There we go.

This time I'll call for the May 21, 2026 meeting of the Clearwater City Council.

If you wish to 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.

Now move to item two on the agenda, our invitation.

I'd like to ask everyone to please stand for the invitation tonight to be given by the Reverend Allie Wood from the First United Methodist Church of Clearwater, and afterwards remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Let us pray.

Loving and almighty God, we thank you for all of the many blessings that you have given to us.

Thank you for this beautiful place that we get to call home.

We thank you for our city officials and staff, our first responders, those who care and maintain our city and our life together every day.

Lead us this evening, O God.

Guide us, make us aware of all those who live in our city.

Help us together to work in the business of this meeting to be good neighbors in your name.

We give you thanks for the freedom and the power that we have to live in this grace and as uh neighbors with one another, all of your children.

We ask all of this in your name.

Amen.

Thank you, Reverend Wood.

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the United States for this.

Before we go further in tonight's um agenda, I'd like to introduce our dais for tonight.

Uh to my far left is our deputy city clerk, Nicole Sprague.

Good evening.

To her right is our city clerk Rosemary Cole.

Good evening.

Good evening.

To his right is City Councilmember Alina Tosheda.

Good evening.

To her right and my left is Vice Mayor Ryan Cotton.

Hello.

To my right is Councilmember Mike Manino.

Good evening.

To his right is Councilmember David Alberton.

Good evening.

Good evening.

To her right is Assistant City Manager Dan Slaughter.

And to his right is Assistant City Manager Al Battle.

Good evening.

That we'll move to item 4.1 on the agenda, and that is the National Safe Voting Week Proclamation.

This this time I'd like to call forward Betsy Scott, the Flotola commander, and Kelly Miller, the past Flotilla commander, another Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla members for the presentation of this proclamation.

Whereas May 16th through the 22nd is national safe voting week, and whereas voting is one of the largest recreational activities for residents of this community.

And whereas the protection of life, limb, boats, and marine property are the legal and moral responsibilities of every voter.

And whereas the City of Clearwater encourages all voters and voting organizations to consider this an occasion to renew their determination to use courtesy and common sense afloat at all times.

And whereas to this end, all voters are asked to continue the spirit of safe voting week throughout the entire year.

Now therefore, I Bruce Rector, mayor of the City of Clearwater, Florida, on behalf of the Clearwater City Council, to hereby proclaim May 16th and the 22nd, 2026 to be National Safe Voting Week in the City of Clearwater.

We're so blessed to be uh designated U.S.

Coast Guard City and to have such an outstanding auxiliary as we do here in Clearwater.

And uh Memorial Day weekend is a perfect time to remind folks of voting safety and appreciate uh you coming here tonight to remind us of the great work you do all year long.

Uh it's it can get quite dangerous out there with folks who don't know what they're doing, operating watercraft, and uh you all uh save lives by the work that you do.

So would you like to say something?

Yeah.

Uh yes.

Uh uh, Mayor Rector and Council.

Mayor Rector and Council.

It is a very pleasure and thank you for letting us come here again today and honoring us with this very meaningful proclamation.

We love partnering with our community.

On behalf of my shipmates, on behalf of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 11-1, we want to thank you for this proclamation.

We are America's volunteer guardians.

We give countless hours every year, hours as individuals, thousands of hours as our flotilla, tens of thousands of hours as our Southeast District for the love of voting and voting safety.

If we have one thing to say, we told you this last year, wear your life jacket.

87% of voting fatalities were not wearing life jackets.

They can do save lives.

Many people say I'm an experienced voter and a good swimmer.

87% failed.

Don't let optimum bias make you a statistic.

Please, please wear your life jacket.

Thank you, Commander.

And I also want to point out, too, because uh Commander Miller came to uh the big sea of the coastal communities meeting here recently and reminded us all it's not just safety education, which you do a fantastic job at, but you you're very involved in rescue operations and supporting the Coast Guard when uh difficult uh times come our way.

So thank you for that too.

Risking your own lives in some circumstances to save others.

So we so much appreciate the flotilla and all the work you do all year long.

So congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for the last year.

Yes.

Watch your ships.

Thank you for your own.

Thank you for coming tonight.

Thank you.

I'm gonna hear you.

Thank you so much.

Thanks for coming tonight.

Oh, well, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you so much.

Is that the picture we need?

I think we're gonna be able to do that.

Yeah, you come on up here.

Oh, sure.

Yeah, come on out.

Oh, yeah.

We ready?

One, two, three.

One and done.

9.30, maybe that was the call.

Is it?

Now move to item 4.2 on the agenda, and that's code enforcement appreciation week.

Proclamation, I'd like to call for Sarah Green, Code Compliance Manager, and from our planning and development department.

Whereas Code Compliance Inspectors provide for the safety, health, and welfare of the citizens of Clearwater through the enforcement of community development code provisions, including zoning requirements, property maintenance standards, public nuisances, business tax receipts, and other city code and ordinances, and whereas code compliance inspectors are often not credited for the jobs that they do in improving neighborhoods, providing quality service to the public for the betterment of the community, and the work sometimes goes unnoticed, even after code compliance has been accomplished due to their efforts and expertise.

Whereas co-compliance inspectors are dedicated, well-trained, and highly responsible individuals who take their job seriously and are proud of their department in the City of Clearwater.

And whereas the Florida Association of Code Enforcement has declared that the first week of June be set aside by local government to honor and recognize its code compliance inspectors.

Now, therefore, I Bruce Rector, Mayor of the City of Clearwater, Florida, on behalf of the Clearwater City Council, to hereby proclaim June 1st through the 5th, 2026, to be Code Enforcement Appreciation Week in Clearwater.

And I encourage your citizens to join us in expressing appreciation for the dedication and outstanding service provided by the individuals who serve as our code compliance inspectors.

And I heard I saw you smile when I talked about uh being underappreciated.

It's uh it's a very difficult job.

Sometimes you're in the middle of you know uh disagreement between neighbors and uh and things can get uh things can get very intense, and uh that you all uh fight through that and have learn to navigate all that.

And your goal is we know is to improve our community and protect our community.

So would you like to say a few words?

Absolutely.

Uh good evening, everyone.

Uh as you said, code enforcement can be considered a very difficult profession to be in.

Uh we generally don't win popularity contests.

Um people are rarely excited to see us out in the field, especially when we're going up to your property to cite something.

Uh but despite that, we take pride in the work that we do.

We think what we do is important.

The betterment of the city and the residents in it.

So, on behalf of my staff and I, we thank you for your proclamation and your kind words.

We really appreciate it.

Thank you.

Now we're moved to item 4.3 on the agenda, informational update on uh our opportunity zone 2.0 redesignation and nomination submission.

I'd like to call forward Christopher Edwards from the Economic Development and Housing Department.

He's coming to that.

Oh, that's what we've got.

Okay.

Good evening, Ms.

Mayor, uh Council, City Council, City Manager, Assistant City Managers, other respective officials on the dais.

Uh today's presentation is a um also another uh presentation from our previous meeting regarding informational update regarding city's opportunity 2.0 uh nomination and redesignation efforts.

Uh this overview is basically based on updated uh federal guidelines that we have based on the recent uh tooling, well, last year, 2025 uh big beautiful bill.

Um here's our presentation overview.

Uh we will just uh highlight what our 1.0 versus 2.0 key differences are, uh, our quick facts as well as how those zones were selected, and the selected census track overview.

Um this was first introduced as part of the 2017 Federal Tax Cuts and Job Act, as I alluded to earlier, and 1.0.

We do currently have, as depicted on the screen, um, your existing um census track for the city, and this particular census track, um, the criteria uh with the federal government has shifted uh from the initial 1.0 iteration of it, and the 2.0 iteration has changed, and as a result, uh the 2.0 um qualifications have kind of shifted the existing map over, as you see to the right.

The over the opportunity zone program overview um basically uh we are in the process of nomination and redesignation as it relates to the state of Florida regarding the Florida Commerce, and that process involves us nominating census tracts.

We are nominating it to the existing point 258, uh 262, 264, and uh.01 and 264 point zero two.

Uh these census track fit alongside of the existing uh criteria that has been established by uh the federal government.

These are just some of the key differences just to highlight the permanence of the current 2.0 iteration uh as a result of the recent uh big beautiful bill in 2025.

Uh they are now permanent, and therefore also the particular impacts have changed.

So before, first iteration was more real estate focused, second iteration is more real estate and commercial business investment focus.

And as I alluded to earlier, uh this is really a tax on uh deferral on tax on invested gains as a result of this particular program.

Um we would we're basically competing against about 500 other uh applications and nominations across the state of Florida uh for the second uh iteration.

There's a depiction of the four census tracts to your right, and as I mentioned earlier, there was a detailed criteria, economic distress criteria that was established that we are consistent with in this second iteration.

And regarding uh our current state, uh we have submitted the nomination redesignation to the state uh commerce department, and uh we are in the process of being reviewed and considered among our uh competing communities in the state.

Uh this just gives you an overview of those census tracts again what once those areas are cover uh in each four of the census tracts.

And this is just more of a little bit more detail as far as how our cards here is established.

We look at income disparities, uh, financial stability, economic mobility, and other factors uh the sourcing from uh U.S.

Census Bureau, uh Environmental Systems Research Institute, and the American Community Survey.

And these are some of the sample projects, example projects that we submitted that we felt were compelling stories uh to share for uh the attention of uh Florida Commerce as well as uh Governor DeSantis uh as he looks to make those recommendations and make the final cut in July.

And this is just the next steps and timeline of where we are to date.

Our commerce uh has taken public feedback.

We're now transitioned into the wait and see process, and as Anita Berry, our lobbyist uh explained on uh Monday uh at our our work session meeting.

Uh right now we're petitioning a lobby, a local delegation uh regarding our efforts, and uh we're looking for hopefully a successful inclusion in that recommendation from the governor.

Um there would be basically uh the rule uh if designated would take effect uh January 2027, uh and it'll be a two-year transition period uh during which both 1.0 and 2.0 uh would be valid for investment.

At this time, I'll take any questions that you may have.

Any questions to council?

Okay, thank you.

Thank you so much.

That we're moved item five point one on the agenda.

Approve the May 7 2026 City Council meeting minutes as submitted.

So motion to approve the minutes.

So move, second.

All those in favor, opposed, unanimous.

Move to the consent agenda or the items to be removed from the consent agreement.

Yes, item 6.6.

Okay, is there a motion to approve all the items except for agenda item 6.6?

Move to approve consent agenda items 6.1 through 6.9 with the exception of 6.6.

So in favor?

Aye.

All right, opposed, unanimous.

Move to agenda item 6.6.

Approve an agreement and purchase order with loyalty media LLC first due of Danville, Indiana for the implementation of fire prevention software and support services for the city of Clearwater Fire District in collaboration with Pinellas County in an amount not to exceed $15,910.60 cents for so much declared water code of boards is section 2.563 for N1 for NC, piggyback, and authorized informative officials tax view, Sam.

Mr.

Mayor Council, thank you.

Um, since our last work session, there's been a change in the uh language of this uh contract and the city's favor.

The indemnity clause was strengthened to incorporate the limitations set forth in Florida Statute 76828.

And because of this, um the effective date was changed to June 1st, reducing the subscription term by one month.

Um this adjustment lowered the subscription fee from what I talked about on Monday, $15,910 and 60 cents to $15,106 and 90 cents, so reduction of $803.70, uh less than the amount stated on the agenda on Monday.

Um, here for any questions.

Okay.

Uh any further council discussion?

If not, is there a motion?

Motion to approve agenda item 6.6.

Second.

Um before we make the the vote, um, can we make the motion to as amended because of the the make a motion to approve agenda item 6.6 as amended?

Second.

All those in favor?

I opposed.

Thank you.

Move to agenda item 7.1.

Approved to vacate a lake drainage and utility easement for a portion of east 20 feet portion of lot 12A, Clearwater Lake Estate Subdivision, as required on book 66, page 37 of the public records of Pinellas County, Florida, and pass ordinance 9881-26 on first reading.

Thank you, Miss Call.

Good evening, Mayor.

City Manager, Mr.

Kohler, Robert Casmer, Public Works Engineering Real Estate.

Just to refresh from this past Monday work session, this vacation item is to vacate a 20-foot portion off the rear lake drainage utility easement.

Public works engineering and legal have reviewed it without any opposition.

We approve it.

And we ask that you do as well.

Any questions, please?

Okay.

Is anyone here from the public that I desire to speak to this agenda item?

Is there any council discussion?

If not, is there a motion?

Motion to approve agenda item separate.

Excuse me.

Ordinance number 9081-26.

An ordinance of the city of Clearwater, Florida, vacating the platted east 20-foot portion of the lake drainage and utility easement line on lot 12A.

Clear view lake estates is recorded in Platte Book 66, page 37 of the public records of Pedales County, providing an effective date.

Now we have motion.

Second.

All those in favor?

Proposed amendments.

Move the agenda.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

Move the agenda 7.2.

Provide direction on the proposed development agreement between MHG Palm Pavilion Hotel LP Six Flack Kansas LLC and the City of Clarewater property located at 10 Bay Esplanade and 18 Bay Esplanade, providing for the allocation of 91 units from the hotel density reserve under beach by design and confirm a second public hearing in city council chambers before city council on June 4, 2026 at 6 p.m.

or as soon thereafter as may be heard.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Council.

I'm Ted Kozak, Planning and Development.

If we can uh the PowerPoint on your screen.

It's blank.

There we go.

That's the prior.

All right.

Thank you very much.

And this is what you've heard from just now.

This is HDA 03001.

And this is 10, the Esplanade and 18 Bay Esplanade, as you can see here.

The a little bit of a summary of the site and conditions.

There's a hundred one point oh six acres on the property.

As you can see here, uh there's two components, there's two sides, and um it doesn't go all the way to Mandalay, but we'll see in a moment which two parcels.

So all the way to Clearwater Beach on the north side Bay Esplanade and the next parcel to the east on Kendall.

The west side is the Palm Pavilion Restaurant to be preserved, and then on the east side, uh improvements to be demolished.

Uh the tourist district is the zoning district.

The uh resort facilities high is the future land use, and this is an old Florida district of beach by design.

The development proposal includes a permitted density of 50 units per acre or 53 units, plus the uh as requested 91 units from the hotel density reserve for a total of 144 units, 136 units per acre.

The proposed height is 75 feet from base flood elevation to top of roof slab.

That is nine floors.

Parking on the first floor, first four, first floor four levels.

Tongue twister.

From Kendall and Bay Esplanade amenities will be limited to the existing palm pavilion restaurant on the west side.

That's 9389 square feet.

Small amenity areas and miscellaneous house uses.

The remaining floors will include lobby back the other back of house uses and hotel rooms.

There'll be a small swimming pool on the fifth floor and hotel rooms on the fifth through ninth floors.

The project is consistent with the community development code and consisting of uh dynamics such as minimum lot area and width, minimum setbacks, minute maximum height, minimum off-street parking, landscaping as required, and beach by design and design guidelines as well as to be generally consistent.

I don't know why it's not progressing forward.

So you'll take my word for it on the elevations if we can there we go.

And the the design guidelines and of beach by design and standards for development agreements.

So the proposal is in compliance with the standards for a development agreements is consistent with the comprehensive plan and furthers the vision of the beach redevelopment set forth and beach by design.

I'll take any questions.

So uh for the public, public comment, but I did get some mails today uh with folks who live on the beach primarily concerned about this agenda item.

Um I think they thought that tonight was the only opportunity they were gonna have to come speak on the issue.

Tonight we're only uh we're only setting this gender item for another meeting.

