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Public works director leaving Holmes Beach

Public works director leaving Holmes Beach

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – Public Works Director and City Engineer Sage Kamiya tendered his resignation and will soon serve as the city engineer for the city of Sarasota.

After serving as Holmes Beach’s public works director, city engineer and traffic engineer for slightly more than four years, Thursday, Oct. 9 will be Kamiya’s last day with the city.

Mayor Judy Titsworth said Senior Project Manager Anthony Benitez will serve as the interim public works directors and the permanent position will be advertised. Tray Thorpe will continue serving as the maintenance supervisor.

After making Titsworth aware of the anticipated offer from the city of Sarasota, Kamiya sent Titsworth his resignation letter on Sept. 24.

“It is with heavy heart that I’m tendering my resignation with a little over two-week notice. I have received an offer which is a great next step opportunity for me, both professionally and for my family. I sincerely appreciate that you’ve entrusted me with the leadership of our great public works team. I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish during my time here,” his letter said in part.

When contacted by phone on Oct. 2, Kamiya was asked if anyone with the city encouraged him to leave.

“No, it was on my own volition. It’s a conversation I’d been having with the city of Sarasota for over a year. I told them ‘no’ a couple times previously and it got to the point where I decided to take it,” he said.

“In some ways, it’s a lateral move, but in other ways it’s an advancement because I’ll be able to work on some bigger projects. As an engineer, it’ll be good for me professionally to do some things that are larger and have a bigger scope. The largest project I worked on in Holmes Beach was the City Center project, which was about $3 million. One of the projects I’m going to be involved with in Sarasota is over $45 million. As an engineer, you like bigger and more complicated challenges, so that’s exciting and interesting to me,” he said.

“I’ll miss my team. We have a really good public works department and there are some great people there. We’re taking care of yesterday, fighting today’s fires and preparing for tomorrow – and things weren’t quite that way when I inherited the department. I’ll miss Mayor Judy and the community. She has been super supportive and she provided the resources we needed to get the job done; and the community has been welcoming.”

Mayor’s comments

“Sage will be missed. He was a tremendous asset to our city and he was able to shape the public works department into something I am most proud of,” Titsworth said.

“He and I were able to shape a tremendous public works department that went after and received a lot of grant money. He was awesome to work with. He allows me to sleep better at night. The commissioners absolutely love him.

“Sage has a great opportunity with the city of Sarasota with room for advancement. I can match his pay. It wasn’t about the pay, but I can never give him that advancement he’d get with Sarasota,” Titsworth said. “I told him I was proud of him and I can understand why he’d want to take it.”

When asked if Kamiya was forced out or encouraged to leave Holmes Beach, Titsworth said, “No. Neither.”

Looking ahead, Titsworth said, “We’ve got a lot of projects and a lot of things going on right now. We’ll lose Sage’s knowledge but Anthony and Tray will step up. We’ve used RESPEC as our stormwater consultants and they’ve got a good handle on our stormwater projects. Hopefully, the citizens won’t feel Sage’s departure too much.”

OPPAGA visit concerns city leaders

OPPAGA visit concerns city leaders

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

HOLMES BEACH – The Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability study being conducted on the three Anna Maria Island cities is starting to rattle local city leaders.

During a March 26 commission meeting, Mayor Judy Titsworth said she had participated in a conference call with OPPAGA representatives, who recently visited the Island to observe the city’s public works department.

She said that afterwards, she hoped the state representatives were considering public works as a possible department to consolidate across all three Island cities to save money. In talking with Public Works Supervisor Sage Kamiya after the visit, Titsworth said she learned that wasn’t the case. Instead, she said OPPAGA representatives were looking at public works as the only department that would need to remain on the Island if all three cities were eliminated and daily government operations were moved to the city of Bradenton or Manatee County.

“So that’s unfortunate,” she said. “I’m still hopeful because that is such an overreach. That is going to affect people so much. Their everyday lives are going to change so drastically if we don’t have their cities out here and they have to go to the county for everything. Your tax bill, you’re not assured that any of that is coming out here. I think you’re going to get more resistance from the residents and our visitors who love this Island with that type of an option. Unfortunately, I’m almost certain that’s the only one they’re looking at right now.”

Titsworth said that she’s still trying to get dialogue reopened between the city and state Rep. Will Robinson Jr. but hasn’t yet been successful.

Robinson is one of the five state legislative delegation members from Manatee County who ordered the OPPAGA study without the input of the three Island municipal governments.

While the three Island mayors said previously that they would support the OPPAGA study with the goal of looking at ways to save taxpayer money across the three cities, they all said they do not support consolida­tion or elimination of the cities.

The four possibilities being studied by OPPAGA representatives include consolidation of the three cities into one new city, elimination of the city governments and annexation of Anna Maria Island into the city of Bradenton or Manatee County or leaving the Island governments intact.

Titsworth said she believes that the OPPAGA study is focusing on elimination of the cities and an­nexation into Manatee County to get development rights for the Island. Currently, development on Anna Maria Island is controlled by city regulations. Those regulations would vanish if the city governments are eliminated.

Once the study is complete, City Attorney Erica Augello said that consolidation or elimination of the cities could be forced at the state level as a special act of the Legislature. The OPPAGA study would be submitted with a bill by the begin­ning of September and then would go through three committees in the House, voted on in the House floor and, if it passes, be put on the con-sent agenda for the Senate unless someone in the Senate pulls the bill for discussion. If the bill passes those hurdles, it would go to Gov. Ron DeSantis for approval or veto.

