Completion of Coal Dock Park railing delayed

A worker took a break from installing railing in Port Washington's Coal Dock Park last year. The last phase of the project, which will extend the railing the full length of the promenade, is to be completed in August. Press file photo
Port Washington residents who have waited patiently for the railing along the Coal Dock Park promenade to be installed will have to wait just a little longer than expected this year.
Aldermen had been expected to approve a contract to install the railing last month, but instead they rejected the bids due to a problem with the advertisement seeking bids.
Public Works Director Rob Vanden Noven said he discovered the issue when only two bids for the project were received by the city.
He said he called Badger Railing, which was the low bidder for the last phase of the project, to see why the firm didn’t submit a bid this time.
Vanden Noven said he was shocked when the company told him the bids weren’t due until Thursday.
When he checked the advertisement for bids that the city published in Ozaukee Press and the Daily Reporter, Vanden Noven said, he discovered the deadline was listed as Tuesday, April 19.
Tuesday — the intended deadline — was April 17.
City Attorney Eric Eberhardt recommended the Common Council reject the bids and seek new ones due to confusion over the deadline.
The aldermen agreed.
Since Coal Dock Park opened four years ago, residents and the city’s Parks and Recreation Board have advocated for a railing along the promenade, saying it is an essential safety device in an area where there’s nothing to prevent someone from tumbling off the dock into the lake, where strong currents are common.
Although the city installed about 500 feet of railing along the west end of the promenade last summer, about 543 feet on the eastern end of the walkway remain open to the water.
The estimated cost to complete the railing is $90,000. The city received a $45,000 Department of Natural Resources Recreational Trails grant for the project, and Be-3, a local fitness group, has donated $13,000 for the railing.
The remainder of the funding will be borrowed by the city.
Vanden Noven said the need to seek new bids will add three to four weeks to the project, which was originally expected to be completed by July 20.
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