Report to the Board of County Commissioners
March 15, 2011
1- Inform the Board that the Indian Creek Park dedication will be Friday, April 1, at 9 AM. The Riverkeepers are organizing the dedication. School children will be involved in the dedication so the program will run from approximately 9 to 10 AM.
2- Inform Board that Transfield Services will be relocating the Stop Bar at the intersection of US 98 and Woodill Road to try to improve driver safety. DOT has recommended the Stop Bar be moved forward 15 feet.
3- Inform Board and public that there will be an OSAT II briefing on March 24, at 6 PM, here in the Annex. OSAT II is the second round of evaluations the Coast Guard, BP, and DEP, are doing to evaluate the clean-up and movement of any residual oil in the near shore waters of the Gulf of Mexico. For Franklin County they will do another baseline review of our shore in the next few weeks, and again in the fall. The OSAT crews will also be available in the event of a hurricane this season.
4- Inform the Board that Senator Bill Nelson, along with 31 members of Congress, have asked the President to do a better job of assuring the public that Gulf Coast seafood is safe to eat. Provide Board with copy of letter.
5- Board action to authorize Mark Curenton to be the Board’s agent in applying for a Boating Improvement grant to construct a public restroom at the St. George Island boat ramp. Considering the high volume of use, and the close proximity of this boat ramp to oyster harvesting areas, this bathroom will be a great environmental benefit.
6- Inform the Board that I submitted 4 grants, totaling $50,200,000, to Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) for consideration of funding by BP. There is a meeting about NRDA in Panama City on March 17, at 7:30 PM, that I will attend. Provide Board copy of grants.
7- Board action to purchase hardware and negotiate a monthly data cost so the county commission can move to paperless meeting format. Mr. Moron has informed me that the cost of the hardware (IPADS) will be approximately $7000. A paperless format will save substantial money over time as it will significantly reduce the amount of paper generated for county commission meetings. Board action to approve expenditure.
8- Inform the Board the state of Florida E911 Board has notified the county that Franklin County is eligible to apply for a state E911 grant for improvements to the county 911 system. I have turned this information over to Ms. Pat McWhinnie, 911 Coordinator. The deadline for applying is June 1.
9- Provide Board with Weems Hospital Mission Statement, as approved by the Hosp. Board. Mr. Yonclas, Hospital Board member, helped create the Mission Statement and he has provided it to me. The Mission Statement is: “Our mission is to improve the health status of the residents and visitors to Franklin County, by providing quality, compassionate, cost effective and convenient health care through community leadership and in collaboration with other healthcare organizations which serve our communities.”
10- Inform Board that the City of Apalachicola, through its water re-use grant, is providing the county with $60,000 to resurface that section of Gibson Road that was damaged by the contractor installing the re-use system. It is the intention of getting the road paved by C.W. Roberts when they pave Brownsville Road.
11- Inform the Board that Commissioner Sanders is going to utilize her remaining road paving funds for the raising of the approaches to the Pine Log Bridge. By all estimates the CDBG grant does not contain enough money to complete the project so Commissioner Sanders is reserving her remaining funds so that the approach project can be completed. If the bids come in low and the funds are not used they will be earmarked for some future road paving project in District #2.
The only remaining work to be done on the current paving contract is some final work in Commissioner Jackel’s district.
12- DOT has announced submissions for candidates for 2011 SCOP programs. I have spoken to Ms. Regina Battles, DOT, regarding submission guidelines. She was very emphatic that Franklin County follows the guidelines and submits no more than 2 projects. The projects need to be ranked in priority and the main criterion is road condition. The DOT will fund 75% of the construction costs so the Board has traditionally selected long collector roads for state funding.
A recap of where the county stands on projects in the DOT pipeline is as follows: The county submitted 4 projects for the County Incentive Program last year- CC Land, Oak St., Bayshore Drive, and Bluff Road. Of those DOT selected CC Land for milling and resurfacing in 2013. Under last year’s SCOP program the county submitted 2 projects- Bluff Road and Oak St. DOT selected Bluff Road for milling and resurfacing in 2013. The DOT Agreements for both Bluff Road and CC Land Road will be sent to the county in July 2012.
The Board can change its list from last year, but of the road projects the county has previously submitted for state funding, the only two left are Oak St. and Bayshore Drive. Board direction on what projects to submit and in what priority. The deadline for submission is May 2, 2011.
13- Board direction on commitment to continue to use Chapman Auditorium as an auditorium. I have been contacted by a person interested in donating money for theater curtains for Chapman, and then for initiating fund raising for additional improvements to the auditorium. The improvements we talked about were: curtains, sound system, redoing the floors, and changing rooms. The individual does not want to embark on a fundraising effort if the Board anticipates doing something else with the auditorium. I told the individual that since the Charter School were next door I was fairly certain the auditorium would stay in use because the Charter School uses it for their school productions. Board discussion.
14- The TDC met on March 8 and discussed a number of issues. Mr. Curt Blair has contacted me to let me know that the county will be receiving a letter from the TDC informing the Board of its share of available infrastructure funds. According to an email from Ms. Fran Edwards on Friday afternoon, the county has $41,000 dollars of infrastructure funds remaining from last year (2009/10), and there is a projection of an additional $45,000 (2010/11) of funds for this year if the TDC revenues actually meet projections. The TDC fiscal year runs until Sept. 30 so we are halfway through the year. According to Mr. Blair revenues are on track for projections, but there is no excess. The total amount of infrastructure funds available, if projections are met, is $86,000.
The county has talked about using TDC funds for improvements for the Armory, but before TDC funds can be spent on the Armory it needs to be designated a “convention center.” The Board needs to direct its staff to research what steps need to be taken in order to designate the Armory a “convention center.”
At this time the St. George Island Civic Club has submitted a request for $8100 for materials for 5 small projects associated with the St. George Lighthouse. The Civic Club will provide the labor. Mr. Mason Bean should be in attendance to answer any questions regarding the projects. The projects include running underground power to the museum, extending the existing dune walkover 70 feet, and putting in curbing and planters at the entrance to the parking area. (The extension of the dune walkover needs to be coordinated with DEP as it is construction seaward of the CCCL. The estimated cost of the walkover is $2500.)
Mr. John Sink, Rotary Club President and member of the Franklin County Soil and Conservation Board has a made a request to the TDC for $2500 for partial funding of a sea oat project. He has already made plans to purchase 10,000 sea oats with joint funding from various groups and he is counting on $2500 from the TDC. This will have to come out of infrastructure funds. While Mr. Sink has organized a volunteer effort to plant sea oats on St. George Island March 24-26, Mr. Sink is aware there are other beaches in the county that also need sea oats restoration, specifically Carrabelle Beach. Mr. Sink understands that if the county approves the $2500 TDC funds that some of those sea oats will be reserved for planting at Carrabelle Beach.
15- Board action to sign supplemental JPA for the airport to buy a mower for the airport, purchase herbicide, and possibly build a bathroom for the existing T-hangers. This is a 100% funded DOT grant and is for approximately $47,000.
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