Two Oakland Port Commissioners Appointed

By Mark Edward Nero

Local labor leader Andreas Cluver and long-time community organizer Arabella Martinez have been appointed to four-year terms on the seven-member Oakland Board of Port Commissioners. They joined the Board Feb. 11.

The Oakland City Council appointed Cluver and Martinez at its Feb. 2 meeting. They were nominated, and sworn in, by Mayor Libby Schaaf.

Cluver is Secretary-Treasurer of the Alameda County Building and Construction Trades Council, and Martinez is Vice-Chair of the Latino Community Foundation Board of Trustees.

“We are very pleased that Ms. Martinez and Mr. Cluver are joining the Board of Port Commissioners.” said Board President Earl S. Hamlin. “They both bring significant experience to the table that will help the Port realize its potential for Oakland and the region.”

Cluver is Secretary-Treasurer of the Alameda County Building Trades Council and worked in the labor movement for 16 years. He previously served as a business representative for the building trades in Alameda County as well as internationally in Southern Africa as a program director with the AFL-CIO.

Martinez was the founder and first CEO of the Unity Council, a community advocacy group in Oakland. After retiring from the Unity Council in 2005, she joined the Latino Community Foundation Board of Trustees, and in 2014, she became the LCF’s interim CEO to help build the Latino philanthropic institution in California.

Oakland Port Touts Financial Policy Improvements

The Port of Oakland, which was hit last year by a misuse of funds scandal, provided a progress report on March 28 to its Board of Port Commissioners regarding its efforts to strengthen policies to prevent future financial misdeeds.

Updates included conducting a first-ever port purchasing card audit in 2012 and revising the port’s purchasing card policy based on audit recommendations; conducting an independent investigation of improper expenditures; the resignation of the port’s former Executive Director and Maritime Director; and the hiring of a new port attorney, with background in a variety of legal areas including ethics.

The port says it has also provided additional ethics training for employees; set up a public webpage related to accountability and transparency that includes steps the port is taking and a timeline; and revising travel policy to provide clarity, guidance and responsibility.

“It’s a milestone relative to the commitment that we, the port staff and the Board, made to the public to become a more accountable and transparent organization,” Port of Oakland Acting Executive Director Deborah Ale Flint said.

The changes were the result of a fall 2012 scandal in which then-Executive Director Omar Benjamin and then-Maritime Director James Kwon were found to have spent $4,500 entertaining shipping executives at strip club in Houston, Texas 2008 during a business conference.

Port of Oakland Hire New Execs

Following nationwide searches, the Oakland Board of Port Commissioners on March 14 approved the hiring of Ron Puccinelli as new chief technology officer and Amy Tharpe as director of its Social Responsibility Division.

As the port’s SRD director, Tharpe will partner with community and businesses to promote positive social and economic changes and develop a social responsibility strategy that will add value to the Port's business development activities and to the communities in Oakland and throughout the region.

Prior to being hired by the port, Tharpe managed San Francisco’s HOPE SF Initiative, where she served as the city lead on programmatic aspects of the initiative which included real estate development strategies, policy development, resource development, evaluation and communications.

As the port’s CTO, Puccinelli will provide leadership for the port’s Information Technology division, focusing on the integration and performance of technology solutions to support the port’s strategic plan priorities.

Before accepting a position with the port, Puccinelli had been the Director of Information Technology with the nearby City of Concord since October 2001.

“Leadership in the arenas of social responsibility and technology are both critical to the port - so that we can perform optimally as an organization leveraging the latest in technology, while also ensuring that our performance reaches and benefits all of our community, especially our neighboring communities,” port Board President Gilda Gonzales said.

Both Tharpe and Puccinelli officially begin their positions with the port in early April.

Oakland Port Director Steps Down

Port of Oakland Executive Director Omar Benjamin, who had been under investigation for his role in the spending of thousands of dollars in public money at a Texas strip club, has stepped down.

Benjamin, who had served as executive director since 2007, notified the port’s Board of Port Commissioners over Veteran’s Day weekend that he’s retiring from his position effective immediately.

With his retirement, Acting Executive Director Deborah Ale Flint will continue, for now, to direct the port’s key business plans and growth initiatives while also overseeing the port’s day-to-day operations, according to the commission.

