Gulfport City Council Meeting Summary: December 16, 2025
Gulfport City Council Meeting Summary: December 16, 2025
The Gulfport City Council convened on December 16, 2025, for a holiday-season meeting marked by the passing of former Councilmember Michael Frodovich. The session featured a significant state grant award for stormwater mitigation, extensive public testimony regarding business signage, homelessness, and the de-annexation of Lincoln Cemetery, and strategic discussions on traffic safety, zoning changes, and tree inventory technology. The Council unanimously approved resolutions for the potable water storm mitigation project, municipal telephone system upgrades, and a new street sweeping contract with the City of St. Petersburg. Key outcomes included directing staff to research potential density increases in residential zones and establishing a timeline for a public forum with stakeholders regarding the cemetery dispute.
Consent Calendar
- Disaster Debris Removal: Unanimously approved Resolution 2025-106 (authorizing an interlocal agreement for disaster debris collection) and Resolution 2025-107 (designating collection responsibilities within Pinellas County). Councilmember Shaw requested these items be removed from the consent calendar for open discussion, which was agreed upon. (Note: These items were subsequently voted on as Discussion Items).
- Telephone System Upgrade: The Council removed Resolution 2025-104 (authorizing the agreement with TeleVoo IPS for municipal telephone upgrades) from the consent calendar for further discussion before voting on it later in the meeting.
- Street Sweeping: The Council removed Resolution 2025-105 (authorizing an agreement with the City of St. Petersburg for street sweeping) from the consent calendar for a request from Councilmember Shaw for a presentation on scheduling and procedures. (Note: This item was subsequently voted on as a Discussion Item).
Public Comments & Testimony
- Amy Costa (Midtown Business Collective): Expressed strong support for small businesses and requested an open discussion regarding changes to the advertising and signage ordinance. She noted that current ordinances prevent small businesses with cottage-style facades from displaying visible signage, hindering visibility for downtown shoppers.
- Unnamed Veteran (Homeless): Expressed opposition to the prioritization of ordinance enforcement over environmental cleanliness and the treatment of the homeless. He detailed grievances regarding overfilled ashtrays and disarray at Beachway Park. He strongly opposed what he perceived as micromanagement and coercion of the homeless population, asserting his dignity as a 20-year decorated veteran.
- Carrie Nelson (Ward 3, Stetson area): Expressed full support for recent community events, specifically the Santa Rampage Parade, and praised the ongoing roadway improvements in Ward 3. She wished the city a happy holiday season.
- Mary Henrahan (League of Women Voters): Requested city support (facility use and volunteer coordination) to host a nonpartisan candidate forum by the League of Women Voters during the upcoming municipal election season to ensure a fair and peaceful election.
- Julie Armstrong (Private Resident): Reported that she had organized a recurring quarterly art exhibit in the council chambers via a partnership with the City Clerk's office. She announced the first theme would be "dogs" and plans to launch a social media campaign in mid-January.
- Wolfgang Dininger (Beachway Park/Gulfport Grassroots): Provided statistics on the "Beyond the Beach" cleanup (2,105 lbs of trash collected this year) and announced upcoming events, including a joint cleanup with Eckerd College and a new "Swap and Drop" event in April. He expressed optimism regarding the continued partnership with the environmental group.
- Courtney Prokopis (Private Resident): Urged the Council to support a resolution seeking consent for the de-annexation of Lincoln Cemetery. She framed the de-annexation as a moral imperative and a necessary step for accountability and reconciliation regarding historical actions by the City of St. Petersburg.
- Lenny Gukenheimer (Private Resident): Requested an update on the status of the City Charter review and referendum questions.
- Lauren Sternward (Private Resident): Expressed full support for the de-annexation of the cemetery, echoing the sentiments of previous speakers regarding the wishes of the ancestors and descendants.
- Bob Canning (Private Resident): Highlighted concerns regarding property tax increases for caregivers, citing a specific case where taxes jumped from $1,100 to $11,800 after a grandmother's death, and sought clarification on how the city handles such tax burdens.
