Lipps resigns from CL Port

“Mr. Lipps expressed a need to spend more time with his growing and highly successful business,” Port General Manager Paul Koch said in an email.

Thunder Island has been preparing to move — and expand — to WaNaPa Street, the main drag of Cascade Locks. Negotiations between the brewery and the port began last winter, and the deal is drawing closer to fruition.

Last week, the port granted Thunder Island’s requested 90-day extension to complete its planning and financing, under condition that the company report back monthly on the status of their project.

Thunder Island Brewery opened on Southwest Portage Road in 2013, where the business leases port-owned property. The brewery’s new digs will be a vacant piece of port land next to Jumpin’ Jax Java on the west end of the town’s thoroughfare.

Lipps’ absence from the port board leaves a vacancy that will need to be filled, according to the port’s written policy.

“Any vacancy occurring on the Commission will be filled by the filing of letters of interest as submitted by residents of the port district and reviewed by the Commission. The Commission shall interview interested parties and select a person to fill any vacancy that may exist,” the document states.

Koch said in a written report the port’s normal procedure is to advertise for two weeks, seek letters of interest for review, hold final interviews, and then makes an appointment.

The newly appointed commissioner will serve until June 2017, according to the port’s legal counsel. The next port district election — where a longer term position will be decided — is next May.

On the five-member port board, each commissioner serves a 4-year term. The next positions to open up are Jess Groves’, Position 4, and Joeinne Caldwell’s, Position 5, both of which expire June 30, 2017.

Candidates for the Port Commission must be qualified under Oregon law and must be residents of the port district. For more information, call the port office at 541-374-8619.

In other action, the port has stepped into negotiations with a business being recruited in downtown Cascade Locks. The commission authorized a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for that company. The port hasn’t yet announced the business’s name.