CEO's extra pay not Port way

Documents released Thursday by the Port of Seattle contradict former Chief Executive Mic Dinsmore's contention that a proposal to pay him an extra 40 weeks' worth of post-retirement salary was simply following a policy previously applied to others.

Thirteen Port executives who resigned since 2001 got extended pay under the Port's Reduction in Force Policy. But as the policy's title suggests, they were all losing their jobs as part of a reorganization or reduction in staff, records show.

Meanwhile, three top executives who left voluntarily within the past year did not receive any special severance benefits.

Dinsmore retired voluntarily in March, headed toward a lucrative private-sector job with an investment firm.

A memo signed by Port Commissioner Pat Davis called for him to get an additional year of his $339,841 annual salary after retirement, but payments never began because Port officials started raising questions.

The policy, known as HR10, was cited in personal notes Dinsmore made following a closed-door commission meeting June 8, 2006. The notes suggest commissioners discussed the proposed payments.

According to Dinsmore's notes, he told Commissioner Bob Edwards, "... We have been quite liberal in our application" of the HR10 policy.

But in the past year, three executives who left on their own didn't receive HR10 benefits.

They were the Port's former chief of police, Timothy Kimsey; its former manager of cruise services, Tino Salud; and the deputy managing director of the seaport, Mark Knudsen.

"I wasn't aware that that policy was broadly applied except for layoffs and reorganizations," said Salud, who left in October and is now director of port operations for the Holland America cruise line.

The Port was preparing to pay HR10 benefits to Dinsmore this year because of a memo in his personnel file from Davis, showing authorization for the money.

The Port's new chief executive, Tay Yoshitani, and two other employees began questioning the extra pay.

Since then, the commission has been embroiled in a public dispute over whether there was an agreement to pay Dinsmore past his retirement date.

At issue is whether commissioners agreed, or even discussed, the extra pay for Dinsmore in two closed-door sessions in 2006.

Commissioners John Creighton, Alec Fisken and Lloyd Hara say they don't remember discussing the extra pay, while Edwards says he remembers "some discussions."

Meanwhile, Davis — who faces a citizens recall petition — claims she did not act alone.

In a public meeting at the end of April, the commissioners voted unanimously against giving Dinsmore the extra money.

His predecessor as Port chief, Zeger van Asch van Wijck, who left the Port voluntarily after three years in 1992, also did not receive HR10 benefits, said Port spokesman Mick Shultz.

Laid-off workers can qualify for retirement pay on top of severance, as long as they're eligible for retirement, said Shultz.

For example, Charles Blood, who served as director of executive outreach at the Port, saw his position eliminated in 2005, according to a March 2005 memo signed off by Dinsmore.

At the Port for 33 years, Blood was also eligible for retirement benefits.

According to Port documents, Blood received 68 weeks of pay under the Port's HR10 policy, from April 1, 2005, through July 20, 2006.

When Lynne Lamp, the Port's economic-development program manager, saw her job eliminated in 2005, she qualified for eight weeks of benefits under HR10, according to a human-resources document.

Creighton, the Port's commission president, reiterated Thursday his position that Dinsmore should never have qualified for the Port's HR10 benefit.

Fisken and Hara agreed.

Said Fisken: "It sounds as though applying that provision to [Dinsmore's] status would be clearly inappropriate."

Kirsten Orsini-Meinhard: 206-464-2391 or kmeinhard@seattletimes.com