There’s no substitute for experience, said Brad Clinefelter, who is running for a second term for the Port of Port Townsend District 2 seat.

“We’re on a responsible path toward correcting a lot of deferred maintenance,” he said.

Clinefelter, 57, said he decided to run for the commission four years ago because he wanted to create a long-term plan for capital repair and replacement for the port.

“There wasn’t any long-term plan before,” he said.

“I’m not a politician … but having port experience [at a previous job with a tenant at the Port of Portland] and watching what I considered a train wreck happening, I decided I needed to get involved,” he said. In place of a long-term plan, there was a “pie in the sky” list of harbor improvements, he said.

He said the port used to plan “almost like project du jour. What’s the flavor of the day?” he said. “That’s always been frustrating to me” and was not a responsible business plan, he said.

A long-term plan, by contrast, is strategic and does not waste resources, he said.

Since he’s been with the port, he said, the planning process has improved because of the use of a “project scoring matrix” to determine if a project is viable.

“We’re on a really sound trajectory now for sound and responsible planning that includes a very robust plan to maintain the port responsibly and plan for the future: 10, 15, 20 years out,” which includes a plan for economic development, he said. A part of that plan is a feasibility study that is currently being drafted. It is to provide hard data and community input to guide the port’s direction, Clinefelter said.

SUPPORT FOR GIBBONEY

Clinefelter said he pushed hard to make Sam Gibboney executive director.

“We have a powerful leadership now. I’m just looking forward to assisting their efforts and continuing on the path that they’ve created; that we’ve all created, actually, as a team.”

The port has a true business plan now, he said, and without such a plan, “You end up with projects going sideways, cost overruns. Contractor change orders get very, very expensive.”

Clinefelter said another reason he got involved with the port was that, as a boater, he had observed the Point Hudson jetty degrade over the years and kept wondering why it wasn’t fixed.

“Everybody is fully aware of the jetty situation out here now … the reality is … we shouldn’t even be having this conversation. This jetty should already be done. The jetty should have been done before I got on the commission four years ago,” he said.

“A simple analogy is like you buy a home. You own your home. You’re responsible for maintaining it … you don’t wait until the roof is caving in before you fix it. You fix it ahead of time.

“Since I’ve come on the commission, [the jetty repair has] been pushed to the forefront,” he said. Before, efforts were put into other “controversial” projects, such as the 2013 $1.3 million port administration building at the Boat Haven. A building at Port Hudson had been used for port administration before then.

POINT HUDSON

Funding for Point Hudson jetty repair is still needed, but Clinefelter said depleting the port’s cash or maxing out its bonding capacity is not the right way to pay for it.

“If we were to do that, we would be one incident away from insolvency, simple as that,” he said.

He favors data-driven plans for economic development. Tourism is fine, he said, and owners of tourist-oriented businesses might earn a good income, but employees of those businesses probably only get minimum wage. He said high-wage jobs are ideal so people could afford to live in the area, and cited the Port Townsend Foundry as an example of a model business.

Clinefelter said the airport industrial park needs a water line, septic, a road and a specific business plan. He said he has implemented a safety program at the port.

Climate change is another factor in regard to breakwaters and docks, he said, as a combination of a high tide and storm surge could result in an 11- to 12-foot tide and water on Water Street, “and potential flooding in the port facilities because everything there is barely above sea level.”

BACKGROUND

Clinefelter has worked aboard tugboats and for a tenant business at the Port of Portland for 30 years.

Editor's note: This story has been changed to correct a reporting mistake where it was said Clinefelter worked for the Port of Portland, when he actually worked for a tenant at the Port of Portland.