Category Archives: Local Government

Articles, Crescent City, Local Government

Crescent City Expands Downtown Masterplan Project Despite Federal Grant Uncertainty

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Thumbnail photo: Don Arambula, of the urban design and architect firm Crandall Arambula, gave councilors an idea of what a master plan for Downtown Crescent City might look like. | Screenshot

Crescent City leaders are expanding the scope of a downtown master plan project to include work at Lighthouse Cove RV Park, though the federal grant they’re relying on for the endeavor is currently in limbo.

Crescent City was conditionally awarded $186,000 in Economic Development Administration grant dollars, but can’t move forward with the project assuming that it’ll get those funds, City Manager Eric Wier said Monday.

However, the city can use its contribution for the EDA grant to proceed with the master plan, Wier said. 

“If EDA comes through in the next several months as we’re working on that, then our grant match still counts and we just get the EDA funding and we can continue to move forward,” he said. “Worst case scenario is EDA comes back and says, ‘We’re sorry that money’s no longer available.’ At that point in time our grant match doesn’t count as a grant match anymore. It would be us putting forward economic development dollars to pay for phase one.”

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Articles, CC Harbor, Local Government

Schmidt Urges His Colleagues To Resume Crescent City Harbormaster Search; Rademaker Says His Appointment in April Stands

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Dan Schmidt

Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

One of the four commissioners who approved Mike Rademaker’s contract as Crescent City harbormaster late last month is walking back on his decision, saying he questions Rademaker’s judgment on at least two issues.

Dan Schmidt, who was elected to the Crescent City Harbor District Board in November, says his suggestion to negotiate with Rademaker over his contract during a May 28 closed session meeting violated the Ralph M. Brown Act, California’s open meetings law. Though he was one of four who agreed to approve the contract, Schmidt says the Harbor District Board will again be soliciting applicants for the harbormaster position.

“Mike Rademaker has on too many occasions exhibited what I consider to be poor judgment in two distinct hemispheres,” Schmidt told Redwood Voice Community News on Friday.

Continue reading Schmidt Urges His Colleagues To Resume Crescent City Harbormaster Search; Rademaker Says His Appointment in April Stands →
Articles, Infrastructure, Law, Local Government

Del Norte’s Youth Opportunity Center To House Adult Inmates During Jail Rehab Project Next Spring

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Thumbnail photo: Consultants with NMR Architects, of Redding, are proposing a more open dormitory style layout rather than the row of cells that are currently at the Del Norte County Jail. | Screenshot

Though they echoed the probation chief’s sentiments that they didn’t want their employees “living out of a bag,” Del Norte County supervisors green lit a proposal to house adult inmates in the Youth Opportunity Center while the jail undergoes a significant remodel.

It was the less expensive option out of two members of a working group presented to the Board on Tuesday. Those group members, which included Assistant County Administrative Officer Randy Hooper and Del Norte County Sheriff’s Capt. Kyle Stevens, also asked the Board to consider using Measure R and capital improvement dollars to close a funding gap in the jail rehab project.

The Board agreed, but asked staff to continue to work to secure state funding for the remodel. Supervisors also directed staff to make sure Del Norte County Probation has input into where they will be housed when construction starts next spring.

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Articles, Curry, Local Government

Hollinger Accuses OSSA, Curry County Sheriff Of Trying to ‘Intimidate and Silence Him’; County’s Declaratory Judgment Petition Gets July 1 Hearing

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Patrick Hollinger

A defiant Patrick Hollinger accused the Oregon State Sheriff’s Association (OSSA) and Curry County Sheriff John Ward of trying to intimidate and silence him “through the deliberate twisting of state law.”

The Curry County commissioner’s statement Wednesday comes after the sheriff’s association issued a letter stating that a presentation Hollinger gave at a May 20 Board of Commissioners meeting incorrectly implied that OSSA supported the commissioners in their ongoing conflict with Ward.

“This is an attempt to discredit an elected official advocating for accountability and transparency, which is all I have ever done,” Hollinger said. “Oregon law is intended to ensure justice and fairness. What we are witnessing is a deliberate distortion of the law intended to discredit an elected official and erode the public trust in those who are sworn to uphold it.”

Continue reading Hollinger Accuses OSSA, Curry County Sheriff Of Trying to ‘Intimidate and Silence Him’; County’s Declaratory Judgment Petition Gets July 1 Hearing →
Articles, Crescent City, Local Government

Crescent City Pursues New Design For Gateway Project Despite Tight Deadline

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Thumbnail: Consultants Don Arambula and Gill Williams convinced the new Crescent City Council last month that the gateway should incorporate redwoods into the design. | Screenshot

Crescent City leaders have scrapped the nautical theme they chose late last year for a gateway, listening to a new consultant who urged them to incorporate redwoods into the design.

