GULF SHORES, Ala. – The season before the oil spill summer was the last time that beach chair and umbrella rentals were seen operating on public beaches in Gulf Shores.

Councilman Steve Jones wants to see them return and the issue will be brought before the council for action before the 2013 season gets underway.

The city does a great job, Jones said, of keeping things in order on the beaches, but having vendors there as well renting chairs will help as well.

“In the height of the season our public works department and our lifeguards all try to do a good job of policing things and keeping things in order down there,” he said. “At one time we entertained or actually did have a beach service that we allowed to go in to a designated section of the public beach and offer beach chairs and cabanas and umbrellas to people that were willing to go down there and pay for that. That’s an additional service that we should visit having again.”

Jones thinks having the vendors on the beach is a plus for security.

“It’s another pair of eyes down there to help keep an eye on things, another level of customer service that could be offered to people that choose to go down there and not bring their own things,” he said. “It’s also an additional way to help us police the beach and keep trash off there and an extra monitor for activities.”

Ike Williams of Ike’s Beach Service won the bid for the contract for several years and had great response from the public.

“We put it out for bid, we bid on it and I actually got the bid, conditionally,” Williams said. “We did it for a one year conditional franchise to see what kind of response we got. We got such a good and overwhelming response that we continued and we put it back out for a two-year extension.”

But the last year it was up for bids it was too pricey, he said, and nobody stepped up to offer the service.

“The problem was they raised the minimum bid on it so nobody entertained it because of that restriction,” Williams said. “That was the reason I didn’t touch it. There was no conflict or issue with the city. The year we didn’t do it, even though it was the oil spill, we still got a lot of calls from a lot of day trippers, and a lot of folks that stay in motels that don’t have the advantage of a public beach.”

Mayor Robert Craft was receptive to possibly bringing back the service to Gulf Shores beaches.

“I think it’s worthy of discussion and I’m seeing some heads nodding from our folks who kind of management that department,” Craft said. “We don’t need the whole beach covered up with vendors. We to have areas where people can make a choice and an open area to go. It may very well be those restrictions create those open areas.”

Councilwoman Carolyn Doughty raised concerns about the chair getting in the way of some of the many activities at the popular beach.

“I was just thinking of East Beach areas or even the West Second Street where it might be more conducive than just right there at the main public beach which has other events that come along at different times,” she said. “Volleyball, children activities or whatever where you would be needing to move the chairs.”

Director of Public Works Mark Acreman’s department is in charge of the nightly cleaning on the beaches during the season. He wanted to make sure chairs would be removed every night so his crews can do their jobs.

“My recommendation would be is anything that is allowed in that area be the fold-up type that could be put away every evening,” he said. “The beauty of that area is we can do it from the shoreline to the bulkhead every single night and we don’t want to lose that capability. If we put in fixed chairs then it falls to my folks to move them every night and they’re not going to do that.”

Director of Recreation and Cultural Affairs Grant Brown said those types of things could be written into any agreement with chair vendors.

Jones said he believes the service could be another amenity offered to visitors.

“It’s something we can easily add and it doesn’t cost us anything,” he said. “It adds a layer of customer service down there because the guys down there that work the beach, from my experience down there have a lot of knowledge of local places and things to do. They are ambassadors for the city and can direct people and tell them other things to do.”