Members of the Fairhope Harbor Board asked for the city council’s approval last week to move forward on gathering information to seek bids to address safety and maintenance needs at Fairhope’s marina.

Harbors Board member Skip Jones told the council they had conducted an assessment of the entire facility and have several recommendations for the council.

“We went out and looked at every slip down there, as well as the bulkhead, and came up wit ha list of things that we think need to be done for safety reasons and to increase the usability of all of the slips,” Jones said. “What we’re showing you here is for the repair of the entire harbor to bring it up to acceptable standards for what we need to be able to lease out for.”

Jones said there were some slips that had some electrical issues that needed to be brought up to city code standards and also questioned whether the fuel dock needed some improvements.

“We get hundreds of visitors at the fuel dock each year, yachts cruising into our marina and it’s not the most aesthetically pleasing calling card to put out there for our city,” Jones said. “There are also some functionality issues that need to be addressed there.”

Jones said the Harbor Board wanted permission to work with an engineering firm to get details on what a potential restoration project could entail, including dredging, work to the seawall, slip maintenance and upgrades and potential changes to the fuel dock.

Council President Jack Burrell said he felt it was something that likely needed to be done.

“And I think we’d see a return on our investment immediately,” Burrell said.

Other council members agreed.

“This is something we needed to have done yesterday,” Councilman Rich Mueller said. “The sooner we can get to work on this, the better.”

Councilman Kevin Boone, who is the council liaison for the Harbor Board, said the proposal being sought was within lines with existing cost predictions.

“The money has already been appropriated, so we’re ready to go on this,” Boone said. “The price is actually lower than what we had budgeted, so it’s a win-win for everyone as far as we’re concerned.”

A proposal to authorize Mayor Time Kant to negotiate a fee schedule with an engineer for the project will likely move forward at the council’s meeting later this month.