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$90,000 OK'd On Rescue Vehicle

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 19, 2008

Items of interest from the Nov. 10 meeting of the Plant City Commission included:

•Commissioners approved purchase of an ambulance/rescue vehicle from Wheeled Coach Industries in Winter Park.

The 2008 Dodge will cost $90,000, plus trade-in of a 2001 Ford F450 ambulance the city had planned to recondition.

The Dodge, with 223 miles on it, was originally built for another customer and, as such, is classified as a demonstrator, City Manager David Sollenberger reported. The original cost was approximately $120,000.

The 2009 city budget includes $91,000 to recondition the 2001 model by moving the patient-transport box onto a new chassis, but buying the demo instead will provide a totally new vehicle, Sollenberger said.

"This is an opportunity to have many new safety standards incorporated within the transport area which would not have been included in the reconditioning project," he said in his recommendation.

•All three bids for construction of two concrete basketball courts at Mike Sansone Park exceeded funds available for the project and were rejected.

Specifications require the bidder be a general contractor, which is unnecessarily restrictive and, perhaps, unintentionally reduces the number of contractors eligible to bid, the city manager said. The project will be rebid, he said.

In recommending revising the bid specifications, Sollenberger also suggested the specified materials and quantities be adjusted to obtain bids within the $100,000 budget, without sacrificing the durability or surface finish of the courts. The courts will replace ones that will be displaced by a veterans park planned for Courier Field.

Low bidder Reeves Building and Plumbing Contractors, Tampa, did not qualify because it holds a building contractor's license, not a general contractor's license as required in the original specifications, Sollenberger said. Additionally, the company's $105,299 bid exceeded the project's budget.

Other bids were from Princeton Construction Co., Apollo Beach, $114,973; and Magnolia General Contracting Co., Tampa, $141,295.

•Commissioners scheduled 7:30 p.m. Monday for public hearings on land-use changes for two large mixed-use developments.

One proposed comprehensive plan amendment for 177 acres south of Interstate 4 straddling Charlie Taylor Road would change the land-use designation from residential-4/commercial and natural preservation to industrial/natural preservation.

The other hearing is for 40 acres on the southeast corner of South Frontage and Son Keen roads. The proposed amendment would change the land-use designation from residential-4 to mixed-use, residential/commercial.

The public hearings will be at City Hall, 302 W. Reynolds St.

•Commissioners agreed to buy generators to operate two sewage lift stations during power outages.

The cost for the two generators purchased from Tradewinds Power Corp. in Miami is $92,406.

The purchase intended to improve service reliability and emergency preparedness will provide permanent backup power at key lift stations. The city plans to buy generators in the future for other lift stations.

Lift Station 33, 2806 Griffin Blvd., and No. 39 at 3530 Trapnell Ridge Drive, were selected to receive the first generators, based upon location, flow capacity and history of power outages, the city manager said.

•Commissioners made appointments to several city boards.

Donald Goodwine was reappointed to the city Board of Adjustment for a three-year term beginning Jan.1.

William A. Keel and Matthew D. Buzza were reappointed to the city Planning Board.

Keel was appointed Dec. 12, 2005, and is the planning board's current chairman. Buzza was appointed June 10, 2002.

Both consented to another three-year term, starting Jan. 1.

Harold Falls was reappointed to the Citizens Environmental Advisory Committee of the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission.

Falls has been the city's representative on that board since March 26, 2001. His current two-year term expires Jan. 1, and he expressed a desire to serve another two years.

•Commissioners adopted resolutions declaring the city's intent to demolish two condemned buildings.

The structures are a vacant fire-damaged home at 3002 Sydney Road, owned by Jose Francisco Mira, and a small shed at 906 Woodlawn Ave., owned by John W. Williams.

Both were previously condemned and ordered removed, but the owners failed to comply, city officials said. Commissioners ordered their demolition, and bids will be solicited, with liens placed against the properties to cover costs.

In a related matter, commissioners set a Dec. 8 public hearing for the owners of condemned property at 4503 Airport Road, John J. and Penny B. Simmons, to show cause as to why their structure should not be demolished. Commissioners issued the condemnation order on Aug. 21.

George Wilkens

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