Photo courtesy of the Crescent City Harbor District
Among the items discussed at Tuesday’s Crescent City Harbor District meeting.
Grant Dollars:
A proposed contract with Community System Solutions on Tuesday turned into a debate over whether the Harbor District should continue to rely on grants to shore up its infrastructure.
Sam Strait, county resident and frequent commenter, says no. He argued that the Harbor District’s grants are “in reality other people’s money.”
“I thought the idea here was to live within your means so you no longer have to use other people’s money to support your wishes,” he said.
But Josh Mims, a commercial fisherman who now works with CSS, Kevin Hendrick, who’s on the CSS Board of Directors and Cindy Vosburg, executive director of the Crescent City-Del Norte County Chamber of Commerce said the Harbor can’t function without grants.
Vosburg pointed out that the state and federal grants the Crescent City Harbor District relies on is not “other people’s money.”
“We pay our taxes,” she said. “It is other people’s money. It’s my money and it’s your money, and it’s Sam’s money too.”
Harbor commissioners unanimously approved the contract with CSS, which tasks the firm with managing the remaining $1 million in Hazardous Mitigation Grant Program moneys.
This is a planning grant through FEMA that can be used to do environmental assessments and other studies to obtain permits, Community System Solutions CEO Mike Bahr told commissioners. As part of its contract with the Harbor District, CSS will develop a scope of work and create priority projects in order to spend the remaining $1 million. The company will also hold a workshop, including a tour of harbor district facilities to discuss how they can be developed. According to Bahr, this would involve Moffatt & Nichol, the architect firm spearheading the rebuilding of Citizens Dock and an adjacent seawall, as well as Steve Opp, of Commercial Real Estate Development Enterprises, or CREDE.
“We’ll be creating RFPs,” he said. “We assume we’re going to be [creating] six to 10 RFPs depending on your priority projects.”
Grant dollars could also be used to meet permitting requirements for the California Coastal Commission for projects at the harbor, Bahr said. A boat haul-out study outlining what improvements are needed could also be completed with Hazardous Mitigation Grant Program money, he said.
HMGP dollars could also help the Crescent City Harbor District get through the NEPA and CEQA process for the sea wall and Citizens Dock projects, Bahr said.
The previous Board contracted with Opp to work on enhancing opportunities for potential investors at the Crescent City Harbor.
Bahr also proposed holding an industry day to give marine construction companies a chance to “visit the Harbor to see the opportunity.”
According to Bahr’s proposal, which the Board of Commissioners agreed to, CSS’s cost would not exceed $47,500. The cost would come out of HMGP funds
Responding to Strait’s criticism, Bahr said the Crescent City Harbor District still has $17 million in grant dollars that are unallocated and unspent.
“You can either spend the money or return the money,” he said.
Mims, who is working with CSS now and is a long-time commercial fisherman, spoke on behalf of the fleet and said not having a boat yard is a safety concern, referring to Fashion Blacksmith.
“If one of our boats is sinking, you have to untie the boat and drag it all the way to Eureka or Brookings to be hauled out,” he said. “You’re talking about a four to six hour boat ride while it’s sinking. It’s a safety matter for our entire fleet. It is a vital piece of our infrastructure.
Commissioner Rick Shepherd agreed with Mims and brought up Citizens Dock, which is more than 70 years old and is failing.
“I wish we could do it on our own. I wish we could call on the citizens of Crescent City to build this dock down here,” he said. “We’re working hard to make sure our infrastructure gets built and the only way to do that is with grant funding.”
Visitors Bureau funding: Commissioners rejected a proposal to donate $7,000 to the Del Norte Visitors bureau. The three newcomers to the Board — Dan Schmidt, John Evans and Annie Nehmer — voted against the proposal, which came from their colleague Rick Shepherd.
In previous years, the Crescent City Harbor District has donated $10,000 to the Visitors Bureau. Shepherd, who represents the Harbor District on the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, had suggested reducing that donation and reconsider contributing the remaining $3,000 when transient occupancy tax revenue information for 2024 is available.
Shepherd mentioned Measure C, a 2018 tax measure that created a 2 percent TOT to help the Harbor pay off a loan from the US Department of Agriculture that helped rebuild the inner boat basin after the 2011 tsunami. That tax revenue is also earmarked for maintenance projects at the Harbor District.
The newcomers to the Harbor District Board said the district couldn’t afford donating $10,000 to the Chamber.
‘Nomenclature Changes’: Harbor commissioners went along with a proposal from their new legal affairs, policies and procedures committee to change the board president and secretary titles to chair and vice chair.
Commissioners also approved adding a secretary position to the Board of
Commissioners. A clerk of the Board and a treasurer will also be added. However, the treasurer can’t be a member of the Harbor District Board of Commissioners, according to Annie Nehmer, who is on the legal affairs, policies and procedures committee with her colleague John Evans.
The secretary and treasurer positions are requirements under the California Harbors and Navigation Code, Nehmer said.
As a result of their proposal, Board President Gerhard Weber is now Chair Weber. Nehmer, who was secretary of the Board, will be vice chair and Evans will be secretary. David Negus, CCHD’s chief of operations, will be the treasurer and Kristina Hanks, the port’s office manager, will be clerk of the Board.
Evans also proposed creating a liaison, a member of the Harbor District Board, that engages with other local government agencies to represent the Harbor District’s interests. If that other board discusses an item that’s of interest to the Harbor District, they can bring information to their colleagues.
