Gulfport City Council Meeting – January 21, 2025: Recovery, Resignation, and Appointments
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Gulfport City Council Meeting – January 21, 2025: Recovery, Resignation, and Appointments
The Gulfport City Council met on Tuesday, January 21, 2025, at 6:00 PM to address ongoing hurricane recovery efforts, hear public concerns about substantial damage letters, receive updates on opioid and homeless outreach programs, and consider a series of resolutions for storm-related repairs. The meeting also included the resignation of Council Member Paul Ray (Ward 3) and initiation of the appointment process for his successor.
Presentations
- Pinellas County Opioid Programs – Craig Hare, Director of EMS & Fire Administration, presented data showing a decrease in fentanyl overdoses countywide over five years, with about 50 overdoses in Gulfport in the last fiscal year. He highlighted the Leave Behind Narcan program, distributing free intranasal naloxone kits at community events and through first responders, and the referral program for substance use disorder treatment via Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services. Overdoses span all demographics. Council members asked about accidental overdoses in older adults and the role of Narcan.
- Directions for Living – April Lott, President & CEO, reported on the outreach program in Gulfport (2.5 days/week, shared with Treasure Island). She noted that it takes 4–6 encounters to build trust; they see about 14 unique individuals per month on average. Successes include getting some individuals into assisted living facilities and treatment. Relapse is part of recovery. Cold night shelters are at capacity (e.g., 250 in Clearwater). The 2025 Point-in-Time count is January 31. Council discussed veteran homelessness and the need for continued support.
Public Comments & Testimony
Many residents spoke during open public comment, primarily about frustration with the substantial damage letter process following Hurricanes Helene and Milton:
- Several residents reported receiving letters claiming 82–97% damage despite having no interior flooding or minimal damage (e.g., only water in an unfinished garage). They described inaccuracies in FEMA/Tidal Basin assessments, missing key data, and inconsistent classifications. Some had their cases reversed after city staff inspections.
- One resident requested a public apology from Mayor Henderson for his comment at the last meeting that he “couldn’t afford to live in zone A,” calling it insensitive.
- Multiple speakers urged the city to hold a public information session or workshop to explain the process and answer questions collectively.
- Others offered to volunteer in the permitting office to help reduce the backlog.
- During the discussion on Resolution 2025-12, several commenters argued that the fee adjustment for large vacant properties should be extended to all storm-displaced residents.
- A few residents nominated candidates (Jennifer Webb, Cozy Jackson, Don Howard) for the vacant Ward 3 council seat.
- One speaker addressed the Sunshine Law, and another criticized alleged censorship on local Facebook forums.
Discussion Items
City Manager Report (Storm Recovery Update)
City Manager O’Reilly and Building Official Justin provided a detailed update:
- As of January 20, 2025, the city had issued 413 substantial damage estimates (216 “substantially damaged,” 197 “non-substantially damaged”) out of an estimated 600 affected properties.
- Thirty-six properties that received damage letters had no damage; three have been fully reversed with new letters issued via the public portal.
- Many errors stemmed from Tidal Basin inspectors: data entry mistakes, missing elevation data, and reliance on hearsay (e.g., measuring flood height from a neighbor’s property). Errors are clustered in certain streets.
- Staff are now pulling original inspection sheets to verify data, sending errors back to Tidal Basin for correction.
- The city has hired two additional plan reviewers, is contracting with Tew and Taylor for four more (Resolution 2025-13, $106,500), and has requested two more from the Florida Department of Emergency Management.
- A private appraisal option can allow homeowners to “walk out” of substantial damage if repair costs are under 50% of the appraised value.
- Council discussed the possibility of an open-house information session for residents to get direct assistance; city manager will develop a format.
Resolutions
- Resolution 2025-12 (Sanitation charge adjustment for large vacant multi-dwelling properties in coastal high-hazard areas): Passed 4–1 (Councilmember Thanos opposed, arguing the benefit should be extended to all displaced residents). The resolution reduces sanitation charges to a single commercial unit for three properties (two large complexes and a 12-unit apartment) that are completely vacant due to storm damage. Standby water/sewer rates are available for all properties with meters turned off.
- Resolution 2025-13 (Agreement with Tew and Taylor for plan review services): Passed unanimously. Cost: $106,500 for four licensed plan reviewers to help clear the permitting backlog.
- Resolution 2025-14 (Scope of services with Reuben & Clarson for seawall and intersection repairs at Shore Boulevard and 54th Street South): Passed unanimously. Engineering cost: $40,480. Work includes fixing washout, waterline break, and storm drainage.
