Jessica Cejnar Andrews / Wednesday, Aug. 28 @ 12:12 p.m. / Economy, Local Government
City, County Agree To Terminate Tri-Agency; Harbor District Expected to Follow Suit
The Tri-Agency Economic Development Authority included the city, county and harbor district.
Previously:
• Though A Technicality At This Point, Crescent City's Tri-Agency Termination Vote Was Not Unanimous
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Three Crescent City councilors and the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors on Monday and Tuesday respectively approved the termination agreements necessary to dissolve the Tri-Agency Economic Development Authority.
One of the final actions necessary to wind up the beleaguered joint powers authority, the agreements state that each member agency will share in its outstanding debts and liabilities. The Tri-Agency’s third member, the Crescent City Harbor District, will also need to approve a termination agreement, City Attorney Martha Rice told councilors Monday.
Under the agreement, the Tri-Agency will terminate effective Sept. 16. The JPA’s outstanding liabilities and debts include legal fees from a lawsuit Harbor District candidate Linda Sutter filed.
Those legal expenses are about $7,370 as of Aug. 12, according to a county staff report, although expenses will continue to incur until the matter is resolved.
On Monday, Rice said the legal fees and costs to dissolve the Tri-Agency is less than $10,000 and each member agency will be on the hook for a little more than $3,000.
Crescent City has budgeted $5,000 this year to pay those outstanding liabilities and other costs associated with the Tri-Agency’s dissolution, Rice said.
Del Norte County has agreed to keep the Tri-Agency’s records while the city will receive and pay any invoices associated with the JPA’s termination, Rice said. If any assets are discovered in the future, they’ll be liquidated and the proceeds split equally among the city, county and harbor.
Crescent City Mayor Blake Inscore said the only potential future asset has to do with a piece of property associated with a previous loan the Tri-Agency made, though he said he wasn’t sure of the value associated with it.
Rice said assets aren’t as much of a concern as potential liabilities are.
“The asset can be dealt with by mutual agreement,” she said.
According to Inscore, the only liability is legal expenses the Tri-Agency owes its legal counsel, Bob Black.
The Tri-Agency was created in 1975 to implement the Del Norte Economic Development Action Plan and Strategy, according to the county’s Board report Tuesday. While it did foster economic growth for two decades, the failure of a revolving loan program, which led to the Tri-Agency defaulting on a $400,000 USDA loan, left the JPA floundering from 2011 to roughly 2022.
In 2022, the city, county and harbor district contributed funding toward paying off that USDA debt. Those agencies also contributed a total of about $110,000 as seed money to get the Tri-Agency going again.
Del Norte County agreed to contribute $70,000. The city contributed $30,000 and the Harbor District agreed on $10,000 to get the Tri-Agency going.
On June 11, unable to agree on whether the Tri-Agency should be involved in discussions surrounding offshore wind energy, the Harbor District and the Board of Supervisors voted to terminate the JPA. The City Council followed suit on June 17.
On Monday, Inscore said each member agency contributed an equal share toward founding the Tri-Agency in the early 1970s. They also reached an agreement toward the amount each agency would allocate to the JPA to keep it going, though it was never codified, Inscore said.
“When it comes to the dissolution, and this is simply my opinion, you go back to the beginning of what you’re dissolving,” he said. “And since we’re not talking about assets any longer, the most expeditious way from my vantage point for being done with this is simply for us to share, take the responsibility and move forward with it.”
Inscore also brought up previous reluctance some officials had when it came to the amount of money contributed to keep the Tri-Agency going.
“I would have been very apprehensive about trying to negotiate any kind of apportionment with the parties given teh fact that we had members from the other agencies that didn’t want to pay anything at all,” he said.
Three members of the City Council approved the Tri-Agency termination agreement on Monday. Councilors Jason Greenough and Kelly Schellong were absent.
The Del Norte County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the termination agreement on Tuesday.
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