Dredge contractor: Mission accomplished

County staff will determine today whether the Hernando Beach channel dredging contractor has completed most of the punch-list items at the site and met the criteria for a final end to the long-delayed project.

Although the deadline for completion was Tuesday, "there is certain data (surveys) that will need to be reviewed to determine if the dredge work is complete," Director of Environmental Services Susan Goebel wrote in an email.

Goebel said she expects a media release to be issued later this week.

But as far as Robert Carpenter is concerned, the project is finished.

Carpenter, CEO and owner of BCPeabody Construction Services Inc., said he is so confident that he is demobilizing most of his equipment.

County staff will visit the site today, he said, to review the global-positioning equipment on the dredge excavator to make sure the channel is as deep as the contract required.

BCPeabody is under contract to meet the goal of dredging the channel to 6 feet below mean low water.

"We're very happy that we have accomplished the mission," Carpenter said.

BCPeabody had already met the Dec. 31 deadline for substantial completion but had certain items to finish before the county signed off on the project.

The contractor has spent the last few weeks cleaning up the high areas of the channel.

Carpenter said the channel is 100 percent usable.

Last month, county staff reviewed the latest survey data and found that the contractor had attained substantial completion and — with only a few areas remaining — the channel was roughly 6-foot deep and 60-feet wide.

The dredging project cost $11 million with the state kicking in $6 million. Because of various delays and changes in contractors, the county has been at various times in danger of missing the state deadline and losing the funding.

However, Hernando County was able to get a six-month extension from the state just in case the dredge was not complete by the end of December.

County commissioners are hoping much of their share of the money will be defrayed from the successful litigation of its case against the former dredging company Orion Dredging Services Inc.

Board members believe they are owed some $5 million from Orion, saying the company breeched its contract by not finishing the job on the channel.

Orion representatives, in turn, filed a lawsuit against the county because of withheld money from work done on the dredge project.

Hernando County's dredging project has been ongoing since 1994. The idea was to straighten and deepen the channel to a depth of about 6 feet to make it easier for recreational and commercial boaters.

The channel was last dredged in 1985.

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