Facility and staffing issues plague the Port of Coupeville as the entity continues its second month of farm management.

At a port commissioners meeting last week, Executive Director Forrest Rambo highlighted the variety of issues he and staff have been dealing with, from small things like not having landscaping tools and unsecured doors tripping the security alarm in the middle of the night to larger and more time-consuming and costly maintenance issues.

“Expenses are mounting on deferred maintenance,” Rambo said.

One particularly costly issue pertained to the septic tanks for Barn C, which houses the Whidbey Camano Land Trust and art galleries. The tanks had ongoing issues with alarms going off whenever it rained, tenants reported to port staff.

It turns out the issue was actually that the tanks were overfilled, said Facilities Maintenance Manager Damon Stadler, and hadn’t been properly maintained. Some of the tanks were missing mechanisms inside in addition to being over capacity.

One tank had been pumped at the cost of $500 and the port had another tank scheduled for pumping.

Stadler also spent five days working on a plumbing problem underneath the Jim Davis House, which now houses the Organic Farm School administration and and port offices. It previously housed students of the farm school.

Stadler said he pulled 5-foot lengths of hair, silt and vegetation from the pipes underneath the house.

The heat pump suppressor for the heating system in Barn A was also on the fritz. The system was blowing cold air. Stadler said he’s got the system working for the time being without the use of the pump. He had to change filters, which he said looked like they probably hadn’t been changed since the system was installed three or four years ago.

He also said he believes the heat pump went out within the first year of installation. The cost to replace the heat pump is around $3,000, Rambo said.

The port is also considering replacing the heating unit inside Kim’s Cafe at the Coupeville Wharf. Rambo said the port can look at doing both heating projects together and see if there are any grant funding options.

Despite the mounting list of maintenance needs, it’s not all doom and gloom for the port district.

Gallery owners Rob Schouten and Windwalker Taibi both praised the port for the facilities work that is being completed around the farm. Schouten said the landscaping in the area of Barn C has never looked better and he appreciates the hard work being put forth by the port.

“I feel like we’re stepping into the future,” Taibi said. “Things are being addressed that haven’t been in a long time.”

Rambo said he’s also gotten a lot of response from the community since the port’s special meeting Jan. 27.

“We’ve had a lot of positive response from tenants and the public about the special meeting,” he said. “People have stepped up to head committees.”

Some of the committees include signage, marketing, events and agriculture.

The Greenbank Garden Club and the Master Gardeners have also come forward and are jointly purchasing 21 stackable folding tables for the farm.

“It’s nice to see the community step up,” Rambo said.

Because of the influx of facilities issues staff has been dealing with, Rambo said he has been having difficulty keeping up with queries about events at the farm.

There’s also the issue of not having the same equipment and facilities for events previously booked by the management group.

The board has not set policies pertaining to events. The board granted Rambo the authority to work with events managers on a case-by-case until the board can set policies pertaining to procedures as well as rates for special events at the farm.