Commissioner Says FWC Went behind County’s Back to Select Derelict Boat Contractor

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

A state agency took its sweet time and seemed fickle about choosing a bidder to remove 13 sunken boats from the waters of Levy County but then decided quietly behind the county’s back to select a company.

Levy County Commissioner John Meeks said Tuesday he wasn’t happy about the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s method for picking a contractor after turning down all the bids county staff twice secured.

“Now this is trash. There ain’t no two ways about it. That is trash,” said Meeks. “I just wanted the public to know what happened. If that can get it gone and the rest of it gone, great. I’m glad they’re going with it.”

Meeks said he learned FWC had changed course and picked Sea Tow, a firm in Steinhatchee, FL to remove the vessels when he got a surprise call from the contractor.

Speaking at this week’s county commission meeting, Meeks said Sammy Royal of Sea Tow called a day or two after the June 7 Levy County Commission meeting and asked for permission to use a county boat ramp to stage a salvage operation for removing a sunken concrete boat on the Waccasassa River.

Meeks said he was caught off guard by the call. He told Royal he couldn’t make that decision on his own. He would have to take it back to the full board for a decision.

“I said really? How are you doing that?” Meeks said. “He said, ‘FWC contacted me and said they wanted me to remove all those boats on the list.’ I said, “Do what? And he said, ‘Yeah, they have plenty of money to do it.”

“So those jokers used our people (Procurement Coordinator Alicia Tretheway and others) and told us it was too much money, so we couldn’t get any credit for doing it,” Meeks said. “So, they went behind our back and did it – hired a contractor, paid the same amount of money as the bid lists, and told us it was too much.”

Meeks’ criticism of FWC popped up when a motion was on the floor to consider giving Sea Tow permission to use a county boat ramp to remove the sunken concrete boat from the Waccasassa River.

He said county staff went through a great deal of trouble trying to get bidders for the 13-boat salvage operation but couldn’t seem to please FWC. He said Spotlight Founder Linda Cooper had asked to have the issue brought back for further board consideration, but he said it came back to the board in another way when Royal called him.

Meeks made it clear he wasn’t happy about FWC’s methods.

“We do all the legwork and we hired contractors on this list. FWC said that’s too much so we pulled it back out to bid again. Then there was Sammy Royal. He says he can do it for less than that. We followed procedures and we had to go out and rebid and we got a lower number and they said it’s still too much,” Meeks said.

Meeks wasn’t complaining about Royal, the contractor hired by FWC to remove the 13 sunken vessels. He was complaining about how FWC did an about-face without telling the county what was happening.

Meeks said the sunken concrete boat is like a shrimp trawler and is too big to remove from the river without breaking it into pieces.

Meeks said removing a sunken vessel typically isn’t a big issue but this particular boat is just too big.

“They have to destroy it and put it in a dumpster,” he said.