INDIANOLA — The way County Commissioner Rob Gelder sees it, Eric Cookson’s appointment to the Indianola Port Commission doesn’t give him an advantage in the Nov. 5 election.

“He could make or break it,” Gelder said. “If he doesn’t do a good job, Indianola is a small enough community that voters could make a different choice.”

The County Commission voted Sept. 4 to appoint Cookson to the Indianola Port Commission’s District 2 position, after two resignations left the port with one commissioner. The position is also on the Nov. 5 ballot. The candidates: Cookson and write-in candidate Matthew Smith.

Advantage or no, Cookson got right to work. He and Commissioner Jeff Henderson reopened the dock with restrictions, opened an application period for the District 3 vacancy and then focused their attention on the dock. According to Henderson, engineers will soon bore into pilings to determine how much creosote they contain, and will conduct other tests to determine the structural integrity of the pilings. He expects a plan for improvement of the dock would be completed within a month of those tests.

With cross bracing, strapping and restrictions on foot traffic, Henderson said he believes the dock could be reopened before the more significant improvements are made.

Cookson’s consideration for appointment raised concerns from Smith.

Smith said he decided not to apply for appointment after reading a North Kitsap Herald editorial that stated a candidate in the Nov. 5 election should not be appointed lest he or she gain an unfair advantage on Election Day. He said he agreed, but didn’t know Cookson planned on applying.

Cookson, 50, has advanced degrees in leadership and management from City University in Seattle. He works for U.S. Coast Guard Sector Joint Harbor Operations Center; he retired from Coast Guard active duty in 2007.

In a Herald interview for a candidate profile, Cookson said he wants to complete the process of determining the extent of repairs that are necessary for the dock, and determine how those repairs will be paid for. He doesn’t believe the property tax increase on the Nov. 5 ballot will generate enough revenue for those improvements. Additional money may have to come from grants and/or a bond issue and donations.

He doesn’t believe in a short-term fix. “I would not like to see us exert energy and money on something that we’re going to have to turn around and redo,” he said. “I want to make the dock a place where people want to go and take evening walks, and fish and swim, and that we will have for the next several generations, and not end up with no pier or one that is dangerous to use.”

Cookson said that, “in hindsight,” the commission should have done more to engage residents in the process that led to the dock’s closure, so that residents understood the information that led the commission to make the decision it did.

Susan Henry, a port advisory committee member, said she thinks highly of Cookson. She looks forward to the port district healing the wounds caused by the dock’s closure.

“I think it will be fine. Hopefully, next week will bring some movement forward in the process,” she said in reference to Cookson’s first commission meeting. “I think it’s going to take some time [for the district to heal], because it’s been sort of fractured.”

Smith wrote in a letter to the Herald that the dock closure was “based upon a hypothetical failure, despite any evidence the structure is in real jeopardy.” One week before the Fourth of July, the port district’s engineers recommended the district “prohibit use of the pier by large gatherings of and numbers of people” until an assessment of necessary improvements could be completed. Henderson told the Herald that the district didn’t have the resources to police the number of people on the dock, so the commission voted to temporarily close it. Smith said residents offered ideas to limit the number of people on the dock, including a turnstile counter and a lockable gate for holidays, but those ideas were ignored.

“I felt like the democratic process was being circumvented,” Smith said. “There could have been more public information [of the dock’s needs] and more public disclosure of commission meetings.”

Smith wants to use his background as an architect and designer-builder to engage the public in the dock’s future.

“I’ve done a lot of work in community design and urban renewal at the grassroots level,” he said. “I’ve led design charettes and gotten community members to the table to find common ground. I’ve served on the board of Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility. I know what it’s like to facilitate a community meeting, to engage the public and get their ideas, and take those ideas and crystallize them into a plan or design that reflects the desires of the community. A lot of those skill sets could be employed here around the dock.”

He supports the property tax levy on the Nov. 5 ballot but doesn’t think it will generate enough revenue to pay the costs of dock improvements. He would seek contributions from other potential sources who have “an interest in the dock and in marine health,” such as the Suquamish Tribe’s Port Madison Enterprises.

Smith also wants the port district to do more to promote recreation and economic development. As an example, he wants to work with the community to start an art walk on the dock; the event would promote participating artists and raise money for dock maintenance.

*      *      *

DISTRICT 2 CANDIDATES

Name: Eric B. Cookson.
Age: 50.
Occupation: Civilian command duty officer for U.S. Coast Guard Sector Joint Harbor Operations Center; retired from Coast Guard active duty in 2007 as a senior chief boatswain’s mate.
Education: Graduated from North Kitsap High School in 1980. Earned degrees in leadership and management from City University in Seattle.

Name: Matthew Smith.
Age: 40.
Occupation: Owner of Smith’s Design + Build, custom design and artisanal carpentry services.
Education: Graduated from Nutley, N.J., High School in 1991. Studied engineering and architecture at Virginia Tech; earned an architecture degree in 2003 at New Jersey School of Architecture and Design.