Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/121369
Sarasota News Leader April 12, 2013 Page 10 Florida Statutes, Section 164.1055, regarding the use, sale and/or purchase of the Warm Mineral Springs Property owned by the County and the City of North Port as Tenants-In-Common." able to come up with an amicable divide of the ownership," she says. When asked by The Sarasota News Leader if she thinks that can be resolved next week, Yates laughs. "I never know what to expect when it comes to two governing boards," she says. "I think the hope is that all the issues can be ironed out. I think that's the hope of everybody." couraging." She wants to keep the issue out of the courts. "My goal is not litigation for this," she said. "My goal is to get a resolution to this." The County Commission voted Tuesday to approve discussions between the county administrator and the city manager about a Yates told her commission Monday that the short-term lease. The board also asked staff current stalemate is a result of the sharp dis- to prepare recommendations by next Wednesagreement about what the "future use of the day's conference. property" might look like: public preserve or County Commissioner Christine Robinson full-on spa-and-hotel resort? called North Port's action on the issue "en- The only no vote on the proposal was from Commissioner Joe Barbetta, who said he wouldn't support any new lease, even one as short as six months. "Ten months ago we made a deal," he said, "and it was a 10-0 vote. We've lost 10 months. Now we have to go through mediation." He called the short-term lease "appeasement." One possibility: a 50-50 division of the property. But that's a thorny question. Who would get the actual springs? How do you evaluate how much the assets are worth? Yates says her goal is to ensure that the public can use and benefit from the springs "forever and ever," Additional reporting contributed by News regardless of who owns what. "We should be Leader Editor Rachel Brown Hackney. % The sign welcomes visitors to Warm Mineral Springs. Photo by Ebaybe via Wikimedia Commons