Opinion and Commentary By Donna Westfall – November 13, 2025
Harbor District meetings are held the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month at 2. This particular Wednesday, November 12, 2025 they had a Special Meeting meant to censor Commissioner Dan Schmidt at 1 pm. I was not aware that they threatened to censor him if he bought the Triplicate.
Chair Gerhard Weber
Getting on with the meeting, after the Pledge of Allegiance and just before Public Comment, Chair Gerhard Weber read the following:
The general comment period is provided for subjects not included on the agenda but within the
subject matter jurisdiction of the District. Each person is limited to a maximum of 3 minutes of
speaking time. The Board may not take action on non-agendized matters. In order to preserve
meeting decorum and the nature of general public comments, the Board and staff should not
respond to statements or questions, but may make themselves available after the meeting.
Linda Sutter videotaped the meeting on her phone and put it up on her Facebook page. But her volume did not come out very loud.
Here’s my public comment.
“I’m Donna Westfall. We moved here in 2007, received a letter from the City about an upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). I started attending meetings and discovered that it was going to cost about $20 million initially, but a couple months later the city council approved over $40 million loan… which I thought was not only insane, but based on the little I learned about this small town, I predicted it would put the loan in default in short order…. which proved to be right.
In 2008 I got elected to the City Council. People would come to me with proof of what looked like fraud, corruption, mismanagement and kick-backs. My fellow council members were NOT interested in investigating. Our taxpayers were being scammed. It was me against 4 others and they censored me, removed me from all committees and wouldn’t allow me to put anything on the agenda about the WWTP.
While a councilwoman there was a reporter, Nick Grube, that smeared my name repeatedly. We canceled our subscription to the Triplicate. Recently upon learning that Dan & Phyllis Schmidt purchased the Triplicate, we subscribed. In case you’re not aware, in 2012, we started an on-line publication Crescent City Times. We do not feel like we are in competition with Dan’s Triplicate. We’re just one more voice to express what is going on in our town, our state and our nation.
All of that to say this. I commend Annie Nehmer and Dan Schmidt for pointing out the problems with this board and this Harbor Master.
One of the things I’m particularly aware of is Roger Gitlin and his quest to recall Annie and Dan…..”
Roger Gitlin
EVERYTHING STOPPED BECAUSE AT THIS POINT ROGER GITLIN, WHO WAS SITTING BEHIND ME CALLED OUT, “You cannot invoke my name.”
Listen, I didn’t threaten anyone. I didn’t use foul language. I was supposed to be able to speak for up to 3 minutes without interruption. But it didn’t end there. After Roger called out, then Chair Gerhard Weber had something to say which I couldn’t understand at all.
When Weber finished, I calmly said, “You are violating my 1st Amendment rights and I’d like to reclaim my time.” Then I continued my public comment:
“One of the things I’m particularly aware of is Roger Gitlin and his quest to recall Annie and Dan. His stance is particularly shocking to me because he used to stand up for things like freedom of speech.
When I discover that someone in a position of authority lies or deceives the public, it’s time to take a stand. The Harbor Master and some of his actions and decisions along with the consensus of 3 members of this board, looks to me like they have driven this Harbor District into bankruptcy. Also they claim to support transparency but clearly don’t know what that means.
In conclusion, this is also a public records request, but before I explain that I’d like you all to be aware that Linda Sutter and I received an award for being tax fighters of the year 2022 from Jon Coupal, President of Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
Back to the public records request: In your financials there’s an account that had over $800,000 in it in 2024 and a year later has a little over $200,000. It’s the LAIF account and I’d like to know where that $600,000 went as I didn’t find any documentation supporting $600,000 in expenditures.“
Before ending this article, just to let you know that I had not attended these meetings for many months and was surprised to learn the following:
- Many fishermen made public comments about their boats being burgled, about gates not locking and about not having a Harbor Master around or answering or returning phone calls.
- Sandy Moreno, the Finance Director, did not have complete financials.
- CPRA (California Public Records Act) requests were not being answered in a timely manner.
Gerry Hemmingsen stood up and made a public comment about the importance of the Commissioners trying to put the past behind them and working together for the future.
I really don’t know how that can be accomplished when it was pretty apparent that at least one Commissioner, Rich Shepard, called out Linda Sutter for being a liar. Instead, Linda Sutter got up and listed out all the ways he was not telling the truth. But that will probably be an article for another day.
