“I know this can be frustrating for the public. It s frustrating for me and I’m sure for our commission. These are necessary evils of things that we must do and have to do to make sure every i is dotted and every t is crossed when we start applying for these funds and to rebuild the city,” Brudnicki said.
The consulting group takes the lead on applying for Community Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CBGDR) monies to restore and rebuild following a natural disaster. Through the program, with the support by Hagerty, the city has applied for more than $23 million in grants.
Commissioners said having contractors in place helped after Hurricane Michael. We were able to get everything lined up, it was very quick and it was very efficient, said Commissioner Doug Moore. It was an easy flip of the switch, bring out the contracts and from that we were able to keep our costs down as best as we could.
Even though the process after Hurricane Michael was described as being efficient, there were some lessons learned from the experience. County officials said they tightened up the time between when the work was completed and invoice submission, better defined clawback provisions for inaccurate work or incomplete work, and added complete cycle pricing and regular updates.
It has taken more than 31 months to approach the condition that it could reopen.
The grand reopening celebration will be May 22, with ticketed time slots for those who wish to attend as a way of controlling the crowd size in light of COVID-19 concerns. The public can request free tickets for 10-11:30 a.m., noon to 1:30 p.m., or 2-3:30 p.m., but act fast because the available slots are already being filled.
The facility will be closed in between each time slot to allow for deep cleaning. Social distancing will be practiced during the open periods and face masks will be strongly encouraged. Tickets can be secured online at www.eventbrite.com/e/science-discovery-center-grand-reopening-event-tickets-152702859363.