OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Clearwater CRA Meeting June 15, 2026: Business Spotlight, Audit, Property Development, and Downtown Revitalization

Clearwater Municipal MeetingsMonday, June 15, 2026
BodyClearwater, Florida
SessionClearwater Municipal Meetings
DateMonday, June 15, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 32:54

Transcript — Verbatim
0:03

Thank you guys.

0:04

And I hate I appreciate what all CREs doing and the opportunity to be part of the North Greenwood district and really the support and really what it means to us as a business trying to make this happen in uh in really North Greenwood.

0:17

And also this weekend is Father's Day, all we'll get to throw free.

0:20

Right?

0:28

Yeah, well, thank you.

0:29

And you've been there.

0:30

I've been there for a while now.

0:32

So you're um uh sustaining business and appreciate your continued success.

0:37

And uh for those for those out there wondering, it's it's real hatchets.

0:42

So it's completely safe, it's very well monitored, and um yeah, and you do a great job.

0:47

It's a lot of fun for those.

0:48

I've done it myself with my son, and it's it's a fun activity.

0:52

So congratulations and thank you for being here.

0:56

That move to item 4.2 on the agenda.

0:59

Of the 2025 annual financial statement.

1:11

Good afternoon, Monica Mitchell, assistant finance director.

1:14

This item is for the presentation of the community redevelopment agency's audit for the fiscal year ending September 30th, 2025.

1:21

The CRA began issuing separately audited financial statements in fiscal year 2020.

1:26

Although CRA funds have always been included in the city's audit, which will be presented later this afternoon.

1:32

The transactions receive more audit attention here, and this audit also includes procedures to test for compliance with certain provisions of Chapter 163 of the Florida statutes, commonly known as the Community Redevelopment Act.

1:44

Lauren Strope, our audit partner with Jerry Beckard, is here to do the presentation.

1:51

I don't know.

1:52

There it is.

1:53

Okay.

1:56

Hello, good afternoon.

1:58

My name is Lauren Strope, and I am an audit partner with Cherry Beckard.

2:01

I'm going to begin by telling you, I promise you I'm a better auditor than a presenter.

2:05

Uh so if I start going too fast, just let me know.

2:07

But I'm happy to be here with you today.

2:09

This is just a brief agenda of the items that we're going to go cover, but I'll just go ahead and hop into it.

2:15

This was your client service team, as I mentioned.

2:18

My name was Lauren Strope.

2:19

I did want to point out Brian Lithick.

2:21

He does what's referred to in my industry as a cold review, meaning after me and my team complete our audit of the financial statements, he reviews everything and makes sure that our I's are dotted and our T's are crossed.

2:34

All right, probably the most important slide of all the results of the audit.

2:38

So we did complete your audit and we issued the financial statements May 8th of this year.

2:43

Um and we actually follow a variety of different standards when we complete your audit.

2:47

The first is generally accepted auditing standards, and the second is government auditing standards.

2:52

We'll get into that a little bit more in the next slide.

2:54

But on that first report, uh we have issued an unmodified opinion.

2:59

Sounds a little funny.

3:00

You used to be called an unqualified opinion, but essentially it's a clean opinion, and it's the highest level of assurance that we can provide you as your external auditor.

3:08

It's the only type of opinion that you want.

3:11

We also mentioned a no comment letter under Chapter 10.50 rules of the auditor general of the state of Florida.

3:18

That's what Monica alluded to a little bit ago that has some very specific CIA compliance requirements within it.

3:24

And we are pleased to report that we're issued in a modified opinion there as well.

3:28

And finally, we issued an unmodified opinion on compliance with the investment policy here in the state of Florida.

3:36

All right, I know you've all been hanging on the edge of your seats since I told you we go over the government auditing standards report.

3:41

But what that does is really requires us to take a deep dive into the internal controls that you have here over financial reporting.

3:48

And when we did that, we need to evaluate if we have any findings whether or not there are material weakness or a significant deficiency.

3:56

A material weakness is one such that there's a deficiency or combination thereof, where there could be a material misstatement in your financial statements that is not correctly corrected in a timely basis.

4:08

A significant deficiency while not as severe would still warrant attention from you, those charged with governance.

4:15

This year we did report one material weakness, and that had to do uh with an asset that had been donated to the CRA previous in the previous year, so it was donated in 2024, but was not reflected in the financial statement records at that time.

4:30

In order to correct this, there was a um restatement of your net position of this amount, and so um that was the corrected misstatement that occurred during the year.

4:41

We are pleased to report that there were no uncorrected misstatements, i.e., something that was found that management did not correct.

4:49

All right, the qualitative aspects of accounting practices.

4:52

Management is responsible for selecting those.

4:55

Uh, if you look at note two to the financial statements, that'll describe all of the policies that you have.

5:00

You did adopt two new ones this year.

5:02

That's just a byproduct of the fact that the government auditing standard board said that you had to adopt so you did, but there was no uh change in the way things are accounted for, simply disclosures within the financial statements themselves if you're comparing them to last year.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Economic Development███████████████████████████████████35%
Procedural█████████████████████21%
Community Engagement████████████████16%
Affordable Housing███████████11%
Fiscal Sustainability██████████10%
Arts And Culture███████7%
Summary of Proceedings

Clearwater Community Redevelopment Agency Board of Trustees Meeting - June 15, 2026

The Clearwater Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) Board of Trustees met on June 15, 2026, at 1:00 PM in the Main Library Council Chambers. The meeting covered recognition of a local business, approval of the 2025 annual audit, evaluation of development proposals for seven downtown parcels, discussion of downtown revitalization, and the Director's Report. All actions were taken unanimously.

Consent Calendar

  • Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the May 18, 2026 CRA meeting were approved as submitted (ID#26-0217).

