The Port of Bellingham is set to see new commissioners — and more districts — in 2026, along with the search for a new executive director.
The Port of Bellingham heads into 2026 with a set of voter-approved edicts that both critics and supporters hope will bolster transparency and future development decisions.
Proposition 2025-04, which passed in November with more than 65% of the 69,640 ballots cast, will expand the number of port commission districts from three to five. A public hearing for the draft redistricting plan to accomplish the change will be held Dec. 9.
That plan — which uses the same five district boundaries as the Whatcom County Council — is expected to be formally adopted by the port commission at a meeting on Dec. 16, wrote Mike Hogan, the port’s public affairs administrator, in an email. Once adopted, the plan will be submitted to the Whatcom County Auditor before Jan. 1 for final approval.
A special election for the two new district seats will then be held in November 2026. Of the two winning candidates, the one who garners the most votes will serve a three-year term while the other winner serves a one-year term. This maintains the commission’s odd-year election cycle for new commissioners.
Long considered, newly adopted
The expansion of the commission has been discussed for more than a decade. Commissioners declined to take action on a port expansion in 2020, after considering it in late 2019.
In 2012, a citizen’s initiative to expand made it to the general election ballot but failed by 1,458 votes out of 89,854 cast.
Ken Bell, the port’s outgoing district two commissioner, wrote in an email that the 2012 vote did not have the commission’s approval at the time. This year’s vote was a commission-initiated measure, he said, with full support.
More than a dozen people — including former Bellingham mayor Ken Hertz — expressed support for the expansion at a December 2024 port hearing.
The general increase in support for expansion, he added, was the result of the difficulties experienced by the port with ABC recycling, waterfront litigation with Harcourt Developments and staffing changes with the executive director and airport staffing positions.
“It became obvious in the last year that commissioners needed to have the ability to talk to each other,” he said. “The challenges we faced made it clear that we needed a better structure.”
Sarah Gardner, president for the Birchwood Neighborhood Association, echoed Bell’s explanation regarding the adoption of an expanded commission being necessary due to recent events and a need for better communication.
Washington’s Open Public Meetings Act prohibits a simple majority of a governing body from discussing official business outside public meetings. With only three commissioners — and thus a two-person quorum — members cannot currently discuss port business outside of public meetings.
“It’s really hard to do a good job when you can’t discuss with your colleagues a best way forward,” Gardner said. “It allows for more voices at the table, too.”
While about 20,000 fewer voters participated in settling the debate this year compared to 2012, which was a presidential election, Gardner said the ABC Recycling debacle and its media coverage likely raised public awareness about the Port’s power, its leadership and their choices.
New district 2 leadership
In January, incumbent Ken Bell will step aside for newcomer Carly James, who becomes the second-ever woman to hold port commission office after defeating Bell by just over 1,500 of the more than 70,000 total votes cast.
James, a Bellingham resident who owns the small business Bison Bookbinding and Letterpress, joins Ginny Benton on what is a short list of female representation. Benton served as a commissioner from 1996 to 2004.
After Benton’s 2003 loss, only two women ran for port office before James: Renata B. Kowalczyk in 2013 and Kelly Krieger in 2021.
“It’s an honor, and I’m incredibly excited to be a woman on our port commission,” James said. “I’m here to represent women … but I’m also here to represent the whole county.”
In a conversation with Salish Current, James reiterated that accessibility is the main theme she is focused on, having come across it both during her campaign and in learning the port’s work, which she will now be part of.
“I think that this moment in time is calling for a more accessible port,” she said. “That’s why the expansion of three to five commissioners passed. People want to see more voices, more representation at the port. I feel like I’m here to usher in this new era and this moment of transition.”
James noted it’s been several years since a new voice joined the commission, long enough that some port staff had not yet experienced working with a new member. Her transition to the port, James said, is an opportunity for the port to examine its onboarding process and bring available resources up to date before welcoming another two new members in 2027.
Bell does not plan to run again.
He said he considers the completion of his current commission term as the end of his time serving in public office, and will turn his attention to his business, Iron Creek Group, and time with his wife, children and grandchildren.
“The reason I ran this time, against my better judgement, was to complete the changes initiated early in the year,” he said of campaigning in 2025. “They were not completed when filing week rolled around so I filed to ensure that change happened. They have now been completed and I am happy with the result.”
Bell is also aiding James’ transition before her January swearing-in, James said. The two decided early in their campaigns that being focused on the issues and how to best serve the public was the best way to win instead of personally attacking one another.
“Having that mindset gave us the opportunity to see each other as people and find common ground,” James said.
While her input on the redistricting plans are currently limited to that of regular community members — attending public hearings and making public comment — James will be part of hiring a new executive director following the June firing of Rob Fix.
The port hasn’t yet finalized or published a job description for prospective candidates, but James said she has been given time to provide input before that description is approved, likely within the next month.
Between now and January, James is bringing herself up to speed on what she needs to know — including an array of port projects — to have the fully informed opinions needed to begin making decisions next year.
“The work of the port is vast,” she said.
Capital projects for the port in 2026 include upgrades to Bellingham International Airport, which will see designing for runway rehabilitation and an international arrivals building. The port’s shipping terminal will likely see the finishing of modifications next year, along with the beginning of a design and engineering phase of a rail spur. The port is also working on an economic development strategy for Point Roberts.
Both the airport work and rail spur’s initial phase will be paid through federal grants. In addition, Blaine Harbor will see continued environmental cleanup, along with a new industrial bulkhead, pier and travel lift.
A $450,000 parking lot is also slated for construction on the Bellingham waterfront; a lack of downtown parking near the Granary building was part of the impetus for James’ initial candidacy, where one of her two business locations exist.
Feeling optimistic
Gardner also hopes that James will help bring a necessary diversity of opinion to the port commission.
Under previous leadership, she said, there was not always the feeling that the Birchwood neighborhood — with its concerns over heavy impact industrial zoning along Marine Drive — was actually being listened to.
“I think the neighborhood, they want to be heard more when it comes to living within heavy impact industrial,” Gardner said. “I think she’s going to be a really good listener.”
Gardner also said she’d like to see the port consider a different approach than the knee-jerk reactions of the past, when it fell back on status-quo industrial development. Instead, Gardner pointed to the Port of Seattle’s Workforce Development program, which helps provide training and apprenticeships for employment in various sectors, including green jobs and aviation.
“It’s a different approach that I would like the port to be more proactive about,” Gardner said. “Because then, it’s helping the local economy but it’s also giving us a vision for the future.”
James said she will hit the ground running in 2026, focused on helping provide the transparency and accountability that the community clearly wants from its port, all the while balancing her life as a small business owner.
“I’ve been a business owner for 21 years,” she said, “and the reason that I’m still able to do what I do is because I’ve remained authentic to myself and my values. That didn’t change when I became a candidate. That’s how I ran, and that’s how I will be as a port commissioner.”
Also read in Salish Current:
• “Behind closed doors: How the Port conducts public business in private,” Dec. 3, 2025
• “Views conflict around best use for Port real estate,” March 12, 2025
• “Is the future of Bellingham’s Port five or three commissioners?” Jan. 14, 2025
• “Port responds to questions on public relations contract,” Sept. 27, 2024
• “Tyler Schroeder to lead Port of Bellingham economic development,” February. 29, 2024