So tonight would not be the only opportunity for folks to come to speak on this issue.

I want to share that with folks who said they couldn't make it tonight.

So if you're watching on television uh on one of our social media platforms, you know that if you wanted to come tonight to speak on this issue, you'll have another opportunity.

So with that, uh, is there anyone here tonight would like to speak to this agenda item?

Yeah, come forward.

If you line up right over here afterwards, we'll come by Mayor.

As appropriate as the applicant, I believe we have an opportunity to do presentation.

Very good, yes.

Thank you, Mayor, Council members, um, and others on the dias.

We do have a PowerPoint.

Okay.

Oh, he's coming.

Uh Rob, oh sorry.

I don't have the uh good evening, Mayor, Council members.

Katie Cole with the law firm of Hill Ward Henderson representing the applicant beachside hospitality group and McKibben hospitality are the common names for the owners of this property.

With me tonight is Eric Rowan from McKibben Hospitality and Ishvon Petranets from uh Behar Petronets, the architect of record.

Um, and as Mr.

Uzak indicated, we are here to discuss the redevelopment of the Palm Pavilion Inn into a unified site plan with the existing Palm Pavilion Restaurant and the addition of a new hotel.

Um, first I wanted to share with you.

I know very you all are familiar with the conversion of the Palm Pavilion Inn to the Krabby's uh restaurant group already and familiar with Beach Side's presence on the Pinellas County beaches, McKibben Hospitality who is uh working on the hotel piece of this development, is also uh uh very familiar with Clearwater Beach.

They uh operate and manage two hotels on South Beach, uh, the winter and hotel and the Hampton Inn there.

Um, while they're based in the Atlanta area, they have a significant presence also under construction in downtown Tampa with a hotel and other statewide.

So wanted to let you know that you have two locally operating uh companies here who are looking uh to move forward with this.

Uh the current request before you is to uh give direction regarding the approval of a hotel density reserve development agreement to allocate 91 units from the hotel density reserve.

This opportunity is to create a timeless unified development and retain the spirit of the historic Palm Pavilion restaurant.

As you look at the slides, we're not retailing the historic Palm Pavilion restaurant, we're retaining it.

I apologize for my typo there.

If you all choose to allocate these units for this hotel.

So the pool deck is facing south and west away from the adjacent condominium building on Kendall.

There's cover connectivity between the restaurant and hotel use.

Oops, sorry.

This is the first floor of occupied space, which is above the parking garage.

You can see the pool deck that's located here facing the southwest toward the parking lot and the beach in the restaurant.

This is says breakfast area, as you can imagine, limited service type of hotel with breakfast area and service here.

So the hotel density reserve.

So this is one of probably the last that you might see among these applications.

There are specific requirements regarding the allocation of these units, which this application meets.

We understand that we respect that.

Part of our application was a traffic study that was submitted and has been reviewed by staff.

That full analysis of concurrency availability would be done at the time of site plan approval when that is submitted to your professional technical team.

That level of detail and review has not been done.

The question before you tonight is the allocation of units so the applicant and owners can move to the next step and request those approvals through the community development board process.

There are both setbacks and stepbacks because this spaces interestingly, the parking city's parking lot, Bay Esplanade actually continues on through that parking lot, and so this has two frontages, both on Bay Esplanade, which faces the city parking lot and Kendall Street.

So the design is respective of both of those frontages with the setbacks and stepbacks as required by the code.

Just to put it in perspective, the two most recent projects were some time ago in 2015 and 2018.

They are both the same height as what's proposed here.

And is still that high, so I was a little confused by the website, but that's what I found when I was looking for it.

So that is nearby.

Thought it was important to look at the height variation relative to what's being proposed.

So with that, we're happy.

I have the team here to answer questions with respect to the design or the technical operations of it.

Happy to answer questions.

I know there's some members of the public who also want to speak tonight.

So happy to answer whatever questions we can.

Apologize for the awkwardness.

No problem.

As you said, I think this is the first time it's come up in the two years that uh three of us have been on here.

Yeah, it's it's a new process to have a legislative hearing during the public hearing process.

I know it's you're exactly right.

You should present first.

So apologize for that.

A lot of problems.

So with that, I think we'll go ahead and take public comment and then we'll take uh questions for you.

So thank you.

So uh anyone from the public might come up and speak on this gender.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

My name's Neil Diamond.

I uh live on the beach.

I appreciate you hearing uh concerns uh this evening.

First mayor, I'd just like to say that one of the concerns that we have being a member of uh the beach residents is that not that we just get a time to speak now, but it seems like when people go travel or may go north for two to three months, that's when these types of things are brought forward for us to comment on.

So it's a little concerning that that the timing doesn't seem to help us.

Um I'm uh I'm currently a resident at uh at Bell Harbor.

The concerns that I have, or what I would like to do is to speak against the additional allocation of uh of the rooms.

I think the height that we've seen from the two properties that were previously mentioned, uh they really just disturb the ability for for people on the back side of the island to get to see the beach and the sunset and the things, all that we've we've invested our money in.

I also think that this sets a precedent for over development.

Um we're creeping north now.

We filled up South Beach and now we creep north, and so it's just how much respect do we have for the people who live on the beach.

And I don't know anyone other than perhaps the mayor that has to go through the roundabout every day and over the causeway to experience that activity and to simply add more and more and more.

It's to a point where it's it's very disappointing that uh that the development team feels that that's acceptable.

Um I would also uh just emphasize the the traffic issues in general today are very challenging to add even more to the north beach side that I don't think that we control very well today.

We try hard, but I don't think we do a good job of it, uh, makes it even more difficult.

And the last thing I would say is I'm not confident that the infrastructure that we have is going to be able to support yet another development like this, and at what point do we stop?

I would be in support of something that was much smaller, the allotted 53 units.

That would be acceptable.

Um, anything above that again.

I'm I'm against, and I believe that there will be several other people that will be writing letters and also comment.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Sir, do you have your card?

I do.

Our next speaker, please.

Good evening, Mr.

Mayor, Council members and city staff.

My name is Patrick Raffrey.

I'm a resident of countryside, and I want to bring to your attention some items to consider relative to this particular proposal.

There is already a very critical traffic problem on Clearwater Beach.

He has undergone numerous studies, but no resolution debate, and this development will make it only worse.

Residents on the beach, residents wanting to visit the beach, residents wanting to go to the beach to dine out, and tourists are all affected by this.

When my wife and I decide to go to the beach to visit or to go out to dine, we plan it as if it was a military operation.

We picked the time to go.

We hope the traffic is good, and we hope we have some good Irish luck as we make that journey.

And oftentimes it does work out well for us.

Development in this area simply is going to add to the traffic problem.

Beach by design was very, very successful developing the beach, but there is a limit to that success, which you need to be aware of, particularly with respect to the traffic issues that continue to get worse.

And perhaps that limit has been reached.

The council at some point, and I hope maybe this is that point, should say enough is enough.

We need to stop adding to the problem and focus on the solution to the traffic issues on Clearwater Beach.

Recently, I was pleasantly surprised when the Dunedin Council turned down a four-story project in Dunedin, even though it was pretty much in compliance with the legal requirements because they stated it was not in harmony with the area that would be impacted.

That took courage and a focus of them on the management of development proposals by saying no.

They suggested the developer revisit their plan for a much smaller scale proposal, just like the gentleman before me spoke with a revised plan at a much smaller scale.

The Clearwater Council needs to find the courage to say we will plan for clear water, not the developers.

And if we see an existing problem made greater and unresolved, we need to say no, enough is enough, loudly.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you, Mr.

Edford.

Um you come on up.

Um I'm gonna say this for the next agenda item, but uh we are time limited on each discussion of each agenda item.

So to accept that we wait for applause, it cuts down on the time of your neighbors perhaps to speak.

So I was at a Dallas County Commission meeting where uh the chair, you know, asked people to just use happy hands so that we can see your support of whoever the speaker is, but it it does potentially eliminate the opportunity of one of your neighbors to speak.

So if we could hold down the applause for that reason, just show us show us your approval with your hands, that would be great.

So please.

Hi, my name is Teresa Ames, and my husband and I live at 817 Bruce Avenue, and we know about sewage.

Um, my house is on a corner, and I am up to three months now, and I just learned today it's going to be another two months that the entire street and my driveway, everything is ripped up all the way around my house while they're replacing the sewage pipes, which I hugely appreciate.

And having said that, I'm going to try and not repeat too much what he said.

I wanted to start by thanking you guys, because as stewards of our city, it is your task to look at the short-term and the long-term effects of your development decisions.

And was previously stated, we have a couple buildings that are high right now.

It doesn't mean that we need to add more.

And you have no legal obligation to approve this request for the the extra hotel rooms.

In fact, that's why it's called an application.

And when somebody buys a piece of property, assuming or has been told that they're going to get these hotel rooms, that's a problem, and I'm certainly hoping that is not what happened here, and that this council is not afraid to say no because you have no legal obligation.

Um, I wanted to just real quickly touch on the traffic.

There was a traffic study.

It did say that everything was fine.

However, that traffic study has a standard in the industry, only addressed the intersection where the property is going to be.

It did not address with this district.

Sorry, my mountain is dry.

It did not, it did not take into account the circle, and it did not take into account the causeway.

We also do military operations.

We get out early in the morning.

If we get out too late in the day, we're gone until after dinner.

Because we can't get back on the island, right?

To add another 175 cars coming and going, is just going to be a huge mess.

Um, the other thing that I would like to talk about is the sewer pipes.

Uh my house, the whole island flooded.

And it wasn't sewage that came that backed up into my house.

It was sewage that came up the drains and into my house.

And now you're going to add, you know, several hundred more people putting sewerage into this system.

There are a number of different developments that have gone up.

There's another 18-unit condo hotel going up in that area.

And it seems like each unit that is addressed, they say the traffic is good right here, and the sewer is good right here.

But that's not what we need to know.

What we need to know is that with the huge amount of development that has happened in that area in the last few years.

Yeah, too much.

She'll recognize folks who are here.

She has to identify the folks who are here.

Yeah, so you might be able to get one individual.

Can you raise your hand?

Um sorry, or Mary.

She's in the other ground there's no.

She needs to be inside, ma'am, in order for you to get an additional minute.

It's on the car.

It's okay.

Well, we wait for the individuals.

So she's another.

Can you ask her to come in?

Yes.

Or I could just I'm sorry, Mary Masarella Nasarella.

Yeah.

Um we just have to be consistent with other speakers who are here tonight.

She's coming.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay, now we have another minute.

Okay, I just want to go through the list of the things that I'm hoping you're looking at.

With that many more people, you need more lifeguards, you need more police, you need more firemen, you need more EMTs.

There's going to be more garbage on the street, you need more garbage cans, you need somebody to service those garbage cans.

The internet when it's busy is abysmal.

You add another several hundred people using the internet.

How are you going to get more internet in?

Who's going to pay for that?

Who's going to pay for upgrading the sewers?

Um, it's going to add additional um ambient lighting.

That's another thing you need to do.

Is that old Florida is really dark.

If you're bringing in 144 hotel rooms, you need more lights.

And what I'm trying to say is that I too think that granting these extra 91 hotel rooms for that spot does not meet the requirements of old uh the beach by design.

I think that it violates them, that the amount of landscaping that is there certainly isn't an abundance of landscaping, and one of the things that Beach by Design says is look, we need lots of landscaping.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Next speaker.

Thank you for the happy hands, Steven.

Appreciate that.

Do you have your parts?

I didn't fill one out.

Do I need to?

Yes.

Can't do that.

Yes, you can you may.

Well, first, thanks for letting me uh talk.

I didn't prepare.

I came in my casual wear.

Uh first, thank you all because I know many of you, and uh the work you do is really appreciated.

The fact that your friends and neighbors and the transparency that this group has, I think is is outstanding.

Um also want to thank you.

I just finished rebuilding my flooded house, and uh the city of Clearwater was amazing for that, especially on the department that helped with the uh inspections and approvals and things.

So really well done.

Um I live on Bay Esplanade, so I live in North Clearwater Beach.

I'm part of the neighborhood.

Um I'm also on the neighborhood association, Clearwater Beach Association.

Um, and I just want to make three quick comments for you guys.

Um, the first is in the spirit of transparency.

Um I don't know how these rooms are assigned, but the stories I hear don't sound good.

So at the best case, you haven't been very transparent about the process.

In worst case, it looks really bad.

So I think that's an issue you guys should address how these rooms got transferred, how these are handled, especially going forward as far as putting them back into a pool, making them available for other developers, etc.

Um, second point I wanted to make to the developers.

Um please come visit our neighborhood and talk to us.

I think that would go a long way in letting us understand what you're trying to build because this is our neighborhood.

Um, and then the last thing I would say is um don't underestimate the emotional and uh uh upset that you'll create by putting a monster hotel in our neighborhood.

So I look forward to a very open process, and thank you guys.

Okay, next speaker.

Same one?

Okay, if there uh do we have one more?

Yes.

Good evening, Mr.

Mayor, Council.

Respectfully come before you.

Um as stated before last minute notice, I just found out about this meeting uh yesterday, and I don't see that being very transparent.

Um I've seen this before.

I lived in Georgia.

I'm a disabled vet and retired here at Clearwater Beach because it was a beautiful community, quaint, lovely area.

I love the old historic feel of it.

That was my draw to this community.

The traffic is already a mess.

We're gonna add to that flooding, high tide.

We have water coming out of our sewers at high tide already.

We're gonna add to that the roundabout traffic accidents.

We have a fire station right next door.

How are they going to respond to an emergency if the traffic is all jammed up?

That is a very important thing to look at.

Um I I am very much against rising raising up and adding these units and destroying our community.

So I respectfully ask that there's more transparency about what these people are doing because I just found out about this and I live there pretty much 24-7.

I have to plan like everybody else when I'm gonna leave, how I'm gonna get home, what time, because traffic is already a huge mess.

So I ask you respectfully look at this, take the consideration of the community and the people that moved here for that historic feel and and look at that and talk to us about it before you vote and say, hey, go ahead and add up a huge mess.

So I respectfully ask you to look at that.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Anyone else from public sorry to speak to that?

Yeah, okay.

If not, the uh sponsor will come back and uh any questions or discussion from the council.

Uh uh do you have any here?

You heard some of the public comments tonight.

Do you have anything to share?

Just no, I mean we sorry.

It's on this little pillow thing.

Um I appre obviously I you know I spent a lot of time on the beach.

We can all appreciate that traffic is bad often, but uh what doesn't change is the fact that beach by design and the city created an opportunity for very specific allocation of these di rooms to certain properties within the beach area at the time that it created the reserve unit, it contemplated even the very high impact traffic that exists today.

Um Beach by Design says that the old Florida district supports the development of new overnight accommodations in attached dwelling throughout the district with retail and commercial and mixed-use development fronting mandalay between Bay Esplanade and Sunset.

That's the vision right out of beach by design that is contemplated for this district.

This is a transition to the neighborhood.

Obviously, there's been condominiums constructed and other people living further south and perhaps was contemplated when beach by design was written.

Uh, but the bottom line is this still is very much so a tourist area, tourist designation.

Uh we understand we're happy to provide additional information about the internal capture with the parking lot that's available that the increase in parking from a ratio standpoint uh will be much better than the existing condition that it exists today.

And uh for the next meeting, we'd be happy to provide some internal capture information because the likely uh result based on the guests in the kitbon hospitality's experience is that many of their guests are not driving to Clearwater Beach, they're coming and staying and and walking.

Um but I know we don't need to have that conversation tonight unless you want to.

Eric's welcome, happy to come up and have those conversations.

