Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Infrastructure topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Fort Gates Ferry advocates press county for submerged‑land lease, repairs and estimates; board directs surveys and contractor quotes
Summary
Public advocates pressed Putnam County to resolve submerged‑land lease and repair landings at Fort Gates Ferry. The board directed staff to obtain surveys, easement language, submerged‑land lease info, and contractor cost estimates, and to produce a written checklist of legal steps.
Public speakers urged the Putnam County Board of County Commissioners to resolve long‑standing issues around the Fort Gates Ferry landing, including title questions, submerged‑land lease status with the state, and repair costs for damaged landings.
Travis Roberts, who spoke during public comment, said the ferry’s prior lease was cut short after the 2017 hurricane and urged restoration and repair of the landings. "I called Tallahassee... they said it was definitely Putnam County and they had talked to him about what they needed to do," Roberts told the board, and asked for a multi‑year lease extension so the operation could be viable.
County Attorney Commando advised that title and ownership of the landings and adjacent access are not fully resolved and that a new management agreement and a submerged‑land lease with the state of Florida would be required before the county can commit public funds to construction. He outlined a multi‑step checklist: confirm ownership/title, secure ingress/egress easements (if needed), obtain a submerged‑land lease from the state, and develop engineer‑level construction plans and specifications to allow fair bidding.
Deputy Administrator Grimes and commissioners discussed options for design, materials and procurement. Commissioners asked staff to solicit at least two contractor estimates (and to escalate to competitive bidding if estimates exceed procurement thresholds), to gather any existing historical design documents, and to prepare written easement descriptions to present to the adjacent landowner. Commissioner Newbold and others offered discretionary funding support to get baseline estimates.
The board directed staff to return with a checklist and the necessary survey/easement documents and to solicit contractor quotes for the landing repair work. No funding appropriation for construction was approved at this meeting; the actions were to determine feasibility and prepare the county for procurement and grant pursuits.
Next steps: county counsel to provide written checklist and title assessment; staff to obtain survey/easement descriptions and contractor estimates and report back to the board.
