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He could not possibly support another short- term agreement, he added. "If the Springs close, so be it. It's not our fault. It's the fault of the North Port commissioners." Hines reminded his colleagues that Vice Chairwoman Christine Robinson proposed last year that the county purchase the prop- erty from North Port. The motion carried the stipulation that the city de-annex the site. During the County Commission's Jan. 29, 2013, meeting, Robinson won support from her colleagues on a motion to buy the Springs from North Port for $2 million. However, then-North Port Mayor Linda Yates told The Sarasota News Leader at the time that the offer represented "a major, significant finan- cial burden on South County residents." She declined to go into more detail. Yet, two weeks earlier, the city board had asked whether the county would buy out the city's interest. On Feb. 11, 2013, the North Port Commission voted unanimously to reject the offer put together by Robinson, with then-Vice Mayor Blucher calling it "Terrible." However, the city did not make a counter- offer. In April 2013, the boards ended up discussing the future of the Springs during a facilitated "conflict resolution" meeting held under the guidelines of a state statute. That led to renewed negotiation over the short- term contract and ultimately the presentation last week by two firms that bid on the long- term operation, Jebco Ventures in association with Angelshot LLC, both of Sarasota, and National and State Parks Concessions, which is based in Hobe Sound. On June 27, Hines told his colleagues, "I do not want to see the Springs closed. I think that's horrible." When Barbetta pointed out that the pub- lic comments likely will take up a lot of the County Commission's time on July 8, Hines replied, "We'll do the best to manage it." "That's part of our job," Patterson pointed out. "I think the public deserves the opportunity to let us know how they feel about it before we take [a] vote," Robinson said, adding, "This can't be in perpetual short-term opera- tion mode, which is what [Blucher's June 26] letter says." Associate Editor Cooper Levey-Baker con- tributed to this story. % Search for text in stories by clicking the icon in the menubar and entering a search term. Search the current edition or all editions. QUICK TIP Search Only The Issue You Are Viewing Search All Issues Your search term here Sarasota News Leader July 4, 2014 Page 47