Venice council to consider need for more police, fire personnel at strategic plan session

VENICE – The Venice City Council will conduct its day-long strategic planning meeting Monday at Village on the Isle. Topics include public safety services, a parks agreement with Sarasota County, the Venice Municipal Airport, roads and transportation plans, Seaboard area development and emergency operations.

City officials, especially in pubic safety, are asking for several more employees to offset the impact of growth.

Public comments can be made after lunch.

Betsy  Steiner will facilitate the meeting, scheduled to end at 5 p.m. There will be no live transmission of the meeting, though an audio recording should eventually be posted on the city website, https://www.venicegov.com.

Village on the Isle is at 920 S. Tamiami Trail.

Public safety issues warrant staff increases

The Venice Police Department has 51 sworn officers – including 37 officers and 11 investigators – and 20 non-sworn support staff members.

That workforce has held mostly flat, despite population growth, from 25,463 according to the 2020 U.S. Census to an estimated 27,793 as of April 1, 2023, according to the University of Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research, as well as expansion of the city limits from annexation.

The council will discuss a proposed increase for the 2024-25 fiscal year from Venice Police Chief Charles Thorpe of 10 new employees, two civilians and eight sworn officers. The sworn officers would include two new patrol officers on day shift and night shift, a traffic officer specializing in DUI, a special operations sergeant, a school resource officer and a detective to specialize in elder crimes.

Venice Fire & Rescue has seen its average call volume rise from 3,000 annually, or 8.21 per day prior, to 8,081 annually, or 22.13 calls per day, after assuming control of ambulance service from Sarasota County in 2020.

Currently the combined FIre/EMS staffing is 76 people. Venice Fire Rescue Chief Frank Giddens is proposing an increase of 11 people in 2024-25, including one EMS captain, six dual certified firefighters, three single certified paramedics and one fire inspector. The paramedic increases would allow for a second rescue unit to be available on the island of Venice.

In the following year, the proposal calls for an additional six dual certified firefighters.

All told, the additional positions are projected to cost $3.1 million, with $580,822 of that coming from impact fees for police vehicles.

The remaining $2.6 million would come from the general fund budget.

The proposed addition of six firefighters in 2025-26 would add $788,000 to that year’s budget.

Parks agreement with Sarasota County

The current parks maintenance agreement with Sarasota County ends Oct. 1, 2026.

The new proposal – being rewritten following a Jan. 16 meeting between city and county staff – would give Sarasota County control of Wellfield Park, which would then be reconfigured through a $40 million capital improvement project, with Venice providing $20 million.

About $5 million of that contribution would come from city reserves and $15 million from future park impact fees.

Ultimately the city of Venice would assume oversight of several city parks and the Venice Community Center.

Public Works will seek to add three new staff members in the 2024-25 fiscal year for staffing at the new park in Northeast Venice and facility needs and seven new  employees in the 2025-26 fiscal year, in anticipation of the new agreement.

Venice Municipal Airport improvements

There are several projects in the works at the airport, with money coming through airport leases, as well as state and federal grants.

Hangars damaged by Hurricane Ian are still being repaired and the rehabilitation of runway 13-31 is in the construction phase.

About $3.9 million of the $4.3 million runway rehabilitation comes from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA is also funding the lion’s share of a $1 million Airport Master Plan, which would include a study of whether the field requires a control tower or some sort of remote viewing control of runway traffic.

The Florida Department of Transportation is contributing $4 million of the $6.3 million cost of a new airport administration and terminal building.

With several neighbors voicing concerns of increased jet noise, the airport is seeking to add an Airport Community Outreach Manager for the 2024-25 fiscal year. That person would have several tasks, including noise abatement and contract management with the on-site manager of the Venice Municipal Mobile Home Park.

The airport will also negotiate with Faradair Aerospace Limited, a British hybrid-electric aircraft manufacturer, about a partnership that would showcase the industry.

Road and transportation planning

Venice engineers assessed the city’s roads in September 2023, with the overall pavement condition considered good, rating it an 89 on a 100-point scale.

The city must still repair 1,826 linear feet of sidewalk impacted by Hurricane Ian.

Planning for the reconstruction of the intersection of Venice Avenue and Pinebrook Road is scheduled to be complete by October 2025, with construction scheduled to start in April 2026.

Design and permitting is still being finalized for the widening of Laurel Road between Knights Trail Road and Jacaranda Boulevard. Sarasota County is still acquiring right of way for the project and reviewing an agreement for an $8 million FDOT appropriations grant for the project.

Plans shold be complete by June and the right of way must be certified by this December since the state grant expires June 30, 2028.

A final cost of the project has not been established for either road project.

Seaboard Area Development planning

The 75-acre Seaboard Area of Venice – which has been targeted for eventual commercial and residential development – is one of the last light industrial areas near the island of Venice.

Venice is seeking to move its water treatment plant and Fire Station No. 2 from their current sites between East Venice Avenue and Hatchett Creek to less flood-prone areas along East Venice Avenue and move its solid waste and fleet facilities from parcels south of East Venice Avenue.

The city is currently finalizing the purchase of eight acres off Knights Trail Road to move those two facilities.

Among the city-developed amenities envisioned at that section of Seaboard, meant to spur redevelopment of the area, include a public parking lot that would replace the fleet, solid waste and recycling facility and a public park on the site of a former cement plant that the city purchased last year.

The park would connect with the Urban Forest developed by Venice Area Beautification Inc. and the Venetian Waterway Trail.

Emergency Operations

This portion of the discussion is primarily a review of after action reports of recent disasters – notably Hurricane Ian  – an update on the vulnerability of city facilities and update on the new Venice Fire Station 2 (known as 52 among Sarasota County’s fire/EMS network) which is being built just west of the new Venice Police Station.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Venice leaders to consider more workers to handle city's growth