Port
Responsibilities
Public port districts are authorized by state law to
undertake many activities to enhance the economic
welfare of local communities. These regulations
authorize the Port of Walla Walla to:
- Develop
waterfronts, airports and other facilities for handling cargo
and passengers.
- Provide capital improvements needed for
industrial and manufacturing facilities within the Port District.
- Improve Port District lands so they can
be sold or leased for industrial and commercial purposes.
- Aquire, construct, install, improve and
operate sewer and water utilities to serve its own properties
and that of other property owners.
- Execute business recruitment strategies.
- Levy taxes and sell bonds to develop properties
and manufacturing facilities.
Port
Leadership
The Port of Walla Walla has three elected
commissioners who represent you...the
shareholders. The commissioners are Dr. Fred
Bennett, president; Mike Fredrickson, vice
president; and Paul Schneidmiller, secretary.
While all commissioners are elected on a countywide
basis, each must live in a specific
commissioner district within Walla Walla County.
The districts are the same as Walla Walla county
commissioner districts.
Dr. Bennett, a retired Walla Walla College
professor of engineering, represents District
3, including College Place, Touchet, Lowden,
Burbank, Eureka, Clyde and the western part of the
county.
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Fredrickson, managing member of Associated
Appraisers of Walla Walla LLC, represents
District 2, which includes the eastern third of the
City of Walla Walla, Dixie, Waitsburg and Prescott.
Schneidmiller, president of World Wide
Travel Service, Inc., represents District 1, which
encompasses more than half the City of Walla
Walla and the Stateline area.
Each commissioner serves a six-year term.
Terms are staggered so that one position is up for
election every two years.
Commissioners decide each year who will
hold the offices of president, vice president and
secretary.
Port of Walla Walla Commissioners, and those
at other Ports with similar business volume, are
entitled to $104 per day compensation for each
day or portion of a day spent attending meetings
or performing other services on behalf of the
Port District.
The law prohibits commissioners from
receiving more than $9,984 per year in such
compensation. In addition, Port Commissioners
receive a salary of up to $750 per month.
Port
Finances
Ports may levy, without a public vote, a
property tax of no more than 45-cents per $1,000
of assessed property valuation for general Port
purposes.
The Port District receives only 15 percent of its
revenues from property taxes.
Washington State law provides for Port
Commissioners to designate administrative
powers and duties to the managing official
of the Port District. This is done with a Port
Commission resolution establishing guidelines
and procedures for the managing official to
follow.
In that manner, the Executive Director and his
or her staff can perform their duties in a timely
and efficient manner. Still, as policy makers, Port
commissioners remain responsible for district
operations.
Regular Port of Walla Walla Commission
meetings are at 1:00 p.m. on the second Thursday
and 6:00 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of each
month at the Port office.
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