BELLEAIR BLUFFS — The upcoming March 10 municipal election was the primary focus of the Belleair Bluffs City Commission meeting on Feb. 9.

With three candidates — incumbents Joe Barkley and David Roberts and planning board member Ana Hale — vying for two open commission seats, officials encouraged residents to get out and vote.

With the City Hall/Community Center auditorium again serving as the polling station for the precinct from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on March 10, officials had to adjust the commission meeting schedule for March.

“Our two meeting dates are March 2 and March 23,” City Clerk Alexis Silcox said, noting the original date of Monday, March 9, was changed due to the work needed to transform the auditorium into a polling station.

“We will have all the voting machines here on Monday for Election Day on Tuesday,” City Administrator Debra Sullivan said.

Silcox noted the two winning candidates will be sworn in during the March 23 meeting to begin serving their two-year terms.

New public works director introduced

City officials introduced J.P. Agrall as Belleair Bluffs’ new public works director during the Feb. 9 meeting.

Sullivan said Agrall is a former assistant public works director for Treasure Island, where she said he earned high praise as “an accomplished and performance-driven adaptive project manager” with “expertise in managing capital improvement projects, stormwater systems and fleet operations.”

She said Agrall “was recognized for leading recovery operations as interim director during Hurricane Helene, which is a serious task,” and received “high accolades” from former coworkers and city officials.

“They said you’ve got a good one,” Sullivan said while introducing Agrall to a round of applause.

Agrall said he was excited to join the tight-knit Belleair Bluffs team.

“I come from a small town, originally, in Illinois, and I do like the small-town feel,” he said. “I’m happy to be here for that.”

Agrall said he was already up to speed on projects in development, including the Duncan Drive stormwater work and a traffic calming project scheduled for the intersection outside City Park.

“Driving around with the guys, they’ve been showing me some issues they’ve been wanting to get taken care of,” Agrall said. “So, we’re going to start working on all of those.”

Commissioner Suzy Sofer praised Agrall for immersing himself in the city’s projects right away.

“When he said he jumped into Duncan Drive, first thing, he jumped into it,” she said. “He was ready to go, and he had a smile on his face, and I said, ‘I think we’ve got a good one here!'”

Sofer added that Agrall is “very, very organized, which is impressive. So, we’re very happy to have you here.”

Mayor Chris Arbutine also welcomed Agrall, noting he runs the city like his family jewelry store.

“I run a family business, and that’s kind of how I view Belleair Bluffs, as one big family, especially with the staff,” Arbutine said. “Getting along with each other is pretty much a prerequisite for the job, at my family business and here. So, we’re happy to have you aboard, and keep doing what you’re doing.”

Projects in progress

Justin Keller from Advanced Engineering, the city’s contracted engineering firm, provided an update on the projects but not before praising the new public works director.

“I do have experience working with J.P.,” Keller said, adding they worked together on the Treasure Island Causeway project, which he called “a pretty major project that gets people on and off the island. So, I’m excited to be working with him again.”

Regarding the Duncan Drive project, which will feature the partial reconstruction of 1,200 linear feet of roadway as well as associated curbing and driveway replacement, Keller said they received four “competitive” bids after advertising the work, with Keystone Excavators submitting the lowest at $2.24 million.

“Keystone was the contractor on that Treasure Island Causeway project,” Keller said. “So, the Keystone team, J.P. and I as recently as two years ago worked on a major roadway project.”

After Keller recommended approval, the commission voted 5-0 in favor of the Keystone contract.

The City Park traffic calming project doesn’t have the scale, or cost, of Duncan Drive. But the plan to add a crosswalk and a small island at the wide intersection of Lentz Road and Sunset Boulevard could have a big impact.

“This project will use a lot smaller equipment but certainly will be impactful,” Keller said of the work, which will include a painted crosswalk, a stop sign and a “pork chop” style island designed to improve pedestrian safety and better define vehicle traffic at the broad intersection.

“It will essentially make people who are coming around the corner to either declare their intent to go straight and stop at the stop sign, or they’re funneled down into a right-hand turn that will essentially push them over to the side,” Keller said, noting the site would lose a few parking spaces to accommodate the new crosswalk.

After Keller said they were “thankful to get a local contractor as the low bidder,” the commission voted 5-0 in favor of a $15,854 contract with Huber Construction for the project.

Sullivan said she expected the work to take two weeks to complete.