Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/92622
A TONGUE-LASHING A sport utility vehicle on Webber Street passes by overgrown grass in the median. File photo SARASOTA COUNTY COMMISSIONERS BEMOAN MOWING SITUATION AROUND THE COUNTY AND LAY BLAME ON STAFF By Rachel Brown Hackney Editor For about 35 minutes this week, the Saraso- ta County commissioners aired frustrations about the handling of the roadside mowing contracts over the past several years, with Commissioner Joe Barbetta saying, "The county looks like hell." The discussion was prompted by the release of an audit of the county's mowing contract with one vendor, Bloomings Landscape & Turf Management, going back to October 2011. The audit was undertaken by the Office of the Clerk of Circuit Court at the request of County Administrator Randall Reid. As he brought up the matter during the board's Nov. 6 regular meeting in Venice, Reid noted that he had found the document "very insight- ful," especially in regard to concerns about the functioning of the county's Operations and Maintenance Center and the monitoring of contracts. He added, "I have tried to openly address" how the centralization of services has created problems for departments. Moreover, Reid said, "There is not a question, in our opinion, of our owing anything addi- tional to Bloomings," though an effort is un-