Though he voted against her nomination for vice chair, Crescent City Harbor District’s new board chairman said he wants to remove Annie Nehmer’s censure.
Rick Shepherd, a long-time commercial fisherman who was elected to the Harbor Board in 2018, took his new seat as its chairman on Wednesday. In addition to working with legal counsel to remove Nehmer’s censure, Shepherd said he also plans to post meeting decorum rules in the Harbor Board’s chambers.
“We’re going to start the year out on a clean slate where we can all work together and get some more work done without the rhetoric of the censureship,” he said.
Admitting to initial skepticism in the process, Norma Williams congratulated county administrators and supervisors Tuesday on being able to compromise with the union and employees she represents.
Williams, president of the Del Norte County Employees Association SEIU 1021, said that a side letter agreement implementing recommendations of a recently-completed compensation analysis isn’t perfect, but it’s a first step in making the county competitive and attractive to new applicants.
“Twenty-five years and several salary studies later, you actually heard our message and decided to implement a salary schedule that addresses the chronic low wages, inequity and compaction that has plagued our county employees and departments for decades,” she said. “Is it perfect? Some may say it is not, however the majority of SEIU members agree that it’s definitely better than what’s been the norm for far too long.”
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.”
Thumbnail photo: The Crescent City Council appointed Planning Commission Chair Steve Shamblin to the seat Daran Dooley left behind in October. | screenshot
Three of the four remaining Crescent City councilors on Tuesday chose the chairman of the city planning commission over a former fire captain to fill the seat Daran Dooley vacated in October.
With Mayor Pro Tem Candace Tinkler praising his resume, the Council appointed Steve Shamblin to serve through the certification of the November 2026 General Election.
“I did read Mr. Shamblin’s resume and I have worked with him in previous committees so I do agree that he really does his homework,” Tinkler said. “He didn’t mention this, but I know from his resume that he also has education in urban planning, which I think is very useful.”
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.”
Thumbnail photo: A local disability rights advocate Crescent City is violating the Americans With Disabilities Act by locking its wheelchair swing and requiring users to get a key. | Photo courtesy of Crescent City
Steven Jackson isn’t looking to sue Crescent City, but, he says, a lawsuit could happen if a lock and chain aren’t removed from a swing designed for wheelchairs at Beachfront Park.
Jackson, who has worked with adults with developmental disabilities in Del Norte County for about 20 years, warned the City Council on Monday that requiring people to get a key to be able to use the swing violates the Americans With Disabilities Act.
“I’m not here to propose a lawsuit on you guys,” he said. “But I’m letting you know that the city is really looking at a lawsuit for anybody who tries to go down and access that equipment when it’s not available. What’s that showing to people who come into our community that think we are an inclusive community?”
Despite opposing Crescent City’s commercial cannabis ordinance five years ago, Councilor Jason Greenough argued that limiting the number of businesses selling it was unnecessary.
“It seems like the market is regulating itself,” he said Monday. “We’re not being inundated with cannabis shops on every corner, so I’m confused why this is even before the Council again.”
Greenough, who was absent when his colleagues first considered a Planning Commission recommendation on Nov. 17 to make changes to the city’s cannabis regulations, urged the City Council to remove the proposed limitation.
Thumbnail photo: Mary Dorman, community volunteer liaison with the American Red Cross’s Northern California chapter, received Crescent City’s Service Above Self award on Monday. | Screenshot
Among the items discussed at Monday’s Crescent City Council meeting.
Service Above Self:
City Manager Eric Wier applauded Mary Dorman’s readiness to assist Del Norters with everyday disasters, saying she best exemplifies former fire chief Steve Wakefield’s personal motto of service above self.
Dorman, community volunteer leader with the American Red Cross’s Northern California chapter, often acts as a liaison between that organization and the Del Norte Emergency Operations Center, Wier said.
Thumbnail image: District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard urged his colleagues on Tuesday to advocate for the tunnel project around Last Chance Grade in the Board’s 2026 Legislative Platform. | Image Courtesy of Caltrans District 1.
Days after he returned from a visit to Japan, District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard touted that country’s tunnel-building prowess when he urged his colleagues to step up advocacy for Last Chance Grade.
During a discussion of the county’s 2026 Legislative Platform on Tuesday, Howard said he wanted to explore how Japan’s innovative techniques could apply to the Last Chance Grade tunnel project. He also told his colleagues that Caltrans still needs a Coastal Development Permit from the California Coastal Commission for the project despite completing nearly a decade of environmental studies.
Howard asked Assistant County Administrative Officer Randy Hooper to include advocacy for an exemption from that hurdle in the platform.
Del Norte County supervisors took a first step toward implementing a salary schedule they say will make wages more competitive, starting on Tuesday with their unrepresented county employees.
County Administrative Officer Neal Lopez said he hopes to bring revised salary schedules and wage adjustments for the county’s represented bargaining groups before the Board on Dec. 9.
“We’re trying to get everybody implemented at the same time, which will be the 19th of December,” Lopez told Redwood Voice Community News. “The pay period begins the 19th of December and we want everybody on the same ship when this whole thing gets established.”
