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Record of Proceedings

Gulfport City Council Meeting - October 18, 2022: Pension Amendments, Historical Society Lease, and Public Comment on Land Vacation

City Council — Tuesday, October 18, 2022
BodyGulfport, Florida
SessionCity Council
DateTuesday, October 18, 2022
StatusFILED
Video Record
Meeting Thumbnail
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Transcript — Verbatim

Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.

Speaker 1

5:24

I'll call this meeting to order for October 7th, 18th, 2022.

5:30

Um invocation tonight will be given by Council Member Michael for Dovick.

5:34

Please check join us in rising.

Speaker 2

5:36

Everybody in the audience, please stand.

5:40

All right, today's uh quote of the day.

5:42

Uh the small winds and little things in life matter look closely and you will see that there is much to celebrate on a daily basis.

5:50

And that oh the other one was when uh what I meant to read was you're braver than you believe and stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.

5:57

AA milne.

Speaker 1

5:59

Thank you.

Speaker 2

6:02

Yeah, go ahead.

6:02

Sorry.

Speaker 1

6:07

And two public one nation under God.

6:14

Thank

Unassigned speaker

6:15

you.

Speaker 3

6:18

Thank you.

6:19

Uh we'll have the roll call, please.

6:20

Councilmember Fedovich?

Unassigned speaker

6:22

Here.

Speaker 3

6:22

Councilmember Thanos here.

6:23

Councilmember Ray.

6:25

Vice Mayor Brown.

6:25

Here.

6:26

City Manager O'Reilly.

6:27

Crene Salisbury.

6:28

City Clerk Meath President and Mayor Henderson has asked to be excused.

Speaker 1

6:33

Okay, thank you for being here.

6:35

Um we are here to welcome your public comments, if there are any, and that's on stuff that's not already on the agenda.

Unassigned speaker

6:43

That's what

Speaker 4

6:44

I'm here for.

6:45

All right.

6:45

Thank you all for your service.

Speaker 2

6:47

Really appreciate it.

Speaker 4

6:49

You have to wait your turn on the okay.

6:51

Uh really appreciate your service, and of course, you know, I've lived here 10 years and I I just love this space.

6:55

I just it's incredible.

6:57

Um the reason I came tonight was be I went to the planning meeting for the disputed land beach, whatever it's called, beach road drive.

7:05

Um, and I gotta tell you, it's sitting uneasy for me.

7:08

It really is.

7:09

And there's a couple of reasons.

7:11

Uh first of all, you know, I have a house here right across the street from Tomlson Park, uh, and I've got an alley behind my my backyard, and there's people going back and forth from front and back constantly, night and day with the park.

7:25

I gotta be honest with you.

7:27

And when I moved here, I knew that was gonna happen.

7:29

I I knew that I was living in a city, and that's the way it was.

7:32

And when I went to the planning meeting, the people that were affected, and believe me, I feel for these people, they knew that those lands behind there were public lands.

7:41

They knew it when they bought those homes.

7:44

And so I started thinking about it, even after the meeting, and I started thinking, you know, the first ten feet of my property from the road is Gulfport's land.

7:54

Now, if we give these people this land, does that set the precedent that maybe I should say, wait a minute, that ten feet?

8:02

I have all this beautiful stuff planted there, and Gulfport can just come in if you know, rightly so, and say,

Unassigned speaker

8:09

you

Speaker 4

8:10

we're gonna take it all back.

8:12

And so I'm thinking, wait a minute now, how can we I mean, what is the point to this?

8:17

Where does the the city of Gulfport benefit by giving these people the land?

8:24

And the other thing that worried me is because during the planning meeting, they talked about it had to be a road, it had to be a road.

8:32

Well, I see variances going on all the time for private properties.

8:38

Now, I can't believe that a public variance is not allowed to happen.

8:43

Is that is that not allowed to happen?

