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Anna Maria Mayor upset with trash collection disruptions

Anna Maria mayor upset about trash collection disruptions

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Anna Maria, Community News, Weather.

ANNA MARIA – Mayor Dan Murphy is among those displeased with the lack of trash collection provided by Waste Management during the extended Fourth of July weekend and Hurricane Elsa.

Anna Maria is the only city on Anna Maria Island serviced by Waste Management. Waste Pro services Bradenton Beach and Holmes Beach. According to Bradenton Beach Public Works Manager Tom Woodard, Waste Pro serviced that city on Tuesday and Wednesday.

During the Thursday, July 8 city commission meeting, Murphy gave a positive report regarding the city’s response to the storm, with one exception: “The biggest faux pas we had was garbage collection. Holmes Beach had their garbage collected and somehow Waste Management decided to not pick up our garbage because the landfill was closed.”

Murphy was referring to the Manatee County landfill being closed on Tuesday after being closed on Monday in recognition of the Fourth of July holiday.

At 11:46 a.m. on Monday, July 6, Manatee County Utilities Department Strategic Affairs Manager Amy Pilson sent an email to the public works directors in the Manatee County cities, but her email was not sent directly sent to the Island’s city mayors.

“Due to the anticipated impacts of Tropical Storm Elsa, the Manatee County Landfill will be closed and all collection services in the unincorporated areas will be suspended tomorrow, Tuesday, July 6,” Pilson stated in her email.

Murphy said no one from the county or Waste Management contacted him directly to explain the situation, but Public Works Manager Dean Jones was initially notified by Waste Management of the additional service disruption.

“Dean couldn’t even get ahold of them to find out what’s going on. The word coming from Waste Management was basically non-existent. I’ve asked Dean to schedule an appointment with Waste Management because I’m very dissatisfied with their communications. It was a fiasco. They obviously had no plan for an emergency, especially following a three-day weekend when the garbage is already piling up,” Murphy said.

Anna Maria Mayor upset with trash collection disruptions
Mayor Dan Murphy was exasperated with Waste Management’s performance during the holiday weekend and hurricane. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

“If you can send me an email every time my bill is due, then why can’t you send me an email and tell me you’re not going to provide service? I also know they have the capability to do robocalls. Why wasn’t that employed?” he added.

“The call came after the fact,” Commissioner Carol Carter noted.

Contract talks

The city of Anna Maria extended its contract with Waste Management in 2019. At that time, Waste Pro also submitted a bid to provide those exclusive citywide services. When presenting the Waste Pro proposal, company representative Bob ten Haaf noted Waste Pro has its own trash processing company and is not dependent on the landfill. The commission ultimately voted 4-1 to enter into another contract with Waste Management.

Murphy said there’s a clause in the Waste Management contract that allows the city to renegotiate if the city is dissatisfied with their performance.

“Maybe we can resolve it. My intent is we have in place a good emergency plan even when there’s a holiday which impacts the garbage pickup. There’s no excuse for what took place,” Murphy said.

If Murphy feels the need to renegotiate after his pending meeting with Waste Management representatives, he will seek that commission authorization on July 22.

Commissioner Jon Crane said he was frustrated because he couldn’t find one reliable source of information regarding the impacted collection dates, including the Waste Management website.

Commissioner Mark Short said he was out on Willow Avenue picking up bottles and cans that were floating in the water because the uncollected bottles and cans were placed in boxes rather than trash bags, trash cans or recycle bins. Murphy said there were also failures with the side-yard pickups required of non-homesteaded residential properties.

Waste Management response

When contacted by The Sun on Friday, Waste Management regional spokesperson Dana McCormick said, “Due to the closure of the Manatee County landfill on Monday, July 5 in observance of Independence Day, Waste Management could not provide service to Anna Maria. Our scheduled make-up day was Tuesday. Then, due to the approach of Hurricane Elsa, Manatee County made the decision to close the landfill again on Tuesday. Therefore, Waste Management could not service Anna Maria on Tuesday. Our safety protocols do not allow garbage to remain in our trucks overnight.

“While our senior leadership was in frequent contact with the city of Anna Maria staff on service changes due to the closure of the Manatee County landfill, we understand our communications did not meet the city’s expectations and we will commit to do better in future storm events,” McCormick said.

