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County leaders refuse to increase police beach funding

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – A request for funding to the city’s police department to help cover the expense of beach patrols was approved by Manatee County leaders, but the approved amount wasn’t as much as city leaders hoped for.

During an Oct. 11 commission meeting, Holmes Beach Police Department (HBPD) Chief Bill Tokajer said that $46,412 had been offered to the city as compensation for officers patrolling the county-owned Manatee Beach and Kingfish Boat Ramp. While the amount is the same as was given to the department the previous year, it didn’t include the increase that city leaders were hoping for.

Tokajer said that the funding doesn’t come close to covering the more than $250,000
per year in manpower and other costs officers have documented and presented to county commissioners in the past. He said he’d spoken to Manatee County Administrator Scott Hopes and was told that despite delays to the project, city leaders were being blamed for the loss of grant funding for renovations at Kingfish Boat Ramp and, as a result, no increases in police funding were being considered.

Mayor Judy Titsworth said with increases in costs over the past year, the county offering the same amount of money as in the previous fiscal year was actually defunding the patrols.

The issue of funding for HBPD patrols of county properties is the latest chapter in a list of ongoing problems between the city and county.

Utilities turnoff questioned

As Manatee County prepared for impacts from Hurricane Ian and evacuations were called for on Anna Maria Island, county leaders announced that water would be turned off to the Island the afternoon prior to the anticipated arrival of the storm. Tokajer said in a statement that he had called county officials to ask them to delay the turn off of water and sewer utilities to allow those services to continue for first responders who would not yet be evacuating.

During a Sept. 27 press conference about the storm and evacuation process, Hopes claimed that Tokajer had contacted him to request utility services remain on for residents who weren’t evacuating. Hopes went on to state that he would not be extending the time for the utility turnoff because he didn’t want to risk damage to the county’s utility infrastructure. Hopes also urged residents to take the storm and evacuation orders seriously.

A week after the storm passed, Titsworth issued a statement on Oct. 5 through the HBPD’s social media page stating how proud she was of city staff for their assistance to residents and property owners before and after the hurricane. She also publicly commend- ed the city’s residents for heeding the evacuation orders and leaving prior to the storm. During a Sept. 27 commission meeting, city leaders had even joked that the storm had fixed the traffic problems on the Island due to so many people evacuating.

Kingfish defunding questioned

The battle over utility turn-offs prior to Hurricane Ian was preceded by disagreements over why county officials were forced to return grant funds for planned Kingfish renovations. Hopes and county commission Chair Kevin Van Ostenbridge both stated during public meetings that the renovation plans had to be abandoned because permits were being held up in the city’s building department. Hopes said the permits Department of Environmental Protection couldn’t be extended another time. County staff members also noted during a commission meeting that the grant funds couldn’t be extended either.

Titsworth said in a city commission meeting that the city doesn’t have the power to hold up permits, nor had that happened in the case of Kingfish. She added that the city’s building department staff had been working with county members for months to get the permits approved and continued working on the permit applications after being told by county leaders that the project would be put on hold.

Issues between the city and county stem back to when Van Ostenbridge first took
the dais and demanded that Titsworth and city commissioners end their resident-only permit parking program near the beach and allow public on-street parking for beachgoers throughout the city. City leaders refused to change their stance on public parking on residential streets, stating that Holmes Beach has more public parking spaces than the other two Island cities and that they won’t sacrifice residents’ quality of life.

Holmes Beach gets ATVs through grant

Holmes Beach police get two new ATVs with COVID grant

Written by Jason Schaffer on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – The Police Department has two new Polaris side-by-side ATVs thanks to a grant set aside for COVID enforcement activities by law enforcement agencies.

“We decided to get a couple of the Polaris ATVs so we could be on the beach more, and work on social distancing and be able to educate people,” Chief William Tokajer said. The grant totaled $43,500, which was enough to acquire two Polaris ATVs, one six-seater and one three-seater. The COVID grant also provided enough money to equip the ATVs with police lights, sirens, and spotlights on the roofs, which are excellent tools for search and rescue operations, he said.

“They’re a great rescue vehicle – we’ve already used them to reunite lost children with their families,” he said. “When we were on the four-wheelers, we were unable to do that because it doesn’t have a side seat.” 

Tokajer also said the vehicles will make beach arrests more efficient, since officers won’t have to walk the suspect off the beach, disrupting beachgoers. Officers can simply secure the suspect in the Polaris and drive them away from the scene, just as they would in a normal patrol car, all the while leaving a much smaller footprint.

One of the biggest advantages of the Polaris ATVs, he added, is their maneuverability and ability to go places that may be a tight squeeze for a full-sized patrol vehicle. They can go on-road, off-road, or in the case of a bad traffic tie-up, a little bit of both.

Police also ask the public to remember that these are first-responder vehicles and need the same right of way as a police car, ambulance, or firetruck to help keep everyone safe.

Newly constructed Coquina Beach lifeguard tower #9

New Coquina Beach lifeguard towers offer high tech public safety solutions

Written by Jason Schaffer on . Posted in Beach, Outdoors.

