Gulfport City Council Meeting - October 3, 2023
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Gulfport City Council Meeting - October 3, 2023
The Gulfport City Council met on Tuesday, October 3, 2023, at 6:00 PM at City Hall. The meeting included a presentation from Pinellas County Commissioner Rene Flowers, public comments addressing police conduct and community initiatives, a consent agenda of 11 routine resolutions, first readings of two pension ordinances, and several resolutions including a controversial fundraising contract for the senior center and vehicle purchases. The meeting adjourned after council comments.
Presentations
- Commissioner Rene Flowers provided an overview of Pinellas County operations, highlighting a $3.8 billion budget, a 41% allocation to the sheriff's department, 5.7 million overnight visitors, 31,000 new businesses, and the importance of Penny for Pinellas funding (41% of which goes to affordable housing). She noted the county maintained its millage rate despite a 10.8% increase in property tax revenue, and emphasized partnership with the city on the 22nd Avenue corridor and beach restoration.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Diana and Kevin (residents) – Diana described being bullied by a local business owner, traumatized by the police department, and disrespected by Councilmember Ian O'Hara after a meeting about Officer Kevin Chastain's conduct. She alleged Officer Chastain gossiped about her with the harasser instead of filing a report, and that Chief Vincent supported the behavior. Kevin echoed these claims, stating the police chief and command subordinates condoned business owners threatening customers at their homes. They called for acknowledgment of unprofessionalism.
- Diane Daniel (Indian Rocks Beach) – Introduced her nonprofit "Vacation Donations" to reduce food and item waste in vacation rentals. She offered to create a dedicated page for Gulfport on her website to centralize donation resources.
- Tommy Bixler (Lions Club) – Promoted the upcoming "Get Lei'd Dance" (luau theme) on October 13, 2023, at the Casino, with tickets $15 in advance/$20 at the door. Funds support local causes including Historical Society, Little League, Feeding Tampa Bay, scholarships, and senior center. Mentioned a November 4 veterans' pancake breakfast.
- Melissa Helmholtz and Sarah Lara-Clante (Chamber of Commerce) – Provided updates on Oktoberfest, Tuesday Market, upcoming Woman on the Rise Art Walk (October 6, proceeds to Cella Freedom for sex trafficking victims), and new chamber members. Thanks to the city for rejoining the chamber.
- Regina Buscemi – Thanked council for support of the September 11 memorial event and announced the "Welcome to Gulfport" event on Friday, October 13, at 6:00 PM at Scout Hall.
Discussion Items
- Kinetic Fundraising Contract (Resolution 2023-87) – Moved early in the agenda due to representatives' travel schedule. Councilmember Thanos questioned the slow progress: only $2 million raised toward a $15 million goal for the senior center, with a missed August deadline. Kinetic representatives stated they have $6.6 million in asks outstanding, a 100% success rate on solicitations so far, and a plan to reach a $5 million benchmark by December 2023. They added a team member to capitalize on year-end giving. Councilmember Thanos voted no, expressing doubt the money could be raised; the resolution passed 4-1.
- Vehicle Purchases (Resolutions 2023-90 and 2023-91) – Two work trucks (Chevy Silverado 2500 for $60,000, Ford F-150 for $39,000) and a sanitation truck (side-loader from Rush Truck Centers) were approved. Councilmember Thanos proposed using $30,000 budgeted for website improvements to upgrade the F-150 to an electric version costing $82,000, citing long-term savings and environmental benefits. Council debated infrastructure, battery life, and availability; the electric F-150 cannot be ordered until 2024. Council decided to wait for more suitable hybrid/electric vehicles at the October 17 meeting and approved the gas-powered trucks. The sanitation truck (at $400,000) was approved unanimously.
- Affordable Housing Inventory (Resolution 2023-85) – The city certified that it has no surplus fee-simple properties suitable for affordable housing, as required by Florida Statute 166.0451 (effective July 1, 2023). Passed unanimously.
Key Outcomes
- Consent Agenda (Items 5.a–5.k) – Approved unanimously. Included: meeting minutes of September 18, 2023; resolutions for library materials (Baker & Taylor), Granicus platforms, citywide managed services (My TSC, LLC), building services assistance (Pinellas County/Safebuilt), sanitation vehicle repairs (Rush Truck Center), shade sails for beach playground (Creative Shade Solutions), street sweeping (USA Services of Florida), surf-turf purchase (Project Innovations), dance services (Retro Production), and holiday decoration services (Rileighs Outdoor/Clark Sales Display).
