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Siesta Seen the pump station, he wrote. Final testing of the pump station is anticipated in early May, he noted. Additionally, prep work for the installation of a Florida Power & Light (FPL) transformer has started, he wrote. "This is a long lead item that may take up to 8 weeks," he continued in the email. "FPL has been contacted and requested to accelerate this schedule." TROLLEY TALK Glama Carter, director of Sarasota County Area Transit, will be the guest speaker at the April 1 meeting of the Siesta Key Village Association (SKVA), President Cheryl Gaddie told me last week. Gaddie has been trying for a few months to schedule a county staff member to provide members an update on plans for the Siesta trolley service. Commissioner Nora Patterson told members of the Siesta Key Association (SKA) during their annual breakfast meeting on March 1 that the trolley service still is scheduled to start before the end of the year. Sarah Blanchard, senior planner for SCAT, has pointed out that state grant funding for the service is available as of July, making service possible as early as this summer. RECYCLING EFFORT CONTINUES Although the process is moving slowly, as SKVA member Mark Smith pointed out recently, the initiative to bring recycling to the Village remains under way. During the March 4 SKVA meeting, President Gaddie pointed out that members of the Siesta Key Village Maintenance Corp. Board of Directors discussed the issue during a recent meeting. The Maintenance Corp. works with Sarasota County staff to oversee the Village upkeep; Smith serves as the corporation's liaison with other entities. Owners of property in the area of the Village where the county paid for major improvements in 2008 and 2009 are assessed a special tax to cover the cost of the upkeep. The Maintenance Corp. board comprises five representatives of those property owners plus the SKVA president, Smith noted. "The Maintenance Corp. board essentially, formally requested the county to begin the process of finding out what the costs would be to supply the [recycling] cans and what it would take for whoever has the contract for the maintenance to take care of the recy- cling," Smith explained. County staff members are "going to be com- ing back … with some suggestions on how we can make it happen," he added. On Aug. 21, 2012, the County Commission unanimously approved awarding the Village upkeep contract to Championship Landscape Maintenance Professionals of Fort Myers. That annual contract — with automatic renewal for two additional one-year terms — was for $97,417.70. Smith told the SKVA members present for that March 4 meeting that county staff already is Sarasota News Leader March 21, 2014 Page 112