Tag Archives: roger zabinski

Zabinksi bids farewell to port commission

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Roger Zabinski

Port of Bremerton Commissioner Roger Zabinski was on business in Japan last week and missed the final commission meeting of the year.

The District 1 commissioner, who chose not to run for reelection this year, still took a moment to reflect on his time with the port in a statement read by CEO Jim Rothlin:

“I want to thank all the port staff, commissioners and the public for the opportunity that I’ve had to serve the public as a port commissioner these past six years. I’ve really enjoyed this time and found the experience very rewarding…

“I think the port is doing a good job serving the public, maintaining public amenities and trying to further develop the industrial park and the airport. I think the port commission and staff are focused and committed to the port’s mission of economic development and I encourage you all to keep at it…”

Zabinski was elected to the commission in 2009. He decided not to seek another term because of work demands.

Former port CEO Cary Bozeman will replace Zabinski on the commission, after winning election in November. 

Bozeman joins Larry Stokes and Axel Strakeljahn on the three-member board. 

The next Port of Bremerton commission meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Jan. 12 at Bremerton National Airport. 

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).

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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 →