Right Direction
The latest gathering at the Port Of Astoria was quite productive compared to what we've seen in the past.
The idea of calling Ron Larson on the carpet was ditched in favor of moving forward. Crider does have skills and he understands the importance of teamwork and transparency in government. This was demonstrated with the sudden appearance of an actual balance sheet. Forget for just a moment that the accuracy of that accounting is still questionable the fact that commissioners had something in front of them was a positive step.
It was gratifying to hear that Crider is already suggesting going with another firm to perform a complete audit.
With better financial tools in hand the Port should then be able to perform an analysis of each area to determine future actions.
One example might be the Cruise Ship business.
We assume that Cruise ships are good business. It certainly is exciting to see those beautiful floating resorts tied up at the docks. It would be a good time to focus some attention on the actual impact and make some decisions about where we go from here.
It might be helpful for the Port to seek some conversations with the newly established Clatsop Economic Development Resources organization which could lead to the generation of specific business impact data. By contracting with CEDR the Port could not only get a clear picture of those impacts now but it would also help CEDR in it's mission of existing business support along with identifying services we are are missing. That could lead to generating a list of new business opportunities.
5 comments:
Tom: The expense sheet showed a $48,000 expense for the cruise ships, can this be explained vs fees they pay??
The Port contracts with Bruce Conner for cruise ship marketing. That may account for part of that, or it may be the actual expense for labor involved in docking and added security. This why we need to
take a big picture look at this part of Port business and how these ships are balancing the budget in docking fees along with the local economic impact of those ships.
Great analogy Tom.
My jury's still out on the CEDR thing though.
I'm waiting for that County Task Force in team with the appropriate consultants to put us in touch with those cohesive industries in the world that I know are out there that can put thousands of our citizens to work to stop us being prey to the likes and whims of "Shipbreaking", "Aluminum Smelters"(In Warrenton of all places?)and "Lng Transfer Terminals" in party with self-important leadership that takes a reasonable success in business as wisdom to my careless decisions that impact all of us.
That word that would make my post logical should be "Make" instead of "My".
Damnit! I hate it when that happens!
Sorry Tom.
I think we had better get some industry here and soon.
We are looking at a new jail for the taxpayers to fund.
Also I understand that once again Dr. Hammen is asking the Clatsop County voters to fund $5,000,000.00 of the new college remodel. WHY???
The voters have spoken how many times now??
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