Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority Gearing Up for Budget, Policy Talks

The Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority continues to take shape as commissioners and staff hammer out more details.

Port of Douglas County Executive Director Lisa Parks said both sides have been working together very well. Over the last month and a half commissioners have gotten through some very hefty material.

"We've looked at an organizational chart. We've got personnel policies. We've got decisions about healthcare insurance and that type of thing all laid out." explained Parks, "We'll start working on the budget trying to explain and show the different commissions how each side is operating. Where each entity is at in terms of the end of the year, and in terms of finances. What it's going to look like for the port authority."

The port authority intends to have preliminary budgets available to the public by October, with adoption hopefully by November.

A retreat for staff and commissioners has been scheduled for September 26th. The focus of the retreat will be discussing policy-level decision making within the new port authority.

"We'll have some preliminary information for (commissioners) on budget numbers." Parks added, "Really it's more about the policy-level discussion of, 'How are we going to do the budgets? How are we going to prioritize capital projects not only that are happening in each of the two counties, but also at the airport?'"

Eventually, both budgets from the individual ports as well as their capital projects will need to be combined under the Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority.