Ephrata port receives Port of Year award

EPHRATA - When the discussion first started about nominating the Port of Ephrata for Port of the Year, Manager Mike Wren was hesitant.

"We've had a fantastic year here, and in fact I hear a lot of, 'Wow, we've never seen this sort of stuff happen here before,' he said. "But, you know, a lot of ports in Grant County have done real well, Grant County's doing real well. I thought, 'How do we compete with guys like Port of Tacoma, Port of Seattle and Vancouver and all that?'"

But the port district's commissioners - Everett Wenke, Karen Moore and Bob Criss - persevered.

"Our commissioners said, 'We've got a great story to tell and the people around here deserve to share in our success,'" Wren said.

"The people that came before us worked long and hard to get the infrastructure there so we were ready to move," Wenke said. "Things finally hit the gel point where people started coming."

Wenke said the port district is set to grow, and growing with the aid of help and partnerships with other people.

"Consequently, last year was a very good year for us, as far as growth goes," he said.

Amongst the port's successes, Wenke pointed to bringing in Katana Industries, partnering with the city, Grant County and the state to build a road connecting the port to the main highway to cut down on truck traffic through schools, partnering with the Federal Aviation Administration to build a new runway for gliders and partnering with the state to refurbish the port's rail line.

"We're in a growing mode, we're getting more infrastructure and we continue to hope to grow," he said.

So Wren submitted the nomination form for the Washington Public Ports Association Port of the Year Award in September.

"When you put it in perspective, what's occurred for the size of the community, for the amount of tax dollars brought in, all those sorts of things, when you start putting it into ratio perspective, it's pretty awesome," Wren said. "After I sat down and went through that, I thought, 'Wow, we have done very, very well.'"

The association called to inform Wren in October the port had won the award. The port attended a ceremony Nov. 16 in Bellevue.

"We are just really excited for the citizens of Ephrata to be honored like this," Moore said. "Tremendous things are happening out there, and with the new infrastructure. There's been a lot of years of building out at the port and it's finally all coming together. All the ports around the state are working very hard for economic development and to be singled out is a real honor."

"It really comes back to the whole issue of partnerships and how successful we've worked together as the region, because it starts all the way from here to the city to the county to the state," Wren said. "It really comes down to how successful and focused we've been on building partnerships and doing things together we can't do alone."

The Ephrata port shares the honors with the Port of Benton.

"They couldn't sort it out between the two of us," Wren said. "So this is the second time, I think in the history of the award, that two ports have been awarded it."

If anything, Wren thinks the award proves the money taxpayers provided during the port's dry years was worth it.

"Some days, you've just got to be patient, hang in there and ultimately it will produce for you," he said. "I think it will continue to produce, so I think the only thing it really does for us is to say, 'Hey, we've all worked together and we're doing it right and it's productive.'"

Wren anticipates providing further support for Katana Industries. Originally slated to bring 110 to 120 jobs, the company is now at 160 and could easily reach 200 if able to find the employees, he said. The stretch of road between Katana and a rail spur needs to be asphalt, he said.

"That's kind of my project for the winter, is to figure out how to again pull that money together from as many places as we can," Wren said, estimating $300,000 needs to be raised.

"As a port we stay committed to economic development in our area, and I believe the groundwork is in place to accommodate future development," Criss said. "A lot of the things that are in place now, we hope will lead to future projects."