Phillips heads harbor board

The Crescent City Harbor Commission has selected Ron Phillips as its president for this year, with Pat Bailey as secretary.

Also at this week’s meeting, Harbormaster Richard Young said the harbor must address a labor compliance issue before it can solicit bids for the inner boat basin rebuilding project.

Officials with the Community Development Block Grant program (CDBG), which is providing grant money to the harbor, said the harbor must prove it is paying federal prevailing wages before they can solicit bids. 

“We knew we were subject to state prevailing wages, but now that the CDBG is paying wages, we’re also subject to federal requirements as well,” Young said. 

The harbor had been hoping to use the CDBG grant for just materials, but the agency said there was not enough separation between materials and labor, said Jim Carnegie, county fiscal manager, who applied for the grant for the harbor.

“It’s just more paperwork,” Carnegie said, adding that it shouldn’t knock the harbor off schedule for soliciting bids.

“We have to get this out to bid, we have to get a number,” Young said. “Our work window starts in six months.”

The harbor is still considering hooking up power to D dock for this interim season with temporary docks.  The cost would be around $8,000, although some equipment could be reused for the permanent harbor.

“Given the short-term realities of our budget, if we can’t recover the costs in the next few months, we're probably not going to do it,” Young said.

He and the commission also discussed possible new insurance requirements for boats docked in the harbor. The issue will be discussed in more detail at the next meeting.

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