Manatee County received nearly $43,500 in reimbursement from BP for work around the Deepwater Horizon spill.

The money was used to reimburse the county for staff time in analyzing the spill and the potential impact on the county.

Charlie Hunsicker and his staff in the county’s natural resources department held a number of public meetings to inform residents about preparations in case the spill reached local beaches.

The county also taped a series of public service announcements called “Our coast is clean!” to let residents know that the beaches were open and unaffected by the spill.

-- Toni Whitt