Welcome to the City of St.

Petersburg City Council meeting.

Your elected officials are Mayor Ken Welch.

District One and Council Chair Hopley Gurdis.

District 2, Brandy Gabbert.

District 3, Mike Harding.

District 4, and Council Vice Chair, Leseth Hanowitz.

District 5, Deborah Fig Sanders.

District 6, Gita Driscoll.

District 7, Corey Givens Jr.

And District 8, Richie Floyd.

Good afternoon.

We'll call to order the August 21st, 2025 City Council meeting to order.

If we could do a roll call, please.

Floyd.

Here.

Curtis.

Here.

Here.

Harding.

Here.

Hannah.

Here.

Fixing here.

Fiscal?

Here.

Gibbons.

Here.

Okay.

Thank you.

Uh today's invocation will be given by Pastor Clarence Williams of Greater Mount Zion AME Church.

And then please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Please join me in standing.

Mr.

Chair, members of the City Council, all of our members and constituents, let us pray.

Father, we're thankful and grateful yet again for that wonderful privilege of living in the United States of America.

Thank you for free speech for an elected government.

We're grateful for the members of this chamber for the constituents in which they serve.

We're grateful for our leadership.

We give you praise and thanks for this chamber for the work and the deliberations that will go here.

We are grateful for our individual members whose sweat equity and commitment have all together made our city better.

We give you praise and thanks for the city of St.

Petersburg.

We pray, oh God, that with your powerful hand that we will be able to establish your justice, not just here, but among nations and the world.

Amen.

And to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

Please be seated.

Pastor Williams, always good to see you, and thank you again so much for joining us this afternoon and giving us that beautiful invocation.

Okay, council members.

We have an agenda in front of us.

I'll entertain a motion for approval.

Second.

We have a motion and a second.

Seeing there's no other council members wishing to speak.

Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting?

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing as all present council members have voted, clerk, please tally and announce the vote.

Mr.

Chair, the motion to approve the agenda passes unanimously.

Okay, we've got a consent agenda.

Do we have any cards on consent?

Mr.

Chair, we do not.

Okay.

Council members, we have a consent agenda in front of us.

Move approval.

Second.

We've got a motion and a second.

Seeing as no other council members wishing to speak on consent.

Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting?

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing as all present council members have voted.

Clerk, please tally and announce the vote.

Mr.

Chair, the motion to pass the consent agenda passes unanimously.

Okay, we're gonna move into open forum.

Clerk, could you please read the rules?

If you wish to address city council on subjects other than public hearing or quasi-judicial items listed in the agenda, please sign up with the clerk.

Only the individual individual wishes to speak may sign the open form sheet.

Only city residents, owners of property, business owners in the city, or their employees may speak.

All issues discussed under open form must be limited to issues related to the city of St.

Petersburg government.

If you're speaking to an item on the agenda, you may only speak once during the open forum or when the item comes up on the agenda.

In order to provide an opportunity for all citizens to address council, each individual be given three minutes to speak, and after which the microphone will be muted.

If you wish to address city council through the Zoom meeting, you must use the raise hand feature button in the Zoom app or enter star nine on your phone at the time the agenda item is addressed.

When it is your turn to speak, you will be unmuted and asked to state your name and address.

At the conclusion of your comments, or when you have reached the three-minute time limit, you will be muted.

All raised hands will be lowered after each agenda item.

Regardless of the method of participation used, normal rules apply, including the three-minute time limit on comments.

The requirement that any presentation materials must be submitted in advance of the meeting and the rules of decorum.

If like if live public comment is disrupted by violations of the rules of decorum, the chair is authorized to accept public comments by alternate means, including by email only.

And Mr.

Chair, we do have some speakers.

Okay, let's call two at a time, please.

The two speakers.

First is Jan French and Heidi Stiller.

Please go to either podium, state your name and address for the record.

We'll have three minutes to address countries.

Good afternoon, Council.

I just have to say, in remembrance of Wally Dutcher, I want to appreciate this podium.

It's been a while since I've addressed City Council.

We need your name and your address, please.

Oh, sorry.

Uh Jen French, 1950, 43rd Street, North St.

Petersburg.

Thank you.

Sorry.

From being official.

We let you get away with the Wally doctors.

All right, thank you.

I can I get away from the Wally just.

I'm here today in front of you as a longtime resident of St.

Petersburg, in particularly a resident of Dustin Heights and the Harshaw neighborhood where we live.

