Norm Tonina and Gee Heckscher stated in their March 5 column in The Leader that there should be more scrutiny of my actions, suggesting that may have contributed to the further demise of the Fort Worden Public Development Authority. I truly welcome it. This ongoing saga causes me to regret that I ever engaged in the effort. I should have allowed others to save the PDA from being consumed by a much larger tragedy than what I left behind.

In any case it’s time to stop using the pandemic as an excuse. The most grievous warning sign that the PDA was financially “sick” was the release of a long overdue audit report from the state that was issued two years overdue and six months before the pandemic. That report was issued as an “Adverse Opinion,” which is auditors speak for “suspicion of fraud or misrepresentation” of the agency’s finances. Stated plainly, something was seriously wrong with the PDA’s finances long before the pandemic came. 

It is true that the pandemic hit and decimated the hospitality side of the business with no federal or state assistance available to help. But this fact intensified an existing terminal financial sickness already happening within the PDA.

It bears repeating: The PDA was terminally ill well before the pandemic.

Let me address Tonina and Heckscher’s comments and questions attached to scrutiny of my administration:

First, my recommendations on leases to partners along with establishment of hospitality as a not-for-profit concession were well vetted, as were the final terms. The 3% concession fee was approved by the full board as were the lease terms. I did not have the authority to lower it from 3.5% to 3.0% or assess capital investment in lieu of rent terms.

That said, a half of one percent or marginal rental income would not have made a dent in addressing the deepening situation of the PDA. Nor would divesting capital liability for dilapidated facilities to certain partners in lieu of rent. We simply adopted the same model state parks concession and lease terms had given to the PDA: As in, you fix it. How could you expect more from a lease when the buildings themselves — if not being anything more than historic — would be condemned and demolished in any other “fair market” situation.

It is correct that I recommended these as partial solutions to aid the future, but for the partners’ benefits — not the PDA. We all knew deep down it was race against time to find an alternative governance model for the Fort. 

Second, Tonina and Heckscher asked me to explain the “other $15m debt/liability” to which I referred. Fair enough. When I arrived at the PDA there was also a capital liability contract associated with the yet-to-be completed $15 million dollar Makers Square project. We soon discovered undisclosed monies for the project had been diverted, in late 2019, that were preventing the PDA from making good on its funding and construction contracts. 

This fact combined with a variety of reasons meant the Makers Square $15 million project was on a trajectory towards default without intervention. Further, it had to happen quickly to address the fatal impact of the PDA’s inability to restore the diverted funds. This was an existing condition at the time I got involved with the PDA, in addition to the previously mentioned debt of $5.1 million.

We now know $1.3 million was diverted for improper purposes. Adding to this shortfall was a discovery that a $600,000 grant had not materialized but was still being included in the budget. It was too late to adjust the contracts underway. The grant had to be restored to balance the project revenues to expenses.

In other words, it is correct to say we increased the existing debt during my administration of the PDA to $6.4 million to make good on the completion of Makers Square, and to make good on the original loan terms. All the better than the prospect of default on $15 million of Makers Square liabilities and the original $5.3 million in existing debt. This is very well documented.

For me, personally, so much of what was accomplished was done in order to reduce and limit the potential damage we exposed as we dug in. But despite all the effort on my part, along with everybody else’s contributions, it wasn’t enough.

Dave Timmons was executive director or the PDA from March 2020 to September 2023.