We're also happy to connect.

I did speak with Sam Hutkin this week and happy to connect with others in the neighborhood about about this as well.

So thank you.

And happy to answer any other questions, but we would appreciate the direction and the opportunity to to have a final hearing.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Got a couple appreciate you being here.

Um I think what I greatly appreciate is what you just said towards the end and the willingness to open the doors and communicate uh with the neighborhood.

I know this is only the first step in the process, and I appreciate you and your team's willingness to have those discussions.

I think that goes uh long way, eases fears and concerns, and I greatly appreciate.

I'm not sure if this question, the next question is best for you or for staff.

I just want to make sure there's a handful of times the word transparency was thrown out and questioning of the process of how we got here.

Maybe somebody could just give us that reassurance.

Was the allocation of the additional units from the density pool?

Was that transferred according to our standard precedent set on majority of other projects on our beach?

Well, the in the terms of how units come and go, the the um the bank of units prior to this was 10.

Then they came back because uh some projects just expire, these are 10-year development agreements.

So one in February came back, 100 units came back on.

So it's it's basically first come, first serve.

But as of today, if these are allocated, there's 19 sitting in the the bank, if you will.

So there's a a number of other projects that are underway.

So the the 1385 as allocated way back in I think 2007, there's 19 if this is allocated.

Appreciate that.

Um and you identify the 19 remaining.

Help us understand what happens when those 19 remaining are allocated.

Do we hit a hard stop and does the code dictate that?

What does that look like?

Basically, the there is a hard stop, there's no more units.

So if it goes down to zero, and then all the remaining units that have been allocated in the development agreement in accordance that the development agreement, sorry, is um it's over.

Perfect, thank you.

And then the last one, uh, when these units and the the amount of them were initially created, the formula I would assume took into account the current infrastructure of water, sewer, electricity, and all that good stuff.

That math is already built into the front end of this.

Yes, in the beach by design document and the preamble and in the center where it talks about hotel density units, it it it already covers the the density, and assuming that the 1385 and the studies at the time occurred that it assumed already the concurrency the the amount of infrastructure needed and the traffic, so it's all in the document.

So all those 1385 were were part of all the studies done at that time.

So we're we're we're just when these expire and come back on, it's still at the beach.

It's just moving them around the you know the pieces, but it's still the beach.

Thank you.

Appreciate the time.

Thank you, man.

Uh Consumer Shay.

Just to follow up, do we know of any dormant projects that are about to expire that's gonna free up some rooms or more units rather?

I have the spreadsheet back, but there's none that I can think of that's ready to expire.

Um the the you know, people that keep their ear to the ground and keep track of the last 10 years, they they know when they come and become available again.

So as I uh right now, I I can't think of any that are expiring any time in the near term, but that we have those 19 units available.

Thank you.

Okay, anything else?

Excuse me, Vice Mayor Cotton.

Yeah, thank you.

I would like to if you when you get the chance and have that spreadsheet, if you could just send that information to us, that'd just be you know for what we can anticipate on the horizon because if these are the last 1900, absolutely that's public information.

Residents, you know, where that light at the end of the tunnel is and knowing their neighborhood safe and a little bit more reassurance on that front end.

So thank you, sir.

Of course.

Anything else?

Consumer Roll.

So um this particular property uh know a little bit about because uh uh Kenny Hamilton, my friend, used to own it.

Uh sold at uh the end of last year.

I I guess the sale went through the beginning of this year.

Uh so I figured that they were probably going to do something because there were two entities, one that bought the restaurant portion and then one uh hotel unit the cabin that bought the hotel.

So I knew something was gonna happen with it.

But you never know about the density units.

We know there's a pool, and when they expire, people grab them up as they need it, and I guess that's what's happening here.

They think some came available, and so they grabbed it.

So as far as I'm concerned, what we're doing tonight on this is we're allocating, we're saying with that we agree with the proposed allocation of density units basically for this project.

And when uh it'll come back again for a second reading, and it'll also come back when the plans actually go to through the process of uh CDB and and the uh you know building department.

Uh that'll be another uh many chances for the public to come in and talk about what they like, what they dislike.

So I think I think with that said, I'm gonna make a motion to approve agenda item 7.2.

Second.

And any further discussions.

And to clarify for the public, the item is not being approved.

They're just confirming the date.

This is the second public hearing date, is what they're actually approving.

This will be June 4, 2026 at 6 p.m.

or soon thereafter as it could be here.

So again, like this earlier, folks who uh email wrote to us and weren't able to make it tonight.

You'll be able to come out on June 4th and speak to this agenda item again.

So uh any further discussion?

If not, uh all those in favor, opposed, then the agenda item 7.3.

Amend council rule six to temporarily restore public comment regarding matters not on the agenda for an additional three-month period and adopts resolution 26-10.

Uh council, that's my item.

It's um what this resolution does is extends the sunset date for citizens to be heard on it.

It's not on the agenda discussed on Monday.

The new sunset date will be August the 7th, 2026.

Any questions at all?

Okay.

Any questions?

If not, is there anyone here from the public tonight to desire to speak this agenda item?

Hearing none.

Uh excuse me.

Yes, August Senate is August 7.

Yeah, yeah.

Thank you.

It's already on my car.

Slightly older.

Patrick Raffby from country side once again.

I applaud the decision that you've taken to extend the opportunity for the residents to be heard.

It is a decision that says to residents that we want to hear from you, is an excellent demonstration of the council wanting to hear from the residents on any item that is not on the agenda.

We you will listen to us, and often you will hear what we have said and take action.

That is the part I'd like to remind yourselves about.

We need to be listened to, but we also need to be heard and know that you are responding to an individual that might be speaking on an item that's not on the agenda by indicating to staff that this person needs to be contacted about their specific issue.

I say many things to my wife.

She listens well, but he doesn't hear most of them.

I have found out.

We don't want to have that happen when the citizens take their time to come up and speak to you on an issue that they find is very critical and important for you to know.

But once again, I applaud your decision to go forward with this.

I think it's a wonderful thing.

There was some risk associated with it, but I think it's worked out quite well.

Thank you once again.

Thank you.

Does anyone else like to speak on this agenda?

Thank you all for having this many people come and say they're interested in what's going on in the city.

And I thank you for bringing this back.

I hope you'll continue to do that.

I know you all went through some real problems in previous um you suffered through that, you got through it, and now we're on the other side of it, hopefully.

Um I just hope that we'll continue to hear from the citizens.

I know that Mr.

Rarefree has been here every council meeting for many many years, and there are so many other people like him, and the more they get engaged, there's some young kids in the other room learning about all this.

They want to see what it's about.

So it's a great thing that we can do, and I appreciate that you are content contemplating continuing to do that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else in this agenda?

Oh, yeah, Mr.

Sarah.

Hi, I'm Tony from uh downtown Clearwater.

I'm uh 520, Nash Keys.

Um, I think this is one of the most important things that you guys could do.

I think uh not having is a violation of our rights.

I think uh it should I understand that you guys went through some grievances through uh some people who weren't even citizens of Clearwater that forced your hand on this subject, but I think that we don't have it, it's a poor precedent in general.

I think it's something that needs to continue.

It definitely has motivated me and other people to speak out on this.

If it's something you guys want to have an active involvement with the community and have a good relationship, I think it's pivotal, it's super important.

It's uh it allows not only accountability of our politicians, which is now needed in the country more than ever, but accountability of our citizens.

So I think it's it's uh to me it's a no-brainer.

Uh I was I lost a lot of faith in our local government when it's just taken away, which is why I haven't been here as much.

Uh, because I think if we can't have this fundamental right as Americans, what are we doing?

Uh it's I understand there's risks and problems that go involved with being a politician.

It comes with the territory, it comes with a business owner, me doing stuff.

That's why you guys are in the seats.

I think, but to take away our citizens of rights is a heinous act.

So I hope you guys don't do it.

That is the new remote.

Resolution number twenty six dash ten.

Resolution City of Clearwater, Florida, emitting council rules, providing an effective date.

Not just the motion.

Move to approve agenda item seven point three.

Second.

All those in favor.

Um, before the next agenda item.

We have a lot of folks, uh, not only in this room but another room, and so we want to try to do our best to get everyone uh into this room for the next agenda item.

So our staff's going to be working with everyone to make sure we can squeeze as many people in there as we can, and we'll take a short recess to uh adjust the room to do that.

This time we'll call the meeting back to order.

And we'll move to agenda item 7.4 on the agenda.

Approved certificate of city clerk regarding a citizen initiative petition requiring voter approval for the vacation of public right-of-way in the downtown.

So council, before Ms.

Call speaks, I wanted to talk about some of the charter requirements.

So Article 6 of the Charter sets forth a process for voters of the city to propose ordinances to council through a citizen's initiated petition.

Section 6.04 states that any five voters may commence these proceedings by filing with the clerk an affidavit and the proposed initiative ordinance.

Section 6.05A requires that the initiative petition must be signed by voters of the city in equal number to at least 10% of the total number of voters registered to vote in the last regular city election.

Section 6.05B requires that all papers of the petition must be in uniform size and style.

Each signature shall be followed by the address of the person signing it, and that the signature petition shall contain or have attached to it the full text of the proposed ordinance throughout the circulation.

Section 6.05C, each paper of petition shall have attached to it an affidavit from the circulator.

Section 6.04 sets forth the procedure for filing the petition.

Excuse me for a second.

And you're facing now.

So according to section 6.06A, once the petition has been filed with the city, the city clerk has 20 days to complete a certificate as to the petition sufficiency.

Grounds for this inefficiency are contained in 6.06, 6.05, which is A, the number of signatures, B the forming contents, and C an affidavit of the circulator must be contained.

If a supplemental petition has been filed, the clerk has five days to issue a second certificate as to the amended petition sufficiency.

Section 6.06B allows the committee to seek council review of the certificate of the city clerk.

And that's what we're here for today.

In October 2025, the city became aware that the committee did not have five voters.

And then I'll turn it over to Ms.

Hall.

Good evening, Council.

Before I start and go over the process, I do want to thank because this was not done in a vacuum.

So I need to thank the city manager for allowing me to have some of her staff help assist with the review of these petitions, as well as my staff.

Although Miss Brig and Mr.

Burroughs were intimately working with the petitions and reviewing the process, that meant that the work that they weren't doing, my staff had to pick up.

So I really want to acknowledge all the effort because it really was team teamwork.

And as well as in terms of the city interim city attorney, he assisted with uh the review process, making sure that it was being followed properly, as well as a certificate that I had to create based on the uh charter.

So on March 17th, the petitioners committee submitted approximately 8,051 signatures that were signed by individuals.

On March 25th, the supervisor of elections office provided me the active voter rolls, and based on that information, that is how we reviewed the signatures that were being presented.

Staff review the submitted petitions based on the role that was provided.

Um, if the name and the address that was listed on the uh petition did not match the voter rule, we took an extra step because we realized the gravity of the matter, and we looked at the property appraisers website because sometimes we couldn't understand the handwriting, or maybe the number was a little off, so we verified the information based on that to make sure we had the spelling correct.

Based on that information, we identified whether or not the individuals were found on the on the voter roll, and if they were not found on the voter roll because of a mismatch address, they had a different address that they had on the petition form that was different than the voter roll.

We identified that by confirming the information also on the county website.

We also were able to identify on our information.

We were keeping track of who was registered and who was not.

We also identified the district that they belonged to.

And to I have a couple of examples to show so this was one of the petition forms that was submitted by the committee.

As you can see, the signatures have been redacted because they are protected by Florida statute, so they are exempt from public record, but the rest of the information is not.

On the top of the form, it it does clearly state that the petition form must also include the attached or proposed ordinance.

That was not included in any of the petitions that were submitted on at the beginning on March 25th.

Rather on March 17th.

Based on this information, we looked at the voter roll.

Of this form right here, 20 petitions were submitted.

Seven signatures were actually verified, meaning those were voters that were registered within city uh limits.

They were clearwater voters.

The rest were uh not registered or belonged to another district, and as you can see, LA Largo uh DTF is the need in fire district.

Uh and anything that was blank was actually uh not registered, or we could not find them in the active roll.

The committee also numbered their petitions on this one, it's 261.

Here you have they submitted 18 signatures.

Of them, seven were verified, and eleven were not registered, and we identified the findings there again and are not registered, not found on the active voter roll, uh CTF Clearwater Fire Fire District, uh PP's Cadillac Park, Largo Fire District.

This was petition number thirty three thirty six.

Here they had seven not registered and thirteen verified.

And the last example that I have is petition 7a, and that is from the amendments.

And here they submitted during the amendment, they did submit 701 petitions on this one.

There were 18 that were submitted.

13 were verified, three were not registered or not found on the active voter roll, and two had signed previously.

Now we reviewed the petitions based on the current process as the supervisor of elections would do our candidate petition process.

Based on the initial review on the original submission, 2,702 signatures were determined to be valid, and 5,349 were identified as being invalid.

Signatures were collected prior to October 7th.

And this was prior to the committee actually had being a complete five voter committee.

So anything that was collected prior to October 7 was not collect was not considered valid.

So those signatures that were not that were invalid were not counted.

3,745 signatures were collected on or after October 7th.

Those were considered to be reviewable.

And 1,400 1,043 signatures were signed by individuals who were not found on the voter roll and were to determined to be invalid.

2,702 signatures were signed by individuals who are voters of the city of Clearwater and were considered to be valid.

Now the charter, as Mr.

Kohler has said stated earlier, does require that the proposed ordinance be attached to the each petition form.

In the first batch, none of the petition forms can had included that ordinance, but despite that, we went ahead and counted them.

I completed the certificate of the certificate of the city clerk on April 2nd, and as required by charter, it was sent to the committee registered mail.

Upon examination, I determined that 506 uh signatures were valid and 195 signatures were invalid.

And again, that was because either they were not registered or they were registered in a different district.

They were not Clearwater voters.

On April 10, 2026, the Pennells County Supervisor of Elections identified that they did not provide the protected addresses voter rule, and we identified three additional signatures, which amended the initial finding with a total of 8,752 signatures, 3,023 were valid, and 5,541 were invalid.

The total invalid signatures due to addresses not matching the voter rule were 35, and the number of instances where voters signed more than once was 40.

The petitioners committee requested that the 4,306 signatures be reconsidered and not excluded without reviewed.

We have reviewed them.

And 1,231 signatures were signed by individuals who were not registered voters of the city of Clearwater and were identified as or determined to be invalid.

2,956 signatures were signed by individuals who are voters of the city of Clearwater and they were considered valid.

Therefore, even if signatures collected prior to October 7th are considered, the initiative petition and amendment are still insufficient due to the lack of required number of valid signatures.

And I can go ahead and post that just in case for reference.

And the total number of instances in where individuals signed their petition more than once was 104.

Okay.

Anything further.

And this call, I believe.

Completed second certificate.

But on April the 22nd, sent it to the committee, and then the committee requested this council review.

So council has really two options.

One is to approve the certificate or disapprove the certificate.

The item set for tonight is not an action on the petition.

It's not determined whether or not council wants to adopt a proposed ordinance or send it to the voters.

It only deals with the sufficiency of the petition.

So approving the certificate is a final determination that the petition is insufficient for the reasons contained in Ms.

Cole's certificate, such as the lack of valid signatures and the form and content.

Now council has another option, which is disapproving the certificate, would also be a final determination that the petition is sufficient.

But I would recommend that council would need to provide some type of rationale as to why the petition is sufficient, even though the clerk determined that the petition was insufficient.

And council would also need to provide a justification as to how the petition meets the 10% threshold for sufficiency.

Okay.

Um just want to reiterate what you just said tonight.

