PORT OF S.D. SELECTS DEFENSE EXECUTIVE AS NEW CEO
Stuyvesant joins agency after decades with Navy in military, civilian posts
Joe Stuyvesant, executive director of Navy Reg ion of the Southwest, has been named president and CEO of the San Diego Unified Port District.
Monday, Por t of San Diego Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of Stuyvesant during closed session. The board is expected to approve Stuyvesant’s f ive-year contract at the Jan. 19 meeting and he is anticipated to star t on Feb. 1.
Stuyvesant, who will receive a salary of $325,000, joins the agency after decades with the Navy in top military and civilian posts, including his most recent role overseeing administrative operations of Navy bases in California and Nevada. The defense executive, for instance, supervised the building of the Navy’s long-awaited new headquar ters, Navy Building One, at 750 Pacific Highway. Previously, he served in the Navy for 30 years, primarily as a naval aviator.
He will replace current CEO Randa Coniglio, who has a salary of $319,384 and is retiring after f ive years in the position.
“As a long time resident of San Diego, I know that the Port of San Diego is a critical environmental
champion and a vital economic engine for Southern California,” Stuyvesant said in a statement. “The port’s superb culture results in a team of employees who are highly productive, resourceful, and who have accomplished an impressive list of successes in support of the people of California. I pledge to build on that in order to enhance this major regional asset.”
Formed by the state in 1962, the San Diego Unified Port District spans 34 miles of coastline from Shelter Island to the border. The district, held by the agency on behalf of the public, includes tidelands in San Diego, National City, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach and Coronado. It’s a self-funded, non-taxing entity governed by a board of seven commissioners who are appointed by their member cities.
Stuyvesant will oversee the agency, which has 555 full-time employees, during a precarious period, as budget shortfalls brought on by the pandemic — an estimated $18 million deficit is projected for the current fiscal year ending June 30 — put stress on once-healthy reserve funds. The port has said that it expects a 45 percent reduction in reserve funds — amounting to more than $40 million — between the end of fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2021, leaving nearly $52 million in rainy-day funds.
“(Stuyvesant’s) character, skills, experience and demeanor will serve us well as we move forward with major projects and recover from budgetary constraints,” Port Chair Ann Moore said in a statement.
At the most recent board meeting on Monday, commissioners weighed dipping further into reserves to abate rent for some of its struggling tenants. The unresolved matter suggests that one of Stuyvesant’s early duties will be to smooth over tenant relationships tested by the por t’s rent collection policies during the pandemic.
The port’s portfolio consists of 800 tenants and subtenants, including waterfront hotels, restaurants, shops at Seaport Village, cruise lines and cargo operators. Most of the commercial tenants pay a minimum amount in rent, with additional rent, or percentage rent, based on sales. Although commissioners have OK’d and extended a rent deferral program, tenants are now asking the agency to waive the minimum rent requirement for the duration of the state’s most recent stay-at-home order. A blanket rent abatement program could cost the port as much as $10.2 million.
Stuyvesant will also preside over the agency as it finalizes its new policy rule book — or port master plan — that will, when completed, inform all future projects in and around San Diego Bay. The planning document is undergoing environmental review, as required by state law.