Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/104211
Sarasota News Leader January 18, 2013 A roadside sign also will be at the exit from the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport as it joins University Parkway. In the same vicinity, another monument sign will face southbound drivers along U.S. 41 as they near the New College Library and walkover. Page 41 LEASHES IN PAYNE PARK? The city commissioners Tuesday also will consider pursuing a loose dog policy for Payne Park. At present, dogs can run free as long as they are under voice control of their masters. But the commissioners will hear a proposal People entering the city from Longboat Key late in the meeting to require leashes on cawill be greeted by a monument sign in Lido nines in the downtown-area park. Shores, where John Ringling Parkway turns south and heads for St. Armands. And people If they have any interest in that, staff will draw driving west on Fruitville Road into the city up the appropriate paperwork and schedule a will see a sign at Whispering Oaks Court just public hearing. inside the city line. A dog park has also been proposed, and if that The commissioners are expected to instruct is the direction commissioners want to take, staff on when to get started with the fabricait will require an update to the park's master tion and placement of the signs. plan and significant public input from stakeholders. RETURNS POSITIVE BUT LEAN As most investors realize, 2012 was not a ban- Leashes are now required at Gillespie and Arner year for savers. Returns on federal securi- lington parks, plus Bayfront and Island parks ties touched an all-time low, and other invest- downtown. ments such as certificates of deposit followed. The City of Sarasota uses these secure investments to park tax receipts until they are needed, as well as to invest for the longer term. Every year the Finance Department reports to the City Commission on how well the city's investments are doing. IT IS ALMOST KEN THOMPSON DAY Almost 63 years after Ken Thompson took the job as Sarasota city manager, the City Commission Tuesday is expected to designate a day in his honor. Thompson served as city manager for 38 years, longer than any other For longer-term investments in 2012, the city municipal manager in American history. received a 1.19 percent rate of return, or about The proclamation calls him a "visionary" and double a benchmark of Merrill Lynch Treasury "the architect of modern Sarasota": Bonds. The city has $148.2 million in these holdings. "Whereas Ken Thompson had a long and fruitThe shorter-term investments in certificates ful career, doing more than any other person of deposit and money market accounts re- to make Sarasota live up to the town's original turned far less, with CDs earning 0.2 percent motto, 'May Sarasota Prosper," now therefore and money markets at 0.1 percent or less. The the City Commission … takes great pride in city uses PFM Asset Management of Orlando designating February 1, 2013 as Ken Thompson Day." % to manage most of the investments.