OUR PLACE
Lake Geneva’s west-end piers are fully leased.
The first seven days of business at the lake beach started with two days of inclement weather, generating no revenue. Memorial Day weekend 2022 came around, however, and generated $31,533.00 compared to the Memorial Day weekend in 2021, which only generated $8,321.00, (according to the records published by the city and the Harbor Master.
Wow, that was approximately four times the amount over last year and, with the warm weather, the beach continues to be packed full of paying beachgoers almost every moment of daylight (which is considerable at this time of year). The city’s municipal boat launch is not setting any records this year so far, as revenue is down as well as season pass purchases to use the launch site. Gas prices may be partially to blame. The other issue at the launch site is the ‘honor system’ that is at work, or maybe not at work, in paying when a boat launch attendant is not on duty. There’s a drop box that includes envelopes for payment at each launch and they don’t seem to be being used as they should be. Harbor Master Russel believes this practice should be discontinued and each launch (after attendant hours) should be paid for using a credit card.
The Town of Linn has gone to requiring only credit cards for payment, even when an attendant is on duty. The honor system can be tricky, and a couple of bad apples can affect the results, and that’s also true with the lake quality and the necessity of making sure the lake is not contaminated with any more invasive species.
The Starry Stonewort has already rooted itself into a small part of the lake, and the fight to eradicate it before it kills the lake has been an ongoing struggle. The ‘clean boat clean lake’ campaign is becoming a requirement and the CD# Boat Cleaning Machine is an important tool in the success of that campaign. Last year the CD3 machine was shared amongst the different lake communities and spent time at every boat launch around the lake. The idea was to get the awareness of it and its importance and get people to use it before and after boating in Geneva Lake. This was not the big success that was hoped for, as the machine was barely used. This year a more persistent encouragement will take place. The previous locations in Lake Geneva of the boat cleaning machine were not convenient or monitorable, so this year the machine will be placed more strategically. The CD3 will be in Lake Geneva in about a month so during the middle of the summer, and will be around the lake for two weeks, and then again in September. The Harbor Master believes there is space near Marina Bay Rental that can be protected with a small concrete barrier, but a final decision has not been made about that change yet. The Harbor Master has attended a seminar on the machine, and its importance to the lake, and made sure the launch attendants are aware and trained to check boats before they launch and to not allow the launching of uncleaned boats. The piers, harbor, & lakefront committee was more than happy to leave the final decision up to the harbor master. The other idea the harbor master has is to use a smaller outpost version of the CD3 Machine, which can be mounted in a few different areas, including right next to the boat launch. The outpost version of the CD# is smaller, simpler, and statistically used more consistently at other lakes. The committee was encouraged and intrigued by this idea and Russell is more than happy to bring more detailed information and present more options to the committee at the next meeting.
Winter wind damage.
On April 14th, 2022, a windstorm tore up the gas pier and Elmer’s pier located at the Riviera Pier Complex. Bill Gage came to the last piers and harbor meeting and volunteered to come up with a quote to complete the repairs and raise the piers higher to avoid more damage in the coming rougher weather seasons, which has been needed for quite some time. Steve Russell received the quote three days later and went through it in detail; and was not, apparently, over-impressed, according to him.
There was a lack of information and no guarantee the problems the work was intended to fix would be fully resolved. Russell wanted to make sure Gage had the piers in question usable before Memorial Day Weekend, however. The original quote was for approximately $35,000.00 but this didn’t include the raising of any of the plank supports on the poles of the existing piers. Gage Marine personnel went in and spent a day, or so, on and around Elmer’s piers to get the piers ready enough for the holiday, but the Gage workers also raised the pier plank-supporting structures up to positions higher on the pier poles. The workers presumed that the raising of the pier plank supports had been approved. The cost of the raising, after the fact, was quoted as being an additional $34,000.00, making the total cost of the repairs to the city, if that report holds to be true, totaling $69,000.00. Russell didn’t have the extra money pre-approved and was not sure where the extra funds were going to come from.
Needless to say, the committee was not pleased with the presumption and work done without approval. Harbor Master Russell put the brakes on any additional work. Steve Russell would like to call a meeting with the Elmer’s and Gage operations about how they may be going to rectify the raised pier issue and cost, what work still needs to be done, and discuss the gas pier and the work that still needs to be done there. He would also like to get an expert to come in and explain what should be done with the piers and why. Russell is looking into other pier repair companies, not because Gage doesn’t do good work, but to have a better understanding of how things are done and see if there is a solution that has a clearer, more detailed, and lower cost, and well itemized result. The supposed presumptive work done by Gage Marine is a lingering problem and the communication and procedures, or lack of communication and procedures that caused the work to be done without pre-approval must be addressed.
