If you wish to address address the council tonight, please complete a comment card.

Comment cards are located by the clerk seated to the right of the dais.

When called to speak, please hand your card to the clerk.

With that, we'll move to item two on the agenda, and that is uh for the invocation tonight.

I don't see Father Swick here, I don't believe, so I'll um maybe no, that's not Father Swift.

You all stand, then I'll meet us in uh invocation, then I will leave us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Father, we we pray tonight for the safety of the men and women serving in our armed forces uh wherever they're at in the world.

We uh pray for their safety as uh their lives means so much to many family members who are here worried about them here in the United States and wherever they're at around the world.

Um we are so thankful for their willingness to serve our country, and we pray for their safety tonight.

We also pray for the continued safety of our first responders here in Clearwater.

Uh these men and women and all walks of life in our city uh are out there risking their own lives every day, and we pray for their safety as they serve our community.

Finally, we pray tonight for your guidance and uh your wisdom as we make important decisions for the future of this city, and we ask that you help us do so in a way that glorifies your name in all respects.

All the all this we ask in your name.

Amen.

Amen.

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I please allegiance to the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God and indivisible.

Liberty and justice for all.

Good evening.

To her right is City Clerk Rose Marie Cole.

Good evening.

To her right is City Attorney Owen Cola.

Good evening.

To his right is City Council Member Ryan Cotton.

Good evening.

To his right is Councilmember Mike Manino.

Good evening.

To my right is Councilmember David Albreton.

Good evening.

To his right is Vice Mayor Lena Chichira.

Good evening.

To her right is City Manager Jennifer Poirier.

Good evening.

To her right, Assistant City Manager Dan Slaughter.

To his right, Assistant City Manager Al Mattle.

With that, we'll move to item four on the agenda and specifically item 4.1 for the Flood Awareness Week 2026 proclamation.

Like to call forward Cassie Cordova and Gene Henry.

Whereas the city of Clearwater has previously experienced severe weather in the form of extreme rainfall or tropical system events resulting in flooding, and whereas flooding has caused damage and losses to homes and buildings in all areas, whether they are in high-risk special flood hazard areas or low to moderate risk flood zones.

And whereas the City of Clearwater voluntarily participates in the National Flood Insurance Program, NI excuse me, NFIP that provides residents with the opportunity to protect their property against flood loss through the purchase of flood insurance.

And whereas the reduction of loss of life and property damage can be achieved when appropriate flood preparedness control and mitigation measures are taken before a flood.

Now therefore, I Bruce Rector, mayor of the city of Clearwater, Florida, on behalf of the Clearwater City Council to hereby proclaim March 9th through the 15th, 2026 to be flood awareness week in Clearwater.

Cassie and Jean, would you like to say a few words about uh about the program and the important work of the city?

Yes, um, council members and mayor.

Um, thank you for having us here this evening, and thank you for um bringing this awareness you know back out to the community.

It's amazing all the resilience that all of our agencies have come together to help the residents from the past hurricane season.

So keeping this above our residents, it you know it's crucial.

The awareness is uh needs to stay out, especially as we approach um hurricane season and um and for you know the rainy season.

So again, I appreciate uh your the proclamation and letting the uh residents understand that you know we're we're gonna continue bringing awareness items to you, and again, thank you very much.

And I just want to build on that and say thank you very much to council for this support.

And I also wanted to flag that we did launch a new program, uh, our adapt a drain to parallel our adoptive park in Cupter Street.

So if you go to my clearwater.com slash adapt a drain, that allows our residents to pick a drain in their neighborhood or nearby their work.

Uh we will provide supplies, and you can maintain that drain to prevent any localized flooding.

Well, thank you for all your work you do.

You know, some in our community have very painful memories from 16 17 months ago.

Um, but we have others new to our community who who maybe haven't had the firsthand experience with the damage that flooding can cause.

And so your awareness program and this proclamation is very important to residents of our city.

So thank you.

Thank you.

That come on up.

We'll present you with the proclamation.

Congratulations.

Thanks.

Thank you so much.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate the watch.

Yes.

With that, we'll move to item five on the agenda.

Approval of the February 19, 2026 City Council meeting minutes.

So moved.

Second.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed, unanimous.

Move to the consent agenda.

Are there any items to be removed from tonight's agenda?

Okay.

