Good evening and welcome to the April 21st, 2026 council meeting.

Thank you for coming.

If there's any chance at all that you have your phone on, you want to turn it off.

We don't want to hear it.

And during the meeting, if at any point you need to have a conversation with the person next to you or behind you, that's cool.

Just step out into the hallway, please.

With that being said, then I called the meeting to order.

We will start with an invocation by Vice Mayor Shaw, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

So please stand.

Don't ever forget that you're a citizen of the world, and there are things you can do to lift the human spirit.

Things that are easy, things that are free, things that you can do every day.

Civility, respect, kindness, and character.

It's a quote by Aaron Sorkin.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

It is beautiful.

Thank you.

Roll call, please.

Vice Mayor Shaw.

Present.

Councilmember Webb?

Present.

Councilmember Early.

Present.

Councilmember Donch?

Here.

Mayor Love?

Here.

City Attorney Salzman?

Here.

City Manager O'Reilly.

Here.

City Clerk Carico is present.

Thank you.

So tonight we have no individual presentations.

So we're gonna go right into public comment.

And I see a couple of newer faces here.

So if you're a new face and you don't know, you can say during public comment, that is the time to say anything you want to say, limited to three minutes.

And when I say anything you want to say, that's not on the agenda.

So if you want to address something on the agenda, we will have public comment on each of the resolutions at that time.

So this is general public comment, show of hands, and I'll call you up.

Thank you.

And when you come up again, just in case you haven't been here, you give your name and your address.

Thank you.

May I approach the bench, Your Honors.

Don't run it.

Good evening, Rodney Berkheimer, uh, Gulfport resident and 22-year-old, or sorry, 22 volleyball veteran.

Uh I stand before you tonight to speak on the newly renovated volleyball courts.

First, I would like to say thank you to the city and parties involved for the efforts thus far.

However, we are not done yet.

I and many other volleyball players have concerns about the current state being that the sand chosen by the contractor is littered with shells, concrete, glass, wood, and other debris.

Also, the underlayment was not properly properly prepared before the sand was distributed on top, as it is extremely hard packed just below the surface in multiple areas.

Any questions, please?

No, there's no question and answer.

You just speak your mind and then I call the next person up.

All right, thank you.

All righty, thank you.

Did you want to come next?

You can write hello friends.

Hi.

I'm Tracy Calice, and I live at 4640, 27th Avenue South, Gulfport, Florida.

Um, I'm here regarding multiple recent utility contractor projects in our neighborhoods, including Duke Energy tree trimming and T-Mobile fiber optic underground work that have caused significant disruption for residents.

I received a door hanger instructing residents to call a number if they wanted to be home during this work.

I called three separate times, left messages, and never received a response.

On April 13th, crews arrived and trimmed a side tree.

At that time, I specify specifically clarified with them that they were only trimming that side tree and were not to touch the large oak in our front yard.

They confirmed that understanding.

Then on April 24th, the same crew returned and knocked on my door asking if they could trim our bamboo.

I said yes.

I left for less than 15 minutes to get coffee.

When I returned, the large oak had been aggressively cut back.

Roughly half the tree canopy was gone.

We understand utilities may have easements and clearance rights and the necessity for these.

The concern is whether work is staying within those boundaries, whether residents are being clearly informed, and whether trimming is proportional and necessary.

Based on the location of the lines and the extent of the cuts on my tree, we have serious concerns that trimming extended beyond what residents would reasonably understand as the easement area.

If there isn't an easement that allows that scope of work, residents should be clearly shown and informed beforehand.

This was not just trimming branches.

This tree is the focal point of our home and yard.

We've invested time, care, and money trying to restore and maintain it.

In a matter of minutes, that was all undone.

And I want to emphasize that this is not just about my tree or one company.

Other residents have also been reporting sprinkler systems damage during the T-Mobile fiber optic work.

Vehicles blocked in by dirt piles and equipment, difficulty reaching anyone for help, and confusion over who's responsible for the repairs.

These stories point to a larger issue of contractor communication, oversight, and accountability.

How residents are notified, and what protections exist when damage occurs.

And how will the city ensure residents are clearly informed and respected moving forward?

Thank you very much.

And who's next?

April.

Anyway, I wanted to announce that we're going to have a May Day picnic, a bring your own picnic at Clymer Park.

And it's going to be a no work, no buying, and no school event.

And there'll be music and speakers and drumming.

And it's uh from 11 to 12 30 climber park.

It's a Friday, May 1st.

So want to announce that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Jonathan.

Hi, all.

Good evening.

Uh Jonathan McCoachy, 2819, 52nd Street.

So I'm gonna read something just because otherwise I'll leave something out.

There's been important public debate in Gulfport about how we should recognize the racist history of Gulfport.

And I know it's there's probably plenty of people who think, well, we put that to bed.

And maybe we have, I don't know.

I think it's a fair question, personally.

And in recent years, we've seen how uneven the road towards justice can be.

Progress is rarely permanent.

The human rights ordinance.

Sorry, I'm looking down.

The human rights ordinance and the recently passed inclusivity resolution are a great start.

They're part of the foundation of our city.

But once proclaimed, these documents go into a drawer.

Truly, how many lives will be impacted by them?

There is more we can do.

I propose we create a memorial or other public display that would recognize and honor the struggle, uh, struggle for freedom and dignity that especially black Americans have endured.

Our community intentionally opens its heart to all.

We should carve these values in stone, creating a statement that is tangible, public, and permanent.

How might that look?

Perhaps it's a simple but majestic statute or an instructive display.

Maybe there's an interactive element, maybe it may be a thing or a place or a street or something else that students visit to learn that Gulfport is a loving, caring community.

We're all our welcome.

In the past, uh, if the past would just go away for good, we could bury the city's racist history and move on.

But history repeats, memories are short, and lives are transitory.

We are benefiting, we all benefit by affirming our values.

Visitors and new residents should know what we stand for, and most of all, our children should know that they are growing up in an undivided community.

That whatever happened in the past, this is what we are and will remain.

Is this a stretch?

We created a skateboarding gecko to celebrate our fun and quirky side.

Can we also honor our small part in bending America towards justice?

Monuments, memorials, and street naming take place because this movement to save humanity from itself is never over.

I bring this up now because the mayor has proposed changes to the look of Tangerine Avenue at 49th Street.

And if there is sufficient interest, I think that could be on a short list of possible memorial sites.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Who's next?

Yes, Ingrid.

I'm bringing something to share visually.

This is my Vanna White.

Just okay, other way.

Ingrid Bredenberg, 56th Street South.

You want to show it.

Let's see.

Let's do it this way.

There we go.

We did not practice this.

So we can all agree, I think that we live in challenging times.

It was already mentioned in the invocation that we have the opportunity, even though that we don't have control over everything, we do have control over our mindsets.

And so this year we can in Gulfport, we're fortunate to have beautiful nature, a vibrant community, many wonderful festivals, and lots of arts.

And all of these contribute to our well-being.

This year, as in years past, many years past, uh, Gulfport will celebrate World Labyrinth Day with a labyrinth walk and other activities.

And I brought a labyrinth because not everybody knows what a labyrinth looks like, and your own personal invitations, which I'll leave here.

But this is a global event that actually starts in Australia and moves around the globe where people will walk the labyrinth in their local time zones at one o'clock.

So here in Gulfport, we'll be doing a labyrinth walk at one o'clock.

Uh but the event itself starts at noon.

So you and others are invited to come to our celebration in Clymer Park on Saturday, May 2nd.

It's always the second or rather the first Saturday in May, starting at noon with music and movement and uh then a labyrinth walk at one, followed by more music, movement, and arts activities.

And this year, the library is doing a special display of labyrinths.

They'll be having special resources out.

The Arts Center is doing a collage workshop on Labyrinth Day starting at 10 o'clock.

So if you want to come and make collages, I'm showing that over my shoulder.

And the library beautifully is creating a bookmark with a QR code to bring people to the registration for Gulfport's own World Labyrinth Day.

And I would love to see all of you out just to get a moment of peace, a beautiful walk with your neighbors.

Um Councilwoman's earliest husband helped us make it the one last year.

I hope he'll do it again.

That would be wonderful.

And uh yeah, that's really the invitation to come out and learn more about labyrinths.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Mary, you're next.

Oh, oh, excuse me.

We got Berkeley, apparently.

Hi, Berkeley Grimble, 2701, 56 Street South.

I want to bring your attention to something which is not a problem now, but in the future is going to become a problem.

It is the peacock colony that has inhabited our town.

Now I know some people love the peacocks, and Lord knows there's nothing more gorgeous than a male peacock, all fluffed up, but they are a huge problem.

Uh they wake us up at five o'clock in the morning.

I won't bother.

I've been practicing my peacock yellow but I won't uh give you that.

But they can peck your cars, they can jump on top of your cars, of course, they tear up your garden.

If they land on your uh your pool um screen, they will completely destroy it.

And in addition, they just really have bad personalities.

Now, I've done a little research, and in the wild, a peacock can live 20 years in captivity, which is what we essentially have here, where people feed them the no predators, they live 50 years, five zero years.

That's eight to ten babies a year.

So every one of these pee hens out here will be laying eggs when we're all dead and gone.

And then my back of the arithmetic, back to the envelope arithmetic, says in about 10 years there'll be more peacocks than people if they continue to reproduce, you know, at the rate that they're going.

So there are a couple of towns, Longboat Key and Pinecrest both had huge problems, which they had to address with uh amelioration processes.

You can apparently shake the eggs, you can coat the eggs, or you can pay money to have vasectomies done, but uh yep, or you can remove them to other places or perhaps there can be a restaurant uh induced to do uh you know peacock menu or something.

But anyway, sort of bring that to your attention that it it will become a problem in a few years if if we don't start doing something about it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mary.

Thank you.

Uh Mary Hanrahan, 7th Avenue South.

Um, and I wanted to follow on on what Tracy was saying about utility work in the right-of-way.

And I got today, and I want to thank the city clerk for her very prompt response to my public information request.

I got a copy of the permit for the T M T Mobile Utility Work, uh, which is a one-page document.

It says 6,402 feet of conduit.

That's all it says.

And then there's a 29-page document, which is a construction document.

And my request is that maybe we look at how we inform the public about these projects and how we go about managing them when they're happening.

This 29-page document in the middle of it.

I managed to get my computer to read it and print some of it out.

This is a map.

This map shows exactly which properties are in going to be affected by this fiber optic cable that they put in and the digging.

And my and there are some other things.

We're going to have a Toby box.

Who knows what a Toby box is?

Nope.

This is a Toby box.

I I can't read the dimensions on it because they're in red and they're so tiny, but there's some spec for it.

So my request is this permit went in December.

It was approved in December of last year.

Can we not have the city or the construction company send out a letter to each of these properties that they're going to be digging in and let them know that they're going to be doing that and the time frame in which they're doing that?

So that would allow people to know that something is coming and be prepared for it, which is helpful.

When they're there, it would be nice if they're a little more respectful of the homeowner and the work that the homeowner has done on their property and then in the right-of-way around their property.

Um, when I was out at my property on 27th, they uh were digging holes and they left, and they left a bunch of trash where they'd been drinking, empty bottles and cans and what have you.

And they walked past, and I asked them specifically to pick up the trash on my property, which they did.

But but those things should be automatic.

So I'd like to address how they work when they're out there, and also like to know who oversees them in the city and who is going to inspect that work because this permit calls for an inspection, and what is the level of inspection of the work?

Do they ensure that everything that was disturbed and damaged and dug up is put back and put back the way it was before?

How does that happen?

So I think we could do better to help people with these projects.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Dean.

Hello, Dean Hay, 5618 13th Avenue South.

Um, here to provide counsel an update on the Gulpport environmental team.

Uh, first of all, we now have 21 members.

Which is a lot in the six months that we've been meeting.

And uh we have more than 4500 trees that have been inventoried so far in the city.

Um, our goal is to have all of the trees in the right-of-way on the eastern half of the city, basically from 58th Street south to 49th Street or to the eastern border of the city, and at that point, then we will start shifting to the western side of the city and finalizing all of the uh open spaces, parks, and uh gathering spaces.

Uh I also wanted to report that today we finalized our first rack card.

This is a uh semi-cardboard uh marketing tool, uh collateral that we use in order to promote ideas that are central to our group's um organization, and the focus of that rack card is right tree, right place.

Uh, we have tree recommendations based off of large uh medium, small, and under uh overhead utilities, so that we can begin to promote uh trees that are more resilient than the trees that we currently are inventorying and and finding vulnerabilities in our analysis.

And then that rack card will be used for the first time at the St.

Pete Green Thumb Festival, which is this weekend, uh Saturday and Sunday, the 25th and 26th.

We will be partnering uh uh and tabling at the Florida Nursery uh Grower and Landscape Association uh uh booth uh where we'll be uh sharing the rack card, talking a little bit about what our organization is, of course, wearing our t-shirts, and uh we'll be uh selling uh sunflowers that I've grown myself to help fund some of the ongoing projects that we're uh looking at in the future.

Um the next thing is uh we will be working with uh keeping all this beautiful on Friday, uh Earth Day the the 23rd from 9 to 11 a.m.

Um at Clan Bayou in order to remove woody uh plants, mostly carrot wood and uh Brazilian pupper.

Uh we're gonna be starting uh closer to the southern end where the old Coast Guard Auxiliary uh building used to be, and we're gonna be working our way north in incremental steps through uh many different events.

The purpose of this is to remove the threat that that uh ongoing and propagating uh species are doing, um, and then uh be able to come back in and replant those.

Um if I could have one last second.

Okay.

Um, on behalf of the Gulfport Environmental Team, um, I'd like to present this Earth Day flag to the city.

Um thank thank you, Ingrid, for for uh providing it, and ask that if you could uh fly this on Friday for Earth Day.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it very much.

Alrighty, who else had their hand up that I didn't see yet?

Uh Wolfging.

Thank you, Mayor Wolfgang Dininger, uh Beachway Park.

Uh I run uh Gulfport Grassroots.

Um we did have a uh beyond the beach cleanup on April 11th, uh, and it was well attended.

We had um 44 volunteers uh show up.

We had a group of uh 21 people from uh the Coca-Cola uh bottling and uh distribution uh corporation uh all uh show up there and it was really cool as as they approach because they all had the red uh Coca-Cola shirts on.

So it was like an army uh come in a clean up, help us clean up.

Uh we also had uh a group of students, uh high school students from uh St.

Petersburg uh Catholic High School.

And that's the first time they've ever been there.

So all together we had um 44 volunteers and we gathered 195 pounds of trash from our uh the waterfront area.

So for this year, the first uh four months we are running uh at an average of 200 pounds a month of um cleaning up, which is really credible if we maintain this average.

We'll beat last year's 2,000 pounds and we'll uh beat that by a quarter time, hopefully.

Uh we also the same day uh stretched in, we had the uh swap and drop the first time golf ports ever had a swap and drop, and I have to say it was an amazing event.

Uh the uh turnout was much much uh better than I end anticipated.

Gulfport grassroots had five volunteers there.

We had volunteers uh got back together again from the old junk in the trunk.

Uh Mayor Love was there, um, and Karen Vanderbeek, myself, and uh John Ellington from Keep Pinellas Beautiful.

We directed the cars to uh where people would drop off usable items, and then other people would be able to walk through and uh grab things that they wanted for their own homes.

Uh case in point, we had a brand new queen size mattress with a foundation that got dropped off, and that got scarfed up by one of the um his city employees before before the end of the event.

Uh it was a three-hour event, it was well attended.

I'm looking forward.

Hopefully, we can do another one in uh the fall, October or November.

Uh, and that's still up in the air, but I'm hoping all you uh council people press our um city staff to make that a reality.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Who's next before I go to e-comments?

Call in once.

All righty.

Uh, do we have any e-comments, please?

Uh, we have two e-comments tonight.

One is an open public comment and one is on item 8E, and I have made myself a note so I remember this.

Okay, thank you.

Would you like me to read the open public comment?

The open public comment is from Margaret Tober.

At the last council meeting, there was a mention of the welcome to Gulfport sign on 49th Street and Tangerine Avenue.

That mention reminded me that there is a significant history related to that location.

It also reminded me that there really is no signage that indicates such.

I'd like to ask the city council and city manager to consider installing a sign, perhaps smaller to that to which is at the casino that would provide information regarding the history at that location.

Thank you.

All righty.

Public comment is then closed, and we will move to the city manager report, please.

Yes, Mayor, thank you.

Um let me first address the volleyball sand issue.

Um, we'll be bringing additional sand in uh different type quality sand.

Once the Army Corps of Engineers certifies our beach restoration, we're going through a process right now where they have to come in and certify the work related to being replaced due to the storm activity.

But we will be upgrading the previous similar to sand that we had previously.

Um we did talk to the promoters, they were content at this point, but we promised them when we started the rebuild, but it's necessary to have this beach certified.

So when we do get hit with another storm, if it was to happen, that FEMA would cover the engineered beach that you would have now.

Um so we'll be moving forward with that.

Um, I have two items tonight to start with.

Uh one I would like to bring Justin up to go over the aspect, something that's starting to significantly um be out in the public is the fact that if we were to have a storm situation again this summer with the onset of hurricane season, that individuals with open permits that those would be cumulative with any activity that was take place after the next storm unless the permit is closed.

So if the permit's open, it's counted towards their 50 percent.

So just do you want to give a brief overview of that?

We want to remind everybody that's in the special flood hazard area.

Please close out your permits.

Um that value counts, god forbid we get another storm uh towards the uh SD substantial damage evaluation.

So um residents in the special flood hazard area.

If you have an open permit, please close them out.

God forbid we get another storm, that value counts.

And we just and minimum, please contact us if you are not going to be able to close it or something to that effect.

Please, the numbers and the put press release information that's out, we'll send it out again.

And it's the lead story on the city manager's report to give us access to the numbers of who to contact.

Okay, also in our community update.

Before we move on, I'm gonna see if there's any questions.

I see Jennifer Councilmember Webb has one, but in speaking order, does anybody else have a question for Justin on this issue?

I'm last, but no.

Okay, back to you.

I know we were both sheet.

She's very thank you.

Thank you both for bringing this to everyone's attention.

It's incredibly important.

How are so you mentioned the city website and the community newspaper and a press release?

Will you be corresponding directly with homeowners who have open permits?

That's a good idea.

Yeah, we we can see the volume in those.

We'll we'll see what the volume is.

Okay.

Okay, but the portal is accessible.

We they can look at their address and see if they have something.

Can you use the portal to automate something to just send your contractor can?

Okay.

The portal the portal is for the contractor, the owner builder.

Uh-huh.

We have to have physical contact with them because they have to sign in front of us.

Okay.

And I think the workflow can be built in the background.

Yeah, um, where it would generate a report to the codes or permitting office and let them know how many homes with a flood damage prevention case have an open permit.

So I appreciate very much you coming up because I think that's a real big deal.

And you know, if we can't count on being as lucky as we were last year, and it's time to not only be preparing for hurricanes, but to wrap up from the last one.

So my question is this.

We know people who have open permits, but how does this affect the few people that are still left who have never gotten a permit, period?

I can I can address that.

As obviously in the city attorney, you can talk to that also.

Those are the individuals who are getting taken to the special magistrate.

And the the enforcement aspects that if they're discovered if they've done work without a permit, subsequently they have to come either get an after-the-fact permit, or if the event that they disagree with us, they can plead the case to the special magistrate.

So worst case scenario, somebody has um 39% SDE letter.

They put their head in the sand, we haven't heard from them.

And we have another storm come and they get hit again.

Because they didn't open or close a permit, if they have more than 11% damage, they now will have to elevate or destroy their home.

Yes, ma'am.

Okay.

Spread the word, please, people spread the word.

A lot of people don't realize that, and we need to help each other out by making sure our neighbors know this is critical that they have this information.

And another talking point is if we don't have a look back period, so when you close that out, your uh free allowance essentially starts back at zero.

How many are we talking about?

I have to look into that, council member.

A hundred, ten?

I I don't know.

I would need to find out and get back to you.

It's open permits in general.

If you just decided to redo your bathroom right now and that permit is open, that counts right now.

Right.

So do your stuff, get it together, and then wait until after the storm to start doing your renovations again that you just feel like doing.

I think the highest priority we focus in is as we turn the corner to storm season, we'd focus on the homes in the special flood hazard area.

Okay.

Uh good clarification.

Thank you, Councilmember Donch.

All right, thank you.

Can I ask one more question?

To the point of um because the homes in this um the flood area are particularly vulnerable.

What's the process for prioritizing processing um like closing out things and moving people through the permitting?

That's entailed by what they do.

Okay.

They have to submit their contractor has to submit it through the portal.

Okay.

Or they need they that their contractor gets pulls the permit.

Okay.

And then it goes through the portal.

We use the out with the port with the permit portal.

Contractors have a number, they're registered, they can come in and close it out, request an inspection, all those things.

Like hypothetical for an electrical permit, you've got to get a rough inspection.

They've got to see what the wiring looks like, and then when you close it out, you do the final to make sure it's connected.

Thank you, Justin.

And then once that workflow is built, council member, that could be essentially applied to citywide permits.

Right.

Okay.

Yes.

Mayor, also uh, I'd like to invite Kendrick's up to talk a little bit about the right-of-way and um utility easement work that's consistently been spoken about this evening, with one caveat that state statute 337 section point four oh 100 sets standards that we can only apply to the contractors.

