In a surprise move, commissioners for the Port of Coupeville today voted 2-1 to terminate negotiations with the Greenbank Farm Management Group.

The port and management group will honor its current contract through the end of the year. On Jan. 1, 2016 the port will assume all management control.

This comes after months of negotiating by both parties. A draft contract was being reviewed by lawyers and was expected to be ready in August.

The unexpected motion was brought forth by interim Commissioner John Carr toward the end of the meeting.

“I was brought in a couple of months ago to take a hard look at the leases and (the port’s) business,” Carr said.

The commissioner, who has a background in real estate, said the port has paid $2 million into the farm and continues to lose money each year in its overall budget.

“I think it’s time to try something that is fiscally responsible for taxpayer money,” he said.

Carr made his motion, which was met with mostly outrage and some praise from the audience. Commissioner and board president Marshall Bronson seconded the motion.

“It is not unreasonable to assume the port can manage the farm,” Bronson said. “We get income from the wharf and not from the farm.”

Commissioner Mike Diamanti was the lone vote against the motion.

“I’m absolutely flabbergasted,” he said. “As a board we have agreed to the draft terms. I thought we were moving along. This came out of left field. I unequivocally oppose this motion.”

Diamanti said it was a preemptive strike to take over the farm and not work collaboratively with the community.

In response, Bronson said that under the proposal the port would be working with the community.

“These are your taxpayers in the audience,” one audience member shouted.

Another, “When do we get to vote you out?”

Both commissioners who voted in favor of the motion are not seeking reelection.

Carr, who was appointed to fill a vacated position, will be replaced by candidate John Mishasek come November. Bronson will be replaced by William Bell at the end of the year.

And while Diamanti was outnumbered on the decision, he’s not giving up on the issue.

“I’m going to soldier on,” Diamanti said. “This is far from a done deal.”

Bronson said the port will need to hire employees, most likely a manager and events coordinator, when it takes over management of the farm. What the bigger picture will look like, he said, he doesn’t know.

“We’ll have to pencil it out,” he said. “There’s enough people with the interest and capacity. We want the farm to stay and be the center of community activities.”

Bronson said he would be open to taking on existing employees, though he said they’d probably be paid less and it might not be all of them.

“I think we could do with less employees,” he said.

Julie Dougherty Winger, who works for the management group, questioned the decision.

“I fail to see how the transfer of management from the management group to the port does anything,” she said. “We are a well-oiled machine.

“I think we’ve been doing a hell of a job and we were looking forward to the future.”

She also questioned the manner in which the decision was made.

“It seems to be a rushed decision,” Dougherty Winger said. “(Our partnership) involves some level of trust and it feels like that was crushed.”

Greenbank Farm Management Group Executive Director Judy Feldman said she wasn’t surprised by the decision, but by how it was made. She said she doesn’t think the commissioners understand fully what it takes to run the farm.

What she found particularly discouraging about the meeting, she said, was that the commissioners waited until the end of the meeting to make the motion and the public wasn’t able to ask questions.

“The biggest disappointment was the lack of respect to the people who took two hours out of their day,” Feldman said.

This is something farm volunteer David Stern reiterated as well.

“I think the community left feeling upset and that they don’t have a say,” said Stern, who’s wife works for the management group. “All the donations and goodwill is gone there now.”

For the time being, the management group will keep with the status quo.

“They effectively said they don’t want to talk to us anymore,” Feldman said. “We will continue to do our job, report in and if they have questions we will answer them.”