Sarasota News Leader

12/28/2012

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Sarasota News Leader December 28, 2012 Page 57 has told The Sarasota News Leader, SWFWMD will reimburse the county for half its expenses, up to the $975,000 mark. That grant was set to expire in March 2013, Smith tells the approximately 30 SKA audience members. However, he points out, ���We���ve been in close communication with the water management district about the grant.��� The key is making sure the project stays on schedule, he says, ���so they can have a comfort level about what we���re doing.��� Sarasota County Project Manager Curtis Smith says the stormwater project at Siesta Beach should be able to get under way in the spring of 2013. Photo by Rachel Hackney SEPT. 6 Sarasota County probably will put the Siesta stormwater project out for bid in November, with the bid award expected in February, the project manager tells members of the Siesta Key Association during their regular meeting. However, Curtis Smith says, the site work will not begin until April, after the primary tourist season has ended. Smith says the county just received the state permit it needs for the stormwater work, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finally has acknowledged the county���s modification of its permit application for the project is complete, clearing the way for the scheduling to begin. Moreover, Smith reports, if the schedule stays on track, the county should be able to keep the Southwest Florida Water Management District grant that is ���a very important piece of the funding for that project.��� SWFWMD had committed a maximum of $975,000 to the stormwater work, which has been estimated to cost $1.5 million. Once the work is completed, Smith SEPT. 8 Sarasota city voters will face seven charter amendments on their Nov. 6 ballot. Five have a single purpose, one would divide the City Auditor and Clerk���s Office���s duties and one is a so-called ���housekeeping amendment.��� Within the ���housekeeping amendment��� are 17 changes to the city charter. One of those comes under scrutiny during the meeting of the Coalition of City Neighborhood Associations. Should the city���s top officials be bonded? Right now the charter is explicit. It requires the city manager, the city finance director and the city auditor and clerk to be bonded. But since Pamela Nadalini took the auditor and clerk���s job two years ago, she has been unable to secure a bond. Instead, she has been covered by a city insurance policy, which City Attorney Bob Fournier says is ���functionally equivalent��� to a bond. Rob Wagner, an executive with Brown and Brown, a national insurance firm, says the difference between a bond and insurance is simple. ���For insurance, the prime objective is risk transfer. It���s a risk-pooling device,��� he says. ���The policy holders are paying for the losses, because the carrier assumes there will be losses.���

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