Out of three candidates vying for the open seat on the Crescent City Harbor District’s governing board, commissioners on Tuesday chose the one who said he wasn’t afraid to ask dumb questions.

Gerhard Weber, who came to Crescent City from San Pedro, took the seat former commissioner, Carol White, left vacant when she resigned last month. Harbor commissioners voted 3-1 in favor of Weber over Crescent City resident Richard Bolen and newly-retired harbormaster, Charlie Helms. Commissioner Rick Shepherd dissented.

Following Weber’s appointment, the Crescent City Harbor District’s new legal counsel, Ruben Duran, administered the oath of office and Weber took his seat on Tuesday.

“My weakness here as far as the Harbor Commission is probably that I lack the local knowledge,” Weber said. “However, that is also a strength. Lacking local knowledge means I might at some point ask the dumb question that nobody else is asking. For example, looking at the website, the dumb questions I’m lookin at (are) the Friends of the Harbor (page), it’s blank. Apparently, the harbor has no friends.”

Weber said he came to Crescent City after living for about 23 years in San Pedro where he had connections to that community’s harbor and its businesses. At 68 years old, he said he doesn’t have a political career ahead of him, but wanted an opportunity to give back to a new community he’s grown to love.

Weber said another “dumb question” he had was about the Crescent City Harbor District’s 10-year plan. He said it was fantastic, but wanted to know where the harbor was at with implementing that plan.

During the meeting, the commissioners were able to ask questions of each candidate. One came from Commissioner Wes White who asked each applicant how they view the competing interests of recreation, commercial fishing and tourism.

Weber replied that competing interests can be made to work together and it’s up to the Board of Commissioners to figure out where those three sectors intersect.

“I understand there’s always this quest for space,” he said. “Also there are some areas where everyone can basically benefit from each other. For example, what this particular area doesn’t have that San Pedro has was you can go to commercial fisheries and purchase fish from Friday to Saturday midnight to 7 a.m. That doesn’t happen here. This is one area we can explore.”

Weber told commissioners he does have experience serving on boards, the most recent of which is the Del Norte Republican Central Committee

Bolen told commissioners he served on the Northern Knights Car Club’s Board of Directors as a sergeant of arms. He said he’s spent about 30 years in property management as a maintenance supervisor for condominiums, mobile home parks and hotels.

Helms had been the Crescent City Harbormaster for about five years before he retired in February. He pointed out being on the harbor commission is different than being part of its staff in that the commissioners set the direction for the harbor.

Commissioner Harry Adams nominated Weber to the Crescent City Harbor District Board of Commissioners. Though Shepherd dissented, he told commissioners he’s “open to whoever everybody else wants on the board.”

Weber will serve as a harbor commissioner until his seat comes up for election in 2022.

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