Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/247585
Sarasota News Leader January 24, 2014 customer connections. About 2,600 already have the devices (for which they paid), while 3,200 other customers need the equipment. The remainder have no requirement for it. Page 43 Tidwell pointed out, "We have a cross-connection control ordinance, but we've been a little slow in implementation." That is no longer the case. There are a couple of wrinkles to iron out — interest on the three-year "loan" under the installment plan, perhaps? — but if you need a backflow preventer, be prepared for a visit from someone in your city Utilities Department. For those who do, the cost will be about $350. Some customers will simply write a check for that amount, but others can pay under an installment plan. Tidwell estimates the latter would require the addition of about $10 per month to those homeowners' water bills; the POLICE COMPUTER UPGRADE expense would be paid off in three years. It has been a year coming, but the city comThe Utilities Department proposed free pre- missioners this week green-lighted a robust venters so the devices could be installed upgrade to the Police Department's computquickly. "And it was at the height of the ing power. The New World Systems Corp. will receive $850,000 for the software transaction. recession, and there was [City] Commission resistance to forcing people to pay $350," Mayor Shannon Snyder put a stick in the proAssistant City Attorney Sarah Warren recalled. verbial procurement wheel in late October, New Police Department software will make it easy to keep track of officers' locations. File photo