VENTURA : Port District Chief Submits Resignation

Ventura Port District General Manager Richard W. Parsons is resigning after 13 years in the position. He will step down Feb. 21.

Parsons gave the district’s commissioners 90 days’ notice Tuesday, telling them he believed they were headed in a different direction from the board in terms of how the district should be run, Chairman Ernest Thorpe said.

“Fundamentally, he feels that he and the board of commissioners are taking different viewpoints,” Thorpe said.

Parsons and the district’s five port commissioners have been at odds over how the financially strapped district should be streamlined, Thorpe said.

The Ventura Port District has been mired in financial troubles and litigation stemming from a 1993 bankruptcy case.

The district owes developers of Harbor Village about $23 million with interest, and a federal judge ruled last month that the district could be forced to sell some of its land to pay off the debt.

Dredging issues and a host of lawsuits have dogged the agency, even though Harbor Village is earning a profit.

“I think Richard has done an outstanding job in obtaining federal funding . . . and harbor improvements,” Thorpe said. “He is leaving a legacy to the port.”

A subcommittee will start the search for a new general manager after the commissioners outline recommendations for that process at their meeting next week.

Parsons, a 52-year-old Ojai resident, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.