Port of Seattle approves 'Accountability Action Plan'

The Port of Seattle Commission have approved a slate of items that together form the initial elements of what is called the Port's Accountability Action Plan.

- Strengthening Commission oversight. Commissioners formed a group which will research best practices for organizational governance and recommend ways to strengthen oversight of major construction projects. The group's recommendations will be used to revise the resolution that currently governs how the commission's authority is delegated throughout the organization.

- Establishing protocols for regular updates on major capital projects. Commissioners will receive detailed quarterly reports - written and in public session - on capital projects with costs of $10 million or more.

- Affirming their commitment to transparency and accountability. Commissioners established and signed a code of conduct, which sets expectations for transparency in its work. In addition, port commissioners directed Port CEO Tay Yoshitani to provide quarterly reports in public session regarding the Port's response to the recent performance audit. Those reports will include updates on action items resulting from the audit and deadlines for achieving them.

Several of the motions concerned the recent performance audit, and commissioners voiced a commitment to using those results to improve the Port's performance.

"Today, the commission showed our commitment to taking strong action in response to the recent performance audit," said Commissioner Lloyd Hara, vice president of the commission and a member of the Port's audit committee. "We will continue to discuss those changes in public session so that the citizens are aware of what we are doing. And of course, we will cooperate fully with any investigation - we welcome any opportunity to improve the Port's operations."

"We are fortunate to have commissioners with such a breadth of experience and knowledge," said Yoshitani. "I am confident that the Port of Seattle is moving in a positive direction, and I am looking forward to working with the Commission on implementing several initiatives designed to improve how we operate."

The commission also acted on a number of other items, including changing the day and time of meetings. Regularly scheduled meetings will now be held on Tuesdays at 4 p.m.