PORT ANGELES — Port of Port Angeles commissioners approved a $2.9 million contract with Legacy Contracting Services of Stayton, Ore., for repairs on marine complex Terminals 1 and 3.

Legacy’s was the lowest of the four bids the port received, Katharine Frazier, manager of grants and contracts, said at their meeting Tuesday. It was just $39,000 (1.3 percent) above the port’s cost estimate.

The project will include replacing timber framing and a pile jacket system, installing steel piles and repairing damaged cleat framing and a steel guardrail.

A 2021 assessment of the terminal complex identified structural deficiencies; most of Terminal 3 is the original timber construction from the late 1960s.

In his financial report, Director of Finance and Administration John Nutter said revenue for the first five months of the year was up about 4 percent over last year for the same time period.

Increases over last year in salaries, wages and benefits for maintenance and non-maintenance employees are a reflection of the port’s focus on empowering its workforce to create better project and financial outcomes, he said.

“That’s a result of a significant investment in people and processes to do things like the self-performing work and hiring a grants manager,” Nutter said.

Vessel auction

Commissioners also approved the sale at auction of six vessels — four sailboats, one powerboat and a fishing boat — whose owners owe a combined $25,114 in delinquent moorage charges.

Some of the boats are still in the water because the port does not have enough room to dry dock them, Nutter said.

If the sale proceeds from a vessel fail to cover the cost of the outstanding charges, the owner’s account can be turned over to a collection agency.

Cmdr. Roger Barr, executive officer of U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles, briefed commissioners on the possibility of the Coast Guard expanding its local operations as the maritime service moves ahead with plans to increase its fleet of cutters.

Barr said the Coast Guard and the port had been discussing how that might happen.

“The Coast Guard has to weigh a lot of operational factors, financial factors, personnel factors,” Barr said.

Mission support, he said, “is probably getting the most attention when it comes to considering Port Angeles.”

Port Angeles has many great assets, Barr said, such as a natural deep-water port.

However, it’s lack of affordable housing poses significant challenges when it comes to an expansion of existing operations.

There are 330 Coast Guard members already residing on the North Olympic Peninsula, Barr said, and almost half are living in below-standard or above-cost housing.

Access to speciality medical care is also a problem, he said, with members and their families having to travel to Silverdale or Seattle to seek treatment.

Although the Coast Guard recently received a boost in its housing allowances, they are designed to cover the cost of apartments, which are scarce, and not enough to cover standalone homes that families need — if they could find one.

The Coast Guard does build housing, Barr said, and it might consider doing so in Port Angeles, but it would need to weigh that against other factors.

Port commissioners Colleen McAleer and Connie Beauvais offered to facilitate discussions between the Coast Guard and local housing agencies.

The port also recognized the late operations manager Dan Shea for his two decades of service with a plaque accepted by his wife, Wendy Shea. Dan Shea died in February at the age of 72.

“He was a truly special person who had an impact on everyone at the port,” McAleer said.

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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.