Commissioner Carol Soustek said it’s not just the current residents who are being affected by the ongoing study. She said she’s also spoken with potential residents who are holding off on purchasing property on the Island because of the uncertainty of the outcome of the OPPAGA study.

Titsworth said that staff members in all three cities also are working with a cloud of uncertainty hanging over their heads about the future of their jobs. She said the only thing they can do is persevere.

Commissioner Terry Schaefer said he was told that Sen. Jim Boyd, one of the members of the Manatee County state delegation, would meet with him and Titsworth at the end of the legislative session, which ended two weeks ago. Schaefer said he’s los­ing patience and is drafting a letter to Boyd to try again to set up a meeting to discuss consolidation.

TOWN HALL MEETING POSTPONED

Holmes Beach leaders planned to host a town hall workshop on Tuesday, April 9, but the workshop has been postponed indefinitely and may or may not take place at a future date.

BRADENTON BEACH

Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie confirmed that OPAGGA representatives recently visited the city’s Department of Public Works, headed by Tom Woodard, which is responsible for the maintenance and repair of city-owned streets, sidewalks and traffic signs, street striping, stormwater drains and systems, maintenance of city facilities and parks and street sweeping.

When asked about his thoughts on the OPAGGA study, Chappie said, “We’re going through the process.”

ANNA MARIA

OPPAGA representatives were unable to meet recently with Anna Maria Public Works Manager Roosevelt Jones, who was on bereavement leave, according to Mayor Dan Murphy, who said that Jones is expected to participate in a phone meeting with OPPAGA representatives this week.

 Leslie Lake and Joe Hendricks contributed to this report.

Paving and pavement marking contracts approved

Paving, street marking contracts approved

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – City commissioners recently approved a contract with Superior Asphalt to mill and resurface various streets and roads throughout the city.

The total cost of the work approved on Nov. 14 is not to exceed $324,307. The commission also approved a contract with McShea Contracting for pavement marking services. The total cost of the pavement marking is not to exceed $203,281.

The contract with Superior Asphalt doesn’t name the specific city streets to be milled and resurfaced, nor does the bid proposal that the company submitted in response to the invitation to bid that the city issued in September.

Superior Asphalt’s bid proposal does include the estimated number of square yards to be milled and resurfaced. The proposal estimates 17,619 square yards of S-3 Friction Course asphalt will be laid down at a thickness of 1.5 inches and 375 yards of S-1 Structure Course asphalt will be laid down at a thickness of 3 inches.

Paving and pavement marking contracts approved
Superior Asphalt’s bid proposal references the estimated square yards of milling and resurfacing work to be done. – City of Holmes Beach | Submitted

The Superior Asphalt bid proposal notes Turtle Infrastructure Partners will be subcontracted for the pre-resurfacing milling work that includes removing the top inch and a half of existing pavement and milling the pavement edges. The bid proposal estimates 2,500 square yards of existing pavement will be milled down at a depth of 1.5 inches and 3,788 square yards of edge milling will be performed.

Street selection

During the Nov. 14 meeting, Public Works Superintendent Sage Kamiya explained how the specific areas to be milled and resurfaced will be selected. Kamiya said the new contract is a continuation of previous street resurfacing done by Superior Asphalt.

“We think we can probably do about 10 roads. We’re going to need to give them those specific locations. That’s why there’s not a specific list here. Some of that will depend on how the dollar goes. There is a limit in their contract, so we won’t exceed that. It’s a one-year contract. It could be extended up to two years. One of the things we run into with resurfacing is the cost of pavement is based on oil (prices) and that fluctuates a little bit. In the good, we can do more. In the not-so-good, we do less. We did include a $20,000 adjustment to make sure we make the best use of this request for proposals,” he said.

Paving and pavement marking contracts approved
Public Works Department Superintendent Sage Kamiya explained the selection process for the city streets to be resurfaced. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

Kamiya said the city has used Superior Asphalt for the past two years and their working relationship dates back several years.

“They’ve done good by us. It’s a great relationship. We’re looking forward to continuing it,” he said.

Kamiya said the Superior Asphalt bid was the lowest in terms of price and the most appropriate overall. He said the milling and resurfacing work will be funded by half-cent sales tax revenues the city receives from the county.

“You gave us the money to take care of the roads so we’re going to do it before it (the price) goes up,” Kamiya said.

Pavement marking

According to the pavement marking bid proposal submitted by McShea Contracting, the pavement marking will take place in the following areas:

  • Gulf Drive from E. Bay Drive to White Avenue – approximately 2.8 miles.
  • Marina Drive from Palm Drive to 56th Street – approximately 0.5 miles.
  • Palm Drive from Gulf Drive to Marina Drive – approximately 0.7 miles.
Paving and pavement marking contracts approved
This map illustrates where the pavement markings and striping will be upgraded. – City of Holmes Beach | Submitted

According to the invitation to bid issued by the city, “This contract intends to remove existing pavement markings and replace with thermoplastic paint striping, RPMs (raised pavement markers) and pavement markings for approximately 4 miles of public streets.”

The pavement markings will include new center lines, edge markings, reflective markers down the center of the roads, bike lane striping and repainting the faded crosswalk markings.

When discussing the pavement marking contract with the city commission, Kamiya said, “This is a little bit of a newer conversation. We’ve not specifically talked about putting markings on the roadway. There are national guidelines and some local requirements for us to make sure we maintain the pavement markings.

Kamiya said he wasn’t sure when the pavement markers were last maintained, but it’s been a long time.

“A lot of the reflectors in the middle of the road are gone,” he said.

Kamiya noted that Gulf Drive and Marina Drive are the most traveled roads in the city and the thermoplastic striping material has an estimated life of three to seven years.