Hey, Warren, can you hear me?

Okay, great.

Perfect.

Just wanted to verify our connection.

Perfect.

Good afternoon.

I want to welcome you all to the uh February 27th, 2026 special city commission meeting, and I will turn to our city auditor and clerk to read the invocation.

Um those who can stand, please stand.

Heavenly Father, we affirm our faith in thee.

We seek your divine strength, wisdom, and guidance in the deliberations that affect the lives of each of the citizens of our community.

In that name we pray.

Amen.

Vice Mayor, would you lead the pledge?

Yes.

I blog you.

And to republic relations with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

Is Ms.

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

Yes, Mayor, thank you.

Please add agenda item number two point two approval rate.

Authorize a mayor and city auditor clerk to execute the agreement between the City of Sarasota and Jennifer Jorgerson for the interim city manager position beginning on March 6, 2026.

Per the request of City Attorney Polzette.

Thank you.

May I have a motion to accept the uh agenda?

So move.

Second.

Uh moved by the Vice Mayor, seconded by Commissioner Batti.

May we have your votes, please.

Passed unanimously.

Thank you very much.

Um first agenda item is the discussion regarding the city manager search selection and a conditional offer and contract negotiations.

And I see in my notes that we are going to have a discussion on the process first.

Well, I think first mayor we skip one, which is citizens input.

Okay, thank you.

And if that's the case, may I call upon the city auditor and clerk to read the uh pledge of con public conduct.

Thank you.

We may disagree, but we will be respectful to one another.

We will direct all comments to issues.

We will not engage in personal attacks.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And we have two uh citizens signed up to speak, Peter Blandon and Christine Robinson.

So if you want to come on up, Mr.

Belanton.

Okay, thank you.

Peter Blanton, Sarasota City resident, not paid by anyone ever.

Recently.

So against federal judgment, I'm speaking here.

Uh in public.

Taped and everything.

But uh I'm I'm not gonna say anything negative about the candidates.

I've seen them.

I've been to that wonderful thanks, Ms.

Griggs, for that uh community event.

Uh seen the uh taped interviews, the live interviews, all the resumes.

And one thing in trying to form my opinion, not that it's worth much, was something that interim city manager Mr.

Bullock said was who's gonna be the best fit for the city of Sarasota.

So I think part of that is who wanna who actually want to live here?

Because none of them do live here.

Um and I do know that Chris Rondrig Rodriguez, sorry, um did live here for two years.

Uh sent his kids to Siesta Key, uh private school.

And it's kind of tricky here.

His ex-wife with whom he has shared custody is looking for a job here.

So I actually think he wants to live here for a variety of reasons.

He's lived here before he wants to live here.

Um who knows something about Florida.

Well, I think Camara's sort of wins that down.

Um but I think Chris is a quick study, and he did live here, and um I think he would be excellent on that front.

Who is easy to work with?

And I don't have the benefit that you have, presumably of staff input and and input from many others in the community.

Sorry, I'm going in and out.

Um but I've had his personality engaging.

But I've had his personality engaging.

I didn't see any arrogance.

I thought he was amiable.

I mean, he's worked for some tough people.

I mean, you no one works for Chris Christie and survive that without having a hard shell.

So no, I think he's he's good on that.

I think he would work well with the business community.

And I think he would work well as we try to diversify our economy, attract other businesses to come here.

Um the last issue running out of time.

I think it would he works well.

He has worked well in diverse communities under diverse leadership.

Um Christie is in his own little, you know pie.

But uh he worked for the and got promoted by the African American mayor of DC, both DC and New Jersey are very diverse community.

So last, but not necessarily least, he's Latino, so his father's from Guatemala.

Well, what a place end.

Thank you, Mr.

Bland and Ms.

Robinson.

Good afternoon, Christine Robinson on behalf of the Argus Foundation.

Thank you, City Commissioners, for your dedication and hard work in this process.

It is an inherently awkward process, and you have done a good job resetting it and doing your best to get it right.

I have watched all of you very carefully throughout this process, and it you all have really contemplated your decisions and really taken steps to get a hold of this.

And it should be an example for others to show that you can reset processes and start over again.

So I congratulations to you on and getting to this point.

Thank you to the city clerk and city attorney for taking on this process.

Your leadership has been really important, and your desire to give the commission the best process you possibly could on a process you're unfamiliar with was vital to getting us to this point.

Mr.

Bullock, I will save my comments for you at a future meeting, sir.

Mayor's mayor, city commissioners, in your deliberations, I ask you to consider some things before you choose.

I will not give you a verbal recommendation from the dais today, but just give you some points to consider.

