HOLMES BEACH – The Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability study being conducted on the three Anna Maria Island cities is starting to rattle local city leaders.
During a March 26 commission meeting, Mayor Judy Titsworth said she had participated in a conference call with OPPAGA representatives, who recently visited the Island to observe the city’s public works department.
She said that afterwards, she hoped the state representatives were considering public works as a possible department to consolidate across all three Island cities to save money. In talking with Public Works Supervisor Sage Kamiya after the visit, Titsworth said she learned that wasn’t the case. Instead, she said OPPAGA representatives were looking at public works as the only department that would need to remain on the Island if all three cities were eliminated and daily government operations were moved to the city of Bradenton or Manatee County.
“So that’s unfortunate,” she said. “I’m still hopeful because that is such an overreach. That is going to affect people so much. Their everyday lives are going to change so drastically if we don’t have their cities out here and they have to go to the county for everything. Your tax bill, you’re not assured that any of that is coming out here. I think you’re going to get more resistance from the residents and our visitors who love this Island with that type of an option. Unfortunately, I’m almost certain that’s the only one they’re looking at right now.”
Titsworth said that she’s still trying to get dialogue reopened between the city and state Rep. Will Robinson Jr. but hasn’t yet been successful.
Robinson is one of the five state legislative delegation members from Manatee County who ordered the OPPAGA study without the input of the three Island municipal governments.
While the three Island mayors said previously that they would support the OPPAGA study with the goal of looking at ways to save taxpayer money across the three cities, they all said they do not support consolidation or elimination of the cities.
The four possibilities being studied by OPPAGA representatives include consolidation of the three cities into one new city, elimination of the city governments and annexation of Anna Maria Island into the city of Bradenton or Manatee County or leaving the Island governments intact.
Titsworth said she believes that the OPPAGA study is focusing on elimination of the cities and annexation into Manatee County to get development rights for the Island. Currently, development on Anna Maria Island is controlled by city regulations. Those regulations would vanish if the city governments are eliminated.
Once the study is complete, City Attorney Erica Augello said that consolidation or elimination of the cities could be forced at the state level as a special act of the Legislature. The OPPAGA study would be submitted with a bill by the beginning of September and then would go through three committees in the House, voted on in the House floor and, if it passes, be put on the con-sent agenda for the Senate unless someone in the Senate pulls the bill for discussion. If the bill passes those hurdles, it would go to Gov. Ron DeSantis for approval or veto.
Commissioner Carol Soustek said it’s not just the current residents who are being affected by the ongoing study. She said she’s also spoken with potential residents who are holding off on purchasing property on the Island because of the uncertainty of the outcome of the OPPAGA study.
Titsworth said that staff members in all three cities also are working with a cloud of uncertainty hanging over their heads about the future of their jobs. She said the only thing they can do is persevere.
Commissioner Terry Schaefer said he was told that Sen. Jim Boyd, one of the members of the Manatee County state delegation, would meet with him and Titsworth at the end of the legislative session, which ended two weeks ago. Schaefer said he’s losing patience and is drafting a letter to Boyd to try again to set up a meeting to discuss consolidation.
TOWN HALL MEETING POSTPONED
Holmes Beach leaders planned to host a town hall workshop on Tuesday, April 9, but the workshop has been postponed indefinitely and may or may not take place at a future date.
BRADENTON BEACH
Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie confirmed that OPAGGA representatives recently visited the city’s Department of Public Works, headed by Tom Woodard, which is responsible for the maintenance and repair of city-owned streets, sidewalks and traffic signs, street striping, stormwater drains and systems, maintenance of city facilities and parks and street sweeping.
When asked about his thoughts on the OPAGGA study, Chappie said, “We’re going through the process.”
ANNA MARIA
OPPAGA representatives were unable to meet recently with Anna Maria Public Works Manager Roosevelt Jones, who was on bereavement leave, according to Mayor Dan Murphy, who said that Jones is expected to participate in a phone meeting with OPPAGA representatives this week.
Leslie Lake and Joe Hendricks contributed to this report.
