Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/100825
Sarasota News Leader December 28, 2012 system to replace 16-year-old equipment that could fail soon. Chairwoman Christine Robinson and Commissioner Joe Barbetta vote against the RFP. Both criticize staff for not checking with public safety personnel in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, to learn about their replacement of radio equipment before the Republican National Convention was held last month. Barbetta also argues it is unnecessary to hire a consultant. After Robert Stuckey, Sarasota County���s general manager of public safety communications, tells the commissioners the consultant���s services probably would cost between $250,000 and $300,000, Barbetta also criticizes the announcement of those figures. People responding to the RFP probably will offer quotes in that range, he points out, regardless of what their actual expense might be. ��������� Voicing frustration that she never received documentation she had requested in June from the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County, the chairwoman of the County Commission this week proposes changes to the county���s contract with the alliance for Fiscal Year 2013, to prevent a similar situation in the future. Jim Shirley, executive director of the alliance, tells The Sarasota News Leader he is ���very supportive��� of the changes the commission approves unanimously during its regular meeting in Sarasota. Commission Chairwoman Christine Robinson, who represents South County interests on the board, pointed out during the board���s regular meeting in Venice a day earlier that language was added to the contract with the alliance in the current fiscal year to provide for increased outreach to South County arts and cultural groups. Page 59 Nonetheless, she said, ���when I asked for the actual appointment efforts, I was told both in a public meeting and in a private meeting with the Arts Alliance they would be providing that information to us. To this day, I have not received those efforts.��� SEPT. 13 A gap of almost $131,000 exists between expenses Sarasota County has documented for its upkeep of Siesta Village over the past year and the total amount of special assessments the property owners in the Village Public Improvement District paid for this fiscal year, according to county records. However, Tom Maroney, general manager of business operations in the county���s Public Works Department, tells The Sarasota News Leader that the expenses do not reflect the man-hours he and other county employees have put into overseeing the upkeep after the county took on that responsibility in mid-August 2011. ���What was billed doesn���t really cover a lot of the overhead,��� Maroney says. SEPT. 22 With work under way on the construction of a new watermain line between south Siesta Key and north Casey Key, no more threats have been made by three Casey Key homeowners who voiced concerns in August about potential property damage from the project, Sarasota County���s Utilities Department program manager told The Sarasota News Leader Sept. 25. ���We have not heard any more from them,��� Lori Ann Carroll says. In a Sept. 21 email to the County Commission, Carroll provided a project update, saying the drilling rig for the