Bradenton CRA approves funding for code enforcement and downtown maintenance; discusses water line cost increase for youth center

The Bradenton City Community Redevelopment Agency voted unanimously to accept applications for two funding requests on Thursday, approving a $65,000 contribution to support code enforcement work within the agency’s redevelopment districts and renewing the downtown cleanup/maintenance team contract.

The actions came during a regular CRA meeting in which staff also reported a cost increase tied to a required water line for the 13th Avenue Youth Center (the Rogers site) and said a contract amendment will be brought back to the agency for consideration.

Volker Reis, code enforcement manager for the city of Bradenton, told the CRA that his office is requesting $65,000 in contributions from the CRA districts and that the total has been broken down among the three CRAs under the agency. "We're requesting $65,000 in contribution from the CRAs," Reis said. He described the office’s work as a mix of complaint-driven and proactive inspections, saying the department handles about 3,400 cases annually and typically performs three proactive inspections for each complaint.

Reis said the enforcement team includes a coordinator, one senior code enforcement…