Ron Rutger

Ron Rutger, of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing the renourishment, said last week that the main Corps office had received the request from contractor Goodloe Marine, Inc. to delay finishing the project.A conference call was set up for Thursday, but the contracting officer was on holiday leave.Rutger said a decision is expected this week.

Goodloe, which began the project just after the Fourth of July weekend, has been plagued by weather-related delays.With a record number of tropical storms and hurricanes last summer, the delays brought the project into winter, where a series of cold fronts have made it impossible for the dredge to accurately dig the sand out of the designated areas northwest of the Island.

Rutger said without the Corps contracting officer on the phone, they discussed the delay and some alternatives, but came to no conclusion.He said the Corps also received Manatee County's request to delay the project until May, when season ends.
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Rutger said one concern they have with delaying the project to May is the fact that they would be working during turtle season, when sea turtles lay their eggs on the beach.

"Safety requirements are not going away," said Ron Rutger, of the Army Corps of Engineers, which is supervising the project.A death on Florida's east coast during a beach renourishment operation has made dredging companies even more cautious, he added.

Ron Rutger, team leader for the Corps, said earlier that if they need more sand, there is no money in the budget to pay for it.

At an earlier meeting, Goodloe asked Ron Rutger, project engineer for the US Army Corps of Engineers, to seek an extension of the deadline.

Ron Rutger, of the Army Corps, verified that Goodloe had put in a survey request.He said a "sizeable portion" of the beach had been eaten away by the weekend storm.

"It looks like a lot of material was pushed up higher onto the beach and some of it is gone," he said."We'll get someone out this week to start on it and it should take three to four days."

Rutger said the beach engineer would have to survey in a new baseline where the old beach meets the new beach then he would have to see where the erosion was worse.He said once the surveyor gets going, he will be able to stay ahead of the renourishment to minimize any delay in the project.

"I expect them to be able to start renourishing by Friday," he said.
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If they find a need for a lot more sand, Rutger said late last week that they would have to find the funding to cover it.He indicated that there is no money left in the federal budget above what was allocated for the original project's requirements.
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Neither Goodloe nor the corps could promise to be able to project where the project would because of variables in the weather, but Chapman and corps engineer Ron Rutger gave him their cell phone numbers and said he could check with them.

The project is closing 2,000 feet of beach at a time, said Ron Rutger, a project engineer with the Army Corps of Engineers.

Corps safety rules prohibit people from entering renourishment work areas, but the rules don't specify how large the area should be, Rutger said.

The work is being done by Goodloe Marine, which is based in Apollo Beach.
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Rutger said the corps has been talking with Goodloe about the concerns, and the company has promised to start reopening stretches of beach this week.
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"We don't like to direct the contractor on how to run his work area," Rutger said."I'm talking to him every day.They know the pressure's on."

The project's benefit will be worth the temporary inconvenience, Rutger said.

Ron Rutger, the project engineer with the Army Corps of Engineers in Tampa, said Friday that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are developing criteria before the contractor begins pumping sand again.
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Rutger said he hopes the two state agencies will have their recommendations ready by Wednesday so the district office in Jacksonville can make a decision on when to resume the operation.
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Rutger, with the Army Corps of Engineers, said that was his agency's intent as soon as the paperwork in securing a location to store the pipe was completed.

Several hotel and motel operators have voiced their dissatisfaction with the pipes still being on the beach since the job was scheduled to be completed by the end of November.

Ron Rutger, project engineer with the Tampa office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the storm delayed the beach restoration project on Anna Maria Island until at least Friday.

The Corps was to begin pumping sand onto Anna Maria Island beaches last week to replace the sand lost during the 2004 hurricane season.

"We did not finish surveying before the storm hit," Rutger said, "so it will take another week or so to complete it."

Ron Rutger, project engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the contractor has to keep people away form the dredging and heavy equipment.

Rutger said the contractor performing the work, Goodloe Marine Inc., of Apollo Beach, is fencing off about 2,000 feet of beach at a time.

"They're progressing about 300 feet a day," he said, "and should pass by a business in about six or seven days."

Rutger said he will do what he can to encourage Goodloe Marine to shorten the fenced-in work area.

"But if the Corps begins to tell him how to do the job," he said, "he may start making claims, which will end up costing more."

"When they try to put the pipes together the high waves bend the pipes, forcing them to bring them back up to cut and weld into one piece," said Ron Rutger, project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is paying for the restoration.

"The other thing is the liability potential because of the Jones Act, which provides generous benefits to employees if they are injured," Rutger said, "So (Goodloe) has to be very cautious."
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Rutger, of the Corps of Engineers, said Goodloe told him there was no place to store the pipe.
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If the weather cooperates, Rutger said the contractor should be finished within 60 days.