Another repair, more frustration

The Port Washington Common Council on Tuesday reluctantly approved hiring Midwest Stairs and Iron to install a removable railing at the breakwater gateway at a cost of $13,449.

Several aldermen said they are reluctant to depend on a system designed by Foth Infrastructure and Environment, the city’s breakwater consultant, noting that a January 2020 gale resulted in the loss of the ramp connecting the gateway to the steel cell structure and portions of the railing.

Foth and Terra Engineering split the cost to replace the ramp, and a temporary railing was installed last year.

But further damage was done to the ramp and railing during a storm this winter. 

“I’m just not real excited for us to spend more money fixing what Foth designed,” Ald. Dan Benning said. “I’m not getting a good sense it was well designed or well constructed.

“I don’t have a lot of confidence in their designs. We paid a lot of money and got things that are broken or ripped apart every year. I don’t want to be back here in a year saying the railing’s gone.”

Ald. Mike Gasper concurred, saying he, too, is “very skeptical” of Foth’s designs.

However, he added, Foth is designing the placement of additional armor stone along the gateway and working to obtain the stone at no cost to the city — work that will help break up the force of the waves.

The cost of that, Gasper noted, is more than the $13,000 pricetag for the railing.

“In this case, that’s not a bad deal,” he said.

City Administrator Tony Brown also noted that Foth told the Board of Public Works that it designed the gateway project “to a budget, a budget defined by the city. On some level, we got what we paid for.”

Foth, he added, has helped the city obtain more than $5 million in grant money to pay for the breakwater project.

Because the proposed new railing would be removed from December through April, Brown added, it’s not likely to be damaged like it has been in the past.

The breakwater would be closed during  the winter while the railing is removed.

The new railing isn’t the only breakwater project on the city’s docket this year. Michels Corp of Brownsville will be completing work to make repairs to the far east end of the breakwater.

Money from that project’s contingency fund will be used to pay for the railing repairs, officials said Tuesday.