11/9/13 Eureka and the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District are looking at purchasing a dredge to save money and clean out the marinas more often. The Eureka City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to send a conditional letter of intent for the potential purchase of a dredge in partnership with the district, but is not committed, Public Works Department Director Bruce Young said. City staff met with the owner of the dredge that was used in 2007, who is about to liquidate his holdings in a dredging company based out of Nehalem, Ore., he said. The sale would include multiple pieces of equipment: support vessels, piping a booster pump and just about everything that is needed to operate it. “I don’t want to have any unnecessary expenditures going out at this time,” Councilman Mike Newman said. “I want to proceed on this in a cautious manner. It looks like an opportunity to help with something that has to be done on a regular basis, and it sounds like at the outset it could save some money there, but I want to examine all aspects of a purchase.” The last time the city and Woodley Island marinas were dredged in 2007, the bill came to $3.2 million, according to bar pilot Tim Petrusha. A dredge would cost $1.2 million, without factoring in operational costs. “If you consider what it would cost us per yard to dredge after this purchase, it would be about $7.50 per cubic yard,” Petrusha said. “If you look at what we paid before, it was closer to $11.54 per cubic yard.” Councilwoman Marian Brady said she thinks the city should explore the possibility. “If it makes sense financially, I think it’s great,” Brady said. The purchase would also allow smaller dredging projects to be conducted on a yearly basis, instead of one large project every seven to 10 years. “We could do it every year, if that was part of the plan, instead of waiting seven years to do it,” Petrusha said. “Really by the fifth year, we really need to have it dredged.” The harbor district would finance part of the apparatus and use funds from a dredge surcharge fee charged to all tenants of the marina to pay for the purchase, he said. Eureka is working to identify funding possibilities, according to city staff. “We believe this is a very good opportunity to obtain something, if that’s where we want to go,” Young said.Read Original Article
