DID waits for spending clarification

The Downtown Improvement District’s ongoing budgetary constraints have a new wrinkle, as the group is still unclear as to its spending authority following complaints last month.

City Attorney Robert Fournier planned to address those complaints, generated by legal consultant Michael Barfield, this week. Barfield — driven by an ongoing spat with DID board member and downtown merchant Ron Soto — questioned whether the group had the power to give grants to fund projects organized by outside organizations, as it has several times over the past year.

City staff appeared at Tuesday’s DID meeting to clarify the city’s procurement process for purchases, but the grant question remained unanswered. Purchasing Manager Mary Tucker said that, from her department’s point of view, the board was in the clear.

“It’s been an unwritten policy that you've been doing this,” Tucker said. “There's nothing on the procurement side you've violated.”

The question of whether the DID has the power to give grants to outside organizations, then, is a matter of policy. In a meeting with city staff, Fournier said he would take the matter before the City Commission during a January meeting to let the board decide what powers the DID has to authorize grants.

The board has spent tens of thousands of dollars on grants to organizations such as the Sarasota Downtown Merchants Association and the Downtown Marketing Co-op, funding downtown lighting and advertising in the process. DID Chairman Mark Kauffman said the spending was in keeping with the board’s mission, and that any potential misstep was unintentional.

“We give a donation to the police force, to enhance their volunteer ambassador program,” Kauffman said. “We give a donation to the Downtown Sarasota Alliance, to the farmers market. These are all things that enhance the downtown, and we feel we should participate in it.”

For more information on the DID's spending, pick up a copy of Thursday's Sarasota Observer.

Contact David Conway at [email protected].