Bay Area residents deserve government agencies that work for them – and for the benefit of the environment that we all hold so dear. But the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission works directly against the businesses and citizens it is supposed to serve.

Created in 1965, the BCDC is supposed to regulate development to prevent haphazard bay fill, as well as protect the environment and provide greater public access. Put simply, it regulates the things that make our bayshore unlike anywhere else in the world.

Instead of following its mandate, the BCDC and its staff has used their power to push for fines that have no substance and challenge organizations too small to fight back with unnecessary delays.

Examples are

• Exacting fines against a Bay Area restaurant for using rectangular picnic tables instead of circular ones and installing a metal door mandated by the local fire department.

• Citing a business over allowing the docking of boats by first responders.

• Jeopardizing educational programs for more than 50,000 children at the Marine Science Institute, whose beach restoration project is being threatened, by calling for an unnecessary study after a half-dozen federal and state agencies already approved the project.

Most businesses caught in the BCDC’s crosshairs are forced into out-of-court settlements to avoid lengthy and costly legal disputes, but those who have the resources to legally fight back get justice.

In one successful lawsuit against BCDC, a California Superior Court judge agreed the commission’s staff has been “unnecessarily vindictive” in its way of doing business.

In another multiyear case against a marina, a settlement allowed the marina to proceed with no fines. But the cost to the taxpayer and to the marina over this period was huge.

The BCDC is a prime example of government run amok, using its authority in a misguided way. The numerous egregious fines and lack of transparency has even caught the attention of legislators in Sacramento.

A bipartisan effort led by Assemblyman Kevin Mullin, D-South San Francisco, prompted an independent audit of the BCDC to investigate its enforcement activities, adherence to its mission, funding and operational needs and structure.

Something must change, and fast. To start, we must prevent the BCDC from using funds inappropriately. Next year, it plans to hire enforcement staff using funds explicitly marked for bay fill abatement, which is not the purpose of those funds.

Further, the BCDC secured $3 million from the state’s general fund to move from a modern and serviceable office building constructed in 1999 to an opulent facility completed in 2016. That’s your tax dollars funding a completely unnecessary relocation. In all, the BCDC spends less than 12 cents of each dollar from its $8 million budget improving the bay.

We recommend suspension of all enforcement actions in process – or threatened – until the independent audit has been completed. Additionally, the agency needs a new governance structure. There are currently 27 commissioners on the board, which is far too many to reach consensus and enact real reform.

We believe the mandate of the BCDC is fundamentally good, but this agency has lost its way. We all deserve better, and we won’t stop fighting until this battle is won.

Linda Adams is former secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency. Peter Blackmore, a retired tech CEO, co-founded the San Francisco Bay Stewardship Alliance.