Commission agrees to pay fees for climatologist in SGI fishing pier suit

Franklin County commissioners agreed last week to pay the fees for a climatologist who helped the county reach a settlement over damages done to the St. George Island fishing pier in 2012.

In January Franklin County reached a 575 thousand dollars settlement agreement with a company called the Orion group after a barge owned by Orion Marine damaged the St. George Island fishing pier in 2012 during Tropical Storm Debby.

The barge slammed into the pier during the storm and knocked out three sections of roadway, leaving a 165 foot gap in the pier.

Repairing the pier cost about 650 thousand dollars which was paid for through the county’s bridge fund.

Franklin County spent another 100 thousand dollars preparing for litigation.

Under the settlement the county got back about 72 percent of what it paid out.

The board could have taken the issue to court, but would have run the risk of getting even less money - and certainly would have increased its expenses.

Last week the county agreed to pay about 10 thousand dollars to a professional climatologist who the county attorney said was highly instrumental in helping the two sides reach a settlement.

He said originally Orion was only offering about 125 thousand dollars, but as the negotiations went on the settlement went up substantially.

The payment required county commission approval because the board had set a cap of 3000 dollars for professional fees. 

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