The April 18 CDD Workshop served as a continuation of the meeting on April 4. The board was scheduled to review qualifying bids for the landscaping contract but due to inconsistencies in the process, Chairman Matt Lewis made a motion to start the process over.
Manager Andy Mendenhall went on to explain that when the sub-committee reviewed the qualifying questionnaires the previous day, there were a number of omissions, most notably the companies did not turn in their financial information. He suggested that this request be removed from the qualification and that there were other ways to ascertain their financial position. Paul Wood from OLM agreed that a more concise questionnaire would bring in the most responsive answers, stating, “Simplicity adds value.”
Wood assured the board that a new timeline would not damage the process and bids would still be in on time for the preliminary budget in June. With this assurance made, the Board approved the motion to restart the process 5-0.
Also carried over from the previous meeting was a discussion on the West Park Village Plaza redesign. Office Manager Sonny Whyte informed the group that the architects were hoping to move forward on the pre-application process with the county. Lewis thought this had already been approved so was happy for Sonny to give the architects the go ahead. Whyte told the board she knew a vendor that was possibly interested in purchasing the large palm trees that would be removed during the re-design and asked permission from the board to go ahead with the transaction. Attorney Erin McCormick advised that there were rules on selling surplus CDD property and it could be a lengthy process. As an alternative, Field Manager Doug Mays suggested keeping the trees and putting them elsewhere in the community. As an avid advocate for the trees, Supervisor Chris Brrett thanked Mays for saving the palms.
