As the federal government shutdown is in the midst of its third week, the subsequent furloughs of federal staff may have an impact on the Port of Chehalis Southwest Washington Grain Project and its funding sources.
Lindsey Senter, port chief executive officer, warned the port commission of the potential impact during its Oct. 9 business meeting, namely with about $7.2 million in federal funding the port has received for the project and the reimbursement timeline.
In 2023, the port was awarded $3.14 million from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA) through its Public Works and Economic Adjustment Assistance Funding Opportunity. In 2024, the project was allocated $4.12 million through Community Project Funding through the efforts of U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania.
Senter told the commissioners that the federal staffers she had been in communication with regarding the reimbursement of their grain project funding have been furloughed. The intended restart date for reimbursements was scheduled to be Oct. 20, but the government shutdown has put the port in a situation where it may not receive reimbursement until the government opens back up.
“Ideally, we’re back open by then and things are on schedule,” Senter said. “However, it’s reasonable to assume that there’s impact to having a lot of employees furloughed, so not having that staff there to do all the work means it always can push back on the timelines. It’s something that we should be considerate of.”
According to the port’s Aug. 14 change order, the most recent total contract price for the project is $5.925 million. The port approved a $1.2 million contract extension on that date. Other funding has come from the Lewis County Board of Commissioners ($800,000) in 2019 and the 2020 Washington state capital budget ($1.75 million).
Senter has been in communication with the offices of Gluesenkamp Perez and Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, which she said have been “incredibly responsive” during the time of confusion and have shared in the port’s concern. She added that the port has communicated frequently with its contractor Tapani Inc. and that the agency is working to make sure its reputation of promptly paying its contractors is maintained.
“We have a plan with them about making sure that they’re very apprised of when our reimbursement date comes in so they can make sure that we continue to get our contractors paid on time,” Senter said. “That has been probably the biggest concern is making sure that everyone’s in contact with us so that we can be ahead of it and make sure that any impact that could be to them will be resolved in what timeline that looks like.”
The government shutdown has not impacted the construction timeline on the grain project, which will include a public grain storage and transloading facility. The facility will allow local farmers to aggregately store and move products via rail and aims to expand opportunities for regional producers and mid-tier grain commerce in the region.
In the event that the port does not receive reimbursements for an extended period of time, backup options could include short-term funding like a bridge loan or a line of credit. Senter said she may have to return to the port commission in the future to discuss short-term options if the government shutdown continues.
Senter told The Chronicle that she has been unable to get an answer as to what exactly will happen if the shutdown extends past the Oct. 20 restart date.
“Right now, the best we can tell is that we would not probably be able to get any reimbursements until the government opens up again,” she said. “That’s the assumption. They are partially automated, so somebody needs to check off that it’s OK to process that reimbursement, and there’s no one working there. They’re all furloughed.”
A typical turnaround for receiving reimbursements is one to two weeks, according to Senter, but she expressed frustration with the lack of communication from her EDA contacts about changes in its structure due to the end of its fiscal year.
“A week prior to the government shutdown, we got a notice from the EDA, kind of a late notice, that they actually wouldn’t be processing reimbursements from September through Oct. 20. That was already scheduled. Apparently, they just forgot to tell us,” she said.
Through all of the confusion in the middle of construction, Senter said she is confident that the project will continue as planned and that the government will eventually reopen. The shutdown began Oct. 1.
“The overall sentiment from our end is that we’re just trying to be proactive, knowing that there could be impacts to our payouts. We’re making sure that we have a plan because it’s important to me that the port is known for promptly paying their bills. We don’t want to be the port that doesn’t do that,” Senter said. “We’re just making sure that if there’s any hiccups in the timeline that they’re worked through well ahead of time and that we have backup plans for those.”
To learn more about the project, visit https://portofchehalis.com/swwagp-faqs/.
