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Clearwater Council approves Thursday ferry service funding, leases vessels amid public complaints about operations
Summary
The City Council voted to add a Thursday ferry run under a grant partnership and approved a lease of ferry vessels to Clearwater Ferry, drawing sustained public criticism about service reliability and subsidies.
The Clearwater City Council on Jan. 16 approved a funding amendment to expand ferry service to include Thursdays and separately authorized a lease agreement for ferry vessels, actions city officials said implement a multiagency grant arrangement intended to produce broader public-transportation access to the beach.
City Manager Dan Slaughter said the change adds a Thursday service to a grant the city pursued with the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority and the city of Dunedin and that the Thursday run increases costs by about $7,000. "We're really only allocating money for a Thursday service, and it cost them about $7,000 additional," Slaughter said.
The council voted unanimously to approve the funding amendment (agenda item…
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