Repairs to peeling mastheads delayed by lawsuit

They hang out over intersections throughout Naples, the paint curling and peeling on the deteriorating horizontal poles over U.S. 41, exposing the gray steel underneath.

For motorists looking skyward while awaiting a green light, it's the green on the mast arms that draws the eye. It's peeling and flaking.

And that has city officials seeing red.

"I think the traffic arms are atrocious," said Naples City Councilman William MacIlvaine, who first brought up the issue four months ago. "It's an egregious insult to the beauty of the city to have to put up with peeling and 'reject' standards."

Ever since Hurricane Wilma ripped through Naples on Oct. 24, the mast arms have worsened. In February, city watchdog Sue Smith complained about the peeling paint on the mast arm at Central Avenue and U.S. 41, the same mast arm MacIlvaine calls one of the worst.

That same week in February, MacIlvaine, who also is chairman of the Community Redevelopment Authority, suggested taking photos of the mast arms to have evidence of the damage so the city could move on, sandblast and repaint them.

But it turns out the city is powerless.

"The state basically asked us for patience," City Manager Bob Lee told council at its Monday workshop.

In a memo to Lee, City Public Works Director Dan Mercer said Florida Department of Transportation officials prohibited Naples from tampering with or painting the mast arms installed by Mastec of North America due to pending litigation against Mastec by FDOT. "They do understand our concerns and frustration, but do not want to tamper with the evidence until a ruling is made," Mercer said in his memo.

State officials don't know when the matter will be resolved, Mercer's memo said, but they will keep Naples updated.

Bob Middleton, who is acting public works director this week, said there are 24 mast arms that have deteriorated, four at six U.S. 41 intersections in Naples. They were installed as part of Phase I of an FDOT project about five years ago and city officials are now awaiting Phase II installation. FDOT officials were here last Wednesday videotaping the evidence, he said.

The deterioration is only occurring on the horizontal sections of the poles, Middleton said, not the vertical area. He pointed out that city officials, including former Mayor Bonnie MacKenzie, have complained about the peeling paint for the several years. Minutes from 2002 support that.

Councilman John Sorey called news of the delay and the city's inability to replace the poles "disheartening."