Oceanside’s harbor district needs to better define its role as a separate agency from the city, according to a county commission that oversees the creation and expansion of cities and special districts.
That is one of nearly 20 recommendations in the San Diego County Local Agency Formation Commission’s municipal service review for the city of Oceanside, the Oceanside Small Craft Harbor District, and the Morro Hills Community Service District.
The recently completed review covers a wide range of topics, some more important than others, from water and sewer services to public safety and population growth. About six of its recommendations are related to services at the city’s harbor.
Included is a suggestion that LAFCO consider doing a study to assess how the governance of the city and the district could be changed to benefit both agencies, “with the understanding that any actual change … would be subject to protest proceedings and possibly an election.”
Oceanside has no objections “as long as such study is comprehensive and completed by a consultant who has experience in harbor governance matters,” City Manager Jonathan Borrego said Friday.
Any recommendations or conclusions in the commission’s municipal service review are advisory. So far there is no plan for the Oceanside City Council to act on the recommendations.
Boaters, slip renters and marina business people have been at odds with the city for years over harbor issues such as finances and who should be responsible for safety, rescues and other services at the marina.
“The general unease of slip renters in the harbor” is a concern, said Michaela Peters, a local government analyst, in a Nov. 4 presentation to the LAFCO board.
The harbor has nearly 1,000 slip renters, whose rental fees provide more than 80 percent of the harbor’s annual revenue.
“There has been considerable interest in making the harbor independent,” Peters said.
The harbor was built in the 1960s and had its own board of directors until the 1990s, when the board’s duties were assumed by the Oceanside City Council.
The harbor had its own police department until 2009, when those duties were transferred to the Oceanside Police Department. Then, at the beginning of last year, the city turned over the harbor’s public safety and patrol services to lifeguards in the city’s Fire Department.
“We need our harbor patrol back,” said Tammy Taunt, a longtime harbor user and editor of The Crews News journal for local boaters.
“We need to separate ourselves from the city,” Taunt told the LAFCO board at its November meeting. “The City Council should not be our board of directors. There is a lot of conflict of interest that should be obvious on that one.”
One of the biggest complaints from harbor users is that the city takes the revenue generated by the harbor and uses it elsewhere in the city for things such as police protection.
“Our harbor is in dire need of a lot of maintenance and repair,” Taunt said. “We feel like our finances are going straight to the general fund for the city and not staying in the harbor. We need it to stay in the harbor.”
Liz Rhea, a harbor boat slip renter for 24 years and chair of the Oceanside Harbor and Beaches Advisory Committee, also said the harbor should be independent.
“We are now under Public Works,” Rhea said. “Unfortunately, Public Works does not know how the harbor runs. We need a group that knows how to run a harbor and use enterprise funds to run it.”
Another recommendation is that the 2009 transfer of public safety services to the city should be formally approved to eliminate the harbor district’s continuing responsibility for those services.
As it is, the informal transfer left district officially responsible for public safety.
