_{Thumbnail photo: Alicia Williams plans to raise money to help the Crescent City Harbor District with its U.S. Department of Agriculture loan by selling items that come from the district’s gift shop and that were donated by other local businesses. | Photo courtesy of Alicia Williams}

Two days after he abstained from a vote that gave Alicia Williams the official green light to organize a fundraiser for the Crescent City Harbor District, Commissioner Dan Schmidt aired a series of concerns about her efforts.

Some of his complaints were aimed at the self-described activist and community builder herself who, Schmidt said, frequently attacks the harbor and its commissioners and staff as well as members of the public. She also goes beyond the three minutes allowed for public comment, Schmidt said.

“We can’t seem to shut her up,” he said at a special meeting Friday, prompting Williams to call him a misogynist pig.

Schmidt also raised concerns regarding Williams’ proposal to raise money during the Independence Day holiday to help the Crescent City Harbor District build a reserve account connected with its U.S. Department of Agriculture loan.

“Why is the Harbor District identifying Alicia Williams as the person to go out into the community and discuss the state of our finances — she’s going to talk to people at Safeway, Walmart, Home Depot, Ace Hardware and many others, soliciting donations so we can sell them to replenish our reserve account?” Schmidt said. “That’s kind of … something we don’t want to just throw out there.”

Williams plans to offer, via direct sale, merchandise from the Harbor District’s gift shop as well as gift cards to local businesses and retailers that she has arranged into gift baskets. She is also including items that she herself has donated and that the owners of Sun Seekers and Johnston’s Gift Garden Home have contributed.

According to the proposal Williams gave to commissioners, she plans to sell the gift baskets for $10, $20, $30, $50 and $100. On Tuesday, she told Redwood Voice Community News that she will have a tent and two tables set up on Saturday and Sunday.

Williams said she’s also working on getting a vinyl banner from Terry’s Wearable Art and that Home Depot has donated a pop-up tent the Harbor District can use for future events. She said she’s also directing sponsors to the California Form 801, which is used to report financial donations to a public entity and is required to be posted to the Harbor District’s website. 

On Wednesday, four commissioners approved Williams’ proposed fundraiser, directing staff to provide her with a donation request letter on CCHD letterhead that includes the district’s tax identification number.

Williams had also asked for help setting up a digital payment account via Zelle, Venmo or CashApp. 

Vice Chairman John Evans wished Williams luck.

On Wednesday, CCHD’s fiscal officer, Sandy Moreno, offered little input beyond asking that the donation request letter Williams plans to use state that the fundraiser is to benefit the Harbor District. 

On Friday, Moreno said she was uncomfortable with someone who doesn’t represent a nonprofit connected to the Harbor District and isn’t an employee soliciting donations on behalf of CCHD. The nonprofit organization connected to the Harbor District, Friends of the Crescent City Harbor, would typically spearhead a fundraiser.

“That’s not what you are,” Moreno told Williams.

Moreno also pitched a hypothetical question to Williams about whether she would accept responsibility for potential theft or loss of CCHD merchandise.

“If we give you 100 sweatshirts, what happens if we don’t get paid for 100 sweatshirts,” Moreno asked. “How do we deal with shrinkage? If we give you 100 sweatshirts and you give us money for 95, what happens if there are five sweatshirts missing?”

Williams said that she’s volunteering her efforts and she’d have other volunteers helping. She said she has no problem accepting responsibility for lost or stolen items.

On Tuesday, Williams told Redwood Voice that she was initially frustrated with Moreno and Rademaker, saying “they are used to saying no or that things cannot be done.” One initial idea Williams said she had was to sell simple snacks, but in her final proposal she decided that there will be no food or drink offered because of Del Norte County permits and application requirements and the short timeframe before the event.

Williams said Moreno, who informed her about potential permitting issues regarding food sales, told her that meant she likely wouldn’t be able to hold her fundraiser.

“It means I can’t sell refreshments, I can still hold the event,” Williams said.

Williams’ idea to raise funds for the Crescent City Harbor District’s reserve account is related to a discussion the Board of Commissioners had with Rademaker and Moreno in May. 

At that May 13 meeting, Moreno informed commissioners that there is $602,396 in voter-approved Measure C transiency occupancy tax revenue sitting in a trust account that the county controls. She and Rademaker proposed using about $263,888 to make a delinquent loan payment to the USDA and allocating $129,841 toward maintenance. 

The Board of Commissioners agreed to let Moreno and Rademaker make that proposal to USDA officials, stating that CCHD would replenish the $263,888 taken from reserves through annual payments of $26,030.

Williams, who has been an active participant at the Harbor District since August 2024, said her goal is to use the proceeds of her fundraiser to establish the reserve account. 

Williams said she also wanted to set the foundation for recreating similar fundraisers in the future. This includes purchasing the pop-up tent, creating an inventory sheet, making the initial contacts with businesses and potential sponsors and having the letter thanking them available.

“I have no idea how much I’m going to raise,” Williams told Redwood Voice. “I’ll be thrilled if it’s $1,000 that I raise. It’s going to be a few hundred bucks most likely.”

On Monday, Rademaker said that Williams’ proposed fundraiser is moving forward, though it’ll likely be a smaller effort from her initial proposal. The Crescent City Harbor District also plans to charge $10 for premium parking passes on Saturday. This parking pass will allow one vehicle to park in the CCHD lot and is available on a first-come first-served basis.

Priority parking passes are available free to business owners or those who have moorage agreements with CCHD for more than two months.

The marina will be closed to through traffic from Thursday through Saturday. Anchor Way will also be closed to through traffic once the restaurants close for the evening on Saturday.