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Sarasota News Leader November 9, 2012 ules for the county, "the [areas] people are complaining about aren't on the list." Then she told Reid she felt sorry for him. "I know you didn't bargain to walk into this mess. I don't think any of us realized it was quite the mess it was. … All I'm saying is, 'Help!' I almost don't care how you do it." "I'll do it legally, but I understand," Reid re- sponded, prompting a bit of laughter amid the tension. CHANGES DURING THE RECESSION Reid told the board the privatization of the county's roadside mowing responsibilities was one factor underlying the problems. "Unfortu- nately, we've basically eliminated our own in- house capabilities," he said, because of budget cutbacks necessitated by the recession. He added that such a situation was one he had not encountered in previous positions. "I actually agree that there should be some in-house capacity," Patterson said. The county should have "enough staff on hand in order to be able to pick up slack as needed," she added. "We did have capacity several years ago," Bar- betta said, "and Public Works management, I believe, chose to sell the equipment." Reid responded that he was not aware of any Public Works employee having taken respon- sibility on his own "to initiate sale of equip- ment." "I sat here in 2007, when we had to wrestle with those [budget] reductions," Patterson said. When staff suggested the commission cut back on mowing to save money, she add- Page 39 ed, "The board said, 'No!' Don't take the mon- ey from [the mowing contracts] … and we were really quite passionate about it." Reid also pointed out that while county staff tried to make sure vendors were fully aware of the scope of contracts, vendors sometimes took on work only to realize later that they could not handle the responsibilities. The commissioners ultimately agreed to dis- cuss the issue at length during an upcoming retreat. Reid concurred that would be prefer- able to reviewing the matter further during a regular meeting. THE AUDIT Dated Oct. 29, the audit says its objectives were the following: • Determine whether the county had ade- quate processes in place to monitor Bloom- ings' compliance with the mowing agree- ment. • Determine whether the county's process to authorize payments to the contractor was adequate. • Determine whether the county owes or is owed any amounts related to the agree- ment. The audit points out that on Oct. 1, 2011, the county issued an invitation for bids for mow- ing and related services. A bid protest delayed the award from about mid-November 2011 un- til Jan. 10. Because of that lag time, grass and vegetation had grown higher than normal, so county personnel gave Bloomings a "ramp-up" period during which it suspended formal in- spections and the assessment of re-inspection fees. That ramp-up period lasted until March 19.