A View From Harbor Street
By David Buckingham

Your City Staff is here to serve you. Whether working on the streets and parks, providing great sports leagues for our kids, assisting with building permits, processing business licenses, providing medical assistance, keeping neighborhoods and businesses safe through community policing, or providing safe harbor for our commercial fishing fleet – we exist to serve.
While our residents can  — and should — communicate directly with the City Council, your staff welcomes the opportunity to connect directly with you. Have a question, a comment or a complaint about City services? Consider starting with the staff member who can most quickly and efficiently improve our service. Either contact a department head below or use our full staff directory at: www.morro-bay.ca.us to phone other staff directly, too. If you’re not getting the service you require, let me know ASAP.  If I’m not getting the job done – let the Council know!
If your concern or idea is more about policy, let your council members know directly – and consider including me so I can help, too.
Here’s a rundown of our service departments and some of the key staff in each:
Scot Graham has built, and pretty much revolutionized, our Community Development Department over the past nine months. If it has to do with subdivisions, environmental review, building permits, zoning, coastal permitting, signs or any of our various land use plans from the General Plan to the various Specific Plans, Scot and his team are ready to help you figure out how to get your project through the process in a timely manner and in accordance with the local and state regulations that govern development. You can email Scot at: or Cindy Jacinth at . The Community Development Department phone number is: 772-6261.
Chief Amy Christey leads our wonderful, community-focused police department; a super team with a great balance between being a helpful resource for those in need and enforcing the law when it has to be. Be sure to download the new Morro Bay PD app on your phone to easily send a tip, report graffiti and make a call to the PD. You can email Chief Christey at: , or Commander Bryan Millard at: . The non-emergency phone line to reach them is: 772-6225.
The Public Works Department has responsibility for maintenance, streets and parks, engineering services, and for our water and sewer utilities. From public trees to water leaks to grass in the parks, they are who get all that work done. Rob Livick is a professional engineer and leads the Public Works Department. You can email him directly at: or call 772-6569. For maintenance issues at any City facility, email Mike Wilcox at: or call 772-6285.
The Morro Bay Harbor Department, based on comments from our commercial fishermen, is the best on the West Coast. In addition to harbor operations — safety, enforcement, education, beach lifeguards, etc  — the Harbor Department oversees tidelands trust lease activities, providing management of all Embarcadero leases. If it is between the Embarcadero and the Bay, the Harbor Department is responsible. You can contact Harbormaster Eric Endersby at: . Becka Kelly, who oversees the Harbor Patrol, is at: . Lori Stilts coordinates lease and business management and can be contacted at: . Call the Harbor Office at 772-6254.
Boaters can reach the Harbor Patrol on VHF channels 12 and 16.
Chief Steve Knuckles leads our fantastic Morro Bay Fire Department. In addition to fire and rescue operations, the MBFD provides full paramedic coverage for all of Morro Bay. The department is also home to our Fire Marshal, Tom Prows, who provides inspection services for homes and businesses to help us all follow the fire code. In local emergencies, you can follow our emergency operations at: Twitter.com/MorroBayFire. If you have questions about the MBFD you can email Chief Knuckles at: . For particular questions about the fire code, start with Tom at: . The administrative number at the MBFD is 772-6242.
Providing great recreation opportunities in Morro Bay will remain a very high priority and we have a great team in Recreation Services who are committed to that mission.  Karen Sweeny () is the supervisor for sports, aquatics and special events activities (soccer, futsal, beach camp, Rock to Pier, etc.); and Heather Salyer-Frith () coordinates all youth, teen and senior programs, and recreational classes for all ages (Kid’s Club, Rockies, gymnastics classes, etc.).
Celeste English continues to provide great administration in Recreation Services and pretty much knows everything, including facility and park rentals. You can email Celeste at: , or call 772-6280.
Susan Slayton is our director of administrative services, and her main areas of responsibility are finance, human resources and the general operations of the City.  Susan is available for any questions about our city budget — revenues, spending, finances, taxes, for business licenses, and for any other general inquiries about City Hall. You can email Susan at: or call 772-6217.
For questions about business licenses, Jamie Boucher () is the expert. Call Jamie at 772-6294.
Sam Taylor is joining the team in a couple weeks, but his email is already active () and he is actively engaging our residents by phone and email about a variety of topics. His primary goal will be to enhance community conversation and participation.
As Deputy City Manager, Sam will be organizationally equal to the department heads listed above. Sam’s areas of responsibility will run from economic outreach to public engagement and using technology to provide even better service to our residents.  Sam has already started on an update of our 8-year-old website to make our government more transparent and our services easier to learn about and access. Sam’s office number will be 772-6568 (he starts June 1).
I am thankful to have the opportunity to serve you as city manager and, as always, remain available at: . Our amazing City Clerk, Dana Swanson, pulls double duty as my administrative assistant, so if you’re having trouble getting a hold of me, contact Dana and she’ll rattle my cage. You can contact Dana at: , or 772-6205.