At the March 28, 2023, Manatee County Commission meeting, the board unanimously pledged $8 million to expand the capacity at the existing Bishop shelter campus so that all of Animal Services (now called Animal Welfare) would be centralized at Bishop and the overcrowded, deteriorating, “money pit” Palmetto shelter can finally be closed. Pressed by commissioners to fast-track the project, Construction Services Manager Tom Yarger stated that construction could start in 12 months and be completed in two years.
Near the end of the 47-minute discussion (at the 6:04 mark), Commissioner Baugh spoke plainly and directly: “Charlie Bishop, we need you guys to come up with a plan, like pretty quickly too, and move this forward, get us out of Palmetto. Two years isn’t going to cut it.”
Bishop responded, “OK, procurement is listening; we do have mechanisms in place to expedite this.”
The discussion concluded with commissioners patting themselves on the back and Baugh predicting: “I think we can make it and be the best animal services in the country.”
Yeah, well, talk is cheap. It’s been almost 2 years and not a spoonful of dirt has been turned. Such delays might be excused as eager to please employees being overly optimistic about the time it takes to build an $8 million, concrete block, hurricane-rated, 120-kennel building. However, just four months later, at the July 25, 2023, BOCC meeting, the board opted to go with cheaper, faster, prefabricated kennel construction similar to what is installed at Nate’s Rescue in east Manatee. At the July meeting, Construction Services Manager Yarger stated that the change would reduce total construction time to ten months.
Commissioner George Kruse informed the board that six-kennel, prefabricated “cottages” could be purchased for $40,000. Considering that it would take 20 cottages to equal the 120 additional kennels proposed for the Bishop expansion: 20 cottages x $40K each = $800K, a savings of $7.2 million from the $8 million budget.
Nine months later, seeing no activity at Bishop, shelter advocates began asking for an update on the kennel project. At the APRIL 23, 2024, BOCC meeting, Deputy Director Sarah Brown, Construction Services Manager Tom Yarger, and Deputy Administrator Bryan Parnell presented an update. Commissioner Kruse asked for an expected timeline, noting that the public was led to believe there was finally “a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Brown assured the board that “everyone is working hard, boots on the ground, fast forward, as quickly as possible.” She described the design as “at 30%” and pledged it would be at “100% by late July, aiming for project execution in late 2024.”
Construction Manager Yarger said, “We’re pretty confident we can get somebody in there (the Bishop kennels) by December or January. You know, we might start to move dogs from Palmetto by the end of the year.”
Deputy Administrator Bryan Parnell said that the 32 kennels installed at the Manatee Jail would be completed by the end of the summer (2024). Note: as of this writing, not a single shovel of dirt has been turned at either site.
To recap:
On March 28, 2023, the Manatee County Commission decided to construct a new kennel building at the recently donated Bishop property so that the Palmetto shelter could be closed and all Animal Services would be centralized at Bishop. $8 million was budgeted. The Administration estimated construction to start in 12 months and be completed in two years or sooner. (Baugh to Charlie Bishop: “...move this forward, get us out of Palmetto. Two years isn’t going to cut it”).
On July 25, 2023, the county commission decided to use prefabricated kennels for the expansion to save time and money from concrete block construction. The cost was estimated at $40K per 6 kennels, or $800K for the 120 kennels proposed. The Administration estimated a construction time of 10 months.
On April 23, 2024, the administration said the 32 jail Kennels would be installed that summer, the Bishop design would be completed by July and that dogs would be moving out of Palmetto by the end of the year.
The reality:
These timelines are all lies. There has been zero construction activity for this project. The county has dragged its feet, and Charlie Bishop is responsible. The latest timeline lists final “owner occupancy” for some time in 2026 (no month provided). In a November 14 email sent to Dena Sabou, myself, Charlie Bishop, George Kruse, and 12 other top county officials, Parnell writes that the county will “finalize their design asap.” This means that in the twenty months since the board told Charlie Bishop to “move this forward, get us out of Palmetto. Two years isn’t going to cut it,” his administration still hasn’t even finished the design.
Pitifully, at the August 27, 2024, BOCC meeting (1:32 in), Mr. Bishop claims these delays are due to this project being relocated from Lena Road to the Bishop property. This is blatantly false. The idea that a new shelter would be built on Lena Road has been off the table since at least June of 2021 when news of the Bishop family’s (no relation) 21st Ave W property donation became public, and the Shelter Manatee organization pulled out of their commitment to provide private sector matching funds.
The real reason for these outrageous delays is that Charlie Bishop hasn’t given a crap about the shelter—at least not until the August 20 election. If he had really cared, Mr. Bishop would have long ago assigned someone to oversee this important project and hold them accountable for ensuring it stays on track.
