Port Manatee To Hold First Meeting of 2011 Thursday Morning At Intermodal Center

MANATEE--The Manatee County Port Authority will meet Thursday morning at 9:00 a.m. in the third floor meeting room of the Port Manatee Intermodal Center in Palmetto. This is the first port meeting of 2011 as January’s meeting was cancelled.

Items on the agenda include discussions of the bank loan for the Berth 12 Dredging Project, the Port Security Grant Program, bids for maritime domain awareness, the transportation worker identification credential (TWIC) enforcement enhancement project and other open Port Authority matters.

Port Manatee’s New York based consultant group ARUP is also scheduled to provide its recommendations to the board for the port’s concessions agreement. The firm has been studying the port since last fall to put together a report on how to increase business potential. Port Manatee's yearly economic impact to Manatee County alone is estimated at $1.4 billion.