Change at the helm of the Santa Barbara waterfront coming

SANTA BARBARA—Santa Barbara is looking for its next waterfront director. City Administrator Paul Casey recently announced Waterfront Director Scott Riedman retired at the beginning of August after eight years at the helm.

“I think he served very admirably and accomplished a great deal in his service with the city,” Casey said during the Aug. 15 Harbor Commission meeting.

Casey said he has started the recruitment process, which he estimates will take four to six months to complete. He briefed the commissioners on that process at the Aug. 15 meeting. He said it will be an open recruitment, but expects to have internal candidates as well.

“We’ll get a job announcement out on the street and we will accept applications,” Casey said during the briefing.

In the meantime, Waterfront Business Manager Brian Bosse and Waterfront Facilities Manager Karl Treiberg will serve as acting waterfront director for two months each. Bosse will take the first two months.

The commissioners echoed Casey’s admiration for Riedman and his tenure leading the waterfront.

“He was a great guy to work with and we’re sorry to see him go,” Commissioner Jim Sloan said at the meeting. “I think I speak for most of us up here that we wish him well and appreciate everything he did for the commission and the city.”

The Santa Barbara City Council voted unanimously to appoint Riedman to oversee the Waterfront Department in 2011. Riedman was selected from a pool of 34 candidates. As waterfront director, Riedman supervised a staff of 46 employees, managed numerous business leases and oversaw more than 1,100 harbor slips for recreational boaters and the department’s Harbor Patrol.

The lifelong boater, diver and sport angler had worked in the department since 1997.

“He’s left the department in a great condition, it is sound financially, which is very good news,” Casey said. “He’s got a lot of very competent staff.”

Acting Waterfront Director Brian Bosse said Riedman was instrumental in the reimaging and re-establishment of the annual Harbor and Seafood Festival now in its 18^th year with over 14,000 attendees. Some of his other notable accomplishments include securing a $14 million dollar loan from the California Division of Boating and Waterways to fund the eight phase Marina One Replacement Project which modernized Marina One. Bosse also said Riedman’s business acumen and tenant relationships have established the waterfront as a focal point of activity with the local and regional community.

“The waterfront is 100 percent occupied from a leasing standpoint, 100 percent occupied from a slip standpoint (1,150 slips), the Wharf has over 900,000 pedestrians visitors per year and over 250,000 vehicles per year making the area a hub of activity all year long,” Bosse said in an e-mail.

Riedman did not reply to requests from The Log to be interviewed for this story. The Log will report on Riedman’s successor as soon as the city makes an announcement.