Vol. 14 No. 43 - August 20, 2014
headlines
Islanders challenge
themselves for a friend
DEE BRADY | SUBMITTED
Dennis Ellsworth was one of about 20 people
who took an ice water dunking Sunday
during a local staging of the ALS Ice
Bucket Challenge on the Anna Maria City Pier.
BY JOE HENDRICKS |
SUN CORRESPONDENT
ANNA MARIA – Friends of “Toledo” Bill Holmes gathered on the city pier Sunday morning to participate in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in his honor.
Organized by Holmes Beach resident Mike Deal and Anna Maria resident Dave McCormick, more than a dozen friends of the Ohio-based snowbird poured buckets of ice water over their heads as a show of support for Holmes and others afflicted with Lou Gehrig’s Disease, a degenerative muscular condition for which there is no cure.
During his annual stay on the Island earlier this year, Holmes, now in his early 70s, told his friends he had been diagnosed with ALS.
In addition to raising awareness, and having some fun in the process, Holmes’ friends raised $273, to be donated on his behalf to the Northern Ohio Chapter of the ALS Association.
“We had a bucket sitting there and people kept putting money in the till,” Deal said.
Before dousing themselves one at a time while standing on the pier, many participants acknowledged Holmes, who was not present, and challenged friends, relative or coworkers to donate to the ALS Association and take the challenge themselves.
These quick, chilly affairs are typically recorded with a cell phone or video camera, and the footage is then posted at Facebook and other social media outlets as a means of spreading the word.
“The video is a hoot,” Deal said.
When asked why they did it, he said, “To make Bill feel better and let him know we’re thinking about him.”
McCormick said, “There are a number of us that get together at the pier and solve the world’s problems one beer at a time. We talked about Bill and his family, who have been longtime seasonal visitors, and thought we’d jump on the bandwagon and let Bill know that we support him, his family, and all the others who have this serious disease. Hopefully, they’ll find a cure; it’s tough.”
In conclusion, McCormick said, “It was a great tribute and show of support for our friend Bill.”
The Ice Bucket Challenge was started by Peter Frates, a Boston Red Sox prospect who was diagnosed with ALS in 2012. It has since become a cultural, social media and fund-raising phenomenon.
As of Monday, the Ice Bucket Challenge had raised $15.6 million since July 29, compared to slightly less than $1.8 million during the same period last year, according to the ALS Association website.
Video of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge at the Anna Maria City Pier can be viewed at http://goo.gl/ZhQJdO
Donations can be made to the ALS Association at www.alsa.org.
Joe Hendircks | sun
Workers begin renovating the Bradenton Beach City Pier
BY JOE HENDRICKS |
SUN CORRESPONDENT
BRADENTON BEACH – After years of planning and waiting, the reconstruction of the Historic Bridge Street Pier is now underway.
Work began Monday, Aug. 11. The following day, Tuesday, city officials gathered on the pier for the nautical version of ground breaking ceremony. Bradenton Beach Mayor Bill Shearon began the brief ceremony by thanking his predecessor, former Mayor John Shaughnessy.
“Mayor John Shaughnessy is the one that got things started. Through his vision, Mayor Shaughnessy approached the Tourist Development Council (TDC) to get matching funding so the pier would not only be rebuilt, but rebuilt to a higher standard.”
Concluding his remarks, Shearon said, “Though that effort, my efforts, and the efforts of Manatee County, Mayor Shaughnessy’s vision is now being started. I have the privilege, along with the commission, the county and everybody involved with the Pier Team that’s put a lot of work into thia. We’re gonna get her done.”
Shaughnessy said, “The only thing I can say is this was collaborative effort. Elliot Falcione and Ed Hunzeker helped, and I can’t say enough about the TDC, my commission – Ed, Ric Gatehouse, Jan, and Gay Breuler – and especially the Pier Team and Chief (Sam) Speciale.”
Getting emotional as he spoke, the former mayor said, “There’s one more person I’d like to mention: Nora Idso (former city clerk), who took care of these funds and got the pier where it is today. We saved a million dollars that the TDC is going to match and we owe it to her.”
After the cermoney Speciale, who heads the Pier Team, said, “I spent the past 27 years walking up and down this thing, and it’s great to finally see it getting upgraded and being given a whole new life.’
In regard to protecting the new pier from future damage, Speciale explained that the number of pilings that currently extend east of the day dock, on the south side of the pier, will be increased and extend all the way to the T-end of the pier.
