Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/92622
Sarasota News Leader November 9, 2012 James K. Harriott Jr. responded that staff was not making any changes to the project. However, Harriott said, "We wanted to make sure we were designing the right thing. … There's a $20 million project and there's op- tions that get you up to about $25 million. We want to make sure we're designing the right items." County Administrator Randall Reid told the commissioners staff was working on an up- date for them, which would include informa- tion about how using bond revenue to pay for the beach improvements would impact oth- er projects the county needs to fund. Program manager Car- olyn Eastwood, in the Public Works Depart- ment, told The Sara- sota News Leader on Nov. 6 that she antic- ipated the report's be- ing completed by the end of this week. Reid Page 19 That meeting was planned months ago, Har- riott added, but "it may be delayed a week or two until we can get these [funding] options back to you, so that you can see the different pieces of the project." "If you want the public to attend, you usual- ly have to give a little notice," Commissioner Nora Patterson told Harriott. "Yes, ma'am," he replied. The economy's starting to come back. Interest rates are going to go up. Construction costs are going to go up, and we're losing the window of opportunity. Joe Barbetta Sarasota County Commissioner confirmed that for the commissioners before the conclusion of the Nov. 6 regular meeting. Commissioners over the past months have voiced worries about trying to pay for an ac- celerated schedule of work at the beach at the same time they come up with the estimat- ed $30 million to replace tower infrastructure and buy new radios for a modern emergency communications system. In the meantime, a Nov. 13 open house on the beach project, which had been scheduled at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church on Siesta Key, might have to be postponed, Har- riott said. Barbetta voiced frustration over the chang- ing numbers for the cost of the project. "It's a moving target," he said. "We need to finish what we approved and then worry about the bonding …" Harriott replied that the design the com- missioners saw in June cost between $26 mil- lion and $27 million. "I've never heard that number," Barbetta said. "You have $20 million budgeted [for the im- provements]," Harriott told him, adding that staff was working to get the number back down to that level. Patterson also expressed surprise at the high- er figure, saying she had heard an estimate of $21 million to $22 million. "I never heard the $26 [million] or I probably would have gone into shock," she added. Commission Chairwoman Christine Robin- son said, "I'm a little bit concerned now that that number's out there." Turning to Reid, she