Friday, September 5, 2008

Commission Report: September 2, 2008

The selection of a pool of city engineers, personnel matters, and temporary road closures topped the City’s agenda at our regular scheduled meeting held Tuesday, Sept 2.

Selection of a pool of City Engineers
The City Commission selected four engineer firms out of 10 to complement the services provided by the City’s current engineering firm Baskerville and Donovan.

At the April 8 meeting, the Commission agreed to advertise for Requests for Statements of Qualifications. The Commission took this approach to give us the flexibility to choose from a pool of engineers instead of one when contracting out design and engineering projects.

The pool will consist of the engineering firms of Baskerville and Donovan, Inc., Bailey, Bishop & Lane, Inc., Environmental Consulting and Technology, Inc., Inovia Consulting Group and Preble Rish, Inc.

Personnel Matters
The Board discussed at length what to do with employee Timothy Poloronis who recently had his certification to supervise State Inmates revoked by the Department of Corrections.

The Apalachicola Board of City Commissioners in the past has terminated the employment of at least eight former City employees who lost their license or certification to perform the job in which they were hired.

At our November 6, 2007 regular scheduled meeting, I proposed an Inmate Supervisory Policy which passed unanimously at our November 13, special meeting. The policy makes it a Class IV offense for an employee to lose his/her license or certification to perform the duties in which they were hired. Employees found in violation of this policy could find themselves subject to discharge for a first offense.

A motion made by Commissioner Jimmy Elliot to allow Poloronis to transfer into another department in lieu of termination failed 2 to 3. The Commission tabled the matter for further discussion at our Sept. 9 special meeting.

Temporary Road Closures
At our August 5 regular meeting, Anita Grove, Executive Director for the Apalachicola Bay Chamber of Commerce asked for approval to close a portion of Commerce Street for the Chamber’s Annual Oyster Roast.

The City Commission routinely approves such requests for temporary road closures; however, there was an objection to this particular closure. The objection came from Hollis Vail and Jan Gorman owners of one of the businesses operating near the proposed closure.

The Commission deferred the matter for further discussion at our Tuesday, September 2 meeting, where both Vail and Gorman appeared to voice their concerns. Both women informed the Commission that their business has suffered revenue loss from the closure of Commerce Street during the high traffic weekend of the Annual Seafood Festival.

City Commissioner Frank Cook motioned that we again table the matter to gather further information for resolution at our special meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 9.

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