It’s back to the drawing board when it comes to leases between the city and entities leasing the space at the city docks.

The Washington City Council, during its meeting Monday, tasked with staff with, once again, reworking leases to incorporate suggested changes. That decision came after a motion to approve the leases, already modified, failed. Council members William Pitt and Richard Brooks voted for approval, but council members Larry Beeman, Virginia Finnerty and Doug Mercer voted against approval.

Beeman wants participants in the Little Washington Sailing School to pay the $30 fee that each youth sports (football, soccer, baseball and other sports) participant pays for using city facilities. Mayor Mac Hodges opposes that suggestion. Mercer expressed concern that the proposed leases waive rental fees. He’s not sure that should be the case.

With the council somewhat divided over terms of the leases, council members returned the leases to city staff for additional modifications.

The proposed, updated leases presented to the council Monday included new information for each watercraft to be covered by the leases and an extension period of one year for each lease.

Under the updated agreements, the sailing school would continue to pay an annual $1 fee to use the entire Dock J. The proposed agreement allows the sailing school to attach two 20-foot-by-40-foot floating docks to Dock F by using mooring lines and pilings. The sailing school uses 14-foot long, center console Avon sailboats.

The $182 monthly rent for the North Carolina Estuarium to use city docking space for its River Roving vessel would be waived under the latest lease proposal concerning the Estuarium. The vessel may not be refueled at the waterfront docks without the prior consent of the city and approval of the city fire marshal. If such refueling is allowed, the boat owner must submit a spill prevention and containment plan to the city prior to the refueling and receive approval from the city.

As for Seatow IBX, one of the proposed leases assigns slip No. 1 at Dock F to the Sea Tow IBX vessel. For providing services to the city docks, Seatow IBX is exempt from paying $182 monthly rent to the city. If Seatow IBX does not provide the specified services, the city may relocate its vessel to another boat slip.

Under the proposed agreement, Seatow IBX would remove debris from the waterfront docks within a reasonable time after receiving such a request from the city or after becoming aware of the need for such removal, and provide reasonable assistance (upon request by the city) to vessels with which the city has existing docking agreements.

One of the updated leases waives the $238 monthly rental fee for the RV/Stanley Riggs, a research vessel owned by East Carolina University and sometimes docked on the city’s waterfront.

The refueling clause that applies to the Estuarium’s River Roving vessel applies to the RV/Stanley Riggs and the Seatow IBX vessel.