Port candidate Evans says she will forego broker’s commission to eliminate conflict
Port of Olympia District 3 candidate Amy Evans has announced that she will forego her broker’s commission between the port and a development company called Panattoni to eliminate any conflict of interest.
Evans, a commercial real estate broker for Kidder Mathews, announced her decision on Facebook and in a letter to The Olympian. She elaborated on her decision on Tuesday.
“I want to be very clear in my own integrity, and if I’m clouding that, I want to remove that conflict of interest,” she said.
During a recent meeting with The Olympian Editorial Board, Evans was asked about her role as a commercial real estate broker and whether she had any conflict of interest concerns.
As a broker, she had a hand in bringing Panattoni Development Company to the attention of the Port of Olympia. That resulted in an option agreement between the two parties that allows Panattoni to explore whether it wants to develop on a 200-acre port-owned site in Tumwater known as the New Market Industrial Campus, west of the Olympia Regional Airport.
Now Panattoni has taken the next step in the process by submitting a preliminary site plan review application to the city of Tumwater for a 450,000-square-foot building at 7901 Center St. SW. Representatives of Panattoni are set to get feedback on the proposal Thursday morning, according to city of Tumwater information.
During Evans’ endorsement interview with The Olympian, she was questioned about the apparent conflict of interest over the Panattoni deal and whether she would forego her broker’s commission on the deal. At the time, she said she would not.
But after giving it more thought and hearing from others on the topic, Evans said she changed her mind.
“This seems like the best way of ensuring the port’s real estate assets are put to work, and if elected, there is no perceived or real conflict of interest,” she said in an email.
Evans also set the record straight about the compensation she will forego.
Early in the campaign, a letter to The Olympian accused Evans of conflict of interest and that she was in line to make about $1.6 million on the Panattoni/Port deal. Assuming all 200 acres is developed, total compensation shared by a number of brokers might total that amount, she said. But she estimated her share of the commission at about $270,000.
Evans is running against Joel Hansen, a developer of solar energy systems, to fill the District 3 seat being vacated by E.J. Zita, who chose not to run for re-election.
The District 2 race is between Bob Iyall, CEO of Medicine Creek Enterprises Corp., and Jessie Simmons, enrollment coordinator at Tacoma-based Palmer Scholars. District 2 incumbent Bill McGregor also chose not to run for re-election.
This story was originally published October 20, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
