Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/235968
Sarasota News Leader January 3, 2014 Commissioner Christine Robinson tells Knight, "The City of Sarasota is supposed to be the lead agency within the city limits, so this concerns me … It sounds like you're taking some lead responsibilities in the City of Sarasota … That can create some administrative chaos, actually, if they're not being responsive to what's going on … There will be a hole, eventually, that happens, and you're trying to do the patchwork." Knight replies, "When bad things happen … they call the sheriff. Is it becoming more frequent? Yes. Is it becoming a major concern of mine? Is it affecting my overtime? Yes. Yes. Does it create a continuity of command and control? Yes." Spencer Anderson, director of field services, tells the County Commission on June 18 that the firm hired in late April to handle right of way mowing and median maintenance in the county's North Urban Zone has been unable to perform according to the county's specifications. "How can this many people fail that quickly?" Commissioner Joe Barbetta asks. "I'm really concerned that we can't get our hands around this mowing." Barbetta was among the commissioners who had voiced the greatest misgivings about a mowing contract awarded in early 2012 that ultimately led to the county's falling far behind in mowing last summer, prompting a multitude of complaints about overgrown medians and rights of way. The situation grew so bad that the commissioners finally agreed in February to hire 24 new employees to ensure the county could keep up the mowing and especially to make certain the views along the major roads leading into the county are kept in tip-top Page 64 form. By the end of the June 18 discussion, the commissioners unanimously agree to award the contract for the North Urban Zone mowing to JLC Hauling Inc. of Myakka City, but they decline a staff recommendation that a lower bid for the work be sought before the contract expires in 10 months. JLC Hauling's bid was about $200,000 higher than the bid of Mainscape Inc. of Sarasota, which had won the bid in April. County commissioners press city leaders on June 19 to get 'air rights' squared away over a downtown parcel eyed by a developer as the site of a new hotel. One month shy of 10 years ago, Sarasota County Government held a figurative gun to the head of the Sarasota City Commission and made its members sign an agreement. This was a matter of "Sign, or the county seat is moving to the interstate." The county wanted the land under the old city police station to build a new court complex. The city subsequently floated a bond issue to build a new police headquarters only 100 feet away. The old HQ was then torn down; today it is a vacant lot. To provide a little political cover in 2003, then County Administrator Jim Ley tossed a few crumbs to the city. At the time they seemed meaningless, including "air rights" over an 80-odd-space parking lot north of the historic courthouse downtown. Now a developer wants to build a hotel on the property, and the County Commission is hot to strike a deal — except for those pesky air rights. In what could resemble a comedy of errors, all these maneuvers were never "memorialized" in a legal document filed at the courthouse.