Lack of barge progress irks some Davenport aldermen – Quad City Times

Fifth Ward Alderwoman Rita Rawson joked that maybe the city forgot to specify the year when it told the Rhythm City Casino Resort to have its barge removed from the Davenport riverfront by March 31.

The lack of movement is no longer a laughing matter for some on the Davenport City Council.

Rhythm City was able to find a taker for the barge in the city of Keokuk, but the City Council learned Tuesday during its management update meeting that the process to remove it willtake a minimum of a two more weeks.

"We're disappointed they are not further along," Alderwoman Kerri Tompkins, 8th Ward, said. "This should have been executed months ago."

Rhythm City was initially given a deadline of March 31 to remove the barge and structure atop it after the City Council elected to pursue land-based development.

The Council had received two proposals from U.S. Inland Marine Inc. and Restoration St. Louis with development ideas for the barge, but the proposal lacked a certain "wow" factor.

After the March 31 deadline passed, Rhythm City was without any concrete offers so it requested and was granted an extension so it could find a city in eastern Iowa to donate the barge.

The city of Clinton passed on the idea after finding the cost to move and operate the structure cost prohibitive, but the Rhythm City was able to reach a deal with Keokuk in May.

The process, however, has seen its fair share of delays since.

High river levels prevented movementbecause the barge would not have navigated past the 54-foot clearance at the Interstate 280 bridge.

The delay is barge traffic then caused the cost to move it to skyrocket, prompting Keokuk to wait until prices subsided.

Finance Director Brandon Wright said he was still awaiting news from Keokuk City Administrator Aaron Burnett, who indicated was expecting proposals for moving the barge to come in.

Wright said that the acceptance of a contract, however, would require approval from the Keokuk City Council, which would draw out the process at least two more weeks.

The new timeline was not what the aldermen wanted to hear.

Alderman Mike Matson, 7th Ward, uttered expletives in complete disbelief.

After City Attorney Tom Warner said the city planned to speak with Keokuk officials, Matson interrupted and said "We've been planning on talking to them for a while."

Matson said the city needed to "put some teeth" into its actions.

"Put a $10,000 fine every day that passes August 15," Matson said. "Seriously, I'm ready to bring that to Council to do something like that. This is ridiculous that this is taking so long."

City Administrator Corri Spiegel said that if the process did not progress quickly enough for the aldermen, she would schedule for Burnett to address the Council on Aug. 15.

"Because there was another government involved, we were trying to be a good partner in allowing them to mobilize at a pace they were comfortable with," Spiegel said.

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Lack of barge progress irks some Davenport aldermen - Quad City Times