Benjamin had been on paid leave since Oct. 18 as part of an investigation into the spending of $4,500 in public money during the entertaining of shipping executives at strip club in Houston, Texas called Treasures during a 2008 business conference.

Port expense records show that Benjamin was part of the group that ran up the tab. The expense report, which was passed off as a normal business meeting, was submitted in October 2008 by the port’s maritime director, James Kwon. Kwon was placed on paid administrative leave the day after Benjamin last month by Ale Flint and currently remains on leave.

The port hired the firm of Arnold & Porter LLP last month to audit port records for other expenditures, including other nightclub visits in Asia and Oakland that were billed by employees to the port. The investigation is still ongoing, according to the port.

Additional developments regarding policies and oversight are scheduled to be discussed during the port board’s next regular business meeting, scheduled for Thurs., Nov. 15.

Two New Commissioners Join Port of Oakland

Two new Port of Oakland Commissioners were sworn in by Oakland Mayor Jean Quan on August 1st.

The newcomers, Cestra “Ces” Butner and Bryan Parker, were recently nominated by Quan and appointed by the Oakland City Council on July 26. They replace Pamela Calloway, who until last month had been the board’s president, and Margaret Gordon, an environmental activist who served one term on the board. Quan did not support new four-year terms on the board for either outgoing commissioner.

“I welcome the opportunity to work with Commissioners Butner and Parker to continue guiding the port toward a sustainable future,” new Board of Port Commissioners President Gilda Gonzales said in a prepared statement. “Their practical business experiences will be welcome additions as we continue our relentless focus on our core aviation, maritime and commercial real estate businesses in fulfillment of our duties under state law as trustees of state tidelands.”

Butner, who has lived in Oakland since 1981, is president, CEO and owner of Horizon Beverage Company, an Oakland-based beverage distributorship that supplies retailers in Northern Alameda County and Western Contra Costa County.

Parker is vice president of Davita, Inc., a Fortune 500 company that provides dialysis service and education for patients with chronic kidney failure and end stage renal disease. His experience also includes time in investment banking, operations management and law, according to the port.

Butner and Parker are expected to join the Commission at an upcoming special meeting scheduled for Aug. 16.

Port of Oakland Adopts 2012-2013 Budget

The Oakland Board of Port Commissioners has adopted a $406.7 million operating and capital budget for its 2012-2013 fiscal year, which began July 1.

The Port of Oakland, which oversees the Oakland seaport, Oakland International Airport and 20 miles of waterfront, projects flat to modest growth in activity at the Port of Oakland in its adopted FY 2012-13 budget. Loaded container traffic at the port is expected to grow just two percent during FY 2012-13.

“While we anticipate modest growth in port revenues in FY 2012-13, our operating expenses are projected to grow faster than revenues,” port Chief Financial Officer Sara Lee noted.

FY 2012-13 budgeted operating revenues are about $311.5 million, a five percent increase compared to FY 2011-2012 budgeted revenues. However, operating expenses are projected to grow 8.2 percent in FY 2012-13, primarily due to rising costs in the areas of health care, pension, and regulatory compliance.

The port’s five-year capital needs assessment, which covers the 2013-2017 fiscal years, includes about $638 million of capital expenditures for projects the port deems critical to revenue maintenance and to keeping it competitive. For FY 2012-13, the Board of Port Commissioners adopted a capital budget of about $112 million; an additional $31 million of capital expenditures are anticipated in FY 2012-13, but haven’t yet been approved by the Board.

Additionally, starting with the fiscal year 2012-2013 budget, all port senior managers begin making a five percent contribution to their own retirement, and a five percent across the board reduction in Commission expenses has been implemented.

“This shared commitment helps the budget balance near-term operating needs with the strategic objectives of long-term financial sustainability and enhanced competitiveness,” Board President Pamela Calloway said.

Although port commissioners are all unpaid volunteers, the port budgets for their travel and other administrative expenses.

The port’s adopted operating and capital budgets are part of the port’s budget summary, which can be seen on the port’s website at http://www.portofoakland.com/portnyou/public.asp.