Commissioner Connie Niva to leave office at Everett port

Published 10:52 pm Friday, June 19, 2009

EVERETT — The only thing Port of Everett Commissioner Connie Niva doesn’t like about her new home is that it’s several blocks past the port’s district boundaries, a fact she said became known to her only after she’d put down a hefty deposit.

As a result, Niva said Friday that she’ll resign her public office before she moves in, a decision that means the three-member commission will have two new people running things in the new year.

“It never occurred to me that it was not in my district,” Niva said of a new condominium she’s buying on Harbour Pointe Boulevard in Mukilteo. “It’s an unfortunate set of circumstances.”

Niva, who’s selling her longtime home in Everett, noted that the boundaries of her District 2 position start at the bottom of Rucker Hill in Everett, include south Everett along the waterfront into Mukilteo and about stop about four blocks short of her condo. The port district, established in 1918, includes most of Mukilteo, but not all of it.

Niva said she’ll remain in her Everett home and on the commission through July.

“I really hate to leave right now, there’s a lot happening.” she said.

State law leaves it up to the remaining commissioners, Phil Bannan and Michael Hoffmann, to choose Niva’s successor. If they can’t agree, the decision would go to the Snohomish County Council. Whoever is chosen would have to run for election this fall to fill the remaining two years of Niva’s six-year term.

Bannan’s position is also up for grabs this fall and he is not seeking re-election, so the commission will have two new members next year. Hoffman, who has been on the commission for two years, will soon become its only member with current experience.

“I’m going to miss her,” he said of Niva. “It was easy for me to keep a low profile by staying behind more experienced people.”

He said he and Bannan have agreed they want to pick Niva’s replacement rather than leaving it to the council and are researching how to do it appropriately. “We will have some kind of interview process, narrow it down to a few top candidates and hold a public meeting,” he said.

Hoffmann and Bannan both said they want people to submit applications once they figure out how things will work.

Bannan noted that he, too, was sad to see Niva resign.

“She represented the public with a strong point of view,” he said. “There was never any question about where she stood.”

Port director John Mohr called Niva “a real force on the commission.”

“She brought a lot of her own values,” he said. “She pushed on the issue of public information and transparency.”

Mohr said promoting jobs in the community has also an important emphasis.

“Connie said to me several times that the best social program was a job,” she said. “She clearly believes that.”

Niva, who was commission chairman last year, said her most important issue was informing the public about port activities and responsibilities.

“The port had a reputation of secrecy — that it was their business, not the public’s business,” Niva said. “I think that’s changing.”

Under Niva’s urging, the port has provided more printed information for the public during meetings, initiated a podcast of its monthly commission meetings so the public could listen to them without attending, expanded information on its Web site, sent out more newsletters to neighborhood groups, established a key-communicator program in which 75 community members meet twice a year to hear about port activities and provide comments and advice, and established a property committee of professionals to advise the port on its real estate plans and interests.

“I’d like to see that continue,” Niva said, adding, “My biggest frustration is that people don’t understand that the port district does not have the same mission as a city government. Its mission is very narrow, to be an economic engine for the region. We can build parks and build trails as mitigation (for various projects), but it’s not our mission. That’s a very hard message to convey.”

Niva has a long history of public service that includes membership on the Everett City Council and the state Transportation Commission. She remains on the board of the Center of Women and Democracy in Seattle and on the Board of Regents for Washington State University.