8:45

I'm I mean I'm asking that question because the the way that the lawyer, one of the there was several so many lawyers, and one of them for the city was so adamant about pushing this thing through.

8:58

And I would that it just worried me because I just don't see how the 12,000 residents of Gulfport are gonna benefit at all from giving this away and that it could easily I mean I went down there, although it's all gated off.

9:12

I didn't know it was there.

9:14

As a matter of fact, I wish I had known it was there.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural████████████████████████████28%
Public Engagement████████████████16%
Personnel Matters█████████████13%
Public Safety████████████12%
Transportation Safety███████████11%
Economic Development████████8%
Community Engagement████████8%
Historic Preservation████4%
Summary of Proceedings

Gulfport City Council Meeting - October 18, 2022

The Gulfport City Council met on Tuesday, October 18, 2022, at 6:00 PM at City Hall. The meeting included public comments regarding a disputed land vacation, approval of consent items, three pension ordinance amendments, a lease agreement with the Gulfport Historical Society, and appointment of a trustee to the Police Pension Board. Council members also provided informational reports on regional planning, electric vehicles, and upcoming events.

Consent Calendar

  • Approved minutes from August 16, September 6, and September 20, 2022.
  • Approved Resolution 2022-73 setting the 2023 Municipal General Election date for Tuesday, March 14, 2023, and authorizing the City Manager to contract with the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections to conduct the election for Ward 2 and Ward 4 Council positions. (Motion passed unanimously)

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Albert (resident, property across from Tomlinson Park): Expressed concern about the city vacating disputed land (Beach Road/beach drive) to adjacent homeowners. Argued that buyers knew the land was public, that setting a precedent could affect other public lands (e.g., his own first 10 feet), and questioned the benefit to the 12,000 Gulfport residents. Asked for a map of all undeveloped public lands.
  • Walter Barker (Trade Winds Drive): Criticized the zoning meeting on the land vacation, noting lack of security despite a packed room and palpable anger. Stated that lawyers were rational but the process devolved into recriminations against those wanting to keep land public. Recommended training for the zoning board on decorum and suggested moving the next meeting to the Hickman due to high interest.

Discussion Items

  • City Manager's Report: No report. Staff clarified that a map (the original plat, known as the "King's map") showing public streets, alleys, and vacated lands is available at City Hall.
  • Ordinance 2022-09 (Firefighters' Pension Fund): Amended Chapter 15, Article IV to provide more flexibility in investment asset allocation and bring the plan into compliance with the Internal Revenue Code. City Manager noted a minimal financial impact of 0.1%. Approved unanimously.
  • Ordinance 2022-10 (Police Officers' Pension Fund): Amended Chapter 15, Article V similarly for flexibility and IRS compliance. No financial impact. Approved unanimously.
  • Ordinance 2022-11 (General Employees' Pension Plan): Amended Chapter 15, Article VI for flexibility and IRS compliance. No financial impact. Approved unanimously.
  • Ordinance 2022-12 (Lease with Gulfport Historical Society): Authorized the City Manager to enter into a lease agreement with the Gulfport Historical Society, Inc. for managing the museum and Briar Hall Art Center. Councilmember Ray proposed an amendment to remove the additional five-year renewal option, making the initial term five years without automatic renewal, to ensure consistency with other lease agreements. The motion was amended and approved unanimously.
  • Resolution 2022-74 (Police Pension Board Trustee): Appointing a trustee to the Municipal Police Officers' Pension Board. Councilmember Fridovich moved to appoint Vicki Grant, citing her extensive experience. No second was received. Councilmember Thanos then moved to appoint Dan Lecky. Councilmember Fridovich opposed, preferring Grant's experience. Councilmember Thanos argued that Lecky is known to council and that applicants should introduce themselves. Vice Mayor Brown supported Lecky. The motion passed 3-1 (Councilmember Thanos voted no). Dan Lecky was appointed.
  • Council Comments/Informational Reports:
    • Councilmember Fridovich: Announced appointment to the Executive Budget Committee of the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council.
    • Councilmember Thanos: Reported on Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council and Forward Pinellas meetings. Topics included lessons from Hurricane Ian (buried utilities, tiny houses, building codes), the Alice (Asset Limited, Income Employed) population, missing middle housing, affordable housing market study, US 19 transit, electric vehicle adoption (Florida second in nation but behind in charging stations), EV-ready housing, and PSTA's district dedicated transport and potential freebie service. Noted a resiliency action plan webinar on October 25 and a coalition meeting on October 28.
    • Councilmember Ray: Reported on her town hall meeting, where residents raised concerns about short-term rentals and code enforcement. City Manager O'Reilly clarified that code enforcement is primarily staff-initiated (not complaint-driven), with only about 3% of cases from complaints; data is in the October 20 agenda packet.
    • Vice Mayor Brown: Announced a town hall on November 14 at the Casino, building on previous town halls to gather community input on likes, dislikes, threats, and opportunities for Gulfport.
    • Other announcements: October Fest on Saturday at Veterans Park; Homecoming week at Boca Ciega High School with game Friday; beach playground shades removed for playground replacement; gecko light bulb at the beach was damaged by Hurricane Ian and replacement is pending.

