ESCANABA — Boaters who previously parked their boats in the Escanaba Marina’s L-dock and were displaced by high water levels were given a break on slip fees for the current year by the Escanaba City Council Thursday despite the objections of Harbor Master Larry Gravatt.

The L-dock, which has electrical access, flooded in 2019 due to record-setting high water levels on Lake Michigan. Because electricity at the dock could not be turned on and the surface of the dock was underwater, Gravatt agreed to move the four or five affected power boaters to slips and charge them the same rate they had been paying at the L-dock for that season.

With water levels predicted to be above 2019 levels in 2020, the L-dock remained out of commission this season, and in the spring, the displaced boaters were sent bills for the slips they are now occupying. Because the city raised the per-foot fee and boats required larger slips than their spaces on the L-dock, the boaters faced increases of more than 20 percent over their 2019 rates.

The affected boaters first addressed the issue when the bills were sent out earlier this year, when the marina was still closed and Gravatt was on his annual winter vacation out of the area. At that time, a special meeting of the Harbor Advisory Committee was held without Gravatt to look at how slip rates were being calculated. A fee increase was approved at that time for all boaters using the marina.

After the meeting had ended, some individuals representing the city, including Council Member Karen Moore, met with the displaced boaters who raised their frustrations with the higher fees. At that time and with the knowledge and approval of City Manager Patrick Jordan, an agreement was reached guaranteeing the boaters a lower rate.

“After the meeting the group of boaters — now I’m talking about the displaced boaters — we kind of made an agreement with them because they were upset at the time and we thought that, at the time, water this year was anticipated to be as high or higher, as it was last year,” said Moore. “So we made an agreement with them that because they were displaced, that they would be charged the fee that they were charged last year plus the increase — the general increase.”

Gravatt, who took issue with claims by the displaced boaters that services were not up to par at the marina and argued it was unfair to give the boaters — many of whom he did not believe would drop their boats this year — lower slip fees than their neighbors.

“We’re at this, ‘Can I give somebody a deal?’ I have — I do not believe in giving people deals. That just doesn’t work. When I first started this job there were tons of deals out there on the marina. It took me a long time to clean it up so that everybody was paying what they should be, what their neighbors are paying, what the guy next to them’s paying. You know? We don’t give favors here,” he said.

He also felt it was inappropriate to enter into any agreements after a meeting had ended, that he had been excluded from the meeting when he is the marina’s manager, and that the council was taking action on an issue that should have been under his jurisdiction.

“The Harbor Advisory voted to increase the rates and then, after the meeting was done, they walk outside and a few people got together and said, ‘You know what? We’re going to give you this deal.’ Ok, first of all, they had the Harbor Advisory Committee sitting right there. If they were going to make a deal, they should have gone through the Harbor Advisory Committee and not gone out into the hallway and made a deal. That’s not how we do things,” Gravatt said.

Despite admitting the agreement with the boaters was made outside of the meeting, Moore took issue with Gravatt’s claims of deal-making.

“Afterwards, when I found out what the real problem was with the L-dock, this is after the meeting, then that’s when it happened. So we weren’t making any, you know, deals out of the meeting or anything. It was mostly like a discovery of what the real problem was and then the solution was presented there and it was, it was discussed and approved by the city manager and that’s how we went forward because I thought ‘this is a good way to move forward without the controversy.’ So that’s how it happened,” she said.

Others on the council supported giving the displaced boaters the agreed upon rate for the current season. Council Member Ralph Blasier agreed with Moore that it would be wrong to go back on the agreement, Council Member Peggy O’Connell argued against changing the arrangement on the idea it could cause boaters to leave the marina, and Mayor Marc Tall said a single season of the rates was a compromise that could be revisited next year. When it came to a vote, the agreement with the displaced boaters was approved unanimously.