Richards elected chair of Palm Beach port commission

Richards elected chair of Palm Beach port commission Wayne M. Richards, a mechanical engineer turned attorney, has been elected as the new chairman of the Port of Palm Beach District Board of Commissioners for 2007.
   Richards will serve a one-year term and succeeds George E. Mastics, who will serve as secretary-treasurer for 2007. Dr. Jean Enright was elected vice chair.
   Others on the board include Blair J. Ciklin and Edward R. Oppel, both of whom were sworn in for four-year terms at the board's January 2 meeting.
   'As custodians of the public trust of this business enterprise, I ask this board to be open to new ideas'a different way of doing things, to embrace collegiality, and most of all to become actively engaged in growing this port to ensure that the economic engine of Palm Beach County continues to meet and exceed its stated purposes,' Richards said.
   Richards is entering his seventh year on the board and is serving his first term as chairman. He was secretary-treasurer in 2006.
   Richards was a mechanical engineer with Ford Motor Co. for seven years. He holds a law degree from the University of Michigan and now has law offices a few blocks from the port. His law experience in local government also includes three years as assistant city attorney for the City of West Palm Beach.