“We provided service to our customers on Wednesday and Thursday upon the opening of the landfill and we’ll be back on our regular schedule next week. We look forward to our meeting with Mayor Dan Murphy,” she added.

Online updates

McCormick said during regular non-storm events, property owners can go to www.WM.com and enter their address to check on current or anticipated service disruptions.

“During a tropical storm or a hurricane, we have a special website in Florida: www.WMFloridaStorm.com,” McCormick said, noting the website did contain collection information related to Manatee County and Anna Maria’s service interruptions.

Regarding the possibility that many Anna Maria property owners may not have been aware of Waste Management’s storm website, McCormick said, “We will certainly make sure during the next potential storm that both the city and its residents are better informed of that website. If there was a miscue with the Anna Maria residents, we want to make sure that is corrected before the next storm.”

In response to McCormick’s responses, Murphy said, “No matter what Waste Management’s perception of their communication plan is, our streets had overflowing garbage cans for several days. They didn’t pick up trash after a holiday weekend and that’s what they get paid to do. The end result was totally unacceptable.”

Elsa impacts sea turtle, shorebird nests

Elsa impacts sea turtle, shorebird nests

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Birds, Outdoors, Sea turtles.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Tropical Storm Elsa washed over the Island on July 6 and 7, taking some shorebird eggs and chicks with it, and soaking some sea turtle nests in the sand, perhaps for too long.

But Suzi Fox, director of Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring, remains optimistic.

The first sea turtle nest of the season hatched last week, producing 77 hatchlings.

“Water came up over many nests,” she said. “Are we upset about it? No, it’s nature. Many of those nests will still hatch. Turtles and birds have been at this a lot longer than we have.”

Each June or July, a storm hits the Island, but nesting always resumes and sometimes picks up speed, she said.

With the recent beach renourishment, “Manatee County has done everything they could to have the best nesting beach in Florida,” Fox said. “We’re still going to get washovers. That’s why sea turtles nest up to three times a season.”

While about 25% of sea turtle nests on the Island were lost last week, “The girls are continuing to nest,” she said, including a rare green turtle that nested July 9, only the third green turtle so far this nesting season, which began on May 1. The rest of the turtle nests on the Island are loggerhead sea turtles.

Elsa impacts sea turtle, shorebird nests
This sea turtle egg washed up in a canal in Bimini Bay after Tropical Storm Elsa passed over Anna Maria Island. – Cindy Lane | Sun

Among the shorebirds, only least terns are nesting this year – no black skimmers, Fox said.

The storm surge on the Gulf of Mexico beaches inundated the least tern colony, she said. While all 120 bird parents survived, only two of 15 chicks survived.

“Now that the water has receded, the adults are back on new eggs,” she said, adding that five newly-hatched chicks have been documented since the storm.

Volunteers do the counting and nest identification, but numbers of volunteers are down from more than 100 to about 20 due to COVID-19, which caused Fox to decide last year to have a few volunteers use ATVs to monitor nests rather than have dozens walk sections of the beach, risking contact with curious beachgoers.

On an ATV, “They can find 20 nests in one day,” she said. “On a day of walking, they can find maybe one.”

Turtle nesting season ends Oct. 31. Bird nesting season is active through the end of August.

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Elsa takes it easy on Anna Maria Island

Elsa takes it easy on Anna Maria Island

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Anna Maria Island, Community News, Weather.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Tropical Storm/Hurricane Elsa’s impact on Anna Maria Island proved to be minimal.

The storm that passed through Anna Maria Island Tuesday afternoon and evening and into Wednesday morning produced localized flooding but no reports of significant property damage, one reported fallen tree and no reported downed power lines or power outages on the Island.

According to Wunderground.com – an affiliate of The Weather Channel – the highest wind gust recorded at the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport weather station during Elsa was 54 mph at 10:53 p.m. Tuesday evening.

Wednesday morning, Anna Maria resident Doug Copeland said he and his wife’s rain gauge indicated 2.8 inches of rain fell during Elsa at their home near the Rod & Reel Pier.