In contrast to the joy expressed by others, Roland Pena, proprietor of the pier-based Cast-n-Cage restaurant and the Rusty Anchor bait shop privately voiced concerns about the impact the six-month project will have on business with the pier now closed at the point where the restaurant patio ends.
“Yesterday, I counted 30 different groups of people coming through that turned around to go fishing somewhere else because the pier is down, and that’s taking away from the bait shop,” Pena said.
Although he was aware of the pending reconstruction when he entered into the agreement with the city last fall, he plans to approach the city commission and ask for a temporary rent reduction to help offset the loss of business.
Pena also wondered what impact the noise and commotion associated with the reconstruction would have on the restaurant, but one city official suggested there might be a positive counter-effect if curiosity seekers dine and drink at the restaurant while watching the work in progress.
On Wednesday, Duncan Seawall moved into place one of two cranes that will be used to remove and install the pier pilings.
School days back again at AME
TOM VAUGHT | SUN
Joe Leister is the first student off the bus this school year. His journey
was stalled for a few minutes because of a large SUV that blocked
part of the entrance to the bus ramp.
BY TOM VAUGHT |
SUN STAFF WRITER
HOLMES BEACH – It was a hot, humid morning and Anna Maria Elementary School Resource Brian Copeman stood in the parking lot that leads to the school bus lane, where the kids get on and off. Copeman was waiting for the owner of a large SUV that was crammed into a space not meant for parking, and it was blocking the first school bus of the new school year from unloading students.
The owner finally arrived and drove away and the bus pulled up to the covered area, opened the door and Joe Leister became the first one off the bus.
Looking around, the youngster stepped down and was given a paper bracelet identifying him as a bus rider. The school keeps tabs on bus riders versus parent pickups and walkers so that nobody gets left behind, especially kindergartners.
Meanwhile in the auditorium, kindergarten students and their parents were awaiting word from their teachers to line up. Kids look around nervously. Many of them knew fellow students from their attendance at the School For Constructive Play in Anna Maria and when they found a familiar face, they visited with them. For others, their attention was on a parent, and many of the parents were fighting back tears as their children took their first step into the realm of public education.
As the kids lined up and headed for their classrooms, as few of them stopped in the grassy area near the auditorium so their parents could record the occasion with their cell phones and cameras.
New clerk clarifies misconceptions
BY JOE HENDRICKS |
SUN CORRESPONDENT
BRADENTON BEACH – Newly-hired City Clerk Gia Lancaster has not yet reported for duty, but she has already found herself the subject of local scrutiny.
She is now determined to prove her new critics wrong and plans to begin that process when she takes over as Bradenton Beach’s new city clerk next week.
“I was surprised they didn’t even bother to meet me first before they placed judgment, but that’s going to change once they see my work ethic and get to know me,” she said, in response to those who questioned her hiring.
Lancaster served as city clerk in Arcadia from 2011 to 2013 under the supervision of former City Administrator Judi Jankowski.
“It was not accurate and was full of unproven allegations,” Jankowski said of a recent media report that called into question Lancaster’s past.
Speaking by phone last week from her current hometown of Titusville, Lancaster discussed the scuttlebutt surrounding the Aug. 7 hiring unanimously approved by the city commission.
When asked if she was removed from a city meeting in Arcadia while intoxicated, Lancaster said that such an incident never happened.
Jankowski said, “Gia was never removed from an Arcadia city meeting for any reason.”
When contacted by The Sun, Steve Bauer, assistant editor for The Arcadian newspaper, said he was aware of an old YouTube video showing Lancaster being removed from a city meeting in Oak Hill in 2011, but reported nothing similar in Arcadia.
“There was never an occasion where anything like that ever happened in Arcadia,” he said.
Lancaster addressed the Oak Hill incident that occurred after her resignation and prior to her hiring in Arcadia.
“I was not employed at the city of Oak Hill at the time. I chose to attend to observe if the council would appoint a certain person as the new city clerk. It was disappointing to me that our hard work was going to go waste,” Lancaster said of a hiring she did not support.
As for being under the influence, Lancaster said, “I recently had intense neck surgery and was still in recovery. The pain medication most likely made me appear groggy or intoxicated.”
HeadlineSurfer.com Publisher Henry Frederick attended the meeting and wrote in his blog that Lancaster, then known as Virginia Haas, “appeared to be intoxicated.”
Last week, he provided additional insight.
