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City prepares to bring marina operations in‑house April 1; manager reports revenue gains and large bad‑debt write‑off
Summary
Deputy City Manager Jeremiah Glisson and Marina General Manager Chris Ferguson said the commission approved bringing the marina in‑house effective April 1, reported stronger revenue year‑over‑year but noted a roughly $74,000 bad‑debt write‑off tied to a prior vendor, and outlined transition tasks including contract migration and software changes.
Jeremiah Glisson, deputy city manager, told the Waterfront Advisory Board the City Commission voted to bring marina operations in‑house and set an April 1 transition date; staff have begun onboarding and migrating contracts and permits.
Chris Ferguson, the marina general manager, presented a financial overview showing year‑over‑year gains: gross revenue roughly $129,000 ahead of last year, transient revenue about $58,000 ahead and net fuel revenue about $20,000 ahead. Ferguson said operating margin is about 31–32% and the marina is currently about $130,000 under budget for the year after timing effects.
Ferguson reported a sizable bad‑debt charge tied to the former contract operator: "It's, it's a painful number, it's dollars 54,000 that we're writing off for this year. There was about another 20,000 last year. Total amount that is being written off is $74,000," he said. Ferguson told the board the city attorney has been in contact with the contracted company (OASIS) and is pursuing possible legal recourse.
Staff also described operational changes: replacing the Marina Go payment platform with Docua/Dockwell to reduce processing fees (from roughly 8.4% to about 3.5% plus $0.15 per transaction), a projected annual savings on card fees in the neighborhood of $150,000, and the need to rewrite leases and migrate permits and vendor information into the new system before April 1.
Ferguson provided project updates: the dinghy dock rehabilitation is scheduled to begin about April 15 and finish by the end of May; a mooring field rigging replacement will increase moorings from 14 to 16 within roughly 60 days; and surplus Aqua Bikes will be sold online in late April/early May.
Board members asked whether the city attorney was pursuing collection against Oasis and raised operational questions about fuel capacity and tank life; staff confirmed legal follow‑up and said the city is investigating options to improve fueling throughput and dispenser performance.
The board did not take action on operational items at this meeting but asked for continued updates as the April 1 transition proceeds.
