BRADENTON BEACH – In what Police Chief and Public Works Director John Cosby described as an ever-changing situation, he gave commissioners the latest update on progress and steps forward for storm recovery on Thursday afternoon.
Cosby said he decided to allow residents to return to the city on Oct. 3 via a checkpoint at the Cortez Bridge.
“Today’s re-entry went well,” he said. “We had no issues.”
He said he is considering allowing access soon from Holmes Beach to allow contractors’ trucks an easier way to get through to the city.
“We’re very fortunate with our other government entities the cooperation has been immense, Manatee County, we’ve not been told no on anything we’ve requested,” Cosby said. “DOT (Florida Department of Transportation) has gone above and beyond. The governor even signed an order to clear our roads. DOT is starting to clear rights of way, and it is possible that they may even be removing construction debris from the state right of way.”
“This is all being pushed from the governor’s office so this is huge for us,” Cosby said.
He said Gov. Ron DeSantis told him he’s never seen that much sand in as many disaster sites as he’s been to.
“Even FEMA said they’ve never seen anything like it,” Cosby said. “This is an anomaly that we had here, and it found us.”
Cosby said progress in getting roads reopened is ahead of schedule.
“The first time I came out here Friday morning at 4 a.m. I was driving around processing where I thought we would be at certain time periods,” he said. “I’m going to tell you we’re at least two or two-and-a-half weeks ahead of schedule where I felt we should be with the type of impact we incurred.”
Cosby said city public works employees have been doing a great job along with Bradenton Beach police officers who have been working 12-hour days with no days off.
“We’ve had no major thefts and no deaths or injuries,” Cosby said. “We’re moving forward. The roads don’t look pretty, but they’re useable.”
Mail delivery may resume as early as Friday, according to City Attorney Ricinda Perry.
“Pick up of household waste started today, stuff that people had taken out of their refrigerators or freezers. We’re having a pickup today and maybe trying to have another pickup tomorrow for residents who are just getting back,” Cosby said.
“I hope people will be patient. If you need a break, take a break. This is tough to take,” Mayor John Chappie said. “We are a strong community. We’re not going anywhere. We won’t live our lives out here as victims. We’re going to pick our feet up and take one step at a time. We’re going to beat this,”
Cosby said Bridge Street merchants have set a goal for a late November reopening.
He said certain contractors were let in on Thursday because of what they were cleaning and what the hazards were.
“Nobody is getting special privileges, Mr. (Shawn) Kaleta offered his property at First Street for comfort stations. There was no other place to put it. He also offered for the second location Circle K and Salt and we’re utilizing that,” Cosby said.
The curfew remains in effect daily from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.
