Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/285258
items, Assistant County Administrator Mark Cunningham notified the county commission- ers in a March 24 memo. The March 21 hearing lasted more than five hours. Sarasota attorney James E. Aker and his co-counsel and son, Dusty Aker, repre- sented Bob's Boathouse, while Assistant Sarasota County Attorney David Pearce rep- resented the county. At the outset of the proceeding, Sarasota County Code Enforcement Officer Kevin Burns asked Special Magistrate Meg Wittmer to give Bob's Boathouse an extra 60 days to complete the punch list. Otherwise, the busi- ness should cease operating, he said. James Aker argued that Bob's Boathouse was being treated unfairly, primarily because of political pressure. Aker charged that Greg Yantorno, the county building official, "midstream changed the test" for which Bob's Boathouse could remain open with a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (TCO). That action resulted from neighbors of the establishment who had been "bombarding the County Commission with emails com- plaining of alleged loud noise," Aker said, in spite of the fact that Code Enforcement and law enforcement officers had found no noise violations by the business. Referring to the commissioners, he told the magistrate, "All of a sudden [they] decided Special Magistrate Meg Wittmer asks a question. Photo by Rachel Hackney Sarasota News Leader March 28, 2014 Page 10