The Town of Essex is spending about $53,000 on Colchester Harbour between repairs and a new assessment.
Councillor Bill Caixeiro says the assessment will make council's position stronger in achieving its long-term objective of taking over harbour ownership from the federal government.
"It's just a long process and I want to make sure that when we go knocking on the federal government's door we have the proper documentation and support that will make our case the best case possible," says Caixeiro.
The Ward 3 councillor, which represents the Colchester area, says ensuring harbour viability is key to capitalizing on industries like the tourism-sector.
"There are many tourism dollars out there to be had. We have to do the right thing in our municipality to try to pull as many tourism dollars into our municipality as possible," says Caixeiro. "I see it is a big opportunity that we absolutely want to explore and go after."
The assessment is just shy of $40,000 and will be handled by Landmark Engineers Inc. while the town is chipping in just over $13,000 for repairs to the break wall at the harbour; the federal government is covering the remaining $40,000. Repairs are expected to be complete before boating season begins.