“I never saw her intoxicated. She was very professional, courteous and good at what she did. Virginia Haas, to my knowledge, is not an alcohol-oriented person on the job,” Frederick said of her tenure in Oak Hill, from 2008 to 2010.
When discussing her 2013 resignation in Arcadia, Lancaster said. “There were multiple reasons, as I listed on my resignation letter. The ultimate reason was my mother’s illness, although there were other reasons surrounding my decision.”
Her resignation came at a time when Jankowski and several other staff members were involved in a contentious dispute with the city council over, among other things, the firing of a city employee, who happened to be a friend of several council members. According to Jankowski, she refused to rehire the employee despite the council’s desire for her to do so.
“Gia had confided in me before I rendered my resignation that her mom was ill and needed her help. With the turmoil surrounding the city and my departure, she decided to go help her mom,” Jankowski said.
When Lancaster applied for the clerk’s job in Melbourne Beach later that year, she listed “restructuring of city departments due to change in administration” as the reason for her resignation.
“That is correct,” she said, finding no merit in the claim that she provided false information.
Bauer covered the staff departures in Arcadia and clarified inaccuracies attributed to him last week regarding Lancaster’s communications with those involved.
“There were some e-mails going back and forth, but there was nothing that involved Gia,” he said. “Gia was never part of those conversations according to the information I have.”
Bauer also noted that Lancaster changed her name about six months before she left the job, rather than just prior to her resignation.
“That was a personal decision for me to change back to my mother’s maiden name. I still maintain my first name, Gia, shortened from Virginia, and my middle name, Suzanne, so it’s not really that big of a name change.” Lancaster said.
In regard to Lancaster’s work habits, Jankowski said, “Gia knows her job and does it well. She is always available to help other staff and goes above and beyond to make sure projects are completed correctly and on time, and she knows how to be neutral and do her job without becoming involved in the politics.”
Bauer said, “As far as I could tell she did her job fine, and the council sometimes recognized her for her good work. There were no outbursts, no issues, and no incidents.”
BY JOE HENDRICKS |
SUN CORRESPONDENT
BRADENTON BEACH – City commissioners have no intention to revisit the August 7 hiring of new city clerk Gia Lancaster.
“I just hope everyone will give her a chance and let her do her job,” Bradenton Beach Mayor Bill Shearon said, when asked last week.
Lancaster is in the process of relocating from Titusville and is scheduled to begin her tenure with the city on Monday.
When contacted, Vice Mayor Jack Clarke said, “The commission has made their decision, and this is not going be revisited by me. Ms. Lancaster’s qualifications and credentials are impeccable. I believe she’ll be an asset to the city and nothing that I have seen, and know to be fact, to date, changes that opinion one iota.”
Commissioner Jan Vosburgh said, “She’s very qualified for the job. I have no reservations whatsoever, and we’re lucky to have her. We need a strong and assertive personality in the clerk’s office. As time goes on, I appreciate (former city clerk) Nora Idso more and more for what she did. From what I’ve heard, Gia is a real hard worker. I like that she works hard and is productive.”
Commissioner Janie Robertson said, “Mayor Shearon has said since he took office that everyone starts with a clean slate. Since he is administratively responsible for the city, I will follow his lead. Gia will be a new department head and I hope she acclimates quickly to working with her new boss.”
Commissioner Ed Straight was not present at the commission meeting that resulted in Lancaster’s hiring by way of a unanimous 4-0 commission decision. Despite the commission support, a few in the community questioned Lancaster’s qualifications and previous employment history. Those objections, city officials said, were based on faulty information, erroneous assumptions and inaccurate media reports.
Lancaster will be subject to a salary review after three months. Following standard city procedure, she will also be subject to a career service status review to determine if she is retained and given full employee rights at the completion of her six-month probationary period.
Working with Lancaster, current Clerk Pro Tempore Terri Sanclemente will continue her employment with the city, serving as assistant to the city clerk when the new clerk arrives.
City might hire
parking facilitators
BY TOM VAUGHT |
SUN STAFF WRITER
ANNA MARIA ¬– After working on the concept of paid parking for most of a year, the city commission is now talking about letting an outside source do it.
The city commission discussed paid parking at a work session on Thursday, Aug. 14. Commissioner Dale Woodland said they need more public involvement.
“I think where we’re going now is a waste of time and money,” he said. “We might discuss it and find out we don’t want it.”
“Unless you can find a way to get the public in here, we’ll work on something and then they’ll come out and say it is no good,” Commissioner Doug Copeland said. “We need to complete it.”
