Polk County commissioners approve fire station, federal public-safety grants, landfill engineering contract and several property vacations

Polk County commissioners voted on multiple capital, grant and real-estate items during their April meeting, approving a joint-use Highland City fire rescue station with the City of Bartow, accepting federal public-safety grants and related equipment purchases, and approving infrastructure and environmental engineering agreements.

The board approved an agreement with the City of Bartow to design, construct and maintain a joint-use Highland City fire rescue station at 2421 Smith Lane. The project’s total design, engineering, permitting and construction budget is $12,000,000, with Polk County’s share set at $6,780,000 and Bartow’s at $5,220,000. The board approved the agreement by motion; no roll-call tally was read into the record.

The board also accepted two U.S. Department of Justice FY24 COPS Technology and Equipment Program Invitational Solicitation grant awards totaling $1,559,000 (award GG02137 for $850,000 and award GG02140 for $709,000) to fund a public-safety radio systems resiliency project. Commissioners then approved a related purchase of Motorola dynamic system-resilience hardware and implementation services in a combined, one-time contract not to exceed $1,553,994.08; staff said the Motorola purchase is funded entirely by the DOJ grants.

The county approved an infrastructure agreement with PDMG Buckeye LLC to design, permit and construct turn-lane improvements at Buckeye Loop Road and Dundee Road tied to a proposed Circle K development. Total estimated improvements are $780,615.39; PDMG Buckeye’s contribution was listed at $74,939 (about 9.6% of the total) and the county’s reimbursement obligation at up to $705,676.39 (about 90.4%).

For solid-waste operations, the board approved an agreement with Geosyntec Consultants for professional engineering services tied to remedial measures at the Southeast Landfill (off Gulfview Cutoff Road). The contract covers identified phase 1 and phase 3 services with expenses not to exceed $424,297; staff said phases 1 and 3 will run concurrently and that phases 2 and 4 would be brought back for future board consideration. Commissioner Scott announced an abstention on this item, citing a business relationship with the consultant; the board proceeded and approved the contract.

Other approved items included: adoption of payroll, direct-deposit and invoice ratifications for late-March payments as listed on the consent agenda; approval of minutes from the March 18 meeting; adoption of a resolution creating a Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee and appointment of 15 nominees (names were read into the record); and two real-estate vacations. Real-estate staff presented two separate vacation petitions: one to vacate 40 feet of a platted drainage-and-retention easement in Pineview Estates Phase 2 to allow construction of a pole barn, and a second to vacate a 30-foot strip of mapped right-of-way adjacent to multiple parcels to clear potential clouds on title. Staff recommended waiving the petition fee on the second case; the board approved both vacations.

In land-use actions the board approved an expedited comprehensive-plan amendment for Orchid Springs (case LDC PAS 2024-34) to change about 2.55 acres from residential low to residential medium to facilitate townhomes; the planning commission had unanimously recommended approval. Two land-development-code text amendments (I-4 SAP relief and Institutional-2 uses) were presented as first readings and required no action at this meeting.

The board also adopted an ordinance amending county procedure to require Board of County Commissioner approval for road closures exceeding five days on collector roads and exceeding 30 days on local residential roads.

Votes and formal actions referenced in this article are recorded in the meeting transcript; evidence spans for these agenda items appear throughout the meeting record.