Opinion - Our View

POSTED: Saturday, Jun. 13, 2009

Darling's leadership will be difficult to replace

Our community owes a big debt to Jim Darling, who steps down July 10 as executive director of the Port of Bellingham after 15 years at the helm.

Darling has been a consummate professional as the hired leader of the government responsible for our public marinas, Bellingham International Airport and much, much more.

The port's list of accomplishments is long under Darling's leadership - including the creation of many of the things our community currently holds dear, such as Zuanich Point Park and the Bellwether development on the waterfront.

But his most important accomplishment is not as noticeable. When Darling took over the Port in 1994 it had a reputation for being a contentious place that occasionally operated for the benefit of a few instead of the entire community. With a board of commissioners with decades under their belt, the port had grown distant, and occasionally argumentative, even when members of the public had legitimate concerns.

Working with a new generation of commissioners, Darling turned the port into a professional organization that takes good care of the public money and goes out of its way to listen to the public.

The port also takes a leadership role in our community now. It's hard to imagine the port of 1990 taking on the massive waterfront redevelopment project at the former Georgia-Pacific Corp. pulp and paper mill. But by the time that opportunity had arrived, Darling had the port in position to take on the risk and hopefully build a reward for the entire community that will last a century.

We fully recognize that not everyone always agreed with Darling, or his business-first style. Occasionally citizens get frustrated when leaders do the right thing instead what some citizens demand. But we celebrate the fact that Darling managed a government like a business and demanded citizens always get what they were paying for with their tax dollars.

Jim Darling will be a hard man to replace in Bellingham government leadership. But we are glad he is staying in town and wish him well in his work in private enterprise.