As many of you know that we are at the high point in uh St.

Pete in St.

not only St.

Petersburg but also in Pinellas County.

Uh and we are actually in a non-evacuation zone, and we uh purposely bought in that neighborhood for that purpose.

Uh however, we do know that storm systems are a hot issue in this city, and we appreciate that there is a capital, uh a large capital system, our capital budget or capital improvement project that will be coming forward here soon, and I'm happy to be part of that project, or at least part of that conversation in the future.

However, I'm not here about that capital project, I'm here about maintenance.

So, as you might be familiar in that neighborhood on 22nd Avenue North and uh 43rd Street North, there's a series of lakes, and those lakes drain uh and help to keep the water off of the streets, and that system has worked for decades uh and it's worked very well.

However, in recent times, we have found with strong rains, our streets are flooding.

So, as we neighbors, as we went to go investigate that, we found that the drainage pipes between those lakes are clogged.

They're overgrown with debris, and in fact, over by 17th Avenue and 40th, you'll see where the Duke Energy project where they put in barriers.

Those barriers have now fallen into the creeks where the drainage is supposed to be, backing up the lakes and flooding our streets.

So I'm here today to please ask the city council to in the city to please do the maintenance on the systems that we have today.

Our neighbors have put in multiple complaints with multiple pitchers, and we have not had any response.

And I have to say, we can do all the capital improvements that we can do, but if we don't maintain the systems that we have, we are still doing damage to our residents.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Heidi Stiller, 4400 20th Avenue North, also the Harshaw neighborhood.

As a resident who now faces flood risk due to climate change, I appreciate everything the city is doing and wants to do to mitigate that risk.

But I and my neighbors need more information on when stormwater projects in our area can likely be completed, and we need the city to keep up with maintenance as Ms.

French just spoke to.

These two issues influence how we prep for storms, our insurance purchases, and ultimately if we should stay or go.

When we looked to buy a house 10 years ago, flood risk was a major consideration.

I worked for NOAA for over 20 years.

We only looked in X zones, well outside the worst case surge plus sea level rise.

However, we still bought flood insurance, even though we're in an X zone because there's a retention pond across the street.

Now climate change fueled increases and heavy precipitation events, both during hurricanes and the more frequent regular thunderstorms in our area mean risk has increased.

Last year, water came up our driveway during a regular thunderstorm, and then in Milton, the water came into our home.

We were very fortunate it was only a small amount of water that came inside.

I 110% understand that city's stormwater system wasn't designed for the rain events.

We're now experiencing it'll be very expensive to upgrade, and funding is going to be challenging, especially given the chaos and uncertainty surrounding federal funding under the current administration.

Turning to maintenance in recent rain events, as Jen mentioned, the retention pond rises and water enters the street much faster than it used to.

It's possible Milton caused new clogs, but the drains in the neighborhood are not being maintained.

In particular, the area around the Big Duke energy development on 17th has drains that are repeatedly clogged.

When we submit a C click fixed, the generic response back is that the city's working on a stormwater master plan with a multi-year implementation plan.

It's nice to get a response, but that doesn't help us plan.

We need to know if maintenance is going to happen and when, and we need to at least have an estimated timeline for bigger projects.

It appears stormwater work is planned for FY26 at Jorgensen Lake by the main library.

This might help where we are because all the lakes are connected.

Um I'd really that's a question for the city engineer.

Um, but it's only going to help if the maintenance is also occurring.

I don't see any additional elements of the project bundle for our area in the five-year capital improvement plan.

So does this mean we face that risk for five more years, 10?

Um, again, really appreciate what the city is working on in terms of planning.

The St.

Pete Agile Resilience Program is great, but I'd still love more information on when all the work in that Jacobs report might be able to happen.

Um, and I'd love maintenance to keep up.

I do wish we could make additional stormwater investments.

I appreciate the council members, Gabbard, Mr.

Floyd, who have advocated for additional investment.

I also understand affordability is a real challenge for many residents.

Um please keep communicating.

Thank you for all you're doing and please don't soft pedal the risk.

Residents need to know to inform our own important economic decisions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next two speakers.

Cassie Gonzalez and Melina Fuchanado.

Please go to either podium, fit your name and address for the record.

It's Casey Gonzalez, 1113154th Avenue North.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Casey Gonzalez, and I'm honored to stand before you as Mrs.

Black United States.

