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Clearwater News Briefs
By LESTER R. DAILEY
Article published on Wednesday, May 7, 2008 |
Truck tips over, sticking taxpayers with hefty bill
CLEARWATER – A city truck and trailer used to haul refuse to the Pinellas County Waste to Energy Facility recently rolled over on its side at the intersection of 49th Street and 118th Avenue. No other vehicles were involved.
The city’s Fleet Management Department got three bids and decided to have the 2003 Sterling truck, which cost $76,608 new, repaired by R & B Auto Body Inc. at a cost of $20,909. The 2006 Steco aluminum ejector transfer trailer, which cost $60,984 new, will be repaired by Florida Utility Trailers Inc. at a cost of $18,310.
In addition, the city has to pay towing and recovery costs of $2,195. But because hidden damage might be discovered during the repairs, city officials sought and received City Council permission to spend a total of up to $55,000.
Because the city is self-insured for such mishaps, the taxpayers will have to pick up the tab.
‘Swim at your own risk’ might become the rule on Clearwater Beach
CLEARWATER – This city’s world-famous beach is the only one in the Tampa Bay area that has year-round lifeguards. And they’re kept very busy.
Last year, they dealt with 13,600 incidents. Most involved people swimming outside the swim zone or boats entering it, but others involved rescuing swimmers in distress, finding lost children, treating stingray stings or other medical emergencies, enforcing the no-alcohol rule and ejecting people who illegally jump off Pier 60.
But that may soon end because the City Council is considering cutting the eight full-time and six or seven part-time lifeguards back to seasonal status or eliminating them entirely. It’s part of the city’s effort to trim its budget by $6 million to $10 million in the face of declining tax revenues. It is estimated that eliminating the lifeguards, who earn about $35,000 a year when working full-time, would save the city about $700,000 a year. The guards’ salaries were formerly paid by beach parking fees, but a reduction of those fees resulting from the loss of parking spaces due to the construction of Beach Walk may necessitate subsidizing their salaries through property tax revenues if the guards are kept.
The fate of the guards, and other popular city services, will be determined this summer in a series of public meetings that will be held to discuss City Manager Bill Horne’s proposed budget.
Streetscape wins award
CLEARWATER – Perry Lopez, the city’s construction manager, recently announced that the West Coast (Florida) Branch of the American Public Works Association has named Clearwater’s Cleveland Street makeover the winner of its Award of Excellence in the $2 million to $10 million project category.
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Article published on Wednesday, May 7, 2008
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