12 Nov City Manager Reports to Council
City Manager’s Report to Council 11/10/15
Issued by Bill Prokop, City Manager:
We have taken transparency very serious and have had all our financial information posted, and we hope people will take the time to look at the website to inform themselves.
Go to OPENGOV on our website is up-to-date and makes it possible for any citizens to review our revenue or expenses. Go to www.cityofbeaufort.org and then to the Finance section and click on OPEN Gov and get the reports in any format necessary to get questions answered.
Fire Chief Negron and his team went to Wisconsin to conduct the final checks on our new Ladder Truck which will be delivered to us by the end of this month.
New Day Dock status – all the survey work is completed and the data is being finalized. We anticipate a pre-application meeting w/the USACE before Christmas and have our application in process. In the meantime, we are finalizing the requirements for the repair or replacement and the Fire Suppression system for our Transient dock and expect to have bids out on that work within the next month. This project is funded under the Marina Transient Dock Repairs Project that we were awarded in 2013.
This all means that we will soon begin to see major improvements in our marina that are long overdue.
Our Holiday Light challenge as part of the “Pride of Beaufort” program got off to a good start thanks to Councilor McFee and Cromer and our donation box is open and very welcoming for all those who would like to join them.
Considering each decoration per light pole cost in excess of $450.00 we have a BIG donation box ready, willing, and able to accept donations.
Southside Park –Dog Park started. Sidewalks – We have just gotten today the permission to proceed with the permit application with start of construction to take place in January.
Allison Road – another delay from the State DOT – our 3 rd time now project has been given to and intern to review are request again and all we are asking for is a design exception on lane width.
Hamar Street – work to start soon with goal to be done by end of December –State, County and City Joint project.
Public Safety remains our overall number 1 goal and I am pleased to advise you that we swore in a new officer this morning and as of right now, we are for the first time in years at 100% fully staffed, but after we review our 6 months of operations I will be coming back to council with a request to increase our staffing in anticipation of the commercial growth that we have coming particularly on Lady’s Island.
We are studying our utility usage in our City buildings and we will be exploring the possible use of solar as a way to reduce cost and be environmentally friendly.