The day after their former CEO’s resignation became official, Crescent City Harbor Commissioner Brian Stone stood at the podium, faced his constituents and apologized.

Stone referred to a verbal altercation he had with then-harbormaster Tim Petrick over staff’s response to the Del Norte County Civil Grand Jury at the Board’s Sept. 17 meeting. On Tuesday, Stone said Petrick was less than forthcoming and that he was continuously denied information about the former harbormaster “continuously.”

Though he wasn’t able to go into detail about what occurred in closed session, Stone spoke to why the Board of Commissioners didn’t fire Petrick.

“Legally, since we are a subdivision of the State of California, we are unable to just fire someone outright. We have to give them a warning and we have to go through the legal steps,” Stone said. “I cannot tell you what was discussed in closed session, but I will tell you this: Mr. Petrick, upon being confronted decided to resign. Now, that’s up to him. I think what needs to happen is true healing on the part of the community as well as reflection by the Board as to what has happened.”