We're just evaluating the sufficiency of the petition.

We're not debating if if any one of the five of us wants to put that petition, a referendum proposal on the agenda that would come in a subsequent meeting.

We're not debating that tonight.

We're just debating the sufficiency of this petition that's been presented.

Correct.

Okay.

Thank you.

Okay, with that, um, I will uh take public comment.

We invite you to come up, of course.

As I said at the beginning of the meeting, if you want to speak, need a comment card.

Uh we have we've created a list because we knew we were going to be, or I guess maybe there'll be a lot of folks here tonight.

Those have signed up to speak.

If you would line up against this poll right roll, so we make sure everyone is uh entering this way.

And as I said earlier, uh our council rules rule six allow for 60 minutes total for public comment on an agenda item.

So again, um happy hands if you can to be kind to your neighbors.

Uh we got a lot of folks who want to speak tonight.

And the other thing I'm share with you is once we take the first speaker, the 60 minutes starts running.

So I I want everybody to be safe on the way up to the podium.

But uh if you could not once your time's up to move quickly away from the podium to give the next speaker an opportunity to speak.

Uh that that would be current a courtesy to fellow speaker.

So with that, we'll take our first speaker.

Jill Gibbs.

Jill Gibbs, yeah.

I have Kelly Meyer and Lisa Tanzio Tango.

I do need to know if you're accumulating.

I need the other individual.

I need it.

I need a call.

Thank you, ma'am.

Vicki, let's see.

Thank you.

You have an additional minute.

Okay.

Four minutes.

Hi, council.

Um, here to provide some rationale.

Uh, it's actually really simple.

Um, you can cite trivial issues all you want, but it's really simple.

The people have spoken.

You've been elected to your seat to represent the will of the people.

If you faithfully execute your job, someone will call a motion, put this on the ballot, and let we, the people of Clearwater, decide its outcome in August.

We came across disturbing news over the past couple of weeks, which should help further explain exactly why the citizens of Clearwater want a voice in our downtown streets.

Through our FOIA requests, we learned that our city staff, some who are sitting on this dais, have been fast tracking the vacation of South Garden Avenue.

They know full well that thousands of citizens do not want this.

They know full well that what we want is to place a memorial to the African American community known as the Garden Community on South Garden Avenue to remember what was once there.

They also know that Florida's attorney general said this in his letter to our former city attorney.

Quote, if the general public is using the roads and streets in question, including public service vehicles such as garbage trucks, police fire or emergency vehicles, then the county should not close or vacate the roads or streets in question, as such vacation would be injurious to the public welfare or inflate individual property rights.

These email exchanges between our city staff detail how they plan to push forward South Garden Avenue's vacation anyway and push it forward fast.

In fact, according to their emails, the first vote to vacate South Garden Avenue was supposed to be tonight.

Imagine with me for a moment a split screen.

On one side, you'd see dozens of citizens, including my friend here who went house to house with me for days on end.

You would see dozens of citizens in Clearwater, young and old, rich and poor, from all walks of life, from all political sides, going door to door, or sitting for hours at a variety of locations, spending over 10 months and thousands of hours offering our fellow citizens the opportunity to petition the government to have a voice in the future of our downtown streets.

On the other side of the screen, you'd see our city staff whose salaries are paid for by us, sitting at their desks typing fast as they conspire to utterly and completely ignore the admonition of the attorney general and the desire of Clearwater citizens and give away South Garden Avenue as quickly as possible.

And I'm wondering, was this entertaining for them to watch those of the us who canvassed and the thousands of us who signed work our tails off in the heat and the cold to petition our government and save our streets while they at the very same time were working to give away said streets?

Did any of you know this was going on?

What an absolute betrayal to the people of Clearwater.

And one last thing.

To those of you who think that you can fund the GOP enough to convince this council to do your bidding and ultimately silence the people of Clearwater, we the people will not be silenced.

Mark my words, Clearwater has the most heartfelt and intelligent citizens who love their city deeply, and our response will show at the polls, both in 2026 and 2028.

Thank you.

Kelly Meyer.

Yeah, you need to fill it out.

Joe Gano.

Thank you.

You have an additional minute, four minutes.

Thank you.

Good evening.

It's been a long 14 months.

I come before you on behalf of the petitioners committee of Save the Garden, our citizen initiative.

I urge you to reject the city clerk's certificate of insufficiency and amended certificate of insufficiency.

The clerk's determination should be rejected because we have recently begun an audit and have found so far that the clerk rejected signatures of eligible Clearwater voters on inactive status, contrary to the city charter.

The clerk found petition forms did not have the proposed ordinance full text attached, but each petition form was circulated with the full text attached, as each circulator's affidavit swears to.

The clerk rejected signatures collected before the petitioners committee was comprised of five voters, but that requirement violates the first amendment.

And it's not a valid reason to reject otherwise valid petitions under the city charter.

The clerk rejected valid signatures for improper reasons, such as mismatched addresses, addresses that omitted a minor element like an apartment number, or which had a minor mistake and an address.

The clerk rejected valid signatures because she misread the voters' handwriting.

The clerk failed to specify the particulars wherein the petition was insufficient in her certificates as the city charter requires.

For these reasons, we urge you to reject the clerk's determination that the petition is insufficient.

Because of these serious errors, there is another option, I understand that could be ahead of you.

You could choose, one of you could choose, besides the mayor, to make a motion to put this proposed ordinance directly on the August ballot.

Would one of you please have the courage to do that?

And who is willing to second it?

Just to open discussion on this option.

Thousands of your constituents are counting on you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Matt.

Speaker plans, yeah.

Quickly, yeah.

And then on deck we have Gavin Smith, Todd Moore, and Jeffrey Moore.

Yes, so Gavin can be ready to step up as soon as make sure everybody gets a chance to be heard.

Or as many as possible.

Yeah, if you could fill out your card and have that completed.

Yes, before you turn in, submit your card, please make sure it's complete.

Name and address.

Mr.

Mayor, uh, council members and supporting staff, thank you for hearing what I have to say.

I'm not a resident of Clearwater, but I grew up in St.

Pete.

I love Pinellas County, and I was part of the team that went out in the heat to get signatures and sit for hours.

Please listen to the people, what they have to say, and reject that the city clerk has approved on this ballot and put the people's voices to be heard on that initiative.

Okay.

Do the right thing.

Thank you.

Gavin Smith.

Next speaker, please.

Gavin Smith.

Gavin Smith.

Todd Moore.

My name is Todd Moore.

And I reside in the City of Clearwater.

And everything I'm getting ready to say is in regards to 7.4.

So quick backstory on me.

I was born at Morton Plant Hospital, raised in Clearwater.

I attended each level of public school here.

And it did my parents and three children.

And my great uncle just decided no was a ticket taker at Capital Theater, so I've been there a long time.

A lot of my family spent time downtown.

And it seems to make you forget about downtown.

But I didn't like that.

In the meeting on May 18th, Mr.

Menino stated that he, and I quote, was born and raised in Clearwater, but only came down to downtown two times a year with his family.

Makes me wonder why.

But I've watched and listened closely on YouTube for many years.

I did not want to be here in person.

But it's necessary for my well-being moving forward.

So pertaining to agenda item 7.4 in regards to the citizen initiative requiring voter approval for vacation of public right-away of downtown.

This recent vacation request comes from the Church of Scientology.

And now I hear their affiliates have put the vacation of public right away or two more requests into three in total.

So being here my whole life, I've learned scientists.

And now I hear their affiliates put in.

I'm sorry.

They tolerate you at best if they want something from you.

I come from experience because I work for a service company that dealt with them on a daily.

So each of you, with the exception of one, arrived in Clearwater after the arrival of Scientology to our city.

One of the many duties of the city council member is a citizen engagement.

This includes listening to and engaging with community feedback, addressing citizen concerns, and representing the interest of all constituents.

Myself and many others feel this has not been done.

That one entity is getting a lion's share of your attention.

Each of you will cast a vote.

It will be counted.

And that vote will be very revealing.

I, Todd Moore, signed a petition to require voter approval for the vacation of public right-of-way.

Do not silence my vote.

You were wrongly persecuted.

Thank you.

Jeffrey Moore.

Jean Cowley is next.

And Barbara Sorry Love.

Pat Timer.

Good evening, Council.

My name is Jeffrey Moore, and I signed the petition to require voter approval for the vacation of public right of way in downtown.

Please do not silence my vote.

Thank you.

Thanks, sir.

Speaker.

Jean Cowley.

Hello, good evening and thank you, Council.

After 50 years, I think we should be heard as we the people.

And I think this initiative should be put on the ballot.

I think we should listen to the citizens of Clearwater.

Thank you very much.

Barbara Sorry Love, ma'am.

Good evening.

My name is Barbara Sorrelove.

I was born and raised in Clearwater, Florida.

Attended schools that are no longer around in Clearwater, Florida, because they were erased with the exception of Pineella Sky Innovation.

Thank God for that.

My fellow residents, esteemed council members, and Miss Rose Marie Call and staff.

I stand before you today, not just as a voter, but as a concerned citizen deeply troubled by recent events.

Thousands of our friends and neighbors took the time to read, engage, and physically sign a petition for a cause they believed in, over 8,000 of them.

Yet, with the stroke of a pen, the clerk's office has chosen to discard thousands of those vote voices.

We are here tonight because that is fundamentally unacceptable.

When citizens exercise our legal right to petition our local government, the role of our clerk is to be an impartial administrator, not a gatekeeper.

By utilizing technicalities and bureaucratic red tape to toss out valid signatures, we are sending a dangerous message that the will of the people matters less than administrative convenience.

Think about the thousands of citizens who took time to sign.

Their addresses may have been slightly off or their handwriting messy, but their intent was crystal clear.

To invalidate an entire petition over minor clerical discrepancies is a betrayal of the democratic process.

We're not asking for special treatment.

We are demanding basic fairness and respect for the voters who found who fund this very city.

I urge this council and the clerk's office to immediately review this decision.

We need a transparent objective standard for signature verification that errs on the side of giving citizens a voice, not finding excuses to silence them.

Let the people decide the outcome of this issue at the ballot box.

Democracy is the strongest when the maximum number of voices are heard.

Let us not go down in our city's history as an administration that hid behind red tape to avoid listening to the public.

I call upon our clerk to reverse course, validate the signatures of the people, and let the democratic process work.

Thank you.

Pat Timer.

After Don Timer, I have Shirley Johnson and Fran Heffron.

Good evening, Council members and city staff.

My name is Pat Tmeyer.

It's always hard to present.

Sorry.

And I've lived in Clearwater for almost 12 years.

With elections coming up in August, I'm sure that each of you remembers what it was like to collect 250 signatures to get your name on the ballot.

Perhaps, like me, at first, you thought that this would be done rather quickly.

Today I can say that I represent at least that number of people, maybe more, who were able to sign our petition initiative back in the summer and the fall of last year.

I found out what a long slog it is to get even a few hundred signatures.

But I was impressed that at least 90 other people joined in the efforts to gather not hundreds but thousands of signatures by March of this year.

Together, the circulators represent the voices of many more thousands in Clearwater who want to see a different approach to making the decisions about vacating city-owned streets, rights of ways, and property in downtown Clearwater.

Working on this petition drive was the first time that I have actually been involved in any kind of local civic action.

Yay.

I had never before been an activist, but felt that this issue deserved both my time and my effort.

Along the way, walking my neighborhood or others nearby, I was encouraged to find that when someone did answer the door, the majority were excited to sign our petition and agreed with what it stood for.

They knew that a new method of making decisions about city owned property was needed.

So here we are in 2026, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the birth of our nation.

The founding fathers would fight for freedom both in the halls of debate and on the battlefield for a number of years, determined to have a government of the people, for the people, by the people.

They designed a new kind of government that is the antithesis to the more common top-down government, which ignores its citizens and often silences their voices.

They guaranteed that citizens be heard and their ideas respected in whatever issue was being debated.

I beg you to listen to these Clearwater residents.

Your need to do so is actually bigger than your individual opinions.

You can honor the 250th anniversary of the USA by emulating the ideals that our founding fathers labored long and hard to establish.

Listen to the voices of nearly 9,000 citizens, and know that they represent many more.

Put this initiative for a referendum on the ballot, is what I ask.

Allow the voters of Clearwater to make the decision concerning their streets and their public right-of-ways.

It is the right thing to do.

Thank you.

Don T.

Meyer.

Mr.

Mayor, Council members.

I've sort of rewritten what I'm going to say today, and you know, we were told we need 7100 signatures.

We collected 8500 pieces of evidence that the people won an initial initiative put on the ballot.

And I seriously doubt that any fewer votes would have been collected if the person had been a registered voter instead of not being registered when the uh signatures were gathered.

I think the truth remains that 8,500 voters want the referendum.

I think it's very clear that that's true.

And it seems to me that to pitch votes is against the very purpose of our uh collecting signature signatures for this initiative.

It seems like pitching votes is the same thing as destroying evidence.

It has the same effect.

And uh I I just think I think everybody knows that we have somewhere in the range of maybe 500 signatures voting for this initiative.

And I I want to say one other thing.

Um I've asked over and over again why is it that there are individuals on this dais that seem to be hell-bent on closing the deal, deeding Garden Avenue to Scientology.

All the reasons I come up with were not good.

Still, I didn't want to presume motives or question character, but I saw something recently that really disturbed me.

I picked up this brochure at uh welcome to the good life facility.

And I opened it up.

This is the first thing that I saw.

It says partnership and trust building cannot happen all at once.

It must start with the largest and most influential players who must find them in themselves the courage to leave.

Specifically, this means the city of Clearwater and the Church of Scientology.

These two organizations must become partners in the future of the city.

If they cannot, no one else will.

Thank you, sir.

Appreciate you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It does help us move things along, so I appreciate those of you are doing that.

Hi.

I'm Fran Heffren, and I'm an 81-year native of Clearwater.

I'm here tonight because I do not want Garden Avenue sold.

I don't see the point in selling any of our streets.

And people come here for the sun, sand, water, and views.

It's a place to spend a lot of time outdoors.

And I think we can there are people in our group, the Save the Garden group, that feels strongly about dissecting our city with selling off streets.

And I knew there would be more interest in buying more streets once this one was sold.

And so it's kind of like a never-ending battle.

Our team, the Save the Garden team, have a lot of uh strong um participants and went out canvasing.

We went to uh the Threshers Ball Stadium, not the ball stadium, but the parking lot, and for a few days and sat out in that blistering sun trying to collect signatures.

We would have people drive by and then turn around and come back once they had seen our signs, what we were doing, and we were dying to sign the petitions.

And we went out in uh island estates in the brutal sun and uh collected signatures and my friend we uh nearly passed out just walking from door to door in the heat out there, and um we also went in the neighborhoods walking in the heat, but our team members thought it was worth it because this is a serious um decision, I think.

Why would the people of Clearwater want to start giving up their streets?

I don't understand it.

So I think it's only fair.

Uh of course we didn't get all the registered voters on our sign up sheets, but I think if you uh put it on the ballot, the next ballot, you would get a ton.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

John Wheatman.

Thank you, Mayor, for your time.

City council for your time today.

Uh my name is John Wiedman.

I live over by uh Clearwater Mall area, and uh I signed the petition as a registered voter uh to uh have the voters decide when property should be vacated and when it should not.

As Ms.

Barber has mentioned a democratic process, that certainly is a democratic process to have the voters of Clearwater, some nearly 8,000 people signed a piece of paper and said this is what we would like to do.

We would like to have a voice in this.

So I'm not going to be long.

I just asked that you don't silence my voice or silence the voice of 8,000 plus people who want to preserve their city.

