By JAMES KRALL

San Juan Journal staff reporter

In an all-afternoon work session Monday, March 3, the San Juan County Council reworked the entire Ferry Advisory Committee( FAC) structure and purpose to avoid the sort of miscommunication and difficulties such as the ones leading to the recent removal by the County Council of former FAC chairman Alex MacCleod.

The ordinance, still in in draft form, effectively increases the committee’s membership from five to seven members, with one from each ferry-served island, and provides for the appointment of one County Council member and two at-large members.

The council voted to appoint Howie Rosenfeld as the FAC’s legislative member after a motion by Lopez Island’s Bob Myhr to appoint councilman Alan Lichter died for lack of a second.

Members of the council said that the appointment of Rosenfeld will go a long way in alleviating the communication and notification difficulties that have come up in the past between the council and the FAC.

It is expected that the remaining two appointed members will be representative of ferry user groups and those who are dependent on the ferry system largely for commerce.

The work session included input from the public as well as members of the FAC who were in attendance, which included Ed Sutton of Orcas, and Patricia McKay and Robert deGavre, both of San Juan, all of whom offered their perspective and suggestions.

By raising the number of members on the FAC to seven, council members felt that, while deviating from what the WAC said, which limited the membership to five, appointing more members would solve several problems.

“With only five, you have some difficulty with getting a quorum from time to time,” said councilman Bob Myhr. “Some people are on vacation – like I know today, at least two people are out of town that are on the FAC … I think it would be wise to have a few more than five. It seems to me that there would be a little more wisdom than limiting it to five.”

Further, the council also stipulated that the chairmanship of the FAC be selected annually, and be limited to two consecutive terms for any one member.

The ordinance establishing the FAC had not been reviewed since 1986 and over time, the FAC had changed in its scope, methods and purposes.

Bob Distler, member of the State Transportation Commission and Orcas Island resident, had pointed out at a meeting earlier in the day that appointment to the FAC is by the local jurisdiction, but it the FAC reports to Washington State Ferries.

The council understood that their proposed ordinance changes deviate from state law, but plans to remedy the situation as the State Legislature reconvenes next session in 2009.

“The statute says to serve as an advisory committee, and I don’t see that language in here,” councilman Kevin Ranker said, looking over the working document. “So if we’re going to start talking about the principal goals of the FAC, I think one of them needs to be the primary goal of the state statute.”

With that, the council went on to stipulate that “The purpose of the ferry advisory committee is to provide, for County Council commission review and necessary action, local expressions from County residents and business communities concerning the condition of, and problem areas and recommended resolutions in, ferry transportation matters as these affect the San Juan service area.”

The council is also looking forward to a scheduled March 12 visit to San Juan by Washington State Ferries Director David Moseley from 1 to 3 p.m. in Council Chambers.Margie Doyle contributed to this article.