Digital recordings of the meeting proceedings and meeting materials are available online – www.portseattle.org. 






APPROVED MINUTES 
COMMISSION SPECIAL JOINT MEETING JULY 28, 2015 
The  Port  of  Seattle  Commission  met  in  a  special  joint  meeting  with  the  Port  of  Tacoma 
Commission Tuesday, July  28,  2015, at  Port  of  Seattle  Headquarters,  Commission  Chambers, 
2711  Alaskan  Way,  Seattle,  Washington. Port  of  Seattle  Commissioners  Albro,  Bowman,  Bryant, 
and  Creighton were  present.  Port  of  Tacoma  Commissioners Bacon, Johnson,  Marzano,  Meyer, 
and Petrich were also present. Port of Seattle Commissioner Gregoire did not attend. 

CALL TO ORDER 
The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at 9:40 a.m.  by  Port  of Seattle Commission Co-President 
Stephanie Bowman, who led the Flag Salute. 

Without objection, the Commissioners advanced to consideration of –  
EXECUTIVE ADVISORY COUNCIL 
Port  of  Tacoma  CEO  John  Wolfe  reported  on  meetings  with  key  industry  stakeholders  on  the 
subject  of a  multi-sector  approach  to  operational  excellence. Initiatives  identified  will  be  brought 
forward  in  the Northwest Seaport Alliance business  plan.  Mr. Wolfe noted the  goal for the  alliance 
to be recognized as the easiest, most efficient, and most reliable place for shippers to do business. 
He  commented  on development  of  performance  measures  driven  by  customer  expectations. 
Metrics  noted  included  measures  touching  schedule  integrity,  vessel  productivity,  crane 
productivity,  container  velocity,  truck  productivity  and  gate  turns,  rail  dwell  time,  and  the  time 
between  discharging  a  container  from  a  vessel  to  the  point  when  it  arrives  at  a  destination 
warehouse.  

Commissioner  Petrich  commented  on  the  affinity  of  cargo  processing  transparency  for  trucking 
companies  and  popular  traffic  applications  as  an  extension  of  that  transparency  to  the  regional 
transportation network.  

FINAL AGREEMENT ACTIONS  
Tom  Tanaka,  Senior  Counsel,  Port  of  Seattle,  and  Carolyn  Lake, Goodstein  Law  Group, 
representing the Port of Tacoma, provided an overview of pending actions to formalize creation of 
the Northwest Seaport Alliance on August 4, 2015. Presentation slides provided at the meeting are 
attached  as  minutes Exhibit  A and  are  available  for  public  review.  A  series  of  actions  by  the 
separate  port  authorities  and  additional  actions to  be  taken  jointly  as  an  alliance  of  managing 
members  were  summarized.  It  was  reported  that  measures  to  be  approved  include  an  interlocal 
agreement  between  the  Ports  of  Seattle  and  Tacoma,  a  port  development  authority  charter,  a 
license  agreement  authorizing  joint  alliance  management  of  assets  owned  by  the  two  ports,  an 
interlocal agreement providing for loaning of port employees to the alliance (secondment), alliance 
P.O. Box 1209 
Seattle, Washington  98111 
www.portseattle.org 
206.787.3000

PORT COMMISSION JOINT MEETING MINUTES Page 2 of 3 
TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2015 

Minutes of the special joint meeting of July 28, 2015, proposed for approval on February 9, 2016. 
managing member bylaws, and an alliance CEO contract. Also to be approved are appointment of 
an alliance records officer, treasurer, claims officer, and auditor.  

Commissioners  discussed  the  appropriate  sequence  of  events  for  approval  of  an  alliance  CEO 
contract  with  respect  to formal  approval  to  form  the  alliance  and  whether  the  port  development 
authority charter and master delegation of authority to the alliance CEO should be considered as a 
single action.  

Commissioner  Meyer  commented  on  the  importance  of  alliance  staff  from  either  port  and 
requested  a  communication  plan  to  ensure  staff  are  kept  fully  informed  on  alliance  organizational 
developments. Commissioner Petrich noted a similar interest on behalf of port tenants.  

DRAFT MANAGING MEMBER BYLAWS 
Mr. Tanaka and Ms. Lake summarized key provisions of the proposed Northwest Seaport Alliance 
Bylaws.  Presentation  slides  and  a  draft  of  the  bylaws  provided  at  the  meeting  are  attached  as 
minutes Exhibits B and C, respectively, and are available for public review. Commissioner Bowman 
commented  that  the  current  bylaws  of  both  ports are  already very similar. Commissioner Johnson 
pointed out that the managing members would be able to amend the alliance bylaws at any time as 
need arises.  

It  was  noted  that  the  provision  for  joint  alliance  presidents  makes  no  specific  accommodation  for 
the  unique  dynamics  associated  with  the  Port  of  Seattle’s  current  governance  of  co-presidents. 
Which  co-president  of  the  Port  of  Seattle  serves  in  turn  as  joint  alliance  president  would  be  an 
autonomous  matter  for  the  Port  of  Seattle.  There  was  a  discussion  of  the  terminology  of  a  chair 
versus a president in the context of the Seaport Alliance. 

Commissioner  Creighton  commented  on  the makeup  of  the  alliance  audit  committee  and  the 
eventual need for an alliance audit committee charter.  

Provisions  allowing  for  dual voting  of  the  individual  port  commissions  in  the  context  of  alliance 
meetings were described.  

There was a discussion regarding alliance regular meeting dates. 

NORTHWEST SEAPORT ALLIANCE BUDGET PROCESS OVERVIEW 
Erin  Galeno,  Chief  Financial  and  Administrative  Officer,  Port  of  Tacoma,  and  Dan  Thomas,  Chief 
Financial  Officer,  Port  of  Seattle,  presented  a  summary  of  the  2016  Northwest  Seaport  Alliance 
budgeting process, including schedule, business plan development, and capital plan development. 
It was reported that the aim is to develop a budget document that can serve essentially as an insert 
to  each  homeport’s  more  comprehensive  budget  document. It  was  noted  that  the  initial  working 
capital  contribution  from  each  homeport  is  currently  planned  to  equal  six  months  of  alliance 
operating expenses. The 2016 budget is planned to be approved in October 2015. 

PUBLIC COMMENT 
Public comment was received from the following individual(s): 
 Fred  Felleman,  Northwest  Consultant  for  Friends  of  the  Earth,  regarding  concerns  over 
lack  of specific  environmental  goals  at  this  stage  of  development  of  the  Northwest 
Seaport Alliance.

PORT COMMISSION JOINT MEETING MINUTES Page 3 of 3 
TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2015 

Minutes of the special joint meeting of July 28, 2015, proposed for approval on February 9, 2016. 
 Goodspaceguy, King County resident, regarding the benefits of competition between the 
Ports of Tacoma and Seattle and his opposition to the Northwest Seaport Alliance.  

ADJOURNMENT 

There was no further business, and the meeting adjourned at 10:50 a.m. 

Stephanie Bowman 
Secretary 

Minutes approved: February 9, 2016.