Commissioner Mike Fox received a gift from commission president Kristi Chapman during Fox’s final Port of Hood River meeting on June 17. The gift came was handmade by one of Chapman’s cousins who lives in Colorado.
Commissioner Mike Fox received a gift from commission president Kristi Chapman during Fox’s final Port of Hood River meeting on June 17. The gift came was handmade by one of Chapman’s cousins who lives in Colorado.
HOOD RIVER — The Port of Hood River said goodbye to Commissioner Mike Fox at his final board meeting on June 17. Fox has been involved with the bridge project since 2021, and currently serves as a board member of the Hood River White Salmon Bridge Authority (HRWSBA). He will continue to serve on the HRWSBA until he relocates.
“I want to thank everybody for the last four years; it’s been a lot of fun for me. When I retired and I started farming, I knew real quick I didn’t want to be a farmer, so I kind of fell back to what I’ve enjoyed all my life doing, building stuff, and I saw the community needed a new bridge desperately, so got involved in that,” Fox said in his farewell message. He plans to move to be closer to family.
During regular session, commissioners approved the 14-item consent agenda. Items ranged from signing off on meeting minutes to authorizing an amendment to the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with the HRWSBA to install monitoring equipment on the existing bridge. The IGA will allow contractors to place the equipment that “would be used to create a baseline for use by the HRWSBA of the current bridge,” according to the meeting agenda.
The port greenlit the construction of two parking lots that will be built from September to November to avoid the busy tourist season. The two lots will provide 130 new parking spaces designed to “accommodate Sprinter-sized vans and similar vehicles.”
The board agreed with Granite Construction on a construction contract not to exceed $1.02 million and approved a second amendment that would authorize HRK Engineering to manage the construction project for a cost not to exceed $99,900.
The board of commissioners also welcomed Mid-Columbia Economic Development District (MCEDD) Executive Director Jessica Metta to talk about her organization’s ongoing work and how the port and MCEDD can collaborate. Metta touched on the port’s membership and inclusion in MCEDD’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). MCEDD listed the Hood River-White Salmon Bridge Replacement Project as their top priority for the Washington side and the port currently has a $2 million Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant for the construction of the roundabout near the waterfront.
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