For immediate release
Contact: Lindsay Ubinas
Public Information Officer
The Citrus County Port Authority board members met Tuesday for a public meeting to hear port feasibility presentations from the six firms that were shortlisted from the original nine firms.
Port Director Brad Thorpe started the meeting by stating the procedures which board members will follow in filling out a ranking sheet. He also explained the process that will be followed during the question and answer allotted time.
Each firm received 50 minutes to show their presentations to the board which also included a question and answer session. The public was also allowed to ask the board any questions after each presentation.
The morning session included presentations from BEA (Miami), Gulf Engineers and Consultants (Baton Rouge, LA), and Hanson Professional Services (Springfield, IL). Afternoon sessions included Martin Associates (Lancaster, PA), TransSystems (Jacksonville), and Vickerman & Associates, Inc. (Virginia).
Board members were all very impressed with the knowledge and professionalism by all six firms and learned a great deal about ports interconnectivity, the shifting of trade patterns, and components that make up a successful port project.
After hearing all six presentations, board members, through an open ballot process, ranked the firms’ 1-10. Martin Associates was selected by a calculated tally of all five ballots. Vickerman & Associates was the second ranked firm.
The meeting concluded with board members directing staff to begin negotiations of a scope of services for development of the feasibility study of Port Citrus. The experts believe the feasibility study can be conducted between 3-6 months.