First, the city has some really important issues that happen to be urban issues to deal with, from affordable housing to the SPAC.

We need someone with urban experience who is able to move these languishing issues forward.

We need a city manager who will be transparent and listen to all sides of an issue from both residents and business businesses.

We need a city manager who will be who is strong in will and will not be bullied by any one strong personality out there.

We need a city manager who will shift the culture in the city government and not be afraid to get rid of those who are damaging it while at the same time being an example of integrity and determination and inspiration to the hardworking dedicated city employees.

Finally, we need a balance, a balance of vision and fiscal responsibility, vision and planning experience to get it to accomplish uh these goals while keeping an eye on the finances and prioritizing expenditures.

Your choice will set the future for the city.

So please contemplate these elements and each of these candidates.

And again, thank you for your work on this.

This is a really tough process.

And it sometimes gets messy, but that's by design.

So thank you for your service.

Thank you.

Thank you for coming in.

Um I pass this along.

The next thing on my list was a for the commission to discuss the process.

Um Ms.

Griggs was uh Mr.

Huttmacker going to weigh in on that at all, or is he just here to he is just here to provide any input that you all are asking of him.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Well, um obviously all you all's process, I'm sorry.

Obviously, we have a uh big decision ahead of us, and I hope that each of us has narrowed down our preferences to less than the five.

Um and my suggestion was that each of us take up to three or five minutes to advocate for the individuals that we would like to see in the city manager position, and that after we each speak in a positive way, because we're just gonna be advocating for our choices, then take a straw poll to see where we are, and then decide how to move on from there.

Any thoughts on that?

I don't like the idea of taking a straw poll at that point.

I think we should just talk it and hash it out.

And then if we're at an impasse, then maybe a straw poll at that point.

But so how about doing the talk among us and then seeing where we are based on what each of us has said?

Is that acceptable to everybody?

Yeah.

Do we want to go along the dais or do we want to buzz in?

Buzz in.

Buzz in.

Okay, so oh, then the other question three minutes, five minutes, any preference?

As long as you need.

I wouldn't time.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

So Commissioner Alpert, you have chosen to go first.

Okay.

All right.

Well, it it's been a um, it's been a it's been an interesting week, and um you know, we have a really tough decision to make, and um I actually went in, started out with one person who I thought I didn't like who came in and just absolutely blew me away.

And so and another one surprised me.

My top, my first top pick went down to third, and then uh so you know I have two top picks, but my I think the edge for me goes to uh Carrie Fryling.

Um I think the work that you know I number one, the work that she did on this um portfolio and how she related it to Sarasota, she actually did her homework uh before she came.

And then just her attitude, her answers to the questions, she was she was open, she was approachable.

Um the um, you know looking at who would you want to work with kind of thing.

That I think that was a really good uh comment by Mr.

Bullock about how to think about it, because you know, technically, could we say technically all the candidates have the technical skills, but I think it takes more than technical skills to be able to uh work with staff, work with the community, work with each of us as commissioners, and yet be strong enough to make the hard decisions.

And I think that um she has the background, I liked her answers to the questions when we were here at the DIAs that um they were specific, they weren't jargon, you know, and I think that went a long way.

I think the um in watching her among the community.

Um I think she was well received, at least at you know, the table that that I was at, and so um I think she would do a good job.

I think she would uh create good community relations, and and I think she would be great for the staff, and you know, in talking to people in the community and talking with staff, the majority of people that I talked to felt like Ms.

Fryling was at the top of the list.

Thank you.

Who else?

Who's next?

I'll go next.

Okay, vice mayor.

So first of all, I have to thank the many citizens and staff members who approached me to express their points of view.

I really appreciate that because we're all gonna have to work with the new city manager.

In many cases, they re they reaffirmed my point of view, but sometimes they taught me something new.

So thank you everybody for that.

I thoroughly enjoyed the process.

Every step of the process allowed me the opportunity to learn something new about each candidate.

And so before they came here in my mind, I had them rank ordered, my own rank ordering.

After talking with them and watching them in action, my rank ordering changed.

And so that's all to the process.

And hear what they had to say.

And so I too put Carrie Fryling first.

I'm not going to say any more.

You all talked to her.

You all read her stuff.

You all saw the package that she gave to us.

I don't really think I have to say anymore.

Thank you.

Who else?

Commissioner Batti, would you like he's pointing at both pointing at each other?

Okay, so I guess it's I I I've got to go next.

And uh, like everyone else, at each step along the way, as I learned more, people went up and down in my estimation.

Um when they arrived on Monday, you know, I said, it's this person's to lose, and that person lost it.

