LOOKING BACK
YEAR IN REVIEW: JANUARY
Plans call for a Walmart to move into the Ringling Shopping Center in downtown Sarasota. Photo by
Norman Schimmel
The County Commission is grappling with
what to do about former Sarasota County
GOP Chairman Bob Waechter's service on
two advisory boards. Waechter was charged
in December with impersonating Lourdes
Ramirez, president of the Sarasota County
Council of Neighborhood Associations, in
making donations in her name to the congressional campaign of Democrat Keith
Fitzgerald. Waechter serves on the Board
of Zoning Appeals, which he chairs, and
the Tourist Development Council. He and
Ramirez previously served together as directors of the Siesta Key Association. Registered
as a Republican, Ramirez is said to be mulling
a run for County Commission in 2014.
Clarke Davis, County Administrator Randall
Reid reports to the County Commission. The
board was set to consider new road impact
fees on Jan. 16, but the numbers cannot be
corrected in time, Reid explains in an email.
The County Commission agrees to hold off on
any move to establish a domestic partnership
registry while awaiting action on a Florida
Legislature bill regarding a statewide registry.
The purported bill, however, may not be
introduced before 2014, according to former
Sarasota City Commissioner Ken Shelin. He
has been working with Commissioner Carolyn
Mason since last fall on a countywide mea
sure, with the City of Sarasota already having
A spreadsheet error in the calculation of set up such a registry.
impact fees prompted the resignation of
Sarasota County Transportation Director