Foolish me, I wrongly assumed Sarah Brown was that person. After all, it is her department. It is her employees who are working and getting injured in a deplorable, unhealthy, highly stressful work environment in Palmetto. At a recent meeting with Brown and her boss, Director Lee dePalo, I was shocked to learn that neither of them had a clue about the construction timeline. They had no idea when the project would be completed, and their employees would no longer be forced to breathe the backed-up sewage, mold, and rat turds at the Palmetto shelter. Unconvincingly, each denied that their unawareness supported my opinion that Brown has consistently failed to fight for the shelter and her department.
Since the August 20 election, Charlie Bishop seems to have finally taken an interest in the shelter project. At the August 27, 2024, BOCC meeting, Bishop finally responded to shelter advocate Dena Sabou’s (Joyce Jordan often speaks as well) persistent future agenda public comments by announcing that Property Management Director Cary Knight and Parnell would be meeting privately with Dena, Joyce, and myself.
Only after the August 20 election has Charlie Bishop taken the time to respond to one of the numerous emails I have sent raising concerns about the shelter and this project.
Only after the August 20 election did Charlie Bishop direct Deputy Administrator Parnell to send a detailed project update to county leaders (November 14 email), assuring them that he would be “setting up meetings…to discuss the remaining design/construction schedules, which I will personally attend.”
Unfortunately, it has taken Mr. Bishop too long to start doing the right thing. Considering how KVO had his county employee/brother file an election complaint against me, I would not be surprised to eventually learn that VanOstenbridge, who essentially operated as co-administrator during his term as a county commissioner, facilitated delays to the new shelter out of spite. But for whatever reason, whether incompetence or intentional, Bishop’s failure to follow the board’s instruction to expedite this project means that dogs will spend another hot summer in outdoor kennels at Palmetto.
When a new board was elected in 2020, they cited a need to go in a different direction in firing a competent, principled, experienced administrator in Cheri Coryea. Hopes and Bishop have definitely taken us in a different direction—straight down the toilet. Bishop once awarded a county contract to his girlfriend. He left a voicemail seeking a political favor to take cuts in line at the Daiquiri Deck. Under Bishop’s “leadership,” a county supervisor ordered a code enforcement officer to steal private property, and only the officer who declined was disciplined. For over a year, to avoid public records law, Bishop violated the county’s policy prohibiting the use of personal cell phones to conduct county business.
And what kind of judgment does it take for Bishop to promote Tom Wooten, a convicted felon dirty cop who planted evidence on innocent people, in one case leading to a child being taken from her mother and placed in foster care, to be the Division Manager of Code Enforcement, a quasi county law enforcement agency?
I urge the board to correct the colossal mistake that has caused our four-year downward spiral. Replace Bishop with Cheri Coryea. No expensive national search is necessary. We’d get an experienced leader with integrity who employees and the public can be confident will do the right thing. That is truly the direction we voted for.
The Bradenton Times encourages citizen participation and the sharing of their opinions on issues impacting our community or with the intent of informing our readers on a variety of topics. The letters to the editor and guest opinion columns published represent those viewpoints. It is important to understand that when The Bradenton Times publishes these opinions or letters, it does not necessarily represent the opinions of our publication. We offer this service to allow readers to benefit from a variety of opinions and informational content.
8 comments on this item
Only paid subscribers can comment
Please log in to comment by clicking here.
WTF
LIE….Brown assured the board that “everyone is working hard, boots on the ground, fast forward, as quickly as possible.”
LIE… Construction Manager Yarger said, “We’re pretty confident we can get somebody in there (the Bishop kennels) by December or January.
LIE… Deputy Administrator Bryan Parnell said that the 32 kennels installed at the Manatee Jail would be completed by the end of the summer (2024).
LIE… Charlie Bishop On April 23, 2024, the administration said the 32 jail Kennels would be installed that summer, the Bishop design would be completed by July
LIE… Charlie Bishop said that dogs would be moving out of Palmetto by the end of the year.
Lets not forget that HDR architects are being paid $527,91`5.00 for design services alone. Plus, they just came back and ask and got another 10,000 for a traffic study that was not needed that stated from the traffic dept of the county stated, “Based on discussions with staff, they would support a TIS waiver for the project. Therefore, only an operational analysis should be required.”
I spoke to Horizon structures on the order of 2 units for the jail. They stated that construction would not begin until the concrete foundation is poured and have not heard from the county in months. They can put in multi million roundabouts with sidewalks and curbs but can’t get a simple concrete slab done?
Bishop has got to go! For the Record
Disinformation is more than just lying: it's the denial and twisting of reality in order to present some desired image to the rest of the world.