And so that is my request.

Please don't silence my vote.

Don't silence the votes of what appears to be a majority of people here in the city of Clearwater.

Thank you for your time.

Williams Zipper.

Hi, good evening.

Hi, my name is William Zipper.

I'm a citizen of Clearwater.

I've been so for a little over a decade now.

I would ask that I hope you guys all treat them nicely.

They're here tonight, including Miss Call, the clerk.

I know that we disagree on whether or not the petition should go through, but we're all citizens of Clearwater.

This is all our city.

And all voices here should matter, and all should be treated with respect.

And it's because of my love for the for the city of Clearwater for all of you, for all of you, and the respect that I have for the work that has been put in for this petition and for the voice of everybody in Clearwater.

But I think it's public property, which means it's the people's property, which means it should be the people's choice.

If they want to give it away, let them but let them make that decision.

God bless you, all of you.

Please have a good night.

Janice Basler.

Good evening.

My name is Janice Basler.

I live and vote in the City of Clearwater.

I canvassed my neighborhoods discussing this petition and getting signatures.

This is the same neighborhood as you live, Councilman Minino, as I live very close to you, right across from State Street Park, the place you all just were very recently.

I wanted to share about my encounters and talk about three groups of voters.

First, almost every time I went out and knocked on doors, someone answered who identified to me as a member of the Church of Scientology.

We had varied discussions about this petition, about politicians, about God.

They were all very civil and informative, and no, not one of them signed the petition.

But I thank them for talking to me.

The second group, and probably by far the most people, were very eager to sign this petition.

Some have lived here for more years, others only a few months.

All seemed to express concern over why our downtown Clearwater is so vacant and empty.

Some remembered when it wasn't like that.

Others wondered why it was like that.

Very small group, maybe only 15 people.

These voters asked if their name would be seen by the Church of Scientology.

And I said, yes, that was a possibility.

They indicated they supported the initiative, but they chose not to sign.

Governor DeSantis says that we live in the great full state of Florida.

These people were expressing feelings of fear, not freedom.

I handed them to save the garden car and let them know to keep an eye on the website unless I'm wishing to came on the ballot.

They could then express their freedom of vote.

Please don't choose to silence the voters who elected you to office.

Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am.

Cindy Cash.

Thank you, everyone, for allowing us to speak tonight.

I know this is long.

And I want to thank the clerk because I'm sure this was just a monumentous job.

Um I have one word.

Monopoly.

Monopolies are not good.

The only monopoly that's good is the game.

Now I've read that Scientology owns about 200 properties in downtown Clearwater.

That's insane.

And I've heard that they're not shy about using that information to as a pressuring tool when they want something.

And now they want a street, and I've heard that they want two more also.

So that's just ridiculous.

No one entity should have that much power over a city.

If they do, then the voters really don't have a say.

Only the most rich and powerful people do, and that is on America.

Do what's right and put it on the ballot.

Then you'll know what the voters say.

And you'll know that they're really voters.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

And that say it.

Sayek.

See Jackie.

All right.

Sorry.

I apologize.

Very nervous.

My name's Anette Sujeki.

I grew up in Clearwater.

I went to elementary school, middle school, high school, even got my AA from St.

Petersburg Junior College.

Recently, my husband we moved away.

We just moved back.

What's happening in downtown makes us very sad.

As you can see, I'm not a public speaker, but this is important to us.

Please let us vote on this.

Downtown Clearwater is a pass through.

We people pass through us to get to Clearwater Beach.

I don't want to need.

We didn't move to Did Eden.

Please let us vote on this.

And then it's not on you.

It's on us.

We just have to have a say.

I did sign the petition.

I was nervous.

I'm nervous talking now, but please let us have a vote.

Thank you.

Ma'am Dirk.

Michael Sajeki.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

My name is Michael Sejeki.

I sign a petition.

Uh to require voter approval for the occasion of public right away in downtown.

Please do not silence by vote.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Speaker.

Rebecca Kay.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

I am asking you tonight to do something very simple.

Let the citizens of Clearwater vote on this issue.

The proposal involving the vacation of the public right of way in downtown Clearwater is not a minor procedural matter.

It concerns public property, public trust, and the future direction of our downtown.

When an issue generates this much public attention, concern, and organized citizen involvement, the answer should not be decided solely by five people on this dais.

It should be decided by the people who live here, pay taxes, and call Clearwater home.

Residents is from residents from across the city have signed petitions because they want a voice in the decisions that permanently affect public space.

Whether someone supports or opposes the street vacation itself is not the point tonight.

The point is whether citizens deserve the right to participate directly in a decision of this magnitude.

Approving the certificate of the city for the citizens initiative petition does not predetermine the outcome.

It simply respects the democratic process and allows voters to make their voices heard at the ballot box.

If the council refuses to allow a public vote despite widespread citizen concern and verified petitions, many Redis residents will understandably feel that their voices matter less than political influence, special interest, or private development goals.

That would further damage public trust at a time when to trust is in local government is already fragile.

Please show the people of Clearwater that public participation still matters here.

Let the voters decide.

Thank you.

Jill Cunnings.

Jill Cunnings.

Good evening.

I am a little nervous.

There's a million places I'd rather be than here today, in addition to spending $30 to park to attend a council meeting.

I am a longtime citizen of the city of Clearwater, and actually represented today is three generations.

My mother who will be 94, my daughter who is 27.

I think at this point it's regardless of accepting the petition or not arguing about well, was this valid, was this not valid?

We clearly care.

We clearly care a lot.

I am personally not aware of a law compelling you to sell off a public street.

I believe it is completely within your purview to put this on the on the ballot, regardless of the petition.

People are very passionate about this, and there's tons of people we weren't able to reach.

And I applaud everyone who works so hard with no money, with no outreach, old fashioned.

And I believe that if you put it to the voters, you may not like this, but that that'll show that our elected officials are acting independently without bias, fear, or manipulation.

I think it's a common denominator through all these meetings of the pushback of the Church of Scientology and not.

Many years ago, we put out you put on the ballot to sell off a public golf course.

And Scientology was to buy that golf course.

You put it to the voters, the voters said no, we're not going to do it.

I attended Monday's meeting, and we're talking about this beautiful revitalization, revitalization of Clearwater.

We're not going to achieve growth or aid in any form of growth if you're going to take away more property.

The irony is the definition of revitalization is the act or process of bringing something back to life.

It implies transforming something that is declined.

How are you going to revitalize by taking away more things and making them inaccessible to the public?

So in my closing, I truly ask that you put this initiative on the ballot.

We don't need to swabble over signatures.

I think let the people speak.

And if it is your true and honest goal to create a welcoming atmosphere for down clear downtown Clearwater, please do just this.

Thank you.

Avon Avonless Sayer.

Which, and I have to say, as it appears, I'm not a member.

I truly don't know everything about it, but it does appear to be very large, very influential, very wealthy.

And then comes the bad news.

Also, unfortunately, secretive.

And I chose that word because it's more accurate, I think, than saying transparent.

And that's the bad news is that it doesn't help you people who work so hard to revitalize this town.

Also, it's not located in one spot, be Clearwater.

It's sprinkled throughout the city, which brings concerns to non-scientology citizens who are getting a little worried about perhaps the overpurchasing of our land of our shared city.

So that's my request, is you would carefully consider the importance of voting.

Because voting says a lot of stuff.

And what it's going to say, if we can vote, is that the non-scientology citizens of Clearwater are not second citizens.

Alison Zipper.

Alison Zipper.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Alison Zipper, and I reside in and am registered to vote within the city of Clearwater.

And I signed a petition on a fall afternoon in front of the Clearwater East Library.

And that petition would require voter approval for the vacation of public right-of-way in downtown.

Please don't silence my voice.

Thank you, ma'am.

Next speaker, please.

Patrick Ractery.

Good evening once again.

Slightly older, but still the same person.

We have heard the conclusion of the clerk on the validity of the petition.

She has done what she should do by the ordinance requirements, and I applaud her for the work that was done and the people that assisted her in doing it.

You have been asked to make an exception, possibly, to the findings that she has had.

If you do that, keep in mind that you've now established a precedent for any petition that might be done in the future that does not meet the legal requirements.

There are others that would want to see progress made in Clearwater by both the city and the church.

Every speaker tonight, myself, and those that have not yet voted, need to keep in mind that when we the people vote and speak, that decision may not go the way that everybody wants it to go, but you will have to accept the vote and the will of we the people when all of the citizens and residents of Clearwater vote.

So I highly recommend you allow it to go to vote.

And to those that oppose the vacancy of the land, we must accept the will of the people when they vote.

Thank you very much.

Michael Master Sario.

Again, thank you for letting me speak.

Before I do any go any further, I want to make an apology to Dave Albriton and to the rest of the diasp.

If you ever thought that I said that any of you had taken money from the church, I never said that, and I would never say that.

I respect each and every one of you.

So I want to make that apology if it was mistaken by that.

But in regards to why we're here tonight.

Several weeks ago, I asked the city clerk Rose at a board meeting if my signature was thrown out.

And she said it had been thrown out, and I should sign again.

Wow, how nice.

But where were the other 4300 4300 plus residents that had their signatures thrown out?

Were they told to sign again?

I'm sure they were not.

You have the power to either ignore the voice of the people to be heard or their vote to be cast.

But I'm gonna I'm gonna stop right there from what I was gonna say because it's another story.

But I've been humbled to hear all these people speak.

Young, old, they work so hard.

I heard Rose say earlier her staff did a great job, and I'm glad to staff because they work hard and they get paid to do it.

These people did a great job.

They carried the water and they got no money for doing it.

So they've done a great job.

I'll go another step further to say in the last election, I believe there was probably close to 32,000 votes, maybe less than that cast, and it was a presidential election.

Before that, the other election prelude was about 24,000 votes cast out of all our voters.

So that being said, you put this on the ballot like it should be, and I'll bet you you get more than you ever had in a presidential election.

So you can let the people speak, let their voices be heard, or we can make the voices of yourself be heard without listening to them.

But I think you all will do a great job and put it on the ballot.

So thank you for that, and uh thank you again for the opportunity to speak before you.

Thank you, sir.

Mr.

Master Sarah, thank you.

Is there somebody with a last name, Alan?

I can't the handwriting is not legible.

All right, next person, Lauren Golden.

Good evening.

Transparently, I'm incredibly sad we're even here having a conversation about whether or not a controversial secretive private organization should receive any more space in this neighborhood.

My name is Lauren Golden, and I'm a resident, business owner, mother, and community member who deeply cares about the future of downtown Clearwater.

I signed the petition to require voter approval for the vacation of public right of way, as did my husband and all of my neighbor friends on Lebau Street, less than two miles north of here.

I believe decisions involving public lands and public access, especially in a downtown area, should remain in the hands of the public.

Wanting voter approval, broader community input, and consideration of the greater good is not an unreasonable position.

I'm here because I'm invested in creating a thriving, beautiful, and successful downtown.

I crave growth, warmth, and liveliness for downtown Clearwater that my family, my two kids have been waiting here for two and a half hours.

We are now past bedtime, that we can feel safe in and proud of, and I know I'm not alone in knowing that no single organization or private interest should hold more influence than the residents and taxpayers who call this city home.

Whether someone agrees with the petition or not, the right for citizens to have a voice in major decisions like these matters.

Please do not silence the voices of residents who took the time to participate in the democratic process.

It's going to be very difficult to explain to my children who have been watching all night if you don't stand up for we the people.

Thank you very much for listening.

Tony Tello.

Um Jessica.

Thank you.

You have one additional minute.

Better have.

So I'm uh a restaurant owner.

I'm I believe myself to be a big fan of downtown Clearwater.

Uh I'm a active citizen.

Uh been disheartened.

I've been, to be honest, ashamed of our local government.

Um I had a speech planned, but I think I'll tell a story because I it's just it's easier.

My wife is the person who uh wasn't a registered voter in this committee.

Um my wife uh put it this way, she she can't even cheat a monopoly, let alone commit fraud intentionally.

You know, so we were moving down to Clearwater.

We have two little girls for love of my life, and uh we were in the DMV.

I was registered the same day she was.

My little ones crying.

She must have clicked something wrong.

We all assumed she was a registered voter because we do things together as fam as young couples do.

So we assumed and we were part of this petition for that reason.

To my dismay and my disgust, a couple days later, my mother-in-law was faced with a homicide detective that came into our house without a warrant, or anything got an asked to speak with us.

My family on my in-law side is all Marines.

Active citizen active police officers, and I believe to call them patriots, and an honor to call them my relatives.

Uh during this time the adjective came in.

Both my mother-in-law and my wife were terrified.

I think a homicide detective or something like that is in my eyes ridiculous, but to each their own.

I told my wife not to worry that it was just a thing with good faith in you guys and love for this community.

I continued and said, Don't worry, it's not a big deal.

Things continued.

I had another restaurant in downtown Clearwater.

We were flooded, and I think it's directly in correlation with this petition of complaints, harassments, not only from police officers, but also from uh from anonymous phone calls.

During this time, I was with my in-laws, and we ex my brother in law Joey was on the phone call when we were at one of our relatives, one of their kids' birthdays.

During that event, uh we received a phone call threatening not only my life but life of my family from none other but the Church of Scientology.

My uh we informed the city, told them what was going on.

Uh it continued from harassments from ATF to local permitting and stuff, and I kept on telling my wife not to worry that I have faith in you guys.

It continued to the point where my street was blocked off.

My events that I no longer had, I stopped doing, stopped being involved in city and uh events.

To my dismay, the same events were going on across the street.

I again told my wife not to worry, it's just things happening.

I no longer believe that.

I was also told during when these when these things were thrown out that two votes were already in the back by someone, and I I have friends in Lowe's and high places from here to California and New York.

Uh I sit at bars and I drink and I hear people.

I was informed by a gentleman who now shares coffee with you guys and talks.

I'm not gonna say who it was that this was already thrown out.

That it was already won.

The conversations with a few of you guys were it's not gonna happen.

I said, that's not true.

They can't be happy, it's impossible.

Uh and that the people who on this board sat were too scared, if not in cahoots, with this to throw this out, that there'd be every action to throw it out.

I asked you guys uh thank you.

No, I have an extra minute.

That was with the additional.

I asked you guys to make me look like a liar.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Jan Boggs.

Jan Boggs.

I'm Jan Boggs.

I live in Clearwater.

I lived here 21 years.

And I love Clearwater.

I love to walk around the area, even downtown Clearwater.

I've come down and walk.

Uh not that not that it's real welcoming anymore, but uh right I'm a registered voter, and I've uh signed as well as canvassed with others that have also canvassed and waived the signs and along with many others to make it open for other people to sign the petition also so that their votes would count as well as mine.

So um just uh praying for uh voter approval for the uh vacation of public right of way not to happen for uh I want the voter approval for the vacation of public right of way in downtown Clearwater, the petition to require that and uh just a little thing for thought is listen and silent are spelled with the same letters, and I don't think right now is the time for any of us to be silent, and I just hope that you will consider not silence in our votes.

Thank you, May.

Diane Welzer.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Council, for listening to us.

I'm a Clearwater registered voter for have been here for 20 years.

I respectfully request my voice and my vote to be heard.

I signed the petition not to vacate Garden Street to Scientology.

Myself and all my neighbors on island estates that I spoke with all signed the petition.

I volunteered at St.

Pete College Library and saw lines of cars waiting to sign the petition.

The citizen showed strong support not to let any organization take over public streets without voter approval.

Unfortunately, I feel like I'm losing faith in my city council and feel as if I have no voice as the council seems to cow tow to an organization who arose our tax base and offers no benefits to Clearwater except to themselves.

