ELECTION 2017: Hanke touts biz aptitude, experience to keep port seat

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Port Commissioner Peter W. Hanke said his four years of experience as an incumbent port commissioner, together with his 32 years of general experience around the port, are why voters should retain him for a second term.

Hanke, 59, of Chimacum is running for the port’s nonpartisan District 3 seat on the board. It is a four-year term.

Keith Beck of Brinnon is also running for the District 3 position.

“I feel like I’m effective because of my experience, and I enjoy the challenge of trying to steer the port in a responsible way that makes it usable for everybody,” Hanke said.

Hanke said that, as a commissioner, he sometimes feels as though all Jefferson County residents know about the shipyard and airport, but he realizes many people actually do not have interactions with the port. He said the port must maintain a balance so that people who pay property taxes and contribute to the port budget feel that the port municipality is being managed well and that their tax dollars are spent wisely, even if they do not directly benefit from the port.

Hanke’s professional experience includes starting a sport fishing business 32 years ago, in 1985. That venture has since turned into the Puget Sound Express whale-watching business.

“We’re now running three boats,” one out of Edmonds and two out of Port Townsend, he said. The business has seen the number of employees go from three part-timers in the 1980s to 26 employees in the summer today.

Puget Sound Express, like the port, must keep equipment running and fulfill both customer and employee needs.

Hanke said he’s seen many administrations and many commissioners over the years, and knows a lot of port users, be they shipwrights, an airplane pilot who rents a hangar or a worker at Coast Seafoods in Quilcene.

“All of that. I’ve just kind of been around the area a long time,” which makes it easier to make decision as a commissioner, he said.

Hanke’s vision for the port is twofold.

The first part of that vision is good business management, “so we’re competitive in the marketplace in terms of the moorage and shipyard prices that we offer to boaters,” he said.

The second part is upgrading facilities.

“I’d also like us to get ahead of the capital improvements and maintenance that needs to go on. There’s been a lot of deferred maintenance over the years.

“The conundrum with Point Hudson is, you have a breakwater that’s failing, so that’s a $6 million repair job. And you have a facility that doesn’t generate near the dollars to warrant that influx of cash.

“Point Hudson was built as a temporary facility, so we’re still faced with buildings that really weren’t designed to last more than five or 10 years and now we’re coming up on 80 years,” he said.

It is important that the point should retain its charm, yet also be viable from a business standpoint, he said.

For District 3 in particular, Hanke said, the Quilcene marina needs to be made more functional and its boat ramp upgraded. The Mats Mats and Port Ludlow ramps also need to be improved. He said they work, but could be difficult to use at low tide.

Hanke studied at Sunnyside High School and later went to Whitworth College (now Whitworth University) in Spokane.

Hanke said his endorsements include former port commissioner John Collins, Jefferson Healthcare commission hopeful Bruce McComas and former hospital commissioner Chuck Russell.

Hanke is involved in Calvary Chapel Church and said he takes a mission trip to Haiti each year.