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Detail shop allowed to reopen

By ELENA LESLEY
Published February 8, 2007

CRYSTAL RIVER - After the city mistakenly shut down Wally Slezak's business Friday, he says he lost one employee and plenty of business.

By Wednesday, he'd had enough.

"I said, 'One way or the other, I'm going to reopen,' " said the owner of Wally's Amoco gas station and detail shop on U.S. 19 near Citrus Avenue.

Luckily for him, the Southwest Florida Water Management District backed his decision.

The agency sent a letter to City Manager Andrew Houston saying Crystal River had misinterpreted water shortage restrictions. A code enforcement officer shuttered the detail shop because employees were washing cars.

"They put up a sign and told me, 'You're closed,' " Slezak said.

Houston said a Swiftmud representative had told the city by phone that Slezak's activities would not be permitted under the water restrictions.

But in a letter dated Tuesday, a representative from Swiftmud wrote that "a review of the city's water restrictions indicates that car washing is allowed, providing any hose used for the purpose has a shutoff nozzle."

Slezak said he was told by the code enforcement officer to talk to the city manager if he had a problem, but the business owner found Houston unresponsive.

"He wouldn't budge," Slezak said. "It was like it was beneath him."

In the meantime, one of Slezak's employees quit because he has to make weekly rent payments. Several car dealerships that provide him with regular jobs failed to place orders because of the situation.

"This shouldn't have happened," he said. "When the city got the mandate, they should have checked it more thoroughly."

In Swiftmud's letter, Demand Management Coordinator Lois Ann Sorenson wrote, "if city staff (members) relied solely on the summary fact sheet that was sent to all Water Use Permit holders ... regarding the new restrictions, they would have only read about how often people can wash their own cars."

Staff members would have to consult a specific district order and the district's water shortage plan for full details regarding commercial car washing, the letter reads.

Houston said Wednesday afternoon that he had received the letter and that someone from City Hall would call Slezak.

For his part, the business owner said that, after receiving the go-ahead from Swiftmud, he wanted nothing more to do with the city.

"I haven't bothered talking to them," he said.

[Last modified February 7, 2007, 20:45:01]