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Commission authorizes engineering inspection of River Delta marina boardwalk after debate over costs
Summary
The Mobile County Commission approved an amendment to the county parks contract to fund an engineering inspection of the River Delta Marina and Campground boardwalk, with staff saying the inspection will cost about $25,000 and is needed before full repair bidding can proceed.
The Mobile County Commission on an agenda vote authorized an engineering inspection of the boardwalk at River Delta Marina and Campground to document structural damage and prepare repair specifications.
County staff said the inspection will cost about $25,000 and will cover roughly a quarter-mile of boardwalk. The inspection is intended to produce the documentation required to advertise and solicit bids for repairs.
Matthew (county staff) told commissioners “it's about $25,000” to inspect roughly a quarter-mile of boardwalk and that the inspection is necessary “so that you can go to the next step for repair work.” He said a contractor previously provided a limited quote to repair only part of the structure, and that the county would need full design and bid documents to proceed with a complete repair contract.
A commissioner who questioned the item expressed concern about the cost and the county’s contracting approach. The commissioner said, “I feel like sometimes we spend money that's unnecessary,” and later warned the county could end up spending “millions of dollars to replace a boardwalk that could be repaired for a little over a hundred thousand dollars, in my opinion.” The transcript does not record a name for that speaker.
County staff responded that the earlier contractor quote covered only a portion of the boardwalk and that the full repair estimate exceeded the threshold that would allow the county to avoid a competitive bid process. Staff also said the original engineering proposal from Thompson Engineering had been negotiated down from an earlier proposal in the roughly $60,000 range.
With the inspection approved, staff said they will move to develop bid documents and solicit contractors; staff noted an increase in contractor interest on recent projects and expressed hope that competitive bids will be received for the repair work.
The commission’s authorization covers a contract amendment to add the inspection work under the Mobile County Park initiative and directs staff to proceed with the inspection and next steps for procurement.
