By Investigative Reporter, Linda Sutter – May 26, 2023
Currently, The Crescent City Harbor District is working to develop their own police station to monitor the Harbor District; however, the Harbor District Police may be nothing more than a big scam and this is why.
Tim Petrick who is the current HarborMaster has taken the position that he will also be the Chief Cook and Bottle Washer of the Crescent Harbor District Police. For those of you who do not understand what that entails let me give you a hint. When you work for any Law Enforcement Agency your background must be impeccable.
The question you might ask is, who conducted Tim Petrick’s background investigation that qualifies him to hold a position as the Chief of the Harbor District Police? Certainly not the Harbor District elected Commissioners. But since none of these commissioners took it upon themselves to look into Tim Petricks background, I did.
Tim Petrick is a convicted felon. He was convicted of DUI with Bodily injury. He ran over a kid with his truck, served no time, and the father of the victim wished Mr. Petrick well, but by no means gave him any praise. Mr. Petrick would not qualify for any position in law enforcement yet he is going to be the Chief of the Harbor District Police. As a harbormaster and Chief of Harbor Police, Mr. Petrick would have the responsibility to ensure the safety of the Harbor and the individuals who use it. His DUI should have called into question this individual’s judgment and fulfill his responsibilities, but the Harbor Commissioners turned a blind eye.
Let’s talk about the Assistant Harbor Master who wants to be the “administration” portion of the Harbor District Police. Mr. Mike Rademaker. Mr. Mike Rademaker has an unfulfilled debt of $75,000. He currently lives at the old Abalone shack that the Harbor purchased for $85,000 and turned into individual living quarters for Harbor workers. It is believed Mr. Rademaker lives there for free, which means this is an added benefit.
A large amount of debt can also impact an individual’s ability to effectively perform their duties as a harbormaster assistant as well as an administrator of the Harbor District Police. It suggests financial instability, poor management skills, or potentially influence the individual’s decision-making in ways that are not in the best interest of the harbor district. Again, none of the Harbor Commissioners conducted their due diligence regarding the hiring of these individuals, which has already cost the harbor thousands of dollars. Lastly, Mr. Rademaker would not have qualified as any form of peace officer with that kind of debt.
LACK OF TRANSPARENCY
It comes as no surprise that the public has been completely left out of the loop regarding the forming of the Harbor District Police. There has been no proclamation, no resolution, they are secretly using public funds to attend 833 classes, and they are having their grant writer Mike Bahr look for grants to fund the Harbor District Police, or so they say.
Keep in mind the Harbor District has lost two consecutive lawsuits that they will have to pay out undisclosed amounts of money not including the court costs. One could easily speculate that is why they are pushing for the Harbor Police which by the way serves an area of maybe one square mile.
Afterall, why would you develop a complete Police station that will cost approximately $3 million dollars per year when they could contract out to experienced law enforcement officers through the City or County police, get grants to cover their wages and save money the Harbor does not have. It was once said at a public meeting, “everyone does a happy dance to get a grant for some new program or employee, however, once the grant money is gone, where is the money to keep what you create?”
HISTORY OF LOST PUBLIC FUNDS
It has already been reported that the former Harbormaster Charlie Helms spent $63,000 of unapproved public funds on travel, dining, alcohol, clothing, shoes, skin products and other miscellaneous things. It has already been reported that Tim Petrick utilized his CalCard for purchasing his wife airline tickets, for eating lunch out, for entertaining the Japanese Delegates, and continues the same behavior knowingly it is in violation of the Brown Act.
The County Auditor Clint Schaad and the Del Norte District Attorney Katie Micks decided, “oh well” with a shrug of the shoulders.
Here we are once again, allowing criminals to become Chief of the Harbor Police and someone who makes poor financial decisions to become an administrator of Harbor Police. Where do you think that grant money will go? Afterall, there is no oversight for any of this.
Lastly, the questions that need to be asked and answered: since the Harbor Master is going for the big bucks in developing a Harbor police force, does that mean the Harbor master and the assistant harbor master will get paid separately for these two very separate jobs?
Is there not supposed to be a separation of powers between the Harbormaster and the Chief of the Harbor Police to prevent corruption?
LINDA YOU ARE THE BEST INVESTIGATOR I,VE EVER SEEN … THANKS FOR TAKING ALL THE TIME TO GET TO THE TRUTH…. OUR HARBOR HAS ALWAYS HAD QUESTIONAL PEOPLE WORKING THERE!!!
