Plenty of Business at Hand For a Renewed IRB CommissionBy Leo Coughlin
INDIAN ROCKS BEACH – The dust has settled and the City Commission is now aligned to take care of business in which many residents hope is a new beginning for Indian Rocks Beach. Those who follow city affairs closely are fatigued from the strife and uncertainty of the past six years and on the docket for the commission is business that perhaps, in the view of many, is long overdue for action. One such item is the idea of televising commission meetings, an idea first brought up several years ago by Jose Coppen who was then on the commission. That went nowhere in the welter of all the distraction of a well-traveled city manager and the financial acrobatics of a city treasurer. Next door neighbor Belleair Beach televises its meetings. The brainchild of Rudy Davis, who was then mayor, those meetings are not done live, but residents can tune in on the city’s channel to see what their City Council is doing. Indian Rocks Beach could do much the same and it could be a useful venture. Of course, the aspect of cost and expense comes up, but IRB folks could use their neighbor as a model where the expense has not been exorbitant. It is known that one commissioner, Terry Hamilton, wants a charter review board and that would cost nothing and in the view of some observers the city Charter might need a looking at. A long talked of idea of developing docks at the south end of the city which would attract boating traffic which could access the business district from the water side. That might be funded by grants. Height and density issues are still alive, preserving dunes on the beach is important, dealing with an aging sewer system needs to be examined, perhaps even a sale to the county. Then there is the talk of doing something about the City Hall. Some say it is in decrepitude condition and is virtually falling down. The building incorporates an auditorium and the city’s administrative offices, so to do anything would involve the undertaking of a new and rather large building. Given the money situation in IRB – and everywhere else – this is no doubt one of those things that will have to be put off for a long time. The commission gets down to business tomorrow in a work session.
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