After 48 years at the helm, the Russell family is retiring from running the Orcas ferry landing.
Starting in July, a new contractor will oversee management of the property after Mary Russell and Ron Rebman officially say goodbye.
“It’s been an honor and privilege to serve the Orcas community,” Russell said. “We look forward to somebody new reinvigorating the ferry landing.”
The couple will still own and operate the Orcas Village Store, which has been on the market for the past year. While they’d like to retire from working, they will turn their energy to OVS until it sells.
Bob Schoen managed the original ferry contract in the 1950s, followed by Dean and Pat Klaussner. Russell’s 80-year-old grandfather worked for Klaussner before her parents took over the contract in 1977. Russell has memories of working at the landing as a teenager and has spent her adult life managing the operation with her husband and mom Margaret, until her passing.
What’s next
Washington State Ferries’ contract with the terminal agent allows the current operator to request a successor, subject to WSF review and consent. Two interested parties are being interviewed and vetted; WSF has not released the names. Three years remain on Rebman and Russell’s agreement.
“We expect that process to be completed and to have a successor terminal agent in place before the current terminal agents retire on July 1, 2025,” wrote WSF Deputy Assistant Secretary John Vezina in an email.
For 2025, the terminal agent at the landing will receive $575,000. It is paid monthly and used for management costs, employee salaries, benefits, insurance, supplies and utilities. Every July, the agent fee is adjusted by 50% of the annual average percent increase in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index for the US City Average for the preceding calendar year. The agent fee for 2024 was $522,940.
The Port of Orcas is a potential long-term contract candidate, but Vezina says it will have to wait until 2028 when WSF issues a Request for Proposals for the long-term (0-15 years) contract at the Orcas Terminal.
“With the transition happening in less than two months, we’ll move forward with finding a new operator in the short term, but we’re happy to initiate conversations with the community about operation options in the future,” he said.
Port Manager Chip Long says the port is a long way from moving forward with managing the ferry terminal.
“There is much we need to know, and we should be quietly listening, learning and asking questions. Two months is too quick for the Port to work its process in looking at this,” Long said. “We’re interested in the sense that we are about transportation and we want to support the community — but as far as us waving our hand and saying, ‘hey, this is for us,’ we are certainly not doing that; it’s too early to know.”
