Councilman Steve Shamblin was absent. Among the items discussed at Monday’s Crescent City Council meeting:

Cultural Center project: City Manager Eric Wier assured councilors that Harley Munger, of Piece by Piece Pottery, has already provided replacements for the tile mosaic murals that had graced the wall in front of the Crescent City Cultural Center.

“They had all of the original designs,” Wier said during a presentation marking the start of a project to improve ADA access to the Cultural Center. “They have refired all of those tile pieces. We have the murals and so it’s just a matter of figuring out where exactly they go in this new design. Most likely they’ll go on the inside of the porte-cochere as that gets revamped. That’s going to be a space that needs to have some art and culture and different things like that.”

The project involves replacing 24 steps that had led to the facility with eight steps and two ramps leading to an entrance plaza from Play and Front streets.

According to Public Works Director Dave Yeager, construction crews filled in the porte-cochere area, removing the asphalt, stairs and concrete landing.

“We’re going to rock it and pour in a slab (so) that space will be usable,” he said. “If we’re able to get in there and turn that into usable space, then we’re at grade to do so. So we can remove the slab and put in real flooring.”

The project coincides with improvements to Front Street, which also includes creating an official gateway to the Beachfront Park area. Those improvements are being paid for with Community Development Block Grant and Clean California grant funds. 

The Cultural Center project also ties into the Tolowa Cultural Trail feature at Beachfront Park.

Cultural Center Storm Damage: As the Cultural Center’s exterior undergoes a facelift, crews are also repairing damage from an Oct. 13, 2025 storm that resulted in buckled floors and a rotted wooden column.

The damage compromised the building’s east side, Yeager wrote in his staff report Monday. While steps have been taken to shore up the column, the building’s third floor is no longer usable until permanent structural repairs are completed.

City councilors approved an adjustment to the 2026-27 budget allocating $39,716 toward determining a final scope of work as well as making additional improvements to prevent future damage. Those dollars come from a $50,000 up-front payment from the city’s insurance carrier, GSRMA. The final claim is expected to be about $630,000, according to Yeager’s staff report.

Crescent City has already spent about $10,284 for Palm Industries to determine what caused the water damage. Their work included renting a 50-foot lift, Yeager told councilors.

According to Yeager’s staff report, October’s “major rain event” brought about 2.5 inches of rain to the Crescent City area in about two hours. The water penetrated the building’s weather barrier on its east side and seeped into the floor causing it to buckle about 2 feet off the concrete subfloor. 

City Parking Lots: Councilors approved the legal framework their attorney said was needed to allow staff to tackle issues such as littering or maintenance more expediently.

The ordinance councilors approved Monday would enable them to establish rules for individual city-owned parking lots by resolution, according to City Attorney Martha Rice. State law enables cities to regulate their parking lots either by ordinance or resolution, she said. Either scenario requires cities to post the resolutions in a public place.

“We have concerns internally from public works and the police department regarding maintenance, litter and complaints we’ve received for a couple of specific parking lots,” Rice said. “One of the questions was what could we do to empower (staff) to tackle those issues more expediently than waiting 72 hours.”

The ordinance is expected to come before the City Council again on July 20 along with some proposed parking regulations, Rice said. 

New Faces on the Force: Crescent City’s police chief praised new recruits Mai Thao and Chase Gardner before he administered the oath of office. Fresh graduates from the police academy, they not only received high praise from their peers, Richard Griffin said, they also have a Crescent City Independence Day under their belt.

“They did very well,” Griffin said.

Thao’s classmates at the police academy named her their final class sergeant, the chief told councilors. She also did well in defensive tactics and physical fitness.

Gardner nearly broke the record for the body drag at the academy, Griffin said.

“He did it in less than three seconds,” the police chief said. “That’s dragging a 180-pound person over several feet of the course.”

Gardner also received his class’s service above self award at the police academy, Griffin said.

Police Chief Commendation: Still a fresh graduate from the academy and the field-training program, CCPD Officer Colton Maxwell received the police chief’s commendation for work that led to the recovery of thousands of dollars of stolen bicycles. 

“He, literally, went out by himself and figured out how to recover tens of thousands of dollars worth of bicycles,” Griffin said. “He located the camps they were at, talked to the people and he hooked and booked a lot of people. A lot of people don’t even ride their bicycles around town when he’s on shift.”

Griffin said Maxwell also approached guests at Lighthouse Cove RV Park and urged them to secure their bicycles to avoid theft. Maxwell did it on his own initiative, the chief said.