Call to Action

​ISLANDER CALL TO ACTION:
You may not be aware of this, but our Fire Station on Gasparilla Way does not meet County Code and fire service requirements. Therefore, the County will be replacing the fire house.

The original plan was to put the new building on the existing location. However, now the County is indicating that this site is not feasible and are looking to relocate.

In last week's Barrier Islands Fire Service Advisory Board meeting, we learned of a consultant’s report outlining two new site options. The evaluation criteria and findings will be made public on February 19th.

The Board of County Commissioners is reportedly planning to vote on the location at their upcoming BCC meeting just one week later on February 26th.  One week is not much time to analyze the findings of this decision which impacts every island resident. We also want to understand to what extent, if any, related costs will be passed on to us through our MSBU. 

PIE is sharing this key information asking islanders to contact commissioners by phone, email and/or letter before the BCC pre-agenda meeting on February 21st and ask them to delay this vote. Please include in your letter or conversation these two requests: 

• To postpone the decision timeline from the February 26th BOCC meeting to allow adequate time to hear AND CONSIDER input from affected island residents.  
• To hold a public meeting to be held as soon as it can be organized and properly noticed to islanders, to present the consultant's report and to provide islanders an opportunity to ask questions and voice opinions.

GET THE WORD OUT! Please share this with your neighbors who may not be on our mailing list. This could be a pocketbook issue that affects us all.
County Commission
Commission Office                            [email protected]              941.743.1300
Agenda Inquiries                                                                                                        941.743.1944
 
Bill Truex                                            [email protected]
Stephen R. Deutsch                         [email protected]
Joe Tiseo                                            [email protected]
Christopher Constance                    [email protected]
Ken Doherty                                       [email protected]
 
Please note that each commissioner can be reached by phone at the “switchboard” number above. For further information contact Lou Ellen Wilson at [email protected] or Candy Cohen at [email protected]

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