Discussion Items
- State Funding Presentation: State Representative Linda Cheney presented a check for $1.3 million for the Gulfport Potable Water Proactive Storm Mitigation Project. She praised the legislative battle to secure funding amidst a $107.4 billion state budget with significant veto threats. She also announced a proposed $3 million appropriation for road safety/flooding and a $2.5 million appropriation for the senior center for the upcoming fiscal year.
- Lincoln Cemetery De-annexation: The Council discussed the request to de-annex Lincoln Cemetery, which St. Petersburg has already resolved to support. The City Attorney noted the conflict regarding who initiated the request, citing a private conversation with Pastor Williams (owner) who stated he had not yet requested de-annexation. Vice Mayor Thanos and Councilmember Shaw expressed concern that the City of Gulfport is being used as political fodder for St. Petersburg's internal affairs. The consensus was supportive of initiating a direct meeting with Pastor Williams and Mayor Welch to clarify the owner's desire and the legal process before taking further action.
- Telephone System Upgrade (Resolution 2025-104): City Staff presented the upgrade to a cloud-based VoIP system (TeleVoo IPS) to replace the aging physical server. City Manager O'Reilly supported the move as a necessary infrastructure update to maintain reliability during power outages and to eliminate legacy lines that will be discontinued by the state provider by March 2026. Councilmember Early expressed concern about the reliance on a single pre-approved vendor but acknowledged the qualifications-based procurement process.
- Street Sweeper Contract (Resolution 2025-105): City Manager O'Reilly presented the new contract with the City of St. Petersburg, which offers a $1,300 monthly cost saving and includes parking lot sweeping. Councilmember Shaw expressed concern about scheduling and requested assurance that the City of St. Petersburg would coordinate with police to ensure residents are notified and cars are moved, as well as a commitment to sweeping on sanitation days.
- Property Tax Transparency: Mayor Love presented a new website section explaining property tax breakdowns and a calculator tool. He praised the staff for translating complex tax bills into accessible information.
- SB 180 and Land Development: Mayor Love requested staff to draft an ordinance to address light pollution and increase permeable coverage requirements from 20% to 25%. Councilmember Shaw supported the initiative and recommended that Planning and Zoning review the changes.
- Zoning and Density: Mayor Love proposed having the Planning and Zoning Board research changing all R1 and R1A zones to allow duplexes or triplexes (R2/R3) to increase density, particularly in non-flood zones. Councilmember Early expressed strong opposition to moving forward with this research without more time for council deliberation, fearing it would waste staff time prematurely. Vice Mayor Thanos and Councilmember Shaw agreed to allow staff to research the implications and costs, with the understanding that no immediate action would be taken.
- Tree Inventory: Councilmember Shaw proposed a consensus to purchase volunteer tree inventory software (costing $4,500/year) from a vendor identified by the tree committee. Vice Mayor Thanos and Councilmember Early supported the purchase, requesting the software be budgeted from the existing tree budget.
- Sundown Town Resolution: Councilmember Shaw requested a public apology acknowledging Gulfport's history as a suspected sundown town. The City Manager clarified that while there is no official documentation proving the city was an official sundown town, he supported the concept of issuing a resolution stating that everyone is welcome now, suggesting a resolution be drafted for future consideration.
Key Outcomes
- Approval of $1.3 Million Grant: The Council unanimously approved Resolution 2025-108 to accept the Florida DEP grant for the Gulfport Potable Water Proactive Storm Mitigation Project. The project involves converting a dead-end water system in Town Shores to a looped system, with engineering costs deducted from the grant.
- Approval of Engineering Contract: The Council unanimously approved Resolution 2025-109 authorizing Advanced Engineering to complete the design and permitting for the Town Shores water project.
