JAN. 8
The city commission has approved an ordinance allowing Marina Jack to manage a new mooring field. The ordinance also will criminalize anchoring in the bay for longer than 72 hours.
New Sheriff Tom Knight has asked three experts and two citizen committees to look over the department from top to bottom and make recommendations for improvements. Their report should be ready in 60 to 90 days.
On Jan. 28, the Sarasota County Commission is expected to vote on whether to proceed with filing an appeal over the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation’s decision to deny the application to reopen Midnight Pass. Such an appeal is expected to cost $500,000 or more.
JAN. 15
County Administrator Jim Ley has said he expects the county commission will have to implement $16 million in budget cuts over the next few months as well as a $20 million to $40 million reduction in the next fiscal year’s financial plan.
The campaign is under way to change the way the city’s mayor is elected and to enlarge the city commission. A referendum on the March 10 ballot would expand the commission to seven seats from five, with the majority of commission members being elected at-large; it also would call for electing the mayor and giving that person powers to assist with the development of the budget and any process to hire a new city manager.
JAN. 22
Tourist tax collections for the first two months of the fiscal year are down, with the November figures having dropped more than $90,000.
Renourishment of Lido Beach is expected to begin soon and take about 30 days, at a cost of about $4.64 million, thanks to a unanimous city commission vote.
A Sarasota County task force is pondering how to enable residents to begin using solar hot water equipment without having to pay large upfront costs. One company wants to undertake a local project with county staff billing homeowners a $37 monthly fee for solar hot water over 20 years. The upfront cost per homeowner is estimated at $2,500 to $5,000.
JAN. 29
The local transportation wish list is growing for projects that could be funded by the proposed federal stimulus package. Sarasota and Manatee county officials are looking at projects costing about $469 million – about one-third of the total funding anticipated for Florida – including widening of sections of Fruitville, north Cattlemen and Honore roads.
Nine candidates have qualified to run for the two at-large seats in the March 10 Sarasota City Commission election. Vice Mayor Ken Shelin is the only incumbent seeking re-election.
FEB. 5
The Sarasota City Commission has voted 4-1 in opposition to the proposed charter amendment on the March 10 ballot which would expand the commission and create the position of an elected mayor. Vice Mayor Ken Shelin cast the "No" vote, saying the public should be allowed to have its say.
A new Siesta Key Village parking proposal headed to the county commission in March calls for a system of credits – through which two businesses could claim credit for one parking space – and a parking fund, through which payment could be made into an account when a business does not have the required number of spaces.
The city commission has heard another proposal for U.S. 41 along the bayfront. This one calls for a tree-shaded boulevard and roundabouts to slow down traffic, making the road more pedestrian-friendly.
FEB. 12
The Sarasota County Public Schools District has seen recent construction projects come in several million dollars under budget, leaving the district with capital funds that can be used for other projects. The new Suncoast Polytechnical High School, for example, cost $21 million instead of the projected $24.5 million.
The Sarasota County Commission this week was to approve a change in the awarding of contracts to give preference to local businesses. Bidders from Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties would be given the opportunity to match the lowest bid for goods and services if that low bid came from a non-local firm.
FEB. 19
For the last three months of 2008, the tourist tax collections in Sarasota County were down more than 11 percent. The number of visitors to the county in the October-December period was down 7.5 percent, but their overall expenditures were down only 1.1 percent, according to figures from the Sarasota Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.
The county’s half-penny sales tax revenue, is down $5 million so far this year.
The Riverview High School Foundation is nearing its target of $500,000 toward the projected $1.1 million cost of a science center to replace the planetarium in the rebuilt high school.
FEB. 26
The Sarasota County Criminal Justice Commission is exploring the possibility of using a "defendants work group" to handle chores for the county and not-for-profit organizations, a type of modern day "chain gang."
Sarasota County forresters are charging Northeast Plaza Venture One LLC $57,400 for the destruction of 53 trees in a parking lot on the northeast corner of Lockwood Ridge Road and 17th Street. The trees reportedly were cut down during rehabilitation work on the plaza – the first such shopping center to be transformed under county rules for pre-1983 facilities.
In the wake of protests over the handling of the bidding process for the Siesta Key Public Beach concession – and the county’s admission of errors – the concession will be rebid.
MARCH 5
The Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization has winnowed its wish list and transmitted it to the Florida Department of Transportation, hoping for funding from the federal stimulus package. The top two priorities for Sarasota County are improvements to the Sumpter Boulevard/City Hall Boulevard intersection, estimated at $2 million; and drainage improvements on Siesta Drive, estimated at $1.5 million.
With nine candidates running for two at-large seats in the March 10 Sarasota City Commission election, Terry Turner is taking the brunt of the negative advertising. Citizens for a Better Sarasota has targeted three pieces against him, with two saying that although he is a Republican, he has given financial support to Democrats.
Sarasota County engineers still are wrestling with the orientation of a new stormwater system on Siesta Key. The project has been planned to cut down on pollution going into the Gulf of Mexico.
MARCH 12
An economic forecast for the county says population growth will rise more rapidly through 2020, with the bulk of that coming in the retirement demographic. However, per capita income is projected to grow about half as fast from 2006 to 2020 as it grew from 1990 to 2004.
Members of the Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization have authorized staff to look into a merger of the Sarasota County Area Transit and the Manatee County Area Transit systems – the bus lines that run through the respective areas.
MARCH 19
The Sarasota County Commissioners on March 17 sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner asking for $40 million from the Troubled Asset Recovery Program. County Administrator Jim Ley had reported that the county lost that amount in investment-grade debt securities it had with Lehman Brothers Holdings before the firm went bankrupt.
Another 770 homes are slated to get hooked up to the county’s central sewer system starting in April. The county commission has approved a $4.4 million bid to begin the work north and west of the traffic circle at Siesta Drive and Tuttle Avenue and on both sides of Webber.
The county commission has approved change orders totaling $134,793 for the Siesta Village beautification project. The work by Halfacre Construction is expected to be substantially completed by the end of March.
MARCH 26
The Siesta Key Association is planning to proceed slowly in examining the possibility of incorporation for the island. During the SKA’s annual breakfast meeting on March 21, President Lourdes Ramirez said 42 percent of the 1,143 respondents to the organization’s survey this year favored incorporation. The next step is to hire a consultant to update material compiled in 2000, the last time the SKA employed a professional person to look into the matter.
New Sheriff Tom Knight has issued a 47-page report on the results of a top-to-bottom review he initiated after taking office. Among the changes will be the elimination of $360,000 in "speciality pay" for employees ranging from the SWAT team to the Honor Guard and the use of civilians to replace sworn officers in some posts, such as that of the media liaison.