Bradenton Beach

According to Bradenton Beach Public Works Director Tom Woodard and Lt. John Cosby from the Bradenton Beach Police Department, at approximately 11 a.m. Tuesday morning, an unoccupied sailboat on the Cortez side of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) broke free of its mooring and began drifting toward the Bridge Street Pier in Bradenton Beach.

Elsa takes it easy on Anna Maria Island
Officer Eric Hill and members of the Bradenton Beach Public Works Department secured this sailboat that broke loose on the Cortez side of the ICW. – Bradenton Beach Police Department | Submitted

“We were able to go out and get it and get it tied up and secured. They got it under control and out of the way before it caused any problems,” Cosby said, noting that Officer Eric Hill piloted the police boat stationed on the police boat lift adjacent to the pier.

Cosby and Woodard said the pier and the floating dock sustained no damage during the storm. Cosby said it may take a few days to have the sailboat removed.

Elsa takes it easy on Anna Maria Island
The sailboat that broke loose Tuesday morning remained tied to the Bridge Street Pier Wednesday morning. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

A 7 a.m. visit to the pier Wednesday revealed the sailboat was still secured to the pilings at the east end of the floating day dock and none of the 15 or so liveaboard vessels anchored south of the pier had broken free or sunk during the storm. The one sunken vessel currently in the area sank long before Tuesday’s storm.

Elsa takes it easy on Anna Maria Island
The floating dock in Bradenton Beach sustained no storm damage. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

“Everybody did what they needed to do,” Cosby said of the liveaboard boaters.

According to Cosby, Officer Hill contacted many of them by cell phone on Monday and reminded them to secure their vessels with double anchors before the storm arrived.

“It appears everybody did it, because I don’t see any issues,” Cosby said.

Elsa BB Safe Boats
The liveaboard boaters south of the Bridge Street Pier weathered Elsa’s waves and winds. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

Cosby and Woodard said they weren’t aware of any property damage or serious flooding issues elsewhere in the city. A tour of the city indicated some localized street and yard flooding, but less than can often be seen during other heavy rain events.

“I don’t believe we had any calls for service or any type of distress calls,” Cosby said.

Cosby said some of the Gulf-side beach areas “took a pretty good hit” in terms of beach erosion.

“That was expected. No big surprise there,” Cosby said of the erosion.

Holmes Beach

A pass-through of Holmes Beach at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday revealed standing water covering the edge of Marina Drive, near city hall and the Island Branch Library, but the travel lanes were not completely submerged. Standing water was also covering portions of some of the adjacent side streets.

Elsa takes it easy on Anna Maria Island
The flooding along Marina Drive in Holmes Beach was limited to the edge of the road by the time the sun came up. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

When contacted later in the day, Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer said that city fared well during the storm.

“I was out all day and night until 5:30 this morning. We had some flooding by city hall around 3 to 4 a.m. After the rain stopped, the water subsided pretty quickly. We had minor overnight flooding and one tree down in the parking lot of Martinique North. We dodged the bullet,” Tokajer said.

Elsa takes it easy on Anna Maria Island
Standing water covered this portion of 63rd Street in Holmes Beach Wednesday morning. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

Anna Maria

At approximately 8 a.m., Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy and Public Works Manager Dean Jones were touring the city and accessing the storm damage.

“So far, we’re looking pretty good. We’ve got some local street flooding in the areas that would normally flood – and it’s not saltwater flooding, it’s rainwater flooding. There’s no trees down. All of our major roads are clear, but there’s some outlying areas and backstreets where we’ve got some issues with flooding. Some of that we’ll be able to pump out and some we won’t,” Murphy said.

Elsa takes it easy on Anna Maria Island
The beach in front of the Sandbar restaurant appears to have suffered erosion during the storm. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

A tour around Anna Maria indicated North Bay Boulevard, near the Bean Point beach access, was among the most flooded areas. The visit to the beach in front of the Sandbar restaurant revealed significant beach erosion had apparently occurred.

Elsa takes it easy on Anna Maria Island
This Anna Maria homeowner’s yard experienced Elsa-related flooding. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

The new Anna Maria City Pier came through the storm unscathed and residents and visitors were going about their business as usual as the sun appeared and the new day got underway, with some intermittent showers throughout the day.