There's there's there's it's say 337.4.

There's things we cannot to put certain demands, it's pretty clearly outlined what is required, what we can do.

Now, in regards to Duke tree trimming, we can ask Duke to come here and they can explain to you what how their storm prevention tree trimming is impacts neighbors.

So that'd be something I would think that council we can invite Duke to come give you an overview on that, just how they go about that process.

Other than that, I'll good evening.

Good evening.

So just to uh bring everyone up to speed, I there's some communication contractors out there putting in some lines in our right-of-ways and our public uh utility easement.

So I just wanted to, Mr.

O'Reilly wanted me to come up here and kind of give a little more clarification and define what a right-of-way is versus what a utility easement is.

So a right-of-way is owned by the public public right-of-way and maintained within the jurisdiction of a municipality.

Uh mainly used for a sidewalk roads utilities.

A utility easement is owned by the property owner, but it is recorded on the plat in the deed that they must allow access to utility companies to perform work.

Uh you can't deny them.

Um, within reason they should be notifying you.

But if there's an emergency or an event they can't recently notify you, they will legally have the right to go in and perform work.

The issue we're having right now, which is not unique to Gulfport because public Pinellas County, we actually have a meeting in two weeks talking about the work being done by the communication companies.

If you guys leave the city and see St.

Pete just had 62 utility hits from his contractors.

Anything that's causing damage or something that can be reasonably addressed, we will immediately call the uh the contractor once we identify who it is and find out uh what's going on.

If it's an item like the box that was mentioned previously, um that contains the communication line or the power, we will do the best we can to try to see if they can relocate it, but it's gonna base it off of reason.

Um not just because it's an ISOR.

Uh basically the way they have it set up is how they're gonna approach with it.

So, as Mr.

O'Reilly said, there is a law that we cannot discriminate or prevent utility companies coming in to the public right away.

We do require them to put a permit in so we can at least know where they're gonna be at, and they are required to restore the right-of-way as it was before.

Um I hope we touched on some of those items that are concerning the residents right now.

They're required to restore the right-of-way, but are they required to restore the easement?

So that is a question as far as I need to talk to building department about what's the requirements for storing the easement.

But let me let me get a little more clarification on that.

Thank you.

Can I ask another question?

So if someone has some like a situation with a contractor calling you if they can't get through, like one of the speakers says she couldn't she called and called and could never get through to an individual.

So they could call your department and you could give them a number or some way of getting in touch or contact them directly.

Not to interrupt you, but what most times they're not.

Kendrick's or one of his superintendents, excuse me.

We'll go to the site.

Okay.

Because I've done this for other council members where a resident calls and says the box is here, I can't drive in my driveway.

So we send someone actually out there.

But if they reach out to us, we'll take up their situation.

And we prefer that we contact the supervisor instead of providing that publicly so we can ensure that so there was so that way there's definitely a little bit more teeth as far as coming from us.

Um now, as far as the communication aspect, I we were told that door hangers were put out.

I was told in my neighborhood to the same thing, so it's it's probably someone may have skipped houses to get home to get home a little early.

So, but it's it's definitely uh uh inconvenience.

We all we definitely uh Mr.

Riley and all of us are well aware of that, and we're here as far as the city to help try to get through this process as quick as we can.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I I don't think that I realize that the residents could call you.

I thought they had to call the contractor companies, so the fact that our public works will at least try to intervene is a good thing, and I didn't know that.

So thanks for informing us.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Okay, thank you.

Mayor, um, just a couple other items real quickly is uh the planning and zone.

Now that the state legislature is not going to take any action on AD accessory dwelling units.

Um we're about to move forward with our comp plan amendment and our ordinance.

That'll be going to the packet of information and such will be going to the planning and zoning board to review and then make a recommendation to you.

Is there an advisory board to the city council?

That will be taking place on May 6th that will go to the planning and zoning board.

And uh those two items, the ordinance that addresses our zoning code and also our comp plan amendment.

They'll be looking at the ordinance and the backup materials, and then of course, then council would see it based upon their recommendation.

So it is moving it as when we kind of we're in a we were in a flux kind of place due to the fact that the legislature had decided they were gonna talk about it, and then subsequently took no action.

Okay, and one other item.

Um with the substantial change to um the charter as it relates to city properties being leased.

Um in reflection of that, the Gulfport Yacht Club and the Boca Sega Yacht Club respectively, their leases are set to expire this summer.

The Boca Sega Yacht Club is in June.

It's three years from the inaction ordinance that the city council passed at that time.

And the Gulfport Yacht Club is in the 1st of August.

I will be reaching out to those groups to schedule a time to explain what the new charter requirements are, and also to see what they're looking to do, and to get some input from them on you know how can we work through this and uh lay out the ordinance to them, the new ordinance.

And that's and uh that's all I have.

Thank you.

My screen went black.

Okay.

With that, then we'd move to the city attorney report.

No report, Mayor.

My item is now is an action item.

Okay.

On the Lions Club.

Okay.

Um City Clerk report.

I I just very briefly wanted to say thank you very much to Julie Armstrong.

Uh she completed our change out of our art today, so if you notice they there are no longer dogs on our walls, but we do have birds.

Uh and Julie does a lot of work to get this accomplished.

So I just wanted to say a big thank you to Miss Armstrong.

Yes.

Very good.

All righty.

With that in mind, then we will go move on to council comments and reports, and we will start in speaking order, which means that council member Shaw is first.

It's great to see everyone here again this evening.

Thanks for showing up and being a part of the process.

Um, I do apologize, but my allergies have uh hit me hard all of a sudden, and so I'll do my best to stay as close to the microphone as I can.

Uh, and also hopefully my voice will hold out.

Um, I did want to mention concern over notifying those owners that haven't responded to pending permits or haven't applied to permits.

Some of those homes are still empty.

Um, do if we're going to send letters, I'm wondering if there's other ways we can reach out to them.

So that's one of my questions that I hope we can take a look at.

Um as always, I've been enjoying our vibrant community in so many ways, the events, the energy, the people, and it's always heartwarming to see so many others doing the same.

So many wonderful things are happening in Gulfport, just too numerous to mention all of them.

Um, but I do want to mention a couple of things by the way, the senior volunteer celebration today was amazing, and it was just um really really a blessing to see because they have over a hundred volunteers there.

And the celebration, the the all of the staff and everybody that helped with that did a great job.

So I just wanted to let everybody know about that.

Um the town shores ribbon cutting was an amazing, wonderful um milestone to see as well.

They they had their ribbon cutting there and a celebration and a champagne toast, and of course, seeing the beautiful beach during the VET Sport event was was it was stunning as well.

Um I submitted two summary reports to the city clerk to be placed at council seats tonight, one from the Sun Coast League of Cities meeting covering what may be happening with upcoming special sessions, and one on a charter review processes from the Florida League of Cities Quality Cities meeting.

Um both of those will also be posted on the website should anybody else be interested.

Uh looking uh ahead, we have some exciting events.

I think I already mentioned the special student council uh at uh later this month, and so we're looking forward to that opportunity for our young people to engage in local government firsthand.

Um Ingrid and and um Berkeley slash Vanna White did a great job on World Labyrinth Day, so I don't need to bring that up again.

Um then on May 7th, we're hosting a Sun Coast League of Cities luncheon meeting, and I've left information at each council member's seat for that as well.

Um as always I want to take a moment to highlight the adopted drain program through Gulfport Connects.

Again, it's a small action with truly impact volunteering to keep storm drains clear, helps reduce street flooding, protects our water quality and wildlife, and so please consider taking part.

And as a reminder, April is National Poetry Month, and our Gulfport Poet Lower Laureate continues to lead an open mic poetry night every month at the library.

The third Thursday.

So if you have an opportunity to do that, it's it's really great.

And finally, I had a wonderful conversation with Jim Wright about the neighborhood watch program, which meets right here in council chambers every third Wednesday at 6 p.m.

And it is a tremendous resource.

He is a wealth of knowledge.

And I was particularly struck by some of the scam crime awareness information that he shared that our residents have actually been uh impacted by.

Um they are taking and we are taking devastating losses, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and one resident lost 150,000 condominium.

So please spread the word because this program is worth attending and a great resource.

That's all I have for right now.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And now Councilmember Webb.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh I want to thank the city manager for doing such a good job responding to public comment and having staff available to speak to some of the concerns that were presented today.

Um I also I wanted the only concern that I felt and it um further discussion was the memorial.

And I was thinking about you know, we Florida has a thousand people a day moving here, and that's a thousand people who don't know our history, a thousand people who aren't from the South and don't know what that means.

Um I think that I don't know why my city thing is binging, but it is, sorry.

And I was thinking that while a memorial is something visible and present, um, taking maybe February and Black History Month to explore um historical topics related to our African American community in Gulfport in Pinellis in the state and the country.

We have amazing scholars here, and I think it would go a long way of level setting everyone's understanding of this amazing and um the South is amazing and heartbreaking at the same time, and Florida is despite our beaches still part of the South, right?

Um I think that would go a long way and um of helping with some of those issues, and I appreciate you still of understanding of some of those issues, and I appreciate you bringing it up.

Um, importantly for um my district and for um the city, we are still um working on uh paying attention to the rezoning potential rezoning proposal by Stetson uh law school of the neighborhood north of the university.

I uh that sets in will host a community meeting by Dean Barrows this um May 8th from 6 to 7 p.m.

This is at the law school, and the flyer.

I just received the flyer, and it is about their vision for the future.

And so they are acknowledging that this is something that they know the community uh wants to talk about and that they are showing up in a proactive way.

Um after speaking with residents, I am hosting our town hall, my town hall after that meeting on May 14th.

So May 14th from 6 to 8, friendship room and the Gulfport Library.

I will be hosting a town hall.

There's a lot of processes to explain the processes involved in rezoning.

It's not our land land use amendment, land use map amendment to introduce the staff who are paying attention to this so that folks can ask professionals who have a lot of um who have the specialized knowledge questions just so that the residents who are concerned about this so that they know um we've already taken steps.

We brought our city attorney in early because this is land use issue, and so this directly looks at um things that our ordinances touch in.

So we brought him in early.

We've also engaged um hired Linda Fisher to augment our supplement staff in anticipate um in anticipation of receiving this proposal.

She is highly qualified.

I met with her and with um Mark uh Griffin Arn and the city manager on Monday, and they laid out the process, and so we'll be sharing that with residents, and we'll be answering any questions coming up.

And if you are a nerd and just love Mooney Codes, you can read zoning and land use in chapter 22.

This is what I have been reading since um this has started.

So there is um, so you will have all of the information hopefully that you need, and also an understanding of where your voice and the process really can have the biggest impact.

And that is my um my uh report, Mayor.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And council member early on 425, which is Saturday from 9 to 11.

There's a cleanup at Lincoln Park.

Um Lincoln Park.

Isn't that a band?

Lincoln Cemetery.

Um at Lincoln Cemetery from 9 to 11.

Everyone is welcome.

It's a big cemetery, and there's a lot of folks trampling through there and spending the night sometimes.

So I'll are welcome.

The folks from Corey Givens and uh the pastor will be there to thank everyone and to also be pitching in.

I I wanted to mention um I lived in Coconut Grove, Miami for a small amount of time, and they had peacocks there.

And I've talked to Berkeley about that.

So when they go up to a car, they see their own reflection, and that's when they start chipping at the paint.

And in coconut grove, Miami, there were some super duper expensive cars.

So you cover them with a tarp every night before bed.

So if that's happening out there before they're um, you know, before we talk about anything else, that is something that will work.

It has worked and it will work.

So cover your cars.

And um lastly, the labyrinth.

So last year Ingrid mentioned um, I think it's a.org, labyrinth.org, where you can find what no matter where you are in the in the country or outside of the country, uh, the closest labyrinth.

And I do that when we travel now, and I've gone to see very uh quite a few.

So thank you for that.

I just want to let everyone know.

Thank you.

That's it.

Super.

Thank you.

Councilmember Dawnch, please.

Thanks.

Um, so I have been to a bunch of ribbon cuttings lately, which is really exciting for me to see the town coming back.

It felt like it was taking a really long time, but it's really great to see um the seawall at town shores.

There was uh um art um, yeah.

There's an art store that's next to Comfort Cafe, they have their studio there, they have the art that they make, and then they also have a shop in the front where they sell stuff, and it's really cool if you get a chance to go in there.

Um Hurricane Eddy's is back, so that's really exciting, and the volleyball courts.

Um, so that was really all awesome to have seen in the last little bit of time that we're finally like making making some way back to some social stuff and not just all the business of coming back from the storm and permits and all the stuff that nobody wants to talk about anymore.

And um also I got to go to an HOA meeting at Skimmer Point, and since I've lived here, it's kind of been cool to know that there's a you know gated community, and I don't know, I never got to go there, but um I was never invited.

But now I am invited and I am welcome to go there.

And it's really cool to like see all these people that you know are your neighbors and you do see them around town, and it kind of feels like they're away from us, but really they are just as much of a part of our community as everybody else, and they have a lot of the same concerns.

You know, we're we're all right there on the water, so they have all the same flooding concerns and all the stuff that's happening from further up north that's flooding down to where they live.

So um it was really cool to be able to spend some time with them and listen to their concerns and how they you know participate in our community, and they're building a monument outside their entrance off of 59th that looks like it's coming along well, and it's gonna be really nice.

So um, I'm really excited for them there.

Can't wait for another ribbon cutting.

Is that it?

Yep, thanks.

Okay, thank you.

So on my public comments, what I wanted to refer to first was uh sidewalk improvements.

If you live in ward two and you walk at all, you probably have uh noticed amazing progress on our sidewalks, the sidewalks that have been in really bad shape or the uh ramps that are in bad shape, they're being brought into to so that they're ADA compliant.

I'm very happy about that, and we'll hear about where the next phase is before the night is out, uh, but not this year.

Um, so I'm real happy to see the improvements there.

Uh, in terms of the swap and drop, I also wanted to uh thank the volunteers and Wolfgang did a good job, except he forgot his right hand man, Dave Girardi.

Uh so um I didn't want to skip over that.

Also, I kind of suggested that this year, with it being our 250th birthday on the 4th of July, we are really going to amp up our 4th of July celebration.

Uh I hope to double our parade.

I'm working real hard to get more than one band in there.

Uh, and the reason I bring it up tonight is because I know it takes time to create and then make a float, and I'm gonna encourage every one of you if you have a really good community, your your block is just super.

Join together and come up with a float.

We're actually going to have prizes in a couple different categories.

And then I want everybody to know that following the parade.

So we're going to kick off, excuse me, we'll kick off at 9 o'clock with the opening of a time capsule from 50 years ago, right here at City Hall.

Then we will move on to the parade, which will begin at 11 o'clock, though activities begin at 10 o'clock.

Following the parade, we will then have a community potluck.

And you'll hear more about that.

I'm just giving you a quick overview right now.

And then we'll be moving into family games and competitions.

And we will have categories for adults, children, and adults and children.

So we've really got a really big family activity planned, and this will all center around Tomlinson Park this year, excuse me.

So I wanted you to know that in advance.

So our meeting was almost five hours long.

And we failed to have a consensus.

So the purpose of this meeting had a couple of things, but primarily it was to talk about this merger of the planning councils between Pasco County, Hillsborough County, and Pinellas County.

And we were supposed to, we being Pinellis County, we're supposed to approve the way the seats have been divvied up.

And it did not happen because the way it's been divvied up and was being suggested was that Hillsborough County would end up having 52% of the vote.

So that even if you put even if Pinellas and Pasco voted together, they would only have 48% of the vote.

So I I'm just saying stay tuned.

I don't know what'll happen.

It'll be brought up at the next meeting, and we are up against a time crunch, and I won't be at the next meeting because I will be in Utah hiking.

So it's really unfortunate.

Of course, I'll be watching and I'll provide the information to you with when I return.

And again, the reason for the merging of these three planning councils is because it's kind of come down from the state.

So that's again, it was almost five hours and there was no consensus, which was pretty strange to be at that type of meeting.

I wanted to apologize to anybody who has left me a message recently.

I became aware that several messages were left and I didn't return it, and that's because they were going to a spam.

Typically, if you leave me a voicemail, it gets transcribed to my email, but there was a holdup and it didn't happen.

So we know it, it's been corrected.

Next thing I have to say just it irked me bad.

Um we have moved two additional cleaning tables on our pier down to the end of the pier.

So God forbid people fishing wouldn't have to walk a couple feet to clean their bait and and their fish, okay.

And yesterday I saw or the day before I saw that people were still cutting their bait when they were three, three little steps away from the cleaning table.

So I don't know what how what kind of threats we can make, but it's just not acceptable.

But in the meantime, the city did go out and pressure wash the benches because none of us would want to sit on those benches.

Um Memorial Day, we will be having a Memorial Day celebration on May 25th, it will be at Veterans Park.

It will be at 2 30.

I have three speakers, and of course, anybody who attends who would like to speak is gonna have an opportunity to speak.

So this will be our third annual uh event that we're doing.

Um I mentioned the 4th of July, and I encouraged you to do floats.

In response to, I think the only thing I wanted to respond to was uh from public comment that hasn't already been addressed, uh had to do with Berkeley.

Yes, he identified a problem.

I sleep with my windows open, I hear the peacocks.

I feel like they used to be four blocks away and now maybe they're two and a half blocks.

And I would love anybody that has a suggestion on what we're going to do so we're not invaded any further by the peacocks.

I know some people love them, but not everybody does.

Please reach out to me because when you we're starting to acknowledge we have a problem, but I haven't heard any solutions other than we all tarp our cars at night.

So um, or or or we we start have a vasectomy clinics.

I mean, only in golf board do we do that?

Okay.

So that's kind of weird.

And then the last thing I wanted to um not to pick on Wolfgang, but he said that you know, um, he hoped that we'd get over two averaging 200 pounds a month, and uh, and I feel exactly the opposite.

I hope he has to come up here and say we had 50 people and they worked their butt off and we could only find 50 pounds of trash.

So I I look at it a little different than him.

So that's all I have under public comments.

Thank you.

And we'll move on to consent.

The consent agenda, excuse me.

Item 6A, consider approval of meeting minutes from meeting held April 7th, 2026.

And item 6b, resolution number 2026-21, a resolution authorizing the city manager to accept donations from make three cares for the needed preparation, lifetime care, lifetime supplies, and lifetime health care of a first responder therapy dog to be housed at the Gulfport Fire Department.

Motion to approve.

Second.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Passes unanimously.

All righty, and then we don't have any ordinances tonight, so we will move on to resolutions, please.

Item 8A, resolution number 2026 10, a resolution authorizing the city manager to approve the payout of the Gulfport Lions Club Incorporated lease as set forth in paragraph five of the lease agreement upon termination or non-remult renewal.

You need a motion, motion to approve.

My second.

All righty.

City manager, please.

Yes, Mayor.

Um as you asked for some specific information from the Lions Club to move this forward.

I it's been provided in your agenda packet.

I'll defer to the city attorney to the specifics of the release and such.

As uh council's aware at the last meeting, we had asked for documentation to be provided for a couple things.

One, uh whether or not there is an entity, bless you, whether or not there is a an a valid entity in order to pay pursuant to the lease.

Uh there were some questions raised as to whether or not the lease was automatically terminated.

If you look at the provisions of the lease, you will see that there's there was opportunities to terminate, but the city did chose not to terminate any during any of those points.

So there was no termination other than the automatic um uh end of the lease.

The questions that we that I asked for, and you've seen the documentation that was presented.

Um the question then becomes is that sufficient documentation?

I would tell you that if the board so chooses to vote tonight to pay any amount uh that we would still uh address any payment to the party that's in the lease, um, whether or not that party is a valid party, um, we have been told that there is a valid party, but I don't see how we can address it to anybody else.

Whether they give it to the foundation or not, is not the city's purview.

Um we have a lease, we have an agreement, we have terms, and we have to abide by those terms.

If council chooses not to make that payment, um then we would sit there and and see if they do anything to request the money.

The only thing I would point out is that the lease provides a attorney fee provision.

So whoever would prevail on any kind of um suit uh would be entitled to attorney's fees.

And I'm here to answer any questions you have.

All righty.

I have some things to say about the appraisal, but before I'll move on, do we have any questions about the who is to be paid?

Thank you.

Speaking of go ahead I I don't have questions about who's to be paid, but what I do have a question about is you were saying the city didn't take any other action other than to let the lease take its course.

What does that mean exactly?

Well, we have a provision under the uh agreement.

It is um termination provision.

It is paragraph ten.

And there are some provisions in there.

And it says less or who is the city shall have the right to terminate this lease for any reason upon giving Lessie 12 months' notice.

If Lessey loses its status as a Florida not-for-profit corporation, less or may terminate this lease without notice.

I as far as I'm aware, there was no exercise of that by the city.

If Lessee defaults in the performance of the terms of the this agreement, less or may terminate this lease and immediately re-enter the premises without notice.

Again, I'm not aware of any uh actual termination that it that occurred.

Um so those are the provisions we were talking about, those were never exercised.

They're not automatic.

There still requires an action by the city to terminate.

My understanding is that the determination by the city was that upon the conclusion of this agreement after being notified by the Lions Club that they were not going to uh ask for any kind of continuance that the lease was gonna um die its natural death of on its time period okay.

