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.
Nehmer, who was looking at a facilities plan the CCHD Board adopted in 2019, argued that the current document “seems to encompass everything the maintenance department does.”
“What I saw is not a Harbor Facilities Plan,” she said before voting against the 2025 document. “It’s certainly not in line with what was presented in 2019. It’s a very different document, (there are) no costs, no projections, no projects — it’s just a list of everything you could do.”
Rademaker and Sandy Moreno, the Harbor District’s financial advisor, had been negotiating the terms of the loan the USDA granted the district to rebuild the marina following tsunamis in 2006 and 2011.
They hope the federal agency will allow the Harbor District to make 10% payments on its loan, about $30,000, this year and next year so it could use the remaining funds for maintenance.
The two also hope to convince the USDA that the Board’s decision in late June to forego collision and fire insurance for the marina was sound, though commissioners directed them to seek insurance quotes for the marina last month.
Now that the federal government shutdown is over, Moreno said she and Rademaker hope to resume negotiations soon.
According to Rademaker, the Board of Supervisors is required to approve the Harbor Facilities Plan following a public hearing.
On Wednesday, though they ultimately approved the plan, Harbor Commissioners heard from the public who questioned whether the USDA loan payment has to be made before any Measure C funds could be used for maintenance.
Del Norte resident Alicia Williams raised this concern and echoed Nehmer’s sentiment that the 2025 Facilities Plan wasn’t prioritizing anything.
Rademaker said that CCHD’s legal advisor, Ryan Plotz met with County Counsel Jacqueline Roberts and determined that Measure C doesn’t have a priority order.
In 2019, when Bob Black was general counsel for the Crescent City Harbor District and Elizabeth Cable was county counsel, they acknowledged that Measure C’s language was ambiguous, according to Rademaker. While the measure says first and second, making the USDA loan payments and funding capital improvements carry equal weight, the harbormaster said.
“Basically we had to implement this somehow,” he said of Measure C. “We agreed that we would make the annual payment every year and then what is left over, if anything, could be dedicated to maintenance, repair and maintenance.”
The harbormaster said the 2025 Facilities Plan was broad on purpose — Measure C dollars could be used for anything that involves repairs and maintenance, he argued. But because of the Harbor District’s current financial situation, it’s focusing on maintaining its existing infrastructure rather than adding new infrastructure.
“We wanted to keep it so the funds could be used for any conceivable maintenance or repair purposes imaginable,” he said. “It’s always a good idea to keep revising it and adding additional information. I just don’t want to hold up the process. Obviously, we’re trying to keep our cash flow healthy.”
The Harbor Facilities Plan includes a plethora of projects associated with the ports’ waterfront structures and seawalls, its utilities and its buildings. This includes rehabbing the Harbor District Office, replacing sewer and wastewater conveyance systems as well as dismantling the docks and floats serving the former U.S. Coast Guard station.
The Harbor Facilities Plan also includes a list of preventative maintenance.
On Wednesday, Commissioner Dan Schmidt asked to include a section focusing on security of the inner boat basin, including putting in locked gates, surveillance cameras and improved WiFi.
Schmidt’s request comes after several fishermen raised concerns about burglaries
Shepherd said the Harbor District does have security equipment, but they need to be repaired.
Former Harbor District candidate and current critic, Linda Sutter, urged the Board to get their Facilities Plan reviewed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, a California advocacy group that targets illegal taxes. She argued that Measure C requires the Harbor District to make its USDA loan payment first.
“Regardless of what you come up with with the county and making a 30% payment or a (lower) payment, that’s not what was voted on by the people and that’s where you’re going to fall into trouble,” Sutter said.