Key Outcomes

  • Approved consent agenda (minutes and election resolution).
  • Approved all three pension ordinances (2022-09, 2022-10, 2022-11) unanimously.
  • Approved Ordinance 2022-12 with amendment to remove the additional five-year renewal option (unanimous).
  • Appointed Dan Lecky as trustee to the Police Pension Board (3-1 vote).
  • Council received updates on regional planning, code enforcement data, and upcoming events.
  • Meeting adjourned.

Meeting Transcript

I'll call this meeting to order for October 7th, 18th, 2022. Um invocation tonight will be given by Council Member Michael for Dovick. Please check join us in rising. Everybody in the audience, please stand. All right, today's uh quote of the day. Uh the small winds and little things in life matter look closely and you will see that there is much to celebrate on a daily basis. And that oh the other one was when uh what I meant to read was you're braver than you believe and stronger than you seem and smarter than you think. AA milne. Thank you. Yeah, go ahead. Sorry. And two public one nation under God. Thank you. Thank you. Uh we'll have the roll call, please. Councilmember Fedovich? Here. Councilmember Thanos here. Councilmember Ray. Vice Mayor Brown. Here. City Manager O'Reilly. Crene Salisbury. City Clerk Meath President and Mayor Henderson has asked to be excused. Okay, thank you for being here. Um we are here to welcome your public comments, if there are any, and that's on stuff that's not already on the agenda. That's what I'm here for. All right. Thank you all for your service. Really appreciate it. You have to wait your turn on the okay. Uh really appreciate your service, and of course, you know, I've lived here 10 years and I I just love this space. I just it's incredible. Um the reason I came tonight was be I went to the planning meeting for the disputed land beach, whatever it's called, beach road drive. Um, and I gotta tell you, it's sitting uneasy for me. It really is. And there's a couple of reasons. Uh first of all, you know, I have a house here right across the street from Tomlson Park, uh, and I've got an alley behind my my backyard, and there's people going back and forth from front and back constantly, night and day with the park. I gotta be honest with you. And when I moved here, I knew that was gonna happen. I I knew that I was living in a city, and that's the way it was. And when I went to the planning meeting, the people that were affected, and believe me, I feel for these people, they knew that those lands behind there were public lands. They knew it when they bought those homes. And so I started thinking about it, even after the meeting, and I started thinking, you know, the first ten feet of my property from the road is Gulfport's land. Now, if we give these people this land, does that set the precedent that maybe I should say, wait a minute, that ten feet? I have all this beautiful stuff planted there, and Gulfport can just come in if you know, rightly so, and say, you we're gonna take it all back.

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