View From the Pilot House

Greetings Foss Harbor Marina Tenants,

After hearing from several of you over the last month or so, I thought it might be helpful if I was able to communicate with all of you at least on a monthly basis. So, in an attempt to bond together more as a team, I will be updating you with blog articles titled, View From the Pilot House.

The first thing I would like to say is thank you. Thank you for choosing our marina. Thank you for being responsible boat owners. Thank you for helping us continually improve our marina community so that it is a place that we all want to be. You are all important to me and my main focus has always been trying to improve your experience at the marina.

Lately, I think many of you feel bombarded by various letters from the marina requesting that you follow certain Marina Rules and Regulations. I do apologize if these requests felt heavy-handed or dictatorial. I can assure you that they were not intended to be so. The intention was to create a marina that we can all enjoy with minimal conflicts. Sometimes, we all lose sight of the intended purpose of a request, especially if it is phrased in an unappealing manner. I have been guilty of that myself on several occasions.

I would like to take the opportunity to explain some of the requests that the marina has issued lately and explain why they are beneficial to the marina as a whole.

1. Liveaboard pump-out policy - We must track liveaboard pump-out compliance in order to fulfill our aquatic lands lease obligations with the Department of Natural Resources. The State of Washington actually owns the Aquatic Lands over which your vessel floats. If they are unable to see evidence of liveaboard pump-out compliance, they may take away our liveaboard privileges. It has been very difficult to try and get 100% compliance and we've been trying for over 8 years. We've tried the soft approach, the please please approach, and nothing seems to work. Unfortunately, in order to change the former status-quo, there has to be consequences for people to change their behaviors. I am aware that there are a lot you who have always done the right thing and I am grateful for your leadership in this area. We have set-up the standard protocol for pumping-out twice per month, feeling that this was a reasonable number for most liveaboards. However, it does not mean that we won't adapt to an individual boat's particular pump-out schedule. If you have a large tank with only one person, then maybe one pump-out per month is fine. We just need to verify the details and document for the satisfaction of the DNR. We are not trying to be heavy-handed, but as I stated above, we have tried for eight years to gain 100% compliance and for some reason the message isn't getting through to all parties. We'd appreciate all of your help in encouraging others to comply.


2. Personal Items on Finger Piers & in Covered Moorage Rafters - This has always been an issue at this marina and every other marina. It is clearly stated in the rules that the only thing that should be on finger piers are your boarding steps and that they should only take up half the width of the pier. The marina receives two kinds of complaints regarding this issue. The first complaint is that a neighbor has a bunch of junk on the finger pier and it is making it unsafe for them to transit to their boat. The second complaint is when we ask people to remove stuff from the finger pier. No matter what the marina does in this situation, we are in a lose-lose equation. 90+% of marinas do not allow personal items to be staged on their finger-pier or hung on the covered moorage structure. The rule was created for the following reasons: it is a safety hazard to have items on the finger pier; people tend to trip and fall into the water; when they trip and fall they usually don't blame it on the responsible party; the marina is typically blamed for not forcing tenant X to remove their stuff; once one person puts items out, it spreads like a virus and suddenly the whole marina starts looking like Sanford & Son. Me, personally, I like flowers, which is why we try to hang up the flower baskets and keep adding more flowers each year to the marina. I understand wanting to have them around your boat, I would too. However, this multiplies faster than rabbits on an isolated island. We can't be in the business of deciding who gets to keep what on their finger pier. It isn't fair to you the tenant and it isn't fair to the marina employees. After looking at this issue, we are examining the possibly of putting in some small pea-patches for tenants to plant stuff for themselves next summer. If you are interested, please let us know.
   

I'm sure there are other items out there that you would like to hear about. Please let me know if you would like me to address a specific topic.

Now, to update you on some of the good things that we have been working on.

1. New and expanded laundry room with new machines, room to iron and fold.


2. Tenant Lounge with Internet, TV, etc...


3. Possible Pea-Patch for Liveaboard Tenants


4. Yoga on the Dock


5. Painting of the main building and lockers


6. Gutters for the lockers


7. Movie Equipment to show indoor and outdoor movies


8. Researching - Security Driveway Gates for Tenant Access Only, Fencing Between Lockers, Children's Area


9. Remodeling old restrooms


10. Researching way to work with city to create a restroom facility on the south end


11. The next section of esplanade has received a grant which means: Construction will start probably next November; New Gangway for docks B-G, New Gates, Key Card system. The City will try to get another grant for the esplanade sections H-dock to M-dock in the following year.


12. Wine Tasting Events?


13. Educational Events - CPR, Navigation, etc...


14. Do we want to start a Foss Harbor Marina Club?


15. More picnic tables and umbrellas


16. More colorful banners


17. Flag pole
    

We will not get all of these at once, but we are currently in-process with the Tenant Lounge. We are currently in talks with a contractor regarding the laundry room.

My aim as the General Manager has always been to provide as much as possible for our tenants. As in all cases, I am restricted by the budget, but I am always in your corner fighting for you. I would love it if we could learn to understand each other's obstacles and come together as a team to find workable solutions. I am hoping that the pea-patch could be the beginning of us working together to solve a mutual problem.

You are welcome to respond to this blog. I would love to hear your feedback as long as it is given in a respectful manner. Happy October!!!

Tracy McKendry, General Manager