ORANGE BEACH, Ala., — Charter boat Captains in Orange Beach, along with other businesses that have been suffering under the weight of lost income due to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill where hoping that Friday would finally bring them some much needed relief in the form of payments from BP.

At last weeks’ Wednesday town hall meeting, the Orange Beach Community Center gymnasium was filled with primarily boat captains begging BP representative Kris Sliger to get something done.

Sliger told the captains that they would meet with them on Friday, would have adjusters in place to make some decisions, and many business and boat owners left with a hopeful heart.

What came out of the Friday meeting was simply more broken promises and few signed checks.

“In talking with the folks that were there, they felt like it was essentially the same information that they’ve been getting,” said Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon. “They really didn’t see any benefit. Nobody walked out with a pocket full of cash.”

According to Kennon, the meeting turned out to be more of a media event than a constructive gathering to help local businesses.

“I thought it was going to be simple with them bring their adjusters in, sitting down in a room and going through it with you,” Kennon said.

Mayor Kennon was leaving to go out of town for a day to spend some time with his family, the first chance he has had since this ordeal began, and he was hoping that something productive would come from the meeting. Obviously it didn’t and frustrations remain high.

“I am hoping that there were some success stories as a result of it.”

As of Monday, there was still no money in the account that BP executives promised President Barack Obama they would set aside to fulfill claims from affected businesses.

Kennon said that he has no information about when the account might go into effect, and even suggested that he believes Ken Feinberg, the attorney that President Obama put in place to oversee the claims process, is in the dark about it as well.

Since the explosion on April 20 that claimed the lives of 11 workers, Orange Beach has filed approximately $2.5 million and to date has received $200,000.

“We have received less than 10 percent of what we have claimed so far,” said Kennon.

In addition to the frustrations of keeping the city alive without hindering services, Kennon said that he is very concerned about local businesses and what might happen if they don’t receive help soon.

“Every day, non-stop, I hear about businesses that are on the verge of closing up. We are at a critical period. Summer is over, and for many of them, it is going to depend on if and when Mr. Feinberg starts writing checks. That will literally make or break a lot of these businesses.”

According to Kennon, a number of real estate agents, brokers, home builders and construction-related businesses have already left.

“I know a lot of these people personally and they just had to pack up and move, because their businesses literally died from the very beginning.”

Kennon said he believes that BP is too concerned about fraud and about saving a dollar.

“I think they are trying to save a dollar by someone becoming frustrated and forgetting about a claim or not filing a claim. They say they want you to file a claim, but what they are doing in the claims process is deflect, delay and confuse, and that is not a sincere effort to make people whole.”