So is the bottom line then either way, there was a provision for a payout.

That is there is a provision for a payout that is correct for any improvement.

Whether we're meant whether we terminated upon them not being a nonprofit, or whether they we terminated that way or they terminated later.

Is that correct?

That is correct.

If you go to the next paragraph, which is 11 reimbursement for improvements, it says upon termination of this lease, and in the event the parties fail to enter into a new lease for the lease premises within 90 days of said termination, less or shall pay lessy a percentage of the value, and then it goes into those terms and conditions.

Okay.

Well, that was my understanding, but I I I was I was a little worried I was hearing something different, so I appreciate you clarifying.

Thank you.

And and again, Vice Mayor, it was no, I mean, the term this agreement has terminated, obviously.

It terminated on December 5th, 2025.

Technically, the city's in breach of this agreement as we sit here today, because we had 90 days to make the payment.

We have not had any notification from anyone that we are in breach or that anything has occurred.

We have, as you know, asked for documentation to support the who we were going to pay, because the whole idea that the entity no longer existed at that point, you know that they said pay the foundation.

I'm still not comfortable with paying the foundation.

We've got notification from the international that the foundation exists.

I'm still not comfortable.

We have a release that we've also put into the packet, and the release takes care of the city for any kind of action that somebody might accuse the city should we should you decide to make the payment.

Um it also talks about um that the monies may be used by any of the charities that exist, it may be used in the city, but there's no guarantees of that.

Uh therefore, when I looked at the documentation and I look at the contract, it has the Lions Club that is the party.

And frankly, I think after looking at this enough times, um, that is the party that should receive the check.

If that party then gives the check to the international, if that party gives it to charity foundation, that's up to them.

If that party cannot cash the check because it doesn't exist, well, that's not the city's problem.

Okay.

But the letter that came from the uh governor of International states that um the in fact the um Lions Club, not the Lions Foundation, but that the Lions Club is an active club with 28 members in good standing.

In good standing.

So to me, there is no doubt that there is a Lions Club, and that we shall pay them because they in 2019 formed a foundation, Lions Club, Gallport Florida Foundation, uh, and they made that a 501c3 to support the Lions Club when they knew that the lease was going to that they weren't going to renew it, they did not choose to keep their incorporation, but that doesn't mean that that entity wasn't uh was in um disbanded or that it lost its 501c3 goodness how easy for me to say 501c3 status.

So um you know, I'm okay with you writing uh choosing to write it to the Lions Club as opposed to the foundation, even though they said that they voted that it go to the foundation.

That's between the foundation and the Lions Club, and they can do an international, they can do whatever they want.

Do you have questions?

I do.

You were talking about attorney fee provision, and so you are imagining a lawsuit and prevailing fees.

So can you talk me through the the imagination of imagining the lawsuit?

Council voted tonight not to make any payment.

We would try to do that quickly because as I said, should we have a lawsuit filed by them for recovery of the monies?

Anything if should they prevail, um, and if they're the proper entity, they would prevail, uh, then they would recover their attorney's fee.

So on top of what we would owe for this, we would owe attorney's fees of costs.

Right.

Okay.

And you mentioned the 90 days.

You had con we had contact with them prior to the 90 days.

We have had contact.

Not on our part.

We had asked for additional information, which I mentioned at the last meeting we had we had not received in the two-week time period.

We have received the documentation, which we have put in the packet and presented.

Okay.

That is what they based on what we asked for, that is what they presented us.

Okay.

Thank you.

And thank you, uh Count Uh Vice Mayor for asking some of my other questions.

I appreciate it.

Um so we have something signed at uh from Tommy Bixler's the president.

Is he the interim or is he the president?

And does that make a difference in this case?

We had them sign you're looking at the release.

That was the uh and that was the person that they signed that says president.

Okay, so he's president.

Okay.

Is he this is Sundays?

This is how they are their registered agents in Sundays.

This is how he's I can only tell you how he signed it.

He did, he signed it as president, but um, there was something that we had when um Mr.

Woods was removed or declined.

Yes, we saw something that said that when Mr.

Woods was removed that um Mr.

Bixler would be the interim president, but I'm thinking uh timeline he may have then become the president, but it's not here.

Yeah, I was just I'm just curious, does that make a difference at all?

If he has the ability to sign off, then that's what we would we would use.

I mean this has gone through their attorney who has presented this back to us.

Okay.

In fact, honestly, I didn't ask for it to be signed.

I sent it over for them to look at with the so they signed it before we even because I wasn't gonna ask them to sign it until after you voted, but I mean, doesn't matter, they can sign it.

Okay, and it's a viable club.

Is the club meeting?

I mean, who who are the members of the club?

I mean, they said there's 28 people.

That's what the information we've received from the international, right?

But we believe the club is viable.

Okay, okay, thank you.

Okay, so I have a lot to say about it.

I obviously never got a chance to speak from here about the value and people that questioned the appraisals and stuff like that.

So I'm starting from the beginning.

Um back to the idea of the value of the structure based on um the MAI appraisal.

So I understand that when you are getting an appraisal and it will go back to before the storm, um, except that um July 7th, 2022.

The um treasurer of the Lions Club Foundation sent a letter to the editor of the GABR pleading for funding to repair their building.

They said that they raised enough to repair their roof, um, but still needed at least a goal of 25,000 to help with essential building repairs.

The roof, um there was a permit obtained in 2022.

That to me, when you look at the permit, it lists the city as the owner, which I understand the city's the owner of the lot, but uh they wouldn't be the one to take the permit outright.

The Lions Club would be responsible for that, and they didn't.

Uh the permit itself doesn't describe the full scope of work.

They said they were um repairing the roof, but there's zero square feet of repair mentioned in the permit.

Um, it's listed at a 20,000 dollar repair, which I mean, over the course of reading uh permits for a long time, 20,000 is a pretty round number.

And that repair consisted of a silicone coating over the top of the roof that was already existing.

They didn't tear off the roof, they didn't uh put any new product, they just skim coated the top with a skill silicone cover.

Um, and that was in 2022.

Since then, there have been no permits at that location.

So those dire uh repairs that were so badly needed that they reached out to the GABR to reach out to the public for them, um were not done, and if they were done, then they were done without a permit.

So um knowing that we should do our diligence and not buy places that uh have had work done without a permit, I probably wouldn't want to buy that building at this point.

Um then comes the storms.

So on 10 2, there uh starts coming public pictures posted by the Lions Club from their Facebook account publicly for the entire world to see.

Um, there's pictures of people standing inside the club.

Clearly, there was water intrusion, there's a line that you can see where the water was, there's mud everywhere.

Um they thank people for coming to help participate in cleaning up, which obviously is great for our community, but it also shows that there was more damage than we have heard that there was.

Um there's pictures of people who helped to take all of the appliances, five refrigerators and freezers out of that building to take them outside because as they said on their post, all of these appliances were ruined.

Um, and then on the 4th of October after the storm, they put out a call to request people to bring 30 second outdoor wood cleaner to uh clean up any mold or mildew that would have been on the wood paneling inside the building, which to me does not uh make appropriate remediation for mold or mildew or any damage that would have been done from that water.

On October 30th, more pictures were posted by uh members of the club with um very clearly a ceiling caved in.

The uh ceiling is on the floor, the installation is on the ground.

Um there's a residential dehumidifier inside the building, there's pictures of um mops and buckets next to the Lions Club logo, um, and all of these pictures are tagged with the Lions Club location.

You can see them because we've been there for Pancake Breakfast and all the other fundraisers, but um they're actually tagged with that location.

So then on 11.8, there's another call to return the small dehumidifiers that they had been using because someone else borrowed them to work on their house and they weren't done using them that so 11.8, they're still uh using small dehumidifiers, which again is not appropriate remediation.

Um December 1st, there's a post from the club that says please come to this fundraiser for us that this other organization is having.

Um we can't have one ourselves because we are still abating from Helene December 1st.

Um, so that brings me to now, where I see a letter from Linda Gregory on no kind of um stationary, there's no header, there's nothing that would imply that this is from an actual entity.

It looks like it's just the word doc.

Um, and it lists her as the district governor, and I looked her up on the um national page, and she's listed as the first vice district governor, which to me is not the same thing.

Um so I would struggle to take this as something legitimate, it's not notarized.

There's nothing about it that seems official to me at all, especially with that um incorrect title.

Then I get to the hold harmless, and in section seven of the hold harmless, if anybody got that far, um it doesn't make any sense.

Um the words aren't don't make sentences, and they don't actually really say anything because they don't form a sentence.

So I don't know if it's just a scrivener's error or if something was left out.

Um, but it reads like just a run-on sentence of a bunch of capital letters, and it's in all caps, which I also don't understand the uh significance of that.

Um but it doesn't it doesn't say anything, so they hold something harmless, but um there's no punctuation, so I don't really understand what section seven of that hold harmless means.

Um then I get to the letter that um also comes from the Lions Club Foundation.

Um there's two of them from the foundation.

One says as of 8 p.m.

on 1111, Jeremy Wood is no longer president.

It does not include his resignation, it um says they spell interim wrong, which to me is important because in the paragraph that describes the new interim vice president.

Um they use it correctly, but then when they put it under his name, um they call him the interim president and spell it wrong.

Um so it just doesn't look like official, it's not notarized, there's nothing about it to me that looks official other than the Lions Club logo at the top that anybody can get from Clipart.

Um, and then on the same date, there's a letter that says that now to Mr.

O'Reilly, whose name is spelled wrong, um, that they would like to uh have a check made out to the foundation, and that um this was a voted consensus.

It doesn't give a list of members that were present, how any of those people voted, um it doesn't say how the consensus was brought, like if they how they voted, how they got to that answer.

None of that is um addressed in this letter, so again, it doesn't seem official to me that it would come from the foundation and not from a club.

Um and the only thing that did come from the club also didn't have any um logos or anything on that.

Um again, it's not notarized, there's nothing official about it.

There's multiple uh spelling grammar errors.

Um and then I get to the um value questions where we now know that there is asbestos present.

So when you're looking at the appraisal, um they say that they can take the opportunity to amend it if things are changed that bring something to their knowledge.

Um I don't know how the appraiser wasn't aware of asbestos, but they are now, so maybe that's something that would be amended.

Um the pictures that I sent earlier that um I referenced earlier, clearly show significant damage um to the building and their description of needing um a lot of repairs even before the storm to me don't lean to the value that was given to us by the appraiser.

Um so having said all that, I would like to uh ask the appraiser to amend their um appraisal and their value now, knowing that there's asbestos present.

Um I also don't know if any entity out of these three that we talk about um received any kind of like FEMA money or insurance money, and if they did, and clearly since there were no permits, there should have been no work done, um that money should obviously come off the top of whatever value um would have been present because they got money for it already.

So uh we're um Mayor, um I understood we were answering the attorney's question.

I know I intended to speak first, so I've been hijacked from the two, but I'll let you go before me.

All right, thank you.

Can I just wait two quick comments?

No, we were going in speaking order.

We were ahead of the case.

But I didn't have an opportunity.

Just so you know, the release I sent was a draft.

Those were changes that were made, so that would be compared to uh the original.

So that's the hold harmless.

Yeah, I mean, I would hope.

No, there were a bunch of blanks because we didn't have any extra.

No, I had I have the one with the blanks.

Yeah, so that's what was sent, that's why it was a draft.

So they signed something and sent it back.

We would review that but that wasn't the one I sent.

No, I've yeah, clearly.

Um but I wouldn't know who would have prepared something like that and signed it.

Right.

That's not the way the sentence.

Yeah.

Can I ask a procedural question?

Yeah.

Just so are we asking questions just about what the attorney presented on?

And that was my understanding.

Okay, so when I called on the city manager, I thought he was gonna give an overview, and then I wanted to give an overview.

But the city manager called on the attorney who addressed the who of it, and then questions started flying, and then all of a sudden everybody was speaking about what they wanted to say, and I didn't want to interrupt everybody, so I let them go.

So at this point, I think I'm just going to end up going last.

So I think that since um uh Jennifer Dawn uh Councilmember Donch went to go, it would be my turn, but I do understand that councilmember Shaw interpret it it differently like I did, and so I do think that you should have an opportunity to speak.

And I don't mind deferring to you if you intended to speak after the city manager, so however you wish to do it, to go ahead and do as you planned, um then me go step.

Yeah, my goal was was that I was gonna give my overview of the appraisal process, and then I was gonna ask for council comments, and then I was gonna turn it over to public comment, and then I was gonna say call the vote.

And if that's visible to everybody, I'm I'm I find that fine.

Okay.

So um then I'm going to what I wanted to do was to kind of give a chronicological chronicological order of the appraisals from my perspective.

So and and in the process of doing it to dismiss some of the rumors, innuendo, and false statements that I had heard made both there in public comment and from our dayas.

That's what I was going to address.

And I think there's been a lot of good points made up here as well on the who issue.

Uh, and if I read the GABR article, I felt like they did a good job of stating the facts, but um they left the question, the who was kind of left hanging.

So when it comes to the appraisal, the first thing I'd like to say is that the Lions Club actually gave our city manager a heads up in April of 24 that they did not think that they would be renewing their lease because they their budget did not account for it with their lowered membership.

So our city manager being proactive the way he is, ordered an appraisal, received an appraisal so that he could start budgeting the money for the payout, because at that point everybody understood what the terms of the lease said, and there was no question that we would owe a payout if the Lions Club decided not to renew their lease.

So there was an appraisal done in April of 24.

Then in September of 25, the city uh manager uh told me during one of our meetings that there was another that he had gotten another appraisal because he was starting to work on uh you know pull accurate numbers for the budget for fiscal year 2526, and he wanted to see how and if the appraisal had changed.

And he told me what that number was was 528, but we didn't talk about it much because he also had told me that the um vice mayor had requested that there be another one done that she did not like that one because it wasn't for market value.

So that I just want to say is where, in my opinion, um, and in case I didn't say I was a real estate broker for 33 years and dealt with appraisers and appraisals on a weekly basis um many many many times.

But here was what I needed to hear from myself was when I went to the city manager when he told me this in September, um, what is the definition of market value?

And that's where it gets kind of cloudy, okay.

So if you read the definition of market value from from FEMA in January of 24, their definition uh is this the value of buildings and structures, excluding the land and other improvements on the parcel.

Market value is the actual cash value.

Parentheses, in-kind replacement, cost appreciation for age, wear and tear, neglect, and quality of construction, end of parentheses, determined by a qualified independent appraiser.

That is their definition of market value.

So then the next thing I want to tell you is that if I went to our own code of ordinances, chapter 10.5, and I read you the um definition of market value, it is exactly the same.

I would repeat to you verbatim exactly what the FEMA said, okay.

Now being a realtor my whole life, if I was asked for what is market value, quotation marks I'm saying, if I was to ask exactly what market value was, my response would be the price that any seller was willing to sell and a buyer was willing to pay when they weren't under duress.

That would be my definition.

And how would I accomplish that as a realtor of 33 years?

I would use the cost, the sales comparison approach, which is where you take comps, comparable properties, and you give and take values to determine a adequate square footage price, and that would be the price that I, as a realtor, with a CRS designation and a GRI designation and a broker for 31 of the 33 years, that's what I would use.

Now here's where one more thing, and I I want to say this because we heard multiple times that our city manager wasted money by getting additional because he didn't do a market value.

So a market value appraisal.

So I'm just telling you, there's more than one definition of a market value, but this is what the lease actually says.

The total property value shall be determined, the total property value should be determined, the land value shall be deducted, and the remainder shall be multiplied by 50%.

So I would suggest to you that this did happen multiple times on all these appraisals.

So in any case, in December, we saw another appraisal.

It actually came in a little higher at $534,000.

But at that point, is when we had quite a lengthy conversation at uh during that council meeting, because what was then raised was very valid, and I appreciated that Vice Mayor Thanos had picked up on this, that it was supposed to be an MAI appraisal, which at the moment I didn't know what that term MAI meant or those designations.

You know, now I realize that similar to me with the designations I had, showing lots of experience and expertise, uh MAI has more expertise.

So after lengthy discussion, we said let's uh have uh another appraisal done by an MAI appraiser, and let's request that it be a market value.

Okay.

So that's what happened next.

So then the holidays got in the way, so on and so forth, and then in February at one of our council meetings, we were presented with an uh, and actually the council saw it a couple days before the uh council meeting.

We had an appraisal by an MAI appraiser, and his appraiser, his total market value that he gave to us was 455,000.

All right.

How did he come up with that?

He didn't just do one, he did two different methods.

What he did as an MAI was he took because you have to understand this is a really unique property because there's no land involved.

It's strictly the building that makes it different.

So what he did was he did a cost analysis, which some people might call replacement cost.

That's where they figure out if you were to buy it, want to build it new what would it cost, and then you depreciate it.

And his cost analysis approach came to 430,000.

But then when he did a sales comparison approach, he came to 480,000.

So what did he do?

He averaged it to 455,000.

Okay.

So then the conversation continued at the February meeting, and there was statements made from the dais and from the public.

Uh the public then started repeating one person's opinions about these mistakes as if they were actual facts that there were mistakes.

So one by one, I just would like to touch on them for a minute.

One had to do with age, okay.

There was a belief by some that the Lions Club building was built in 1950.

The public records states that the property on that uh at that address was built in 1971.

So here is a stack of articles for the Lions Club that clearly states that they broke ground in 1966, and that in fact it was dedicated in 1967.

So, in my opinion, the effective the real age of this property would be when it was dedicated and they started to use it, which was September of 67.

The public tax records at the county did not pick up on this until 1971.

Anybody who's been in this business knows that there's lots of mistakes in recording things, okay.

When I worked in uh Gwinnett County, it could take a year before things got recorded.

Who knows what it was back then, it wasn't automated.

So the age, I just wanted to say, should have been, though, though every appraisal that's been done, every appraiser did the same thing and used the year 1971.

Though I'm now going to say 1967.

The condition, okay.

Um I uh talked to this appraiser twice now.

The condition, in his opinion, he said to me, I have done so many appraisals in the last 18 months with homes that are uh with properties, he didn't say homes, with properties that were severely damaged by the storms and had major flooding.

I did not see or smell any obvious signs in the Lions Club.

That's what he said to me.

Okay.

Then the next thing that was stated several times was that, but he didn't take the land value out.

He didn't take the land value out.

Well, first of all, you wouldn't use the land value in a cost analysis at all.

We're only talking about what is the actual cost of the structure.

So there's no reason to put any land price in there, period.

Second, when he did the sales comparison approach, anybody who read the appraisal saw each comp that was used, and by the way, he went all over the state so that his comps were all lodges and clubs, so that we weren't comparing it to the use of a house or the construction of a house, but rather to that of a lodge.

Um he would show the sales price minus the cost of the land, so he got an effective price on the structure alone, and then of course he knew the square footage, he would divide that by the square footage, so he came up with an effective price base per square foot and then multiplied it by square foot.

That's how he came across, and that's exactly what I did for 33 years.

Um then other people wanted to say, but he didn't use any comps on the water.

Totally irrelevant.

This had nothing to do with land, absolutely nothing to do with land.

Um, somebody else said it's not worth a single penny.

There's absolutely no value.

That's why the Lions Club didn't want it and they're going to demolish it.

Okay.

It was a choice by the city to demolish it.

The the Lions Club hasn't had nothing to say with it.

We're trying to finalize the terms of a lease that were clearly spelled out in terms of condition, just so you know, the majority of you sitting out there that had flood water, you all wanted to fight to lower your SDE letters, okay?

Every one of you fought to get it down lower.

Well, without fighting, the SDE letter on the Lions Count Club came in at 27%.

So you need to know that.

So I just wanted to say that.

Uh when he looked at the comps, as I said, he only used halls and lodges when he made adjustments.

Uh and on each single comp he made adjustments according to the quality of the construction, the age, the condition, the size, and the zoning.

So I'm not an attorney to get into the legalities of the lease and who signed it and who the check should go to if we should decide to cut a check.

I do feel that our attorney is absolutely right that if the check is written to the Lions Club, which this governor says is an active club, then they can figure out how they cash it, so on and so forth.

But when it comes to the appraisal, uh, and and let me just back up one second, I apologize, but at the February meeting, the request was that our city manager call this appraiser and question him on it, walk have the appraiser walk him through and see if if he would want to change it, okay.

Well, after the city manager and I talked, we decided that it made more sense for me to make that call because this is my background.

This is all I did my entire life before retiring was real estate.

So I made the call.

I found the uh MAI appraiser to not be involved in politics of any sort, to not have, you know, wasn't pulling one way or the other.

He did exactly his job.

I thought he was very professional.

Um I I don't think it's my job to decipher, you know, how poor some of the written language came back and typos and capitalizations on that.

I'm only addressing the actual appraisal.

In my opinion, having looked at all these comps, having looked at four different appraisals beginning in 2024.

I feel like this is a competent appraisal.

I am not questioning anything.

He walked me through his methodology step by step.

He was very patient.

Um, so I feel like we have a good appraisal.

And then I'm not going to say anything more about the other part because I think that's more legalities, and my understanding on that is that if they were to default on the lease, we would have had the right to terminate.

But we did not have the right to make it null and void if we thought they had defaulted.

I'm not saying that I think that they ever defaulted because realized that the Lions Club formed the Lions Club Foundation in 2019.

Okay.

Now the lease didn't get changed to say Lions Club Foundation, but they were always an active club according to international, and that's the only people I know to question on it.

