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Though he acknowledged staff’s work in bringing them up to date, Brian Stone cast the sole opposing vote on a revision of the Crescent City Harbor District’s bylaws.

Commissioners were “relinquishing too much of our own authority” by designating the harbor CEO and the president of the board of commissioners to be the port’s representative to the media, he argued. Stone suggested leaving the harbor district’s current bylaws in place.

“I don’t know what’s transpired to make such drastic changes to this thing,” he told his colleagues Tuesday. “It’s worked for the last 20-some odd years. We’ve gone through an exercise here and I understand it; I question whether you want to give up your own personal authority as a commissioner in some of these instances.”

Stone’s statement sparked a discussion among commissioners on who should act as the spokesperson for the harbor district and how to ensure the “same message” is put out by the board as a whole.

Carol White, who, earlier this year, brought up the need to evaluate the bylaws and, if necessary, update them, said she had initially been concerned that there were no term limits for the board president. This could be problematic if someone was appointed to the president’s chair and “goes rogue,” she said.

Addressing Stone’s concerns, Carol White said the board president could coordinate communication on behalf of the Harbor District or designate someone else to be a spokesperson if they didn’t want that role.

“I think it’s really important if you have one voice,” she said.

Jim Ramsey, the current harbor district board president, said the need for a unified voice stems from a time when individual commissioners would “air their dirty laundry” in the newspaper.

Ramsey’s colleague, Wes White, said though a coordinated approach to engaging with the media and the public makes sense, it doesn’t prevent commissioners from speaking out if they want to.

“I’ve also been on this commission for awhile and I have seen where commissioners have spoken out and it has caused problems,” Wes White said.

Harbor CEO Charlie Helms said he also doesn’t think the new bylaws prevent commissioners from speaking with the media. And if a board president does “go rogue” they may be able to be removed from that position, he said.

“What I’ve seen in other harbor districts is you have no one person who can run the whole deal — they have to get approval,” Helms said. “I’ve seen in the San Mateo Harbor District, the president was removed when three of five commissioners voted to remove that person because they’ve gone rogue. That’s the right of commissioners.”

Helms argued that the new bylaws contain a lot of clarifying points he found valuable. These include stipulating that the CEO initiates lease negotiations as well as negotiations with the staff’s union and bring those results to the Board of Commissioners.

Wes White said most commissioners don’t serve for more than two consecutive terms as board president.

Helms said the new bylaws have a lot of clarifying points he found valuable. These include stipulating that the CEO initiates and negotiates with potential lessees of harbor facilities before bringing them to the Board of Commissioners, he said, as well as negotiating with the staff’s union.

Helms said he didn’t see a stipulation in the new bylaws that prevents commissioners from making comments to the media.

Stone, however, questioned whether the new law allows him to speak with a reporter if he or she asks for his perspective on an issue that’s before the harbor district.

Carol White said the new bylaws doesn’t prevent a board member from doing that, it just assigns a point person to communicate with the press.

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