Knapp, Tierney vie for Port of Silverdale seat

The fight for a seat on the Port of Silverdale’s Board of Commissioners on the Nov. 8 ballot is shaping up between incumbent Harry Knapp and political newcomer Frank Tierney.

Port commissioners’ duties include overseeing the port’s operations and its properties. Duties also include approving the port’s operating and budget plan.

Frank Tierney

Retiring from the U.S. Navy in 1988 after 20 years, Tierney continued a career in the civil service for the Navy until retiring from that in 2003. Having lived in Silverdale since 1995 and now retired and looking for something further, he decided to run for the Port of Silverdale Commissioner position.

After further research, he said, he wanted to find out more about where his $100 a year in taxes to the Port of Silverdale was going. He said he couldn’t find much information on the Web site which prompted him to contend for the commissioner seat. If he is elected, it is his goal to get the word out about what the port does for the community.

“They have a well financed budget but they’re not getting the word out,” he said.

Tierney sees his career experience with scheduling and management as being beneficial to his role as Port of Silverdale commissioner if he were elected.

“In the Navy as a chief petty officer, there’s a lot of management and similar with the civil service,” he said.

If elected, he said, he also will look into the benefits of a marina due to the high demand for moorage space.

“The first thing I would find out are the current plans and look for ways to improve the efficiency,” he said.

Harry Knapp

Born and raised in Silverdale, Knapp has been a Port of Silverdale Commissioner for the last 30 years. Now retired, he spent his career in the construction business. The Port of Silverdale was a much different place when Knapp first took office three decades ago.

“Things on the waterfront had really gone downhill, I thought we’d get things going,” he said of his reason for initially running for Port of Silverdale Commissioner 30 years ago.

One of his first projects was removing many of the unneeded pilings in Dyes Inlet.

“The next step was building the park

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