The League of Women Voters of Manatee County Government Committee observes Manatee County Commission meetings for items of interest to citizens and the League and notes adherence, or lack of adherence, to good governance procedures and the Sunshine Law. The following are the major points from the board’s regular meeting on 6/11/24.
Link to Agenda and Meeting Video
[Note: After the retirement of Mike Bennett, James Satcher was appointed Manatee County Supervisor of Elections by Governor DeSantis. Therefore, currently there are only 6 County Commissioners.]
Invocation – Commissioner Beardon
Pledge of Allegiance – Members of Boys and Girls Club
Items pulled from Consent Agenda – None
Presentations/Awards/
Selected Citizen Comments for future agenda items
Commissioner Responding Comments: none
Citizen Comments – Consent Agenda Items:
Commissioner Responding Comments:
Approval of Consent Agenda, 6-0
Item 56 - Adoption of Ordinance 24-48, amending Section 2-22-24 of the County Code regulating stopping, standing and parking in county rights-of-way
Aaron Burkett, Traffic Operations Division Manager, explained that this item was the result of citizens (on 103rd St. in Paradise Bay Estates) petitioning for restricted parking on 103rd St. West. A second request from code enforcement is to establish no parking at 24th and 47th, to remove semi-trailer trucks from parking and that reduce traffic flow. It will also improve access to the county Public Safety Complex.
Van Ostenbridge asked if the code enforcement request will result in a lack of area for the semis to stage and said that generally when you squeeze parking out of one area, it will reappear somewhere else.
Public Comment on Item 56:
Peter Crisely, a 30-year resident of Paradise Bay, is concerned that the restricted parking will present a problem for the 8 private homeowners who aren’t part of Paradise Bay Estates.
Item 56 approved 6-0
Items 51-68 – all dealing with Street Lighting Projects. No presentations requested.
Items 51-68 passed 6-0 (See Governance)
Public comments:
Commissioner comments
Regular Agenda Items of Interest
Item 69 - Approval of 2024/25 HUD Action Plan
Tracie Adams, Deputy Director of Community and Veterans Service, said that the department was amending one item on the proposed plan, removing $210,000 for Genesis Health Services Inc for acquisition of new property to preserve and expand affordable health care, dental care and social services available to low- and moderate-income residents. Approved 6-0.
Item 70 - Appointment to ELMAC (Environmental Lands Management and Acquisition Committee)
There were 16 applications submitted from citizens representing a wide range of experience for one, one-year, at-large position. Kruse nominated Kate Horne, a county educator and advisor for the Kiwanis Builders club at Palmetto Charter School. KVO motioned to close nominations.
Motion to appoint Kate Horne approved 6-0.
Item 71 - Status Reports for American Rescue Plan (ARP) and Generational Impact Projects
William Constanzo, Business Services Manager to gave the presentation.
ARP STATUS REPORT BCC 6.11.2024.PDF.pdf (mymanatee.org)
Constanzo noted that since his previous two updates the Treasury updated the guidelines regarding the encumbered funds to include full time positions and to allow encumbered funds to be moved among projects as the ARP funds need to be encumbered by 12/31/2024 (and spent by 12/31/2026).
ARP provided the County with $78.3 million. 82.5% is spent/completed and 17.5% active. Completed projects include EMS vehicles, Sheriff’s radios, Covid response, assistance for the homeless, and stormwater projects. To avoid loss of funds for the ongoing Moccasin Wallow EMS station, that project has been encumbered.
GENERATIONAL IMPACT PROJECTS BCC STATUS REPORT 6.11.2024.PDF.pdf (mymanatee.org)
Generational Impact projects of $52.6 million were launched with some ARP seed money along with other funding. Completed projects include Easter Seals facility for autistic children, new building for PACE girls’ program, Tunnels2Towers land for homeless veterans, and community gardens. In process projects include Under One Roof, daycare reimbursement for county employees, EMS station at Lake Manatee, among others. Future projects will include Light Up Manatee, Stormwater projects, Gateway/Greenway trail and the Fiber Loop.
Commissioners’ comments:
Ballard strongly urged forward motion on the Under One Roof project, a transitional housing project for up to 30 families at one time, along with social service resources in one place that the county intends to build in the former sheriff’s office.
County Administrator Bishop interjected with a request to the Chair if there could be a quick update on Washington Park and was granted time.
Phase One took place from 11/6/23 to 4/12/24 and was an initial cleanup of the site and the construction of two buildings. There has been additional work on part of the site in collaboration with the Port Authority and Army Corps of Engineers. A wetland pit in the corner of the property has been filled in with dredged material from the Port Authority. Hunsicker said if the county had filled the wetland pit it would have been $15 million. Clean fill will top the dredged material to create a preserve in addition to the current Washington Park plans.
Phase Two will include the installation of a prefabricated bathroom, trails, and buffers, which have Federal Department of Environmental Protection approval, and the final design of the community center, which will require FDEP approval.
Item 72 - Update on EMS Signal Priority/Pre-emption Pilot Project
Public Works Director Chad Butzow called this project a “monumental lift” to improve access for Manatee Memorial Hospital by coordinating signals along the US 41/301 and SR64 corridors for EMS vehicles. This required the collaboration between Manatee County, Bradenton, and Palmetto. It is expected that the system will be fully functional next week.
Link to Good Governance Guidelines
The presentation about the Island Ferry should have been in the Regular Agenda for more discussion, evidence, and financials. With the ferry operational for only a half year, an expenditure of $3,000,000 to replace the two existing ferries and without the ability to accurately project annual demand needs significantly more analysis work and careful examination of the complete financial implications.
Points of order:
Although legally permissible, the BoCC’s continued use of ARP funds for items other than those to improve infrastructure as originally planned, does not best benefit the public.
Commissioners shouldn’t eat during the meeting, as food is not allowed in the Chambers. Snacking publicly during the meeting is distracting to the procedures.
Taking Item 56 out of order was helpful to the public and to staff, as all of the numerous other public hearings items dealt with lighting projects.
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