While any number of public officials are eager to stand in the spotlight, one of Southwest Washington’s most effective remains one of its least known. And now Larry Paulson is retiring after a dozen years at the helm of the Port of Vancouver. It’s a lengthy transition; Paulson announced his retirement in March and will stay on as executive director until next April, when he will hand the job to his chosen successor, Todd Coleman.
Paulson found his way to the port after a couple of other careers. A Portland native, his family has long run a successful floor-covering business there. A 30-year officer in the Oregon Air National Guard, he retired as a brigadier general, despite the fact he never was a pilot. As an attorney with the firm of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, he represented a number of clients, including the port. He became its primary attorney in 1992, then joined the port full-time in 1997, when he was chosen to succeed Byron Hanke. He took the top job in January 1999.
Since then, the port has grown from handling bulk cargo such as wheat and break-bulk cargo such as steel on about 500 acres into a much more diversified port encompassing 800 acres. Major facilities have been rebuilt, and the port purchased two large mobile cranes that were instrumental in its ability to attract the wind energy industry. Vancouver is the only North American port with two of these cranes, which can lift the giant wind turbine parts.
That’s typical of Paulson’s leadership. Rather than go after a well-populated trade, such as containers, Vancouver has looked for niche business it can capture. Eager to keep its docks full, the port has even played host to laid-up U.S. Maritime Administration vessels.
The Columbia River channel-deepening project was completed during Paulson’s tenure, and has boosted the port. According to port spokeswoman Theresa Wagner, the deeper channel was an important factor in the decision by BHP Billiton to choose the port’s Terminal 5 for a major potash export facility. When completed, it should bring at least 60 new jobs with it. Also coming are Farwest Steel with 228 jobs and Keyera Energy, which is relocating.
Paulson recognized the need to expand the port’s rail network to accommodate longer grain trains. The port has launched a $150 million West Vancouver Freight Access project to accommodate these large bulk cargoes, and its major grain tenant, United Grain, has announced a $72 million expansion of its Vancouver elevators.
There have been a couple of missteps along the way. In 2007, Paulson and the port commissioners advanced a plan that would have more than doubled property taxes for residents living in the port district, and used the proceeds to redevelop the site of the old aluminum smelter along Lower River Road. But the decision was made quietly and quickly, with little chance for public input or buy-in. A grass-roots petition drive led to the tax being put on the ballot, where it was defeated. The bad taste it left in voters’ mouths was widely blamed for their decision to turn longtime Port Commissioner Arch Miller out of office.
The same sort of too-quiet process was used last year when Coleman was selected to succeed Paulson. Port officials point out they were trying to replicate the smooth transition between Paulson and his old boss, Hanke, but too much of the discussion occurred in closed-door sessions that left the port’s taxpayers in the dark.
Rare is the leader who doesn’t make a misstep, and these should be viewed in the overall context of Paulson’s strong record. When Paulson turns in his keys, he can retire with the satisfaction that Vancouver’s economic engine is well-tuned.
