Bridge loan of $3 million to pay interim costs



Port of Newport commissioners approved a resolution Wednesday to secure additional interim financing to cover the costs of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) homeport project.

With Don Mathews and David Jincks absent, port commissioners Ginny Goblirsch, Dean Fleck and JoAnn Barton authorized obtaining a bridge loan to pay the estimated $3-million tab for project work through the end of December, pending the issuance of revenue bonds, and the anticipated receipt of state lottery funding. General Manager Don Mann said they had $500,000 in pending invoices awaiting payment now.

When NOAA first awarded the lease, the port used $1.2 million in interim financing from Oregon Coast Bank to pay the costs due at signing.

“We knew we’d need more at some point,” said Mann, noting they would discuss the possibilities with Oregon Coast Bank and Wedbush Bank, including potential joint solutions involving both banks. “With everything that’s going on, we need to secure this interim financing.”

Mann said the $3 million would cover “everything - all costs” based on projected expenditures. “Everything is on budget, on time, and on schedule,” he noted.



Contractor named



Port commissioners selected Anderson-West Coast Contractors from among four possibilities to serve as construction manger and general contractor for the NOAA homeport project. They ratified a pre-construction contract with Anderson-WCC at the port’s Oct. 27 regular session.

“Anderson-WCC is a joint venture that brings two highly respected companies and years of experience to the project,” said Mann.

Final design and configuration for the NOAA site is in progress, along with the in-water and shoreline investigative work.

They finished preliminary geotechnical work on the upland section and in-water analysis in September. A barge from Northwest Maritime Industrial LLC - an enterprise of the Siletz Tribal Business Corporation - guided by a tug from Depoe Bay- and Newport-based Wiggins Towboat Company helped engineers and technicians from Beaverton-based GRI Geotechnical and Environmental Consultants perform the in-water analysis. The effort involved barge-mounted geotechnical drilling of four, four-inch diameter subsurface bore holes extending 75 feet below the bottom substrate at the NOAA homeport pier location in Yaquina Bay. Geotechnical surveys of the bay bottom were conducted in September and October.

Work continues “full speed ahead” despite the undertow of protest in the project’s wake.



Protest rebuke



Formal objections and appeals of NOAA’s decision were filed with NOAA, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) by Port of Bellingham officials, the private owners of NOAA’s current homeport at Lake Union, Seattle, and Washington’s two senators and five members of Congress.

In mid-October, members of Washington’s congressional delegation sent a letter to Commerce Secretary (and former Washington governor) Gary Locke, asking him to re-examine the decision.

Among other things, they say moving NOAA’s Pacific fleet to Oregon would take those vessels farther from vital NOAA research facilities (citing 11 in Washington compared to just two in Oregon), and place the homeport 150 miles from the nearest major airport in Portland, making it more difficult for scientists to reach the vessels. They also requested more accurate estimates of what the move would cost, and the impacts on NOAA employees.

NOAA officials say federal procurement rules prevent them from releasing many of the details about the process and the bids. But the Commerce Department, which oversees the agency, figuratively keelhauled the primary objections in a scuttling response from three agency attorneys.

“The acquisition process that led to the Newport award was deliberative, well-executed, and extraordinarily transparent,” they noted. They deemed the Port of Bellingham’s protest “replete with factual inaccuracies and mischaracterizations of NOAA’s actions.”

The GAO has until Dec. 7 to decide whether or not to conduct a review.

“It’s still wait-and-see,” said Mann. “The GAO is not accepting any more filings, and is weighing all the information. It appears to be going favorably.”



Terry Dillman is the assistant editor of the News-Times. Contact him at (541) 265-8571, ext 225, or terrydillman@newportnewstimes.com.



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