Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/157038
Sarasota News Leader August 23, 2013 Page 15 Hines said. "It would affect this [FY 2014] bud- Robinson continued, "It will be up to the community to tell those who aren't [at the table] get in a positive way." that you need to be [there]. I think just setting "The investment that we make will lower our aside the money at this point would be a huge jail costs," said Commissioner Christine Rob- step. It's up to everybody else to — excuse me inson, a former prosecutor. — put up or shut up." Mason agreed with Hines' remarks. However, she said, "If there isn't political will to do this, we might as well stop right now. From the interest I've seen on this side of the table, there is political will," she added, as well as support from municipalities in the county. "There's an obvious need to do something," Robinson pointed out, "and setting aside the money doesn't guarantee we will spend it, but it shows that we're going to tackle the problems." "I agree," Mason said. Then Commissioner Nora Patterson made the motion for setting aside the funds. When County Administrator Randall Reid asked her whether she wanted the money to come out of an $8 million pool freed up by a County Commission vote on a policy change regarding the reserve fund for operating after a disaster, Patterson replied, "No. I'm not saying that, because I don't support the $8 million [decision]." Homeless people lived along a section of Florida Avenue in Sarasota earlier this year, before law enforcement officials warned them away. Photo by Norman Schimmel