News Briefs

+ Finance Department receives award
The town of Longboat Key Finance Department has received a certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) of the United States and Canada for its 2009 comprehensive annual financial report.

The certificate of achievement, according to the association, is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting, and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management.

The GFOA is a nonprofit professional association serving approximately 17,500 government finance professionals with offices in Chicago and Washington, D.C.

+ Formal application to town for cell tower postponed
Longboat Key resident and Alpha-Omega Communications owner Jim Eatrides met with Planning, Zoning and Building staff Feb. 1 for a formal pre-application meeting for the cellular tower he is proposing at Longboat Island Chapel.

Eatrides said he and his partner, Kevin Barile, are working through numerous revisions before the tower application is formally submitted to the Planning and Zoning Board.

“We want to make sure the application is as well-documented as possible,” said Eatrides, who believes the three separate applications needed for the tower might come before the planning board in May.

+ Academy of Government session begins this week
Registration is still open for Longboat Key’s 2011 Citizens Academy of Government session.
Residents are invited to enroll in the four-session class, which takes place from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesdays, beginning March 16, to learn more about town government and its functions and responsibilities.

Call 316-1999, Ext. 243 to register.

+ Bolger foundation donates $2.6 million for clinic
Longboat Key resident David Bolger, president and founder of the Bolger Foundation, has donated $2.6 million to create a new Urgent Care Clinic, a Sarasota Memorial Health Care System ancillary facility, at 6331 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. The new 4,500-square-foot building is scheduled to open in July and will have nine patient-examination rooms, a pharmacy, lab, X-ray area and ample parking. Bolger’s foundation has donated more than $70 million to philanthropic causes since its inception in 2000.

+ Correction
The March 3 issue of the Longboat Observer incorrectly reported a real-estate sale. The transaction should have read as follows:
Jack and Julie Brown, of Buffalo Grove, Ill., purchased the home at 531 Harbor Cove Circle in the Bay Isles I subdivision from Frederick Niedrich, of Sarasota, for $1.05 million.

Meetings & agendas
Zoning Board of Adjustment Regular Meeting — 9:30 a.m. Thursday, March 17.
Town Commission Statutory Meeting — 7 p.m. Monday, March 21.
Town Commission Regular Workshop — 1 p.m. Thursday, March 24.

All meetings take place at Town Hall, 501 Bay Isles Road.