Whidbey Islanders are working to make sure ferry service on Whidbey Island remains reliable even in unstable financial seas.

Residents, business and community leaders are busy meeting with state transportation officials to ensure their voices are heard in a time of budget crisis for the state.

“We cannot take reductions in service,” State Rep. Norma Smith, R-Clinton, said. “We need to create a collective voice on Whidbey.”

To that end, she and Langley Mayor Paul Samuelson are hosting a public meeting Saturday, Feb. 28, at the Langley Middle School Auditorium beginning at 4 p.m. Washington State Ferries Director David Moseley will attend the meeting to hear resident’s concerns.

Smith said the ferry system has to work to resolve the crisis at the Port Townsend to Keystone route, come up with a maintenance schedule for its aging fleet and work with communities to meet their needs.

Residents have been critical of the draft of the ferry system’s long range plan. There are two scenarios. One calls for basically maintaining service but comes with a huge budget shortfall, while the other outlines a list of cutbacks including having only one boat permanently assigned to the Port Townsend to Keystone route.

“We are all so unhappy with the ferry proposal,” Smith said. She pointed out the Legislature hired a consultant to conduct a different study about the ferry system, so the subject is open.

Smith said the focus needs to be on building boats. Islanders would like to see a second boat built to serve the Port Townsend/Keystone route. Currently, the first “Island Home” vessel is being built at a shipyard in Seattle and is scheduled to be ready for service in June 2010.

In addition to the vessel shortage, some residents are concerned about the implementation of a reservation system for what is legally an extension of the state highway system.

“This is first and foremost a marine highway,” Smith said, questioning the logic of ferry reservations.

Puget Sound ferry supporters staged a rally on the steps of the state capitol last week.

“I think there’s a general feeling that the ferry system has grown into a large bureaucracy,” said Clinton resident Nancy Thompson, who traveled to Olympia to participate in the rally. She said hundreds of people throughout the region attended. Representatives Smith and Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor, spoke during the rally.

Thompson said she hopes the ferry system will come up with a different plan, one that will address the bureaucracy within the ferry system, which she sees as draining money that could be better used to build boats.

Legislators were presented with thousands of signatures asking the ferry system to come up with a sustainable long-range budget that caps fares at a reasonable rates.

In addition to a rally and public meetings, local leaders are also busy meeting with transportation officials.

Coupeville Mayor Nancy Conard, Coupeville Town Councilman Bob Clay and Oak Harbor Mayor Jim Slowik met with Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond in mid-February. Conard said the meeting reiterated the importance of having a second vessel serve Keystone. The second vessel is important because it provides a backup should the primary vessel fail or need service.

A second vessel would improve the predictability and reliability of a route that hasn’t had a permanent vessel since November 2007, when the Steel Electrics were retired.

Conard said the meeting went well.

“I’m confident they’re hearing what we’re saying,” she said.

Central Whidbey business leaders are bound for Olympia today to meet with transportation officials to address their concerns about the current state of the ferry system.

Sue Cunningham, president of the Central Whidbey Chamber of Commerce, and chamber board members Kacia Pierzga, Sue Richards and Mary Sterling will visit transportation officials.

Smith said there needs to be a culture change in the ferry system. She introduced a bill earlier this session that would have forced the ferry system out of the boat-building business. However, that bill didn’t make it out of committee.

With community leaders, local legislators, and residents coming up with a unified voice, she says it’s now up to the Legislature to come up with an affordable plan that meets riders’ needs.

“We need a great deal of thoughtfulness and care in how we move forward,” Smith said.

Get involved

State Rep. Norma Smith and Langley Mayor Paul Samuelson are hosting a ferry meeting Saturday, Feb. 28, 4 p.m., at the Langley Middle School Auditorium. Washington State Ferries Director David Moseley will attend the meeting to hear concerns. Langley Middle School is located at 723 Camano Ave., Langley.