But more importantly, a lifelong lover of the Sunshine City.

My family moved here in 1995 when I was four years old, so my grandfather could pastor Cornerstone Community Church on 38th Avenue.

My brother and I grew up here, played sports, built our lives, attend school, and I'm blessed to raise my kids here and send them to the school that I attended.

But I also know what it's like to struggle with the high cost of electricity in this city.

Just six years ago, I was a single mom living on 4th Street month after month.

I had to call Duke to extend my due date because I was faced with a choice between buying groceries or keeping the lights on.

That's a choice that should never fall on any parent.

And I know I'm not alone.

Families across St.

Pete are living the same reality six years later.

Right now, there are elderly in St.

Pete who are living on fixed incomes, who are now paying $300 power bills that used to run 120, 150.

If they fall behind, their electricity is cut off, and then they're stuck in 98 degree weather with no power, no air conditioning, and it's not just uncomfortable, it's dangerous and can be deadly.

Waiting on Clearwater's feasibility study, in my opinion, makes no sense because Clearwater is not St.

Pete.

If you truly feel a study is needed, why not two studies?

A bigger sample size, a clearer picture, and a decision based on facts unique to our city.

I know what you're thinking.

The cost.

Let's talk about it.

When it comes to transparency, I've been compared to Doge for asking questions about the city's budget.

I laughed it off at the time, but it was hurtful to be compared to a program that most certainly does not have the people's interest in mind, when I most certainly do.

That kind of dismissal does not build trust.

The people of St.

Pete deserve honesty about how their money is spent, especially when millions of dollars from hurricane damage have been passed on to consumers, while Duke spends untold sums on ads trying to convince us that they care.

A publicly owned utility would have one priority, serving the people, not their shareholders.

Council members, you were elected to make things happen.

Yes, this is difficult, but nothing worth having is easy.

And the people of St.

Pete are worth it.

I urge you to dump Duke and stand with the people you represent.

Thank you.

Sorry.

All right, I think that's enough.

Melina Fortunato, 6521 22nd Street, South, Apartment 499, St.

Petersburg, Florida, 33712.

I am a district five resident.

I am here speaking.

I am here as a resident that is all for a public option and against the renewal of the Duke contract in 2026.

The reasons, uh, before I get into the reasons being, um, I would like to say that I think that St.

Pete should have its own feasibility study when, and that um the amount of money that is invested into that should not be a hindrance given that we are looking the reason why I live in this city as opposed to any other city in Florida is because this is a city that looks at a few things.

The future looks at sustainability, and and it's a values-based city.

And I'm here to represent as a resident that um one of one of my and one of many of my uh fellow constituents' core values are sustainability.

Um, first and foremost, Duke is not a company that is focused on sustainability.

They are not a future focused company, and this city can do better.

They can absolutely do better.

We can do better than a company that is stuck in the past and stuck on just lining the pockets of shareholders who need their money now.

And so, given that sustainability is a main value that a public option would squarely support.

Um, we would be looking at things like renewable energy options at solar, things that Duke is vehemently against.

Um the second reason why, not just sustainability, but we're gonna hear a lot about cost.

We're gonna hear about real people whose energy bills are going up.

We're gonna hear about real people who cannot afford uh the service that Duke is providing, and unfortunately providing shoddily, not giving enough notice when it comes to outages, overcharging, and not working with people with working class people that have everyday issues.

So, cost for our residents um I believe would offset any investment that um a feasibility study uh would require.

And the third would also so we're looking at and reliability, which I just mentioned.

Umke is not a rebu reliable company.

We have the power to take things into our own hands, and there is precedent for this.

Um it is not unprecedented that do that a uh public uh option um in Florida happens, that where where the city itself takes it, takes it upon themselves to give its constituents um a better option.

Duke is not the only option, and given that their contract is coming up, they need to be aware that it is that this is not their only option.

And um, and the city that I was referencing is Winter Park.

Thank you.

Next two speakers.

Next two speakers is Dale Dylan Dames and Robert Curry.

Go to either podium, state your name address for the record.

You'll have three minutes to address council.

Hi, council.

My name is Dylan Dames, and I live at 4546 Fifth Avenue North.

On behalf of the Faith in Florida Pinellas chapter, I would like to urge council to advance a request for a proposal for feasibility study on public energy in St.

Pete.

I live on Fifth Ave in Central Oak Park, which is rumored to be the highest ridge in the city.

