“X” did not mark the spot for Weeks Marine, which April 1 incorrectly set up shop in Tampa Bay off the north end of Anna Maria Island.
The Louisiana-based company was contracted to dredge sand for beach renourishment on Longboat Key and set up in the wrong location.
Just when it appeared the bungled operation was no more than an eyesore on the horizon, with promises April 5 from Longboat Key officials to Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy the operation would be relocated by April 8, the crew began running its engines around the clock and lights on deck overnight.
The mayor received complaints April 6 from residents and vacation rental occupants that they had to hang blankets over their windows because of the brightness of the lights.
Murphy worked with Longboat Key town manager Tom Harmer to solicit a promise the dredge crew would reduce lighting to what was necessary for safety and limit the noise.
And on April 11, the equipment remained anchored at the same location.
“This whole thing was not done very well. It was just bungled from the beginning,” Murphy said.
When the dredge was first spotted in the bay, a crew member told a sheriff’s deputy they were there to move sand from Bean Point south toward the Sandbar Restaurant, 100 Spring Ave., Anna Maria.
But they were not contracted to dredge there or to pump sand on Anna Maria’s beaches.
And what Murphy called a fiasco from the beginning worsened as overnight winds April 1 dislodged three 100-foot pipes from the dredge and choppy waters carried them to within 10 feet of the beach at Bayfront Park on North Bay Boulevard.
According to Manatee County Sheriff’s Office dispatch logs, deputies received numerous calls early April 2 about loud banging noises.
When the sun rose, deputies found the pipes clanging against one another just off the beach.
Because the pipes posed a public safety risk, Murphy had deputies close off the beach portion of the park until the pipes could be moved.
It took two tugboats and a barge two attempts to retrieve and secure the pipes to the dredge, as within hours of the first effort, the pipes had again loosened from the dredge and floated back up to the beach.
“Complete incompetence on the part of Weeks,” Murphy said April 8 at a city commission meeting. “I’ll tell you, if we ever decide to dredge, we’ll call Weeks last.”