So I've said a lot now.

If anyone else wants to speak again before public comment, I understand.

I definitely do because I was just responding to the attorney's questions, so I didn't get to talk.

But um, and I just wanted to also um make sure that people understand that I've also I'm also a real estate broker, and um for for years, and I've also worked with multimillion dollar appraisals, and and and I too did have some questions, and especially pertaining to when the lease says an MAI appraiser, they are definitely two distinct different ones MAI versus certified.

And am I am I speaking close enough to the microphone?

A little closer.

Okay.

Maybe I do need the extension on this one too.

Um so um I just want to note several things, both for the record and to provide some explanation to the public as to why this has been a complicated matter, especially due to the varied types of residents that I've heard from, meaning not familiar faces, and number of people that have had concerns.

It is clearly imperative that we we must honor agreements made by the city.

That is not what this is about.

The concern from the beginning has been that we handled the matter correctly, and as outlined in the agreement.

I even brought that point up as well in that first meeting.

We have obligations to balance.

First, ensuring the appraisal is correct, so there's no future concern on behalf of the Gulfport Lions Club.

Second, ensuring that residents have no future cause for concern either.

The questions regarding the appraisal, the unusual circumstances and timeline of action surrounding this club have raised many questions, and it's our responsibility to ensure we are exercising our fiduciary duty and remitting funds appropriately.

First, there were concerns regarding the appraisal since it was not an MAI, as we've already talked about.

And we can go back and forth on you know, fair market value and methodologies and et cetera, but the lease did say MAI per fair market per fair make it market value.

Um there have also been concerns as to factors related to the appraisals.

For example, it's not clear how how past flooding and future flood risks are factored into the appraisal.

It seems they should be because they have an effect on property value, risk carries cost, and a number of people brought this to my brought this to my attention and we discussed it as well.

Um did the appraiser make an independent effort to determine what level of flood remediation was required.

Uh it's not clear where an allowance was given for flood remediation either.

Um, you know, and and honestly, I I'm kind of surprised that he suggested that he didn't smell anything because I'd been in it for past events and even before the storms, um, I I really could not stay long because it was so musty and moldy smelling.

And please, I that's a personal opinion, and I hope I can't get sued for saying that.

But you know, I'm very I I I even with my allergies, I detect those things.

So I I'm I just you know, these are some of the questions that we have.

Uh, questions have also been raised regarding the condition of the building, for example, the age and the condition of the roof.

Now we've you know heard a couple of different things about that, and and and I'm on I don't know if the appraiser was questioned about these.

I didn't speak with the appraiser myself regarding the appraisal.

Um I I would certainly want um full uh satisfaction on the part of the city attorney and the city manager staff and the mayor that the appraisal is fair and accurate, and that all remaining questions surrounding it have been resolved.

And so obviously, for the record, I I do hope that we can confirm that on the record.

Um, the Gulfport Lions Club Inc., the entity the city entered into agreement with sent a notice of non-renewal of the property lease agreement.

Then the Gulfport Lions Club Incorporated was admitted administratively dissolved as a corporation on September 26, 2025, and was only recently activated through a state of Florida corporate reinstatement filing on April 1st.

And I and I would like to mention in direct dialogue over the past couple of years with officers in that organization, they describe them as two distinct different facets that they have each one had their own board.

A letter submitted from Miss Gregory, identified as district governor of Lions International, is not on official letter head, which gave me pause.

Personally, I would have felt considerably more confident with an official letter from the Lions Club International rather than a personal letter.

More specifically, Miss Gregory's letter, dated April 2nd advises that the club currently maintains a membership of 28 members and is a healthy club.

In it, she states she has no reason to believe they're in danger of folding or disbanding.

Yet, if there are 28 members, as the letter provides, what were they a member of if the Gulfport and Lions Club incorporated, quote unquote, wound down and their corporate status was allowed to go in active in September 2025, noting that it was only reinstated on April 1st, 2026, one day earlier.

This is an example of the types of questions raised that caused further questions.

Regarding the use of funds, nothing in the information provided indicates whether their governing documents address the distribution of funds to membership should the organization disband.

I've been advised that how those funds are ultimately utilized is an IRS matter, though.

So if they're if their governing documents say that they can distribute it to the remaining members of the club, then that's what could be done.

You know, I would I would certainly welcome confirmation as to whether that's correct or not, but I do understand that is an IRS issue at that point.

Um I there are some more questions like do we have written confirmation there are no liens, judgments or creditors of the Lions with the claims on this payment?

And then uh, of course, a legal opinion from the city attorney that all of the above satisfy satisfies the lease obligation and fully protects the city in the future.

Again, this has not been a clear-cut matter.

Two key documents have been resolved to address important outstanding details, and whether one is fully complete or not, meaning the release.

Um that resolution identifies the Gulfport Lions Club as the receiving entity and a full release of claims and hold hardless agreement to the to be signed by Mr.

Bixler as president on behalf of both Lions Club, Gulfport Lions Club Inc., excuse me, and its foundation confirming the lease buyout is discharged.

It is hoped that any questions that that have been addressed by any of the daists tonight can be thoroughly discussed in information provided today, so we we can have some further clarity on this.

Thank you.

All right, um, again before we turn this over to public comment.

There's been some confusion about what you could, you know, what was being addressed, were we only addressing it to attorney or not?

And now, of course, I've said what I wanted to say, and council member Shaw has.

Does anyone else want to speak before we go to public comment?

And I'm gonna ask in speaking order.

I guess it's and I heard that I needed to speak closer.

Thank you, Mayor.

I really appreciate the conversations so far.

And a couple of I am not a broker, a real estate broker, nor in real estate of any sort.

So I appreciate my colleagues' perspectives on the matter.

Um I'm also not a code enforcement person, so I appreciate your like thorough kind of reading back of stuff.

But I am someone who looks at Sunbiz for nonprofit status on like a regular basis, and it is not uncommon for nonprofits to have to be reinstated, especially small community-based nonprofits.

So I just want to provide kind of like a norming there for us.

Even a nonprofit, I will I started a nonprofit for an organization and I had to reinstate the nonprofit because the annual filing came up.

It didn't take quite as long as it took them to reinstatement.

But I was also looking at the turnover of their board in these papers, and the and taking into account that they had um that we all had suffered a hurricane in there.

And so it just to kind of normalize or to give you a wider reading of nonprofit kind of organizational help in um in Florida.

This is not uncommon.

Um I do feel much more comfortable, and only do I feel comfortable with issuing a payment for an organization that is registered with Sunbiz.

Sunbiz is for those of you who don't know is where you register your nonprofits with the Secretary of State, and it's how you can go and check uh an LLC uh an incorporated entity, including nonprofits 501c3s.

And so they are they are listed in um in Sunbiz, and and so that would be in terms of um who would be the only entity that because the other organization isn't I don't easily find them in Sunbiz.

So if they are an organization, there's you have to dig a little bit of an organization has changed its name um and is using a DBA, so maybe the foundation is using a DPA, but that's not easily and readily apparent, and whereas this organization is functioning and uh has an active license.

So um the other thing is no, I think that's all that's my expertise on the matter, and that's you know, since we are a deliberative collective body, that's where I'll leave it right now.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

May I ask you what um date do you have?

Because um I saw what council member Tonch saw, and it's kind of like if we ended up on TV, they'd be like, how could they not notice that?

I mean, there's no level level uh letter head, it's a Gmail account to get back with them, and it's riddled with misspellings.

But under Tom Bixler, it says president of the Lions Club of Gulfport Florida Foundation Inc.

Okay, so can I answer those questions, Mayor?

So and I'm getting this from Sunbiz.org, and if I look, it has the registered eight.

Okay, so this is as of they submitted their reinstatement paperwork April 1st, 2026.

Um according to that date, the people that they have, and I'm gonna go straight to the primary document.

List it says the entity's name is Gulfport Lions Inc.

They have an address of 4630 to Tifton Drive South.

Um they have a current mailing address of PO Box 53051 in St.

Petersburg, their treasurer, and then it lists their treasurer as Christine Brown, the secretary as Kathy Bixler, and the president as Tommy Bixler.

And it was signed by the treasurer as is customary with um with these documents and their registered agent is Christine Brown.

Who didn't sign this um paper that Kathy Bixler and Tom Bixler signed?

Okay, but her name is listed there.

Okay, thank you.

But according to the state, this is who is controlled of this organization, and there is we would have to the somebody would have I could dig a little deeper to find out if the foundation was linked to this, but it's not readily apparent in Sunbiz.

Okay, I I have no more questions.

Thank you.

That is my question.

Okay.

But it's as a separate organization as it was indicated to me that it is.

The foundation on the letter that they sent, um they list themselves as being registered with the um Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

And they list their um certification and their registration number from there, fresh from Florida.

Um because obviously they're two separate, you know.

That's I I do believe they're both listed on Sundays, but you can certainly be verify that.

But the point is is the lease says we pay the Gulfport Lions Inc.

Right.

And that's what your resolution provides.

Right.

Right.

All righty.

Can I move on to public comments?

Yeah, I said everything I need to say on anything.

All righty, so show of hands, anyone wants to address this and during public comment.

April Thanos go your first, Jonathan, your second.

Okay.

There's so much.

First of all, just from what you said, how can they have an address on Tifton when they no longer have a lease on Tifton?

They they don't have that property.

So that's a false address.

And when you go back to the um appraisals, the one that was done in April, fair enough, because they've given us some notice that they might not renew, but then the city manager wanted to use that same appraisal after the flooding.

And I said, Well, no, you can't do that because there's been a substantial difference.

So he did another one, and he's the one that wrote this lease, so he should have known he had to use an MAI appraiser.

So then finally we did do an MAI appraiser.

So that's but you know, they actually talked about in their own documents that they were winding down the club in the fall, and then they they took they dissolved it, they didn't pay, they dissolved it.

So to me, them reinstating the club in April is only so they can get money.

They don't to me seem to really have a club, and there was like um Jennifer Daunch mentioned that they didn't talk anything about how they had a vote, who voted.

Was it the three officers that voted to put it to the foundation when they're on both things?

That's a little fishy.

And um also I did talk to the appraiser, and he I asked him specifically because of city manager had told me before uh before the flooding when they talked about not renewing back in 24 that they were having questions about whether they could afford a new roof.

And you're quite correct, they've done some repairs, they haven't had a new roof.

There's nothing since 1997 in the county that shows a new roof, so it's quite an old roof with repairs.

But he did not look at the roof.

I asked him specifically because I knew the roof was an issue, and if a roof needed to be replaced on a building that large, clearly that would be a substantial difference.

And same thing about finding out about the mold and stuff, and I know other people will address whether it's in a flood zone or not, and the comps were in a flood zone, but that's a huge difference.

A building that's not in a flood zone doesn't have to carry flood insurance, and carrying flood insurance is hugely expensive and getting more expensive all the time, and so it makes a huge difference on the value of a property.

And why the appraiser didn't look at that?

I can't answer.

Thank you.

Jonathan I lived in Coconut Grove too.

Um I uh thank you.

Uh I have a broker's license nowhere near the experience the mayor hairs has.

Uh also have a GRI designation.

Um I've also recently done three transactions within 200 yards of the Lions Club, and I've demolished one house within 200 yards of the Lions Club.

And I can tell you that prior existing flood damage and the potential for future flood damage would be absolutely most defining elements of those transactions.

Nothing came close.

How an appraiser, I'm I he's a legitimate guy.

I'm not gonna challenge that, but I didn't have that conversation with him.

I all I don't know why that wouldn't be part of a fair market appraisal.

Fair market is uh I completely agree on the mayor's definition of it.

It's what would you pay for it and what would somebody else sell it for?

And use that stick, use that measuring stick right now.

Go up to a building that's been flooded, and tell me you're gonna pay the same amount as one that hasn't been flooded.

I don't think that is gonna hold up.

Um Mayor, you mentioned an SCE letter of 27%.

Does that not mean that there's damage equal to 27% of the value of the structure?

Am I do I have that wrong?

Is that what that means?

I think that means 27.

So wouldn't you right away take any estimate, cost estimate, whatever, and go minus 27% right off the bat, if you are gonna give any credence to that letter.

Otherwise, the letter has no meaning.

So it's one or the other.

Okay, that's all.

Um the comps were a comps in Ocala, honestly, as you well know.

The important thing about comps is usually that they be as close as possible.

The fact that these are ridiculously far away, means they couldn't get uh a suitable, and I understand it's a very difficult problem for for him to solve, but having comps in Ocala also means that it has pretty much nothing to do with the golf port market being there was no notification in there whether anything was in a flood zone or not, so it we can assume they were not by their general description.

Well, we are um we all look into the council to look after our money, not find reasons to cut big checks to questionable uh organizations.

Thank you.

Um Ms.

Stern Lauren Stern.

Um so I'm really grateful for more that was shared tonight um by several council members that we hadn't heard from yet, um, and by council member Shaw.

I think that was really thorough, even more information for the public.

Um we didn't get an answer.

Did they get FEMA money?

Did they get insurance money?

This roof and mold damage, it would be a huge deduction, and I do think the flooding is relevant, even if the mayor disagreed um because of insurance costs and because of the fair market value.

Um so I I understand that we're bound by a contract.

Um I heard council member Shaw say something about personal disbursement.

That's an option here.

So these five people, that's not an option here.

I was saying we don't know that.

We don't know because really it's the IRS determination.

I'm sorry.

So the IRS so the IRS could allow Christine, Tommy, and Kathy to split this 250,000.

That is very interesting.

So I lay all of this honestly at the feet of the city manager.

He did not look to revoke the lease or end or terminate the lease.

He pulled a VAT appraisal.

Uh, I mean, this was his accountability to manage this, and I think he failed here, and we've now dragged this out.

Yes, we're in breach, but there are still open questions that you guys have all raised and been flipping through the pages and looking at.

Tommy, according to the Sunbiz, has moved to Citrus Hill.

So I'm not sure what he's if they're still saying this group is meeting here, but none of them are here tonight, which is weird to me.

Um, so I urge you guys to continue this again, kick this off, get more questions answered.

Um, it's a lot of money, it's more money than we've spent on playgrounds, it's more money than they deserve for all the damage deductions, questions about insurance, FEMA, and again, if they're all just gonna split it three ways, that's not a good use of money.

Thanks.

Anyone else for public comment?

Okay, Lenny, and then I see you, Sue.

Umheimer, golfport bo uh I'm sorry, uh 5213 to let up New South.

Um, I am very impressed with uh the council people, the the thoroughness that uh the information that's been presented here, and I think that the voters of golf port should be proud of that's the caliber of people here on in council.

Um there's a question I have uh that the appraiser has a some qualification uh states that if there's uh problems with um hazardous materials, he's not taking that into account.

Well, we know that this next resolution coming up that the city's gonna be spending, I don't know what $30,000 or something for remediation or maybe $15,000 for remediation of asbestos, and that seems to me that that needs to be accounted for because he clearly stated that he was not any kind of hazardous materials, he was not gonna be dealing with did not deal that with that in this appraisal.

And we now know that there are materials that we have to account for, and we have to dispose of, and that needs to be uh part of that calculation of the value of that property.

Umso that building does not have fire suppression, fire protection.

Um if we were to quite well, anyhow, thank you.

Thank you, Susan.

I got it.

Oh no, I got it.

Just give her a microphone.

You do have you got it.

I got it.

No wheelies in House.

No wheeling minutes.

No wheelies.

Don't worry.

Last time I was using this, I was campaigning for Gecko Queen, and I don't look nearly as good in a tutu as Robert.

My notes for tonight start with thank you.

And I want to especially echo what Lenny just said.

I am so appreciative of the diligence and the effort and the thoughtfulness that each of you has shown.

And we may not agree on the outcome of your research.

However, what matters to me is that process of taking things seriously.

We are talking about Gulfport taxpayer dollars, and I guess this is my new mantra.

That um you have the fiscal responsibility, and it sounds like you are taking it seriously.

Thank you.

I'm going to use a few seconds to talk about the difference between a nonprofit membership organization and a foundation.

Maybe useful.

I've been in the business for 50 years.

A membership organization requires membership votes to authorize the expenditure of funds.

A foundation requires only the directors or trustees to vote.

You cannot get to the bylaws of the Gulfport Lions Inc.

It is a member only page on the website.

You cannot get to the membership list.

So we have no idea, as was raised earlier about the vote.

That's true.

The consensus vote that was supposedly taken.

And Mr.

Saltzman is the only entity relevant to the conversation.

You cannot allow your power to be taken by an organization run by three people who can vote for anything they want.

If you look at the hold harmless from Ms.

Pollock, it says Gulfport Foundation Inc.

Can use the funds for any 501c3 activity for Gulfport, for Gulfport Lions, for Gulfport Lions District, and any other uses the director's vote.

Did somebody say splitting the funds?

When it comes to the appraisal, I would refer you to a January 26th interview that's on Spectrum TV with our mayor who said asbestos tiles.

There's a picture of Tom Bixler showing how high the water was in the building.

We've heard more about the damage to the building.

Thank you.

All right.

Before we check on e-comment, was there anybody else that wanted to speak to this here?

All right.

If the I see seeing none, um, do we have any e-comments on this, please?

Not on this item.

Not on this item.

Okay.

So I know that we have go ahead.

I'm sorry, City Manor, City Attorney.

Mayor, I just wanted to point out two things while you were talking.

We looked up uh the Gulfport Lions Inc.

The actual document for reinstatement, just so you know Tommy uh Bixler is listed as president for that.

The uh release that they signed and gave us is so different than the release I prepared.

Mayor, as you know, we had discussed putting in there that any charitable monies would be spent or any of these monies would be spent in the city of Gulfport, they changed that.

I don't know what they did to that hold harmless section.

There's a different hold harmless section, that's fine.

This one they they just changed the word.

So, you know, we were not going to uh I didn't look at that until I hear what you have to say, but we knew there were changes that they had made.

Um if you so choose to vote to extend any funds, I would ask you to add into there that we have uh a acceptable release by the city uh before any funds would be paid, because what they sent us is not acceptable.

All right, so I would like to clarify what you just said, okay.

Um because we heard public comment and we've all had what we wanted to say, and um uh there's a motion on the table and a second, and I thought that we would call the vote.

But what I think I just heard you say was that as our city attorney, you are suggesting that the release that they have signed, which was not what we requested, though we requested some things that we don't really have necessarily the right to request.

You are correct but we did request.

You cannot request that the the charities be spent in Gulf Board.

We thought that would be a fair provision.

That one I can kind of understand, even though we don't agree with.

I can't live with the whole harmless rewritten in a way that doesn't protect the city.

Okay.

So uh now I'm gonna just ask for process because you know I don't understand it.

Um if we were to uh take our vote, we would first we would need to amend the motion that's on the table, and how do we define what we would find as acceptable?

Well, here Mayor, here's what I would ask.

Okay.

Um, that you allow uh you allow me to negotiate a release.

Uh if I cannot negotiate as uh a release that we talked about that releases the the city, um I would bring it back to you for further discussion.

In fact, before you sign it either way, I want to bring it back to council um because I'm I'm just don't like a release that you know somebody made changes as I double checked my email that I sent.

I said, here's a draft release for you to look at.

I was expecting normally what we do is we get comments and then we go back and forth on the comments, and then I bring you what I think is you know what what we've negotiated.

And this one they just edited it and gave me their signed document, which I usually that was just strange, but we attached it as one of the documents we received because we wanted you to see all the documents because I had asked, as you saw from the blank one, exhibit A, which was the agreement, exhibit B, the documents that would show who has the ability to reach this agreement, and these particular terms they came up with, the foundation show us documentation sufficient so that I can come to council and say, counsel, this is who we should pay.

After looking at all those documents, the only thing I can come up with is that the only person or entity we should pay is the one we have in the lease.

Right, and that is what the motion is right, and that is correct.

But I would like permission to uh get a release subject to your approval before any monies, should you choose to vote that way, are paid out.

Right.

Okay.

We don't have to we don't have to pay anything till you say pay it.

We can authorize payment, but we don't have to pay it till you tell us could we also um request that we have a more formal letter from Lions Club International since that's been called into uh question as well in terms of do we know that this gal is in the role that she said she is, and that says that there's 28 members.

Um I'm looking to you just for discussion right now in terms of how might we satisfy that so that we I mean I took it at face value, but I didn't say, well, gee, let me call Lions Club International and see if this Linda Gregory even exists.

I mean, I did not do that, I took it as a legal document.

I I think Mayor, we can acknowledge in a letter to uh attorney Pollock that we have reviewed the documents, they're insufficient for us.

We want a affidavit, a sworn affidavit from someone in the international on their letter head, um you know, giving that who is allowed to receive funds or if this entity, you know, the whole list.

Does this entity exist?

Is it recognized by the international as being a valid entity?

Um is it understood by the international that it any funds that are given to this entity that these are valid funds for charitable purposes?

The only thing I can't as we talked about, the only thing I don't think I can get without a negotiation is that they'll spend the money in golf port.

Yeah, I thought that was a nice try, but I could understand why they weren't willing to agree to that as well.

So I understood that.

So in terms of process right now, do we have to remove the motion that's on the maker in the second can amend the motion?

Um assuming that uh a motion is approved, that it's subject to a release that is approved by the council, a subsequent release, and with proper notification from the international as to the validity of the organization.