So I am now at the point where I have two individuals that I sort of judge equally.

I could support either one of them as our new city manager, and one of the things they're coming.

Um looking at Sarasota with fresh eyes.

They said you are at a transformational moment.

I had been looking at it really as evolutionary, but after they were hearing here, I said, yeah, we are transforming, and we need a city manager who's going to bring this get the city out front of the transformation that's taking place, and get us the city to decide where we as a community want it to go, how we want it to grow, and you know, that's the city manager that we need.

Um so to some extent, I have Troy Anderson as one of my top two.

He's got an urban planning background, and you know, the other thing is he is at the he's of the generation where this is their prime professional years, and they also understand what their children are going to want from Sarasota.

So really bringing Sarasota into a new growth, rebirth, whatever direction, but for the future rather than looking at the past, and this is the way we've always done things, and this is what we're comfortable with.

So that was why he's high up on my list.

But then I also look at Carrie Fryling.

She's got the experience, the know-how, she's an accredited uh ICMA credentialed manager, so she could come in and probably deal with just about any problem that came up.

So and also be able to lead Sarasota into the future.

So they are both equal in my list, which is also why I very much want to hear from what each of us has to say.

So now either Commissioner A.

Hern Cotch or Mr.

Commissioner Batti, you're on the Hazi.

Ladies first.

I say gentlemen first.

I'm a very chivalrous individual.

What do you go?

I'm very interested down your thoughts.

I'm very interested to hear what you've got to one of you has got to bite the bullet.

I give it to you.

Go ahead.

You win.

All right, then go ahead and start.

I think it's going to be juvenile if you're going to have to y'all go.

Okay.

Commissioner Aaron Koch, thank you.

Thank you for to the staff for Ms.

Griggs and Mr.

Polzak and all the support staff, Lori and Brianna and everybody who participated in facilitating this.

Taylor was really great opportunity.

Each step of the way, I too shifted my thoughts.

But you put them in put them in some sort of an order so you could digest everything.

And that kept moving around throughout the process in getting input from them, from the community and from staff.

And that's that's really what I'm struggling with is the limitation of that.

All of this is really great.

But Commissioner Betty and I both advocated for getting more of background to make sure that if we hone in on one candidate that we have some references that are not references they gave us.

But I do have to say that in my input and outreach, and not in an echo chamber outreach, in an outreach of people that I saw that were following this, that were weighing in, that were watching it.

She was the common denominator.

Again, I would like to see us do references on all three.

Thank you.

And Commissioner Batti.

Oh, my turn.

Yeah.

Thank you, Mayor.

As we all know, this is a very uh arduous process from uh start to finish you know, if we're finish here today.

Um again, you know, can't you know thank uh the the the city auditor and clerk's office and you know and and in our office in terms of Brianna and and so on, um the city attorney's office for uh taking the bull by the horns and and running with this you know this whole matter and getting us to where we are along you know with something they gave us uh five very top-notch candidates to choose from.

Um my process, you know, looking at it all um was the one-on-ones that we had with with each of them, and then uh you know, like everyone, you know, coming here and speaking before at the dice before us all.

uh taking the bull by the horns and and running with this you know this whole matter and getting us to where we are along you know with something they gave us uh five very top notch candidates to choose from um and you know my process you know looking at it all um was the one on ones that we had with with each of them and then you know like everyone you know coming here and speaking before at the diets before us all and you gotta look at you know this is not just your average you know interview process you know you're talking about getting out into the public and and speaking to people and and uh getting their read and their beat on you and then coming here and and and interviewing before all of us like flashdance or something like that you know and uh um and and it being on granicus for the community to to watch as well when I you know that's that's that's tough and to be you know have questions levied at you that you gotta you know I know a lot of them can come across as like canned you know speeches or whatever but you don't know what somebody's gonna be asking you or whatever and how you're gonna be answering it.

And you know like the rest you know I had my top choice um you know and that kind of you know fell to third as well um uh sometimes bless you um I thought that they all did uh a top notch job like right here at the dies to be honest with you um and then you know others rose you know to to the occasion and rose to the to the top um and how I look at it you know to Mr.

