All right, good morning, everybody.

I want to call this uh Monday, October twenty first, twenty twenty-four regular city commission meeting to order.

And um, we will begin with the invocation by the city auditor and clerk.

In our name we pray, amen.

Thank you, and a vice mayor.

Um, are there any changes to the order of the day, Miss Griggs?

Um, yes, madam mayor, we have a couple here.

Um please add under commission presentations item one point three proclamation rate, proclaiming the month of October twenty twenty-four as head start awareness month, per the request of City Manager Brown.

Griggs um yes madam mayor we have a couple here um please add under commission presentations item 1.3 proclamation rate proclaiming the month of October 2024 as head start awareness month per the request of City Manager Brown that's uh that's completely being added because that was on the Friday's meeting they needed to pull it so we we're gonna put it on today's meeting okay okay please remove under unfinished business agenda item number 9.3 approval rate proposed new performing arts center implementation agreement per the request of the per the requirements of the agreement between the city of Sarasota and the Performing Arts Inc.

per the request of City Manager Brown and I would like to read um what a record on why this item was um to be removed this at the request of Tanya Maskolinko I'm sorry if I said that wrong um this is um her email as our community continues to grabble with the devastation of back-to-back storms including the closure of Van Weasel Hall until January 2025 and reach out on behalf of the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation to request removal of agenda item for the proposed new performing arts center implementation agreement from the Sarasota City Commission meeting on today Monday October 20th 21st 2024 that's per their request and it looks like from what I was told this morning that they are looking to possibly bring that back on the November 18th meeting so they just wanted the commission to be aware of that as well.

Okay I have a couple more please remove under commission presentation employee of the month per the request of City Manager Brown because that employee cannot be here we will still have team of the month but we will take off employee of the month okay and then one more thing at the request of City Manager Brown he's asking if we could please move under unfinished business item 9.2 discussion ray appointment of interim city manager to the last item on the agenda after new business he's asking if we could possibly move that item to the last the appointment of the interim city manager is there any objection to that no actually we know why I I don't I was just it was just a request okay and that's it all right I move approval of the proposed agenda schedule thank you a second second okay commissioner arroyo moves approval of the proposed agenda schedule uh the vice mayor seconded the motion commissioners if you would please vote is that your vote yes yes the motion passes unanimously thank you very much and then I think we have a few presentations commissioners so if you'll join me out front thank you so much all right we're gonna start with domestic violence awareness month is there somebody I think you come on up and after I read it I'll have you introduce yourself and say a couple things and come over closer whereas domestic violence awareness month was established to create a community dialogue about violence to advocate for legislation and law enforcement to protect victims and encourage public awareness awareness and action against abuse and whereas the domestic violence is a serious crime that affects people of all ages income levels and gender but most often women and children and once started the campaign of physical psychological economic and domestic violence only gets worse resulting in a heavy burden on society and families and whereas 10615 domestic violence offenses were reported in the state of Florida in 2020 including 217 deaths and in Sarasota County there were 1,399 incidences including two deaths and whereas safe place and rape crisis center provides free services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and their children in Sarasota and DeSota County seeks to stop the crime of domestic violence through awareness and education now therefore the city commission of the city of Sarasota Florida and on behalf of the citizens of our community takes great pride in recognizing October 2024 as domestic violence awareness month thank you very much my name is Claudia and I am the domestic violence child welfare advocate with Spark at Spark we work very hard to break the cycles of domestic and sexual violence thank you so much on behalf of survivors and their children thank you for all you do thank you for everything you're doing for being a photo

My name is Claudia, and I am the domestic violence child welfare advocate with Spark.

At Spark, we work very hard to break the cycles of domestic and sexual violence.

Thank you so much on behalf of survivors and their children.

Well, thank you for all you do.

Thank you for everything you're doing.

That's team.

This is team of the month.

It's one team.

All right.

I think this is uh definitely the team of the month for October 2024.

Uh communications and public broadcasting.

Um we have Jan Thorberg, our general manager, and Luke Mockerman, our assistant.

City communications assistant.

So today we honor the communications team from the city manager's office and the public broadcasting team from the city auditor and clerk as the October team of the month.

Their dedication, professionalism, and outstanding teamwork for the Eco Rover wheelchair launch have earned them this recognition and all their communication during our two back-to-back hurricane hurricanes.

Jan Thornberg is the general manager of communications and an award-winning reporter with over 20 years of experience in media relations.

Her breadth of knowledge and commitment to public service have provided immense value to the city's strategic communications.

Supporting her is Luke Mockerman, a University of Central Florida graduate and a former press secretary for the U.S.

House of Representative Representatives.

They create a dynamic team that brings a unique perspective to media relations and communications.

In tandem with the communications team, public broadcasting manager Miles Larson and Public Broadcasting Coordinator John Knopper bring over 40 years of combined experience as the city's official videographers.

Their dedication to capturing and broadcasting every public meeting ensures our community stays informed and engaged.

Their technical expertise and creative vision are instrumental in producing stunning videos that showcase our beautiful city.

And I can we can all attest to that.

The launch of the Eco Rover was a resounding success, a testament to the outstanding efforts of our communications and public broadcasting teams.

They facilitated communication with numerous media outlets, resulting in extensive event coverage.

Their ability to craft compelling narratives and visuals brought the Eco Rover to life for the community.

The team offered guidance and support for the Eco Rovers inaugural media event.

Jake Brown, the event organizer, expressed his gratitude, saying their professional advice was incredibly valuable to me.

I'm extremely thankful as this event wouldn't have been possible without them.

The communications and broadcasting teams embodies the city's values and integrity of integrity, accountability, teamwork, and respect for their consistent efforts to keep our community informed and engaged and reflect those values.

Congratulations to Jan Thornburg, Luke Mockerman, Miles Larson, and John Knopper for this honor.

And I I think we absolutely really have to mention the outstanding job everyone did during Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.

They were working seven days a week, you know, from very early morning to late at night to get communications out to our community so everybody knew what was going on.

So they're the team of the month based on that too.

Thank you, Mayor, for for the recognition for the the Eco Rover and also the very kind words regarding our hurricane coverage.

You know, part of what we do is crisis communications.

There's also strategic communications and we deal a lot with social media and media relations, and media relations is what the Eco Rover was all about for us.

We in communications, we are a small but mighty team.

It is me and Luke Mockerman.

And Luke is our communications assistant who, believe it or not, has barely been here for six months.

And when the Eco Rover project came about, I thought this is a wonderful project.

And it would be a wonderful project for him to have some outreach for the media.

And so he had only been here for three months, and uh so Luke took that on as a project to coordinate a media event to have the media come out, and they did the work essentially for us that earned media to get the message out to the community what uh the Eco Rover is all about, and uh set up an awesome event over at Leto Beach and had at least I think about a half a dozen uh media outlets that were there.

So we did not have to actually buy any commercials or anything like that in order to get the word out about the Eco Rover.

So uh just really congratulations to Luke and his hard work uh on that media event.

You want to say anything?

Okay, and uh our our two other folks over here who are actually are in their own area within the clerk's office, uh Miles and John, uh, who do an awesome job, and I believe that you produce a wonderful video about the Eco Rover.

Yeah, and I want to say uh there are a couple of pros.