Haines Borough harbormaster Ed Barrett is proposing a raft of changes to harbor management, including a comprehensive schedule of fees and a policy manual with a clear set of rules and regulations.
“There are obvious deficiencies in the operation,” Barrett told a meeting of the harbor advisory committee Nov. 15. Barrett, who previously worked at harbors in Whittier and Friday Harbor, Wash., started on the job here in August.
During the meeting and in a two-page report distributed to members of the committee, Barrett characterized some harbor management procedures as substandard, inconsistent and vague.
Policy, procedures, rules and regulations, as well as tariffs and fees, should be separate from borough code, he said, so they can be adjusted as needed. “Things change every year, but then this great act-of-God thing has to happen to change the code.”
Barrett said contracts for stall rentals are license agreements and should be re-written by the borough attorney with clear terms and conditions that both harbor staff and customers can understand.
“Anytime we have a problem, we need to go back to the contract. Right now, the contract is light on rules and conditions and everything is up for debate. That needs to be changed,” Barrett said.
Harbor committee member Bill Rostad said some of Barrett’s recommendations –such as removing fees from code language – are already under way. But Rostad said he agrees harbor management needs to be tightened.
“We have no rules down there. We have parking signs but we have (cars) parked there all summer,” Rostad said. The harbormaster should have authority to write citations and shouldn’t be the victim of abusive behavior. “We have a couple guys down there who are a little out of control,” he said.
At the harbor committee meeting, Barrett said other harbormasters are peace officers with authority similar to that of a meter maid, who can write citations. A list of citations that can be enforced is necessary, “otherwise, we’re just a couple of pretty nice guys.”
Rules should protect harbor personnel, including from harassment by harbor users, he said. After a number of citations, a harbor user could lose their moorage agreement, he said.
Harbor users sometimes abuse harbor staff, Barrett said. “They know they can say anything they want, at any volume. It’s ugly and it’s unpleasant and they could be charged with fourth degree assault… What I want is if somebody touches me, I want them to go to jail.” Barrett said he has had to call police three times for behavior there.
Barrett told the group the waiting list for slips is actually four waiting lists, based on lengths. “The common view is that there’s funny business with the waiting lists. There’s no way for me to tell if there’ve been any mistakes, or overexuberant friendships or hijinks. It’s in such bad shape.”
The lists should be posted at the harbor bulletin board, with dates, Barrett said. “I think there’s a lot of chaff on the lists. We need to get it to fairness, equality and transparency.”
No preferences on the lists should be given for different types of users, he said. “Equal opportunity is the only defensible way to offer it… Anybody who plays by the rules should be able to be on the list. It never worked out for me to discriminate against any class of people. If you pay the money, you go on the list.”
Harbor staff recently measured boats for moorage rate purposes and found most reported lengths of boats were wrong, though most were off only by a foot or two.
“People can have a Coast Guard paper that says their boat is 36 feet long, but that doesn’t count additions like anchors, steps and ladders. People down south have gotten accustomed to the fact that if it casts a shadow, you pay moorage on it,” he said.
Barrett said current moorage fees don’t keep up with expenses and that the harbor loses $35,000 per year. “The revenue collected does not cover cost recovery or provide funding for future replacement. Right now the facility is brand new and does not require a great deal of maintenance. However, at these budget levels we will eventually be on the path of deferred maintenance.”
The harbor is being subsidized by taxpayers, he said. “If that’s what people want, that’s fine. The borough does it for other entities,” Barrett said. However, there should be money set aside to repair or replace new equipment at the harbor when it wears out, he said.
“I don’t want to injure people in business or make it so people can’t afford moorage… but I don’t feel comfortable operating a business in the red. That’s my feeling. But if that’s what folks want me to do, that’s what I’ll do,” Barrett said.
State Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines, a local commercial fisherman, suggested that raw fish tax that comes to the borough should be used on harbor expenses instead of increasing fees. “Juneau has priced themselves out. You’re already squeezing pretty hard on commercial guys. You need to look at all the users and make sure it’s fair to everyone.”
The committee may take up Barrett’s recommendations at its next meeting 1 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 9 at the assembly chambers. The main agenda item is revising borough code regarding the harbor.
At the committee meeeting, Barrett also said he was researching the idea of a borough-owned boatyard operation based on the model of industrial parks created around airports in the Lower 48. With a few “anchor” tenants, a boatyard here could offer year-round jobs and good wages, he said.
Such a facility might be situated on Lutak Inlet, he said. “Generally, the most difficult aspect of a project like this is finding a site that is zoned industrial waterfront,” Barrett said. In the Lower 48, those types of properties have been lost to high-priced residential developments, but Lutak offers waterfront property with an industrial designation, he said.
Committee member Rostad said he agreed with Barrett that there are “huge amounts of economic opportunites” with harbor development, but questioned whether there would be sufficient electricity available in winter for the operation. “These are really things we’d like to see, but there’s no infrastructure.”
Barrett also recommended hanging old tires on floats at the harbor to serve as emergency ladders for people who fall in. Tires are an inexpensive way to improve safety that also don’t cause damage to boats or get in the way of harbor operations. One reason for the tire ladders is that the new, wooden floats sit higher in the water and are more difficult to climb than the previous cement floats that sat lower in the water. “A tire in every slip is the way to go,” he said.