COQUINA BEACH – If you head to Coquina Beach in Bradenton Beach, you may be surprised to find something entirely different than the lifeguard towers you’re used to seeing on American beaches.

For decades, there has been little change to the traditional lifeguard tower. A simple structure elevated around 14 feet from the beach surface with an observation deck and a couple of windows overlooking the beachfront on which the guard or guards inside are tasked with keeping safe. If you’ve ever seen an episode of Baywatch, that’s pretty much the industry standard in the United States. A good view of beachgoers, a place to store lifesaving gear, and a bit of shade for lifeguards.

 After recently being invited to tour lifeguard tower #9 on Coquina Beach, it’s evident the 21st century has made its mark on beach safety. This is not a 14-foot observation post. Instead, the tower rises more than 25 feet above the white sand of Coquina Beach and features technology that not only makes the beach safer but also more efficient. 

Manatee County Beach Patrol Chief Joe Westerman was on hand to discuss what makes this beach state of the art in terms of safety and technology. 

“Each one of our new lifeguard towers has a public address (PA) system that will make announcements to the entire beach,” Westerman said, explaining how the PA system makes the beach safer for the public. The system can send messages to entire zones such as all of Cortez Beach or all of Coquina Beach. It can also send individual messages from each lifeguard tower independently. This is useful for announcing dangers in the immediate area, such as rip currents or dangerous marine life.

Five prerecorded messages can be played at the push of a button. These include a welcome to the beach message, rip currents, missing or lost child, lightning, and a message letting beachgoers know the lifeguards are leaving for the day. Beach officials can also get on the system live and make any necessary announcement as a situation arises. Westerman said this has been very effective in reuniting lost children that have wandered away from their families to be quickly reunited. Any beach official can simply get on their handheld radio and connect to the towers and call for the parents. 

Anyone who’s spent a summer in southwest Florida knows that lightning is an almost daily event, and this area is often referred to as the lightning capital of America. Storms will suddenly pop up on a beautiful sunny summer day and offer little time for beachgoers to pack up and leave the beach before heavy rain and extreme lightning begin. Simply put; lightning is dangerous. Knowing the seriousness of lightning strikes on the Island, the new lifeguard towers have been equipped with lightning suppression systems.

“It blocks the area of lightning, to not be able to strike. It breaks up the ions between the cloud and the ground.” Said Westerman, pointing to the top of the tower’s flagpole where the suppressors are located. Incredibly, each one of these has a 300-meter range on the large towers. That’s three football field lengths in every direction from each tower. The smaller lifeguard towers have a smaller unit mounted that still offers an impressive 25-meter range of protection.

“It’s based off a Tesla concept,” said Westerman, who stressed the importance of not only protecting the public but also the guards. Lifeguards stay on duty during inclement weather and are subject to risks involved with serious summer lightning storms that can see hundreds of strikes during a single meteorological event.

Regardless of this new technology, Westerman said nothing is a guarantee. The weather will always surprise us and often doesn’t follow the rules. If you are on the beach and severe weather is coming, get off the beach and seek shelter indoors. While safety nets are great, nobody would recommend you rely on them to continue your day as if nothing were happening. “If the thunder roars, stay indoors” is a great reminder of just how serious Florida storms can be. If you can hear thunder, you can be struck by lightning, even if it seems to be miles off in the distance. A few simple precautions will ensure many more days on the sunny beaches of Anna Maria Island.

Coquina Beach lifeguard stand

Lifeguards recognized for excellence

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Outdoors.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Manatee County Beach Patrol employees Joey Garcia and Steven Cherello are the recipients of the 2019 Lifeguard of the Year Award and the 2019 Chief’s Award.

The awards recognize the watermen’s excellence in the lifeguarding profession, Manatee County Marine Rescue Chief Joe Westerman said.

Lifeguards recognized for excellence
From left, Public Safety Director Jacob Saur, Beach Patrol Paramedic Steven Cherello and Beach Patrol Chief Joe Westerman. – Manatee County Public Safety | Submitted

The Lifeguard of the Year is awarded to a guard who goes above and beyond the normal everyday job to make sure that people are safe, while the Chief’s Award is “my opportunity to say ‘good job,’ to a guard who demonstrates excellence,” he said.

Lifeguards recognized for excellence
From left, Public Safety Director Jacob Saur, Beach Patrol Lifeguard/EMT Joey Garcia and Beach Patrol Chief Joe Westerman. – Manatee County Public Safety | Submitted

Beach Patrol personnel guard the 17-plus miles of Anna Maria Island’s coastline, providing on-scene emergency medical care and transport to waiting medic units, medical response to water and land emergencies outside of beach boundaries, lost person searches, stranded boater assistance, evacuations of island communities and other low lying areas during times of emergency, dive rescue and traffic control, among other duties.

Lifeguards are on duty 365 days a year at both Coquina and Manatee beaches from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Labor Day through Memorial Day and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

​If you would like to have a member of the Beach Patrol speak at your school, civic group meeting or agency, call Westerman at 941-749-3500 ext. 8355.