If not to be removed, then do we have a motion?

I move to approve agenda items 6.1 through 6.12.

Second.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed, unanimous.

We move to item 7.1.

Approved connecting clearwater enact transportation plan for the city of Clearwater and adopt resolution 26-24.

Before we uh move on to this item, staff is requesting that this item be deferred.

Um, we're going to work on the resolution and bring back a modified version of what you have in front of you this evening, if that is okay with you.

I believe you still need to vote to ask have allow us to do that on, or is um staff's deferral enough on the record.

Yeah, I think staff can move it.

Okay, okay.

Any objection?

No objection, then we'll move to item 7.2 on the agenda.

7.2.

It's resolution number 2607, a resolution of the city of Clearwater, Florida authorizing the execution of resiliency Florida program agreement between the City of Clearwater and the State of Florida, Department of Environmental Protection for a grant to fund portions of the construction of the Clearwater Beach Marina at the Clearwater Beach Marina, providing an effective date.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Aaron Braille, Marine and Aviation Division Controller.

As discussed, this this item was on the Monday council work session.

Happy to answer any questions that you have, though.

Okay.

Was that the president?

Go ahead and get a reading.

I think he just read the resolution.

So completely perfect.

Does anyone here from the public tonight desire to speak to this agenda?

If not, is there any council discussion?

If not, is there a motion?

Move to approve agenda item 7.2.

Second.

All those in favor?

Opposed, unanimous.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Agenda item 8.1.

Second.

8.1 is a second reading.

I'll go ahead and read the title.

Ordinance number 9875-26.

An ordinance of the city of Clearwater, Florida, annexing certain real property located on the north side of Bonaire Street, approximately 215 feet west of Ridge Avenue, whose post office address is 1604 but Bonaire Street, Clearwater, Florida, 3375, into the corporate limits of the city and redefining the boundary lines of the city to include set edition providing an effective date.

If not, is there any council discussion?

No discussion, is there a motion?

Motion to approve agenda item 8.1.

Second.

All those in favor?

Opposed, unanimous.

Agenda item 8.2.

8.2 is also a second reading.

Ordinance number 9876-26.

An ordinance of the city of Clearwater, Florida, amending the future land use element of the comprehensive plan of the city to designate the land use for certain real property located on the north side of Panair Street, approximately 215 feet or 15 feet west of Reg Avenue, whose post office address is 1604.

Hearing saying none, is there any council discussion?

If there's none, is there a motion?

Motion to approve agenda item 8.2.

Second.

All is in favor?

Opposed unanimous.

Gend item 8.3.

8.3 is another second reading.

Ordinance number 9877-26.

An ordinance of the city of Clearwater, Florida, emitting the zoning atlas of the city by zoning certain real property located on the north side of Bonaire Street, approximately 215 feet west of Ridge Avenue, whose post office address is 1604 Bonair Street.

Clearwater, Florida, 3375 upon annexation to the City of Clearwater as low medium density residential LMDR, providing an effective date.

Hearing saying none, is there a council discussion?

If there's not, is there a motion?

Move to approve agenda item 8.3.

Second.

I proposed unanimous.

And 8.4, 8.5, and 8.6 of the withdrawal.

Correct.

Is there anyone to speak to those items?

No.

Okay.

Okay.

That we move to item nine on the agenda.

So this could be heard on topics pertaining to city business, but not on tonight's agenda.

Are there any citizens to be heard?

I do not have anyone on the list.

Move to item 10, city manager reports.

Nothing, sir.

Item 11, city attorney reports.

Uh the only thing I wanted to say is as you know, the Gotham closing occurred next or last week.

And I just wanted to uh say special thanks to two attorneys in the office.

It was Jared Simpson and Matthew Medich.

They did pretty much all the work from the city attorney's office in the last few weeks.

So big day for Clearwater.

So thank you.

Thank for both of them for their work.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Appreciate that.

The broader team too.

It was a community effort.

And I also uh I think in addition to staff, um, you know, I know um council member uh Tip Chair was involved um bringing that that group here and uh former mayor Hibbert worked really hard to uh to travel and and really pulled um pulled put in a lot of time getting Gotham to come here and do that project.

So I I think you can say honestly it was a real community effort to not just get Gotham here, get them interested and get the whole thing through.

And it took a long time to do it.

