Guemes
Island Ferry Committee Public Meeting of 4 January 2003 Summary
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The meeting was called
by the Guemes Island Ferry Committee (GIFC) and held in the Guemes Is.
Community Center starting at 7:00 PM. Those attending were requested to
register at the door and 156 registered.
·
All the current ferry
committee members (Max Benjamin-Chairman, Glen Veal, Steve Orsini, Al Bush, and
Dixon Elder) were in attendance.
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The agenda was projected
onto a screen using an overhead projector. Other important documents: 1) meeting
agenda, 2) ferry committee charter, and
3) proposed Skagit county resolution, were provided in the same manner.
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For those with
difficulty seeing, the documents were read out loud. Prior distribution of the
information was not available since the Committee was working late for their
preparation and the committee’s expenses are not funded.
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Following Max’s opening
remarks Glen Veal presented an oral history of the ferry committee which
included: The committee as part of the Guemes Island Community Club until an
independent ferry committee was elected by representatives of all Guemes Island
organizations at a fire hall meeting in 1980. Since that time the committee has
worked with 11 different commissioners and 9 different Skagit County Public
Works Directors. One of the early
efforts of the committee was to develop, with the Commissioners, the rationale
for funding support of the ferry operation. Identified funding covered 100% of
operating and maintenance cost with the then 2-man crew and was later reduce to
88% with a 3-man crew.
·
Benjamin and Orsini
presented the frustrations of working with the county on the Anacortes parking
issues i.e. loss of the Kiwanis Park parking area and the delays associated
with the 6th and J Street parking lot approval. To date the county
has spent $557,000 on the project over 5 years with no final decision. A report
commissioned by the public works department on the parking situation and the
proposed historic brick warehouse on the site has only recently been made available
to the GIFC.
·
The ferry committee said
that they had recommended to the county, in response to the draft publication
of The Guemes Island Ferry Operations Management Analysis done by Berk and
Assoc., that the recommendations therein should outline the financial impacts.
It was also noted that the last date to receive comments by the Skagit County
was April 4, 2003.
·
Benjamin also stated
that at the county’s request the Committee provided the county with information
addressing the American Disabilities Act obtained from other counties in the
state, which operate ferries. The county disregarded this information and that
commissioned a consultant to do the same work.
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Loading Practices—Recent
crew interpretation of Coast Guard letters regarding access to fire stations
and proper egress of auto passengers has lead to reduced ferry vehicle
capacity. The ferry committee made numerous suggestions to the ferry crews and
county management on way to mitigate the issues without receiving positive
response. Invitation to the Coast Guard by the ferry manager for an onsite
inspection has corrected the problems and clarified the issues. This includes the authorization to use the
rope restraints on the stern of the vessel.
·
Max Benjamin emphasized
the need for the GIFC to once again have direct access to the County
Commissioners. One of the recommendations of the G. I. Ferry Operations
Management Analysis report was that the ferry committee should have a charter.
The proposed charter, along with proposed language for a county resolution was
presented to those attending the meeting. Both document had minor amendments
accepted and were unanimously passed by an overwhelming majority. It was noted that the qualification(s) for
voting for the ferry committee members were not in the charter. This was left to the new GIFC since the
current committee was unable to reach a consensus. During discussion of the charter the GIFC emphasized that the key
elements of its mission were: 1) safe, reliable, courteous service; 2)
well-maintained facilities; 3) equitable fees; 4) prompt, adequate emergency
services; 5) representation by an elected ferry committee to the county
commissioners
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An election of new GIFC
members was then conducted. Both Al Bush and Max Benjamin declined to run and
it was proposed and passed that they be thanked and commended for their past
service. The Candidates for the new
committee were nominated and seconded from the floor: Steve Orsini, Glen Veal,
Marilee Fosbre, Dixon Elder, Carl Cady, Fred Wintermantel, Barbara Straus,
Howard Pellett, Jim Williams, and Victor Garcia.
·
The election winners[in alphabetical order] are: Carl Cady, Dixon Elder, Marilee Fosbre, Steve
Orsini, and Glen Veal.
Submitted by;
Carl Cady