Frequently Asked Questions

Regular Scheduled Meetings

The Board of Commissioners sets it's recurring, regularly scheduled meetings day, time and location by Board-approved resolution. 
Please click here to be directed to Resolution 2024-08 with a list of the regular scheduled meetings for 2025.

Agendas and meeting minutes can be viewed in our Agenda Center.  

Special Meetings

Meetings of the Board of Commissioners held outside of the Port's regularly scheduled meetings are considered Special Meetings, in accordance with the OPMA. Those meetings will be noticed a minimum of 24 hours in advance. Please click here for additional details related to OPMA rules on Special Meetings.

Sign up for meeting notifications here.

Sign up here to be added to the automated commission notice list, which includes meeting agendas and announcements. 

Attend in Person
The public is welcome at Port Commission meetings. Meetings are held in the Port's Administrative Office at 10 International Way, Longview. 

Live Streaming
Commission meetings are live streamed on local cable access station KLTV's website.  Previous meeting recordings can be found on the Port of Longview playlist hosted by KLTV.  

Watch from Home
Commission meetings are recorded and broadcasted on local government channel 29.

Annual Reports conducted by the Washington State Auditor's Office can be found here.

The Port tax levy for 2020 is 21 cents per $1,000 of assessed value of taxable property - a nearly 12% decrease from the 2019 rate of 24 cents per thousand. The average Port District taxpayer pays $52.50 in taxes to the Port for a home valued at $250,000. 

To schedule a tour, contact the Port at 360-425-3305.

1920

• Lumberman Robert A. Long chose present day Longview as the site for the Long-Bell Lumber Company.

1921

• Business leaders saw the need for a port district and rallied local voters to approve one. State statute required port districts to be named after the largest city in the district. Since Longview had yet to be established the new port was named Port of Kelso. Its location was on the Cowlitz River. Port district geographic boundaries encompassed Longview and Kelso. A special election was held on March 19, 1921 to approve the Port of Kelso and elect commissioners. The Commissioners received their certificates of election from the County Auditor on April 21, 1921, and the soon-to-be-renamed Port of Longview was born.

1923

• The Long Bell Lumber Company officially dedicated the city of Longview on July 12, 1923.
• The Long-Bell Lumber Company began construction of its first plant on 2,000 acres of waterfront property (on and surrounding present day Port of Longview property).

1925

• Business leaders favored relocating the Port of Kelso from the Cowlitz River to the foot of Oregon Way on the Columbia River. Commissioners issue bonds for the original land purchase of 40 acres and began constructing the first dock. The geographic boundaries of the district were expanded to include the northern two-thirds of Cowlitz County, an area of 836 square miles.

1926

• The first cargo crossed the Port's new dock; officially dedicated on April 15, 1926. The name "Port of Kelso" could be seen in large letters on a warehouse.
• During the nine months the Port operated in 1926, a total of 72,000 tons of freight moved across its docks.
• The Weyerhaeuser Timber Company purchased 700 acres from the Long-Bell Lumber Company for construction of a lumber manufacturing plant.
• The Longview Fibre Company selected Longview as the location for a pulp-paper mill. The first phase started up in 1927.

1927

• Port tonnage increased to 136-000-tons carried on 190 ocean vessels and 1,500 river steamers.
• The Port built a grain elevator and leased it to the Longview Elevator Company.
• Congress gave approval for construction of the Longview-Rainier Bridge (later renamed the Lewis and Clark Bridge).
• The Georgiana, a passenger steamer, docked at the Port to pick up passengers traveling to and from Portland, Oregon.

1928

• Port tonnage increased to 246-000-tons carried on 312 ocean vessels and 1,200 river steamers.

1929

• Longview citizens wanted the name of their port to accurately reflect where it was located. A vote was put forth and local voters authorized the Port of Kelso to be renamed the Port of Longview.
• The first log rolled through Weyerhaeuser Timber Company's lumber manufacturing plant.