Linda, thank you for looking into harbor operations.
I appreciate your response to the solar payment, and wanted to let you know that I referenced the following statement, “REC and ADE are ready to sign an agreement whereby REC will assume ADE’s
SLA obligation.” From https://www.ccharbor.com/files/a0a60ba36/REC+Update+for+Commissioners+Meeting+07.19.2022.pdf
Uh no. I was at that very meeting. Lemus made it clear of their misunderstanding. He was not responsible for that bill. By the way, that agenda is their (Harbor district) words not Lemus. Now if you can produce the actual contract that demonstrates otherwise I will stand corrected.
The document referenced was prepared by REC; the harbor board requested an update in writing, which REC provided. It begins by providing the board an update on RV parks and then addresses the SLA payment. You will notice that REC describes how they, not the harbor, contacted residents. Harbor minutes also state, “Mr. Lemus pledged to continue working to secure the SLA payment. Mr. Lemus explained that American Diversified Energy (ADE) was causing the delay because they were questioning the accuracy of accounting provided by Pacific Power.” https://www.ccharbor.com/files/47693aed7/11.16.2021+HC+Meeting+Materials+v2.pdf
I visited the harbor this weekend and was told that the signed leases for both RV parks are not being followed. I was not aware of Mike Rademaker prior to your article, and learned he lived in the Bayside RV park office for years, predating the harbor taking over operations. He worked for the harbor “under the table” for years and has some power as he hired a relative, Nathan Rademaker, as the harbor’s new IT provider (this contract is valued in the tens of thousands of dollars). At least a couple RV park tenants feel the harbor is corrupt as they have let some new tenants become permanent residents while turning others away (I am told Petrick’s surf rental friend has been allowed to live long-term and even alter reservations to select his desired space). He arrived well after they announced they could not accept long-term rental.
Do you find it interesting that the harbor does not post financials on the website anymore, despite having a comptroller? I hope to attend tomorrow’s meeting to learn more, especially since they no longer post financial statements in meeting packets. I actually got tired of researching due to continually finding troubling issues. For example, I was shown texts in which Petrick asks an employee named Lauren to steal, yes steal, antibiotics from her other employer (Marine Mammal Center) so he could give them to his dog; she complied with his request. There is an astonishing amount of unethical actions evidenced via minutes, emails, texts and statements from tenants.
Thank you for all you do and I hope this answers your question.
HI,
I wanted to follow up and say I do not expect or need to have my last comment posted, it was intended to answer your question and illustrate that the document came from REC. Additionally, I wanted to inform you of what I learned while visiting the farmer market and harbor over the weekend. There is much more and it deserves the attention of skilled investigative reporters, etc. in my amateur opinion.
The question of pay comes to mind. Will he be paid for being the Harbormaster AND for being Chief of Police? Will there be two paychecks? If so, will he work twice as many hours, or will he work a single shift. Will he draw double retirement benefits, twice as much vacation leave, and enhanced medical benefits? Inquiring minds want to know.
Linda,
Are you referring to the time Petrick was driving drunk and ran over a young man who was camping? http://www.pineconearchive.com/100514PCfp.pdf
It is astonishing that no one is investigating his dealings with his developer buddy. Harbor district meeting agendas indicate they are now in legal dispute with his developer friend. It would be interesting to see exactly what the developer has paid the harbor, especially since they never paid the $300k for solar rights.
As a Harbor patron and community member, it shocks me how he treated Fashion, which is the only facility/business of it’s kind in Crescent City, not to mention long term tenant.
It was not a requirement that Alex Lemus pay the Harbor #300,000 for the bankruptcy of REI which sold the solar panels to the Harbor and went bankrupt.
Alex Lemus made it perfectly clear at a Harbor District meeting that was not his debt, but the Harbor Commissioners signed the lease with Lemus anyway.
As to what is going on now is anyone’s guess but clearly the RV park in the Harbor is making no money.
CORRECTION Although Tim Petrick was charged with a felony DUI he opted out with a plea deal which busted the felony charge down to a misdemeanor. Additionally it should be pointed out that Mr. Petrick had a law suit against him by Wells FArgo for an undisclosed amount. Wells Fargo had to file a writ of Execution on March 24, 2023.