We appreciate everyone in the community who participated in this project.

Move to agenda item 12.13, 2026 council meeting.

Uh council members, uh according to your calendars, we do have uh appear to have an issue.

So in order for us to reschedule the meeting so that the September 3rd meeting so that uh council can attend the annual Phillies meeting, uh we have a problem with as it impacts the budget hearing, and so we can't have it on certain days because of the county hearings.

So the days that were available, but we can't have them would be September 8th and 10th.

The other day that's available according to your calendars is September 9th, but then that conflicts with the PSTA budget hearing.

And so I need direction as to what council wishes to do.

And it can't be done the 14th or the 18th, correct?

Uh the first meeting, no, because I think it's council complex that we have.

So the first budget hearing has to occur between the third and the 16th.

So there's no dates available after the third to have it before the 16th.

That's what I was told.

So I I don't know if anything has changed on your calendars, but in terms of holding the first budget hearing, I can't have it on the 8th and the 10th, and then the one that was available was the 9th, but then that conflicts with PSTA's hearing.

And if we change that meeting and then have a special meeting for the second for the second hearing, which our council meeting right now is on, I think the 16th, then we can't hold the second hearing on that week because it conflicts with the county.

So that's why we had a special meeting on that day because of the county hearings.

This year we're everybody's on the same schedule.

I know we typically have our meetings in the evenings to allow more of the public to attend, but could we move it to earlier in the day?

For the budget hearing, no.

Okay.

It has to be held after six.

Yeah.

Well, it looks like we don't have any the 15th work.

The 15th I mean, if the schedules work for everyone else, does it 15 work?

I mean, that would be back to back essentially.

But you can't have the first, well, the first meeting.

Yeah.

You can't personally calendar.

What is the 15th?

Is that Tuesday?

I mean, we can't do the other.

No, because then we can't have it.

The following week would really, I'll have to double check, but I think that week we would have to have the following week, the second hearing.

Oh, that's and it may conflict.

Is that a possible option?

I don't know.

Let me double check and see, because I don't know if if there's any meetings on that second one.

So we would do the 15th and then the and then the weekend.

It would have to be the following week.

And then the week after.

You'd have to move the second one.

Oh, you go for a learning.

See, that's a thing.

And then once we make this change, it needs to stick because once we once finance uh notifies regarding the trim notices that yes, and then it becomes an issue.

So it needs to be adopted before the 26th.

Okay.

Let me find out and then I will work with if it does work, I will present an item at the next meeting, but then I'll make sure that's your staff holds the okay.

Very good.

So 915.

Very good.

Move to item 13, closing comments by council members.

I have nothing tonight, sir.

Thank you.

Councilmember Manito.

I do, Mayor, thank you.

Just um quickly brag about the kiddos in our community.

I know we've all spent some time this week celebrating uh the kids and their families, and it's been awesome.

Uh we had two uh two breakfasts, uh, one in Clearwater at the stadium and one with the Blue Jays this week.

Uh Clearwater for Youth is giving out over a million dollars in scholarships to high school seniors uh to help kind of spread their wings and set them off on their their journey into college and to plant those seeds of hope.

And uh just want to thank CFY and all their staff and their their team for uh recognizing those kids and giving them them and their families that opportunity.

I think sometime in the end of this month they're gonna be 18 of them, I believe, in here celebrating with us, so it'll be a good time to meet the parents and shake their hands.

Uh, as well as we were here for the Art Alliance uh unveiling of the the youth art art exhibit, uh which was fantastic and it was amazing to look at some of the artwork and then to see that was made by a second grader, and I would have no chance at duplicating.

Um but it was awesome.

I believe it's here in the library for the whole month.

I think so.

For the for the month, so if you get a chance, come down and check it out.

But we have um we have some amazing kids in the community, and it's so nice when we get an opportunity uh to to recognize them.

So thank you to CFY, the water for youth as well as Art Alliance.

Okay, that's where we're all brand.

Yeah, um, you know, January was kind of uh an off month for performances at the Sound, but they started cracking back up again.

Uh last weekend was the 19th uh Clearwater Sea Blues Festival, and we had a lot of good turnout for that.

The weather was perfect.

We had uh not only bands down in the park, but we had uh bands up on Cleveland Street, and it was really uh a great thing to see Cleveland Street hop in the way it was.

