To the editor:<\/p>\n
I sent the following to the eight members of Cape Coral City Council in advance of Wednesday\u2019s meeting:<\/p>\n
I sent this via email to all council members yesterday and I have a few questions you all need to consider before voting on Resolution 70-26.\u00a0\u00a0I only got one acknowledgment out of the 8 I sent, so I\u2019m resubmitting my records requests in person.<\/p>\n
First of all the resolution itself makes no mention that, as stated in Invitation to Bid 250\u2032 Flagpole Project BPW2620SS, that \u201cFunding: This project depends on securing financial support and will be fully financed through community contributions.\u201d\u00a0 Yet it states in the resolution the award \u201cin an amount not to exceed $420,000 utilizing those funds existing to be deposited into the Flag Trust Fund\u201d with no mention it is to be fully funded by community donations.\u00a0 As written, it can be interpreted funds can come from city funds.\u00a0 Nothing in the resolution states otherwise.\u00a0 Intentional to give the City Manager a loophole to use city funds?\u00a0 I would like an answer.<\/p>\n
Second:\u00a0 Where are the Professionally engineered drawings outlined in\u00a0Invitation to Bid 250\u2032 Flagpole Project BPW2620SS, Part II Specifications, paragraphs A & B.\u00a0 The drawings attached to the Resolution package are not of the flagpole or base installation, but of soil conditions at the park.<\/p>\n
Third:\u00a0\u00a0Where is the FAA study that was supposed to be performed and the FAA approval of this project as required in\u00a0Invitation to Bid 250\u2032 Flagpole Project BPW2620SS, Part II Specifications, paragraph C.\u00a0I would like to see these BEFORE this resolution is voted on.<\/p>\n
Fourth:\u00a0 How can\u00a0 you be assured a solar powered 360 degree LED light\u00a0as required in\u00a0Invitation to Bid 250\u2032 Flagpole Project BPW2620SS, Part II Specifications, paragraph M will stay illuminated throughout the night.\u00a0No back-up power?<\/p>\n
Fifth:\u00a0 On page 6 of the Supplier Response, Section 14 requires supplier to \u201csubmit 3 completed Survey Forms for past projects within the past year, preferably projects of similar scope and size.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
And not to mention the traffic mess during installation, like Cape Coral Parkway isn\u2019t a traffic horror already.\u00a0 Why can\u2019t the city mandate construction be done at night to alleviate traffic issues?<\/p>\n
How will the flagpole maintenance be funded? <\/p>\n
Will specific insurance will be procured for the flagpole in case of catastrophic failure and what will it cost annually?<\/p>\n
Before considering this resolution, the City Manager must provide these contract requirements.\u00a0 That is your responsibility to assure all aspects of the contract are being met.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, once again the city manager waits until the last minute to present this so you will take his urgency as justification to pass this.\u00a0 PLEASE don\u2019t.\u00a0 He confidently promised he would have no issue raising the funds privately and he still has just over 50% raised.\u00a0 And on that note, what city contracts has Andrews Sitework, LLC been awarded?\u00a0 I would like an answer. I\u2019ve added the information below that was not included with the 3\/3\/26 email sent to council:<\/p>\n
Also, in the documentation attached to Resolution 70-26, the \u201cBid Tab at Opening\u201d states, at the top of the page \u201cApparent low is base bid only.\u201d Please clarify what, precisely, that means. Is the accepted bid only a starting point and costs will escalate? If costs escalate, who will pay those costs? <\/p>\n
Additionally, regarding Resolution 69-26 how can use of city logo(s) constitute \u201cviolations that directly implicate public health, safety or general welfare of the city, it\u2019s residents and visitors?\u201d Please be specific as many have received cease and desist letters for often inadvertent use of a city logo. I want a clear explanation or is this just another resolution to fleece Cape Coral taxpayers by fining people into submission? Response requested.<\/p>\n
I would like to know how the City Manager is going to get the funding to buy the remaining 5 properties in the initial scope of Bimini East that the city does not yet own. There are 3 properties on Triton Court East and one on Manor Court. The price the current owners paid for those properties is $3,280,000 which does not include George\u2019s auto repair shop. Could not find current value on that property. So I seriously doubt the current owners of those properties are about to sell them for less than what they paid for them unless the City Manager gives them a sweetheart deal paid for by taxpayers. Then they are also eyeing the Lake Michigan Credit Union and the gelato store right in front of Four Freedoms Park \u2014 Cape Coral\u2019s first public park they are planning on giving to developers \u2014 another park taken away from the people by unscrupulous city management and council. They say it is not on the table, but was mentioned in the Bimini East Contractors event last year. They are also eyeing 506 Cape Coral Parkway \u2014 another bank. Add what those owners paid for their properties, the MINIMUM the city would have to pay these 3 properties is another $3.1 million. I guess losing $25 million on the major purchase of Bimini East wasn\u2019t enough. Remember, Sunseeker Resort paid approx. $22 million for the 22 acres that the resort sits on and it has expansive waterfront footage \u2014 not the measly 100\u2032 at Four Freedoms Park. And also remember, Sunseeker was built for $700 million and sold last year for $200 million \u2014 a $500 million loss. How much will we lose and why does the city manager still have a job? Further proof no one in Cape Coral administration is ever held responsible for their costly screw ups. IMHO they just keep expecting us to pay for their incompetence and council obliges. Outrage by citizens seems to be routinely ignored.<\/p>\n
Marie Kavanaugh<\/p>\n
Cape Coral<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To the editor: I sent the following to the eight members of Cape Coral City Council in advance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-180378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}