Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/341318
smoothly, the board could begin the Warm Mineral Springs discussion around 4 p.m. A day after the two boards failed to agree on a firm to handle the long-term operation of the 81-acre resort, the North Port Commission sought to renew the short-term management process because the contract for National and State Parks Concessions to keep the Springs open just for swimming will end on Aug. 31. Carolyn Brown, the county's director of parks and recreation, notified Harmer on June 25 that during a special North Port Commission meeting, Commissioner Linda Yates made a motion to direct staff, pending agreement from the county board, to amend the short-term management solicitation process through which National and State Parks Concessions was hired to provide for a one-year contract and then re-advertise it. All the other North Port commissioners approved the motion except Mayor James Blucher. In the letter Blucher sent the County Commission on June 26, he wrote that if the county board agreed to the city commis- sion's request, city staff would issue the new bid solicitation. The County Commission discussed the request near the end of its budget workshop on June 27. Robert Zabler, a resident who has addressed the board many times on the issue of Warm Mineral Springs, used the Open to the Public session at the end of the workshop to ask the commissioners to sell the property to the City of North Port. The U.S. Geological Survey is undertaking a study of changes in the Springs over time. Photo courtesy Sarasota County Sarasota News Leader July 4, 2014 Page 44