You made the motion.

Um I I think I'd rather withdraw my motion, and if someone else wishes to make the motion, we could go from there because there's still some insurance questions that I feel like haven't been answered.

I mean appraisal questions that haven't been answered either.

I I I appreciate the direction we're going.

And um, you know, getting something, you know, very official from the international group, I think is is critical.

And um, you know, I brought up the liens and other issues, you know, to make sure that's included in there as well.

Um, you know, so I I feel like a lot of the that is on the right track.

But I I still don't feel confident in the appraisal as far as the questions that have been raised by so many.

Well, if the maker wants to remove the motion, the second or agrees and the motion will leave the table.

I agree.

So now there is no motion on the table, and it's up to council to make any kind of motion.

And I can't make any motions.

Right, unless you pass the gap.

So what am I everything I'm not gonna make you repeat it?

I think we all got it right down what we need and what we want.

So I make a motion for you.

You if uh if I can help you you're making a motion to approve payment, yes, uh, as to the amount that has been determined.

Um that's already been determined.

What is it?

Do we have that exact total?

2775.

227,500 um, subject to documentation that shows that the Lions Club Inc.

is a valid entity as recognized by um Lions Club International, and that documentation supporting that requires an affidavit from Lions Club International, the appropriate person, um, and that uh uh the release will have to be reviewed and approved by council before any funds are paid.

That's my motion to receive.

And I have to type that all out.

Thank you, sir.

You have to do a lot of I need a second if we'd like to.

I'll second.

We have a first and second roll call.

Vice Mayor Shaw.

No, I already identified my concerns.

Councilmember Webb?

Yes.

Councilmember Early?

Yes.

Councilmember Donch?

No.

Mayor?

Yes.

Passes three to two.

Sorry.

All righty, with that then it is eight eighteen.

And before we move on to the next resolution, I'm gonna say that we give a 10-minute bathroom break and then we will resume.

Thank you.

I appreciate the question break.

Thank you.

I know.

We all needed it, didn't we?

All righty.

So with that, um, you know, of course the rooms c cleared out a little bit, but I just want to say, like what a couple of people said during public comment.

This is the what you elected the council to do to make the tough decisions.

Um to everybody to get to have their say, to listen to public comment, and we make the tough decisions, and we made the decision not the way it was written initially, but we made two altercations to it and said this is what we're gonna go back with.

So we don't know yet what's gonna happen.

Um is kind of where we've left it, but a decision was made, and uh whether you agree with it or you not, you all watch the process.

So with that in mind, please, City Clerk.

Item eight B, resolution number twenty twenty-six twenty dash twenty-two.

A resolution authorizing the city manager to enter an into an agreement with ADS Services Inc.

for asbestos abatement services, authorizing the city manager to enter into an agreement with triple A service company for demolition of the building located at forty-six thirty, Tifton Drive South.

Motion to approve.

Second.

City Manager.

Yes, Mayor.

Mayor, this is the uh part of the discussion that uh council had at their workshop meeting.

This is to move forward with the demolition of the Lions Club building and also to provide for the abatement of the asbestos in the building.

Okay, thank you.

Um any discussion on this item uh going in speaking order, please, which means um Councilmember Shaw, you would go first.

I already asked all my questions and I'm fine, thank you.

All right, thank you.

Councilmember Webb.

I am good.

No comments, thank you.

No questions or comments.

All righty.

I'm gonna think.

Yes.

Carries to passage.

Moving on to item eight C resolution number 2026-23, a resolution authorizing the city manager to issue payment to cap government incorporated a bureau of Veritas company for managed services model for plan review and inspections for the period of October 2025 through March 2026 and the accompanying budget amendment.

Motion to approve.

Okay, we have a motion and a second.

Do we have any discussion um regarding this issue?

In speaking order.

I have no questions.

Councilmember Shaw?

I mean, excuse me, I'm looking right at Council Member Webb and said it wrong.

Okay.

Nope.

Is the payment coming directly from the funds that we collected for permitting fees or we we because we have the budget amendment, you'll see attached due to the fact that we entered into the contract after the budget year began.

But it's offset.

Yes.

Okay.

We they sent us an invoice.

And so that's what it's all broke down in your memo, Mr.

Math and Yep.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I have no comments.

Do we have any uh public comment?

Yes.

Please, April.

So I have no problem with paying these guys, but I've been asking for months and months and months to find out how effective they've been and have not been able to get any information.

So I don't know whether we're getting our money's worth.

And right now I'm in the midst of getting permits, and I got a driveway permit in a week, and that went through the portal with the contractor.

I got a shed permit in a week.

That was a homeowner permit.

But when I asked about how long it would take, the the woman at the counter said, Well, you'll get it within 30 days.

And then when I talked to the permit person, he said, Oh, it'd be two or three weeks, you know, a week in planning to make sure it was three feet from each boundary, you know, each boundary, and then a week for the them to review it.

And I thought that doesn't sound like the concierge service we were talking about for a shed that's made by a company who makes sheds all the time, a big company here in Pinellas County.

And so I've got some more permits coming electrical, AC, a room, maybe a screen porch, maybe a pool, who knows.

But I'll be keeping track.

But um, you know, a friend of mine, neighbor, had a permit three years ago to have an AC unit where he had a mini split upstairs and then one downstairs, and it was an elevated house in the flood zone.

He got a permit for that, and then he just was getting some other work done in his um lower part, and they saw the the mini split and told them he had to take it out.

And he said, What are you talking about?

I just had that permitted, and he had to take that out.

So there's things still going wrong in our permit department, and I've heard a lot of other stories, and I think that we should be able to know whether this company that we're paying a substantial amount of money if they're doing their job.

I mean, it would be you know, though you guys got elected a lot about making the permit department better, and we don't know if it's better because we get no information about how not how many, but how long it's taking to get a permit.

And sometimes, yes, you have a permit has to be resubmitted for more information, but you can account for that, and I think it's really important to get a report on how long they're actually taking to do various kinds of permits.

I mean, obviously, something simple should be fit quite fast, but and if it's complicated, you expect it to take longer, but we don't know because we've got no information to despite me asking multiple multiple times.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else for public comment?

Do you we have any e-comment on this?

Not on this item, Mayor.

Alrighty, call the vote.

Vice Mayor Shaw?

Yes.

Councilmember Webb, yes, Councilmember Early, yes.

Councilmember Donch?

Yes, Mayor Love.

Yes.

Carries to passage.

Moving on to item 8D.

Resolution number 2026-24, a resolution approving the vet sports month, excuse me, monthly beach GVT volleyball series event application authorizing the temporary suspension suspension of certain provisions of the code of ordinances and applicable city policies for the duration of the events and establishing a responsibilities and conditions associated therewith.

Motion to approve.

Second.

City manager.

Mayor, um, vet sports is asked to do a series of one-day volleyball tournaments over the next few months.

The applicants are here this evening.

And if they have you have any questions.

Does anybody have any questions about sports?

I I don't.

None on this side.

None.

All righty.

I don't have any questions at this time either.

I would like to say that um for the first tournament of the year that um I was there early because I was a volunteer at another event, and I can say that I did see people coming for the volleyball tournament that were parking down closer to um DuPont in 58th and walking over, and that was a request that I made, so I appreciated that.

I also made a request that that be communicated loud and clear that our city ordinances do not allow for smoking or dogs on the beach, and I saw that honored, so that made me feel really good.

And I think um you know that was a great way to kick off.

And the only thing I'd say is if it's at all possible, I wish that we could turn the music so that it be along the street side facing the water so that uh it wouldn't affect some of our businesses because there were times when that music was quite loud and it could affect our businesses.

So one more thing for you all to consider if you could improve upon, I would appreciate uh any e-comments on this, not on this item.

All righty call the vote.

Vice Mayor Shaw public comment?

Oh, I missed public comment.

I'm sorry.

The bewitching our yes, Courtney.

Courtney Procopus, 15th Avenue South.

I just had a quick question in reading through.

Um it said to proceed with hosting the event on public property, city council approval of support, whether the following ordinances and policies are required.

Um, one of those that I just want to ask more about is special sanitation services, e.g.

refuse collection and tipping fees.

So is the city going to be assuming that responsibility?

And is that going to be coordinated just because I can imagine with an uptick in public activation, which is very cool, very great.

Love it all for it.

Um, there may be more trash for Gulfport grassroots to collect.

So I just wanted to get clarification that that is in coordination.

Thank you.

Anybody else on public comment?

And I think I already asked if there was any e-comment.

Okay, call the vote, please.

Vice Mayor Shaw, yes.

Councilmember Webb, yes.

Councilmember Early, yes.

Councilmember Donch?

Yes, Mayor Love.

Yes.

Carries to passage.

Moving on to item 8E, resolution number 2026-25, a resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into a scope of service scope of services agreement with Peggy Matthews Environmental Consulting for phase one project management services for the Gulfport Mooring Field expansion project.

Motion to approve.

Second, we have a motion and a second.

City manager.

Yes, Mayor.

Um during the budget process last year, um, council member Shaw that time count now, Vice Mayor Shaw had brought forward the request to possibly expand the mooring field uh from our present 25 moorings to the originally proposed 100, which would be an additional 75.

This is the first step in the process.

You'll see a combination of different aspects that have to be completed during the planning phase.

Dennis is here to answer any specific questions, but the environmental aspect, the bath metric studies, things to that effect.

All right, thank you.

Uh good evening.

Hi, good evening.

Did you want to uh tell us anything, or are you just up here in case we had questions?

Well, I'll answer any questions, but the the this is just brought in front of you for um three key points, which is environmental surveys, the easement surveys, which we would have an establish a submerged land list lease, like we already do, and then our uh seagrass studies.

And the seagrass study is important because it has to be uh conducted in the month of June, which is coming up.

Uh if not, then we'll have to wait another year to conduct seagrass studies and that and the previous seagrass studies, it seemed like the light light penetration because of the depth of the water um was very uh minimal, if at all.

Um, so we expect the same thing.

Um, and then the um the Bethmix survey will outline um the smurged landlease boundaries in which we will be guided by then in speaking order, are there any questions for our harbormaster?

Um I just wanted to mention that you might some might not recall that the original plan was to install 100 initially, and uh there were a lot of really positive reasons for moving forward on it at that point, but it didn't, it stopped at 25, and so that's why because of all the boats breaking loose, because of the different environmental issues that were being impacted by the boats that are out there, etc.

And and if you read all the material, I don't have to reiterate all of that, but um that's that's why uh it was brought up again.

Um, and my only question is really what was it were were these done by bids or are they piggybacked?

Yeah, three prices.

Go ahead, Duncan.

Yeah, we have three prices for each component of this, and then we picked um the lower price for each one.

Okay, so okay.

So there was three on each one because sometimes they're listed, they weren't so of course I asked.

All righty.

So both questions and comments, Mayor.

Yeah, okay.

Um hi, thanks for being here.

Just for those folks who aren't familiar, because in the in the memo it says 85% occupancy.

And for folks who don't regularly rent out rent things out.

Is that a high occupancy rate or waxes?

So we have some some uh permanent storage like liverboards up to six months, and then we have transient that come in and out.

So it's kind of hard to gauge the occupancy rate because we do have online reservations, so the best we can come up is around 80%.

We have months, and this is in an annual period.

We have months where we're 100%, um, especially during COVID, we were 100% and up to a couple of months.

Now we do have seasons.

Um we have people who will come up here during hurricane season.

Um, then we have also the loopers who um retire and do the great American loop, and they'll come down.

So there's a lot of people that visit our small town that that don't really realize how much traffic we get through through our mooring field and through our transient dockage.

They literally come from all over the nation.

And uh a follow-up question.

You so you anticipate these being like rented out and for us to maintain a high level of occupancy.

Yes.

Excellent.

There is a demand.

Um final question, or could you speak yes, final question?

Could you speak about like other environmental benefits of having an expanded mooring field versus not expanding the mooring field?

So it is a controlled environment.

They do have to come in and do a whole uh a vessel inspection, the MSTs, which is your toilet.

Uh, we will inspect them.

We will uh actually um put a tag on their sea cock, which is what they would use if they're offshore to legally dump sewage.

You have to be three eight miles offshore or more.

Um we also make sure they have liability insurance, um, that they're properly registered with the U.S.

Coast Guard.

We do not do safety checks.

We we leave that up to the federal government to do that, or our local and state government if they choose to do that.

We encourage them to get a safety sticker um from the US Coast Guard Auxiliary, Flotilla 716, which they do biannually at the marina every year, especially during boating uh safety month.

And that way we know that the vessel inspections and we don't have any questions, or it actually prevents frequent boarding or voluntary boarding of a vessel on that.

Um we do run our pump out vessel um twice a month.

We have records that we have to submit for to the FDEP on a quarterly basis uh for the mooring field and for the municipal um uh marina itself.

Um we do pump a lot of sewage, uh people do take advantage of it.

We also started pumping some of the vessels outside the mooring field.

Um we typically don't like to do that, but on request we will.

Um, there is no fee uh to do this.

We could charge up to five dollars, but it would be better to pump out uh free of charge so they would would pump out.

We do give them receipts, so if they do get boarded, they have proof that they actually did pump out, um, and they can keep that as a log of the record, and we highly recommend them.

Um it's also the uh moorings are a safe way to anchor.

We do recommend that they um you know leave the mooring field during uh a tropical storm or hurricane.

It's not you know the best place to be out there.

Um and we'll we'll probably continue to run the bait uh pump a boat even more, probably four times a week if we're having 75 or on demand.

So and we're a clean mooring field too.

We've been a clean marina um for over 26 years.

We were the first 10 in the state and first three in Pinellas County.

So we have a uh record of of keeping our waters clean.

All right, Dennis, I want to thank you for presenting that and for so thoroughly answering my questions.

I've received um concerns from some of our residents who live in the area where this actual expansion of the mooring field should act should be helpful to them because they won't have some of the things they won't have the same issues that they're having now because of the additional um regulation, honestly.

I mean, like the state undid a lot of the um hasn't done as thorough of a job regulating vessels as it could, and so this is a great way to make sure that our waterways are safe and that we're all living well together.

So thank you for that.

Absolutely.

We do encourage uh the people to use the upland facilities as much as as much as possible, too.

So no questions or comments, but thank you.

I have a couple.

Um Peggy Matthews, is this person or company going to be the project manager for the entire rest of the project?

This okay, because this only gives for the first well we'll we would come back to you in the second phase and um and go through this and present this to council again.

And they list their address in Tallahassee, so are do they have a local office or how did they we communicate by email or by phone?

She is in Tallahassee for a very good reason.

She can go talk to the lobbyists.

She knows she's she's been working Tallahassee for over 30 years, and sometimes that's the best way to get things done is be close at home.

Sure.

I just worry that there's work being done here that needs to have a boss, like to yell at people to make sure that people are doing what they're supposed to be doing, that the project manager should so is there someone else then that will like will you?

Yes, yeah.

And once we reach that project manager of the installation in that right now, we we need to get through the scientific and environmental and permitting aspect, and being in Tallahassee, she's former FDEP, and that and she we've had very good success with getting the permits for the casino dock, the more uh the South Basin.

She does a lot of these things for us to get us through the permitting process.

Cool.

And being the first one that you know, we put the mooring field first one in Pinellas County or second one actually in Pinellas County.

I was on the ground floor, so I know the construction, what uh is to be expected, but I would rely on Penny Penny uh Peggy for a lot of the environmental aspects of the of this project.

And then my only other question about the project as a whole is um does it come with a bigger dinghy docks so that people can come in from out there?

So knowing this might go forward, um, I did repurpose some of the old casino docks, so we don't have to incur 20,000 costs and build a new new dock.

So I'm in a process of doing right now because our dinghy dock wasn't because we used a transiting dock, a small portion.

It was because of the occupancy rate on the mooring field, it was getting kind of congested.

Yeah, so I am in the process of removing some of the floating docks where I chat the marina right now to convert that into a dinghy dock with the gangway and everything.

So where would that be maybe?

That would be on the south side near the transient dock on the south side of the main north basin.

Okay.

And if you come down, I'd be more than glad to show you where it's at.

Okay, cool.

Thanks.

My questions are um you said that the seagrass study needs to be done in June.

So we currently have a lot of people that are anchored out there.

Is the fact that there's so many boats anchored in the area that you would we be and dinghies that where you would want to be doing this seagrass studies?

Is that gonna hinder you?

No, that won't impede them at all.

They'll do spot uh drops with divers and go to the sea bottom and they're doing their analysis at that time.

Okay, then I I heard you say um I guess we're at 85 percent occupancy, but I would suggest that that occupants occupancy would go way up if we had our floating dock spec.

Oh, I absolutely that that would definitely affect why that would be down at this time.

Um then I wanted to know on those uh mooring balls.

Is there uh I've heard that the maximum lease is six months.

Is there a minimum lease?

No, there is no minimum.

It's we have a daily rate, we have a weekly rate, and we have a monthly rate, and that's our rates established by city council.

Okay.

We're a guideline by the FDEP.

Um we are now um do not allow power boats on the mooring field.

We're going to um ask a D, Florida DEP and the Army Cor Corps of Engineers with the expanded 75 if we could get power boats, because last time I checked a power boat has a prop and a um a shaft, and so does a so does a sailboat.

Mira, if I can expand on that a little bit.

That was part of one of the requirements when we first built this 15 years ago.

The they had put a moratorium on docks, even in Pokey Bay at that time because of the manatee population.

Okay.

The Army Corps put that criteria on this project was to restrict it only to sailboats at that time.

Now times have changed, and we'll go back and ask for power boats at this time.

They may put that restriction back on it, but we're gonna ask that it just increases our ability to rent to people, let's bring it candidly.

Okay.

So city manager, my understanding is that this is gonna be paid for with WRD money.

Right.

So my question is this Am I right in thinking that we are no longer collecting anymore?

We are using now what we still have left.

But we the the time frame for us to collect this money finished maybe last year.

Yes, the tax increment financing element of your redevelopment district expired last year.

Okay.

All righty, and that's part that I'll talk more about that when we get to the next agenda item about the capital improvement budget.

Okay.

I have no further questions.

Thank you.

Do we have any e-comments on this?

Yes, we do have one comment on this one.

And then I'll go to public comment.

This is from Margaret Tober.

It appears that there's a number of active marina accounts that haven't had a payment made on them in a year or more.

Why would this be?

It seems it would be beneficial to get rid of those vessels to enable people from the waiting list to access the slips.

What is being done to collect those enterprise funds and what effects does this have on the funds to pay for the addition to the mooring field?

What is the potential income for the additional mooring field slips?

All right, thank you.

Do we have any public comment on this?

Yes.

Come on up.

Julie Jacoby of 49th Street South.

I am a boater and a sailor.

And I support the mooring field, but 75 from 25 to 100, we're bringing in 100 more boats, potentially 100 more boats.

There's a lot of boats out there right now.

As I understand the law, and I may be wrong, is that even if you put the mooring field in, there's no mandate that the people that are already out there have to be on a mooring ball.

If I'm wrong about that, please let me know.

Um, if you put another 100 balls in, are another 75 balls in there?

Are you gonna push the people out who aren't or push the people farther out into the bay who aren't on a mooring ball?

And we become instead of the gateway to the golf, the parking lot of the Gulf.

So while I agree that we need to make more that it'd be fantastic to make more money for the city, going from 25 because to seven to a hundred, there was a lot of discussion prior to them cutting it down.

I remember discussions I remember the mooring balls, but it concerns me about bringing in 75 more boats, pushing boats further out into the bay, and not even be able to enjoy the bay anymore as a sailor.

That's all thank you.

Anyone else for public comment?

All right.

Seeing none, please call the vote.

Vice Mayor Shaw?

Yes.

Councilmember Webb?

Yes.

Councilmember Early?

Yes.

Councilmember Donch?

Yes.

Mayor Love?

Yes.

Carries to passage.

Moving on to item 8F, resolution number 2026-26, a resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into a contract with Serve Tech Solutions Incorporated for a multi-beam bathymetric and SSL easement survey as part of the Gulfport Mooring Field Expansion Project.

Motion to approve.

Second.

Alrighty.

Do we have any uh any questions or discussion on the dias?

No.

No.

All righty.

Uh do we have any public uh is there any public comment on this?

Seeing none, do we have any e-comments on this?

No e-comments on this one.

Alrighty.

Uh call the roll, please.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Shaw?

Yes.

Councilmember Webb?

Councilmember Early.

Yes.

Councilmember Donch?

Yes.

Mayor Love?

Yes.

Carries to passage.

Moving on to our last resolution of the evening.

Item 8G, resolution number 2026-27, a resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into a contract with environmental consultants of Florida for a benthic resource survey as part of the Gulf Port Mooring Field Expansion Project.

Motion to approve.

Second.

City manager.

Mayor, this is also a companion aspect as Mr.

Frain spoke of that lays out the boundaries and such.

Alrighty.

Thank you.

Any discussion or questions from the council?

They said that they'll be able to get it done in June.

Okay.

All righty.

Any public comment on this matter?

Seeing none, do we have any e-comments on this matter?

No e-comments on this mayor.

Vice Mayor Shaw?

Yes.

Councilmember Webb?

Yes.

Councilmember Early?

Yes.

Councilmember Donch?

Yes.

Mayor Love.

Yes.

Carries to passage.

Okay.

All righty.

So that takes us to discussion.

We have two discussion items tonight.