The commission has been working on paid parking to help control parking in the city and to collect money to pay for the extra costs of keeping up with the rapid increase in tourism on the Island and in the city. Holmes Beach is also looking at the idea.
City Attorney Jim Dye said he checked with other cities about charging non-residents, but not residents, for parking.
“I found the Supreme Court of the U.S. ruled on it, and if there is a difference between residents and tourists, there is a problem,” he said. “You cannot give to a resident something a non-resident would not be able to get.”
Talk turned to whether they could limit parking on the streets to daytime hours and Copeland made a suggestion.
“Maybe we should hire an outside company to do this,” he said.
Commission Chair Chuck Webb said he liked the idea.
“I am not in favor of this, but if you want to do it, we’ve been working on this for about a year or so and we’re no closer to a decision,” Copeland said.
Dye said he was having trouble figuring out what the city commission wanted anyway.
“Should I change this from an ordinance to an RFP (request for proposals)?” he asked.
Commissioners agreed to explore hiring an outside source.
FDOT looks at alternatives
BY TOM VAUGHT |
SUN STAFF WRITER
HOLMES BEACH – The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) will hold a public meeting to consider options for the Cortez Bridge on Thursday, Aug. 28, from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at the St. Bernard Catholic Church activity center, 248 S. Harbor Drive.
This meeting is part of an FDOT Project Development and Environment (PD&E) study of the aging drawbridge.
The alternative actions being considered are a no-build option of continued repair as needed, a rehabilitation of the existing structure or replacement with a low or medium height drawbridge or a tall fixed bridge.
According to an FDOT news release, the meeting will be an open house format where people can ask questions and provide comments to FDOT representatives in a one-on-one setting. The representatives will play a video explaining the alternatives and those interested will have an opportunity to complete a comment sheet or take it home to fill out and mail back by Sept. 8.
FDOT is sending notices to property owners with 300 feet of Cortez Road within the study limits, west of 115th Street in Cortez and everyone who lives or owns property on Anna Maria Island and north Longboat Key.
FDOT urges everyone who requires special accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act or who requires translation services (free of charge) should contact project manager Tony Sherrard at 863-519-2304 or e-mail at antone,sherrard@dot.state.fl.us at least one week before the meeting.
The PD&E study is scheduled to last another year before officials reach a decision. After that, they will search for funding to either extend the old bridge’s life or replace it.
For more information on the PD&E study, log onto www.cortezbridge.com.
BY TOM VAUGHT |
SUN STAFF WRITER
ANNA MARIA – Those who park illegally in the city will find their $35 fine increasing by that amount every two hours if the city commission has its way.
At a work session on Thursday, Aug. 14, the commissioners agree to raise the fine from $30 to $35. Commission Chair Chuck Webb suggested they not stop at that amount for those who park illegally for an extended amount of time.
“I’d like to see it go up by $35 for a maximum of four times,” he said.
City Attorney Jim Dye said he asked other city attorneys if their cities have that policy, and they haven’t gotten back to him. He said the deputies note when they observe the violation. Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Paul Davis said the deputies mark the tires every time they check on an illegally parked car and it is still parked in violation. He suggested they print the maximum number of times the fine would accrue on no parking signs.
Sgt. Davis said one problem he has is people who are very vigilant about violations in front of their homes or businesses. He said they currently call every two hours, and if the fine increases every two hours, they would continue to call the Sheriff’s Office.
“When this goes into effect,” he said, “our calls for service will increase.”
The commissioners agreed to raise the fine for parking in a handicapped space illegally from $150 to $225.
Saving grand trees
Commissioners also discussed a landscape ordinance that would require certain plants and trees and protect what are known as grand trees, which are native mature trees.
Webb said their power to dictate control of trees is limited to new construction, so a grand tree would not be covered unless it was part of new construction. Dye said, however, they could control it with a permit.
“We don’t require permits,” said Building Official Bob Welch. “So if someone wants to come in and clear their lot, it’s not prohibited.
“You could cut down the tree and come in two weeks later and say I’ve decided to get a permit,” he warned.
Webb said he wants the ordinance to not allow removal of grand trees unless they are a danger. He said the homeowner could remove them, but they would have to mitigate by planting replacement trees.
Webb suggested a tree survey so people don’t take out grand trees without the city’s knowledge.
Webb asked City Planner Alan Garrett to get tree ordinances from other governments like Sarasota and Sanibel.
