While Melanie Winnett is not the first woman to run the Poulsbo Marina, however she is the first woman to hold the title of Harbormaster.

Winnett has been working for the Port for the last 9 years as both the property manager and accounting assistant. In these roles she has done quite a few of the jobs expected of the harbormaster without the position or title.

“When the position came up, I had already been doing quite a few of the jobs, so I thought here’s a chance to put a title on it,” Winnett said.

“I’m constantly learning new things down here and expect I will continue to learn new things in this role,” she added.

The role of Harbormaster is a very hands on job that focuses on the maintenance and operation of the marina. Everything from managing the guests and live-aboards to making sure projects get completed on time and correctly.

What makes Winnett’s new role different, is that these will also be taking on more administrative work. This work falls right in line with the goals she wishes to accomplish at the port in her new role.

“There’s been a lot of transition administratively over the years and I would like to get some of that stabilized just so things are smoother for us and the folks that live/ are guests here,” Winnett said.

One of the big projects coming to the Port is the floating breakwater donated by Elliot Bay Marina. The project, when completed, will add additional boat slips to the marina as well as provide additional spaces to entertain on the dock.

“Ultimately this will bring a lot of revenue to the port. Right now we are going through the permitting process and I hope that we don’t hit any setbacks in that,” Winnett said.

In late June, the Port was awarded $1 million from the state of Washington to fund the breakwater project.