The spokesperson for a Curry County citizens’ group behind a proposed law enforcement levy broke the numbers down for elected officials on Monday, stating if voters approve the measure, $1.2 million could go back into the general fund.
But commissioners were no closer to supporting a levy than they were at last Thursday’s regular meeting when they said they were uncertain about how many patrol deputies it would fund.
On Monday, commissioners, staff and the few residents who showed up to the workshop had more questions for Georgia Cockerham, who spoke along with Sheriff’s Lt. Jeremy Krohn, in favor of the levy. They asked if they would consider using the levy to fund correctional deputies or if they thought about paying for a detective who could follow up on cases patrol deputies initially respond to.
The old Fashion Blacksmith building at the Crescent City Harbor. | Photo by Gavin Van Alstine
(Updated at 8:53 a.m. Monday to correct an error. The Crescent City Harbor District received a proposal to site a wave energy pilot project at the port.)
Among the items discussed at the Nov. 19 Harbor District meeting:
Old Fashion Blacksmith Building: Harbor commissioners unanimously approved contracting with SHN, a Eureka-based consulting firm, to conduct the first phase of an environmental assessment on the old Fashion Blacksmith building at 121 Starfish Way.
Phase one of the project is expected to cost $7,500 and would be paid for with Harbor Mitigation Grant Program dollars, interim harbormaster Mike Rademaker told commissioners.
(Updated at 9:16 a.m. Wednesday to correct an error. Pacific Seafood sold about 1,300 tons of ice last year, according to Interim Harbormaster Mike Rademaker.)
Mike Rademaker thought the Crescent City Harbor’s potential takeover of the ice plant was a good solution given the impending crab season — until the plant’s previous operator decided it was going to remove the equipment.
The interim harbormaster received this news Nov. 5, about a month after Pacific Seafood vacated the premises. With the Harbor District’s legal counsel stating that its previous tenant had abandoned its equipment when it ceased operations, Rademaker locked them out of the building.
But that lockout was short-lived, he told Redwood Voice Community News on Monday.
Despite a request from Commissioner-elect Dan Schmidt to table most of their Tuesday agenda, current Crescent City Harbor commissioners, including the “lame duckers,” approved their revised bylaws and updated finance and administration policy.
Outgoing commissioner Brian Stone urged his colleagues to vote on the latter item, which was listed on the agenda for discussion only. He said the Del Norte County Civil Grand Jury had asked the Harbor District to approve a credit card policy by Sept. 30.
Stone said he and his colleagues Wes White and Gerhardt Weber had also been working on revising the bylaws since June and urged them to finish up that unfinished business.
Right after the Curry County Board of Commissioners heard a proposal to send another law enforcement tax levy before voters, a North Bank Chetco River Road resident said “unsavory people” frequenting Social Security Bar were destroying his property.
The property owner, whose name is Rob, said those “unsavory people” are known to Oregon State Police and are drug addicts. They have cut down his trees and left their refuse, including needles, behind. He asked commissioners on Thursday if they planned to install gates, recruit hosts or institute “any of that campground stuff” for the gravel bar that’s on the Chetco River four miles from U.S. 101 near Brookings.
“I’m at the point now, when it dries up, I’m going to import some riprap and I’m going to block the lower section of Social Security Bar to vehicle access,” Rob said, adding that the sheriff’s office doesn’t pick up his calls. “I’m at my wits’ end and I was wondering if there’s anything in the works.”
Photo courtesy of the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office
Four Crescent City councilors approved an updated agreement with Del Norte County on Monday to receive dispatch services from the sheriff’s office.
The Council’s decision comes roughly a week after the Board of Supervisors agreed to the updated agreement on Nov. 12. According to Del Norte County Sheriff Garrett Scott, the arrangement between the city and county hadn’t been updated since 2009.
Councilor Jason Greenough was absent on Monday.
The city’s costs will be based on the actual staffing levels in the county dispatch center, with Crescent City paying for two dispatchers, City Manager Eric Wier told councilors. The sheriff’s office will provide dispatch services for the Crescent City Police Department and Crescent Fire & Rescue.
Cultural Center concept art designed by Greenworks Planning Consultants architect Ben Johnson, courtesy of Crescent City.
Crescent City councilors applauded the friendlier Cultural Center architect Ben Johnson and his team at Greenworks Planning Consultants presented them on Monday.
Johnson’s vision removes the second of two staircases and adds a walkway that takes visitors to an entry plaza. But rather than incorporating a Tolowa basket pattern into the entry plaza — a proposed introduction to the interpretive walk at neighboring Beachfront Park — councilors wanted a design that represents the whole community.
“The entryway needs to be communicated that this is an entry point for all people,” Mayor Blake Inscore said. “None of this is meant to undermine or take away from the amazing work or this being the ancestral home of the Tolowa people. The point is we’re talking about an entryway going into a public building that’s for everyone, including people from all over the world.”
Crescent City Mayor Blake Inscore supported a partnership with South Coast Community Aquatics in Brookings to give Del Norters a place to swim while the Fred Endert Municipal Pool undergoes renovations starting next month.
But he said he was apprehensive about committing $35,000 toward the arrangement without having a better sense of how many people would actually be willing to swim in an outdoor swimming pool from December through February.
“When we talked about this initially with the extended closure we talked about how we were going to do some cost adjustments whether that is to not renew people’s passes or give them that extra period of time that we’re closed — are we still going to do that?” Inscore asked city staff Monday. “What if a person goes up and goes for a couple of times and realizes it’s not warm enough [or] it’s too far? How are we going to track that for a person who tries this and it doesn’t work for them and other people are now getting a three-month, four-month bump on their annual pass?”
Photo and image courtesy of the Crescent City Harbor District
An $8 million Port Infrastructure Development Program grant will allow the Crescent City Harbor District to begin constructing a new Citizens Dock.
But, according to interim harbormaster Mike Rademaker, representatives with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD), which is offering the grant, questioned whether or not the harbor could manage it.
This uncertainty was due to the recent resignation of previous harbormaster Tim Petrick amid concerns that he had misused a Harbor District credit card, Rademaker told harbor commissioners on Tuesday. There was also some concern when the Harbor District’s contract with its grant consultants, Community System Solutions, ran out on Oct. 1, Rademaker said.
Del Norte County Sheriff Garrett Scott saw the tree limb coming before it shattered his windshield.
Scott was on the 5700 block of Kings Valley Road at about 10 p.m. Tuesday guiding vehicles away from another large tree that had fallen across power lines.
After seeing those motorists safely up Wonder Stump Road to U.S. 101 he returned to Kings Valley where he almost became a casualty of the atmospheric river blowing through Del Norte County. The passenger side took most of the impact from that tree limb, the sheriff told Redwood Voice Community News on Wednesday.
“Glass blew all over the inside. It was a brand new truck too,” he said. “It’s dangerous out there. I feel for those road crews and the people out there with those limbs coming down on them, and the firefighters, I hope everybody stays safe.”
