My remarks to LAFCo Commissioners

Sabrina Brennan made the following remarks as a member of the public, during a two minute comment at the July 15, 2015 LAFCo meeting held in Redwood City at 1:30pm.

Thank you for the opportunity to address the LAFCo, and thank you Martha (SMC LAFCo Executive Director) and Mr. Berkson (consultant) for all your effort working on the Harbor District Municipal Service Review (MSR). 

The Board of Harbor Commissioners is committed to moving the District forward in a positive direction.

At the boards special meeting last night we unanimously approved a contract with OpenGov to provide the District with best in class financial transparency. The online platform will improve the District's financial operations and reduce the amount of staff time spent on public records requests, by making the District's budgets and annual audits accessible online to everyone.

This is one of many needed improvements the board will roll out this year.

With regard to the governance options included in the MSR I would like to note that the District should consider terminating the Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) with the City of South San Francisco.  

The JPA ends in eleven years and Oyster Point Marina is a greater burden on the District's resources due to an average 60% slip occupancy rate. Two docks with slips were removed to make room for the WETA Ferry Terminal and this has resulted in reduced opportunity for generating revenue.  Opportunities for developing additional commercial lease space at Oyster Point Marina are limited because the District does not own the land. Oyster Point Marina requires a larger subsidy of its enterprise functions than does Pillar Point Harbor.

The City of South San Francisco could consider assuming full management responsibilities for their marina and build additional commercial lease space to generate revenue, begin needed infrastructure improvements, and expand recreational opportunities.  

Thanks for your consideration.

Sabrina Brennan

Seal Cove—Moss Beach

JPA documents

1977 — Engineer's Estimate Phase 1

1977 — Joint Powers Agreement

1985 — Resolution 247-85 and other documents... 

2007 — Breakwater Agreement

2009 — MOU

2011 — Draft EIR Oyster Point Specific Plan, Hazardous Materials, Chapter 11 

2011 — Invoice for Legal Services: Richards, Watson & Gershon

2011 — SSF Redevelopment Agency Agreement: March 25, 2011

2012 — Letter regarding $600,000 agreement for wave attenuators

2012 — Letter regarding two million dollar agreement for docks 8 and 11

2013 — Oyster Point Breakwater Modification Project-Completion Ceremony

2013 — OPM Managment Plan and Capital Improvement Program

2013 — Annual Environmental Report on the Oyster Point Marina Landfill

2014 — SSF Staff Report: Review of SMCHD Relationship with the City

2015 — Semiannual Environmental Report on the Oyster Point Marina Landfill

2015 — Consolidated JPA  (for reference only)

July 30, 2015 — Letter from City of South San Francisco to the SMCHD

Sept 16, 2015 — Recording of South San Francisco Special Meeting

Dec 9, 2015 — SF Regional Water Quality Control Board letter to City of SSF

Dec 10, 2015 — The 2nd Technical Working Group (TWG) meeting held in Redwood Shores. The SMC Office of Sustainability recommended that Oyster Point Landfill be included in the County Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment. Oyster Point Landfill was number 8 on a list of 26 recommended assets.

Dec 18, 2015 — PRA Request from City of SSF to the SMCHD for Oyster Point documents from Jan 2000 through Dec 18, 2015

Dec 23, 2015 — KQED Radio morning news at 6:20am and 8:20am; Peter Shuler's clip included interviews with City and Harbor District officials about persistent flooding at Oyster Point.

Dec 23, 2015 — NBC Bay Area KNTV Channel 11 at 6:00pm and 11:00pm news segment, “King Tides May Alter Development Plans at South San Francisco's Oyster Point”

Jan 30, 2016 — The SMC Office of Sustainability removed Oyster Point Landfill from the list of recommended assets. The change was disclosed at the County’s SeaChange Open House at Genentech in South San Francisco. The City of South San Francisco informed the County that they would prefer Oyster Point Landfill not be included in the Army Corps of Engineers funded SLR Vulnerability Assessment. The County responded by removing Oyster Point Landfill and replacing it with a landfill located in Half Moon Bay approximately 100 feet above the ocean.

The following rendering of Oyster Point Marina are from the Shorenstien website:

Checkout the Virtual Tour (click on Vision) for information about future plans for Oyster Point Marina.

Mike McHenry's Letter to LAFCo

Dear LAFCo Commissioners and Executive Director Martha Poyatos,

My name is Mike McHenry, I'm a 71 year old fisherman at Pillar Point Harbor.  I'm also a fish buyer, and leaseholder on Johnson Pier.

I started fishing at the harbor before the breakwater and the pier were built. As time marched on, Johnson Pier was constructed and it was first run by the County, then it went to the Harbor District.

