The Board of Commissioners for the Port of Coupeville took strides Monday toward taking over management of the Greenbank Farm.

During a special meeting, the board developed a basic job description for a farm director and will be advertising the position. They also agreed on lease details with farm tenants and will solicit for businesses interested in running activities at the farm.

The commissioners discussed how many employees they may need at the farm but didn’t come to a decision.

“I think we need to get going and advertise the farm director immediately,” said Commissioner John Carr. “It needs to be someone with practical experience.”

Commissioner Marshall Bronson suggested having port Executive Director David Day handle interviewing potential candidates for the farm director position and making a recommendation to the board.

Commissioner Mike Diamanti argued that it should be the board doing the interviewing and hiring of the position.

“The port is a policy making board,” Bronson said.

“I disagree,” Diamanti countered. “The board should have oversight on all aspects.”

Commissioner John Carr suggested a compromise.

“We don’t know if we’re going to get 10 applications or two,” he said. “We should have a filtering process.”

The board agreed to have Day narrow down potential candidates and bring top choices to the board.

Options eyed for managing events

The commissioners also floated the idea of advertising for an events manager position at the same time. Instead, they made a motion to seek businesses interested in running events at the farm and paying the port to do so.

“We have two people we know of who would like to run events at the farm and pay us,” said Commissioner Marshall Bronson.

Incoming commissioners John Misashek and William Bell were present for the meeting and expressed a desire to have a port employee handle events rather than contract them out with a business.

Gloria Mickunas, who owns Whidbey Party Girls! event planning business, spoke in favor of the idea.

“I just ask the port keep an open mind in having a business manage special events and weddings,” she said.

The board agreed to explore options and directed Day to solicit businesses for proposals.

Negotiating tenant leases debated

During the subject of lease negotiations, the commissioners debated on the process of setting parameters for negotiations.

“I think a commissioner should be involved,” Diamanti said.

Bronson disagreed, saying it wouldn’t be fair to have two-on-one negotiation between the tenant and port. He said Day should handle process.

Commissioners discussed ideas for establishing a base to start negotiations and how to deal with the leasehold tax.

Currently, the Greenbank Farm Management Group covers the cost of the leasehold tax out of the rents collected. It is not a tax the tenants pay on top of their lease rates. The total cost for leasehold taxes at the farm for all tenants is about $13,000.

Commissioners initially decided to raise tenant rates to what they considered fair market value.

Uncertainty adds to concerns

Day expressed concern over the lease discussions.

“I want to make sure the commission isn’t negotiating leases universally in a public meeting,” he said, adding that lease negotiations were not a public process and that each tenant will want their own terms.

One tenant, present at the meeting, said the port would be hard-pressed to get tenants to sign a lease that raised their rates so high, especially with all the uncertainty at the farm.

“You’re currently asking tenants to pay more for less,” said Rob Schouten, who runs a gallery at the farm. “You don’t have a team in place. We don’t know how the farm is going to look.”

Carr, who has a background in real estate, said he understood where tenants were coming from.

“It’s a leap of faith for everyone,” Carr said.

“We’re looking at total chaos,” Schouten said. “Keep us at the rates we are for a year and that gives you a year to get things worked out. Let us see what management is going to look like.”

Diamanti made a motion, which was approved unanimously, to keep current tenant leases the same for 2016 except to include a 1.22 percent cost of living increase built in. The port will cover the $13,000 in leasehold taxes. Leases will then be renegotiated for 2017 after the port has time to determine fair market value for the rental spaces.

Day was perplexed by the motion as it seems the commissioners unilaterally set the lease terms with the motion.

“There’s nothing to negotiate,” he said.

While the decision to cover the $13,000 in leasehold taxes can be fiscally done, Bronson said, it doesn’t get the port further in its goal of having the farm be financially sustainable or even profitable.