By TIM CROFT
Wednesday was a day the Port St. Joe Port Authority has been awaiting for years.
During a special meeting, Port Authority chair Eugene Raffield put his John Hancock to a letter of intent from a wood chip manufacturer to ship through the Port of Port St. Joe.
The letter of intent also includes a lease agreement for a portion of the former Arizona Chemical site, ,which is owned by the Port Authority; the company put down a security deposit as first and last months lease payments.
That is the first income the Port Authority has had in well over a decade.
"This is very big news and very exciting," Raffield said. "I'm excited, the company is excited."
Raffield said the company intended to begin moving equipment to the Arizona Chemical site in the coming weeks and some local jobs would be created; more on those job postings will come later.
The LOI is significant because it is the document state officials have long required from the Port Authority to begin providing access to various pools of money.
With the permit for dredging of the shipping channel in hand and some dredge funding already earmarked by the Florida Legislature as well as pledges to release state dollars for improvements to the Genessee-Wyoming rail line, the money would only flow with a customer.
But with Eastern Shipbuilding, which owns more than 60 acres along the Gulf County Canal as well as a leased portion of the bulkhead on the former paper mill site, winning $10 billion Coast Guard contract, the port appeared poise for action.
In a sense, Raffield said, Eastern may have served as something of a first domino for the wood chip company.
"This has been a long time, we have been waiting for this day," Raffield said. "This opens doors for a lot of state and federal dollars."
In addition, Raffield said the deal-signing showed what could happen when all hands are on deck; noting critical Board of County Commissioners and Port St. Joe City Commissioners support.
"We can all be thankful we stood together as a team," he said.
During Wednesday's meeting, Raffield stepped down as chairman, though he will remain in place as the director of the Port of Port St. Joe.
Board member Guerry Magidson succeeds Raffield as chairman.
In addition, the Port Authority signed a letter of support for the North Port St. Joe Project Action Committee as it the group moves forward with updating the area's master plan.