- Adoption of New Telephone System: The Council unanimously approved Resolution 2025-104 to enter into an agreement with TeleVoo IPS for municipal telephone system upgrades. The implementation is expected to take approximately three months.
- Adoption of Street Sweeping Contract: The Council unanimously approved Resolution 2025-105 to contract the City of St. Petersburg for monthly curb street and parking lot sweeping, effective immediately.
- E-Comment Policy: The Council directed the City Clerk to read only public comments from e-comment submissions where the commentator has identified themselves. They granted a two-meeting grace period for the public to adjust to the identification requirement before it becomes mandatory.
- Ballot Ordering: The City Clerk conducted the lottery for the March 10, 2026, municipal election ballot order: Jennifer Dodge (Ward 1, 1st), Joe Gunther (Ward 1, 2nd); Jennifer Webb (Ward 3, 1st), Carrie Nelson (Ward 3, 2nd).
- Charter Review: The Council agreed to hold a workshop on February 5th to review the charter referendum questions for the March ballot.
- Future Direction: The Council directed staff to research the feasibility of light pollution ordinances, permeability changes, and zoning density increases (R1/R1A to R2/R3). They also directed staff to schedule a meeting with Pastor Williams regarding the Lincoln Cemetery de-annexation.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening, everybody. Thank you for attending. Let's see, today is December 16th City Council meeting. Um, I do see a couple of faces out there that I don't know, so I would suggest that you check your phone, make sure that the uh it's turned off or in airplane mode, so we don't have any phones going off. Um besides that, we'll go ahead and we'll get started with our meeting. Tonight, uh, we will be starting with an invocation given by Marlene Shaw, and it will be followed by um a moment of silence as well. So councilmember Shaw. Optimism doesn't mean you are blind to the reality of the situation, it means you remain motivated to seek a solution to whatever problems arise. The Dalai Lama. So before we proceed this evening, I'd like to take a moment to honor the life and service of former council member Michael Frodovich, who passed away this past Sunday. Michael served our community with dedication from March twelfth, two thousand thirteen through twenty twenty-three, and he once again answered the call to serve when he returned to fill a vacant council seat from December twenty twenty twenty twenty-four through March twenty twenty-five. He also served in Vietnam, so he really did commit a lot of his life to serving our country. Please join us in a moment of silence as we remember Michael Fredovich and honor his service. May he rest peacefully. Councilmember Early Present. Here, Mayor Love. Present. City Attorney Salzman. Here. City Manager O'Reilly. Here. City Clerk Carico is present. Councilmember Jackson has asked to be excused. Alrighty, so we're gonna go right into presentations then. We're very fortunate. We've got a very busy lady here with us tonight, and it took a long time to get her here. But we're very glad that she is here. So if you would, um State Representative Linda Cheney's here to kind of tell us what's going on. Thank you. Well, I thought, Mayor, if it's okay, I would start with the big money. Handing you all 1.3 million dollars for your portable water uh storm mitigation project. So congratulations. Thank you so much. We just finished having um our our stormwater study done, and so we're very much aware of what things cost these days. So thank you so much. We really appreciate it. Well, you welcome, and uh, if anybody was paying attention to the news for last session, this is nothing short of a miracle that you got any funding at all. It was quite a battle up there. Um the budget was 107.4 billion, the final signed budget. Uh 567 million dollars in projects were vetoed. You escaped the veto pen. So congratulations on that. Um, and this is the second consecutive year of year over year state spending at that level. So in Tallahassee, we do everything we can to be as responsible as possible with taxpayer dollars, and uh you you see we're going through these exercises again continuously. We have 15.7 billion in reserves, so we can face our inevitable hurricanes in a positive way. We've paid off nearly 50 percent of our debt, and we passed a bill last session that required 250 million be put into the budget every year. So that's right off the top. We're gonna put some money away for our rainy day fund. And we have stayed focused year over. This is my going into my fifth year, um, and we have stayed focused on increasing teacher pay, uh, record per pupil funding, law enforcement, uh, the environment.
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