Category Archives: CC Harbor

Articles, CC Harbor, Local Government

Faithful Performance Bonds: CCHD Attorney Says Harbor Is Covered, BOS Approval Is Missing Puzzle Piece

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Thumbnail photo by Amanda Dockter

Despite statements made to the contrary at Tuesday’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting, Crescent City Harbor commissioners do have faithful performance bonds in place, the Harbor District’s legal counsel said Wednesday.

Those bonds have been issued since 2012 and meet requirements set by the California Harbor and Navigations Code, according to Mitchell Law Firm attorney Ryan Plotz. The Board of Supervisors’ approval is the one missing puzzle piece, he said, but that approval doesn’t negate the bond’s coverage.

“We are working with county staff in order to complete that final step,” Plotz told harbor commissioners. “The issue now is we need to provide the county (with) the bond in a format so that it can be recorded and that primarily means the original issued with compliant signatures.”

Continue reading Faithful Performance Bonds: CCHD Attorney Says Harbor Is Covered, BOS Approval Is Missing Puzzle Piece →
Articles, CC Harbor, Infrastructure, Local Government

Del Norte Supervisors Reject Harbor’s Facilities Plan, Are Wary Of CCHD Proposal To Negotiate Loan Payments With USDA

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Thumbnail photo by Gavin Van Alstine

County supervisors sent a facilities plan back to the Crescent City Harbor District, criticizing its vagueness and stating that the agency hadn’t yet met the plan’s first stated priority — making this year’s U.S. Department of Agriculture loan payment.

The Board was also skeptical that the USDA would agree to a Harbor District proposal to accept 10% of CCHD’s annual $260,000 payment for three years with the remainder of the funds going toward maintenance and being put into a reserve account. 

District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey said she and her colleagues have a legal obligation to voters to ensure that the stipulations of the transiency occupancy tax measure, Measure C, they approved in 2018 were being met. 

“My concerns are you don’t have an agreement with the USDA, you’ve had a conversation. That is all you’ve had,” Starkey told CCHD Fiscal Officer Sandy Moreno who assured supervisors that the federal agency was receptive to the Harbor District’s proposal. “I heard you say at the last (Harbor District) meeting that you need to have $262,000 in a restricted fund, you don’t have that. You don’t have your insurance and you have money this county has collected to pay a loan. I believe that that needs to be paid. That’s the guarantee that we gave this community.”

Continue reading Del Norte Supervisors Reject Harbor’s Facilities Plan, Are Wary Of CCHD Proposal To Negotiate Loan Payments With USDA →
Articles, CC Harbor, Local Government

Harbor Adopts Facilities Plan, USDA Negotiations Expected To Resume ‘Very Soon’

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Thumbnail photo by Amanda Dockter

(Updated at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday to clarify a statement from Harbormaster Mike Rademaker. The discussion over Measure C’s language and “priority order” occurred in 2019 between the harbor’s legal counsel at the time, Bob Black, and Del Norte County counsel Elizabeth Cable, Rademaker told Redwood Voice.)

Though their colleague Annie Nehmer said it read more like a wishlist, Crescent City Harbor commissioners approved a facilities plan they’ll take to the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors.

The Harbor Facilities Plan is a requirement of Measure C, the transiency occupancy tax measure voters approved in 2018 to allow the Crescent City Harbor District to pay its loan with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and make much-needed capital improvements.

On Wednesday, Harbormaster Mike Rademaker said if the USDA is agreeable to reducing the district’s annual loan payment, it could tap into its Measure C revenue to do those capital improvements.

Continue reading Harbor Adopts Facilities Plan, USDA Negotiations Expected To Resume ‘Very Soon’ →
Articles, CC Harbor, Environment, Infrastructure

State Water Board Sends Notice to Harbor District Over Hazardous Waste At Former Fashion Blacksmith Site

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Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

State water quality officials are seeking answers from the Crescent City Harbor District about a hazardous waste issue concerning the former Fashion Blacksmith site.

Harbor commissioners on Wednesday approved a proposal to increase the scope of work that Eureka-based consultant SHN performed to include taking additional samples from a pile of sediment that’s in the water. 

The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board is seeking two additional samples from the bottom of the pile that’s in the water, Community System Solutions CEO Mike Bahr told commissioners. It’s seeking more information about the levels of aluminum, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, titanium and zinc. 

Continue reading State Water Board Sends Notice to Harbor District Over Hazardous Waste At Former Fashion Blacksmith Site →
Articles, CC Harbor, Local Government

Part of Harbormaster’s Salary Will Come From CCHD’s Grants; Harbor Received $1 Million In State Appropriations for Maintenance, Tsunami Recovery

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Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

Crescent City Harbormaster Mike Rademaker said the Harbor District is not going broke, though commissioners were asked to approve an adjustment to payroll expenditures Wednesday in order to balance the budget.

“We have over $15 million in grants to improve Citizens Dock and the seawall,” he said. “That’s going to fund the majority of the work I’m going to do, plus tsunami recovery is going to be funded, that’s going to be paying for a lot of my payroll and it’s going to be paying for maintenance work.”

The Port Infrastructure Development Program grant the Harbor District received from the U.S. Maritime Administration as well as a $1 million appropriation from the California legislature are two of four things keeping the port from going bankrupt, Rademaker said. 

