Hullwork - March, 2025

Hullwork - March, 2025

Hullwork - March
Dan Tucker - Director

Spring is coming up fast here in the Northwest and we're seeing boatyards, ramps, and businesses bustling with activity getting our fleets, boats, and mariners ready for another summer on the water.

The Coalition has been busy planning our Tide to Table event, coming up April 26th. Tasks this month have included organizing committee meetings, building planning documents, soliciting sponsors and auction items, and ensuring we have all relevant permitting and licensing we need for the event. We've also been building marketing material, and this last month, we launched our ticketing and event page. This involved securing a platform for the auction, setting up our bank accounts to link to it, and getting onboarded to the software to operate our auction and event. Last year, we suffered an unfortunate failure of the platform we were using mid-event. While the issue was the fault of the platform, and not anything we had control over, the impact has led us to use a new platform this year. That means building a lot of assets for the event from scratch, and porting in information with no presets or existing formats. This has been a heavier lift than normal, but we're reaching the end of setting up the platform and having all the pieces in place for you to have a fantastic experience if you attend this year! We're excited about our platform, which is QGiv by Bloomerang. This platform allows us a flexible payment plan for services, and had some key features that will let us have a better in-auction experience for our guests.

If you've not gotten your Tide to Table tickets, they're going fast - so get yours today!  Visit https://secure.qgiv.com/event/t2t25/ for tickets and info.

To make this event a fun success, there are a few things you can do to help out as a member of the Coalition. Attending and purchasing tickets is the first, but you can also help us out by donating an item to the auction. These include rare collectibles, experiences, or unique offers that you think our community would be interested in - we're excited this year to offer a 'Brewer for a Day' with Menace Brewing, for example. Another way is to sponsor our event, and the Coalition. Sponsorship opportunities allow you to have your business promoted at our event, and for the larger sponsorship levels, other Coalition events and publications throughout the year. These sponsorships are vital to the Coalition's programming, allowing us to continue staying engaged in conversations, bringing your voice and concerns to the table when discussions on our maritime economy and waterfront trades happen. Contact me for sponsorship opportunities, we'd love to feature our member businesses with these packages.

The Coalition has been busy as well in tracking the impacts of tariffs, policy changes, federal workforce cuts, and other shifts coming from the current administration. This has included dealing with temporary suspensions of funding for the Diesel Emissions Reduction program that we partner with the Port of Bellingham on. Early in February, this funding, which had been allocated, obligated, and awarded was suspended without warning from the EPA.  The Coalition worked with the Port on notifying our sub-recipients, and passed along all the information we had. The following week, the EPA reinstated the funding without warning, as well. Following a blackout on communications being lifted, the EPA Grant Representative for Region 10 that we'd been coordinating with reached out a few days later to schedule a meeting with us. That meeting was not very informative, unfortunately, and as of now, our funding is available, but there is no guarantee that it will remain so long enough for our participants to complete their work in the fall of this year, and get reimbursed. We're still waiting for better assurances, which will likely come when the federal government passes a fiscal budget which includes funding for the EPA and the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act programming.

We've also distributed a survey regarding the impacts to the tariffs that our businesses may be feeling. You have likely received an email on it, and it would be helpful to have all of our members fill out this survey. That will result in a report built that goes out to local and state representatives, to help them better understand what is happening in our maritime business economy. Webinars, in-person meetings, and phone calls are also happening throughout the month regarding the ongoing shifting seascape of regulations, policies, funding, and federal support.

In other tasks and news, we've been invited to present at the Northwest Central Labor Council at one of their board meetings. Based here in Bellingham, we're going to learn about them, and have them learn about us in our continued campaign to reach out and make new connections here in the region with other organizations that work on economic development, jobs and workforce development, and trades businesses. We're also networking with Race Week Bellingham, and the Whatcom Asset Building Coalition this month to introduce ourselves to those networks. These involve Zoom or in-person meetings to talk about our Coalition, why our members are vital to the economy, and what it is that you all do. This helps our communities better understand your marine trades businesses, and support them. We're networking as well with Puget Sound Marine Exchange, and the Maritime, Manufacturing and Industries Association in Seattle - a city-council-funded coalition of businesses that are promoting their maritime trades. Networking with these maritime-related organizations furthers our awareness of things that impact us here in our region, and will help us stay better connected and informed throughout the region.

We're also involved in two upcoming events for the region. On May 1st, the Maritime Center for Excellence is hosting, alongside our Coalition and the Port of Bellingham, the Maritime Workforce Forum. This all-day event is a symposium that gathers maritime trades and business stakeholders from around the region to network and learn about what's changing and happening in this sector of the economy. We're a planning partner in this event, helping to organize speakers, logistics, and other details for the event. On May 7th, we're also involved in planning the Port of Bellingham's Marine Career Exploration fair. This year, rather than doing a traditional job fair, the Port is pivoting to plan a hands-on learning event for high school students in the region. Students will come and have activities provided by several local maritime businesses involved in different aspects of on-the-water or waterfront work. We've helped coordinate activity partners and businesses to participate, draft schedules, and provide logistical support to the planning. Both of these events will be opportunities to promote your Coalition to new businesses, stakeholders, and the community, helping to build further support for our mission.

I have also has been attending our regular Port Commissioner meetings, following up on discussions to enlarge the commission and other relevant topics. Staying in communication with Port staff regarding marina rules changes and other clarifying changes to marina codes has also helped answer member questions regarding slip fees, ownership, and moorage allowances. If you have questions around these topics and don't know who to contact or where to find them - reach out to our staff. If we don't know the answer, we'll find it for you. Please remember that our staff and our organization are meant to be a resource for you, our members, as much as we are a tool for outreach. Don't hesitate to call or email if you want help getting information. We've had members ask for notations from Port meetings. One of our board used to write briefs on Port meetings, and going forward, we're going to bring them back - albeit with a slightly different method. The Port puts out official meeting minutes on their website. We're going to try posting those minutes, along with any notations we may make during the meeting, to the website. We're currently building a spot for these on the website and will hopefully launch the first of them next month.

There is plenty more that passes by my desk on a regular basis - so if you have any questions about news, stories, events, or developments, I'm happy to try and help you find further information and connect you to the people who may help. Alongside advocating for you, the Coalition is also your network and information hub - so give us a call and chat, or stop by anytime we're in the office and say hello! I keep regular office hours Monday-Friday, 9-5pm. I will occasionally be out for meetings, errands, or appointments - but if the lights are on, you're always welcome to duck inside.

Thank you all, and have a fantastic March!

Dan Tucker
Director