Fire district officials seek vacation rental assistance

BRADENTON – Officials at West Manatee Fire Rescue are just a few months away from the October launch of their new vacation rental safety inspection program. Now they’re looking for a little help in identifying all of the vacation rentals in their district. Speaking remotely over Zoom from a conference in Las Vegas during the June 20 district board meeting, Fire Marshal Rodney Kwiatkowski said that he’s been speaking with representatives from nearby municipalities to see what software they use for rental identification. He said his first stop was to check with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation to see how many vacation rental properties were registered with that organization. Registration with the DBPR is a state requirement for anyone operating a vacation rental property. Kwiatkowski said that search turned up about 3,200 units.

In speaking with representatives from rental property software companies, he asked them to tell him how many vacation rental properties are in the fire district. While most came back with a vague number, Kwiatkowski said the representative from Granicus, the same software used by the city of Bradenton, came back with 5,068 rental properties in the fire district, including on Anna Maria Island, Cortez and unincorporated Manatee County in west Bradenton. Without using the software, which gives results in real time, he said the district would miss out on inspecting over 1,800 units. Based on his analysis, Kwiatkowski said he felt Granicus was the most accurate software package, recommending that the board agree to a one-year license for the software coming in at $159,372.50.

“The price tag is hefty,” Commissioner Billy Burke said. “I see the need for this in the future. I see this as a solution to the problem, but, golly, is that expensive.”

Commissioner David Bishop said that he feels the district should do more due diligence work on whether software to identify the properties is needed and, if so, if Granicus would be the best deal for the use of taxpayer money.

Burke agreed to work with district staff on a committee to delve deeper into the available software options.

First responders recognized with Phoenix Awards

The staff and board members at West Manatee Fire Rescue gathered on June 20 to recognize their co-workers with Phoenix Awards. The awards are given to first responders with the district who respond to a cardiac arrest call where the patient has no pulse and then, through the lifesaving efforts of the responding crews, recovers and walks out of the hospital. The men and women at WMFR had eight such patients over the past 12 months.

WMFR welcomes new staff

Three new firefighter/paramedics joined the ranks at West Manatee Fire Rescue on June 20. From left, Brooks Larkin, Zackary Misiura and Zachary Younce all took their oaths before meeting board members.