And when my wife and I moved in, um, you know, our landlord told us that that meant that we were invulnerable to flooding.

Um anyone that's been in a three-mile radius of that era or has ever lived in District 7 or 8 knows that that is not true.

Um what worries me more about power outages from floods isn't that we're gonna lose power, but the communication and transparency alongside those power outages.

Milton was a nightmare.

We had so much water enter our house in the highest ridge in the city, and our estimated return of power changed three times on Duke's website.

Um I actually had to do a double evacuation.

I came back to St.

Pete uh with my dog, and then I had to go back to Tampa with my dog because they kept lying about when the power would come back on.

Um Councilmember Givens, as your constituent, I'm very grateful that you shared with coalition partners and I that you would support a feasibility study that would move us closer to public control of our energy.

And I'm grateful that this item is being considered in general today because it is old news that the private sector will never choose us.

Every challenge that you will face under a shifting national and state administration that I've heard you talk about in committee is because of profit-seeking actors in our government.

And honestly, everything that you'll ever hear me talk about from this podium is because of profit-seeking actors in our government.

And the truth is we don't need to wrestle corporations and investors into better behavior because they are not dysfunctional.

They are working exactly how they are supposed to work, and they have different goals than a city government.

Um I think your pursuits are different.

It's responsibility and governance and care for the people.

And I think we get there by increasing the public voice, increasing public control across things like energy, but also things like housing and governance.

And I just think that we need to move in the direction of anything that'll give residents more of a say.

And you know, no one no one here is clairvoyant.

We don't know what's gonna happen.

We don't know what kind of proposals will come or how much money it'll cost.

But to vote no on something that costs nothing signals to residents that you're not even going to bother and try and increase their public voice.

So that's what I'll share for today.

First time off script.

Thank y'all um for letting me speak.

Thank you.

Hello, I'm Robert Curry.

I live at three uh 3100 Central Avenue Apartment 3 through 2.

I just moved there recently into District 7.

And I want to speak about uh the uh Duke Energy thing that's coming up later.

I I don't have a script to go off, so I'm just gonna talk.

And I think it's it's incumbent.

I electric bills have been going up.

My family, my sister, my mother, I've seen their electric bills go up, I've seen my bills go up, my neighbors have experienced the same thing.

And what are we getting for it?

We're basically taking money out of individuals and businesses here in St.

Pete and sending a tribute to the shareholders of Duke Energy.

That's money that's leaving our community and not benefiting ourselves and our neighbors, the people who need it the most.

So I really hope that you consider voting yes later on the uh proposition to study replacing Duke Energy with a public utility, because that's something we need to know.

And your constituents deserve to know that you've done everything that you can to help them in the face of rising electric costs.

Because why else are you here?

And I'll keep it short.

That's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next two speakers is Chris Steinacher and William Kilgore.

Please state your name as for the record, please.

All three minutes to the best counsel good afternoon.

I'm Chris Steinacker, president and CEO of the St.

Petersburg Chamber of Commerce, 1002nd Avenue North 33701.

Uh, thank you all for your leadership and your commitment to our community.

I I came here to talk about the Mahaffey presentation and the the rowdies about the private sector and their investments in our community and good heroes in our community.

And then I got caught up in all the conversation that's happening now about Duke as well.

And it appears to me, I just want to bring an observation from the Chamber of Commerce.

You need the private sector in your community, and you need them to do well.

Because that's where the jobs come from in your community as well.

Um currently in St.

Pete, the cost of living is 97% the national average.

I didn't make that up.

That's on every website.

Go look at it right now.

So there is an issue here, and it's not that things are costing more, they're costing more everywhere in the world, everywhere in this country.

What we're trying to do is raise wages.

And so some of this uh uh talk about that, hey, a city can take care of itself.

No, they need private sector people in our community that that pay the wages.

So what I'm here to mostly talk about is how we take care of our private sector partners, because they've got their own money into it and they need some assurances and and and care as well.

I'm proud that we have on the agenda today to to get the rowdies uh a one-year agreement.

I think we need to make sure that we take care of our rowdies and mahaffee and let them know we care and we want them here and we want their investment here, and we need their jobs here.

They do a lot for our community that's not on the field.

As far as Mahaffey, um, I'm here to speak on behalf of one of uh my board member Bill Maha Bill Edwards.

He has done more in this community for anybody and everybody than anyone else that's here right today.

