The Port of Corpus Christi begins 1997 with three new commissioners and a new a slate of officers.
The seven-member port board is appointed by the City Council and Nueces County Commissioners Court. It decides policy for the port's operations and its $24.5 million budget.
The port commission seats are unpaid positions. The board meets once a month on the second Tuesday of the month at the port offices at 222 Power St.
The commissioners are Bill Dodge, chairman, president of Pacific Southwest Bank's Gulf Coast Region; Mark Hulings, vice chairman, attorney with Matthews & Branscomb law firm; Bernard Paulson, secretary, retired executive with Koch Refining Co.; Joe Fulton, president of Fulton Construction Co.; Richard Bowers, president of Western Pigment & Minerals; Yolanda Olivarez, vice president and regional community development officer with Mercantile Bank; and Amador Garcia, attorney with Amador Garcia and John Kelly Attorneys.
Paulson, Olivarez and Garcia are new members.
Dodge takes the chairmanship reins from long-time chairman Joe Fulton, who said he decided to step down as chairman to open the way for another commissioner. At the most recent port meeting, Dodge said he looks forward to leading the port commission and hopes to create more communication with the community on the port's activities and goals.
"I think the general level of interest in what goes on in the port has increased, and I think we have an obligation that everyone understands how important the port is and what our activities are," Dodge said.
Dodge has served various civic roles, including chairman of the board of the United Way of the Coastal Bend; board member on the state board of the United Way; chairman of Robstown Area Development Commission; chairman of Columbia-Northwest Hospital; board member of the YMCA of Corpus Christi; and board member of Consumer Credit Counseling in Corpus Christi.