- Resolution 2025-15 (Agreement with Goal Setter, LLC for marina restoration): Passed unanimously. Three bids received. Work includes rebuilding the ship store, restrooms, and laundry at the Gulfport Municipal Marina.
- Resolution 2025-16 (Agreement with St. Pete Construction Group for restoration of Michael J. Yakes Recreation Center): Passed unanimously. Low bid $165,000. Work includes replacing interior finishes, electrical, bathrooms, water heaters; estimated two months to complete. Elevator repairs already underway.
New Business / Council Comments
- Council accepted the resignation of Council Member Paul Ray (Ward 3), effective January 10, 2025. The appointment must be made by February 10, 2025. Council agreed to solicit letters of interest and resumes by January 28, 2025, and will select a replacement at the next meeting. Nominees mentioned during the meeting: Jennifer Webb, Cozy Jackson, Don Howard, and Cassandra Hadid.
- Councilmember Thanos shared updates on Elevate Florida flood elevation grants, Tampa Bay Regional Planning resiliency initiatives, Arbor Day Foundation tree programs, and Florida League of Cities legislative priorities.
- Mayor Henderson apologized for his earlier comment about affordability in flood zones, clarifying it was taken out of context.
Key Outcomes
- All five resolutions (2025-12 through 2025-16) were approved. Resolution 2025-12 passed 4–1.
- City staff will continue reviewing and correcting substantial damage letters; 36 no-damage cases identified, 3 reversed so far.
- The city will add up to eight additional plan reviewers to accelerate permitting.
- The appointment process for the vacant Ward 3 council seat will proceed with a deadline of January 28 for expressions of interest and a vote at the next regular meeting.
- An open-house informational event for residents on hurricane recovery is being planned.
- Debris removal from city properties was completed as of January 19, costing approximately $4.5 million.
Meeting Transcript
Everyone to the regular city council meeting for Gulf Fort Florida. Rimication nights given by Vice Mayor Michael Frodovich, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Please join us in Rasmus. Monsters are real and ghosts are too are real too. They live inside of us. Sometimes they win. Vice Mayor Ferdovich? Councilmember Thanos? Here. Council Member Brown? Here. Mayor Henderson. Here. City Attorney Salzman. Here. City Manager O'Reilly? Here. City Clerk Carico is present. All right. Got a couple of presentations this evening. Our first one is Pinell's County Opioid Program's presentation. We've got Craig here from the director of uh EMS and Fire Administration. Thanks for being with us, sir. Yeah. Good evening, Mayor and Council members. Uh Craig here. I'm with uh Penells County and I serve as the director of EMS and Fire Administration. And uh guess there's a request for us to come down and just talk a little bit about opioid overdose and uh some of the efforts that are ongoing. Uh Michelle Salinski is our data analyst and uh is uh running our uh growth management programs uh for the county. Oh, sorry, I thought sorry, I thought it was picking up. Okay. I'll do a a recap of that really quick. Uh so my name is Craig here, I'm the director of the MS and Fire Administration for the county. And we were asked by counsel to come down and talk a little bit about opioid overdoses. And so uh over the last five years we've seen uh a decrease in the number of fentanyl overdoses um across the the county, so that's uh, you know, um good for us as a community. Uh still is a problem though. So in this last fiscal year, about fifty or so um overdoses in uh golf port. Um your police department does have uh Narcan that uh patrol is able to administer. Uh fire rescue when they arrive with the paramedics uh also has Narcan. And so um our job is that immediate, you know, stabilization of the patient, uh getting them transferred to the hospital. Um, but from there we have a couple of programs that uh really help us um, you know, support the community. One is Leave Behind Narcan, uh, giving Narcan uh kids out in community events, so that happens either at your community center or if you have your fire department uh uh out at an event. Or we also give them to patients or their families uh if they've had a call, or we think that there's you know a possibility that uh that may benefit them. And so that's a piece. Uh the county we're also uh the paramedics are directly referring uh patients of substance use disorder to Gulf Coast uh Jewish community family services, and they're able to get people into um Suboxone treatment uh for uh their overdose. So I had just a couple of slides uh here across the county. We've been uh pushing on getting uh leave behind Narcan uh kits out to the community, and you can see uh you know those numbers there. Once we've kind of saturated public events, uh you can see our numbers are are coming down a little bit. And then uh next slide. And you can see uh you know, by agency uh that uh that distribution.
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