the port’s president. You have the right to disagree with a person but not the right to control viewpoints and opinions,” Banevich said.
During the commissioners’ discussion of the resolution, commissioners Julie Shaffley and Peter Lahmann both seemed to support the port mirroring public comment policies at the Centralia City Council or the Port of Chehalis. Lahmann also mentioned how public input is handled at meetings of the Lewis County Board of Commissioners.
Lahmann proposed adding a stipulation for the commission to automatically review all resolutions passed by the port after a certain amount of time to see if they need amendments or are still relevant. This idea was rejected.
Markstrom stated there was no need to add such a stipulation as the port has the authority to review and amend resolutions anytime they wish.
Discussion on the matter among the commissioners went on for nearly 20 minutes. Markstrom conceded that as port president he has the authority to ask for public comment on individual agenda items even after the initial public comment time.
Toward the end of the commission’s discussion, Markstrom opened up public comment again.
Dow thanked the port and encouraged commissioners to accept comments more often. Centralia resident Robert Reichardt was critical about the length of discussion the commissioners had.
“If this type of stuff has been brought (up before), why are we not better prepared? This is not an issue we should be squabbling over. Who does (what), how does, this information should have all been collected and gathered prior to while we were sitting down conducting this meeting,” Reichardt said. “My suggestion would be that we start gathering some contrary information on how this is done so we can provide access to the general public to provide information and comment on all the information that this port commission is going to be dealing with.”
Ultimately, the resolution passed, with Markstrom and Shaffley supporting it and Lahmann opposing it. Public comments will remain at the beginning of regular port meetings and the commission president can open public comment up again at their discretion.
Laws dictating how local municipalities must run meetings can be found in RCW 42.30, also known as the Open Public Meetings Act, which can be viewed online at https://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=42.30.