And I say that assuringly, knowing just how many investments he's made for everything good in this community, from all children's hospital to uh signage for our community to care for anybody who asks.

So um, I think all he's asking for is some uh support for what he's doing.

He's putting good money in the Mahaffey Theater right now to keep us afloat and to keep the water out.

He just wants to make sure he understands it.

Uh, we have something called our waterfront uh committee, uh he's part of that.

Uh he, along with all the partners, the rowdies, um the the uh Grand Prix and the Dali and the airport all sit together and we talk about how we can work together.

We do want you all to investigate looking at the entire what that uh uh arts arts center as one place.

We do want to look at what Al Lang means to us in the future.

So as you get these new reports, we want to see the whole thing again, and we're confused why we're not.

So to me, today's presentation from the Mahaffey and the Rowdies and Duke is all about the private sector and how we're gonna take care of each other.

The uh the private sector is not asking for anything but uh a certainty in their relationship with your community, and they will perform and hold them to that, and if they're not, then we'd have some issues.

But I I think that it it's wrong to make uh people feel like they're doing something wrong just for doing their jobs in this community.

I think that was mentioned.

There are better ways, but I I really believe today is about.

Let's take care of those who've got us here and have invested their own resources and and because we don't have them enough as a city.

Your budget shows me that.

Thank you.

Hey, thanks, Chair.

Uh William Kilgore, uh 2550 uh 28th Avenue North, uh, and uh with the St.

Pete Tenants Union.

Um here today.

You may have uh heard us uh earlier.

Um you know, talking about the Morgan apartments.

Uh I know that there's a lot of things happening right now.

There is I one of the reporters said there's a press statement about that they had made a payment or something like that.

I don't I don't know.

I can't confirm any of that.

Um regardless, uh, you know, I still wanted to speak on what is uh you know the city's response to this whole thing.

Uh and and that it was wrong.

Uh, you know, the way uh uh it was responded, you know, because the landlord is taking tenants' money uh for utilities and not paying it, and then the city is effectively you know, punishing the tenants by saying we're gonna turn off the water.

Um, you know, and that is uh, you know, and then you know, telling them, you know, hey, you know, you should find somewhere else uh to live.

Uh it's not that easy to just pick up and move.

I think most people are struggling just to get by uh just through the end of the month, uh let alone you know pick up and put down a deposit on a new place and move.

Uh, you know, and it kind of it makes the city look complicit and you know, this you know, whole thing when they really shouldn't be the city shouldn't be a villain.

We don't I don't want to see the city as a villain because we supported our private sector and we want to see the expansion of our our our our our private sector public sector um you know and we want to see an expansion of our public sector uh you know, and so uh we're obligated to call it out.

I think it's interesting here when we're talking about the Duke Energy stuff because we're having in there's an issue with the utility stuff.

Uh, you know, that's a city uh enterprise.

And you know, here we are.

We have elected officials who we can hold accountable and we can come face to face.

You know, we don't vote for Duke.

We don't vote for uh this landlord at the Morgan uh uh Lorin, another uh fine uh private sector individual uh here, another wonderful private sector, uh, you know, who's who's doing this to tenants and not just with the utilities, but that whole building is run down, storm damage, mold, all kinds of things you can't even imagine.

Uh and it's not the only place like that.

That's the majority of these big corporate landlords who own these buildings, uh, places like the Morgan Osprey Point, all those places down there.

Uh, you know, and so somebody like that, the landlord belongs in jail, uh, frankly.

Um, you know, so uh I I think it's an opportunity though for the city has an opportunity to endear itself to the people and you know, to actually do the right thing and to like look at this and like how do we respond to this next time?

Because next time it could be an apartment building uh where any of us live, you know, that is having this same issue.

Uh, you know, and so how how can the city respond?

How can the city hold these landlords accountable and hold these bad private sector individuals accountable?

Uh, you know, so anyway, thank you very much.

I appreciate your time.

Thank you.

No other speakers.

No more speakers.

Okay, we're gonna close open forum and move into new ordinances.

We've got E1 and we've got Rich Lesniak joining us.

But Clerk, would you please read the ordinance?

Proposed ordinance number 618-H and ordinance in accordance with section 1.02 C5B, Charter of the City of St.

