Conflict of interest? Not for Port of Olympia commissioner E.J. Zita, judge says

A Port of Olympia commissioner has been cleared of an allegation of conflict of interest made by another commissioner related to development plans for port-owned land in Tumwater.

Commissioner Bill McGregor had suggested E.J. Zita had a conflict of interest with respect to the proposed New Market Industrial Campus. Zita owns property nearby and, before she was elected port commissioner in 2015, represented the area’s neighborhood association on a citizen advisory committee for the Thurston Regional Planning Council, which led public outreach for the project.

McGregor raised the issue at the commission’s Aug. 13 meeting. According to meeting minutes, McGregor wanted the conflict issue resolved before the commission took any action.

A final draft of the real estate development master plan is out now but Port of Olympia spokeswoman Jennie Foglia-Jones said a vote to move it forward has not been scheduled.

Thomas McPhee, a retired Thurston County Superior Court judge, was appointed to investigate the claim. In a report released Friday, McPhee concluded Zita’s ownership of the property and participation in the citizen advisory committee did not constitute a conflict of interest.

He noted while port commissioners cannot make decisions that benefit themselves, the legal standard for such a benefit “requires some clear or quantifiable evidence.”

“It is perhaps possible to imagine that market value of Commissioner Zita’s property might be changed by a Commission decision that advanced the plan to develop Port property with the NMIC, but there is no contention of that in complainant’s allegation and there is no evidence to support a finding of fact on that subject,” McPhee wrote.

This is not the first time port commissioners have grappled with conflict of interest claims.

Zita has accused McGregor of having a conflict of interest related to the Lacey MakerSpace set to open next year at Saint Martin’s University that the port is involved with. Foglia-Jones said that is also under investigation and a report is expect in the next few weeks.

The commission’s third member, Joe Downing, also weathered a conflict of interest charge during the run up to creating a new fuel dock at Swantown Marina, The Olympian reported in 2016.

Some pointed to Downing’s background as an Olympia Yacht Club member and said he should recuse himself from the fuel dock process. Legal counsel determined there was no conflict, The Olympian reported, and McPhee later cleared Downing of any conflict.