I think the public should decide.

And I also believe that a house divided cannot stand, and a city divided cannot stand.

Thank you.

Ellen Blythe.

I can't read my card yet because I wrote my notes on that.

All right.

So I'm Vivi Dimmett, and I live on Clearwater Beach, and I'm not a good public speaker, but I did want, and I did not have an opportunity to sign the petition.

And I'm ashamed that I didn't go out and gather signatures myself, but I have spoken to um to a lot of my neighbors and friends, and I literally have not found one person that is in favor of not allowing the citizens to vote on this, and or of selling a public street.

So obviously you've heard from a lot of people tonight, and a lot of people did sign petitions, and I think the right thing to do would be to allow people to vote.

And I'm just wondering if there's a good reason why you would not, because I mean you don't have to have a petition to make a decision to put this on the uh, you know, to let people vote.

So I just wonder what the reason would be not to allow that.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Mayor.

Yeah, thank you.

Uh Mayor, we have 33 seconds left for the hour.

Yeah, how many speakers do we have left?

We have one.

We have one, two, three, four.

Five.

Um yeah, council.

Um I'm persuaded by folks who said they pay $30 to park tonight.

So if we only have five.

Do I have considered the council to take them all?

All right, next individual, Sylvia Patterson.

No.

Okay.

Um Julie Holiday.

Thank you.

So since we're in over time, I'll make this quick.

Um, and I've throughout the past hour heard all the sentiments I have already expressed to you.

I signed this petition very early on, um, as well as my husband and my son and close friends, and we like our signatures to be counted and our voices to be heard.

And the one thing I've gathered tonight that I don't understand is why aren't you leaping at the opportunity to put this on the ballot?

To take it out of your hands, give it to the voters, and nobody has to be angry with you or upset.

Let the public deal with it.

They can be angry at each other, but put it on the ballot and let us vote.

Next speaker.

Kathleen Warren.

Thank you, May.

My name is Kathleen Warren, and that little girl, well, she's not so little, is my daughter, Andy Rose, and she has, as you can see, significant special needs.

She can't speak, but she can make noise.

And she can walk, but not long distances.

I don't have a caregiver for her, so when I went out gathering signatures door to door or in a public setting, I took her with me.

She's mostly patient.

As I talk with people about this initiative to give the citizens of Clearwater the ability to vote rather than depend on their city council to handle proposals to vacate streets in downtown Clearwater.

The two of us, along with the other hardworking people in the Save the Garden Group, have worked tirelessly to take back our city and to save Garden Avenue.

Mr.

Albrecht, Mr.

Menino, and Mr.

Cotton, I feel like you truly hate your constituents, those people who supported you and voted for you to make the decisions they care about.

Not one of you during your campaigns pledged to support Scientology or any other rich and powerful group that wanted to purchase property in streets in downtown Clearwater.

All three of you pledged to make decisions for your constituents.

You have over 8,000 of these voters telling you they want a voice in the decision to allow Scientology to purchase Garden Avenue.

These citizens are frustrated and unhappy with the decisions of the city council for the past 50 years.

Every one of these 8,000 people are appalled and frustrated that this city council continues to sell land and properties to Scientology.

Why are you gentlemen unwilling to do what they want after you promised you would?

Mr.

Manino, I recently saw an ad you placed when you ran for this council seat, and I'm quoting verbatim from your ad.

How have you stood up for the Clearwater residents?

How have you protected our quality of life?

Represented our neighborhoods at City Hall.

While you vote to sell Scientology a public street that your constituents don't want you to sell.

I know him.

I worked on his campaign.

He's a Christian, he would never vote for this.

Sadly, I had to inform her that you, Mr.

Cotton, are one of the strongest advocates for giving the street to Scientology.

She was aghast and disappointed and frustrated because she believed every promise you made when you ran for this seat.

As I said in the beginning, I believe you must hate the citizens of Clearwater because you refuse to listen to them and do what they ask of you.

The citizens of Clearwater do not want Scientology to take any more buildings or streets in their city.

And I do mean take.

Money means nothing for them.

Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you.

Joe Beth Dixon.

Joe Beth.

I'm going to restate what so many people have said before me that public streets should stay public.

The public should have a vote or a say and any changes to public streets.

They are public, they've been public, and they should stay public.

Little by little, the Scientologists have infiltrated that area through anonymous purchases and ambiguous LLCs.

For more signatures.

So I took the back, copied it, and reduced it to standard size so that I could copy it on my computer, filled it with signatures, and those were not accepted because they were not on legal size paper.

And I find that that is kind of one of those little picky things that was probably not really necessary, but it was really a way to keep people from putting their name on these petitions.

I do not think you should ignore the voters, those that have spoken tonight, and even those that have not come but feel the same way we do.

We deserve to be heard.

Do not ignore us.

Stephen Harris.

Maybe you're all together, but it sure sounds like the uh there might not be things that uh are going according to oil.

Each of you, you have already heard and you knew, takes uh in order for you to get on the ballot, it takes a petition signed by 250 people, then you give a hundred dollar check, sign a few other things, and you're on the ballot.

Now, that's again 250 people.

That's against the voting population of I don't know, but I you know, it's up near a hundred thousand.

That sounds pretty meager, doesn't it?

Oh well, guess what?

It's okay that that's meager because putting you on the ballot is not that consequential.

The vote is what's consequential.

I'm gonna give uh each of you has a number that I'm gonna give you.

Keep it in mind as I continue to talk.

Uh Ms.

DeShera, your number is 9,537, Mr.

All Britain, 8,029, Mayor Richter, 12,007, Mr.

Menino, 10,497, and Mr.

Cotton 9200.

That's the number of votes that it took to get you each elected the seat you're in now.

Compare that number to the God knows what our real number is from what we've heard tonight, but clearly 8,000 is in the ballpark.

That's people voting, not for anything.

That that's 8,000 signatures for something that's not of consequence.

What's the result of that if you put it on the ballot?

It's a little extra ink on a ballot.

You've got 8,000 voters who are only asking you to spend a little on ink.

That's it.

Now, last point.

We here in Clearwater are facing uh perhaps even an existential threat.

We've got the county moving out.

We've got gonna have a lot of something going on.

A lot, and it's gonna take outsiders, respected outsiders, and financiers to come in and do the development the way we hope it will be done to revitalize Clearwater.

I've been in that world.

If you're launching that kind of, if you're taking that kind of risk in an environment where you've got a city government that has so convinced the world that you're in the pocket of Scientology, they don't come.

The sound, the coachman, uh Coach McCark, that wasn't outside money, that's our money.

We're the only ones who are willing to uh to invest in this, and you're gonna scare away everybody else.

Thank you, sir.

Mayor thought that that's the rest of the list, but I know there's two individuals standing.

And then somebody in the audience's place.

I'll be good.

And I'm from the Bel Air district.

Um I can't even believe that we are here tonight fighting for the right to vote for public land.

If I came home and my husband had sold my garage without even telling me, and without asking if it's okay.

So I that's why I just it's just not even logical to me.

Okay, so I feel we need to.

We have a bigger thing going on here than Clearwater.

Also, I think that all those votes that are all those signatures that didn't get um considered, should be considered because as far as I know, is we are still the county seat, so people from other areas are really invested in Clearwater.

We all come down here to take care of our business, you know.

So, and we have for years.

So we have uh I've been here for years.

Another thing is I can't believe we're considering closing down a street.

I've lived in Florida my whole life, but lived right here actually in my whole life, and I seen hurricanes do some weird things.

Now, even if the citizens aren't driving down Garden Avenue in a hurricane, although you'll go where you can when you need to get out of the way.

There might be a need for putting fire trucks there or ambulances there, or somebody to a wreckers to move a wreck out of the way.

We cannot be closing down streets.

We live within minutes of the Gulf of Mexico.

And that's all I have to say.

Thank you for your hard work, keeping the lights on in the Bun and Sun Capital of the World.

Thank you.

Last speaker.

Yeah, thank you.

Okay, one more.

One more.

Good evening, council.

Um, this is actually my first city council meeting.

Um proud to be here, proud to be a citizen.

And um I would just like to say save the garden.

Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am.

She's chair me off because I'm nervous.

You're good.

So um, thank you for having me as a as a late ad.

Um mayor, members of council, I'll keep this brief.

I respect the viewpoint of the petitioners and those who signed.

Their efforts were real, and the civic instinct behind it was very much worth acknowledging.

But this process has proven two things.

First, the petitioners are in the minority, and second, that they have not met the standard required by the charter to advance this petition.

The city clerk's office has done their due diligence, and by all accounts, five times over.

That determination is well documented, well supported, and on the record.

I understand the point or the disappointment of the petitioners feel hard work that doesn't reach its goal is genuinely painful.

But disappointment is not a basis to override the clerk's determination, and sincere efforts is not a substitute to meet the signature requirements.

The clerk has done her job, the charter has been applied correctly, and the appropriate action tonight is to honor that determination.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Okay.

Okay.

Well, um, thank you all who spoke for respecting one another, and um and you know for some applause, most of you cooperating, kind of getting us to and from the podium so we can get through that quickly.

I'm glad everyone who came tonight could uh that had something to say could be heard.

So um we've ended the public comment time.

Uh now it's time for the council to discuss this issue.

So I'd ask for you to pay the same respect to the council that the council just paid to each of you.

Uh no one interrupted you while you were up the podium and we allowed you to speak and and uh there may be things that you hear in our discussion that you don't agree with.

Uh I'd like for you to uh respect the fact that it's uh our time to discuss and not interrupt us while we're discussing.

So thank you in advance for that.

With that, um first, is there anything that uh I guess you all might want to add over and above what you've already said.

Yes, council.

So um in response to a comment that was made tonight, and as well as an email that council has as uh been provided regarding the use of not counting, or rather the lack not counting the voters that were are it considered to be inactive.

So an inactive voter is an individual who has not voted in the last two election cycles, and the supervisor of elections office has reached out to them and the correspondence has not been returned or has been returned to them and unanswered.

Uh those individuals were not counted and they were listed as not registered because they were not on the active voter roll.

What uh individuals need to understand is that due to a case law back in December of this uh uh December 23rd, 23, 2025, the state can was directed not to count inactive voters when it comes to petitions.

So that is why the in that's why when the supervisor of elections office gave me the database, they only gave me the active rollers because by law they can only count active voters, and those are the individuals that were identified as um active or rather uh appropriate and were accepted.

Okay.

Uh Millie, you want to add uh just a couple things.

So there's a couple comments made during the uh public comment about the rejection of the petitioners committee because not comprised of five voters, and that violates the first amendment.

I'm not aware of any case law that states that.

Um, in fact, I'm not aware of any legal authority that states that not being registered to vote is something that's curable.

Um for the signature petition forms, uh, there were some comments made about how the proposed ordinance is not required to be attached.

I disagree with that.

If you look at charter section 6.05B, it states petition shall contain or have attached here through throughout the circulation the full text of the ordinance proposed or sought to be reconsidered.

Also on the signature petition forms in the first full paragraph underline, it says a copy of the proposed ordinance is attached, so it is a requirement.

Um, as to the clerk not specifying the particulars, if you look at the clerk certificate, she spent she followed the part of the charter in 6.06, and she specified the specific grounds, such as the grounds in 6.05 A, lack of voters, and then B not having the form attached.

Okay.

I think uh the way we'll do this is uh is anyone from the council have questions from the city attorney or the city court first.

If we're no questions then I get I had one.

Um the the inactive voter was how how many was that all together?

16,000 roughly.

Um of the ones that were rejected because they were determined to be in a so based on the petition so 16,000 is what's found on the inactive uh role for the city of Clearwater for for the petitions that were submitted.

So in the amendments, they submitted there were 148, but of the 148, only 91 were not registered.

When they submitted initially of the non-registered, it was 519.

And when those that were submitted that were not counted because they were submitted, they were signed prior to October 7th, that was 549.

So if you were to add all three, they still fell short of because a lot of the other signatures that were received did not live within Clearwater City limits.

Got it.

Okay.

Okay.

So if uh no other further questions, then uh would anybody like to comment or discuss before we vote no.

Oh no, I've got sure.

But it's back there.

Okay, Vice Mayor.

Okay, very good.

Thank you.

Uh, first off, to everyone here, I want to acknowledge the level of civic engagement we've seen here.

Getting signatures is no easy task.

Many of you acknowledge that every elected official sitting here had to go through the process and understands firsthand just how tasking it is to get 250 signatures.

So gathering more than 8,000 signatures is absolutely commendable.

Um, and I genuinely respect the effort and participation involved.

Civic engagement is healthy, it matters, and it's one of the strengths of our nation.

But civic engagement must also operate within established rules and procedures.

So the committee, it was said that not knowing whether a committee member was registered to vote was a minor clerical issue.

Respectfully, I disagree.

We teach our children from a young age to follow instructions and complete requirements properly.

Rules matter because consistency matters.

Intentions may have been good, but that doesn't erase the obligation to follow the process correctly.

I also believe context matters.

Many of us remember how the Save the Garden Committee specifically originally formed around the proposed Garden Avenue vacation request.

At the time, presentations were made involving the Mac Dixon Memorial Park concept, which later had to be revised after concerns arose regarding the use of a family's name and involvement.

The concept evolved into broader historic and downtown theme, and after the original vacation request was withdrawn, the committee transformed into the petition drive we have before us today.

A few weeks ago, I reached out to several pastors personally within Clearwater's African American community and simply asked whether there had been continued outreach or collaboration regarding the vision that had originally been presented.

What I heard concerned me.

Some were unaware the committee was still active.

One had only vague knowledge of the petition itself.

And to me that raises an important question.

If a demographic of our community is going to be publicly championed, that community should remain actively included.

In my view, very first signatures should have come from the very people who were originally presented as partners in the vision, not used as a means to an end.

Now, for my concerns as a Christian, our calling is to know Christ and make Christ known.

It is to lead people towards grace, truth, redemption, and hope.

It's the gospel that God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to live a sinless life, to be crucified, buried, and raised three days later.

Later on, raising to the right hand of the Father God, so that when we stand before him one day, it's not our works that justify us, but the sacrifice of Christ.

So when I see fellow believers, specifically in this committee, publicly defining themselves primarily through opposition to their neighbors, it begins to resemble a modern day crusade against a religious organization, more than an effort to reflect Christ in our community.

And that's disappointing.

Because people are always watching how we conduct ourselves, and whether we reflect anger or we reflect Christ matters.

I finally want to address the broader conversation that is downtown.

As a second generation Clearwater native, for decades, many residents, including myself, have asked the same questions.

Why is downtown stagnant?

Why are buildings sitting empty?

Why is there no movement?

Now we're beginning to see investment, redevelopment, entertainment, restaurants, construction, visible progress.

That does not mean that every decision up here is going to be universally agreed upon.

But we cannot spend decades asking as a community for activation and then oppose every sign of activity when it finally arrives.

I also do not believe requiring every right-of-way vacation request to become a citywide referendum is good policy for the future of downtown.

Whether it's a small family business, a local entrepreneur, or a large developer, very few people will be willing to spend substantial time and money engineering, planning, designing, and navigating city review processes if the final outcome can simply become a political campaign that decides their project.

That level of uncertainty does not just impact one organization.

It impacts every future investment opportunity in our downtown and risks discouraging the very activation residents have been asking for for decades.

I also believe government must be careful not to overstep into the realm of private property rights.

While regulations and oversight certainly have their place, there's a slippery slope when government begins to decide who can or cannot own property based upon the size of their holdings or public sentiment.

In my view, the role of local government is to apply law fairly and consistently to everyone.

