KINGSTON — Kingston Adventures co-owner Beth Brewster and supporters have filed numerous requests for public records related to her claims that the Port of Kingston is discriminatory.
According to Port Executive Director David Malone, the port usually receives a couple of public records requests in a year. It processed 56 requests in three months, he said.
One supporter, Tania Issa, said public records requests show that the port manager, a commissioner and a businessman in the port district received favorable treatment.
One of the subjects of the public records requests, Commissioner Pete DeBoer, said he’s weary of the controversy and will not seek a third term this year. “It’s not fun anymore,” he said.
According to port records, DeBoer was late on his moorage payment four times since 2000 —two times before he joined the commission and two times while in office. Malone said DeBoer received the same treatment as any other boater who’s late making a payment.
DeBoer told the Herald on March 26 that those late-payment periods came when he was going through some rough patches — a divorce, a fraud committed against his business, a failed business agreement, and helping a family member escape an abusive relationship.
Port records show DeBoer was issued an impound warning by the port in 2013 after he was more than 60 days past due on his boat moorage at the port marina. DeBoer, first elected to the port commission in November 2003, brought his account current after receiving the warning, Malone said March 25. It was the second time in four years that DeBoer received a warning letter.
According to port records, DeBoer was late on his moorage fees in November 2000 and January 2002, before he joined the commission. He was issued a warning letter in 2009. “He was given a time frame in which to pay, and he made the payment within the time frame,” Malone said.
In 2013, after he was 60 days past due, DeBoer received a letter from the port that it would impound his boat, “but he brought that one up to date as well,” Malone said.
Malone said a boater who is late paying his or her monthly moorage is assessed a fee. If more than 60 days past due, the port can impound the boat until all fees are brought current. If more than 90 days past due, the port can move to auction the boat to recoup its fees.
“We try very hard to work with our tenants,” Malone said. “If you’re late, there’s some communication on it, you pay a fee and we move on. If you’re late once, we don’t evict you.”
The port’s policies manual is more specific. Moorage is due and payable by the 10th day of each month. “If moorage is not paid by the 10th of the month, a late fee is charged in the amount of $10 or 5% of the balance owing, whichever is greater,” the manual states. “If moorage is not paid by the 1st of the following month, the vessel will be physically chained to the dock and your boat will be posted and a processing fee of $50 (or $100 for the second offense) will be charged to your account.”
Malone said the port recently instituted an auto pay program, in which boaters can sign up to have their moorage fees automatically withdrawn from their bank accounts.
“Our tenants have been requesting that,” Malone said. “It has resolved a lot of these situations.”
Pay disparity: Issa said Malone is paid about $20,000 a year more than his predecessor, Kori Henry, who now works for the North Kitsap School District. Malone said Henry was not full-time and that at her rate of pay, extended to 40 hours a week, she would earn more than he does, Malone said. (Henry told the Herald that her contract with the port was for 30 hours a week.)
“I double checked with the Port’s Controller who stated that Kori Henry was a part-time hourly employee paid $29 an hour who worked an estimated 30 hours a week,” Malone wrote in an email. “I am a salaried employee and work an average of at least 55 hours a week before adding all the off-site meetings the Commissioners expect me to attend.
“If I was an hourly employee, my starting wage would average $26 an hour. Even with the increase I received from the Commissioners at the start of this year ($5,000 increase or $28 per hour), I still average less per hour than Kori Henry’s wage and again that does not include the offsite meetings I attend. Please note that I am not complaining … I have been and still am of the opinion that Kori Henry is a superstar.”
Rent disparity: Issa also alleges that Sean Osborn, who built the Coffee Box at the former site of 104 Trolley, pays less rent for the port-owned site than the previous business, which was owned by a husband and wife. She also alleges Osborn obtained permits to do a remodel, although he built a new building; Issa bought the trolley and moved it to her property, where she plans to reopen it as a farm stand.
Copies of leases issued to Idar and Linda Slothaug, the owners of 104 Trolley, and Osborn show both parties paid $200 a month to lease the site. And Jeff Rowe, deputy director of the Kitap County Department of Community Development, said the county issued permits to Osborn for new construction, and that county inspectors inspected The Coffee Box as a newly constructed building.
