At Port of Tacoma, transparency has become a lost virtue
PETER CALLAGHAN; THE NEWS TRIBUNE
All kidding aside, the Port of Tacoma has a candor problem.
Within the last few weeks, the elected port commissioners and the senior port staff have come in for a bit of needling – from me and others – over their tendency to see silver linings even when the clouds have none. Case in point was the “good news” treatment of the announcement that Tokyo-based NYK was pulling out of a deal to build a new mega-terminal and would instead park in an existing, empty terminal.
The only good news is that the project was so out of control that it might have bankrupted the port had it been built. Admitting that, however, would require the port to come clean with its owners, the taxpayers of Pierce County.
Then it got sillier. The commissioners went looking for someone to carry the burden of blame for the debacle. There was enough gossip that port Director Tim Farrell asked for a meeting to talk about his future.
They met in secret session, of course, the only place where frank conversations are held. But when they emerged, they set a world record for saying absolutely nothing. Commissioners would say only that they had discussed “a leadership transition” at Farrell’s request.
What does that mean? Is he going somewhere? They wouldn’t say.
So is the port transitioning from one leader to another?
“It’s a leadership transition,” Commission President Clare Petrich said. “I don’t want to say any different.”
Clear as the Puyallup River. But it really isn’t funny when candor and transparency are treated as luxuries and secretiveness is a virtue. It’s all a byproduct of the port’s narrative that it is more a business than a government. We’re the shareholders, they’re the board of directors. Our only role is to elect commissioners in issue-less, non-competitive campaigns. Public information becomes public relations.
Which, in turn, leads to the overuse of executive sessions. The state open meetings law grants exemptions for issues such as litigation, real estate and personnel. But the reason is not so elected officials can speak frankly in private so they can spin in public.
No, each exemption is to protect the public. Real estate deals can be discussed in secret only if a public conversation would affect the price. The deliberation and vote must be public, yet the lack of much public discussion on NYK suggests strongly that the real action took place in secret.
Only if a public discussion of pending or actual litigation would hurt the government’s chances of prevailing should the session be in private. Finally, personnel matters are discussed in secret only to protect the privacy of the employee, not the commissioners. Again, hiring and firing actions must be done in public.
That’s because the port is a government, not a business. All of its assets – from land, to tax collections to bonding authority – are public assets. You could look it up.
What happens next will be an indicator of lessons learned or lessons missed. The port likely will announce soon that Farrell is resigning to “pursue other career opportunities.” Those opportunities will not be detailed and the commissioners will give him three cheers and a tidy severance package.
There will be no discussion in public of his performance or of why he was told to resign. That’s all business port style as usual.
The port could then follow one of two paths.
It could conduct a hiring process similar to that used recently by the Tacoma School Board to hire a new superintendent and the city of Tacoma to hire a city manager. Commissioners could announce finalists. They could introduce them to interested taxpayers. They could discuss the candidates and make their choice in public.
Or they could keep doing things as they always have, patronizing us with assurances that we don’t need to know.
The second path, though familiar, hasn’t exactly worked out too well.
It would be funnier if it weren’t so serious.
Peter Callaghan: 253-597-8657
peter.callaghan@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/politics