Um tomorrow night Little River Band and then on Saturday night Brett Michaels.

So if anybody gets a chance to come out and see them, that's at the sound.

Uh just plan on coming.

That's it.

Okay.

So there's a lot going on in Clearwater, so I have to write it down, and I thanks to uh council member Manino, I have to scratch out a couple of things, but um, we all attended our opening day for Philadelphia Phillies, as well as a Mayor's Cup.

I also had the honor of throwing out the first pitch at the Phillies versus the Canada team.

But what really stood out, at least for me, was this last Saturday.

In my experience, it may have been one of the most successful nights in downtown.

We had the incredible sea blues festival at Coachman Park, filling the park with music and energy.

Just one block east was the Fleetwood Mac tribute at the Capitol Theater, and the band right next to that.

The band no filter had everyone on their feet with an 80s rapid fire medley.

It was non-stop high energy chaos, and yes, we were dancing.

The block next to that, people were dancing south so it reinforced my belief that downtown is organically being tied to music regarding the CFY.

That means that investing not only in the future of college students, but also in skill trades and careers that are essential to our community.

It ensures that every one of these students has a real opportunity for their future.

I was also honored to speak at the opening reception regarding the arts.

I you can't believe it's a seven, eight-year-old.

So I think we have a couple of prodigies in there in the mix.

Finally, it's thriving.

Thank you.

So that moved item 14 closing comments by Mayor.

Just like to touch on some of the things already been said, but just really thank our community.

In addition to I I was equally impressed with particularly the art exhibition that's going on here at the library.

I looked at some of these paintings and uh drawings and artwork, and I think wow, you know, that's really that's an incredible, impressive middle schooler.

And then you get right up on it and you read who it was who the work was created by, and it was sometimes a first grader that created the work.

Yeah, it's it's amazing what our kids have done here, and uh and they framed them all.

So it's it's a waterfloxion.

I hope the community will come out and support this and just see what amazing kids we have here.

But um, from that event and you know, CFY and where the teachers and the sponsors would come through the scholarships, and then this past week has been Read Across America week, and I know several of us have read books at our elementary schools.

I've read it Sandy Lane on Monday, and then I read today at Eisenhower Elementary.

And uh, we have amazing kids at our schools in Clearwater as well, public and private, and all these kids are amazing in part because of the families that support them, but they're also uh amazing kids and are because of the community that supports them.

The teachers at Eisenthour and Sandy Lane and all of our schools here in Dallas County, but definitely in Clearwater.

Uh we have teachers and staff that do amazing work with our kids that give unselfishly and lovingly to these kids and embrace them.

You saw that here the other night for the art exhibition, too.

Their teachers were here, and so um, I think all of the artwork was done actually by the kids, but uh you could tell that they had gotten a lot of great instruction from adults through our school system and just volunteers in the community, and uh our community is making a great impact on the future of Clearwater by supporting these great kids in all different ways, parks and recreation, you name it.

I appreciate so much everyone in this community that spends time with young people because it is the future of our city, and it is going a long way to making sure that Clearwater is bright and beautiful for years to come.

Secondly, I'd like to thank the community for is volunteering.

Uh, we had we've talked about the successful ESPN college softball tournament.

Uh that event would not happen.

Uh we wouldn't be able to host it, get all those millions of views on television if it wasn't for uh the volunteers, thousands of volunteers, not just that event, other events like the event the other night, vice mayor's talking about.

We count on volunteers for almost every major event we run, C Blues Festival, you name it.

It's it's it would not happen if it wasn't for volunteers.

And we also have um in addition to the people who spend their time intentionally, we have people who are just kind to the many tourists that will be coming here over the coming month for spring break and spring tourism.

Uh, that um it's easy to get annoyed by the extra traffic or the congestion here and there.

But those of our residents who extend a kind hand, give folks directions, try to help folks out.

Uh, you go a long way to getting us that that ranking as one of the best speeches and best cities in the country and in the world.

And I appreciate everyone who goes out of their way to make visitors feel comfortable because it makes a huge difference.

So we wouldn't have the great community we have if it wasn't for all of you out there who are participating and helping our community be better in different ways.

So thank you to all of you.

So, with that, I don't have anything further tonight, and uh believe we're done with our agenda at 625.

So we will adjourn the March 5th, 2026 meeting of the Clearwater City Council.