- Ordinance 2023-13 (Firefighters' Pension) – First reading. Amends Chapter 15, Article IV for IRS compliance. No financial impact per actuaries. Passed unanimously.
- Ordinance 2023-14 (General Employees' Pension) – First reading. Increases the benefit multiplier from 2.0% to 2.3% to aid recruitment/retention. Passed unanimously.
- Resolution 2023-85 (Affordable Housing Inventory) – Approved unanimously.
- Resolution 2023-86 (GEMS Title VI Nondiscrimination Policy) – Adopted for FDOT grant application. Passed unanimously.
- Resolution 2023-87 (Kinetic Fundraising) – Passed 4-1 (Thanos opposed).
- Resolution 2023-88 (Shumaker Advisors) – Renewed contract for state lobbying; reported securing $1.2 million for 58th Street and $1 million for sanitary sewer. Passed unanimously.
- Resolution 2023-89 (Thorn Run Partners) – New federal lobbying contract; reported securing $1.5 million for senior center design and $2.5 million for sanitary sewer. Passed unanimously.
- Resolution 2023-90 (Work Trucks) – Approved purchase of two gas trucks, sale of two old trucks. Passed unanimously.
- Resolution 2023-91 (Sanitation Truck) – Approved purchase and sale of old truck. Passed unanimously.
- New Business – Council agreed to schedule a presentation on tree canopy by Dean Hay (ISA board-certified arborist) at the next meeting. Councilmember Thanos requested closure of Hall Street between 9th and 11th for Halloween evening; staff noted simple street closure can be arranged with neighbor approval.
- Council Comments – Councilmember O'Hara thanked participants in Gecko Fest, promoted the cash mob and art show. Councilmember Thanos announced Jeff Brandis will speak on affordable housing November 21, and she will attend a Florida League of Cities committee meeting. Vice Mayor Ray noted the passing of community member Lawrence Burke, with a celebration of life at Habana Cafe on Saturday at 6:00 PM. Mayor Henderson gave a science update on the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return and subglacial lake life discovery.
Meeting Transcript
Stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't. Under God, individuals with liberty and justice. All right, roll call, please, city clerk. Councilmember O'Hara. Here. Councilmember Thanos. Here. Councilmember Brown here. Vice Mayor Ray. Here. Mayor Henderson. Here. City Attorney Salzman. Here. City Manager O'Reilly. Here. Deputy City Clerk Hartman present. Thank you. All right. Pleasure to have you at the meeting. Thank you. So we have a presentation this evening. We have uh we're lucky enough to have Commissioner County Commissioner Renee Flowers here with us tonight. Thank you very much for taking the time to come down to Gulfport. Thank you. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening, everyone. Thank you so very much. And it's a pleasure to be here. Um, we're neighbors. I live not too far from here. So to uh Mayor Sam, that's what I call him, and to Vice Mayor Paul Ray, and to all of the city council members as well as city attorney and city manager. For those of you lovely folks out here, thank you so much for having me. I just um want to make sure that I am uh touring Pinellas County, not just my district, Gulfport is a part of my wonderful district, but the entire county just kind of talking about what it is that we're doing uh in the county government system and to make sure that you know I am available to you for questions or for uh serving together on projects. Anything that you need that I can do, I'm certainly available. I just want to give a little highlight about our budget season. I'm sure that you all just completed yours, and it tends to be a very interesting process, especially as we look at the times where we are now. As you know, Pinellas County is huge. We have close to a million people residing in our county, and we have about a thousand people moving in on a weekly basis, just exactly where they are parking. You can just only look at the new apartment complexes and houses that are going up, and you will see that they are taking advantage of our lovely beach communities. And so, as such, we're having to look at stormwater sewer uh issues and look at things where we're providing um those services to them and expanding our resources so that it doesn't kind of creep up on us. As you know, Pinellas County has its own local administrative services, and then we have our constitutionals that we fund. We do not manage their day-to-day operations, but their budgets come from our overall budget. Our budget is close to 3.8 billion dollars. And while that sounds like a lot of money, when you look at the unfunded mandates that come out of Tallahassee, it really is not. For example, Tallahassee decided that the FRS increase was going to be put back down on local governments, and so that caused a huge increase in our budget to our sheriff's department, where his budget now takes up about 41% of our overall income. I believe it's worth it because they make sure that we have safety and security in our communities. However, just looking at that percentage, you can see that there's quite a bit going on.
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