Keokuk has invested about $250,000 so far in its entertainment barge, which is docked along the Mississippi River south of Lock & Dam 19. The city had some big ideas for the barge, but it appears those ideas will never come to be following a recently completed inspection of the watercraft.
Keokuk has been trying to find someone to develop the barge, be it for meeting space, restaurants, shopping, or even a bed & breakfast. To aid in that effort, the city council voted on Dec. 20, 2018 to hire Ocean Technical Services, LLC to inspect the barge.
A report from city staff at the time said this would be the first inspection of the barge since 2013. Keokuk, under the direction of then-City Administrator Aaron Burnett, purchased the barge for $1.00 in mid-2017 from a casino based in the Quad Cities.
Current City Administrator Cole O’Donnell said the inspection is complete and the results are dire.
O’Donnell said in a memo to the Keokuk City Council and Mayor Tom Richardson that the preliminary report shows the barge’s hull is “degrading rapidly” with several holes allowing water to flow inside. He said the estimated cost to repair the hull is $10 million.
“That does not include transporting it to a dry dock facility or fixing some of the other problems he found while doing his inspection,” said O’Donnell, adding the other problems included a broken wastewater holding tank and possible steel corrosion at the top of the barge.
O’Donnell said as a result of the report, the city will stop making any improvements to the barge.
“I have told the engineers and architects who are working on plans to connect the three gangways and get power and everything else restored to the facility… I have told them to cease with their planning,” said O’Donnell.
O’Donnell said he does not believe Keokuk will be able to sell the barge in its current condition, so he said the city will try to auction items such as furniture and equipment the previous owner left in the barge. And he said the barge itself will be offered for scrap.
O’Donnell said if the Iowa DNR allows the barge to be torn apart on-site, Keokuk might be able to recover some of the money it has spent on it. But he said there is a chance the barge will have to be scrapped off-site.
“That increases the cost to them,” said O’Donnell. “It reduces any profit from scrap they might receive, so at that point, it may be where we have to pay someone to get rid of this.”
Keokuk is in the process of borrowing several hundred thousand dollars to pay for the previously-mentioned entrance ramps and utility connections.
O’Donnell said Keokuk might follow through on that plan, in case the city has to pay to have the barge hauled away. He said that would not affect taxpayers because the money would be paid back using TIF funding.
O’Donnell said much of the roughly $250,000 the city has invested in the barge was used to float it downriver from the Quad Cities to Keokuk. That money came from hotel/motel tax revenue.
