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Commission Widens Search For City Clerk

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By GEORGE WILKENS

gwilkens@tampatrib.com

Published: March 4, 2009

Among items of interest from the Feb. 23 Plant City Commission meeting was that the city will increase the pool of candidates for the city clerk vacancy by advertising the post.

The selection committee appointed by City Manager David Sollenberger interviewed the three in-house applicants for the position being vacated by Virginia Helper.

Based upon the recommendation of the committee, Sollenberger asked the human resources director to commence recruitment.

Helper, who has worked for the city for 35 years and was named clerk in 2002, announced plans to retire Feb. 9. She said, however, she will remain on board until her replacement is found.
Basketball Courts Closer To Reality

Commissioners awarded a contract for construction of three basketball courts at Mike Sansone Community Park, a project initiated last year and delayed because of problems with initial bids.

A St. Petersburg company, McDonald Builders, submitted the lowest of the 17 bids, $68,750.

The highest bid was from Reeves Building, Tampa, $142,301.

In November, the city received only three bids in response to its advertisements for the concrete courts. All were rejected because they exceeded the $100,000 available for the project.

The city manager suggested the requirement that bidders be general contractors was unnecessarily restrictive and perhaps unintentionally reduced the number of eligible bidders.

The project was advertised Feb. 4 with modified specifications.

The concrete courts will replace ones that will be displaced by a veterans park planned for Courier Field.

Hearing On Parking Is Monday Night

Commissioners scheduled a 7:30 p.m. Monday public hearing on a proposed ordinance regulating downtown parking during the Saturday motorcycle and car shows.

Parking on streets and in municipal lots near the shows interferes with safe and efficient operation of the events, yet the city lacks an ordinance authorizing the towing of vehicles, according to background information about the issue.

Areas that will be impacted between the hours of 3 and 10 p.m. on the first and third Saturdays are:

•Drane Street between Wheeler and Palmer streets

•J. Arden Mays Boulevard between Wheeler and Palmer streets

•Palmer Street between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Reynolds Street

•Evers Street between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Reynolds Street

•The north municipal parking lot southeast of the Reynolds/Palmer streets intersection

•The south municipal parking lot northeast of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard/Palmer Street intersection

•The municipal parking lot south of Drane Street, west of Evers Street, north of the CSX railroad tracks and east of Wheeler Street

Bike Fest, a motorcycle event, is held from 5 to 9 p.m. on the first Saturday around Union Station Welcome Center, 102 N. Palmer St.

The Strawberry Classic Car Show is from 4 to 9 p.m. on the third Saturday in and around McCall Park at Collins and Drane streets.

Signs identifying the no-parking zones will cost $1,360 to $3,840. The Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce agreed to pay half the cost, up to $1,500, the city manager reported.

Police Cut Cost Of Cell Phone Bill

As part of an ongoing effort to cut costs, the Plant City Police Department explored alternative contract arrangements to reduce cellular telephone expenses by nearly $20,000 annually, City Manager Sollenberger reported.

Changes in the city's Verizon contracts proposed by Police Chief Bill McDaniel have reduced the department's monthly cell phone charges from $3,500 to $2,200, about $15,600 annually.

A reduction in the number of cell phones the department uses and modifying some individual service plans resulted in additional savings of $4,200 annually.

Alcohol Sweep Finds 8 Violations

Compliance checks the police department's Street Crimes Unit conducted during January to ensure alcoholic beverages are not being sold to minors resulted in eight violations, the city manager said.

On Jan. 14, investigative aides younger than 21 were sent into 23 local convenience stores, liquor stores, grocers and other retailers of alcoholic beverages.

The eight clerks who sold alcoholic beverages to the underage aides were arrested and assigned a court date.

The department plans similar compliance checks on a regular basis.

$90,000 Approved For Network Equipment

Moving forward with deployment of the city's planned Advanced Traffic Management System, commissioners authorized spending $90,000 to buy and install fiber-optic network equipment.

The city will be reimbursed for purchases connected with the project, funded with a $2.1 million Federal Highway Administration grant.

The computerized system includes video cameras to allow the city to monitor traffic flow and adjust signals during special events, incidents and evacuations.

3 Reappointed To County Boards

Commissioners approved the re-appointments of three residents to various Hillsborough County Boards of Adjustment and Appeals scheduled to expire April 1.

Ken Keller was re-appointed to the county's electrical board; Alberto J. Sanchez to the mechanical board; and Samuel A. Greenburg to the building board.

George Wilkens

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