Crescent City Harbor commissioners hired Mike Rademaker as interim CEO/harbormaster, Board President Harry Adams announced after a closed session meeting Tuesday.
Rademaker will be interim harbormaster for six months and will receive an annual base salary of $94,000.
Rademaker will also continue to live in a 360-square-foot studio apartment on Harbor District property in exchange for being on-call after business hours, Adams told Redwood Voice Community News on Tuesday.
According to Adams, the Harbor Commission has no current plans to advertise the vacant harbormaster position.
“I’m excited for the harbor,” Adams said.
According to Ruben Duran, the Harbor District’s legal counsel, the vote to hire Rademaker was unanimous.
Rademaker’s housing arrangement with the Harbor District — that he lives rent free on harbor property — is an arrangement that was in place while he was assistant harbormaster under former CEO Tim Petrick, Duran said.
“That situation provides a tax benefit to the district insofar as reducing the district’s payroll tax liability,” Duran said. “Obviously Mr. Rademaker enjoyed living in that space without having to pay rent, but he is required to be available and provide services to the district. So what we’re proposing is to maintain that arrangement in the six month [interim] position and we can offer further details in writing at a later date.”
Petrick tendered his resignation on Sept. 20. His last official day with the Harbor District was Monday.
On Tuesday, just before commissioners adjourned to discuss his employment agreement in closed session, Rademaker said the Harbor District had been working with an Orange County-based real estate development firm.
The firm wants to remain anonymous for now, Rademaker told Redwood Voice, but are interested in the former Redwood Harbor Village and Bayside RV park sites. Their thinking is for those to continue as RV parks, but to add cabins and upgraded electrical connections, he said.
“They’re going to send us a letter of interest that’s going to outline their plans and in exchange, we’re asking them for proof of funds,” Rademaker told commissioners.
On Wednesday, Rademaker told Redwood Voice that the firm wants an exclusive right to negotiate with the Harbor District while they do their due diligence. The Harbor District is also doing its due diligence, he said, and is asking for industry references and audited financial statements.
Rademaker said the Harbor District is working with Steve Opp, of Commercial Real Estate Development Enterprises, or CREDE, to vet the firm.
According to Rademaker, the firm’s representatives plan on making a presentation to the Board of Commissioners at a future meeting.
“We spent probably 40 to 50 hours on site visits and [researching] past leases and past financial statements from previous tenants so they can have an accurate idea what the potential is for revenue,” he said.
The interim harbormaster said the Harbor District is being cautious. He mentioned the District’s previous experience with Alex Lemus, whose lease agreements with the Harbor District to develop Redwood Harbor Village and Bayside RV parks for short-term overnight stays ultimately fell through about a year ago.
On Tuesday, Rademaker told commissioners that the Harbor District was doing “an extremely deep dive” into the real estate development firm’s credentials. He said the district wanted to vet them as much as possible in-house before handing it off to CREDE.
CREDE is tasked with creating a master plan, assessing market interest and analyzing the financial performance for various development options at the harbor. On Aug. 20, commissioners Wes White and Rick Shepherd told their colleagues that they had negotiated with Opp to lower CREDE’s proposed price from $30,000 to $10,000 and got him to agree to bill the Harbor District monthly.
On Tuesday, Rademaker reminded commissioners that the Harbor District’s contract with Opp caps the price at $10,000.
“He’s a professional matchmaker, master planner and he has expertise in vetting developers,” Rademaker said.
Adams, who operates the charter business Stella’s Adventures, said he had met with the developers and gave them a tour of the harbor in his boat.
Both he and Shepherd urged Rademaker to bring the developers before the Board to make their pitch.