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No members of the public spoke during the meeting.

Discussion Items

  • Business Spotlight Program (ID#26-0692): Hatchet Hangout was presented as the June 2026 winner of the Clearwater CRA Business Spotlight Program. The business, located in the North Greenwood district, offers axe throwing and was praised for its safety and community involvement.
  • 2025 Annual Financial Statement (ID#26-0670): Monica Mitchell, Assistant Finance Director, presented the audit. Lauren Strope, audit partner with Cherry Beckard, reported an unmodified (clean) opinion on the financial statements, compliance with Chapter 163 Florida Statutes, and investment policy. One material weakness was noted: a donated asset in 2024 was not recorded until restated in 2025. No uncorrected misstatements or disagreements with management were identified. The board unanimously approved the audit.
  • Redevelopment Proposals for Seven CRA-Owned Parcels (ID#26-0570): Staff presented the evaluation committee results for five proposals received in response to RFDP #15-26. The parcels total 3.13 acres located between South Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and South Washington Avenue, north of Gould Street, within the downtown CRA and Prospect District. The top-ranked proposal was from Archway Partners LLC in partnership with the Clearwater Housing Authority, titled "Washington Commons." The project includes 178 mixed-income residential units (targeting households below 80% AMI), 3,000 square feet of commercial space, and amenities such as EV charging and rooftop solar. The offer is the full appraised value of $2.52 million. Archway requests a five-cycle hold to pursue 9% and 4% low-income housing tax credits. Staff recommended authorizing negotiations. The board unanimously approved a motion to direct staff to negotiate a development, purchase, and sale agreement with Archway.
  • Downtown Revitalization (ID#26-0689): The board held an open discussion; no specific actions were taken.
  • Director's Report (ID#26-0707): CRA Executive Director Sous Needo presented updates. Downtown highlights: 495 organizations contacted for the library redevelopment, two staff attended the American Alliance Museums annual meeting, Indigo Apartments (208 units) leasing, Osceola parking garage tenant interviews, Evo project updates, and new business Glazed Donuts opening. North Greenwood highlights: new murals at Safe House, Cherry Harris Park, North Greenwood Library, and Head Start Center; a shipping container village project (Taste of the Village event that evening); property disposition at 103 Northeast Avenue; and upcoming public meetings (June 30 – BayCare Sound guest speakers, July 7 – North Ward CRA community advisory committee meeting). The report was received without objection.

Key Outcomes

  • Approved the minutes of May 18, 2026 (unanimous).
  • Approved the 2025 Annual Financial Statement and audit report (unanimous).
  • Authorized staff to negotiate a development, purchase, and sale agreement with Archway Partners LLC for the seven downtown parcels (unanimous).
  • Received the Director’s Report for June 2026.
  • No further business was discussed; the meeting adjourned.

Meeting Transcript

Thank you guys. And I hate I appreciate what all CREs doing and the opportunity to be part of the North Greenwood district and really the support and really what it means to us as a business trying to make this happen in uh in really North Greenwood. And also this weekend is Father's Day, all we'll get to throw free. Right? Yeah, well, thank you. And you've been there. I've been there for a while now. So you're um uh sustaining business and appreciate your continued success. And uh for those for those out there wondering, it's it's real hatchets. So it's completely safe, it's very well monitored, and um yeah, and you do a great job. It's a lot of fun for those. I've done it myself with my son, and it's it's a fun activity. So congratulations and thank you for being here. That move to item 4.2 on the agenda. Of the 2025 annual financial statement. Good afternoon, Monica Mitchell, assistant finance director. This item is for the presentation of the community redevelopment agency's audit for the fiscal year ending September 30th, 2025. The CRA began issuing separately audited financial statements in fiscal year 2020. Although CRA funds have always been included in the city's audit, which will be presented later this afternoon. The transactions receive more audit attention here, and this audit also includes procedures to test for compliance with certain provisions of Chapter 163 of the Florida statutes, commonly known as the Community Redevelopment Act. Lauren Strope, our audit partner with Jerry Beckard, is here to do the presentation. I don't know. There it is. Okay. Hello, good afternoon. My name is Lauren Strope, and I am an audit partner with Cherry Beckard. I'm going to begin by telling you, I promise you I'm a better auditor than a presenter. Uh so if I start going too fast, just let me know. But I'm happy to be here with you today. This is just a brief agenda of the items that we're going to go cover, but I'll just go ahead and hop into it. This was your client service team, as I mentioned. My name was Lauren Strope. I did want to point out Brian Lithick. He does what's referred to in my industry as a cold review, meaning after me and my team complete our audit of the financial statements, he reviews everything and makes sure that our I's are dotted and our T's are crossed. All right, probably the most important slide of all the results of the audit. So we did complete your audit and we issued the financial statements May 8th of this year. Um and we actually follow a variety of different standards when we complete your audit. The first is generally accepted auditing standards, and the second is government auditing standards. We'll get into that a little bit more in the next slide. But on that first report, uh we have issued an unmodified opinion. Sounds a little funny. You used to be called an unqualified opinion, but essentially it's a clean opinion, and it's the highest level of assurance that we can provide you as your external auditor. It's the only type of opinion that you want. We also mentioned a no comment letter under Chapter 10.50 rules of the auditor general of the state of Florida. That's what Monica alluded to a little bit ago that has some very specific CIA compliance requirements within it. And we are pleased to report that we're issued in a modified opinion there as well. And finally, we issued an unmodified opinion on compliance with the investment policy here in the state of Florida. All right, I know you've all been hanging on the edge of your seats since I told you we go over the government auditing standards report. But what that does is really requires us to take a deep dive into the internal controls that you have here over financial reporting. And when we did that, we need to evaluate if we have any findings whether or not there are material weakness or a significant deficiency.

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