Don Arambula, co-founder of the Portland-based architect and urban design firm Crandall Arambula, pointed out that 2.5 million tourists don’t necessarily visit the North Coast for the beach, though it’s important to the local community.

“There’s an expectation for those visitors who are coming from across America and sometimes internationally to see things that they associate with the redwood parks,” he told Councilor Jason Greenough who had misgivings about the new gateway proposal being constructed largely of wood. “If you’re building things in metal and it’s colored and doesn’t reflect that, you’re losing a big opportunity to reinforce this idea that your downtown is the gateway, or the starting point, for any journey that goes into Redwood National Park that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.”

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Articles, Law, Local Government

Crescent City Councilors Weigh In On Body Cameras, Military Equipment Policy, Wastewater Treatment Study

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Crescent City Mayor Ray Altman and Councilor Jason Greenough were absent. Among the items discussed at Monday’s Crescent City Council meeting:

Axon body cameras: Crescent City renewed a five-year agreement with Axon that will equip its police officers with body cameras and Tasers as well as provide evidence storage. The Council’s decision included equipping three additional officers with body cameras. 

This will include two reserve officer positions as well as a community service officer, Crescent City Police Chief Richard Griffin said. The contract’s total cost will be just under $300,000 with the funding coming from Measure S.

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Articles, Local Government, Youth

Probation To Partner With County Office of Ed On Substance Abuse Programs For Youth

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Two years after receiving nearly $3 million in Prop. 64 grant money, Del Norte’s probation chief will enlist the County Office of Education to help figure out how to use those dollars to benefit local youth.

Del Norte County Chief Probation Officer Lonnie Reyman said he hopes to develop programs centered around youth,substance abuse prevention and early intervention as well as treatment and rehabilitation. 

Since the grant dollars come from the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act approved by California voters in 2016 as Proposition 64, the programs will focus on marijuana, he said.

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Articles, CC Harbor, Community News, Local Government

Commissioner Levies Court Complaint Against Crescent City Harbor District, Harbormaster

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Annie Nehmer

The day before she accused Mike Rademaker of falsifying public records, Harbor Commissioner Annie Nehmer formally petitioned the courts to halt the release of a report looking into the harbormaster’s alleged misconduct.

Nehmer also states in her petition for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, filed Tuesday in Del Norte County Superior Court, that the Harbor District Board of Commissioners violated the Brown Act by not publicly reporting a May 13 vote to release the report.

The report is based on an investigation conducted by Sacramento consultant HRtoGO, and though Harbormaster Mike Rademaker states otherwise, it is not yet finished, Nehmer told Redwood Voice Community News on Friday.

“We have not received notification that it’s complete or final,” she said.

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Articles, CC Harbor, Community News, Local Government

Harbor Board, Minus One Commissioner, Approve Rademaker’s Contract Amid Insolvency Rumors

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Harbormaster Mike Rademaker

Before asking her colleagues to consider taking protective action against potential insolvency, Crescent City Harbor Commissioner Annie Nehmer stood at the podium, invoked state and federal whistleblower laws and said the port may run out of cash within four to nine months.

There’s been no spending freeze or emergency budget discussion, Nehmer said, and the Harbor District Board in April gave their CEO a $24,000 raise “without disclosing the financial impact or explaining the decision to the public.”

Nehmer urged her colleagues to think twice about continuing to employ Harbormaster Mike Rademaker and voted no when, at the end of a closed-session meeting Wednesday, they finally approved his five-year contract.

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Articles, Infrastructure, Local Government

Proposed $1,500 Rock Contribution Leads To Debate Over Repairs to Non County-Maintained Roads

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Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

Despite her initial worry that approving a purchase for a private road would open a tin of segmented invertebrates, Valerie Starkey came around to the idea of contributing $1,500 in rock for the Carole Lane area north of Crescent City.

The Del Norte County District 2 supervisor had initially told County Engineer Jon Olson on Tuesday that she would oppose adding the purchase to the budget set aside for repairs to roads not maintained by the county. Starkey’s no vote turned into a yes after her colleague, District 1 representative Darrin Short, made a motion to approve the purchase but only if the rock were used on parts of Carole Lane that are public.

“Just the public road intersections of Carole, Monopoly and Embarcadero,” Short said.

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