The Gulfport City Council met on the evening of May 5, 2026, for a regular meeting that included three presentations, departmental state-of-the-city reports, public comments, and several council actions. The meeting lasted approximately five hours.
Good evening. I call this uh May 5th meeting to order. If there's any chance whatsoever that your phone, the ringers on, just take a second right now and make sure it's not. I'd appreciate that. Also would like to say that I understand that sometimes there's side conversations and you feel like you need to check something with your neighbor. That's totally okay, but take it out to the lobby. It's almost it's a weird the way the the sound works here, but when anybody's talking out there, I can hear them as clear as day. So I'm going to ask you as I do it every meeting, please don't do that. Okay. So with that in mind, we are gonna start out with our invocation by uh councilmember Webb, and then that will be followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. So please stand. All right. Please join me in a moment of silence. All right, Lord, make me a channel of thy peace. That where there is hatred, I may bring love, that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness, that where there is discord, I may bring harmony, that where there is error, I may bring truth. That where there is doubt, I may bring faith, that where there is despair, I may bring hope, that where there are shadows, I may bring light, that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted, to understand than to be understood, to love than to be loved. For it is self-forgiving that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven, and it is by dying that one is awakened to eternal life. Amen. All righty, thank you so much. And with that, can we have a roll call, please? Councilmember Webb here, present. Councilmember Early, present. Councilmember Donch here. Vice Mayor Shaw, present. Mayor Love, here. City Attorney Salzman. Here. City Manager O'Reilly. Here. City Clerk Carico is present. Thank you. So tonight we're kind of heavy in the beginning here with presentations. We have three of them tonight, and we will start with a proclamation for safe boating week, and it will be read by our city clerk. For nearly 90 million Americans, boating continues to be a popular rec recreational activity. Gulfport, with its beautiful access to Boca Siega Bay, has an active population enjoying boating, sailing, paddling, and fishing. During National Safe Boating Week, the U.S. Coast Guard and its federal, state, and local safe boating partners encourage all boaters to explore and enjoy America's beautiful waters responsibly. Safe boating begins with preparation. The Coast Guard estimates that human error accounts for 70% of all boating accidents and that life jackets could prevent more than 80% of voting fatalities. Through basic boating safety procedures, carrying life-saving emergency, excuse me, carrying life-saving emergency distress and communications equipment, wearing life jackets, attending safe boating courses, participating in free boat safety checks, and staying sober when navigating. National Safe Boating Week is observed to bring attention to important life-saving tips for recreational boaters so that they can have a safer, more fun experience out on the water throughout the year. Whereas 560 people died in 2024 in voting-related accidents in the United States, approximately 80% of these are fatalities caused by drowning. And whereas this is a decrease of seven or excuse me, 14% from previous years due to the efforts of organizations like the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. And whereas the vast majority of these accidents are caused by human error or poor judgment, and not by the boat equipment or environmental factors. And whereas a significant number of voters who lose their lives by drowning each year would be alive today had they worn their life jackets. Therefore, it be a resolve that I, Karen Love, mayor of the city of Gulfport, Florida, do hereby support the goals of the safe boating campaign and proclaim May 16th through 22nd, 2026 as National Safe Boating Week and the start of the year-round effort to support safe boating and witness hereof. I have set hereunto set my hand and cause the seal of the city to go seal City of Gulfport, Florida to be a fixed this fifth day of May 2026.