I earlier wrote about questionable aspects of the accord secretly negotiated between the Port of Bellingham and the Lummi Nation in a piece entitled, "The Port's Foul Vapors".

The piece was focused on the Port's stinky intention of saddling the public with perhaps a billion dollars of hidden costs for their proposed new marina. In an open letter to elected representatives and public officials, I also objected to the Port's even stinkier practice of "governing in secret, holding unqualified executive sessions, bribing away people's rights and withholding public records."

I have since been writing on the topic of the Lummi Island ferry, an issue that emerged immediately upon ratification of the Port/Lummi accord. At the time, I had the uncomfortable feeling there could be some relation, and the even more uncomfortable knowledge there was no way to find out since the Port was withholding all record of the negotiations. Well, even stinkier suggestions have emerged in my ongoing research into the Lummi ferry issue.

I have been able to glean a startling picture from collected comments from people close to the negotiations between the County and Lummi Nation. According to one such comment, a Port Commissioner told a top County staffer the Lummi Nation wanted $50 million to bless a portfolio of Port projects. They didn't receive that amount, but you never go broke by asking. Now they are asking the County.

Other commenters related that when the County first explored Fairhaven as a possible landing for the ferry, the Port offered a rate of $6,000 per month plus $50 per month for each of up to ninety parking spaces. This adds up to just over $10,000 per month - a much better deal than Lummi Nation had proffered. So the County went back to the Lummi Nation and said, "Hey, we can get a better deal from the Port."

But the Lummis, unshaken, suggested the County had an incomplete understanding of the Port's offer and that they should check their facts. Indeed, upon closer discussion with the Port, it was discovered that the monthly parking space fee would increase from $50 to $125 after six months, and that a head tax of $1.25 would be imposed on fares, adding about $260,000 per year to the County's costs. Doing the math brings the Port's proposed monthly fee up from the initial $10,000 to almost $37,000.

The County was thereby forced to trudge back to the Lummi Nation and try to negotiate a better deal with the tribe. The Lummi had recently had the subject tidelands appraised at a value of $65,000 per year. Even at the value of their own appraisal, that translates to under $5,500 per month. But, knowing who held which cards, the Lummi commenced negotiations at $27,000 per month, not including miscellanous other demands for various roadway and safety improvements.

Eventually, at the eleventh hour of a Lummi-proposed blockade of the ferry, the parties arrived at a cost of $16,600 per month on an interim basis, pending negotiation of a comprehensive long-term lease.

Did the Port and the Lummi Nation collude to hold the County over a barrel and extract usurous rates? That's the problem with secret government. There's no way to find out.