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Sarasota News Leader December 13, 2013 Page 111 Siesta Seen to implement a recycling initiative in Siesta Village, was unable to attend the Siesta Key Village Association (SKVA) meeting on Dec. 3. In his stead, Mark Smith, chairman of the Siesta Key Village Maintenance Corp., reported no real progress had been made thus far on the effort. However, Martha Smith, owner of Le Grand Bisou Caribbean Boutique in the Village, took the opportunity to revive a suggestion she made in June — that artists be allowed to paint the recycling bins with a sea creature theme to remind tourists, especially, that recycling helps protect the island's wildlife. When Martha Smith asked whether the SKVA would own the bins, Mark Smith told her it would, which would make her proposal possible. "It's an interesting idea," Mark added. The key is to make certain visitors understand that the decorative bins are for recycling, he pointed out. SKVA members could come up with specific types of sea life to use in identifying the bins, Martha replied, likening the idea to the Cow Parade, for example, which was popular as an art theme in the city of Chicago. "I think that's a great idea," SKA Secretary Peter van Roekens responded. Past SKVA President Russell Matthes added that businesses could get involved with the initiative by agreeing to sponsor artists to paint certain bins. Mark Smith noted though, "If we're going to buy cans similar to what we have, they're probably not going to work" as media for such artwork. "We'll let you work on that, too," SKVA President Cheryl Gaddie told him with a smile. STORMWATER PROJECT UPDATE In the latest report to the County Commission about the stormwater project under way next to Siesta Public Beach, Isaac Brownman, director of capital projects in the Public Works Department, noted that while off-site pumping started Nov. 5, pumping is only taking place for about 30 minutes to one hour three times a day, "when the turbidity levels are within the permitted values." County staff has been monitoring the work to make sure sufficient settling of sediment occurs before the water that flooded the site in September is discharged into the Gulf of Mexico. Through next week, the contractor is expected to continue digging the new one-acre stormwater pond, Brownman added. The contractor also has established the "rim ditch" — a sump necessary to remove groundwater — around the proposed pond, Brownman noted. Coordination meetings continue to take place between the contractor for this project and the contractor for the Siesta Beach project "for work to be performed in overlapping areas," he continued. "The scope has been established and an agreement will be in place shortly allowing the [stormwater] contractor to perform some site work for the