No progress has been made to repair the county’s crane that was damaged in a fire three weeks ago.

The crane, which is owned by Warren County but operated by Watco Companies LLC, is used to move products for a number of different local industries. It was repaired in January before a fire put it out of commission in mid-February.

At Monday’s Board of Supervisor meeting, county engineer John McKee said no developments had been made on taking steps to repair the crane. Board president Richard George expressed his frustration in the way the entire incident has been handled with Watco.

“The tenants have failed to respond as one would expect them to and it’s a big disappointment,” George said. “It’s an injustice to the tax payers of Warren County.”

Watco holds the insurance policy on the crane. George said at some point a decision was made that the tenant of the crane would carry property and casualty insurance. He said that agreement may have sounded good at the time, but now it is clear the contract causes issues.

“What it actually creates is a barrier between you, who own the property, and your ability to have it repaired timely because you’re not dealing with the insurance company, but the insurance company is responsible for repairing your property,” George said. “That’s not a good situation. It’s ripe for trouble.”

District 3 supervisor Charles Selmon inquired about the communication problems between the county and the Watco and brought up the possibility of having to find a new managing company to operate the crane.

Port commissioner Wayne Mansfield answered Selmon by saying his priority is getting the crane running again. Once the crane is running, he said it might be a good idea to reassess the contract with Watco, but he said that decision would have to come from the Port commissioners.

“It’s very disappointing because I’ve had a few conversations with Watco and they’re not offering any strategy or anything,” Mansfield said.

He said the attorneys for the Port and Watco have been in contact and it was established that Watco would have someone look at the crane on April 4.

“Which in my mind is totally unacceptable,” Mansfield said. “That’s well over a month and a half out, and we continue to pay an abatement to them.”

By contract, a fee is paid to Watco everyday the crane is out of commission; however, the Port’s attorney has notified Watco the abatement will not be paid after March 15 because it is believed a month is more than enough time for the company to have developed a plan for repairs.

McKee suggested bringing in a professional engineer from the company Automated Power to assess the crane and give the county answers as to a cause of the fire, a list of what needs to be repaired and how much it will cost.