Tag Archives: jim rothlin

Port mulling $75k real estate marketing study

SAFE Boats remains an anchor tenant at the port
SAFE Boats remains an anchor industrial tenant at the port

The Port of Bremerton is considering paying a consulting firm $75,000 to study how the district can best market its sprawling industrial property to potential tenants.

According to a memo prepared by CEO Jim Rothlin, the goal of the analysis would be to identify the port’s strengths and generate a list of businesses that could benefit from locating there.

“While the Port has many amenities to offer prospective tenants at the Industrial Park, it is critical that we find a way to stand apart from many other location options available to them,” Rothlin wrote in the memo.

Rothlin is recommending a contract with real estate consulting firm Heartland LLC. of Seattle.

The bulk of the $75,000 price tag would be covered by a $49,500 grant the port recently obtained from the state Department of Commerce. The port would pick up the remaining $25,500.

The port commission will vote on the contract during its next meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at Bremerton National Airport.

You can read Rothlin’s memo below and find the port commission agenda here.

2016-06-28_Agenda_Packet

Documents shed some light on port controversy

There’s no need to devote much more copy to last week’s Port of Bremerton Commission controversy.

After talking to state officials this week it’s pretty clear there won’t be any formal inquiries into whether commissioners violated the Open Public Meetings  Act, outside of routine auditing.

Commission President Roger Zabinski has apologized for the way he brought his concerns to the table. The episode will probably blow over.

Before I leave this topic alone, however, I want to share a couple of documents and context I’ve collected over the last week, which shed some light on the issues Zabinski was initially trying to raise.

Zabinksi was concerned emails and phone calls made between Port CEO Jim Rothlin and commissioners outside of a public meeting constituted a “serial meeting,” which would violate the Open Public Meetings Act. It also appears the email from Rothlin and response from commissioners bordered on “polling,” which can violate the act.

First, here’s the Oct. 29 email sent by Rothlin to the commissioners asking whether they wanted to keep a tax levy increase in the 2015 budget.

Rothlin sent the email after a lengthy Oct. 28 preliminary budget workshop (see this story for more background).

port.email

Strakeljahn was the only commissioner who replied by email. Stokes had called Rothlin earlier in the day (prompting the email above). Zabinski called Rothlin after receiving the email.  Continue reading →