UPDATE: Midnight Pass talks continue

If Sarasota County commissioners direct staff to re-activate the process to re-open Midnight Pass, county officials must schedule formal pre-application meetings with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and federal agencies.

Earlier: Sarasota County and Florida Department of Environmental Protection officals will meet today to discuss the possibility of reopening Midnight Pass.

"As directed, my role is to serve as the eyes and ears for Sarasota County, but not take any advocacy position," said Sarasota County Coastal Resources Manager Laird Wreford in an email to County Administrator Randall Reid. Wreford will meet with FDEP Deputy Secretary of Regulatory Programs Jeff Littlejohn to hear the FDEP's current view of the project to open the pass.

The state has rejected multiple attempts by the county and locals to reopen the pass after it was artificially closed in the early 1980s to protect houses on south Siesta Key from erosion .