QUENTIN ROUX / Staff

Steven Thompson is a candidate for the Marco city manager position.

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MARCO ISLAND — The “Weekly Update” is intended to provide timely and regular information for the City Council, and often includes substantive and critical information. City staff works to avoid surprises and to ensure that the City Council is informed on issues and able to respond to citizens. Copies are also provided through the City’s website for the community. Items that are marked with an asterisk (*) are updates from a previous City Council Meeting.

City Broadcast Channel.

Comcast has notified the city this week that the cable access channel, currently on channel 12, will change on Dec. 16 to Channel 98. This is a company wide move to expand Comcast’s digital channels. The city programming can now be found in a trio of public education channels. The school system will be on Channel 97, the City’s channel will moved to Channel 98, and the County will move to 99.

Staff Accomplishments. Jeff Poteet, Manager of Utility Operations, recently became the latest Honorary Life Member (HLM) of the Florida Water & Pollution Control Association. Jeff is one of only twenty-four others with this distinction. Jeff will serve for a three year term as secretary/Treasurer for 2009, the Vice President in 2010, and President in 2011. Congratulations to Jeff.

Office Closures.

City offices will be closed on Thursday and Friday of next week in observance of Thanksgiving. This closure includes the recreation centers. The recreation centers will resume their normal schedules on Saturday. Business offices will reopen at 8 a.m. Monday, Dec. 1.

Internet Spamming.

You may have noticed additional spamming into your email. A recent report from an internet security firm explains that the percentage of malware and other malicious program hosting websites surged by nearly 50%, while the spam declined by less than 1 percent. In October 2008, the number of spam messages coming from fake MobileMe accounts and spam blogs on Blogspot of Google surged significantly due to easier access to tools that help scammers to overcome Completely Automated Public Turning Tests to tell Computers and Human Apart (CAPTCHA) anti-spam techniques. It is important to check your junk mail for messages occasionally to avoid any missed messages. In addition, junk mail should be blocked, not just deleted.

Finance Department

Forensic Audit.

As Bob Creighton, the Interim Finance Director, notes in the attached letter, the forensic audit process for the Collier Boulevard project has begun. In December we expect to receive the first requests for information, and the auditors will be in the city offices reviewing information in January. The auditors are expecting presentation of the final report on February 17 unless there is a need to extend the audit scope.

Parks and Recreation Department

Farmer’s Market.

The debut of the Farmer’s Market at Mackle Park was a great success. Over thirty-five vendors participated in the event, selling plants, vegetables, crafts and homemade delights. It is estimated that over 1000 people attended the event. If you missed it, next Wednesday is just around the corner. The event opens at 7:30 am and ends at 2:00 pm.

Mackle Park Construction.

Progress is continuing at Mackle Park, and over the next few weeks the dirt remaining from the fill project at the Park will be moved to the site for the new utility building on Elkcam Circle. Once the dirt is moved the crews will continue to enhance the park’s soccer/football fields.

Public Works Department

Bike Routes to School Grant.

City staff was notified that the city was approved for a FDOT Safe Routes to School grant for FY11/FY12. The $227,840 grant is for the addition of a four-foot wide sidewalk to the existing four-foot wide sidewalk to create an eight-foot shared use path. This path will surround the school and provide a safer route for pedestrians and bicycles. The project will provide a direct shared use path linkage between the Sandhill shared use sidewalk and the signalized intersection two blocks south on San Marco and Cushing Lane. The sidewalks on Cushing, Bermuda, Trinidad, Jamaica and Greenview that surround the Tommie Barfield Elementary School and Charter Middle School will be increased to 8 feet. The new eight-foot wide path will directly connect the schools, the YMCA and Mackle Park. This grant application was a joint effort between staff, the school system and the Bike Path Advisory Committee. This effort was led by Pat Lane from the Bike Path Advisory Committee, and George Abounader and Jory Westberry from the Schools. The members of the Bike Path Advisory Committee include Al Musico, chairperson, and Phil Koslelnik, Sally Boyce, Leanne Hope, Scott Shook, Pat Neale, Matt Walthour, and Pat Lane. City staff members on the committee are Jim Miller, Leslie Sanford, and Rony Joel.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact City Manager Steve Thompson at 389-5001.