Bullock's you know point you know who would be the best fit you know here in Sarasota particularly with the projects that we have in the queue and and uh in in in the pipeline and pushing the these these initiatives down the down the field and across the goal line you know and getting us to where where we are um I listened to staff you know um you know took you know what what it is they had to say into consideration listen to you know the the name you know neighborhoods you know that was kind of tough for me to sort of gauge as well just because when you when when I was at Roberdale Taylor, you know it's kind of like you see the same people there that you see here at every meeting and whatnot you know so you know so it's not like and and you know just like I was talking to the the the candidates when I spoke to them you gotta understand like John Quix doesn't pay attention to this stuff and they don't care it you know whatever that's why they elect us you know to to do that's why they elected me you know to to to do to make these decisions and do these things or whatever so they don't have to worry about it trying to put food on their table gas in the tank finding place to live with with affordable housing and so forth and where is this person going to fit into all of that and and have a backbone you know um to stand up to scrutiny stand up to to those that are going to be pushing against you or whatever particularly in that role um I I I liked Chris Rodriguez I thought he did a uh a bang out job like right here you know he didn't I mean he wasn't flappable he was I mean he was the boom he was just on it you know um his his his answers were were spot on uh I think he has that that kind of youthful exuberance you know to to you know to uh the mayor's point um that uh you know not trying to be ageist or anything like that but um he has that kind of enthusiasm coming from a city like like DC knowing that landscape because that's where a lot of our money comes from or whatever so he knows you know those those matters and how to get it here.

I really like Carrie because she did her research she did her due diligence she told me in our meeting that you know she spent a lot of time in uh in in my district um I don't know what she was doing it's not like it's a lot to do that but you know but uh um and you know I took uh I took that to heart you know that she would you know take her time to to get out into the community and uh and and see what it what it's like and try and get a feel for it or whatever.

Mr.

Black you know I thought you know he brought a great deal of you know experience gravitas you know and just as you as you said Vice Mayor Jenna Sequa or what have you very seasoned, very polished, you know, more than the rest of the candidates to be honest with you in terms of like you know how long he's been doing this and and and the places that he's been uh Kamar spot on you know she was she was uh she was boom just you know with her answers and and and so on um and Troy I like this city planner um background um but and looking at it all you know I would go back to uh Mrs Frayling or what have you because she said that uh she had the opportunity of pretty much

And Troy, I like this city planner background.

But looking at it all, you know, I would go back to Mrs.

Frayling or what have you because she said that uh she had the opportunity of pretty much like what they're doing down in Norport and billing the downtown from scratch, you know, building a community from scratch.

You know, that kind of goes a long way.

Um what have you.

Now, whether or not she has the you know, I'm looking at the bubbly personality or whatever, whether you know, you want everybody to like you or be your friend, you know, that's you'll get run over like that, man.

You know, and you gotta be able to stand your ground.

So she's that she's up there with me, along with uh Troy Anderson and uh I like Chris Rodriguez.

So those are those are my my three or what have you, you know.

So um that's where where I rest.

But to be honest with you, you know, if we come to some type of consensus or or or with whatever, I think we can't go wrong with with with whatever we choose here, to be honest with you.

So and thank the public for as well.

Thank you all.

Okay.

So thoughts on our next step here.

I have a motion.

I move that we uh make a conditional offer and begin contract res uh negotiations for our next city manager with Carrie Fryling.

I'll second it.

Motion by the Vice Mayor, seconded by Commissioner Alfort to make a conditional offer to Carrie Fryling.

I'll speak to the motion.

Uh she was the common thread among all of us.

Uh Commissioner Batiste said, I don't think we can go wrong.

Maybe we can't, but she was the common thread.

Why waste any more time?

Commissioner Albert, would you second her?

Yeah.

And and and I'm seconding it.

For the for the same reason, and then as I said, the kind of the overwhelming uh response I got from the public, the staff, um, in terms of who they thought would be the best fit with Sarasota.

Yeah, I I think I think the the top three were Chris and Troy and Carrie.

But I think Carrie, I I think she just has the edge in all of this.

And so um I think we'll be very happy that we did this.

And I understand the concern that you know she seemed um because she was so you know, approachable and welcoming, you know, can she make the hard decisions?

But I feel like you don't have to be mean to make the hard decisions.

You can be approachable and welcoming and still you know make hard decisions when you have to do it.

And I suspect in 33 years of doing this, she's had to do that.

You know, she said the you know, the hardest thing that she had to do is like let people go, but when you have to do it, you have to do it.

So I I wholeheartedly endorse uh her for our new city manager.

Okay, Commissioner Batty?

Uh yeah, um you know, I I I have no qualms with you know with this uh with this you know with the motion to make uh Ms.

Fraylin, you know, the next city manager.

I think uh it speaks to where we are as a city um and where we're headed as a city, even when you know I I was elected, you know, one of the things that uh I uh uh constantly, you know, um, you know, applauded, you know, this this community about when I was here initially was the diversity on the on the commission, you know, with uh uh Hispanic mayor, you know, young mayor, um African American city, you know, manager and City Allen Clerk and just the makeup, you know, of our commission.