My responsibility is to represent all of Clearwater, every neighborhood, every resident, and to pursue results that move our city forward together.

At the end of the day, at the end of the day, tonight's question is actually very narrow.

The question is whether or not the petition is legally sufficient.

After reviewing the data that everybody has heard from the clerk and the city attorney, I do not believe it is.

And for that reason, I will be supporting the clerk's certification.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Council Moralbiton.

Okay.

Tonight about people who have been here 10, 20, 30 years in Clearwater.

I understand everybody sitting out here in the audience hates church Scientology.

Okay.

But listen, but let me finish.

Let me finish because I don't interrupt you.

I'm just going to talk off the top of my head because I didn't write anything down, but I've got a lot swirling around up here.

I've heard a lot of insults from people that you know we're getting paid off by the church and blah, blah, blah, and you're you're not going to vote for us because we're not voting your way.

I can tell you this as a as a retired contractor.

You guys have been misguided because I'll tell you why.

Because if you, if every referendum, if every vacation of right-of-way has to go to a referendum, you're killing every developer that's going to come down here and do anything in downtown Clearwater.

They're not going to go through the time and money to do that.

And you know, I hear on the news all the time, we're losing our democracy.

We don't have a democracy.

We have a democratic republic.

You guys elected us to make decisions, and we we're up here, we make hard decisions, and we got to take a lot of stuff.

And you know, you are very nice to us, but that's our job.

We don't have to really care about that.

What I care about is what's the best for city of Clearwater.

And you know what a you know what a vacational right away is, by the way?

A vacation of the right-of-way is vacating a right away over the top of land that's owned by somebody, and the city don't own it.

The people that butt that road own it.

And you're just vacating the right-of-way, which is a public use over the top of it.

So we're not selling any land.

We're vacating a right away of somebody that already owns the land.

Okay, so all I hear is we're not gonna sell any more land to the church of Scientology.

We're not selling any land.

You know how many vacations I've done in the eight years I've been up here?

I probably uh close to a hundred, maybe because people are always asking.

We just did some last council meeting because developers come in, they want to vacate an alley or a right-of-way or a street to develop something.

If that has to every time go out to a public referendum, nothing's gonna happen.

What you see right now is going to be the what it's gonna be for the rest of the century, because we're gonna scare away everybody that comes down here, and you gotta know that right off the top that that's you know that's what's gonna happen.

And that's the only reason of this whole thing, and I've tried to tell people be careful what you're signing.

You're signing a petition to run Scientology out of Clearwater, you're not doing that.

You're assigning a petition to run developers out of Clearwater.

So that's where I come from.

I listen to you, you can listen to me, okay?

Please don't interrupt the council.

Please.

I don't have two minutes.

If uh if folks, um I'm asking you now.

Anyway, if you can't stop from interrupting the council, we're gonna have you please leave.

It's hard for me to identify who's speaking up, who's interrupting.

I'm just asking you, we gave you the courtesy of listening to you.

Please don't interrupt the council members while they're speaking.

Look, I I really enjoy your passion, and I'm glad you came out.

I listened to every person tonight.

I understand you're very passionate about it.

We are all passionate about it up here, but because we don't vote your way, doesn't mean we're voting for the Church of Scientology or any certain organization.

We vote, we our job is to vote for what's best for Clearwater.

That's all I wanted to say.

Somebody else can take over for me now.

Okay.

Anybody else?

Okay, Mr.

Manino.

All right, thank you.

Um we'll just take a deep breath for a second and I'll breathe.

I want to thank everybody who came out, shared your stories with us.

Obviously, this topic in Clearwater is always emotional, and it has been for 50 years, and rightfully so.

And with those emotions come frustrations.

I feel those same frustrations come anger.

I felt that same anger over the years.

But when people disagree with you from the dais, it doesn't necessarily mean your voices are not being heard.

Doesn't mean that your voices are not being understood or counted.

That's not necessarily what that means.

Let me quickly take the suspense out of it so I don't have you sitting on the edge of your chair.

What this is tonight, as the mayor said in the very beginning, is simply approving or disapproving the clerk's certificate.

Our city charter in Clearwater, to me, is more than just a document, staple piece of paper, a binder on all of our shelves.

It's a foundation and a framework of our local government.

It protects the voices of the people, just as it gave you this pathway, it also protects our city.

When citizens engage in a petition process like this, we understand you clearly care.

Nobody said you didn't.

We get that.

We also applaud and understand and recognize the hard work that goes into it.

It's not easy.

We've all seen your committee at special events in the hot sun at 96 degrees outside of our recreation centers or our libraries or at music festivals.

We've seen you out there, and it's uncomfortable.

I I get it, but I we and I I applaud the effort.

Whatever decision is made up here to certify or discertify should not take away from the passion, the effort, and the love that the committee and your group has put towards this petition process.

It should be recognized.

That very exercising of your rights in this democracy is directly related to how we shape our government.

But that is why protecting the integrity of our charter and the provisions and the processes involved in it is also vitally important.

Regardless of where anyone stands on a particular issue, every resident should expect and deserves the process to be fair, transparent, lawful, and accountable.

I trust in our clerk's office that it was fair, it was transparent, it was accountable.

She didn't just run through and check names one time.

We've heard three, four, five times, and I commend as I commend the committee for how much work that went into this.

I also commend the hours of time and resources that our staff have devoted to not just counting, but to answering questions, answering emails, and facilitating a process that's fair, process that must be fair.

We as a dais, we as a leadership team, clerk, city attorney's office.

We must all have confidence that those signatures that are collected are properly verified, and the rules and guidelines are followed in a consistent manner.

I believe they were in this instance.

This decision today that's before us, it's not about politics.

We have to be able to take that layer of emotions out, although it's challenging.

It's about preserving the rule of law and protecting the integrity of the charter in the city of Clearwater and of our great city, that while we disagree, what we all agree in is that we love our city.

We're passionate about our home, Clearwater.

We all believe that Clearwater is one of the best cities, not only in the state and in the country.

There's no questions about that.

We believe in that.

We're as passionate.

There's no questions about that.

But with that said, while I acknowledge and respect the time and the passion put into it, I strongly feel that based on approval or disapproval, I'm gonna support 100% the decision of the city clerk's office.

As I know in my heart of hearts, it was made with the utmost integrity, the utmost fairness, and as transparent as this process could be.

Again, I thank you all for your passion in our community.

I thank you for being out here and exercising your voices.

Again, your voices are heard, they're not being silenced.

I'm going to approve the clerk's certificate tonight.

Let's move to Shanghai.

This has been so difficult for me.

This is a conversation that I basically hear every day.

But today was in surround sound.

And a lot that was said, I agreed, a lot that was said.

Um I was taken aback, but it's very important to me, and it's it's part of my everyday life.

And so let me begin by saying that I want to go on record and formally acknowledge the Herculean effort behind this petition.

While it's true that a portion of the signatures were disqualified due to a technical issue with one of the collectors, and others were disqualified for various reasons.

The petition ultimately did not satisfy the procedural requirements.

That does not diminish the fact that thousands of residents chose to publicly express their concerns through that process.

Their voices will not simply disappear because of a procedural flaw, at least not in my mind.

But these are part of the established rules of the process, and they are applied consistently.

I also want to be clear about something else.

I have no interest in disparaging or discrediting this group.

It is important to acknowledge that part of this initiative is rooted on a level of mistrust.

And even though we might disagree, that feeling must not be ignored.

But at this time, with all the information conveyed to me, I do want to state on for the record that I have full confidence in our city clerk and staff.

The validation process was thorough, it was well documented, and it was carried out with integrity.

Again, recognizing that does not diminish the voices behind this petition.

It simply affirms that the process itself matters.

I have met with this group on more than one occasion, and I genuinely was impressed with the passion and commitment, and I enjoyed the conversations.

I do though regret that we were ultimately unable to come to a compromise on the language or agree on other possible alternatives.

Now I want to be equally clear.

But however, this agreement should never translate into dismissal.

And I'm not dismissing it.

This initiative deserves to be recognized for what it is.

And it is a significant demonstration of civic engagement.

As many of my colleagues know, and it's been mentioned before, collecting 250 signatures were was difficult.

I encountered people that simply did not want to have their name on a document that was public record.

So the idea of anyone collecting 8,800 signatures is in truly impressive, and it will not be ignored.

But regardless of where one stands on the issue itself, the level of participation in my mind is simply described as incredible.

It was mentioned before about votes, and you are correct.

Looking up the last three election cycles, many of the council members received less than 8800 votes, and those were anonymous.

These people on the petition put their names and addresses on a controversial petition.

That says something.

But in my mind, your voices are not going away.

And you still have another option.

There's an election coming up.

The individuals who signed this petition and everyone else will have the opportunity to ask the candidates where they stand on this issue.

And they should insist on clear answers, not vague positions or carefully worded ambiguity.

Especially when it comes to something as consequential as the privatization of public roads.

And ultimately, you will have your voice projected and it will be reflected on the ballot.

That is how the process works, and that is something we should respect.

With all that said, I am very passionate about protecting public roads.

It is valuable.

It's a valuable part of our downtown.

It is crucial to the success of our downtown.

And I will continue to protect the access to those public roads.

So I first want to say this about our city clerk.

This is not uh one of the speakers' tonights said that she had done a monumental job, and I want to echo that.

Uh this this is this is um a petition really of first impression for the city and for her.

Uh we've not encountered this kind of petition for many years, and I don't think since she's been city clerk.

I I can tell you that uh I have the highest respect for our city clerk.

Um I don't know all the city clerks around the state of Florida.

I know a number of them with a lot of good ones, but uh I will put our city clerk up against any city clerk in the state of Florida.

Uh, in my opinion, she's one of the best clerks in the state.

She shoots straight down the middle.

Uh, she works very closely with our supervisor of elections, Julian Marcus, when we're doing the petition cards.

Uh, she doesn't actually review those.

The uh supervisor elections office does that, and I know Julie Marcus, our supervisor in elections, and and Julie always says, you know, when it comes to election time during my job, I'm not Republican, I'm not Democrat, I'm independent.

I'm to be fair to everyone.

And I can tell you that our city clerk operates the same way, and has done that here.

May disagree with her.

You may not may not like how she decided things, but I can tell you she did it with integrity, and her office is one of the best in the state of Florida, and I want to commend her for that.

I also want to say, secondly, that I appreciate everyone coming out tonight, particularly the ones who paid $30 for parking.

Unfortunately, you know, soon we'll have a separate city hall, and they can have concerts over here, and we won't have a conflict and you won't have to do that.

So I apologize for anyone that had to pay for parking tonight.

But I appreciate you coming out and sharing because that voice is something that I I hope we all hear, and I hope the community hears, because I know and we know just from being candidates, how hard it is to get those petition cards signed.

And the first time I ran for office, um, I just took everybody's word they lived in Clearwater, they're read within the city of Clearwater, and they're a registered voter, and uh, and uh lo and behold, I turned my first batch in, and a hundred or more got rejected.

And what I learned is that uh and what I've learned since being mayor, I I I get calls all the time from folks asking me to help them, and uh because they have a clear water address.

When I asked them where they live, I have to explain to them you don't live within the city of Clearwater.

I have to refer them to somebody else.

Some of them live within the city limits of Largo, actually.

So I know how hard it is, and people when they tell you they're Clearwater, they're a Clearwater voter, they they really think they are, and they voted, they just don't realize they haven't voted in a city election.

And I know how many, how hard it is to get 250 signatures, um, and it's really hard to get as many as you did.

So I understand the frustration, and I've been there on a smaller level.

Uh I can tell you the second time around I learned a lot, and the second time around I I vetted them all before I turned them in.

Um available to the public, the registration rules.

You can find out who are registered uh voters within the city of Clearwater.

So you can go through and scour those.

Hindsight 2020, not going to help you this time, but if another petition comes up, it could help you.

Um so I understand that, and I also understand this.

The sentiment I heard expressed tonight is I've I've knocked on doors, I've throughout the city of Clearwater.

Uh the folks who said that you these signatures represent the general feeling of our city and community, I agree with that.

I think it would be it would be it would be popular if it were on the ballot, because the sentiment that was expressed tonight, I think represents a large part of the sentiment across the city.

Right or wrong, whether you like that or not, I think that's the reality.

Um but tonight we, as I said at the beginning, we're not talking about that.

We're only talking about whether or not this petition met the charter requirements to put it on the ballot.

Uh, unfortunately.

I and I hoped that we would keep our discussion discussion at least up here to that.

Uh I I don't want to get into debate on other issues, but I I do want to say I don't agree with attacking Christians on this issue.

I know for a fact there are people in the audience that came up to speak tonight who are not Christians.

There are folks here tonight that spoke, they are a multiple faiths.

I know folks that signed this petition, they are agnostic or atheist to attack Christians, single out Christians, just because some did express their faith tonight, that is unfair, and I don't agree with that.

Uh the sentiment that was expressed tonight is a lot of different faiths and a lot of different backgrounds, and I just wanted to say that.

Uh but moving on to where I landed on this.

I viewed this because I've been practicing law a long time, a lot like probably a lawyer would look at it.

I looked at it as if I were a judge, how would I rule in a motion for summary judgment?

How would I take the case away from the jury to not let the jury decide but to say no on the law, there's no way they can prove their case.

And so I looked at it every way I could to give the petition the benefit of the doubt.

So any that were signed before the committee actually had five people on.

I I gave the benefit of the doubt on that.

Where I really had trouble was on this inactive voter.

And some of the folks who turned out were not registered to vote in Clearwater.

They were Clearwater citizens.

They thought they were, but they are well intended, but there just aren't enough.

Even if you count those that were signed before they had a full committee of registered voters to meet the threshold.

And uh folks were talking about um, you know, you know, I I think there were some folks, not everyone.

Some folks wanted us maybe to deviate from the charter.

Folks, we can't do that.

Our our charter has to be amended by the voters.

So our charter says what our charter says, and it requires a certain number, it does say Clearwater voters.

Um I we can't we can't change the charter.

And the charter requires has requirements that just weren't met, in my opinion, in the clerk's opinion, my reviewing it, with the signatures that were presented.

So that's the only issue for us tonight.

And so uh I'm gonna support the clerk's determination that the petition did not have enough required signatures.

Again, I understand the frustration.

I understand what was said tonight and agree with a lot of it that what was said tonight does represent enough people that you could get enough signatures, but for the this petition that was turned in, I don't believe uh based upon what the clerks determined.

I'm gonna support her opinion that it was not sufficient.

So uh if there's any further discussion, then we'll move to a vote if there's a motion.

Make a motion approve the certificate of the city clerk and agenda item 7.4.

Second.

Okay, all those in favor?

Opposed?

Unanimous.

Okay.

Thank you for coming tonight, those who came on this agenda item.

That move the agenda item 8.1.

8.1 is a second reading.

I'll go ahead and read the title.

Ordinance number 9864-26.

An ordinance of the city of Clearwater, Florida, admitting the future land use element of the comprehensive plan of the city to change the land use designation for certain real property located on the north side of nursery road, approximately 186 feet east of Rose Tree Court, whose post office address is 2446 Nursery Road, Clearwater, Florida, 33764, from residential urban to residential medium, providing an effective date.

Hearing seeing none, is there any discussion?

If not, is there a motion?

Motion to approve agenda item 8.1.

Second.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed, unanimous.

June item 8.2.

8.2 is a second reading reading.

Ordinance number 9890-26.

An ordinance of the city of Clearwater, Florida, annexing certain real property located on the north side of the nursery road, approximately 126 feet east of Rose Tree Court, whose post office address is 2446 Nursery Road, Clearwater, Florida, 33764, into the corporate limits of the city and redefining the boundary lines of the city to include set edition, providing an effective date.

