|
|
Barge purchase by Pier Corp.
Banner Daily Update posted Tues. Oct. 9
By Pru Sowers
Banner Staff
PROVINCETOWN – The harbormaster’s office has a new toy.
After losing the first round in an auction for a 14x30-foot maintenance barge, the Provincetown Public Pier Corp. was recently notified that the high bidder had backed out of the deal and the barge was theirs if they still wanted it. Harbormaster Rex McKinsey reaffirmed the Pier Corp’s $26,511 bid for the barge and expects to take delivery from its current owner, the town of Chatham, soon.
The PPPC will need to spend another $15,000 to add equipment that will complete the barge’s renovation to a maintenance vessel used primarily to replace the wooden fender piles on MacMillan Pier. McKinsey wants to replace 40 of the 300 wooden piles every year on a regular maintenance schedule.
“If a contractor came in a did 40 piles a year for us, it would cost $60,000 in today’s dollars. This [barge] will help us save money, be more independent and more importantly, not put ourselves in a deferred maintenance position, which is what happened to MacMillan Pier in the first place,” McKinsey said, referring to the previous dilapidated state of the pier which cost the town $17 million to renovate.
The $26,511 purchase price will come out of the PPPC maintenance reserve fund, which currently stands at approximately $125,000. The remaining $15,000 needed to install equipment for driving piles will come from a grant McKinsey has applied for from the state Seaport Advisory Council.
If the PPPC does not win grant approval, the $15,000 will be funded out of the maintenance reserve fund, McKinsey said.
Selectman Michele Couture, however, was concerned that the PPPC was spending too much on maintaining the pier and not fulfilling its obligations to convert McMillan Pier into a moneymaking operation.
“The pier needs maintenance but a lot of money is being spent by the Provincetown Public Pier Corp., “ Couture said. “If there’s extra money, it needs to come back into town coffers. That’s their responsibility to the town.
|
Turtles benefit from toasty weather
Tides abutters lose challenge
‘Ghost Plays’ are a haunting tribute to Tennessee Williams
Kline house to get DRI review
|
|
|
|
|
Oct 4th, 2007