The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON—The Port of Columbia Board of Commissioners is seeking interested candidates to submit applications to fill the District 1 position vacated by Dan Aschenbrenner. Dan and his wife have moved to a new residence in Columbia County that is not located in District 1. Commissioner Ashenbrenner was elected to the District 1 position last November.

According to Port Executive Director Jennie Dickinson, Washington State RCW 42.12.070 states that the remaining commissioners of the Port District have 90 days to fill the vacant position with a qualified candidate. A qualified candidate must be a registered voter living in the district with the vacancy, which in this case is District 1. (Port Commissioner Districts are the same as County Commissioner Districts.) A map of the commissioner districts is available at the Port’s website, which is http://www.portofcolumbia.org. Anyone interested in serving that lives in that district should submit a letter of interest and resumé to the Port no later than Friday, July 31. A shortlist of relevant experiences should be included.

The two other Port Commissioners, Earle Marvin, and Sean Milligan will select a replacement from a pool of qualified applicants for the vacant position. The person selected will serve until the next election in which a Port candidate is on the ballot, which will be November of 2021. The person elected then would serve the remainder of Aschenbrenner’s term, which ends December 2025. This is a non- partisan position.

The Port of Columbia owns the Rock Hill Industrial Park, home to nine buildings and 18 business tenants at the west end of Dayton; owns Blue Mountain Station, home to two buildings with eight business tenants, a commercial kitchen, a commercial garden, a farmhouse, and 20 additional acres available for development; leases Lyons Ferry Marina from the U.S. Corps of Engineers and subleases the facility to a private concessionaire; and owns 39 miles of the CWW Railroad in Columbia and Walla Walla Counties. The Port also contracts with the State of Washington to provide economic development coordination in Columbia County.

Letters of interest and resumes should be directed by July 31 to Jennie Dickinson, Port of Columbia, 1 Port Way, Dayton, WA, 99328, or to jennie@portofcolumbia.org. Visit http://www.portofcolumbia.org for more information on the Port and its properties, or call the Port at (509) 382-2577 to schedule an appointment with the executive director to learn more about Port activities.