Um so to bring you know a female and probably be the first female, you know, to the city of Sarasota, you know, to uh lead us in the into the future.

Um I have no no qualms with.

And uh, you know, and you know, to Commissioner's point, so it's not a matter of like you know, being mean that that's not it.

You know, I'm a competitor, so uh when I'm on a basketball court of football, I'm mean is all get up, trust me.

You know, so you don't want to be there with me.

Um but um but just in terms of you know, you you can't be everyone's friend um and that and expect them to be yours or whatever.

And you know, though she has a bubbly personality or whatever, um like when she said here, like as you see, you know, I don't necessarily take myself seriously.

The one thing that I took from that was, you know, I would much rather find that out for myself, like in a in a social setting or whatever than it to be expressed here because I need for other people to take you seriously or whatever.

So um and and you know, so that's my my take on it.

But to be honest with you, there's no way on this green earth that the woman got to this point at this juncture in her career right here sitting, you know, at the dais with her not taking care of business and doing what she needs to do, whether she has to let someone go or whether she has to, you know, you know, uh get on some, you know, whatever whatever she has to do to be successful or whatever, so and to have the spine and the backbone and and you know to to do it, you know.

So um, and aside from her bubbly personality, I think she's she's just I think she's just like a my sense of her is that she's just a good person, you know, and I think they all are uh or what have you.

So I have no no problem, you know, with this uh um with this with this decision, and um, you know, it and if this is where we're we're going, you know, I welcome Miss Ms.

Fraylin with open arms and as I'm sure the city will as well.

We look forward to to working with her.

And when I congratulations not only on on getting the job, but also leading us into the future and being the first you know female um city manager of of the great city of Sarasota.

Thank you.

Thank you, uh Commissioner Aaron Kotch, would you like to say something?

Sure.

Um I was you know impressed with all the candidates like the rest of us were, and um the process really was like a a sieve sort of you know uh you you they had to go through this rigorous process, whether it was the trolley tour or the staff, the one-on-ones with us up here, um and all of those elements played into shaping, you know, I think our our final decision.

She was the common denominator um in all the different groups and in all the different processes, and uh that gives me a lot of confidence that people in the community were looking at her and gave me feedback saying she um I thought that you know she would fit in well with staff, and I heard that from community members, viewing her in her role and how she would fit in with our city staff.

And I had staff talking about her and how she would fit in with the commission and how she would fit in with the community.

They you could clearly see that people were looking at this not from me, myself, and I, but from us as a community.

And that's what gives me confidence that you know, a lot of the um the points that we were given earlier in public comment about strong, transparent, um shifting culture, integrity, balance, budget vision.

Um people saw that from different angles and and and looked at this process, and she was she was the one that rose to the top.

Um so they're all great candidates, and it was really rigorous and robust.

And I'm I'm confident that she's going to do a great job.

Great, great.

And you know, I am fully supportive.

I came in here today with the attitude of whichever of my top two got nominated, I would wholeheartedly support.

But I did want to uh give Commissioner Ahern Koch uh a little bit of, I hope, uh feeling more confident.

Um somebody mentioned to me during the visit that this search has made national news.

So it's not just this area knows that we're searching for a city manager.

It was spread out nationally, and as a result, I did get a communication from someone who had worked with one of our finalists.

They reached out to me.

So if there was something that was really meaty that we should know about Ms.

Fryling, it likely would have been would have come to us.

And nobody that worked with her had anything critical to reach out to us with.

So I think just on that, we shouldn't have any worries that you know she was inadequately vetted by the people who worked with her.

So I am so thrilled that we've gotten to this point, and I think it's time for vote on it.

Sure.

My motion and I'll vote.

And it passed unanimously.

We are have selected Carrie Fryer, and that's our name.

Welcome to the Teradome.

Did you ever think this quickly?

Not as quickly.

And we do have another item on our agenda.

Mayor before we move forward.

Yeah, congratulations, uh Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Commissioner.

Uh excellent choice.

If you uh would like to make a motion to authorize me to work directly with the candidate to negotiate a city manager employment agreement, including compensation and standard terms that bring that back to the commission for formal approval.

So moved.

Some moved.

Third move by Commissioner Batti, seconded by Commissioner Alpert to so authorize the city attorney.

Thank you.

And it passed unanimously.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Well, thank you all.

Okay.

So we never thought we'd be done so quickly.

I want to have faith.

I swear I did.

So are we ready to move on to our next agenda item?

I think we're ready.

Okay.

