ORANGE BEACH, AL – Tom Steber seemed weary, resigned as he contemplated his interactions with BP.

Looking over the Zeke’s Marina complex the general manager could tick off five or six separate claims against the oil giant following the 2010 oil spill related to the marina that are yet to be paid.

This in the wake of Gov. Robert Bentley spending $1.5 million to $1.8 million of leftover BP grant money to renovate a dilapidated beach governor’s mansion in Fort Morgan. A renovation many people feel shouldn’t take place at all.

In the growing controversy created by the expenditure of BP funds in a perpetually cash-strapped Alabama budget, Bentley defended the project in several news account.

Perhaps the most shocking statement to some Gulf Coast residents?

“The needs along the coast have been met,” Bentley said.

Steber expended a tired breath and halfheartedly replied to that assessment.

“Sounds like he’s not in the loop,” Steber said. “Zeke’s has went through a bankruptcy and everything else and still hasn’t been paid. Six claims, six different businesses and none of them have been paid.

“And I’m not interested in antagonizing the governor. We just haven’t been paid. I know that. It doesn’t have anything to do with him. It’s got to do with BP. But it’s hard to believe he’s that far removed from it.”

Bentley Director of Communications Jennifer Ardis was left voice and email messages inquiring about the original source of the BP grant being used, but neither inquiry was answered.

State Auditor Jim Zeigler told Gulf Coast Media he has made a similar request of the governor’s office seeking the original source of the money used for the renovation. He, too, hasn’t received an answer.

“We’ve put in multiple requests to the governor’s office but still have not received any response back from them,” Zeigler said.

Zeigler added that he didn’t feel it was appropriate to spend such an “extravagant amount” on the structure.

“We’ve got hard-working citizens in the Gulf Coast region that have still not been paid BP claims that they’ve been approved for,” he said. “I question how the governor says we have ‘extra money’ if these folks haven’t been repaid for their damage to their businesses and property. It’s shameful this is being allowed to happen.”

Zeigler said he is currently pursuing whether there are any legal maneuvers that can be used to stop the project, but he admits it may be too late to do anything.

As far as the mansion itself a local man with extensive construction experience said money being spent on the renovation is a waste.

Developer Greg Kennedy has been building on the coast for more than 30 years and has several developments in the works right now. He didn’t attend a meeting for prospective contractors vying to win the renovation contract, but he is familiar with the property and renovations in general.

A company owned by Gulf Shores Councilman Phillip Harris won the contract to complete the work.

“It would make more sense to tear it down and build a new place,” Kennedy said. “When you deal with a building that old and has been sitting vacant for that long, rather than totally gut the thing and spend $2 million you could build something brand new, energy efficient, code compliant, wind resistant, everything, for considerably less money.”

Aside from that, Kennedy isn’t exactly thrilled at the use of BP money to pay for the work.

“It’s just a miscarriage, abuse of taxpayer money to go out there do something like that,” Kennedy said. “It’s pitiful. It stinks to high heaven. I don’t think there’s any question.

“The idea of spending $2 million on that old house, it doesn’t make any sense from my perspective and I’ve been doing this all my life.”

While at Zeke’s the disappointment lingers over unpaid BP claims, unfilled promises and pending lawsuits.

“Zeke’s Landing Marina is the biggest one,” Steber said. “T&T Acquisitions, our watersports business. It wasn’t paid. Zeke’s Lady charter boat wasn’t paid. S&S LLC that used to be Geno’s restaurant that closed wasn’t paid.

“Two of them were approved two years ago but we still haven’t got paid.”

Those approved were the World Championship Red Snapper Tournament for about $300,000 and the watersports business for about $1.8 million, Steber said.

A BP officials told Steber the marina should file a large claim, but when actual offer came back it was less than 10 percent of the claim amount. On the charter boat Zeke’s Lady the settlement offer was zero.

 “According to BP’s accountants we had about a $10 million claim on Zeke’s (marina),” Steber said. “Well, they were going to give us $300,000 on Zeke’s so we opted out. Another example is the Zeke’s Lady. We were looking at a $500,000 claim and we were going to get zero so we opted out.”

Those, along with a claim for Geno’s Restaurant, are headed to court. Someday. 

“We haven’t gone to court yet, we just opted out,” Steber said. “Eventually when they get around to getting everything else done then we’ll go to court. Kind of like Valdez. Twenty years from now they’ll get it worked out.”

“It’s funny. They first came out and said they were going to make us whole.

Steber said the needs on the coast have hardly been met.

“I can tell you that Zeke’s had six claims and none of them have been paid,” Steber said.