So we'll start with uh discussion 8A.

Nine.

Item 9A is the proposed fiscal year 2026-2027 capital improvement program budget.

City Council to cut discussion number one.

Mayor, thank you.

Yes.

Mayor, um, what this is I annually we we required by the charter to provide you a capital improvement budget.

Um it's a very due to the revenue streams that exist at both the state and federal level at this point.

There you'll see the first section of this is monies that we've asked for.

Um Congress has Congresswoman Luna has included the senior center as a community program project funding project in her proposed budget to the to Congress, and then also where the issue we've had two grant appropriation asks of the FDEP and the state of Florida.

Um those are held up due to the fact that the governor has not had its final session in regards to the budget.

So I just wanted to touch on those two.

And also we know the issues that are facing the federal government, so they are now only starting going through the appropriations committee process.

Now council has clear clear direction.

You'll see the next paragraph is clear direction on what the priorities for this council and councils in the past.

Councils have talked about the senior center, Kendrick, you want to come up, the senior center, stormwater, and of course, we have multiple related projects to 49th Street.

Those are the priorities that we identified in the capital improvement project.

Now the funding has been a set aside for 49th Street.

We also have grant funds with the Safe Streets program.

Pinellas County is also doing the intersection of Gulfport Boulevard and 49th Street.

So we have three parts to that.

And I just wanted to address that because that is on your priority list.

But council has been clear that the senior center seeking funding and a methodology to put the package together to achieve that goal was number one, and then stormwater.

If you also there was one that is not included, but it's an ongoing process.

Um it's been a priority through since I've been the city manager is sanitary sewers.

And we're consistently working on that.

It's very uh we include that with that.

We also fund the sewer private sewer lateral program and private waterline project where residents can receive up to $3,500.

Is that correct for each?

Yep.

And uh so that's what that, but the sanitary sewer is an ongoing progress projects.

Um we've been through, we're gonna probably exceed $16 million once we utilize these funds.

So it wasn't necessary to budget for that this year in your capital plan.

The funds are already in the budget, and it'll be carried over as we buy them down.

Um, I remember many years ago the city council uh approving what I thought was a 10-year plan for improvement of our sewers.

So I'm not clear.

Are we in year 10 at this point?

Yes, because the the initial program started in 2016 when we had we had City of St.

Petersburg and the city of Galport and numerous communities around Pinellas County and uh had substantial spills.

It rained for 20 days out of 22 days and the system couldn't handle it.

We had a large amount of in infiltration, I and I, and uh so that's when the city council at that time committed to repairing the sanitary sewer system.

Subsequently, we've used low interest or zero percent loans, uh state revolving loan funds appropriations keep the project moving forward.

Um if I can touch on this at this point, as I talked about when we talked about stormwater and the senior center, these are projects that have to transcend city councils.

These are things that you have if you commit to them, you know, three years, four years, or five years from now, none of us are here.

This is still a priority.

And I think that's something that this commitment to the sanitary sewer system really showed, and I think we're trying to make that commit same type of commitment that transcends city councils to stormwater and the senior center.

You also have within your capital budget um some daily um, I use day term daily, but annual expenses, things that you need to keep doing.

You need to fix your keep your vehicles up to date, you need to keep your public safety staffing, uh, equipment, and to that effect and went police and fire.

The penny money can be used for that.

Now, as we go for because it's outlined in my memo, the local option sales infrastructure sales tax is set by county ordinance per referendum that identifies the uses of that penny dollar for lack of a better term.

And we stay strictly within that framework.

One of our financial policies that you'll if you've looked at some good reading in that big budget book is we list financial policies.

And one of the financial policies is that we use the most restrictive funding source as possible.

Just like we'll if we ask for an appropriation, it's a project specific.

If it and then to use penny money, we then go to things that are outlined, structural engineering, things to that effect that are outlined in your penny ordinance.

And I kind of give you a big version, a short cliff note version of how local option infrastructure sales tax work.

Then that's approved till 2030.

They'll talk about having another referendum, I'm sure it's shortly.

And you'll see that you know the the capital budget um sanity infrastructure, uh public safety, street paving, those are things that we've committed to as we get to the next section.

You'll see in the penny money, I believe we're on year 12 for paving.

Council said, you know, in year years ago, council would say, Oh, well, we want to build a playground, and instead we wouldn't pave or we wouldn't fix our sanitary sewers.

So I've received uh over the last in my career the last 18 years, I can tell you it's been let's get focused on these infrastructure questions and this council.

So when I start my budget, it starts with paving, and then it were it's sanitary sewers.

Those are the type things that we address right away.

Yes, ma'am.

So I'm just curious since you've been doing this, and I and I appreciate it, you know, that there's money going in every single year for paving and every single year for sidewalks.

Yes, ma'am.

Has that amount increased over the years, or are we still holding with where we started on this?

Initially we started at about 300,000, but because of the unpaving, on paving, okay, and now it's grown over time to 400.

Now, if you had a unbelievable year and you had a much larger capital uh penny revenue stream, it fluctuates and Chris um Cadell's here this evening.

We use an average, you know, when there's a lot of tourists, if weather's bad up north, we may see a spike and maybe go to 19 million dollars or one point nine, excuse me, 1.9 million dollars.

If it's a bad economic climate, it drops.

You know, you may get below just a few years ago, we were at 1.5.

Okay, thank you.

And and it's it's basically it's economically tied to the penny.

Can I ask a question?

Of course.

Um City Manager, uh, so penny for Pinellas is sales tax.

Yes.

However, everyone knows that the property tax is kind of on the chopping block right now, which if they succeed in reducing much less eliminating property tax, that would put additional.

It seems like that would put additional stress on the penny for penellus.

Have you had any conversations with the county on like forward projections?

Because I'm looking at our budget, and the majority of it comes from penny of penells.

The primarily your capital improvement budget does come from penny for Pinellas.

Right.

The focus has strictly been on the discussions, have not talked about impacts to the penny.

It's talked about the impacts, just the as the charts and the formulas you've seen are based on where your general your general fund impacts.

And that's where the primary the biggest misnomer for us is the if penny was to fail, you have some items in here that are related to public safety.

Right.

I would tell you move those into your general fund because that are protected class for lack of a better term, and it'd be more realistic where you're gonna spend your your tax dollars that you as the council member spoke of, and I've had conversations with many of you.

If this was to just give up homestead exemption properties, homestead exempted properties, you would lose 48% of your tax revenue, property tax revenue.

We don't have a lot of.

I mean, there that you don't have a lot of commercial.

The biggest advantage that you're being saved here is that you have a lot of second homes, but you still have 48% of your population is homesteaded.

So value-wise.

Now I'm always talking about value.

So no, we haven't looked at the impact what it would have to the penny yet.

I think beginning those conversations sooner with the county just to figure out how because I'm assuming it would just shift that entire way decision making matrix for them, which for us would also have an impact.

I think right now the focus would become the property tax issue because there's so many pass-throughs for the library, the fire departments that the actual or millage levied.

Okay.

But you'll go to your we anticipate about 1.8 million dollars in penny for Pinellus money, and you'll see in my proposed budget, um 60th Street roadway improvement, drainage improvement, the 12th year of street resurfacing and paving, and also this is brick restoration in items that um where we talk about, and I know councilmember Don should talked about it, transitions between brick roads and uh paved roads.

There's a lot of that.

Um record annually is we do not overlay with asphalt over brick roads.

We do everything in our power to maintain the brick roads.

Uh because sometimes people will say, Oh, they're just gonna pay my brick road.

No, we haven't done that under my term.

Yes.

Um it's pretty the one thing that's additional that's kind of uh two three things that I'll touch on quickly is the life expectancy is waning on our fuel tanks at both the um city hall complex out here that we service police and sanitation and our public works vehicles, um, and then also the marina, because of uh the marina basically it sits in salt water, and uh so and that's an insurance issue that it the long the age as they get older, the harder it is to insure them.

And the one thing that we have had here is we always buy environmental insurance.

We learned our experience, didn't we, Ms.

Counselor?

Back when we were involved in a very large lawsuit, and uh Andy helped us get through that, and uh we had the right insurance.

So you'll see that's one of the so yes.

So is it replacing them?

That's what you would do.

Yes, this would this step would be the engineering of it.

Okay, and then in the future, and also we hope to like the marina, once we get the South Basin up and running, we'll improve our revenue stream there.

Okay so we'd be able to fund that out of there, and then of course, then you would just fund possibly out of some of the enterprise funds for to offset the cost of the one here.

Okay, thanks.

Thank you.

Uh, you'll see the Little League building, it's starting to age out at Thomason Park at Lum Atkinson Field.

Um, we need to do some structural work and siding and things to that effect up there in the upper story.

And then um Thomas and Park Councilmember Early had asked that we include a dog run area, and that's the cost of fencing, minimal amenities.

This is just to fence off an area where individuals could let their dogs run.

Um the last item you'll see it's substantial is the 447,000 264 dollars.

That is our state revolving loans payment for debt service on our sanitary sewer repair monies.

Um that amount uh is that a constant amount that's what we pay every year.

Okay, thank you.

And I believe it's 20 years, is that what's on you?

Yep.

20 year 20-year loan.

The general fund um it's operational, you have to buy materials for the library.

You want to have you've got an excellent library, you have a large library, and the community embraces that.

And to me, that's part of having a real community and cultural aspect of it.

Um computers and software into that.

That's primarily replacements, things just to operate softwares that we may need, upgrades to the our system.

And we're constantly replacing standalone computers at the work sites or laptops and that identifies there.

Um we try to keep that general fund appropriation minimal because that does have a direct impact, Councilmember Webb, into your operational budget.

Because when we get to later in the month, later a few months from now, we'll talk about revenues being offset, what are cost operate.

And the one thing that primarily the capital improvement budget does not pay for is people, and your budget is at any given time 70% of your general of your operating budget.

And that's you know, that's where the issue is.

And but people the high level of service, and you'll hear me say this a lot from now to September.

The the personal serv high level of personal service comes from people.

Um the last item is the uh waterfront redevelopment district, mayor.

As you spoke of, it did sunset, but this is fund balance in there.

There is still existing fund balance, and this identifies the cost associated with four things.

One, you were asked by a resident to match a grant for veterans park break uh living shoreline.

That's what those dollars are.

Council's also had preliminary discussions in regards to hardening areas on the water side of the casino, and that's to provide the engineering and permitting to at least start that dialogue, putting a breakwater behind it, plant materials, things to that effect along the east side of the casino seawall, and also the south side of it to protect the building, the new building when it's when Kendrick's builds the new building before I need out.

It's uh no pressure, kid.

Um, so that's there.

Um sanitation, we're we'll be one thing about sanitation is um you know, a public works director, he'd like new garbage trucks every year, sanitation trucks, but we have to be realistic, and what we're trying to do is build up the fund balance so when you can do it, you're not financing, you're not leasing anything, you're flat, you're just buying them.

Um that's we're building the fund equipment fund balance up there.

Utilities fund, uh, you'll see the hundred thousand dollars that comes out of the utilities revenue for the water line and private water line and sewer lateral program, and that's an annual cost.

We we've spent uh one over 400 and uh to date 449, and this number was last week's number.

Sonia has issued two go to this week, so two additional ones?

Yes, so that number has gone up even higher.

Um Marina, a lot of this has to do with where we are with our revenues forecast.

Can it support what we're gonna do once we remove the Lions Club about making that a park area or creating uh launch area for non-motorized vessels, things to that we had talked about that?

Um, but that we needed re I couldn't put a number in there today.

Uh we didn't know where this was gonna go tonight.

So um and I also included a status update, and then I'll hand it off to Kendricks.

You'll see that the casino reconstruction, and he's can talk about that timeline.

The casino dock is out to bid at present, and also the marina south basin rebuild is out to bid also at this time.

Kendrick, so you want to go over your yeah.

Uh do you want me to touch base on the casino update?

Yeah, you can do that first.

Great.

So we received our 30 percent designs uh last month, and we're just about a month behind our schedule that we received from half, but we're still pushing forward.

So we're hoping by June, July we'll have 60 percent plans uh late fall, early winter, we'll be able to be able to go off the bid and start construction in 2027, uh beginning of the year.

It's gonna be about 12 to 14 months, but that timeline could change because once we get to 60 percent set of plans, we'll know further what the structural needs will be for the building.

So it's these are just uh conservative estimates right now.

So in May we have a follow-up meeting.

June, once we get to 60 percent plans, we'll definitely have a nice firm uh timeline on the casino.

So but we're moving along, and as Mr.

O'Reilly said, one of the things we're looking at is how we can make it more resilient in the future.

So we're working, uh, we are moving forward with if approved the 30,000, we can uh get some um asset uh feasibility of putting you know hardening that uh uh around the building.

So um casino dock.

Uh we anticipate going out to bid in May.

We have a bid opening.

Uh no, forgive me.

We plan on get bringing this to council in May for approval.

Uh, we have a bid uh opening on May 4th or 5th, and uh this week Dennis and I are meeting with um potential bidders on uh do a field site visit at the casino dock and the South Basin on Thursday.

So hopefully we'll be starting uh notice to proceed in June and should take three to four months.

So this fall we should have our docks in place if everything goes as it should.

So and as Mr.

O'Reilly mentioned, uh just so we wanted to give you a little brief overview as far as the projects we're gonna be working on.

Hopefully, the senior center next year, fingers crossed.

But uh, we did reach back out here just some conceptual drawings, and I believe we shown this previously when half uh PBK was here, but this is the phase one with the horizontal expansion, and what we would do is design phase one to be able to adapt to phase two, which would be the vertical expansion on the building.

So phase one will include an extra four to five thousand square feet, um, and that cost would be at that time would be about four million dollars, and then what we would do is obviously we'll need more funding to build a top uh additional second story.

Kendrick, can you talk about how we've identified the funding the three million that we have the engineering and the design and architect?

We do have those funds, and then we would look to the um we would look to the foundation to buy the furniture for lack of so we can make the numbers up.

All mahogany, yeah.

Um yes, so we the three million dollar ask for Anapaluna uh Congresswoman on a Paluna.

If we receive that, then we still have we'll have a million left from the original grant because we asked for 1.500,000 is where we're comfortable, we'll be able to maintain to get moving forward with the project.

So that'll bring us the four million, and as Mr.

Riley said, the remaining costs, like the furniture and expense and soft will be made up with their or gracious donors who have uh who uh submitted their their kindness to us.

So and this was something that we didn't show last uh uh meeting as far as just an over overview of the parking.

Uh just wanted to ensure that there's no loss in parking spaces.

But this is what it will look like once um complete.

Um, and just want to reassure you that parking spaces will still be all the same, uh, maybe some adjustments here or there, but uh we didn't lose anything.

Um watershed management plan update.

So we had a project identified in their BMP 3, which was at 60th Street and 20th Avenue, where we're having some nuisance ponding and water that's just sitting there in the roadway.

Uh so what's going on what's happening there right now?

The if you guys ever been out there, it's holding water after a normal rain event.

And what's this doing it's deteriorating the road to a point to where it's nowhere to drain it at uh after a rain event.

So we are proposing on installing an uh uh an initial 250 feet of pipe, putting in new structures, re-grade a reprofile on the roadway, and we are confident this will help resolve that issue occurring at the uh intersection of 60th and 20th.

And once again, we had a lot of BMPs in that watershed management plan report, but this will be a good start.

Start shipping away at those uh those projects that were mentioned within it.

You have a question.

Yeah, could you get back to that?

Please.

So the pink dots there are storm stormwater drains.

Yeah, because that's part of the problem.

Yeah, yeah.

Those are proposed new inlets, yes.

We just use gravity.

Yeah, yeah.

So we would actually take surveys of the entire area uh going to Tangerine.

We uh core sampling, uh, and then we will install new curbing, new inlets, new pipe, uh, reprofile the roadway, and uh once again uh should solve the problem out there similar to what's being done at 58 street.

Great.

And one of the things that you did hear from the public very strongly, they've suffered, Mayor.

You can talk to that.

Mayor is has looked at this project numerous times, and we did hear from the public right immediately after we had some flooding.

Go ahead, okay.

And uh, as Mr.

O'Reilly mentioned, we do uh do an annual paving uh program.

Um so this year we identified these roads uh for our 2026 pavement assessment or pavement program.

You'll notice that we don't just pick the roads willy-nilly, we actually have a pavement condition index that we utilized, and so we always want to try to tackle the poor and the very poor roads first, but we also want to ensure we're not bouncing around too much because then the contractors have to mobilize.

So we try to keep it consolidated to a nice area, but also don't want to neglect other areas also because it's you know we want to ensure that we're sharing the love throughout the city.

Um, but as you can see up there in Stetson, we do have uh several roads up there that will be needing to um be addressed.

11th Avenue is one, and that's another thing we like to identify as far as the volume of uh traffic.

If it's a heavy use road, uh something that needs to be addressed uh sooner than later as far as for safety aspects.

Um York Street has been one on our list on down on the south end, and uh so this right here will encompass the 400,000 dollars we are asking for.

Um questions on the paving?

Uh yeah, and this is just paving, no stormwater driving.

Just paving.

Yes.

And you'll see a list of the roads actually called out on their side there.

So once uh once uh we do anticipate the following year, uh next budget year, we're at the point where we need to do another pavement condition index.

You're supposed to do this probably about every five years, and especially after the hurricanes with all that water, we noticed that some of these grades are uh definitely substantially changed since 2024.

So uh next year we'll be coming back to do another assessment.

Um sidewalk replacement program.

Oh, sorry.

Can I just say thank you for that?

11th Street.

I mean, just this week I got another complaint about it because it is pretty it's really hard to drive down that road because of the depths because of the sewer um the condition of the sewage systems, but also the I saw that you had marked it, so thank you for that.

The there was a hole in the segment.

No, we're gonna take care of that, and I'm glad you mentioned 63rd and 11th.

We need to evaluate the sewer system.

So I didn't add that portion on here yet until we at least address those because you don't want to pay for sewer system or stormwater system.

The sanitary sewer.

Oh, okay.

Yes, yes.

So there is potentially we're investigating right now the um what's going on with the main.

So obviously, you don't want to pave over utilities that need to be addressed, so we're gonna focus on what we can take care of now.

Uh and uh so it is on on our list though.

I just want to reiterate that.

Um so our sidewalk replacement program.

Um this is uh uh our our um proposed project for next year, uh zone eight.

Now we have currently been working in zone one, which is near the beach in the downtown dis or waterfront district.

Uh we are in phase two of zone one.

Uh next probably next council meeting, I'll have an update as far as how much we were able to complete in that zone.

We do still have a hundred thousand dollars encumbered for this fiscal year uh that we are going to be going back in April, oh sorry, August, and proposing a new section, which will be zone two.

Zone two is going to be to the east of 54th, uh pretty much same boundaries 28th, but heading to the east of 50, uh east of 54th.

So that being said, uh we identified another area where we have heavy uh pedestrian foot traffic, which is by the elementary school, and we do have substantially amount of uh poor graded sidewalk out there, about 4,000 linear feet of poor graded.

So we just wanted to ensure that we're uh addressing some of these issues, and a couple trip and fall uh claims have been uh brought out through our attention out there.

So that's gonna be our proposed project zone for this coming up fiscal year.

And here's a little bit more of a uh zoomed in version of it, and you can see how when we did our sidewalk condition index, we broke it down by color to explain what the uh the current overall status of it is.

So um yeah, so we intend to uh start tackling that section uh next year.

Any questions on the sidewalk or okay?

And this is just an overview of all the projects that we were just discussing, and uh any questions I am here to answer.

Okay, right.

Getting too tired.

Yeah, I would I just say um thank you so much, and also seeing it the way you just presented it, just kind of um answers, you know, addresses the fact that many times I'll hear residents uh maybe in the Stetson area or maybe in Ward 4, they'll say no money is ever spent up here.

And this is a really good way to show that we're spending in money in all of the wards, we're moving it around, we're taking that into consideration.

So I really do appreciate the thoughtfulness and how we select.

I mean, I know we are doing the worst scenario first, but we do try and spread it around, and I appreciate that.

Very welcome.

No, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kendrick.

Just leave that up there.

So, City Manager, do you need anything from us at this point?

No, unless there's any projects or something that you all would like to add that would then of course affect the list that you did did receive from us.

Or is there something you'd like to put on your long-term list or something?

But that's where we're at today.

Um, as we narrow it down once we get further into the discussion about your operating budget, and this of course is is a fluid document until you adopt the second reading in September.

Thank you for putting the dog run on.

Very popular, my word.

Thank you.

Very good.

Can I ask a question?

Sure.

Yeah.

Awesome.

I was wondering, not um for future because of the risk that we have for um flooding if we can look at more CIP projects dedicated to drainage.

Sure.

And to making sure that we're staying dry.

And I know we have these appropriations, but it just feels like I mean, and we know this year that a lot of appropriations are getting just chopped.

So I wouldn't expect that we get that 4.5 million from the state, but that means that we only have 20 percent.

Like if that's our priority and we're only spending 20 percent.

Sure.

You know, and that would be a conversation that in the future that you would have to say what it's a finite number.

Yeah.

And which are you you know, is it is are you gonna forego paving?

I'm just using it.

Right, right.

No, I I I was looking at the numbers.

Or even like a stormwater enterprise fund.

We do have an enterprise funding utilities.

We will do have our annual rate study.

