MULGRAVE: Mulgrave Town Council approved a motion to officially terminate a dated property management agreement with the Mulgrave Marina Association to the exclusive rights to manage Venus Cove Parkway and Venus Cove Marina.
Darlene Berthier Sampson, Mulgrave’s CAO, said during last Tuesday’s monthly council meeting – the contract, which was dated 2010 and expired in 2013 – wasn’t renewed before her tenure.
“I have concern that we own the property and what’s in this agreement isn’t necessarily being fulfilled,” she said. “Prior to the beginning of the summer, I received a complaint from a concerned constituent who had injured themselves. Somebody was walking very close to the wharf’s edge, where it’s all gravel.”
There was a significant weak spot and when the person stepped, their foot went quite deep, up to their thigh and Berthier Sampson said they’re lucky the individual didn’t seriously injure themselves.
“Our public works department went down and barricaded it off with pylons and tape as a safety measure,” she noted. “Upon inspection underneath the wharf, it was determined that it didn’t look good as it has begun to undermine.”
Mayor Ralph Hadley agreed with the motion claiming the town has to take action there because the facilities are falling to pieces.
“We used to try to build it back up with rocks and gravel,” he said. “We couldn’t lift anymore crane weight on it because the operators of the crane were sinking in down there.”
Hadley suggested the Mulgrave Marina Association seems to be a non-active group. In the past few years the town hasn’t received any evidence of being invited to meetings, receiving proper documentation of minutes, or that annual meetings were held.
Since the town owns the property and would be liable for anything that occurs there, Berthier Sampson said it would be in their best interest to manage the property as well.