Petersburg, Florida, authorizing the execution of this restrictions and assurances regarding airport availability required as a condition of acceptance of a federal aviation administration grant in the in an amount not to exceed 95% of the total cost for the construction phase of the rehab airfield vault project for Albert Wood Airport, 19235, estimated to be 1,163 million dollars FAA grant upon the city being awarded such grant, authorizing the mayor or his designee to accept the FAA grant upon the city being awarded such grant, authorizing the mayor or his designee to execute odd documents necessary to effectuate this ordinance, providing an effective date and providing for expiration.

And the public hearing for this item is September the 4th, and we do not have any clocks.

Okay.

Second.

We have a motion and a second on E1.

Seeing there's no other council members wishing to speak, Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting?

Council members, please any of your votes.

Seeing as all present council members have voted, clerk please tell you and announce the vote.

Mr.

Chair, the motion to approve agenda item E1 passes unanimously.

Okay, thank you.

All right, we're gonna move into reports.

And we've got F1, we've got our quarterly St.

Pete Police Department quarterly report.

Chief Holloway, welcome.

Good afternoon, Chair, Councilmember.

Thank you very much for allowing me here to be here with you this morning, this afternoon.

Uh to make sure I've done it like three times already today, Chief.

Don't you worry about it.

Thinking it's still morning.

So this quarterly report is going to cover from April, May, and June.

So, first of all, I'll tell you overall crime is down by 16% in the in the city.

Violent crime is down by 27%, and property crime is down by 13%.

So homicides for this quarter, as you can see, we had three compared to seven uh from last quarter.

I mean, from last year of those three, three two were by uh uh firearms, one was by a knife, the two by firearms were drug related, and the one by knife will self-defense year to date homicides in the city down by 20 percent.

And our grit team unit that's the unit responds to any time shots are fired, they relocate any shell casing.

As you can see, last year we had a hundred cases, this year we only have 48.

So that means that the ulcers and the community is still doing a great job, and we're seeing some of our shootings are decreasing.

Our stolen guns, as you say, we we keep getting better, and we had these highs and lows uh for this quarter.

We had 67 guns that were reported stolen, 55 out of vehicles.

Like to remind everybody again, please lock your cars, please take your guns out of your cars.

And we say that over and over again.

The 19 guns that were recovered, two were recovered uh local stolen elsewhere, the other 17 were recovered local, stolen local.

But I also want to say on the high note of that, we had 53 guns that were turned into us by the community, so that still is working, and 32 guns were found.

Now, robberies for this uh compared to last year, robberies are down by 27 percent, burglaries are down by 8%, and auto thefts are down by 25 percent.

Arrests reflect uh our our crime rate going down, so as you can see, compared to last year, this year.

Traffic, we are doing a lot of traffic enforcement out there, and we continue to do it.

If you follow us on our Facebook page, you can see we have several operations throughout the month.

Even though we tell people where we're going to be, we still write over 250 tickets at that location.

So I want to commend our men and women that are out there enforcing traffic.

The new one you see that are no wake zone.

I like to thank Councilmember Galbert for bringing that and getting it affected.

And that is the new slide that we put up, and that is when we have a storm and the streets are flooded.

The citizens can call in.

We will have the officers respond to that location, and if people are creating wakes, uh we'll give them a warning.

The second time out, we'll give them a ticket to let them know they shouldn't be doing that in our city.

And also the fines are posted there.

So thank you, councilmember, for that.

Our second chance program is still going very strong.

Uh, we have other agencies throughout the nation has called us asking us about that.

Again, there's no one can say they've never done anything wrong, and this is why we try to turn our children around in our community.

Our home initiative again, we still go after the kids that are committing crimes again for the radar, those are kids that have been convicted of one felony intense supervision.

Those are the kids that have been convicted of five felonies.

Basically, the court puts an order out there, and then we make sure we monitor them 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Our PATH program, as we talk about this all the time, we cannot arrest our way out of the situation.

And I want to say the PAF team not only does our downtown quarter, but they do this citywide.

I think a lot of times people get confused when you see that 667 contacts.

That is not 667 people that are in our community.

Those are also that are out there that are making contact over and over again.

And our downtown community, we I have them now doing an unofficial count, and we have somewhere between 40 to 50 people that are in our downtown quarter.

But again, the PAF team is making contact with those individuals every day.

I also want to give credit where credit is due.

Amy's foster team is out there also making contact with these people every day.

We have a call team out there making contact with people.

We also have St.

Anthony's Hospital that has a nurse practitioner that arrives every week with our officers to make sure we can bring medicine to our homeless situation.

