Saturday, August 15, 2009

Village is Losing Money At Docks

Even my unreliable sources are telling the same story as my reliable ones! The numbers are a little off at the Upper James St Docks.  Last weekend when the docks were full and boats were rafted out 2,3, and 4 wide there were approx. 66 boats spending the night.  Guess how many paid the over night fee?  Approx. 20 paid the over night fee...

So who is repsonsible for this blunder?  If the VB adopts their usual stance.......then the only people to blame are the dock attendants!  The attendants are young adults who have been given the impossible task of keeping track of who paid and who did not, how long has the boat been docked.......and so on.  There is no real system to keep track of all those boats on an extremely busy weekend.  The VB are the only ones at fault.  Our Board is notorious for only talking about what has been done and if it was not done, then who to blame.  The board should have had a tracking system in place for accurate accountability of duration of dockage.  It is not the Dock Attendants fault.  All you gave them to do the job was a T-Shirt and a few verbal instructions and some envelopes. The sign is not for the boaters......it is the detailed job description that our VB gave to the attendants.  I am sure the attendants were told if you forget what to do, just read the sign.


VB it is your fault for not providing a system for the attendants to use.  Trustee Jarvis is the figure head in charge of the docks and the park.  He reports on the activities of these areas at every board meeting.  As of this week Sharon Cullen has taken charge of the docks.  At the begining of the summer DPW Sup. Millett took charge of the Life Guards at the beach.  Jarvis must be in charge of the Pavilion?


Here is a suggestion:

Number every cleat on the left side of the main dock as follows: A1, A2, A3, etc.  Number every cleat on the right side: B1, B2, B3 etc.  Repeat this till you reach the end of the dock.  Then number each slip on the finger docks with a similar code. A small boat may only use cleats B1 and B2, but a larger boat may use cleats B1 through B4 [see how that works?].  Generate some kind of form that can be used to track and tally the boat activity for the day using the coded cleat system. On the form you can include boat make, length, color, reg #  This way the attendants can be accountable for this activity and the proper fees can be collected.  Just a suggestion, and I am sure there are flaws in it.  But it is better than what you have now.....which is nothing!

10 comments:

Kingcobber said...

Johnny T. for Mayor......and Chief of police....and head dock attendant.

Anonymous said...

How about parking meters? Oh that's been done, What's the new COP doing about this.

Hammonite said...

They should have a system at the dock like like they do in some cities with automobiles ( Central Pay Stations) which spit out a ticket based on how long you want to stay and how much money you feed them ( They are date and time coded ) You afix that to the windshield of your boat on the dock side. NO TICKET NO DOCKIE .... The attendant basically goes boat to boat to check the stickers. then whatever they want to do with the expried ones is up to them . Again .. return on investment.

Anonymous said...

The village needs to get its act togetherand find out whos in charge. This place is like a giant sewer everything gets flushed. the old wild west city dodge city had more organization then this village has.

Anonymous said...

as an island owner, ie; Taxpayer, we cannot even find a spot to park, the village dock on bethune is full of out-of-town boats, the short James st. dock is full of Non-Paying arrogant boaters who park cruisers at the end for 2-3 day period, hence blocking the inside slips for use, when asked to move up, i got; " F-you, i got here 1st ". when asked to see a village sticker for bethune i got, " if it wasn't for us buying dinner in town, your taxes would be higher" and walked away. Geez; thanks for buying that Pizza, you gerk.

Hammonite said...

(Anon 11:16AM) or anyone . What would you think about making the smaller docks at Bathune and James St. " By seasonal permit only" Maybe a permit which you would have to present yourself and your boat registration at the village office ? By virtue of this process it might make it accessable to locals primarily. enforcement would be easy . No seasonal sticker, move your boat to the " tourist dock " .

Anonymous said...

Send the Rent-a-cop out at 2:30 am, with the little envelopes which he quietly places on the stern line of each boat then at the docks, and records the reg# in his little book. Flat fees ($20- per night under 20 feet, $30- for 20-30, etc..). A trained monkey could pace off the boats and fill out the envelopes in an hour. Boaters pay their fee in the morning, or they get a "double or triple priced ticket" in the mail. This makes the problem go away, increases the revenue, and gives the cop something to do after the roads are cleared of DWI's.

Anonymous said...

To; Hammonite, good suggestion, seasonal permits for small docks, The bethune St dock actually is for Village Tax payers only, this covers about 15 islands, it would be a good move to have Short James St dock near Uncle Sam for Town tax payers, as there are a lot of islands in the town, but not the village, thank you. comments please,!!

Anonymous said...

Keeping the smaller boats & Jetski's out further, even on the floating docks would help. I've seen 1 Jet Ski take just enough space so nothing else could dock. Keep the dock attendants after 9 & have them check for the permit they put on the rail. They are used and are visable. Pretty easy if you ask me. Oh ya, How about more dock attendants? They'd pay for themselves if they counted all the boats & charged them

Anonymous said...

To : City officials of Alexandria Bay


I have been coming to the 1000 Islands for most of my 59 years. I really do love the Islands. I would like nothing more than to see Alexandria Bay get cleaned up. Is there anyway the State could help with some of the Federal funds they have received. I would like to suggest the following.

1st - Public Rest Rooms - The public rest rooms at the Upper James Street dock really need to be renovated. The one’s at Clayton are much more nicer and are bigger. With multiple people in my family it takes a lot out of our vacation time, when we have to stop at the bathrooms in Alex Bay. There are not enough stalls for us to use at the same time and the bathroom at Clayton tends to be cleaner.

2nd - The Old Home Stead Restaurant - The property is dilapidated and has been a real eye sore for many years. Can something be done to bring the property back to it’s former self?

3rd - Docking.- Why can’t the large boats be rafted? Does it really make any sense for one boat to tie up so much space? Boats that are rafting would split the fee and free up dock space. I have an idea for small floating docks that would go in between the boats that are staying for a long time. No need for the people on the outer boat to walk across the inner boat, They would use the floating dock.
More public docking should be added. Some such places include: on the river at the park and the lower side of the bay. Lengthen the James Street dock would also allow for additional docking.

Thank for your time.