Which is Mr.

Bullock is leaving us as our interim city manager.

We will need a new interim city manager until the new permanent city manager is seated.

So today we have uh an employment agreement to execute between the city and Jennifer Jorgensen.

Mayor.

I'm sorry, I'm going to interrupt.

Before you move on, did we want to thank Warren and if he wanted to say anything real quick before we kind of good idea?

Warren, do you have anything you want to?

We left you hanging there.

Yeah, you probably know.

No, I'm uh I'm glad that uh we had a good process and the great candidates.

And I would echo also that the uh commission certainly uh did a wonderful job of of looking at this from the long-term best interests of the uh community.

And that's the way I felt y'all were um thinking about this the whole way, which is unique uh amongst elected officials, and y'all have been a pleasure to work with.

We will complete the background check uh elements that still remain and work with Joe on uh helping out with the agreement and uh you know anything else that we can do to be helpful, we'd be happy to, and we've really enjoyed working with y'all.

Thank you, Warren.

Thank you, thank you.

Thank you, Warren.

Okay.

So sorry.

So sorry, no, that's fine.

So um, how do we want to handle this?

Do we need a presentation or I would say for the Jennifer Jorgensen item?

Yes.

Yes.

So I mean I can give a quick quick introduction, and this Ms.

Jorgensen is here.

I I would invite her down.

I don't know if the mayor would like to invite her down.

If you'd like to come down, please please considering you will be occupying the seat shortly.

Dave will gladly go on the state.

We do have a uh agreement before you that's obviously in in the record that um uh my office drafted and we met with uh Ms.

Jorgensen and just discussed the agreement.

I believe it's acceptable to her.

The only little question is I tried to get Dave to stay until midnight March 6th, but uh I don't know if he's willing to do that or not, so we may have to change the start time to uh earlier on on March 6th.

Well, the realities are um when an employee leaves, there are things that have to be done, limitations of access, city property return, etc.

etc.

It would be much better if that were done at five o'clock at night when the staff is here, the IT folks can take care of what they have to take care of.

And um it just seems more practical, and I can hand the pile of stuff in the desk off to Jennifer at 5 o'clock.

So I can just make that simple adjustment to the contract before you that interim city manager Jorgensen's uh appointment will be effective at 5 o'clock on March 6th.

Did you want it at 5 o'clock or 501?

501, I guess.

Yeah.

Um any questions for anyone?

No.

Um I have a question.

So do you have his phone number?

I will get it from him.

Okay, good.

Okay, good.

Anything else?

Is it I I see Commissioner Ahern Kotch is reading, goes, otherwise I would ask for a motion.

No, I I did not get a chance to read this before the meeting, so I'm yeah, looking through it now and there some type of typo?

I did find the employee.

Yes, wow, that that fast employee, yes.

I I apologize.

Maybe some Oxford commas missing in there too.

That too.

No, Commissioner Alpert would have found the Oxford comments.

We'll get that correctly.

Yes, you'll get those.

So I guess we're gonna kill a little bit of time while Commissioner Ahern Koch uh finishes reading.

But did you have anything you wanted to say at this point?

Um Jennifer Jorgensen, Director of Governmental Affairs.

Um thank you all.

I really just wanna say thank you for um your trust in me to take on this role from a temporary position.

Um I can't thank you enough for that, and I will continue to try to fill Dave's shoes, which are very large shoes to fill.

Um but with the help, I'll I'll need all the help of the directors to do this, and I'm looking forward to that.

Looking forward to working with all of the staff um to fill this position.

A huge thank you to Dave Bullock for all of his help um and also to Pat Robinson.

I will also definitely need Pat's help through this as well.

But I am you know where my office is.

But again, I I feel ready to do this and and prepared from all of the great people that I've been able to work with until now.

So thank you all very much.

Well, uh I know we're all happy that you have agreed to take on this task, and also understand that when the city manager interim position first came up, was it a year and a half ago, that you didn't feel ready at that point, but so that's the benefit of this long retracted excursion that you know you are ready to try and and help the city in this way.

So appreciate that.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um so at the beginning of this process when the commission put on the brakes and reset.

I felt that there was strength, that we had a new strength as a commission.

And now as we made the decision to go forward with Ms.

Fryling as their next permanent city manager, I felt staff and community coming with us.

I felt like it was our decision as a community.

And so I want you to know that we're all here for you when you're the interim.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

I appreciate that.

I usually talk a lot longer, Commissioner Hearn Coach, so I'm apologize.

She appears to be on the last page.

I am.

And and just to add, uh, you know, this agreement will be effective up to the start date, whenever that is, we don't know yet of the new city manager.

