Welcome everyone to the city council workshop.

I will have a call to order by the city clerk and then roll call.

Council Mayor Ferdovich?

Here.

Councilmember Thanos?

Here.

Vice Mayor Brown?

Here.

Councilmember Ray?

Here.

Mayor Henderson.

Here.

City Manager O'Reilly.

City Attorney Salzman.

City Clerk to meet the president.

All right.

So everybody, thank you for coming.

This is the place to be if you're gonna have comments on these two items.

I know we've got public comment right up front, but since public comment tonight is specific to these two discussion items, uh the way I'm gonna do it is break it down we'll do 2A first, which is dealing with the rent stabilization issue.

And so what we'll do is we'll have the comments from the city manager, um, any other presentation that might be tied to that, and then open it to public comment and then have council discussion, and then we'll do the same thing for short-term rental regulation.

That way there'll be two opportunities to comment if you're here to comment on both.

I'm gonna do one public comment for each one.

I'll put it wherever you like.

Not in the middle though.

Okay, my thought was people have opinions now, but once they hear what we have to say, they may have other questions or something.

Well, that's why the presentation is gonna go first, and then I mean we can put it after our discussion or before, but I'm not gonna mix it up by putting in the middle.

So which do you want?

I don't mind which way we do it.

Well, maybe we should have them first then, because then we'll hear what they have to say.

No, I thought that would yeah, that was the intent.

Right, I I would do both, but okay, all right, great.

All right.

So the first item up on the list is the processes establishment application, implementation, and enforcement of rent stabilization or otherwise known as rent controls.

Uh so I'll turn it over to the city manager to introduce this.

Thank you, Mayor.

Mayor, um, council had had brief cons discussions in regards to uh in response to comments that it received during public session previously about is it feasible for the city to implement some type of rent stabilization or rent controls.

Um very clearly it's specifically laid out in state statute that the requirements and the necessity that what you would need to do to effect something to this effect.

What the statute does provide is that you would draft an ordinance that is supported by documentation and feasible that could be quantified, which subsequently would then allow you to pass an ordinance if you elected to schedule a referendum.

The referendum would have it can only be enacted.

Rent controls or rent stabilization can only be enacted by the res voters of the municipality, and it can only be for one year.

Can I so can everybody hear him?

Because somebody commented to me that sometimes it's hard to hear you.

Oh okay, no matter for me.

Okay, that's fine.

Um so basically, you would have to address the issue, substantiate it, vote for an ordinance to then set a referendum question, which then would be based on pending on timing, it may be as late as next November.

And it subsequently then council the voters would vote, and it would only be in effect for one year.

You could do this.

And you have to document and sustain the fact that there is a housing emergency.

And how do you do that?

You have a study done that establishes that there's rents are based on rent or lack of availability.

You would set the criteria, and you'd have to articulate what criteria you're trying to justify.

And that's all laid out.

I believe I provided you all the state statute.

Yeah, it's very specific on what steps need to be taken.

And do you mind going through just a little bit of what the state um what would be allowable through that process if we were to pursue that and also what the county um ordinance uh that St.

Pete has gone with?

Sure.

Um basically what would happen as I outlined the um you would need to recite to articulate and recite in the proposed ordinance the findings of supported via documentable sources or commission study establishing the existence in fact of a housing emergency so grave as to constitute a serious menace to the general public, and that such controls are necessary and proper to eliminate such grave housing emergency.

So you you'd have to articulate what you believe the emergency is and then have documentation to support it, which would then support your passing of the ordinance that would set the referendum question.

Okay.