Hearing seeing none, is there any council discussion?

Not to a motion.

Motion approved agenda item 8.2.

Second.

Those in favor?

All right.

Posed unanimous.

General item 8.3.

Second reading, ordinance number 9891-26.

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 nursery road, approximately 126 feet east of Roastry Court, whose post office address is 2446, Nursery Road, Clearwater, Florida, 33764 upon annexation to the City of Clearwater as residential urban providing an effective date.

Which one are you on 8.3?

8.2.

You mentioned 2446 nursery.

244 2448.

Yeah.

And on 8.3 you did the same.

You said 2446 is 2448.

Okay, it's 2448.

And I can read so you're on 8.3.

I'll just read it again.

And 8.4 is 248 also.

Yeah.

I live in that house.

So let me just read 8.3 again.

I totally sure it's it's correctly in the speaker.

Ordinance of the city of Clearwater, Florida, emitting 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 Nursery Road, approximately 126 feet east of Rose Tree Court, whose post office address is 2448, Nursery Road, Clearwater, Florida, 33764.

Upon annexation to the city of Clearwater as residential urban, providing an effective date.

Okay.

This is 8.3 now.

I'm confused.

Okay.

Is anyone want to speak to agenda item 8.3?

Okay.

If not, is there any council discussion?

If not, is there a motion?

Move to approve agenda item 8.3.

Second.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed, unanimous.

Agenda item 8.3.

Ordinance number 9892-26.

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 Nursery Road, approximately 126 feet east of Rose Tree Court, whose post office address is 2448 Nursery Road, Clearwater, Florida, 33764, upon annexation to the City of Clearwater as a medium density residential, providing an effective date.

Should I speak to it?

Because this came before us on the board.

Yeah.

I mean, are you speaking in your individual capacity?

Please?

You speak in your individual capacity.

Yes, individual capacity.

Yeah.

And the only reason I'm aware of it because it became for us.

And I'm just wondering as you maybe you have other details and you got details about this.

Um and I don't know what all the answers are to it.

But I just want to make sure you're clear about it.

This is a um a residential home for disabled or um problem people, and I know the neighbors were all against him being able to address this and get larger.

So I just um the we as a board made a decision um according to the lull to go ahead for it.

It's your own.

Okay, it's on myself, correct?

So anyway, I just wondered if you're all aware what is going on there, and because there was there was a woman there that said the license wasn't even up to date.

Um there's a number of things, and I'm not aware of it all.

I'm just asking you, are you aware of it all before you vote?

That's my biggest question.

Anyone else desire to speak to this agenda?

Okay.

If not, is there any council discussion?

Um just just uh on the comments just made.

Uh the the staff report was in here, uh, so we know the staff report.

I don't believe we had anybody come forward from the community to speak on it tonight, other than your comments tonight.

So I don't recall getting any communication other than what staff's report was.

Okay, is there a motion?

Motion to approve agenda item 8.4.

Second.

All those in favor?

Opposed, unanimous.

The gen item 8.5.

Ordinance number 9893-26.

Ordinance of the City of Clearwater, Florida, annexing certain unaddressed real property located on the north side of Sunset Road, approximately 252 feet west of North McMullen Booth Road in Clearwater, Florida, 33759, into the corporate limits of the city, and redefining the boundary lines of the city to include set edition, providing an effective date.

Okay.

Is there any council discussion?

If not, is there a motion?

Motion to approve agenda item 8.5.

Second.

All those in favor?

Opposed, unanimous.

Agenda item 8.6.

Ordinance number 9894-26.

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 unaddressed real property located on the north side of Sunset Point, approximately 252 feet west of North McMullan Booth in Clearwater, Florida, 33759 upon annexation into the city of Clearwater as residential urban, providing an effective date.

Hearing saying none.

Is there a council discussion?

If not, it's there a motion.

Move to approve agenda item 8.6.

Second.

Those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed, unanimous.

Agenda item 8.7.

Ordinance number 9895-26.

An ordinance of the City of Clearwater, Florida, emitting the zoning atlas of the city by zoning certain unaddressed real property located on the north side of Sunset Point Road, approximately 252 feet west of North Lake Bullen Booth in Clearwater, Florida, 33759 upon annexation to the city of Clearwater as low medium density residential, providing an effective date.

There's no council discussion.

Is there a motion?

Move to approve agenda item 8.7.

Second.

Those in favor?

Opposed, unanimous.

Move to agenda item nine.

So this is to be heard on topics not on tonight's agenda.

She's Kelly Meyer.

Mr.

Mayor, Council Members, City Management.

My name is Rudy Micheleck.

I'm here actually to talk tonight about the hotel density reserve pool.

Beach by design.

Approximately 79 pages of desire wishes and specific details of requirements for construction within the Clearwater Beach area.

The program is 30 years old, approximately.

One program we've got going right now, I believe is the second third year of a 10-year program of over 120 million dollars for North Beach infrastructure changes.

I'm sure that was not figured in the original design of looking at this.

Secondly, within the program, uh there is a listing of a number of different number of units per acre based upon what part of the location of the beach you were in.

And the reason I bring that up is between 2016-2018, Palm Pavilion had 35 units from the pool.

They turned those back in in 2018.

That was my introduction for coming to City Council.

27 of those 35 units were used for 850 Bayway Hotel.

And I bring that up because those 27 units with the 33 they had came to 60.

So I I was among the group that went to Michael Delk, who was in charge of planning at the time, and asked him, what is the density that you can have for a hotel?

And he specifically said to us at the time, 90 units per acre.

That's the standard.

And the reason that's proved out is that they had two-thirds of an acre of land that they used for 850.

Hence they got 60 units they could build on that property.

So that all ties out.

So I was more of amazed to hear of the earlier one where we're now putting 144 units on 1.06 acres.

Anyhow, the the things that I really want to point out is I think we're at a point in time in which this whole process needs to be re-evaluated by city staff.

We need to look at our infrastructure at all the services we have available and say what is the build out we really need.

We need to look at the hotel room occupancy average for the year.

How much, you know, are we do we really need more units down there, or have we already reached the number we have?

So that ask is please let's add that evaluation.

Let's put some of this stuff on hold.

There is a report, took us six years to get, you'll be able to see.

There were 10 units as of February.

They got nine more because 100 were added, 91 were taken out.

Thank you.

That leaves about 800.

Thank you.

Appreciate you.

Anyone else to speak?

So I can't read the handwriting, but is there an O'Marion, a Marion?

No.

Okay, next person is Stephen Huffs.

Okay, no.

Charles Clischer.

Hi, how are you doing?

My name is Charles.

I'm an SBC student.

I go to college at SBC.

I'm a small business owner here in Clearwater.

I do know the crime that involves a case of like human trafficking.

It's sort of a new form of human trafficking.

It started in Pennsylvania and it's made its way down here to Florida.

It also pertains to theft of intellectual property from the through the USB TO system.

I have filed fat patents and also a very gross amount of negligence with HIPAA violations.

It's either an invisible one on the ear or there is ones that go in the ear.

They're known as phonic lyric or octagon zeal.

They also use direct contact eardrum devices that mechanically vibrate your ear.

It's similar to the uh alter ego wearable device if you could look it up.

And um, I mean I've also read up that um they're looking using opt to opta optogenetics.

Um it's fiber optic skull implant.

I did have a couple surgeries involving no surgery.

Um it's that's a study out of MIT in Stanford, and it does mess with your memory, and um also that I think uh uh Prima device has been putting in me.

And this is also I do know that there may be other victims going on this out there, and I mean it's uh I'm from there also, and since I reported to them and trying to get my records from Guy Singer, um, my bike's been stolen, my apartment's been almost broken into, so it's an outsiring the gang stopping.

Right when I start ordering my records, and I was told this was happening.

I started ordering my records, they start saying that my records were destroyed, and then I told them, okay, well, I'm a college student, I'm doing a study.

They sent me 400 pages of junk, and I have a couple discs I don't even know how to use right now.

Or no, I don't have a computer to put them in.

I don't know what records are on them.

But I mean, this is happening, and it's pretty much it is it's crazy, it's uh human trafficking.

I can't get away from it.

I can't leave.

And I mean, they're stealing information, intellectual property.

I do have five patents that I filed with USB TO, and I mean I'm just not sure what to do about this.

I have um filed this, so I will have caught gotten contact with uh with HIPAA, but and the attorney general's office, but it's only online.

I don't know if they got it yet.

I mean, my cousin is the DA to the attorney general in uh like in Arizona.

My aunt ran a hospital.

Like I have intelligent people in my family.

I'm not stupid.

I just fell into drugs when I was young, moved here to get out of them.

Got really impressed for like six, five, six years, but then I came out of it, and then all of a sudden I started drinking again.

Thank you, sir.

Yeah, appreciate you.

Yeah.

Do we have any other speakers on okay?

Thank you.

Fab, we'll move to agenda item 10.

So you may have nothing, sir.

So the attorney reports?

Nothing, maybe.

Twelve closing comments by council members.

I wish I didn't, but I I really need to do it.

Okay, a lot of people need um acknowledgement.

Okay.

So um, first of all, there's been a such a great stretch of um events in our community from uh Country Thunder Festival, which was a great success, to the various concerts on at the sound.

And it's truly starting to feel like Clearwater is a music destination.

And I couldn't be happier about it.

Um music has a magical way of bringing everyone together, and regardless of background, and I feel that it's that feeling is growing within uh the city.

I also loved experiencing Sharka Palooza.

Um I was very impressed with the caliber of artists, and I couldn't avoid purchasing a lovely piece by Alyssa Marie.

A heartfelt uh heartfelt thank you for to Mr.

and Mrs.

Talanga for including city leadership in the celebration of the Croatian uh statehood day hosted at the Lucas.

It was a beautiful evening filled with culture, community, and connection.

Exactly the kind of moments that make this city so great.

Congratulations to our Clearwater Solid Waste and Recycling Team for bringing home another win at the Swana Florida Royal, I guess, competition in Fort Myers, which uh showcased their skill safety and professional uh professionalism against teams from across the state.

So once again, they went out there and represented us really well.

Uh most of us were honored to attend this year's Scouting America Community Award breakfast, celebrating former mayor uh Frank Hibbert.

I want to congratulate Mayor Hibbert on this well-deserved recognition for his years of service, leadership, and commitment to our community.

Um and in a world where criticism is plentiful and service is often thankless, it is important to put to pause and celebrate those who continue showing up for their community year after year.

Thank you.

Vice Mayor?

Nothing.

Thank you, sir.

Uh thank you.

Well, won't uh hit on some of the same events we are at, but I will um commend staff, uh the leadership team on successful three days of Country Thunder.

Moving an event in less than 30 days, that magnitude and that size with over 36,000 attendees over um three days is is quite impressive.

Uh, talked to a handful of uh the management team from Country Thunder why we're they were here.

Um, and every single one of them said that our staff was absolutely amazing uh and made their job so much easier.

So um thank you and congratulations to the staff.

Uh also want to say, Mayor, thank you for inviting me uh to your breakfast this morning.

I hope we don't have to do that at 7 a.m.

very often anymore.

But um that that was uh that was a a great recognition of Frank Gibbert, our former three-time mayor.

Um that recognition and acknowledgement is is well deserved.

Uh Mr.

Hibbert is his legacy in the city of Clearwater will go far beyond our lifetimes.

Uh that's for sure in future generations.

Uh his leadership is greatly appreciated, but he did a wonderful job hosting it.

Uh Vanna White should probably watch your job.

You're uh you're coming for it.

But um th thank you.

That was it.

That's what Robert.

A friend of mine, Joe Burdett writes great historical arc articles.

He wrote one recently about Memorial Day, and I thought a condensed version would be fitting to read tonight.

Monday, May 25th, this year marks Memorial Day.

It is a day we gather every year, not to merely m merely celebrate, but to remember to turn our thoughts toward those who never return home from war.

It is the day that asks more of us than ceremony or tradition.

It asks us to pause amid the comforts of ordinary life and reflect upon the extraordinary price at which that life was secured.

On this day we gather to honor names that history is often too often allowed to fade into silence.

We gather to acknowledge sacrifices that can never truly be measured, only remembered with humility and gratitude.

Though we may never fully comprehend the burden carried by those who gave their lives in service to their country, we remain forever indebted to them all the same.

A date was originally given to honor those who gave their lives in the war.

May 30th was chosen because by late May, flowers were blooming across the entire country.

This day was dedicated as Decoration Day.

In 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, officially establishing Memorial Day as the last Monday in May.

Yet the meeting of this day cannot be found merely in legislation or calendars.

It lives instead in remembrance and the deliberate refusal to allow sacrifice to disappear into the blur of history.

There is an old tradition that on Memorial Day, the American flag is flown at half staff until noon in mourning for the dead, and then raised to full height for the remainder of the day in honor of the living who carry their memory forward.

So while enjoying this day with your loved ones, take a moment to give thanks to those who gave their lives in past wars, allowing you to enjoy the freedoms we have in this country today.

Thank you for sharing that.

That's very eloquent.

So that leaves me.

Do you want to touch on uh I do want to how you follow that, but I'm gonna try.

The award winner was Frank Schivis.

Um, and this year it was former mayor Frank Hibbert.

And it's to benefit uh Scouting America in Clearwater.

They have a uh beautiful camp out in uh North Clearwater, Camp Sewell, which uh they've put a lot of money into, and it's just great to see those young people engaging in the outdoors.

I think that's one of the benefits of scouting today is to get uh scouts outside, kids outside, enjoying this beautiful nature we have here in Florida.

So it was a pleasure to host that event out there and appreciate Scouting America and the uh the Tampa Bay region for hosting us in that event again this year.

Second thing uh we can hear, you can't uh hear on television, but here as we sit here, we can hear the boom boom boom from the base at the Bay Care Sound.

So while we're meeting tonight, there's a concert going on at the Bay Care Sound, and uh maybe a couple of us may join that here in a minute.

But uh tomorrow it's it's uh an exciting thing for the same venue because here in less than 12 hours, it will be converted to a high school graduation space.

So we don't have all the graduations this year because Tropicana Fields back in operation, and a lot of the high schools are over there, but the two Clearwater Public High Schools, Clearwater High School's graduations at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning here in the Bay Care Sound, and then countryside will be at 5 o'clock tomorrow evening.

So it's great to see that space used for these high school graduations to be a community gathering event uh place, and uh and we welcome them here tomorrow.

And then last is Morole Day is uh Council Member Albright and so eloquently read Joe Burdett's um essay.

Um I attended uh an event last weekend at the Sheridan Sand Key for the Wounded Warriors Ability Ranch in Pinellas Park, and uh it's for wounded veterans who do uh you know wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, they do all these sports, but it's for adaptive sports for veterans who have been injured uh severely in their service.

And at the beginning they gave um uh photographs of each of the military members, service members that have died in action uh from Pinales County.

And it was a long list.

And that uh sets on me, you know, be tons of oats out there this weekend and people enjoying uh hopefully a beautiful weekend uh throughout uh Tampa Bay and Clearwater.

But I hope on Monday, uh particularly those with children will remind uh their family why we celebrate, we don't celebrate, why we honor and recognize those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country on Memorial Day.

As you said so eloquently in the in the essay, it's important for us to not lose sight of that.

All the commercialism of every holiday there is, uh that one we need to make sure we're remembering the reason for it.

And hopefully we all gather together on Monday to remember those who gave that ultimate sacrifice.

So, with that, with nothing else to come before the Clearwater City Council, we will adjourn the meeting of May 21, 2026.