Will Hurd
Saturday, November 30, 2024 Report this
Dianna
There is no excuse for the blatant disregard that this administration has for animal welfare in our community, not to mention their own employees working in these horrible conditions. Citizens have been discussing this issue for years and this administration has done nothing, well not exactly nothing- they did fire the 11 shelter volunteers for bringing up the conditions at the Palmetto shelter during public comment. Citizens should remember to attach their comments to the December 10th regular meeting under “Future Agenda” using the public comment link on the county’s website.
Saturday, November 30, 2024 Report this
andreart
I understand everybody’s frustration. I also understand more than many of whats been going on with animal shelter. I hear from administration, I’ve talked to the staff that you are mentioning, and it’s not everything that is written in this letter, with all due respect to Mr. Daniels. A lot of what’s been said isn't in black and white and not why this project has not moved forward.
Remember the previous board doesn’t care about animals, they’re marching orders where to get rid of animal services by some in the development community. I went before the board when they changed back the retail ban of pets and said, be honest, you don’t care about animals..
When you heard commissioners at the diocese, get this done, as far back as when commissioner Baugh decided to not run because everybody in town told her they would never support her. They wanted monies to go for projects to help the development community. Most were given their marching orders by KVO and majority of BOCC supported that and. that’s why you see that nothing’s been done. George did try, but it takes three other commissioners to actually make policy changes. I recall watching meetings and things were put on the back burner because of all these projects that the commissioners wanted to move forward, that did not even care anything about the animals.
I’ve still been in involved with the animal issues and I can pick up the phone and call Charlie Bishop or Sarah and get a response immediately. Many times it’s help in the community and they respond.
I’m involved and still care about the animal so much that I’ve actually contacted George Kruse. I sent a email to Charlie, Bishop and Sarah Brown two weeks ago, asking to reinstitute the animal service advisory committee and that I really want to be involved with the solution on that committee.
The solution is that the board needs to have a real worksession and have Sheila‘s input on actually how much money the previous board has committed in the community and how much was taken away from this department’s budget to go to other projects. I can almost guarantee a year’s pay that Commissioner Bearden is so afraid of not getting elected in two years, he will be the first to make a motion to have this happen. He has had two years, as well as the other commissioners and haven’t done jack,Remember that.
At this point, it’s all about the counties financial situation and how we can turn things around. I really want to be on that advisory board to get things stable and running smoothly with the animals. I don’t give a crap about commissioners trying to get re-elected in two years.
I still support the property. We have on 64 and Lena Road for a east county animal services intake.
My credibility is still pretty well known and was actually called two or three weeks ago regarding a lady that has been sheltering birds in Cortez and they would not let her rebuild her cages.after the hurricane.
This is not on Charlie or Sarah, they work for the board of county commissioners. They proceeded on what is being told. Now that KVO is gone hopefully there will be no more interference from the board when they are given direction. i’m sorry this is so long but this is one of my most passionate issues since I have been in office.
Sunday, December 1, 2024 Report this
andreart
Andreart is Carol Whitmore
Sunday, December 1, 2024 Report this
iamjo
Please also consider this: We recently experienced the wrath of Hurricane Milton. The Bishop property is located in the NW part of the county. Which design is more hurricane-proof (!) for a NW Bishop location : A HARDENED, HURRICANE PROOF-DESIGNED building as opposed to the pre-fabricated structures which sit at Nate's rescue, nestled MUCH to the east of this Bishop location? We MUST design for the worst-case scenario, for the safety of the animals.
Sunday, December 1, 2024 Report this
iamjo
A historical perspective of the Animal Advisory Board: This Board has not met since January, 2021.
( https://www.mymanatee.org/government/advisory_boards/animal_services_advisory_board).
What did this Board accomplish?
Sunday, December 1, 2024 Report this
Debann
PLEASE..quit making excuses...Bishop and Brown WAY OVERPAID..This has been GOING ON AND PROMISED FOR YEARS,Nothing has come to fruition yet some are still collecting paychecks..SHOCKER.....Ballard, Bearden Rahn,each have 2 years under their belts and nothing to show for it..2 more years TO VOTE THEM OUT ..BISHOP AND BROWN ARE THE PROBLEM..SPENDING MONEY LIKE IT'S THEIRS. THE ANIMALS ARE NOT A PRIORITY IN MANATEE COUNTY..WE ALL KNOW AND SEE THAT..KEEP DAVID DANIELS YOU ROCK..KEEP UP THE GREAT FIGHT...
Sunday, December 1, 2024 Report this
Lktinsanfran
This is unbelievable. The county can put up hundreds of new homes in 2 years but can't build a facility for homeless animals. All creatures should be cared for and be provided with food and shelter. We, as taxpayers, approved of this measure. Get off the frigin' pot and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. The lack of building a new facility is animal abuse. Perhaps it it is time to clean the slate and get a new contractor and designer. Ones who will set a legitimate timeline that will be strictly adhered to and posted on the Manatee County website.
Wednesday, December 4, 2024 Report this