Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/100825
Sarasota News Leader December 28, 2012 Page 69 NOV. 6 The sign marking work on a new city lift station near Mound Street continued to look good while the project deteriorated. Photo by Norman Schimmel and the engineering firm.��� City Manager Tom Barwin says city staff has worked hard to get the engineering firm of AECOM Technology Corp. to produce a workable plan. But on Nov. 2, the company failed to produce such a plan and was found in default. Tannenbaum says, ���We will terminate the contract and the city will search for a new engineering firm. The [construction] contractor is expected to submit a significant change order for the down time and another when the project gears back up with good engineering.��� Sarasota City Auditor and Clerk Pam Nadalini hoped voters would eliminate problems caused by her inability to obtain a surety bond as required by the city charter. On Election Day, voters face a so-called ���housekeeping amendment��� to the city charter. It contains 17 different items, one of which is tailor-made to cure Nadalini���s no-bond problem. The charter change proposal would allow insurance to take the place of a bond. Bonds, of course, are different from insurance. However, under a legal fiction dubbed ���functional equivalence��� ��� created by City Attorney Bob Fournier ��� the city commissioners would have had a fig leaf to hide behind when questioned about why their auditor and clerk did not have a bond to protect the city as required by the charter. The fig leaf option is no longer. By the greatest margin of any amendment vote, city citizens reject the ���housekeeping��� proposal, with 62 percent voting against it. ��������� While wrangling continues over the timeline for renovations of the Siesta Public Beach, one previously stalled part of the project is moving forward: the construction of the new stormwater system. Just as project engineer Curtis Smith had predicted for members of the Siesta Key Association on Sept. 6, the $1.5 million project went out for bid this month, with all responses requested by 2:30 p.m. Nov. 28. ���It���s a terrific milestone to reach,��� he tells The Sarasota News Leader. Pam Nadalini/Photo by Norman Schimmel