Longboat celebrates Florida City Government Week with giant shredder

Longboat Key hosted a different kind of celebration — one with a huge shredder, vaccines and a blood bank. 

Florida City Government Week, created by the Florida League of Cities, is held every October in an effort to engage citizens with municipal government. 

At the Oct. 2 Town Commission meeting, Mayor Ken Schneier made the official proclamation for this year's event, which ran from Oct. 16 to Oct. 22. 

“We’re starting a new fiscal year, so it’s a happy new year in that regard,” Town Manager Howard Tipton said in the meeting. “In the same month, we get a change to celebrate Florida cities, which are the closest government to the people.” 

The first event of the week was a vaccine clinic on Oct. 16 in collaboration with Walgreens. Residents were able to receive free COVID-19 and standard flu vaccines. Other vaccines, like shingles and pneumonia, were also available through Medicare and insurance. 

On Oct. 18, students from Anna Maria Elementary School visited town hall and took a tour. 

Vice Mayor Mike Haycock was the “storyteller” for the day, reading to the group in the Town Commission chamber. 

Courtesy image

Public Works Director Isaac Brownman led the kids through a tour of Town Hall, the Tennis Center and the Planning, Zoning and Building Department. 

The festivities wrapped up on Oct. 20 with two simultaneous events: a shredding event and blood drive. 

In the town hall parking lot, Administrative Assistant Stephanie Janney and Deputy Town Clerk Savannah Cobb guided residents as they pulled up with their cars full of bags or boxes.

The two dumped papers, used checks and passports into a trash bin. Once the bin was full, it was loaded onto the shredding truck and lifted up into the large-scale shredder. 

A few minutes before noon, the shredder had already reached full capacity. 

Photo by Carter Weinhofer

The town hosts shredding events about twice a year, usually in the spring and fall. 

Just a short walk away, the Blood Vessel took donations from residents, town employees and anyone else who stopped by. 

The bus was a part of SunCoast Blood Centers, an organization that connects blood with a network, which includes hospitals like Sarasota Memorial, Manatee Memorial, Lakewood Ranch Medical Center and Encompass Health.