In those early years fishermen had a great relationship with Harbor District Staff and the Harbor Commission. Our Harbormasters were all seafaring people who knew the ocean like the back of their hands. They saved many lives and the fishermen assisted them when needed.

About 20 years the District changed when a Commissioner who also served as the Treasurer of the Half Moon Bay Fishermen's Marketing Association embezzled over $100,000 from our association's bank account. At the time fishermen were disgusted with the Harbor Commission and they stopped showing up for board meetings. As a result the Commissioners got bolder and bolder, with no checks and balances in place. Our association melted away to nothing and the dark side of the harbor leadership emerged. 

Three years ago, out of the blue, the highest fish unloading fees on the West Coast, from San Diego to Seattle, were levied on Pillar Point Harbor Commercial Fishing businesses. In 2012 the Commissioners and the General Manager admitted the fees were high but refused to adjust them to be competitive with the rates in Moss Landing and San Francisco. These high fees paid by fishermen are ultimately passed on to the consumer, and have resulted in driving business away from San Mateo County to other neighboring ports.

After Harbor Commissioners hurt our local fishing businesses I began to attend board meetings and contest the fees. In 2013 I observed newly elected Commissioner Sabrina Brennan being ridiculed by the old boys club on the board because she dared to ask questions.

I immediately formed a bond with Sabrina because of her integrity, and because she asked for fiscal responsibility and transparency. Our newly formed fishermen's association, The Half Moon Bay Seafood Marketing Association, also sided with Sabrina, and needless to say this upset previous board members.

Then came the illegal installation of a new hoist on Johnson Pier for the fish buying business Three Captains, with dock space included. A total of three fish-buying businesses are located on Johnson Pier, and we all pay the same rent. However the new hoist location and dock space was never offered to the other two fish-buyers. It was clear to local fishermen that Three Captains was receiving preferential treatment by the Harbormaster and General Manager. To allow more room for Three Captains new hoist, we were told to move our bait lockers and bin storage from the end of the pier. The cost to the Harbor District was $175,000.  

The new Fishermen's Association and others asked Sabrina to look into this, which she did. At the time the old board and General Manager Peter Grenell would not even answer our questions. I also started checking into who paid what and I noticed that Three Captains' fee payment schedule was in disarray and appeared to be short a considerable sum of money. It was odd that the fish buyer with the new hoist location appeared to be short paying fees.

In early 2013 the General Manager Peter Grenell slyly buried a sentence into all three fish-buyers' 42 page lease agreements, under the Use and Limitations section. The leases allowed the installation of a new hoist at the Harbormasters discretion, strangely Three Captains knew all about it, but the other two buyers were unaware of the new provision because the changes were never redlined in the draft leases.

When I started reading my new lease more carefully I noticed that the General Manager had left out all the perimeters that designate the areas we operate within. This change was also not redlined in the draft lease agreements. The new leases changed 35 years of operations on Johnson Pier without any redlines in the draft agreements. Every fish unloading station on the West Coast of the US has well-designated perimeters except Pillar Point Harbor. And now Three Captains is suing the Harbor District over the new hoist.

Those of us who felt burned, decided to campaign to unseat the board in the November 2014 election. We succeeded in electing Commissioners Mattusch and David. Thankfully Commissioners Jim Tucker and Will Holsinger, both notorious for voting to end videotaping and public access broadcasts of board meetings, were swept out. 

After many high-fives the new board was seated. As expected it didn't take long before they realized what a mess was left behind. Not surprisingly longtime General Manager Peter Grenell bailed out just before the new Commissioners were seated. After 17 years of mismanagement he retired and left the sinking ship before his corrupt business practices were fully discovered, and his girl Friday, the human resources lady, resigned.

Berth holders and fishermen are excited about our new board. We feel that dissolution at this time is foolish.

Don Horsley's recent public statements in support of an appointed board are ludicrous. It appears some poor losers are putting pressure on the Board of Supervisor. Politically appointed representatives who lack wildlife credentials are the reason why the State Fish and Wildlife Commission is nearly defunct. Why would we want somebody from Hillsborough to represent a harbor?  

With an appointed board we would wind up with the same old Commissioners who were voted out. We haven't forgotten who gave the deceitful past General Manager a raise last year in a 4-1 vote before he retired.

Give this board a chance. 

One more election and the new board will be a well oiled-machine. If the voters had not spoken we would still be grounded on the dark side.

LAFCo, you have looked into all the problems at the Harbor District and none of them were created by the new Commissioners.  

Respectfully, 

Michael D. McHenry

Merva W  (60-foot fishing vessel built in 1971)

Pillar Point Seafood

223 San Clemente Rd., Half Moon Bay, CA

Half Moon Bay Seafood Marketing Association

Lee Engdahl's Letter to LAFCo

HMBSMA Letter to LAFCo