Marina Chief Will Retire From County Harbor Dept. : Government: Ted Reed says clashes with Supervisor Gloria Molina had nothing to do with his decision to quit, which takes effect next month.

After a long and sometimes stormy stewardship of Marina del Rey, County Beaches and Harbors Director Ted Reed confirmed Friday that he will retire next month, ending a 33-year career in Los Angeles County government.

Reed said he informed Supervisor Deane Dana the day before Thanksgiving that he is stepping down as overseer of the marina and county beaches because of health considerations.

The announcement came one day after Supervisor Gloria Molina once again sharply criticized Reed for his handling of the publicly owned marina. In recent months, Molina has clashed repeatedly with Reed, questioning his approach to managing one of the county’s only profitable enterprises.

But Reed, 59, said his public clashes with Molina were not a factor in his decision to retire Dec. 9. “I’ve really been planning it for quite some time,” he said.

Reed said he plans to retire to a ranch in the Ozarks area of Arkansas where he plans to raise purebred cattle and possibly develop condominiums and a country club. He said his county pension will provide about $110,000 per year, or 87% of his current salary.

A veteran public servant, Reed has long been a prominent member of the county bureaucracy’s upper echelon. After losing out in a competition for the county’s top post of chief administrative officer in March, 1985, he left the Hall of Administration to assume command of the Department of Beaches and Harbors in Marina del Rey.

In that post, he oversees the largest man-made small craft harbor in the world. The entire marina is owned by the county. Developers of the marina’s apartments, hotels, offices, restaurants, shops and boat slips operate there on long-term leases with the county.

Reed said his greatest achievement was negotiating the conversion of the high-rise Marina City Club from apartments to condominiums and ending a seven-year fight in the 1980s between marina leaseholders and the county over rent adjustments.

But Reed’s tenure also has been marked by controversy, including a secrecy-shrouded 1989 deal approved by county supervisors in which unidentified foreign investors bought a major stake in the marina empire of developer Abraham M. Lurie. The Times later identified the lead investor as billionaire Saudi Arabian businessman Abdul Aziz al Ibrahim, brother-in-law of King Fahd.

Since then, Ibrahim and Lurie, the marina’s biggest leaseholder, have been locked in a bitter battle in federal bankruptcy court for control of leases on nearly 20% of the marina.

The separate Marina City Club project also has been forced into bankruptcy, and vacancy rates for boat slips soared to record levels as the recession deepened.

Molina has raised numerous questions about the county’s handling of the marina and its valuable waterfront leases.

An investigation by The Times published in April found that the county has been leasing prime waterfront properties in the marina for less than fair market value to small group of leaseholders, many of whom were contributors to supervisors’ campaigns.

Top Department of Beaches and Harbors officials, including Reed, also have received thousands of dollars a year in gifts from marina interests. Reed received free memberships in a dining and athletic club, a yacht club, and lodging and food at various Ritz-Carlton hotels and resorts.

Molina’s latest criticism of Reed came Tuesday as the supervisors considered a series of contracts with outside appraisers. Their findings will be used along with recommendations by leaseholders’ appraisers in determining the fair market rent for the next 10 years on 16 marina properties.

During discussion of the appraisal contracts, Molina told Reed that the county would end up losing revenue if new long-term lease payments are based on the current depressed market. “Otherwise,” she said, “those people with those unbelievable leases at Marina del Rey get another windfall from us.”

Noting that the financially strapped county needs money for health care programs, Molina admonished Reed: “Your job is to help us make money there.”

After seven years on the job, Reed said in an interview that county officials have “more awareness that (the marina) is a pure business enterprise.”

Don Knabe, Dana’s chief deputy, said no decision has been made on whether Reed’s successor will be hired from within the ranks of county government.

Knabe said Reed has been talking about retirement for more than a year. “There has been a lot of turmoil out there,” Knabe said. “Under the circumstances, we think he did a good job.”