Anna Maria Mayor Mark Short reported to The Islander Dec. 20 that for the past week, the city continued to address many ongoing projects, including:
- The inspection process began for both below and above water for the city pier; still scheduled to be completed by the end of December.
- Our emergency permit for the demolition of the parts of the city pier damaged by Milton has been approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the city engineering firm will be issuing proposal requests to interested parties for the demo work.
- County crews are nearing completion of the cleanup at Bayfront Park and it is expected to open for Christmas.
- We expect the water ferry service will re-commence soon at a temporary dock provided for that purpose while the city pier remains damaged, but we have no official notice.
- The city was prepared for its second holiday event on Pine Ave Dec. 21 and Santa and his helpers are expected to make an appearance.
The mayor also announced that the city closed off the application process for the open commission seat Dec. 20 and there are two candidates.
He said Dec. 23 that they are Brian Seymour and John Lynch. Seymour is a former commissioner and was a candidate in November for the mayor’s seat. He operates the Anna Maria General Store and was a co-operator of the city pier restaurant before the pier was damaged by the September-October hurricanes.
Short noted that Lynch is a retired executive and has been a resident of Anna Maria the past several years.
In Holmes Beach, Sage Kamiya, superintendent of public works/city engineer reported Dec. 18 that all debris from the storms has been picked up from the roadside and all construction and demolition debris has been hauled off the island, as well.
All sand has been hauled to Coquina Beach in Bradenton Beach for sifting and eventual placement on the beaches. The remaining vegetative debris will be ground down and hauled off the island beginning this week.
There are a few locations with “white goods” remaining that still need to be picked up.
The next steps for public works is continuing repairs. This includes repairing damaged stormwater infrastructure, 14 roadway locations, 10 sidewalk locations, regarding seven swales, beach access cleanup, and continued insurance coordination for over a dozen city property items.
Except for a few items as mentioned above, the public infrastructure in the city is open for guests and residents alike. Public works and our staff are looking forward to getting back to our regular service responsibilities to support our community.
Chad Minor, Holmes Beach director of Development services / Planning and zoning administrator, reported Dec. 18 that the building department continues to receive and process storm-related and non-stor-related permits and inspection requests.
Saturday building department permit hours will continue until the end of the year to assist with recovery efforts.
Minor also said the planning and zoning and code compliance department are to back to normal pre-storm functions.
Kingfish Boat Ramp repairs are being performed by Manatee County.
Mayor Judy Titsworth provided a copy of her state-of-the-city report, which is posted online with “City happenings” for review at islander.org.
There was no response from calls and emails to the Bradenton Beach clerk, Commission Chair Ralph Cole or Mayor John Chappie for a report.