ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Manatee County Parks Operations Manager Carmine DeMilio thanked the Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) at its June 23 meeting for funding to keep beaches and waterways clean.
“People come from all over the world to visit, and that’s a good thing, but with that comes a lot of trash,” DeMilio said. “On a holiday weekend, we pick up an average of 45,000 pounds of trash.”
The funds allowed his department to hire new internal staff to replace a contracted custodial vendor that was not meeting their customer service and cleanliness standards, he said.
The funds also paid for tools and equipment to combat vandalism. DeMilio said serious vandalism, including tearing sinks off restroom walls and destroying toilets, is an unfortunate scenario his staff often faces, but they are now better equipped to respond quickly.
DeMilio said his department is also receiving emails regularly thanking them for clean restrooms and the lack of trash and litter on the beach and in public picnic areas and trails.
In addition, the funding paid for a skimmer boat 11 feet long with a loader bucket and an 8-foot boom cutter, allowing for productive, efficient and effective removal of vegetation and dead fish on the water, he told the council.
“We utilize our three beach rakes to keep our beaches clean, but now not only are we on land, but we’re going by sea,” DeMilio said. “These little skimmer boats will not only help us with seaweed and debris in our ponds, but the same skimmer can also scoop up dead fish should we have another red tide.”
TDC member Ed Chiles asked DeMilio how the seaweed and other debris is disposed of, to which he replied that it is taken to shore, then loaded into trucks with a device known as a grappling loader. The debris is then hauled away like any other waste product.
DeMilio said the funding has contributed to:
- Implementation of a new, higher standard of cleanliness,
- Better customer service to all visitors,
- Timely response to safety concerns, repairs and damage,
- Implementing a lost and found on the county website, and
- Decreased restroom and cleanup complaints by 90%.
