Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/344348
North Port City Commissioner Linda Yates. Photo courtesy City of North Port The City Commission is set to discuss the issue Monday. Blucher tells The Sarasota News Leader he wants to hear from the public before mak- ing up his mind, but he's reluctant to spend more public money on the property. City Commissioner Linda Yates, meanwhile, tells the News Leader, "It would be a great thing for North Port to own Warm Mineral Springs 100 percent." But even though she'd love to see the city hold title to the land outright, she doesn't know exactly where the money would come from. Yates criticizes the county for declining to take up the city's request that the two boards work together on a new year-long management plan, ostensibly the reason for the County Commission's discussion about the Springs this week. The county took no action on the proposal outlined in a letter sent by North Port two weeks ago. County Commission Vice Chairwoman Christine Robinson said any short-term deal would allow the city to dawdle on the question of whether it would purchase the Springs. "They are driving the closure of Warm Mineral Springs," Yates says. County Commissioners Nora Patterson and Hines pushed to stipulate in the sale offer that the Springs remain in public ownership, but that motion failed. Patterson said she was "disappointed" the county couldn't guarantee the land will remain in taxpayer hands. "The whole reason we've gone through this agony is to protect the Springs," she said. "It is obvious this relationship and joint own- ership is just not going to work," Yates says. "So we need to move forward now and resolve that. [Warm Mineral Springs is] a treasure, and we're fortunate to have it here in the City of North Port. It makes sense for the City of North Port to be the sole owner." % Sarasota News Leader July 11, 2014 Page 28