SUBJECT/RECOMMENDATION:
Title
Approve an appropriation of General Fund reserves and a Work Order to Engineer of Record Cardno, Inc., in an amount not to exceed $87,888, to complete archeological excavation at the Crum property, the former site of St. Matthew’s Baptist Church Cemetery, and authorize the appropriate officials to execute same.
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SUMMARY:
The St. Matthew’s Baptist Church Cemetery, an African American cemetery dating to the early 1900s, was once located along Missouri Avenue, near Cleveland Street. The cemetery operated at the property until the 1940s. According to records from the time, the cemetery had become inadequate and the City of Clearwater Council established a new African American burial site at the North Greenwood Cemetery. All burials ceased at the property after the establishment of the North Greenwood Cemetery.
St. Matthew’s Church sold the property to developers in 1955. The site was developed in the 1960s. Construction at the site has included a department store and the City Annex. The site was later developed into its current state.
With the recent rediscovery of lost African American cemeteries throughout the region, local community leaders called for confirmation that burials were properly relocated prior to redevelopment. Community groups and Crum Staffing partnered to hire archeologists from the University of South Florida (USF) to review available historical records and complete Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) surveys of the site.
Historical records review and GPR surveys identified areas of the former cemetery that show potential active burials. Crum Staffing contacted the City to discuss the findings. City Engineering staff asked Cardno to prepare a work plan to complete archaeological excavation and ground truthing to confirm these findings.
The scope of work includes mobilization, delineation of possible grave shafts, archaeological excavation of identified shafts, laboratory analysis, GIS mapping, and report preparation. This effort is to verify a possible burial identified in previous GRP work, the second step in a multi-phase process of developing an appropriate cemetery management plan.
Utility clearance, required notification, contractor coordination, and field work will require approximately 45-days to complete.
APPROPRIATION CODE AND AMOUNT:
A first quarter budget amendment will provide a transfer of $87,888 from General Fund reserves to General Fund Non-Departmental cost code 0107010-530100, professional services, to fund this work order.
USE OF RESERVE FUNDS:
Funding for this contract will be provided by a first quarter budget amendment allocating General Fund reserves in the amount of $87,888 to cost code 0107010-530100, professional services. Inclusive of this item if approved, a net total of $1,696,540 of General Fund reserves has been appropriated by Council to fund expenditures in the 2020/21 operating budget. The remaining balance in General Fund reserves after the 8.5% reserve is approximately $34.1 million, or 22.4% of the current General Fund operating budget.