Having watched the author of The Scuttlebutt (Poulsbo Port Commissioner Steve Swann) at work inside and outside of port board meetings for the last several years, I have been impressed with his obvious concern for the welfare of the Port District and, through this, for the City of Poulsbo as well.

It is because of my admiration for this work that I now feel such disappointment over his recent comments made in the May 12 edition of The Scuttlebutt.

There are two main reasons for my disappointment: the first has to do with his use of selective reporting of real numbers to create a false image of the port’s overall financial situation; the second is about his choice of language in his “rebuttal.” The derogatory, dismissive and accusatory tone he employed toward a local resident, who has herself been remarkably supportive of and helpful to the port for several years, was both unnecessary and divisive. More on this in a moment, but first the simpler part — the numbers. Let me switch to a more direct mode.

Mr. Swann, you are correct about some errors made regarding the amount of decrease in the port’s reserve funds, as well as the dates over which the decreases occurred. The correct dates and amounts should have been: from end of 2009 ($2.112 million) to April 30, 2017 ($1.511 million). This would amount to a decrease in available reserves of closer to 30 percent than the 50 percent noted.

However, as you already know from recent board meetings, the real reserve numbers are likely to be a good deal lower, because of further pending capital expenses during this year. For you to use the 1.73 percent decrease you quoted in your last writing, or the overall increase in reserve funds since their start in 2004 — as if these were somehow an accurate representation of the port’s financial situation — is indeed misleading. And to insinuate that the motivations of another port supporter are self-serving — as you did in comments about possible moorage rate increases — is a really bad idea, even if it were accurate, which in this case it was not. (The comments made by the writer were initiated well before the moorage rate was even being considered.)

So, numbers can help us deal with the very real financial struggles the port is facing, so long as they are used in a realistic manner and as part of useful collaborative efforts by all parties to assist the port in these struggles. Arguments and incriminations — in either direction — help neither the port nor any of its many advocates.

So, back to language and tone. While it may not feel fair to you, you ARE a commissioner for the port, and thus can and should be held to a high level of comportment in all of your behavior on the port’s behalf. You are, in fact, the “adult in the room” at all times, and the port needs you to provide the thoughtful, creative and calm communications that will help all of the its supporters to find a way out of our current dilemma.

Peter Horner

Poulsbo