Santa Barbara Harbor Commission meeting in August after two month hiatus

SANTA BARBARA ― The Santa Barbara Harbor Commission has been dark the past few months and short two members. However, the advisory board returns to action after a two month lull and holds its first meeting since May 18. Two new members will be sworn in as the Harbor Commission resumes business, Aug. 17; commissioners will also nominate and elect a new chair and vice-chair at the meeting.

The Aug. 17 meeting almost feels like déjà vu, as officers were selected and two new members, Merit McCrea and Lang Slig, joined the board around the same time last year.

Sabrina Kranz and Shoham Yaniv were appointed to the Santa Barbara Harbor Commission at the Santa Barbara City Council meeting, June 6. They will fill the two vacant seats, making the seven-member commission whole again.

“Harbor Commission terms are four years but these two are filling in for Commissioners that left before the end of their term, so Sabrina’s term technically ends on Dec. 31, 2017 and Shoham’s term ends on Dec. 31, 2019,” Santa Barbara Waterfront Director Scott Riedman informed The Log. “They start in August when we seat them at their first meeting.”

Both Kranz and Yaniv are part of the Santa Barbara Outrigger Canoe Club (SBOCC). Kranz is the current SBOCC president, and Yaniv is a board member.

Kranz and Yaniv join the Harbor Commission on the heels of back-to-back meeting cancellations in June and July. Riedman said cancelation of a June meeting is “typical” due to commissioners’ vacations and a “light agenda.”

“What caught us by surprise in July is we didn’t have a chair or vice-chair,” Riedman continued. “All of a sudden neither of them were available,” so the commission did not meet for two months in a row.

Both Jim Sloan and Bill Spicer have completed their annual term as chair and vice-chair, respectively; both were elected July 21, 2016. They are both eligible for re-election. Nominations and an election for chair and vice-chair are on the agenda for the August meeting.

Updates on events and construction projects will also be on the agenda for the next meeting as well as an appeal on a slip termination. Construction projects are minimal in the harbor during the summer, according to Riedman.

“We have a slip termination pending, but it’s not a real urgent issue,” Riedman stated.

Parimal M. Rohit photo