The City of Morro Bay’s advisory boards have new members, and the change marks the ending of one man’s long tenure representing the Back Bay and Los Osos.
Gene Doughty had applied for another 4-year term on the Harbor Advisory Board, a position he’d held for some 38 years.
Former Dist. 2 County Supervisor Bill Coy recommended him for the job when the Harbor Board was first formed, Doughty told Estero Bay News. Over the years, he’s served with many other people who had strong connections with the bay, men like Dean Tyler of the Morro Bay Aquarium and Jody Giannini who had a family chandlery business serving the commercial fishermen and the boating public.
Doughty said he was the longest serving advisory board member the City has ever had. Coy’s idea was that Los Osos should have a representative on a Harbor Advisory Board, he explained, and it made sense. “It’s the same bay,” Doughty said. Los Osos residents have a vested, albeit less-economic centric, interest in the bay and how it’s managed and protected.
But a while back, the seven-member HAB was cut to five members and Doughty’s seat was changed to an “at-large” position, meaning someone who isn’t from Los Osos could fill it.
But Doughty’s replacement, former City Manager Andrea Lueker, who was unanimously approved by the council, also lives in Los Osos and has strong ties to Morro Bay, having just ended a temporary stint as Interim City Manager while the Council looked for a new, permanent manager.
She’s a board member on the Community Quota Fund, a non-profit organization that manages the local federal catch shares program for commercial fishing, so she’s also got that connection to the bay.
“I have been interested in this position for quite some time,” Lueker said in a letter to the council included in her application, “and am thrilled to finally be in a position to submit my application for the at-large designation.
“I believe my expertise in local government, including seven years as harbor manager at Port San Luis will be beneficial to the City of Morro Bay, and specifically the Harbor Department. I also have extensive experience working on volunteer boards and enjoy the camaraderie of working with a group of citizens tasked with making recommendations to a governing board/entity.”
In contrast, Doughty’s application was rather blunt, though anyone who knows him might not be too surprised. Asked what experience he brings to the position? He simply wrote, “Been on the board for some time.”
Asked why he is interested in serving on the board, he wrote, “to continue to advise the City.”
Doughty said he was disappointed that he’s been replaced, but feels Lueker will be a good fit. He may have sealed his fate in December when he was critical of the City Council.
“I told them they need to pay more attention to the harbor,” Doughty said, adding that the Embarcadero is the heartbeat and main economic engine of the community.
He said the City has already lost two lease developments — the former Libertine Pub and Gray’s Inn — and is in danger of losing another, the redevelopment of the Associated Pacific Constructors lease site, which has an approved project on the books to build a small motel and restaurant complex.
It’s been a long standing trend with re-development projects on the Embarcadero, as the City — and Coastal Commission — have required more and more public amenities from lease holders, which add costs but bring little benefit to the business.
It’s an added financial burden to an already cumbersome process.
He said, “The Council isn’t backing the lease holders.” And, “It’s sad nobody works or lives on the water anymore.”
Doughty, who also leases out offshore boat moorings in addition to his marine engineering, architecture, and construction business, added that he sees what’s happening on the water every day.
The current categories for making up the board are: one person from the Morro Bay Commercial Fisherman’s Organization (plus an alternate); one waterfront leaseholder; one marine-oriented business; one representing recreational boating; and, one at-large member.
Retired commercial fisherman, Jeremiah O’Brien is the current member from the MBCFO.
Doughty wishes they could have had someone with the kind of connection he has with the Bay, like his friend, Jim Kroll, a legendary harbor patrolman, who’s been retired for quite some time.
Doughty said while he’s disappointed his tenure on the Harbor Board has ended; he’s OK with it. “I have my grand kids to play with,” he said.
Lueker was also appointed to fill Doughty’s spot on the Waterfront Master Plan Advisory Committee, which she was nominated for at the very first Harbor Advisory Board meeting she attended.
Also on the Master Plan Committee, a representative from the National Estuary Program (NEP) had to be approved after the NEP’s representative, Melodie Grubbs, left the agency “to pursue a new opportunity,” according to the City report on the appointments.
Carolyn Geraghty, the NEP’s restoration program director, was nominated to replace Grubbs and was approved by the Council.
The Council also filled two spots on the Parks & Recreation Commission, choosing James Costanzo and Blake Lopez out of three applicants. The third was June Swall.
Costanzo was unanimously approved and Lopez got four of five votes.
On the Citizen’s Oversight/Finance Advisory Committee, which monitors the City’s spending of the monies brought in by Meas. Q and E-20, the City’s special sales tax measures, there were three people vying for two seats — Michael Dorfman, Bart Beckman and Michael Jones.
Dorfman was unanimously approved and Beckman was also appointed with four of five votes.