So we left it open-ended to their start date.

I have sure.

I have a comment, and it's and it's not on this, you know, since I'm I'm wholeheartedly behind uh um Ms.

Jorgensen uh filling in, but as the interim.

But I just I I didn't say this in my comments earlier, but I wanted to say to to Joe and Sheila.

Um at first when I heard about like all the things is like we're gonna do one-on-ones, then they're gonna have a community meeting, then we're gonna talk, then they're gonna have to come answer qu it's like it's way too much.

But I have to tell you it was perfect.

I mean, it was absolutely the process that I think helped all of us to um to a conclusion because like everyone else, my choices went up and and down, and each thing was okay, how did they relate to us?

How did they relate to us?

How did they relate to the community?

And how did they do in front of the entire commission, which they would have to, you know, the all of those things they would have to be able to get through and do a good job of.

So I I think the process really really worked well, and thank you for um facilitating that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Commissioner Ahern Catch.

Done.

Just Scriveners.

All good with it.

All right.

Okay.

So can I have a motion to what was the recommended?

Execute the employment agreement between the City of Sarasota and Jennifer Jorges and so moved.

Second city manager.

Okay.

Move by Commissioner Afford, seconded by the uh Vice Mayor to approve it with the change to 501 PM.

PM on March 6th.

Okay.

Any discussion?

No.

Okay.

So it was unanimously approved.

Thank you all.

And does that mean we have the next rest of the day off?

It's Friday.

Or something else on other matters.

Make sure we don't have any other matters.

Other matters, right?

Any anyway.

Oh, Mr.

Bullock has one.

Just one item, Mayor and Commissioners.

I want to make sure you understood in this busy time, you received a memo uh from uh Nick Patell informing you that due to the partial federal government shutdown translate to not funding Department of Homeland Security.

One of the downstream effects of that is FEMA reimbursement processes have stopped.

Now let alone the money, but the process is equally important to the money.

So what we found is if we continue to work, and you know we have construction going on right now on uh several of our parks.

If we continue to do that work, the we may become ineligible for future reimbursement of that work.

So in a to be um staff, we made the decision to pause that work until this could you at least understood what we were doing, could make a decision.

I just want you to know that includes Bayfront Park, Sabrita Pier, Bird Key Park, Nora Patterson Bay Island Park, which is the north side of the uh bridge, Indian Beach Park, Whitaker Park and Pier, and El Reswern Park.

So not all of those are active right now, but they're all projects that are in various stages of moving to construction.

And uh without the FEMA authorizations, as we go, we jeopardize reimbursement.

So we've had uh extensive discussions with our contractor, they have agreed to pause uh uh right now.

Um there may be a demobilization and a remobilization cost from them that this is this all happened on Wednesday, so we're still talking they are gonna finish some work at the on the north side of Nora Patterson Park because we need to secure that.

The seawall is gone and we don't want an extensive erosion there.

But I want so this has been a staff decision.

We have paused the work.

Um we have no idea whether FEMA will be back up and running tomorrow or how how they're gonna do this.

Um every month we'll a staff will give you an update of where we are, what we know, but do know that at any point in time, you, the commission can direct us to work on all or one or any of the parks and to get that started again, even if it does jeopardize reimbursement.

And recall when we did our budget last year, we anticipated no FEMA reimbursement.

Uh but we've done everything to stay in their queue.

Um so yes, we can move ahead.

Yes, we do have the money.

What we're jeopardizing is the possibility of reimbursement for that work.

Commissioner Aheron Couch has a question.

Um we know the amount that we're talking about number one and individually for the parks, and then my other question has to do with um Whitaker Gateway Park.

That is in the TIFF district for the Bay Park.

Um is that a park that we could use TIFF funds to finish so that that one gets finished?

Well, again, it it isn't the funds.

We have actually um allocated all the funds from our surtex to uh fund the entire project.

And Mr.

Battel can tell us what that total or or uh the breakdown is.

So the funding isn't the issue, it's the ability to get reimbursed from for those funds.

Right.

Could we find out for Whitaker Park since it's the one to take it out of the CERT tax and fund it with TIFF funds to get to move that one along and not get reimbursed just to get that park finished?

Well, you you could.

You could fund it from any source you want.

Um you could tell us to move ahead with it and we would pay for it you know at a surtext right now, and then if you wanted to switch, we could uh explore that, because there are some limitations on the use of the TIFF.

Um but again, it's not the money that's the question jeopardizing the reimbursement.

I I understand that.

I'm just trying to pull this one out to see what that would look like.

