Orange Beach city leaders are looking into constructing their own lifeguard towers after shipping costs for pre-made structures far exceeded expectations.
Aquatics Director Melvin Shepard told the council shipping for the lifeguard towers the council had been discussing would be $4,331.40, though the cost would be split with funds given by the volunteer fire department board.
“When I first started speaking with the agency that builds the lifeguard towers and asked for shipping costs, he could not give me concrete costs,” Shepard said. “They’re oversized, and they have to be permitted from California to here in each state.”
Shepard said he had approached other areas that had ordered from the same company to try to defray some of the costs, but said he was unsuccessful.
Mayor Tony Kennon said he felt the shipping costs were too high.

“I’m this close to saying I’m tired of messing with them,” Kennon said. “That’s still almost $5,000 in shipping, and I was assuming that shipping was still in the original price.”
The cost for the stainless steel lifeguard tower the city was considering purchasing was almost $34,000 without the shipping costs.
Councilwoman Annette Mitchell said she had asked for city staff to research other lower cost options for the towers.
“We’ve researched some very good wooden structures that are used further down the coast,” Mitchell said. “If it’s okay with everyone, could we just take a step back and look at those?”
She said the wooden structures used by Sarasota County could be constructed for around a third of the costs of the steel ones. Shepard said that option could be one the city could use.
“Sarasota County sent me the blueprints they used to build their towers,” Shepard said. “There may be some adjustments we’ll need made to them that are required for our area, but it’s certainly doable.”
Shepard said he was certainly in favor of looking into the wooden tower option.
“I’m open as far as discussions on this,” Shepard said. “It is a lot of money to ship lifeguard towers - it’s a lot of money period. My main issue with the lifeguard towers is: one, they’re secured and two, when storms come up like this during the summertime, I don’t have lifeguards trying to scurry off the beach into condos or trying to get back to A&P. They can actually just walk inside the tower with the windows shut.”
Councilman Jerry Johnson questioned whether the wooden towers would be susceptible to more vandalism, which Shepard said would be an issue no matter what the city decided to go with.
“Even during the season, the current towers are vandalized, so I can’t say with certainty they aren’t going to be vandalized,” Shepard said. “Storms will be an issue as well, but between $10,000 and $15,000 to build these versus the $40,000 we’re looking at right now.”
Kennon said he felt the wooden towers would be the right way for the city to go.
“I like the wood one more because I think it fits more into who we are,” Kennon said. “We can build them less expensively. It just makes sense.”
The council members agreed, so Shepard said he would talk to the city’s Public Works department and try to get the project moving.

Perdido Pass parking lot and seawall

The council unanimously approved a $218,132.50 bid for repairs to the Period Pass parking lot and phase two of the seawall.
“The timeline is that it will be done before Memorial Day,” Councilman Jeff Boyd said.
The once-popular fishing and sightseeing point under the pass bridge had been closed since 2012 because the structure had been deemed crumbling and unsafe.