By Investigative Reporter, Linda Sutter – January 7, 2023
Crescent City Harbor District’s meeting today unveiled No Funding from the California Economic Recovery Funds (C.E.R.F). According to Mike Bahr, Harbor District Grant writer, no one in the entire county, nor city got any of this funding.
There is an old saying, “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.” However, the Board of Supervisors and the Crescent City, City Council had already had this funding spent before they got it. The Board of Supervisors placed $70,000 of public funds away in their “budget” for the Tri-Agency. The City Council put away $30,000 of public funds for the Tri-Agency. And of course the Harbor was planning to give their $10,000 for the Tri-Agency. Which by the way the Tri-Agency has a joint meeting with all three entities to decide if they want to continue to squander public money for their pipe dreams, July 25th.
I have to ask, doesn’t it defeat the purpose of having a public meeting if all three agencies voted to squander the money away? There is no way to support the Tri-Agency except through public funds which this County does not have.
After the presentation of Grant Writer Mike Bahr the audience was allowed to ask a question. The question asked was, “Do you have to submit audits when applying for the grants? The lady who was representing Mike Bahr answered, “With FEMA you do once they accept the application.” Grant Writer Mike Bahr was offended by that question and attempted to call point of order. Point of order can only be called by board members. What is Mike Bahr hiding? Is he hiding the fact that the Crescent City Harbor District is not up to date with their Audits?
It appears the Harbor District should keep their business out of reach of the City and the County. Maybe the Harbor District could have been awarded the C.E.R.F. had they remained focused on the harbor. Instead they were figuring out ways to abuse the funding by giving funds to a defunct Tri-Agency. After all, the Harbor that did win the $8 million dollars didn’t have other entities piggy backing off of it.
BTW, this article gives insight into Harbormaster and leadership – http://www.pineconearchive.com/100514PCfp.pdf
I believe it’s the same person. Can’t blame him, seems harbor is the bread and butter now.
Professional services, such as Bahr, is the harbor’s major expense. Bahr writes grants and organizes projects, legal services is provided by huge firm, and financial services is from company out of state. The harbor seems to have found success by outsourcing important functions to companies not based in Del Norte. Really, their consultants are more crucial to future success than staff in leadership roles. This may be why locals, such as Fashion, are treated poorly. Maybe they need to outsource Harbormaster role to a firm that can take care of dredging and overall management. Seems like a recipe for success based on other consultant’s services.
Is Mike Bahr the same person as Mike McKenzie-Bahr who wrote grants for the County in the 90s and before that a reporter for the Triplicate?