Okay.

In June, first meeting in June, Sonya.

We'll have Santec our consultants come in and see and that's a question there.

What would you need to, and I know the mayor and I have had brief conversation in regards to this.

What would you want to raise your stormwater fee to be comfortable to generate X amount of additional dollars for projects?

Yeah.

And that's, I mean, you're the you're in a very moderate middle of the road lower third.

You're not clear water at $10 things, and that's what and we get then we get caught up in the economics and the impact is, you know, is it a regressive tax?

I mean, those are I hate to use those words, but that's and and that's the commitment that council we will you know, and we can ask our study or if you were to move to here, what's gonna, you know, we annually, and Sonia can provide you last year's study, is where we're at compared to some other cities have made pretty substantial commitment to other cities, and but there again economically we're not St.

Pete Beach, incorrect.

Oh, sorry.

No, they no, I was just looking at comparable cities and cities and who has increase this fund.

So that's all heard that statement.

I've heard that statement for 40 years, okay.

Well, because you looked at her and she knew it I met for 40 years we've heard it.

Or Treasure Island, I'll say Treasure Island.

Six dollars an hour to go to the beach, six dollars an hour to go to the beach.

Do not want to do I do not want to do that, but I but I was just looking at what what financial tools do we have since this is our number one priority, and the residents' number one priority is making sure that their houses don't flood again.

And at this rate, we're not gonna be done with the list.

I mean, how many millions of dollars?

It's 78 million dollars.

So that would be 78 times two if we keep it up at half a million dollars.

And that's what but that we we've had that, you know, the conversation would be yeah, it's a utility, it's an enterprise fund, and what is what are you comfortable with passing on to the customer?

And I think that's gonna be a real good discussion.

Yeah, I think I mean I think it's an important discussion to have just to put it on the table because you're right.

I mean, you can't do we don't print money, right?

And there's only and so there's only so many ways, and and I would anticipate the public showing up to have a robust conversation.

Yes.

And I think that during that discussion, some of the things that we learn during the watershed study are going to come into play too, because when we realize that according to them, so much of our flooding is being generated in ward threes and four, and then they run down in flood one and two, you know.

Um not to say that there's no flooding into the houses in three and four, but it's minimal compared to one and two, but the water is coming from four and three.

So we have to kind of spread it around to everybody.

That is yes, water doesn't know political boundaries in cities.

That's right.

Yeah, all right.

Mayor, I'm I'm good.

Unless the council has any other questions, we'll be happy to address them and I would uh propose that we move on to our next discussion item.

Thank you.

So your next item is uh item 9B, which is your rules and policies policies for city council and public comment at meetings tabled from the meeting held at April 7th, 2026.

And this is however you would like to do this.

I don't know if anybody has any suggestions for any changes.

There might not be any.

Um it's up to you how you want to go through them.

Okay, well, I I um of course I'm really experienced because I've been through this once now.

So um, you know, the thing to remember, uh, I'm and I'm speaking really to the council, it we are making the rules on what we want and how we want to run our meeting.

Okay, this is about us.

So I don't have too much to say on this because I did this just a year ago, and the things I felt strongly um pretty much were implemented then.

So I feel like you know it's very likely that some of our newer members or some of our members that think that some of our changes didn't work effectively, may suggest that they want some other changes.

So my thought would be that we would um and I'm open open to this, but I think that we would go uh each section and just give everybody an opportunity if there's anything they feel strongly about, you know, whether it's under A or or D, that uh they speak up at that time, and uh you know, if we go through this and there's not not anybody requesting any changes on that item, then we just quickly move on to the next one.

Um, and I'm just saying that's my opinion.

Is anybody else okay?

I see one person, yeah.

Okay, so let's do it.

So let's um let's go ahead, uh Teresa.

If you'll just kind of walk us through, you know, saying section one A, you know, uh so on and so forth.

Section one A is on the balance of rights and decorum.

Does anybody have any suggestions for changes to that section?

Moving on to section one B, which is citizens to be heard before the city council.

Does anybody have any changes to that section?

Are we going in speaking order or do we just raise our hands?

Just let me know if you if there's changes in your handmade, please.

For um the public comment, I noticed that the limit was uh limited to the the character what um limit wasn't equivalent to what would be five minutes or or three minutes speaking, and so I would like to propose at least increasing increasing it to 200 words, which is about 1,000 characters.

I think right now it's 500.

Are you talking about an e-comments?

Okay, and you're suggesting a 200 word word count now are a thousand characters, it goes by the that's a that's equivalent to 200 words.

Okay, so it's doubling it.

I heard from residents about that.

Um so for me for public comments, um, just kind of a uh note really to either read the e-comments first or um make sure that we read them included with the rest of the e-comments.

Just sometimes we've like, okay, I'm gonna close e-comments and then we'll go to or close the public comments and then go to the e-comments, but I just want everybody who submits an e-comment to feel that their voice is being heard the same way.

So I just want to make sure that they're included with all of the comments and not separated into anything so that nobody feels left out or that their voice is not as important because they weren't here.

So you want me to say public comment, e comment, public comment, e-comment, go back and forth.

No.

Um, like okay, we're gonna have public comments.

Either do we have any e-comments, read them all first, or at the end of public comments, read all the e-comments, but not to separate them into okay.

I see the public comment, there's no one else here.

Um previously you would say I'm gonna close public comments and go to the e-comments.

So not close.

So not close Yeah, but I'm not gonna close it because they're the same, and that's what I thought I did.

But for the first few weeks that we had it, specifically you did say I'm gonna close public comment and go to the e-comments, so just a yeah, that's that's just old age and fatigue.

Yeah, okay.

Thank you.

I just wanted to make sure that that's out there.

Okay, thank you.

Moving on to section one, item C, which is workshops, or yeah, public comments cover.

C is workshops.

Does anybody have any suggestions for edits to workshops?

I would like to suggest that we have a permanent schedule of workshops.

Um I don't care what day it is or when they happen, but I would like to have them on a schedule.

We can cancel them as often as we need to.

Um, I don't think that we necessarily would need to count them in absences, even because nothing is voted on at a workshop, but I think it's important to have them so that in an event like tonight when it's 10 o'clock at night and we want to, you know, maybe have one more discussion, we could say, all right, we'll talk about this at the workshop if it's something that it's just for discussion anyway.

And if we don't have anything, then we can cancel it.

Are you thinking once a month?

Um, sure.

At least one other time where we can get together and talk about stuff that we can't talk about together any other time.

Anybody else?

No.

We're getting together more.

Is that what you said, council member?

I would like to have workshops on a permanent schedule.

Um, whatever that schedule may be.

I don't have a doesn't have an absence, uh if you can't make it since we're scheduling it ahead of time, it wouldn't count it in the absence just.

I would say that it wouldn't count towards you know the the rule about if you miss however many regular meetings, um, you know, then that would be affects you being removed from office or something like that.

I wouldn't say that that would affect that because it's not a regular meeting, it's a workshop.

Um I think having it be permanent would be vacations would be hard to play.

Right.

Okay, yeah.

True.

For workshops, and I I happy I like I appreciate more opportunity to discuss important matters with you because there's a lot of tonight is a great example.

One week notice if it's not a regular regular schedule is not enough time for me to be able to like clear my calendar, and so if we can have a regular you know, a regular if I know ahead of time, then I can because I want to show up, and so if we can set that up ahead of time and have a regularly recurring one, and so if we know we're gonna have a heavy agenda, like have that right after, have that agenda right after the workshop period, so that we're like kind of letting our structure dictate our so you talk about at the workshop and then you come to the meeting and you're ready to make a decision rather than come to the meeting and talk about it.

And do it just for the bigger, you know, like or like, oh, I know this is you know, we'll have it once a month of a workshop or whatever, and so then we know that that's that following meeting as a meeting in which we can have a heavier agenda because we would have covered everything ahead of time.

So splitting up the so how would you like your rules to read?

So you're you're suggesting that we have a workshop and immediately after have the council meeting?

No, immediately before before.

So you have a workshop, you discuss whatever like big stuff needs to be discussed, and then at the next meeting, the agenda can be kind of heavy because you've already discussed everything.

Okay, all right.

I either we're not staying until that's fine, 11.

Yeah, no, that's I I and that would be big.

I want to make sure you weren't saying the same day before before um the week before each council meeting.

So we're adding two workshops one, just one a month.

Okay, I think is good enough.

As long as there's one other time other than council meetings when we can all get together and talk about stuff.

Council meeting in the same room.

Would you be okay if there isn't anything like big, just have it like having it on the schedule, but then having the option of not having it if there's nothing.

100% cancel it so there's not a lot of business.

Cancel it if there's nothing to talk about, or use it for something that you want to use it for personally.

Like, hey, I have this really important thing that's important to the people in my ward.

Can we use this workshop day?

You guys are already scheduled to be there anyway, so then you'll get to know what's going on in my ward, and we can all have one workshop to you know be there for it.

But yeah, cancel it 100% cancel it if we have nothing to talk about that day.

Again, I I need to know how you would like your meeting.

So, what day your county?

So, what you need to do since you're making a suggestion, always good to say, can I get a consensus on that?

Always good to say, can I get a consensus on that?

And then that way you if three people agree with you, you're home free.

Right.

Um, I just a little bit more discussion of what day people would want to have it.

What's a what's everybody's most convenient day, and then we can if you're you're kind of limiting yourself to that day because it's in your your rules.

It it you could say that you you are going to have a monthly workshop.

Um the first week, second week, however, you want to do it, but I don't know if putting a specific date in here is going to keep it.

We will have a monthly workshop.

Um regularly scheduled.

We'll be regularly scheduled.

Period.

And then you could just determine when you want to schedule it.

Just don't put the exact week on here.

You could do that.

Because there might be, let's just say assume for argument's sake that you do it on the so you first and third.

So you do it on the second Wednesday.

Okay.

Let's just, you know, there might be some holiday or something along those lines.

So in those situations, you'll just move it, right?

Um, but if we're saying you're going to schedule it, then we'll just have to go through your calendars and pick those dates.

You just want to say you're going to have one in your rules.

Right.

You don't have to say the specific day in the rules.

You just subsequently will determine what that is.

But I think for her what what I the point that I got from you is so that you know in advance you can plan your vacations, so on and so forth.

So I'm saying you do that.

Oh, say you do that.

You just don't put that in this specific time.

You you say I am I'm trying to not be as specific in your rules.

Well, so instead of saying hold you to it.

Right, to what third Wednesday of the month, what you would say is council shall have a monthly workshop that is regularly scheduled, and that is consistently and regular or regularly scheduled on this you know, same day and time to be determined.

Right.

You know then you just disseminate it to council members, you know, at our wonderful clerk's earliest convenience.

There you go.

I leave here.

Can I in Mayor?

Can I interject?

I hear the word Wednesday.

No, I just threw out one.

Yeah, I just Wednesday bantered about.

I have a lot suggesting.

Wednesdays have your planning and zoning, your board of adjustments.

Well, the one thing that I know is we had eight workshops last year.

Um, I don't think I saw eight workshops in the previous 12 years, but we had eight workshops, and they were all everyone was either on a Tuesday or a Thursday.

So I just throw that out.

That's fine.

Yeah, it's the only thing I would think.

I cannot be on your opposite Tuesdays, just so you know I can have somebody here, but I'll be in turp and spring.

What about Thursdays?

Thursdays are great.

Thursdays uh currently the only day that I don't have any meetings scheduled within evening hours.

It's your only day off.

That's okay.

That's okay.

I'm sorry, Thursdays are great.

Tuesdays are great because I have some other data.

So I think we're leaning towards Thursday, and it seems to me that it would make sense to have it the Thursday before either we have to decide that it would be the Thursday before the first meeting of the uh month or the second meeting of the month.

That's fine with me.

I I just wanted to make sure we didn't want to put that like I was kind of looking for well.

The only thing yeah, you can see it.

I was gonna say the first, because depending on what you discuss, we have to have time to put it on, right?

So if you did something on a Thursday and we were having the following Tuesday as our meeting, that might be tough for advertising purposes.

Do you do you think?

Uh uh for workshops advertising is I'm only not for workshops, for what they discuss at the workshop.

For then putting it in the middle of the code.

So to get it on or the if it becomes an order.

And then you'll at the very least we can put it on your second meeting in that.

Yeah.

So we would have a workshop on the first Thursday for items that we would be discussing this third.

Voted on the third meeting.

Right.

Yeah.

The third if you want to get it done.

How many of you get through having sir?

Third meeting.

So how about just uh consensus that we will have a permanently scheduled workshop at a day tend to be determined and we will um figure that out?

Yeah, yes, yes, okay.

You have your consensus.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Section one item number.

I'm sorry, I wanted to say that's okay.

I was waiting my turn.

Um when I read um C on the second page.

Okay, so page number two, up towards the top, it says citizens' comments will be permitted.

Now we're talking about workshops.

Citizens' comments will be permitted on any all agenda items at the beginning of the meetings.

Okay.

I don't feel I'm I'm not willing to fight for this, but I will say that I definitely would prefer that the council has their um presentation and their discussion first, because by doing that, then our public comments should be more informed when they have seen the presentation and seeing what the council thinks, as opposed to public comment being maybe too much rumor and speculation before we've ever said anything.

I'm good with that.

Yes.

Mayor, can I point out yes one thing?

And I don't know if we discussed it here.

Yeah.

There are two ways of looking at that.

Sometimes on workshops, there's no public comment taken.

And the only reason why I made that comment is that we may want to use the word may instead of uh secondly, just so you know.

No, the but this says will be permitted.

That's why I'm saying you may want to change it to Maybe.

Because it might be something where you're just workshopping it amongst yourselves.

Okay, and you're gonna wait, you know, more information, whatever.

The second thing is so that you know what the law requires is that uh the public has the right to comment before you vote on an item, just so you know.

If you had a workshop, let's just say it's on a major issue and you wanted public comment.

You could, if you chose, to have public comment at that workshop and not have public comment when you uh vote on it.

It's just an option, just so you know.

So you wouldn't have, let's just say you were having this.

We're at a hundred people at the workshop, we have a long workshop, we're doing it.

You don't have to allow those same hundred people to speak again.

So you you can resolve that from a timing perspective.

I'm not saying you put that in there, I'm just telling you that's an option.

Well, you can decide that at your meeting.

Yes.

Depending on what the topic is and how uh people feel.

So I think what I'm saying then is I'm might be asking for a consensus that it says citizens' comments may be permitted on any agenda items following council discussion.

That's where I'm asking for the change.

I would like for the council to have their discussion, and if there's a presentation, that to take place before public comment.

Mayor, you made a good point today in our discussion.

An item like this, you may choose not this item is council.

You that was a great comment you made this morning.

Was in this situation, this is your discussion.

It's not the this is council's rules.

You may not want to take public comment.

Well, that's why I like the attorney's suggestion that we use the May as opposed to will be.

But I know from sitting on that side for 12 years, there were times where I had something I wanted to say, but once I heard what the council what the city council had to say, many times I'm like, oh, well, I agree with everything they said.

I didn't feel the need to come up and then reiterate what they were already saying.

Right.

To piggy pack on that, also some workshop, not all workshops are like I think I was trying to find where you enumerated all the different types of workshops, and some workshops it's not really appropriate.

They're trainings, you can use workshops for trainings, and so that wouldn't necessarily be appropriate to have people commenting on that stuff.

So I I also like the May.

Okay.

So are we good on uh workshops?

Okay, moving on to D then.

Section one D addressing the city council.

Item one I still have something to say.

I do have something to say.

So full address is not always provided in the e-comments.

Is that correct?

I think we should just be uniform.

So we live in Gulfport or we don't live in golf works.

Sometimes even people will come up here and say Gulfport resident.

Sometimes they say one two oh two.

You know, on the e-comments, it it doesn't print it out as you can see on there for you.

So this is something that um if they put it in, I'm I'm happy to let you know of that.

But I I think the important part for me is if they're a golf port resident or not.

Okay.

Um for the easy comments for all the comments.

For all the comments.

And yes.

Okay, so you just want to hear them.

I just Gulfport resident instead of their address.

Yeah, that's just my preference, but I don't know how everyone else feels.

I agree with that.

Not all speakers.

I mean, I I agree that's the importance to me is that they are Gulfport resident, but there's people in our community who do have a lot to say, and sometimes on e-comments that I do not think lives in Gulfport.

If they're forced to give their address, it's an opportunity that we could look and see are they really or are they just grabbing it's true?

And we do have both.

Um what about Gulfport Citizen?

Um Therese, uh the city clerk sent a memo with the attorney general's um opinion on citizenship.

So it's residency and or domicile, and so that would also include business own like people with strong ties to the city, which I think is important, you know, because not all citizens, business owners, not all um people who have strong ties here, and that was I know we all got it, or it's enumerated and what that is, and if we just use that language, then we're also consistent with the attorney general's memo, and that seems easy.

So right now it it just states name and whether they reside within the city, a different city, which city, or within an unincorporated area.

That works for me.

Okay, that's how it currently is.

So you want no changes?

No, I just didn't think that that's what was happening.

But okay.

Okay.

But Mayor, did you want the address because in that way?

It it's never been important to me to have the exact address because I can see why some people wouldn't want that.

Don't want everybody in the room to know their address.

So that part I totally understand, okay.

Um I put uh way more value on people who whether they own a business or a home, and I don't mean own, I better back up on that, that they reside here or they have a business here.

Their comments are so much more valuable to me than to anybody that's uh coming from another area.

And I'm just saying that I do think that we have experienced some people um coming in on e-comments that do not live in our area, and if all they have to say is I'm Gulfport resident and we don't have an address, and we go, I don't think that's real.

There's no way for us to verify.

That's what I'm trying to say.

I don't know the answer though.

Okay.

I I actually did some research on it, and I actually even pulled up um different um samples of e-comment policies.

Okay, and it did they did include names and addresses.

Okay.

So we're one of the few cities that doesn't require people to say their address.

Right.

And and again, I I will tell you that if somebody came up here and they didn't give their address, I would not but but a lot of people that come up here, they just go, uh such and such avenue.

I know them to be a resident.

If I didn't know them, I might question, but I know, so maybe that I gotta, you know, put down the thing, but again, I can see uh as a single woman, somebody might not want to give their address.

I understand that.

I do too.

And if I know that they live here, because I've been seeing them every day for you know many years.

So conversely, I would like to say though, that it's been very clear over the years that if someone lives here or in another state or another country, they are allowed to come up and make a public comment.

So how does that factor in?

You don't it only factors in if you weigh that someone's a resident or owns a business here more for your own edification, right?

Yeah, I mean, we we had a lot of people I forget what the issue was.

Um and they said I'm from St.

Pete or I'm a frequent visitor to Gulfport, but I don't live here.

So most of those most of the people that come before you say something like that.

If you want, I mean, we can put that in general policy.

I can't guarantee you that people are gonna give their e-comments and say, you know, where I live, but it just weighs in your own factor, right?

If somebody isn't gonna give you that information, so maybe you go, okay, well, you don't care enough to tell me you're a Gulfport resident.

I mean, that's just for your own edification.

I understand what you're saying because I I I agree with with Mira Love that I like to know if someone is a resident or not.

Somebody approached us today at the senior center and had a couple things to say and then said that they weren't a resident.

And then they they live in South Pasadena.

Not that we're not important, but not that I disrespect their their thoughts or concerns.

I mean, they're they're a member at the senior center, so obviously they're very important, even from that perspective, but just saying that I can't fix what is ailing you because I don't even live in where you live.

Yeah, is what it was.

All right, Teresa, so do we really muck that up?

Um you're like, what do I write?

It I I'll just read it again.

It says name and whether they reside within the city, a different city, which city is in parentheses, or within an unincorporated area.

So it doesn't, it not it doesn't require them to give the full address.

Right.

Um like the mayor said, you do not want to do that.

We don't want to put people afraid to come up and speak because they you know they don't want to give their specific address.

Yeah, so the way that doesn't mean that on a e-com when they're up here and they don't want to give their specific address, one of us knows that knows them to live here probably 99% of the time.

But when it's an e-comment, okay, if they give you the address, that's not you know, you can just say golf port, you don't have to give us them, but you you're you know and I'm a resident, I could do that.

Pardon?

I could just not put my name.

I'm like, I'm a resident, and I could just not give you my address if I you know we had agreed in the past that everybody had to give their address, or they didn't we didn't read them.

We've agreed to that.

Well, I think they should all be read, but um I mean you can take whatever value you want from who you hear or don't hear as a resident or not, but they should all still be read.

They were all submitted.

There's a chance that they won't give you their name, too.

Right.

I could be, you know, whatever email address they use.

I mean, they could do that.

But that also goes to I guess that goes to your internal weight.

Right.

If you're not giving me your name and you're not giving me your address, and you're just saying something, you know, you guys have to decide what weight you're gonna give that on an individual basis.

Yeah, can we set up?

I mean, because I think that this is an important question.

And I'm wondering if I'm also thinking that there's probably case law about treating e-comments differently from e-comments.

Then we want to make sure that we're on the right side of that, and that we have a standard policy.

Right.

E-comments are really something that uh a lot of communities treat differently, right?

Some just they don't read them and they just put them in uh public record.

Some they give to council members, and you decide if you want them read.

Um, some they don't give a gift to council member.

I mean, so it's all your own choice.

And remember, you can change this.