Elsa takes it easy on Anna Maria Island
The new Anna Maria City Pier sustained no storm damage. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

The city’s “Reimagining Pine Avenue” public information meeting scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon was canceled and rescheduled at 2 p.m. on Monday, July 12.

Cortez Beach

A mid-morning trip to Cortez Beach in Bradenton Beach revealed several people walking along the beach and few surfers in the water. Red flags were flying on the lifeguard tower and a member of the Manatee County Beach Patrol called a group of young men back to shore who had walked out to the end of one of the groins being battered by the high surf.

Elsa takes it easy on Anna Maria Island
Due to high surf, these young men were asked to vacate a beach groin at Cortez Beach. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

Anna Maria, Manatee County declare state of emergency for Elsa

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Anna Maria, Community News.

UPDATED JULY 4, 2021 at 2:32 p.m. – ANNA MARIA – Due to the approach of what was then Hurricane Elsa, the Anna Maria City Commission declared a preemptive local state of emergency Friday afternoon.

As of 5 a.m. Saturday morning, the National Hurricane Center had predicted hurricane-force winds could arrive in the Tampa Bay area at some point Monday, however, the storm has since been downgraded to a tropical storm.

Manatee County declared a state of emergency Sunday afternoon.

“It’s important for the public to monitor the storm and prepare for a possible tropical storm impacting our area,” said Public Safety Director Jacob Saur. “This will largely be a rain event but as the ground is already saturated, trees can easily topple from the winds produced by tropical storms in our area.”

Although county offices are closed in observance of Independence Day, Manatee County’s 311 call center will be open Monday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. to field calls from the public about sandbag locations or storm preparedness questions.

Anna Maria’s declaration of emergency was enacted with emergency resolution R 21-771, a resolution that provides Mayor Dan Murphy with additional storm-related powers for the next seven days. In effect now, the resolution allows the mayor to enact curfews, suspend alcohol sales, close roads, close certain areas of the city and spend up to $10,000 without additional city commission authorization while responding to the storm and any storm-related public safety and/or cleanup efforts.

During Friday afternoon’s emergency commission meeting, Murphy told the attending commission members that he would first consult with each commissioner by phone before making any final decisions regarding the city’s storm preparations and response efforts.

During the meeting, Murphy noted the city experienced power outages and downed power lines during Hurricane Irma in 2017, which resulted in the entrance to the city being temporarily manned and controlled by Manatee County Sheriff’s Office deputies. Murphy said those efforts were complicated when the cities of Bradenton Beach and Holmes Beach allowed residents and visitors back on the Island before the city of Anna Maria was prepared to do so.

Murphy said he will be meeting with the Public Works and Code Enforcement departments on Sunday to further evaluate the approaching storm. Murphy and Public Works Manager Dean Jones said Public Works personnel will be on duty Monday despite Monday being a federal holiday and a day off for city employees. Jones said the city is aptly prepared for a storm of this scale and has the chainsaws, tools, fuel and other equipment needed to clear the roads of fallen trees and storm debris if need be.

Sgt. Brett Getman said the Anna Maria Unit of the Sheriff’s Office will also be monitoring the approaching storm.

“We’ll be prepared,” Getman said.

Murphy said the city already has a debris removal company, Jet Hauling, under contract and ready to roll if needed. The city has a new generator on order for city hall but it has not yet arrived.

Murphy said any evacuation orders would be issued by the county. Murphy said he’s in contact with county officials but the city is leading its own storm preparation and response efforts.

“This is our city. We need to make it safe. We need to make decisions for our city. That is the purpose of this resolution,” Murphy said.

Free sandbags are available at the northwest end of Bayfront Park, near the North Bay Boulevard/North Shore Drive intersection. Those seeking sandbags need to bring their own shovels and it’s a good idea to bring another person to hold the sandbags while they are being filled.

Anna Maria declares local state of emergency for Hurricane Elsa
Free sandbags are available at Bayfront Park in Anna Maria. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

Murphy said Friday’s emergency declaration has no impact on the AMI Privateer’s parade taking place this morning. The parade will begin in Bradenton Beach, pass through Holmes Beach and end at City Pier Park in Anna Maria.

For updates and additional information visit www.cityofannamaria.com.