he DSRV Avalon, pictured in 2018 before it was professionally repainted about a year ago, is the biggest most impressive of the historic boats on display. File photos by Neil Farrell
The Morro Bay City Council granted permission for a local grant awardee to change the use for the money but keep the spirit of the original intent.
The Morro Bay Maritime Museum had been granted $5,000 out of the City Council’s 2024/25 Community Grant Funding, a pool of money the council can distribute to local charities in July with passage of the City budget.
The Museum said it wanted the money to “build a walkway through the Museum’s lease extension area,” reads a staff report.”
The walkway, which winds through various exhibits like a demonstration of block and tackle, and a whale blubber cooking pot, among numerous others. But the priorities have changed with the Museum folks.
“Since making that application,” the report said, “the Museum has turned its focus to establishing an expanded children’s program and, in aid of that, intends to have pavers installed on the grounds area in the Museum’s children’s Kid’s Cove experience area. Those grounds are currently dirt and gravel, which is not user friendly in inclement weather.”
Though the change from pavement to pavers would seem to be a no-brainer, the City’s rules require approvals. “Based on the Community Grant Policy and Grant Agreement,” the report said, “any change in the use of awarded funds must be approved by City Council.”
According to the City’s grant policy: “City moneys shall be used only for the purpose and programs(s) duly authorized and in accordance with the approved budget. Any deviation from the approved program proposal may be made only with the City’s prior written approval, which requires Council authority. If moneys are used outside the approved program proposal without prior written approval from the City, funds must be returned immediately to the City.”
So apparently seeking to be safe over sorry, the Museum board sent a letter to the City requesting the switch in use. “Since making application for the grant to be applied to the walkway,” reads a letter signed by board member Ron Reisner, “the Museum Board has identified a higher priority project in terms of calendar time.”
He describes their new project. “The overall project involves developing a series of free educational events for children at the Museum for the 2025 summer vacation period. The focused area at the Museum for this program is the portion of Museum grounds known as Kid’s Cove, which is approximately 350 square feet, and has been a dirt and scattered gravel surface.”
He said they’ve already gotten a bid from IGL Pavers “to create a full paver surface in the Kid’s Cove area.” That bid is for a little over $8,000, and the letter said the Museum has the rest of the money saved up for the project.
The Morro Bay Maritime Museum is located on the Embarcadero at the north end of Front Street. Open year-round the Maritime Museum is staffed and operated by volunteers and has numerous static displays of historic boats, including the Tugboat Alma famous for rescuing the crew of the oil tanker, Montebello, that was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine off the Coast of Cambria, in the immediate days after Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
Other boats on display include the fishing boat Spindrift, and a 30-foot Coast Guard surf rescue “rollover” boat and a one-man bathysphere, among other historic pieces of gear and displays of maritime engineering.
But the Museum’s most impressive vessel is the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV), Avalon, a 49-foot-long submarine that stands at the entrance to the Museum grounds.
For information about the museum see the website at: morrobaymaritime.org.
