Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/260020
on the establishment's website as one of the owners. The TCO was extended twice, the response points out, and "Bob's Boathouse squandered this additional time by not completing the required construction. Instead, it dragged its feet and waited until the last week to start performance on several outstanding items required by the [county's] concurrent site and development/construction plans." Although the motion for the injunction said the restaurant likely would suffer irreparable harm if the TCO were not extended again, the response continues, the restaurant did not close after the county refused to provide a fourth TCO. "Rather, the illegal operations will be the subject of code enforcement hear- ings," the response adds. VANDALISM ON THE SITE Two days after the Bob's Boathouse attorney cancelled the emergency hearing, the News Leader learned from several sources that someone had spray-painted both sides of the Bob's Boathouse sign along South Tamiami Trail, demanding, "Pay us." A Criminal Mischief report from the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office says the incident occurred between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. on Feb. 8. The complainant was listed as Jeffrey W. Frye, the daytime manager of Bob's Boathouse. The report adds that Frye saw the sign upon his arrival at the business on the morning of Feb. 8. It notes, "The suspect(s) had to have used a ladder to reach the top portion of the sign." Further, the report says "that an unknown person(s) took a hose that was out by the lift station and turned it on and placed it into the vent (unknown if anything was damaged)." The estimated cost of repairing the sign was $200. Sources have told the News Leader they have information from several firms doing business with Bob's Boathouse claiming the owners of the establishment owe them money. In the only example for which the News Leader has confirmation thus far, Sarasota County received a letter on Dec. 6 from D.E. Murphy Constructors Inc. of Sarasota say- ing it wished to withdraw as the contractor of record. Owner Donald E. Murphy wrote, "It has become very apparent to me that Mr. Tom Lefever [sic] does not have the financial resources to complete any of the items left open to acquire a permanent Certificate of Occupancy." The letter continues, "I have tried repeatedly to complete these items and hit a constant road block when it comes to spending money to finish all the items that are currently open. … As it turns out the owner of this project has been less than honest on several occa- sions and I cannot continue to represent him as his contractor." Tom Polk, director of the county's Planning and Development Services Department, explained to the News Leader in early December that, according to county policy, Murphy Constructors cannot be removed from the application it filed for work on Bob's Boathouse. % Sarasota News Leader February 14, 2014 Page 61