So the cost of Whitaker Park is about uh 1.62 million?

So you know that's that if we if we did proceed, that's what the risk would be.

All right, scrap that idea.

Unless somebody else wants to do that, I say scrap that idea.

No, I think it's a good idea to scrap that idea.

Yeah, I did not know the significance of that.

Okay.

Yeah, before I I have a question before you give your um talking about, because I wanted to know the financial implications, and you know, you did indicate that the contractors would have probably a charge to pause and then a charge to resume.

Could those charges be added to the bill that we send to FEMA?

So and that's a great question.

We'll we'll need to explore that.

There is a lot we don't know, even about the pause.

Um what um Rachel Engel, our very excellent um emergency manager, uh, has good close relations with FEMA.

We'll try to unpack all of that stuff here in the coming days.

And I think what would be good is if we now generate a memo to you which uh delineates each park, how much we expect it to um uh spend, and if we know any demobilization costs, we can uh explain that in the in the memo as well.

So and and and timetable.

I well, I mean my sort of understanding is this is part and parcel of the partial government shutdown.

Yes.

Which could end in days or weeks.

But then the other side of the coin is we really don't know if FEMA is just going to abandon its original mission and not do reimbursements.

Correct.

I I would say that at this point in time the rumors um are whatever you would like them, whichever one you want to listen to, you can find one you like or don't like, depending on your goal there.

This is obviously, as you all know, a highly politically charged situation in Washington.

I don't have any clue when it could uh be resolved.

I don't think we can look at uh previous government shutdowns as a as a model here.

We're dealing with the uh unique situation.

I don't think we've ever come across the time when an individual federal department has been specifically not funded.

So here we stand sort of with the shovel in hand, we're gonna stick the shovel in the ground and wait.

If at some point the imperative to get the work done, it's a policy decision by the commission, we're prepared to remobilize the contractor and start again.

And and also um Mr.

Robinson had something, so I don't know if you want to go before Mr.

Robinson.

Just very quickly, we'll make sure that we provide an update on the status uh overreaching every month.

So and if something changes between the month on the off meeting, we will update you immediately there.

And we anticipate two to three months.

If they do demobilize, it will take two to three months to remobilize to get back into it.

So when we looked at historically how long these things last, it could be anywhere from two weeks to a month and a half to two months.

So it could be up to five months from the time that we shut down to the time that we see that work start again.

But again, we're talking about Nick, what was the total aggregate dollar amount?

Um roughly about eight million dollars.

So it is not um it's not pennies on the dollar.

So we will absolutely keep you updated as Mr.

Bullock said.

Um this is a policy decision, and I would anticipate I got two emails about uh Hart's landing yesterday.

People are going to be asking you know what's going on, and you know, you can only tell them, hey, this is the Federal Government only so much.

So whenever we're ready to make that decision, we will have that that rolling update.

And like I said, if anything changes between those two updates, we will update you immediately.

Commissioner Hurricack.

Aside from the Nora Patterson Park on the north side with the seawall missing, are there any other consequences to us you know demobilizing that would impact the um uh restoration of the parks?

Nick, you should handle that.

Yeah, so um we're just we're just safing up and shoring up the projects.

And at this point we're just monitoring it.

And I think especially when we get into rainy season, we're just gonna be monitoring a weekly basis to make sure everything is shored up at this point.

Mr.

Patel, are there any safety issues outside of Patter nor Patterson Park that need to be addressed immediately?

No, not at the same time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That was a good question and a good answer.

With the demobilization and remobilization, uh, could these contractors get involved in other projects in other places and then say, oh, we're in the middle of a one-year project, we can't drop what we're doing to come to you.

Um absolutely.

I mean, the contractor, based on the workload and all that aspect, can potentially delay mobilizing back to the project.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else have anything to add?

Oh, Mr.

Robinson.

Just under comments or under this particular item.

Under comments.

No, I just wanted to um, you know, obviously we've talked about my inability with the with the sp specificity of my position not being able to step into the interim role, and I apologize for that.

But I would like to especially thank number one, Mr.

Bullock and Jennifer for stepping into that important role, and she will have our full faith and credit and all of our efforts behind her to ensure she's successful while she steps into that to ensure that all of our operations run smoothly while the time she's at the helm, and I give you my personal word that that will occur.

So thank you and uh look forward to working with you even closer, less than one door away now.

So thank you very much.

That's all I've got.

Thank you.

And anything from either of you?

I believe we have a shade meeting coming up.

Yeah.

We do next week.

And regular.

Right.

Monday is a regular and shade meeting on the winds.

Well, with that, I guess we're adjourned.