County won't add code enforcement officer

The environmental ordinance that sets noise restrictions for Siesta Key Village is set to expire in November, but Sarasota County staff will recommend that Sarasota county commissioners extend the sunset period.

As Sarasota County Planning and Development Services Executive Director Rob Lewis Tuesday, Aug. 7, told the Siesta Key Village Association, he wants more time for community input before altering sound regulations in the Village. Lewis also explained that community input regarding sound regulations in the Village would yield the most optimal outcome. He wants to arrange quarterly staff meetings with Village merchants with offering code education.

“The more information (available), the better,” Lewis said.

The current code allows for certain establishments to exceed time and decibel thresholds, which complicates enforcement. Additionally, code enforcement officers don’t work on weekends, so when a complaint is filed, Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office deputies are required to investigate.

Sarasota County Administrator Randall Reid had asked staff for a budget option for another position earlier this year, after Sarasota County Commissioner Nora Patterson received an unusual amount of noise complaints. Further intensifying the need for more man power, were reports of pay-for-parking on residential property, which Patterson brought up during a July 10 Commission meeting.

During the SKVA meeting Lewis said the budget won’t support a full-time code enforcement officer for weekend duty and that the department in question would potentially lose one officer due to illness for some time and another officer to retirement.

“We have to fill those positions,” he said.

But, as budget talks progress until September, Sarasota County is still mulling the option of adding overtime hours on weekends, which staff members could claim on a cyclical basis.