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Harbormaster presents problems fixing conduit, boards

ALPENA — Heavy ice at the harbor in Alpena the last several winters has led to damage to a conduit which houses electrical lines that run along the main dock. The city filed an insurance claim for the damage and received about $14,000 to get the repairs made.

Harbor Master Don Gilmet said the old conduit was not made to have any flex and when the ice in the harbor pushed against the docks, it caused them to move and break and crack the conduit. He said although there was no damage to the lines inside, they couldn’t be left exposed and replacement of the housing was needed. The work has been completed.

The city was forced to pay its $5,000 insurance deductible for the claim, but Gilmet said there was that amount budgeted for repairs anyway.

“When the docks were installed in in the late 1980s they just used solid metal pipes and there is no give to them,” Gilmet said. “When we get a lot of ice the docks move and they were damaged. There wasn’t an issue that anyone could get injured or it would short out, but we couldn’t leave those things hanging down in the water.”

The new conduit will be able to withstand the docks moving several feet up or down or side to side, Gilmet said.

Gilmet said overall the harbor and marina are in good shape, but there is still more work that needs to be done in coming years. He said a bunch of the boards on the docks were replaced this year because they needed to be taken out to fix the conduit, but there are many other sections of boards which will need to be addressed.

“It is constant maintenance at the harbor,” he said.

Gilmet said he would like to see a project put into the Capital Improvement Plan in which a specific amount of money was set aside each year for new wood on the docks.

“It would be nice to do a little each year so we don’t get hit where we have to do it all at one time,” Gilmet said. “It would probably cost $55,000 to replace all of them at once and that wouldn’t be good.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached via email at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5689. Follow Steve on Twitter ss_alpenanews. Read his blog, Upon Further Review … at www.thealpenanews.com.

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