BRADENTON BEACH – Characterizing the possible consolidation of the three island cities as “breaking up the team,” Mayor John Chappie spoke out against consolidation efforts at a Dec. 6 Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) meeting.
On Oct. 31, the Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) sent a letter to the mayors of all three Anna Maria Island cities saying that the Florida Legislature has directed the organization to review the potential consolidation of services and government entities on Anna Maria Island. Options discussed include annexing the Island into the city of Bradenton or Manatee County, or creating a new city from the Island’s three cities.
At the Dec. 6 CRA meeting, city attorney Ricinda Perry updated the board on the OPAGGA study.
“The CRA is part of the OPAGGA study,” Perry said. “If they decide to consolidate there is a very real chance the CRA will no longer exist, which would be a major detriment to the improvements we’ve been making, and very substantial improvements.”
Perry outlined city efforts to comply with requests for documents from OPAGGA.
“The state has issued the OPAGGA study to the city and staff has spent a very considerable amount of time working through the documents and preparing the reports and the correspondence that has been requested from OPAGGA,” Perry said. “I want to recognize the clerk’s office. Terri (Sanclemente, the city clerk) has been compiling every single contract that the city has and the CRA has, and that as a team, Chief (John Cosby), Tom (Woodard, public works director) Shayne (Thompson, city treasurer ), me, Mayor (John) Chappie and Terri have gotten together to respond.”
Perry said she is hopeful that the state elected officials see the value in allowing the municipalities that have been authorized by the state Legislature to maintain their status.
“That deals with some of the concerns about cities versus services, consolidation, non-consolidation, elimination or whatever,” Chappie said. “With a smaller municipality, and the CRA, we had the ability to utilize funds to establish a viable commercial district out here on the Island.”
Chappie said that in the past, the central area of Bradenton Beach consisted mostly of bars.
“When we started, it was dying here,” Chappie said. “The ability of local government to work and transform an area, and create a viable commercial district, it’s incredible what you can do with local government, smaller government and CRAs. Without that it would have never happened, if it had been all the county.”
Chappie said with the reputation that Bradenton Beach had in years past, he doubted the current revitalization would have ever taken place.
“And that’s my pitch for not breaking up the team,” Chappie said.
