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City commission approves PCSO contract
By HARLAN WEIKLE
Article published on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007 |
INDIAN ROCKS BEACH – Contract negotiations between the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and the city ended Tuesday night with passage of a resolution rescinding a previous resolution that had authorized a 12-month contract with the PCSO worth slightly less than $793,000.
The PCSO had bid just over $807,000.
Saying the bid price would not be reduced, the sheriff returned the contract to the city and Tuesday night City Commissioners unanimously accepted the contract for $807,000. Commissioner Bert Valery was absent.
Last year’s PCSO contract for $757,000 expired Sept. 30.
There may yet be some savings for the city under the new contract as the sheriff studies a method of cost analysis used in determining the amount of the final contract bid. But, for now, law enforcement continues uninterrupted in Indian Rocks Beach.
Two issues regarding sheriffs deputies in IRB – uniform regulations and “gator” training – would be addressed by the PCSO as time allows. Desiring a “people friendlier” appearance as well as increased comfort for working deputies, the commission had requested the sheriff’s office allow deputies to wear short sleeved polo-type shirts and short pants as authorized “battle dress uniforms” while on duty. Commissioners also requested that all deputies assigned to the beach receive qualification training on the city’s “gator” utility vehicle; a process the sheriff’s representative said was already well under way.
Last week, the commission succeeded in passing a comprehensive newsrack ordinance that for the first time brings coded standards to the type and amount of newsrack stands throughout the city. For more than two years the commission, newspaper publishers, distributors, lawyers, consultants and the public have debated the issue.
Newspaper publishers would protect first amendment right to freedom of the press; distributors, the ability to control the commerce of distribution; and city officials, the safety and potentially the right of self-determination and the power of local government.
Despite a letter requesting a furtherance of the debate citing concerns over certain language adopted in the much revised 13-page ordinance, officials last week passed the law into effect. The vote was unanimous.
Following a second overtime continuance of Tuesday night’s meeting, IRB’s sometimes-contentious commission considered its most recent public brouhaha involving allegations of a fictional news conference, mayoral press release, and speculation by Commissioner R.B. Johnson that Mayor Bill Ockunzzi may be “living in some kind of parallel universe.” In the end, they agreed to continue to respectfully disagree, while at the same time urging tolerance and a return to the principles of order and decorum. No vote was taken.
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Article published on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007
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