One hundred years following incorporation, a 204 page document was presented to the board of supervisors in July 1957, recommending Crescent City’s charter be dissolved. It went on to ask city services be turned over to the County of Del Norte.
The board turned down a motion that would have called for the election of 15 freeholders to draw up a charter for the county. Supervisors Harold Del Ponte, Austin Hunter, and Fred Haight stated that “the county is not ready for such a move at this time.”
Some Del Norte citizens were not content to wait for the right time and notified the board that the citizens could call for an election by petition. When the freeholders were elected, they could draft a charter that would be voted on by county residents.
Charles A. Thunen, member of the advisory council reported that Jack Harper informed them of the immense savings that would result from the change. Thunen, at the time, was principal of Del Norte High, having the school gym named for his following his 1965 death.
Interestingly enough, Harper was also a school district employee. He taught art to students throughout the county, including Gasquet’s Mountain School and Margaret Keating School in Klamath.
Supervisor Del Ponte responded by stating that he didn’t see the point of letting two or three employees go and hiring a $1,000 a month man. Unemployment was less than two percent at that time and many jobs were available in the logging and lumber industries.
As of 2012, only seventeen cities have disincorporated in California’s history, including Long Beach, Hornitos, Cabazon as well as Pismo Beach and Stanton, each of which later reincorporated.
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