Continue reading Part of Harbormaster’s Salary Will Come From CCHD’s Grants; Harbor Received $1 Million In State Appropriations for Maintenance, Tsunami Recovery →
Articles, CC Harbor, Community News, Local Government

Harbor Recap: Shutdown Delays Grant Process, Commissioners Discuss Lilies, Hazard Plan, Fillet Station

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Thumbnail photo: Harbormaster Mike Rademaker and Harbor Commissioner Dan Schmidt attend a tour of the harbor’s facilities in this January 2025 file photo. | Photo by Jessica Cejnar Andrews

Among the items discussed at Wednesday’s Crescent City Harbor District meeting:

Citizens Dock/Sea Wall projects: Construction on the seawall and Citizens Dock is expected to start May 1, 2026. But the federal government shutdown is delaying review of the environmental studies the Harbor District submitted to the U.S. Maritime Administration, Mike Bahr, CEO of Community System Solutions, told commissioners.

The Harbor District is rebuilding Citizens Dock and an adjacent seawall with about $15 million in Port Infrastructure Development Program grant dollars. Bahr, who manages the district’s grant-funded projects, brought two contracts with MARAD to the Board of Commissioners for their review, but said because of the shutdown the administration’s attorneys are furloughed.

Continue reading Harbor Recap: Shutdown Delays Grant Process, Commissioners Discuss Lilies, Hazard Plan, Fillet Station →
Articles, CC Harbor, Elections, Local Government

Schmidt Cited For Trespassing at Roger Gitlin’s House; Harbor Commissioner Is Contacting Proponents of Now-Paused Recall Effort

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Thumbnail photo: Roger Gitlin (left) and Dan Schmidt (right)

Crescent City Harbor Commissioner Dan Schmidt was ready to go to jail for trespassing at Roger Gitlin’s house on Wednesday.

Schmidt, who last month bought the Del Norte Triplicate from Country Media, Gitlin’s previous employer, wanted to hand over his rebuttal to a now-rescinded recall effort against him. Gitlin wouldn’t answer the door, so Schmidt stayed on the porch for about half an hour knocking and ringing the bell. 

“I guess Roger got tired of me being there so he called the police to have me arrested for trespassing,” Schmidt told Redwood Voice Community News on Sunday.  He said the officer who responded gave him the choice of leaving or being arrested. 

Continue reading Schmidt Cited For Trespassing at Roger Gitlin’s House; Harbor Commissioner Is Contacting Proponents of Now-Paused Recall Effort →
Articles, CC Harbor, Local Government

CCHD Commissioner Introduces Colleagues To His Brother Amid Nepotism Accusations

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Dan Schmidt | ccharbor.com

Three months after the Del Norte Triplicate accused Dan Schmidt of “introducing nepotism” to the Crescent City harbormaster, his fellow commissioners met the man Schmidt says could help right the Harbor District’s ship.

Dennis Schmidt, Dan’s “better-looking, nicer, funnier brother,” came to the podium Wednesday with 32 years’ experience working in the utilities, human resources and city manager’s departments for Anaheim. He’s got a Master’s degree in public administration, a Bachelor’s degree in organizational development and says he’s the guy top administrators bring in to help fix damaged systems.

Now that he’s retired, Dennis Schmidt, whose home alternates between Crescent City and the Mojave Desert community of Apple Valley, says he wants to help the Harbor District. But after a tepid reception from his brother’s colleagues, he said he thinks the Board of Commissioners was “looking for a reason to say no.”

Continue reading CCHD Commissioner Introduces Colleagues To His Brother Amid Nepotism Accusations →
Articles, CC Harbor, Infrastructure, Local Government

Harbor Commissioners Direct Staff To Obtain Insurance Quotes For Inner Boat Basin

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Thumbnail photo by Gavin Van Alstine

Though the district’s loan payment negotiations with the U.S. Department of Agriculture are on hold due to the federal government shutdown, Crescent City Harbor commissioners directed staff on Wednesday to obtain quotes for insuring the inner boat basin.

The Harbor District Board’s new vice chair, John Evans, encouraged Harbormaster Mike Rademaker and Fiscal Officer Sandy Moreno to continue exploring “alternative ideas” with the federal agency.

Moreno said having the insurance quotes, and finding out whether the Harbor District can afford insuring the marina or not may help in its negotiations with the USDA, particularly if those quotes address tsunami coverage.

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Articles, CC Harbor, Local Government

Former Fashion Blacksmith Owner Airs Concerns About Boat Yard Assessment, Outlines History With Crescent City Harbor

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Thumbnail photo: Former Fashion Blacksmith building at the Crescent City Harbor. | File photo by Gavin Van Alstine

More than a year after he closed his doors, Fashion Blacksmith owner Ted Long said there were data gaps in a recent environmental assessment the Crescent City Harbor District had commissioned of the site.

Long also questioned the need for a structural inspection of the boat yard building itself. He told commissioners on Sept. 24 that a 60-page report detailing the findings of a civil engineer he hired in 2022 was included as an exhibit in an arbitration that led to a settlement agreement between the two parties.

“All of these exhibits from our arbitration are on file with BBK and Del Norte Superior Court,” Long said, referring to the Harbor District’s former legal counsel, Best, Best and Krieger. “They are in fact public record. In good faith and to save scarce dollars for the Harbor District, even if it’s grant money, and for immediate access to current Board members, I would be willing to share the three exhibits from Western Wood Structures exactly as they were filed in the arbitration record. This includes the full 60-page inspection report and the proposed repair plan with all the estimates.”

Continue reading Former Fashion Blacksmith Owner Airs Concerns About Boat Yard Assessment, Outlines History With Crescent City Harbor →