Please attend this meeting to lend your support to retain the Marketing Director position at the Harbor District.

You may e-mail of your comments to: ptyson@portofhumboldtbay.org

HUMBOLDT BAY HARBOR, RECREATION AND CONSERVATION DISTRICT

Thursday; April 23, 2009

7:00 p.m.

Woodley Island Marina Meeting Room

On the agenda for consideration will be position of Maritime Direct held by Wilson Lacy.

In the short time that Mr. Lacy has been at the Harbor district he has done a stellar job in his outreach to market commerce for our area. We need to retain his talents, his contacts with other ports including the Port of Oakland and his 40 years of expertise.

It is the Board’s job to set policy and the CEO’s job to set the budjet to fulfill the policy.

The staff has made recommendations to retain Mr. Lacy as Maritime Director but some Board members are not in agreement. We are one of only 11 deepwater ports on the West Coast and need to retain the Maritime Director’s services so that we are positioned to take advantage of the turnaround in the economy.

Mr. Lacy was hired to explore markets and to promote commerce and shipping for Humboldt Bay and the surrounding area. This is the mandate set by the State of CA when the legislature created the Harbor District as an independent State Agency.

Attached is the staff report about the Maritime Director issue.

Per Staff report:

The proposed action under this agenda item appears to be for this fiscal year only. Mr. Lacy’s employment agreement includes a 30-day notice provision thus approving this action saves the District approximately one-month of salary and benefits in the current fiscal year.

From Staff’s position, the cons to this proposed action considerably outweigh any potential salary savings. As noted above, in the short ~1.5 years that Mr. Lacy has been employed at the District, he has been extremely valuable and proactive to the District’s harbor mission. He has been successful in “getting the word out” that the Port of Humboldt Bay exists and the great potential it could have in a world-wide marine transportation system. In staff’s opinion, the Director of Maritime Commerce position is the only position within the District that is solely dedicated to developing long-term sustainable income for the District and the retention and creation of harbor-related jobs for the community. Without this position, the ability to pursue those opportunities in a consistent and efficient manner will be lost.

Recommendation: Staff recommends denial of the proposed action to end funding for the position of Director of Maritime Commerce effective May 25, 2009.

A revitalized harbor portion of Humboldt Bay is consistent with the District’s statutory purpose as enacted by the State of California, the policies of the Humboldt Bay Management Plan and the objectives of the District’s current five-year strategic plan. Revitalizing the harbor takes a consistent, well-known and knowledgeable voice to be taken seriously in these economic times. Mr. Lacy is that voice. From Staff’s perspective, terminating this position terminates the District’s port and port facility marketing efforts further exacerbating the economic impacts to the District and local economy from the current global economic crisis. As the saying goes, Rome was not built in a day; Humboldt Bay’s harbor revitalization should not be expected to either.

Fiscal Impact: The proposed action saves the District approximately $10,000 in payroll and payroll benefits for FY 2008/09. The proposed action also creates the loss of unknown, but potentially significant and long-term, income to the District and local maritime industry through termination of District-led port marketing efforts.