Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/107047
TROLLEY TIME Siesta Village business owners have been asking county staff for a number of years to establish trolley service to the barrier island, where parking can be problematic at busy times of the year. Photo by Norman Schimmel THE SARASOTA COUNTY COMMISSION APPROVES FUNDING FOR NEW PUBLIC BUS SYSTEM EMPLOYEES NEEDED TO MAKE TROLLEY SERVICE POSSIBLE FOR SIESTA KEY By Rachel Brown Hackney Editor It will take two new Sarasota County Area Transit (SCAT) buses and nine new operators to serve Siesta Key, with one route going from Southgate Mall to Turtle Beach, according to plans presented to the Sarasota County Commission this week. By a 4-1 vote on Jan. 29, the commissioners approved the hiring of the new employees after hearing from a manager in the Sarasota County Area Transit department that sala- ries for those workers could be used to match a state grant to fund operating costs of the new Siesta service. Glama Carter, the new general manager of SCAT, explained to the County Commission on Jan. 29 that unlike normal grant processes, the Florida DepartThe kit is a little cuter, but [the ment of Transportawrap], to me, is fine, if we're going to tion had provided the save $61,000. county $1,087,500 to fund operations of the Nora Patterson Commissioner trolley service to SiesSarasota County ta in 2014-15, with the