So these are your rules, and so however you want to do them, you can always change them.

It's a living document.

Okay, can so can we go back because you raised this issue?

Could you reclarify what you would like to see, and then you can see if you have a consensus or not?

Okay, I would like to see if a comment, whether public or e is from a resident of Gulfport or not a resident from Gulfport.

Okay.

Sure.

Yes, to have consensus.

Okay.

That's it.

Just resident, not resident.

Not where you live, not your address, none of just that.

Cool.

I'm good with that.

Vice Mayor, are you okay with that?

I'm fine with that.

Okay.

It didn't matter because you have your consensus.

Okay.

Okay.

Moving on.

Um that was all of D.

Moving on to E, which assigns placards and banners.

F is the overhead visual displays.

G is decorum for the city council.

H is decorum for the public.

Just a minute on G, please.

Sure.

Oh, so under G, the second paragraph, what this says currently is every council member desiring to speak shall address the mayor, chair, and upon recognition by the mayor chair, shall confine themselves to the question under debate and shall avoid all personalities and inappropriate language.

All I wanted to say is for those of you that are new, you see, I stumble over my words frequently.

So many times rather than calling on you, I kind of look at you and give you the nod.

I mean, and I think you know, you kind of got used to it, it's just kind of a nod, and I'm acknowledging you then, you know, even if I don't stumble out the name correctly.

And then the second thing here, um, the next paragraph down.

Generally, a council member having an administrative inquiry shall address his or her question to the city manager who may answer or designate a member of the city's stand uh staff to answer.

So I just wanted to, I guess I'm just pointing that out because it's easy for us, the council to mess up on that one.

I know one time I was sitting up here and I forgot to ask the city manager the question, and I believe I um put our police chief on in a difficult position by calling her up direct, and that was not intentional.

So, and if if one of us were to mess up like that, including the mayor, I think it's totally a fine fine for one of the other council members to say, you know, to correct me on it, or for the city manager or for you.

I mean, I have to follow the rules too.

That was not intentional, it was just you know, a mess up in procedure.

So I wanted to address that here.

And um, oh, and then at the I also wanted to point out at the very bottom of G.

So just before we get to the H letter, it says text messaging shall not be permitted.

And I think that really is probably referencing we're not supposed to be texting each other, but I will say that when I ask everyone to turn their phones off, um, I would like for the text messaging to be turned off too.

I don't like sitting up here and hearing this whole counter vibrate uh with text messages.

So I'm just asking for courtesy there, that's all.

No changes to that section, though.

Okay.

Uh moving on to H, which is decorum for the public.

Mayor, can it?

I just want to comment on this because I wanted I don't know if we clarified it at the meeting we had where somebody accused uh at least me of not doing this correctly.

If we read the section, it says um the public shall be respectful and refrain from making personal attacks.

So when somebody is coming up here and they're making personal attacks, that's the comment of please, you know, address the council as a whole.

If they're coming up here and saying something good about one of you individually, that's not a personal attack.

Right, right.

So there's no problem.

So there is a clear difference.

We're just trying to make sure that people are civil.

Yeah, I remember he wanted the distinction.

Right.

It's fairly obvious, but yeah.

Okay.

Okay, so that was age decorum for the public.

Do we have any suggestions for edits to that section?

No.

Moving on to I, which is our order of business.

Um, just to give you an idea, we call it to order, the invocation, the roll call, presentations, public comment limited to three minutes on non-agenda or consent items, report of city manager, report of city attorney, report of city clerk, council comments and reports, consent agenda, ordinances, resolutions, action discussion items, new business, and adjournment.

Item J is on the agenda setting.

Oh, wait, I have I just a minute.

Sure.

Sorry.

You wanted to move adjournment up.

Right after city manager's report.

That's right.

Um the bottom of page four.

Umbers of the city council.

And this, I didn't realize that it was in this section.

I was thinking it was later on, but it's referenced here.

So I'll just bring it up now.

I would um shall limit their comments to 10 minutes maximum.

The limitations may be waived or suspended for a time certain by consensus of the council city council.

I would say five minutes with a five-minute extension.

Um, I think that would be my recommendation.

I think that we have a lot of opportunity to discuss to to discuss and that.

Yeah, I think that five minutes is sufficient.

Okay.

So go with five minutes.

I would like to suggest that we combine the council comments and new business to a total of 10 minutes.

I disagree with that because I think new business needs to be motions.

And so, like, I think it should be limited to motions.

So reports are like reports are clearly defined earlier in this of what a report is.

Yeah.

But for new business, it's like for me, like any and in all boards that have been on or other things.

It's like you know, I'd like to make a motion to do something or to explore something.

I did a motion to um for the resolution and for the the town hall.

Like that feels that is business meaning that we have to take a vote on it.

So maybe defining new business.

One of the things we tried to look at for new business is things that you wanted to add on a subsequent agenda.

Yeah.

So at next meeting, can we talk about X, Y, and Z and make a motion?

You know, that's where we usually look for at the end of the meeting, so we can add it to a subsequent meeting and you could discuss that and vote on it.

So I would disagree with both of my council members on this, and here's why, okay.

For years and years it was five minutes.

Okay.

And basically what we got was a social calendar in that five minutes.

That's what we received when I was sitting out there.

So the difference is that we are now asking that during that 10 minutes that number one, if you've been to a meeting, that is your opportunity to share with your other council members the meeting that you attended, the key highlights, as well as with the public, because they do have an interest in that.

So that's being included in there.

That was not before because people were not giving any reports from outside meetings that they attended.

The second thing was if you sat through 12 years of meetings, you know that our our city council was not responding to public comment, okay?

So when we did these, we moved public comment way up on the agenda so that people didn't have to sit here till 10 o'clock at night to say what they wanted.

And then we said that during public comment, um, if there were issues raised that the city manager did not address in his report, but we knew the answers and we wanted to acknowledge or to respond to it that we could do that.

You cannot do all of that in five minutes.

Um I think I come in very organized and very, you know, hit the highlights on everything, and I haven't gone over 10 minutes, but I doubt that I have ever made it in five minutes because I am telling, you know, I I say what I feel needs to be said first, then I report on uh meetings that I've attended, and then I try to go around any public comments that were made where you know there was a question in there, and if nobody else has addressed it, I tried to address it.

So I think nobody has to take 10 minutes.

Some of us are worthy uh wordier than others, I get it, but um, I don't think 10 minutes is too long.

Um when I consider you know the amount of information that I take in every week and the uh 50 and 60 hour week work weeks, I don't think 10 minutes to respond and and to share that information is too much.

That's my my take on it.

I think 10 minutes is too much.

I think five with the addition of an additional five if you have something significant that you need to bring up, like you went to the League of Cities and they had this whole big thing about whatever legislative action is happening, then cool, you get an extra five minutes to talk about that.

But if you went and they just had lunch and you talked about when the next meeting is gonna be, then you don't need a whole extra five minutes to talk about it that day.

I will I I actually concur with Mayor Love because you know I went to a lot of those meetings and observed it year after year as well.

And um, we don't have to use the 10 minutes.

We do have, you know, someone in the community does say that we should limit it, but we don't always use the 10 minutes.

I mean, even today I had two different reports, and and I printed them and distributed them and said they're posted online because I knew this was going to be a long meeting.

And you knew that you couldn't do those reports plus what you did and get it in under 10 minutes.

So you so I thought that was a yeah, that was a really wise decision.

And here was the other change is that in the past the city council said, well, if you want to give a report, you can.

This council said we want these reports.

And especially if we go off to a meeting and maybe there were tax dollars spent on us getting to that meeting.

We owe it, in my opinion, to share with our residents as well as each other the key things that we learned that would affect Gulfport.

We don't have to go into every single detail.

I mean, we have to do abbreviated versions, but we said that we were going to give reports when we go to these outside meetings.

I mean, I went to a five-hour meeting, and my report back on it was about two minutes to here's my balance.

were tax dollars spent on us getting to that meeting we owe it in my opinion to share with our residents as well as each other the key things that we learned that would affect golf port we don't have to go into every single detail I mean we have to do abbreviated versions but we said that we were going to give reports when we go to these outside meetings I mean I went to a five hour meeting and my report back on it was about two minutes to here's my balance when I when I'm thinking of the meeting organization and this includes um comments which is why I think I'm in the minority about like wanting to hear from people who are from Gulf port or have ties to Gulfport even in e comments it's because I think that when we have that there's a thing in like the legal practice where you bury the evidence and if you put an ex you like with a discovery and you ask for information from the other side and they just like give you a gazillion boxes of stuff it's a way of like actually doing the opposite instead of like being revelatory it is it is overwhelming and people can't sift through what the important stuff is and so if we go an hour 50 minutes on reports just us then the business of what people because I don't what people are here to discuss gets pushed back later and I just think that it has the effect of having it be more difficult for residents to really engage and so that's what I'm trying to figure out how to create that balance.

Well I hear you on that but but again I don't I I'm not certain that we're really taking up 15 minutes.

I I I think sometimes people don't even have reports some are really brief some are some you know it's it's never everybody's taking up a whole bunch of minutes.

I mean if if I'm incorrect please please let me know but I can't think of any where we actually had 10 minutes of reports from every every council member now if we if if really the majority wants to do five minutes with a five minute extension um you know I I would certainly defer to that but but I am I'm not necessarily thinking that it's it's really that critical you know it's like we're trying to fix something that might not really exist.

So can what can we be refreshed who asked for change and then clarify what that was and see if they have a consensus I don't know who it was I was it was Councilmember Web oh I wanted to council member webb you want to clarify your question and see if you have a consensus five minute limitation with a five minute um request for extension so if you need the 10 minutes you got it I'm fine with that yeah yeah is that the consensus and and how do you get how what what what what verifies the approval for the extension the city clerk I mean does the time and then it'll go off and then you'll say it I'd like a you know I'd like to use my additional five minutes and is that then a consensus or is that the mayor approval no I think that we can just write that it's uh automatic it's in your rules that's how you would think it's automatic okay you're just saying I'm I need a few more minutes or something I got a lot of stuff to talk about today I'm gonna take the whole 10 okay so I don't see how that's any different than what we have right now.

Okay.

Yeah I I still kind of think we're trying to fix something for a problem that doesn't truly exist but again I'll I'm I'm happy to defer and remember if you want to make a change you can make a change at any time they're your rules okay so we have a consensus for that change or to leave it alone what it would say is right now it says the members of the city shall limit their comments to 10 minutes we would change that to five and then put a in parentheses with a five minute extension if needed that would be the asking general council member webb you're asking this council for consensus if we want to make that change correct yeah yeah and I I'd answered I'm fine with that okay yeah I'm fine with that I'm fine no you didn't care about the consensus that time did you for new business also I would like I would like to limit that I would like that to be motions if we're going to be um so that is enroll calls yeah motions and consensus is roll calls consensus is that roll call is where I call your names yeah it doesn't right it's you it's not required that I mean let's just okay you want you want a motion in a second but did you you don't necessarily have to have a roll call then you could just say all in favor.

I would like I would like to limit that I would like that to be motions if we're going to be um so that is enroll calls yeah motions and consensus is roll calls consensus is that roll call is where I call your names yeah it doesn't right it's you it's not required that I mean let's just okay you want you want a motion in a second but do you you don't necessarily have to have a roll call then you could just say all in favor yeah I mean it can be a voice vote right that's what I'm trying to say yeah it can be in voice vote you just want to but you want two motions you want motion and a second all in favor yeah for I want it to be base yeah moving along yeah make a decision right I I find this yeah I want it to be a clear like I would like to get this accomplished um and I think that using kind of Robert's rules of like a motion um a second question for it's debate vote is like really clean and I would like basically I would like us to use Robert's rules a little more clearly so that we can follow what's going on um more clearly so that we don't have what happened today like oh I thought we were only asking questions of the attorney about this one thing you thought it was debate you know I I think it would help us stay on the same page if we just used Robert's rules I'm fine on that one it makes it more clearly so for new business when you're making um a request for new business you're gonna make a motion for this new business and somebody's gonna need to second that right and then I'm going to say all in favor well so then you would open it up to debate to questions and then you like use the whole like questions debate that's I feel like that makes it really long and that's not the way we've ever used new business I mean news business is hey I went over here and I learned this whole new thing and what I'd like to do is to see if I can have a consensus to get this on the agenda as a present presentation at another time and it's just a three person consensus.

Right but if this is our oh I'm sorry mayor no it's okay no we're just having discussion I don't I don't get offended so to me new business is the one only opportunity that we have to say to each other hey this is something I'm thinking about can I get a consensus and if nobody will give me the consensus it dies right there but if I get the consensus and typically I think we're asking for a consensus to get a presentation or get a discussion or um do a call to artists you know and it's not it's not a and the only time we interfere mayor if I may is when we're asking to make clarity.

Yeah you know because sometimes we're we're you know we don't know exactly what you're asking so we'll we'll just say you know can we just get some clarification I think that where it's helpful and I don't know that it has to be long um council member Donch I think that if you so what you just did was made a motion right and so then there's an opportunity because it is our only talk opportunity to talk the way that I've experienced it done is that everybody gets two minutes to ask questions and debate at the same time and then if it's past your time that's it like there's no democracy depends on dialogue and it feels like it undermines that so then if you can if you have like the question period separated from the debate period then it's the consensus but I feel like in new business it's bringing it up to be able to have it for a discussion which is number 13 then next time we're all together right so this time we're saying okay new business I want to make a motion to have this thing be number 13 on the list next time so that we can follow all of those steps in number 13 when we get there or something but um new business is just bringing up the going along with what council member don't just say is there might be one person on council that says hey I would like to bring this forward can I get a consensus and everybody looks down at the table because they're like no I don't want to do that.

They didn't get a consensus so it's not going to make it onto the next agenda right okay and yet it's not a discussion item in order to be a discussion item you're scheduled as a discussion item.

Okay.

That's that's what I'm having problems with because I see um new business as an opportunity to share a couple new things that I learned and that I might ask for consensus of to want to share additional information or with you at a discussion item down the road but um not that I'm asking during new business when it's the end of the night that that we would then um have a discussion on that so I guess that's why when I mentioned um combining reports and new business that just because of what you just said is I'd like to bring up some stuff that I just heard about and I'd like to talk about later I feel like that's what the reports are about like I heard something or I talked about something or I have a subject that I want to bring up

I feel like that's what the reports are about.

Like I heard something or I talked about something, or I have a subject that I want to bring up.

Um then so that could all be included in one thing, like hey, I went to this meeting, I did these things, I learned about this thing, let's put this on another agenda sometime.

I feel like that could all flow.

Well, I agree with you there then.

If we're not gonna use new business for business, but just like, hey, I have this cool idea that I learned about, are y'all interested in it too, then it might as well be part of reports.

And that isn't how we used it.

I was just using that as one uh opportunity.

That's really the only place, in my opinion, where we have an opportunity to ask for consensus to put something on the agenda down the road.

I wasn't only limiting that to you.

At tonight on my new business, I wanted to tell you that the application to the community planner assistant team was submitted today.

There was no opportunity to say that prior to that, but don't you all want to know that that in fact moved forward?

So I would have thought that would go with reports, a report.

I would thought I would have thought that that would be a report.

Because I couldn't get it in under 10 minutes and still acknowledge my uh my my public comment people.

That's why so no change to those items or well, I we're not gonna get a consensus now.

Uh moving on to uh section J, which is the agenda setting.

Uh just a point of kind of pulling this into consistency with the changes made earlier.

If um we're having a workshop on items that will be on the second council meeting of the month, then that might impact this just heads up.

So at the workshop they would get a consensus to put it on an agenda in the future.

Well, we'd also have to know what's coming up so that we would be able to have a workshop that talks about what's coming up on the agenda.

At your workshop, we would tell you you would say we'd like to put this on the next agenda.

Teresa would then just tell you, just so you know we have X, Y, and Z on the agenda, or the agenda's open, no problem.

Just so you have that information, you would determine when you want to have it.

You might say we need more information, therefore, we're why don't we just add this?

You know, this issue will go on to the next workshop next month, and you'll bring us this additional information.

So the agenda setting, yes, will be altered by your workshop.

At the conclusion of the workshop, you should determine what we're doing with the item you just discuss.

And if the next meeting's too busy, Teresa will mention that we can decide.

I mean, we have to do something with the item.

Either you'll table it's a good one.

You'll put it for the next meeting, and we have to do something with the so that's been my experience is that when um something is decided to be put on the agenda, then to me it kind of goes to the city clerk and she tells us when she can get it on.

Not that we can dictate necessarily when we want it on, because sometimes she's you know thinking weeks uh out.

I mean, I see the way she she does that uh scheduling, so I think that you know, for us to say we would like to get that on the agenda, and then when we you know have a chance for her, she gets to look at everything, then she can tell us when she can put it there.

And and if she's used to the once we start doing these workshops, she'll have a better understanding of how those things will be placed on the agenda.

But we'll inform you at the meeting.

You know, you want to you'll you could say I would like we would like it on the next available agenda.

That could be two meetings down the middle.

And we're ready to vote on it, and we just want to vote on it next week, and then it'll be quick anyway.

Right.

Or if it's something we could do.

If you're gonna have it, I said earlier.

Probably if you discuss something on Tuesday at the end of the month, and you know, it's a short we in next Tuesday.

My staff's not gonna have time to give you the information necessary to give you an agenda item.

That's my concern.

You know, anything probably gonna be if you at minimum if you agree to something on a workshop, it's gonna probably be two weeks out.

Yeah, that's why that's why we talked about doing it the first meeting.

So we could get it to your uh before the first meeting, so we get it to our second list.

So are we doing anything with that?

Where we I think it was just a note that it's just to be aware of it.

Okay.

Oh, so where are we at right now?

Okay, we're we would be moving on to item K.

Okay, but I I'd like to discuss J three.

Oh okay, if you don't mind, please.

So currently any item placed on the agenda as a consent item may be removed by any council member with request to the mayor.

Items removed from consent will be considered during new business.

That's what it currently reads.

Yeah, and um what I'm suggesting is replacing the sentence and italics to any item removed from the consent and agenda item shall be taken up immediately following the consent agenda item under items removed from consent unless otherwise directed by the presiding officer or majority of the council, and the reasons are it keeps the items in its original context, it was already noticed and prepared.

It isn't entirely new business and could simply be a matter of clarification, may limit public awareness since people may not stay for later agenda sections, and it blends routine administrative items with policy level discussions.

Any any consensus on that?

Sure.

Yes, yes, okay.

Um moving on to item K procedure for city council actions.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

Oh, I thought someone fell asleep.

No, I'm so sorry.

That's been asleep for an hour.

This is why I usually use some candy flips.

Uh item K is procedure for city council actions on the adoption of ordinances and approval of resolutions not on the consent agenda and consideration of agenda items.

I would like to change to add on number five, city council questions to staff, but also like to add um city council questions to or questions to other city council members.

So because a motion because of the because if something is brought to staff by a council member, and if they're working on that with staff, we might have questions about questions for that council member.

So and it could be clarifying questions, you know, specific clarifying questions.

There's always Germanity here, so I don't think we have to overstate the Germanity of it.

I mean, but city council questions to staff and other council and council member.

So if you make that motion, then being able to ask you a question seems important.

Like, would you like to amend your um your motion based on the discussion or based on you know other information, like that seems like it would be important to be able to allow I know when we did this a year ago, we talked about the importance of clarifying questions so that when you were making a statement or opinion or saying what you thought that you do come up for air every so often so that somebody could ask for a clarifying question that didn't come across like they were interrupting you, and um I kind of feel like we've been doing a pretty good job on that.

Yeah, so do I have uh consensus on that?

I'm fine with that.

I'm fine, sure, perfect.

And can may I clarify that?

You just want something added to number five to city council questions to staff and council members, council members, and you can it the mayor mentioned clarifying questions to city council may ask clarifying questions to staff and or council members.

I'm fine with that.

I mean, I think that's fine.

I'm not asking questions that don't pertain to whatever it is that you just talked about.

Yeah, or not like, well, what about this?

Well, and and that's a really really valuable thing because that is one of the things that we addressed a year ago is that if the sitter manager decides to talk talk on topic A, B, and C, you don't get to say, but what about D, what about F.

However, you can use your 10 minutes time to choose to ask him questions, and you're using your 10 minutes could be used for that as well, but not yeah.

Yeah, you know, that was another reason why we were giving 10 minutes is because if the if he didn't address that, but that was something you really wanted to know, then you could use your 10 minutes to ask those questions.

And I think that I mean, I think that for all of this, and the parliamentarian can correct me, there's an issue of Germanity.

So anything that we say needs to be germane to the motion on the table.

And if it's not, like, why are we talking about this when you know there's giraffes in Africa that are hungry?

Somebody, Andy can the city man city attorney can say, like, let's get back to the topic, right?

Because that would there's always a personality.

Or we'll ask the fire chief to check on you.

Yeah.

Um I mean, tonight is a good example of that.

Certainly, our first um ordinance that we talked about went way, way, way longer than we wanted.

But everybody had a chance to say, and they kept it on topic.

Yes, you know, it was kept on topic.

So I feel like we already exhibited that too.

Yes, yes.

And and I've done that before, where uh it's usually when the there's a public comment when I've said even the mayor, they're going a little far afield.

Okay, so was there a consensus on that?

Uh Teresa, did you get a city clerk?

Did you get a consensus on that?

Yes, I did.