Port of Quincy security services face challenges

QUINCY — Port of Quincy commissioners will be looking at options for insurance coverage for the port’s security service after its contract through the original carrier was canceled. Commissioners have canceled a contract with the Port of Mattawa that provided security services for Desert Aire.  

Commissioner Curt Morris said port officials have obtained insurance for now and have asked for price quotes from other companies. 

“Once we get that quote, then we’re going to decide what we’re going to do,” Morris said. “We think it’s still a needed service, but we have to have insurance coverage.” 

The port provides security coverage for its own property, for the city of George and in Crescent Bar during the summer. Commissioner Patric Connelly said the Port of Quincy is still providing those services. Port officials had coverage for the security service through the Cities Insurance Association of Washington pool, but CIAW decided to drop coverage for some security organizations, Morris said.  

“The pool decided they don’t want to cover port protective services,” Morris said.  

The port works with a security service that allows its employees to carry weapons, and that was a concern for CIAW, he said.  

“It makes a difference,” Connelly said.  

The weapons carried by security officers are mostly for their own protection, Morris said, and emphasized the security service doesn’t have law enforcement powers. 

“We’re not a police department. We don’t arrest anybody, we can’t detain,” Morris said. “It’s more like the armed security you see at a jewelry store.” 

Gil Alvarado, Port of Mattawa executive director, said Mattawa port commissioners didn’t have a security contract with Quincy for any port properties. State laws required the Port of Quincy to have a contract with the port district in which Desert Aire was located to be able to provide the service, he said. 

The Port of Mattawa relies on the Grant County Sheriff’s Office for security. The GCSO has a satellite office in a Port of Mattawa building, Alvarado said. The sheriff’s office also patrols Desert Aire and will keep doing so, said Kyle Foreman, GCSO public information officer. 

“The Grant County Sheriff’s Office continues patrolling private property and helping people in all communities in Grant County,” he said.  

Desert Aire officials didn’t answer questions from the Columbia Basin Herald about any alternative arrangements for security.  

Connelly said port commissioners will need more information and time to discuss the options before they decide on the future of the security service.  

“There’s been no decision made,” Connelly said. “We’re just looking at all our options at the moment.”