So we have more services here in St.

Pete in Pinelo County than anywhere in the state.

And I'm only saying that because our clients that are out there are telling us we have more services here in Pinellas County than anywhere else.

The Eagle Eye program, we had an additional 15 people sign up for this period.

Our use of force stays about the same.

Our complaint, as you can see, zero complaints.

So that so, in reference to you saw the numbers of use of force we use, but we had no complaints of use of force during this quarter.

Our call program, which is our signature program, we not only myself and Megan McGee, we go out through the United States.

I've gone to Canada to talk about this call program because how efficient it is.

And as you can see, the numbers are going up.

You can see the zip code that we're responding to.

And the number that I always like to highlight is what we talk about when we go out through the nation.

97% of the calls that the uh navigators go on is without police.

They're helping the people navigate their way through a situation that is not criminally related.

And again, the bottom pot is zero incidents.

We also the mayor also took the team out and they walked around downtown to assist.

You can see they also won an award this year for two thousand, they got another additional two thousand dollars.

This initiative I like to call this is the the mayor's signature program that he started, but also council approved this budget.

And again, myself and Megan McGee, we're going throughout the nation, and people are coming here and talking about the program.

How we're doing three things how we're preventing crime, how we're diverting crime, and then how we're making arrests.

And as you can see, 75% of the kids that are going through what the program the mayor started have not re-offended.

That means we're getting in front of the situation, we're helping these kids and helping their parents.

The biggest thing I'd like to see is a lot of these single parents cannot pay for certain things, and we pay for that.

You see all the teams that are there.

You need a helmet, whatever you need.

This organization, CFY is taking care of that.

Pal, we still have Pal that's pretty strong and our conservative.

Also, not everybody's an athlete, so there's other programs that we get kids involved in, and also reading.

So this program is going quite well, quite strong.

Again, council voted for this, the community voted to send us dollars to this program, and this was the mayor's big initiative for us.

So with that, I'll open up for any questions.

Okay.

Quickly, Chief, I just have one clarifying question on the crime offenses before we go to council members.

Because I I heard you talk about the stats down on this page over robbery, burglary, and motor theft.

And I think the only way that would be the case is if you took the ones off of burglary breakering and thing in 2025.

There's hundred, there's 120, 136 compared to 41, 120 compared to 43, 129.

I I gotta believe there was a one added there.

And and California for this is our UCR is the number added there.

This is for UCR for the whole year.

I'm only giving you a snapshot for the quarter, but when I'm talking about those 20 and 19%, that's from January now until through the year.

Yes, sir.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thanks for the clarification.

That was that was that was the one thing that jumped out of me that I I wanted to just make sure we touched on real quick.

Okay.

Thank you for helping clarify that.

Thank you.

Council Member Givens.

Thank you so much, Chair, and thank you, Chief Holloway, for being with us today.

Always good to see you.

And uh I just wanted to celebrate you all.

You know, oftentimes we hear what you're not doing, so I want to commend you for what you are doing.

Uh I've had an opportunity in my first eight months in office to go out there and to do at least I think four park walk and talks now.

Um we haven't done it as many this summer because it's been hot, but I'm looking forward to those cooler months.

Uh so I just wanted to shout out Officer Bletch, Officer Goforth, uh Sergeant Matthews for their hard work and their boots on the ground strategy.

Um, not only when we were out there, but even behind the scenes, they've been contacting me, calling me when they come in contact with young people who may be looking for opportunities to engage in some of our youth programs.

So the last report we mentioned some of those programs, so I want you to know we've been doing a great job working together because I think collaboration is what it's all about.

So I just want to commend you for your leadership and thank each of them uh for a job well done with these park walk and talks.

So thank you for that.

Thank you, sir.

Of course, and then also job well done um with addressing the issue of homelessness.

Um, I know it's not something that law enforcement is tasked with.

That's not necessarily your job.

Um, but you all have been great partners in addressing that issue and finding some plausible, tangible solutions.

Um, so 667 contacts.

Um, I think that's really good.

Um, I think the PATH team is doing a great job.

I commend them also, but I I want to understand a little bit more about what exactly they're doing when it comes to the process.

Um, so are they doing outreach and engagement with referrals?

So you are referring out if they need housing or treatment.

Are you doing any of that at all?

Yes, sir.

They're doing all of it.

When they're out there and Sergeant Hancock and his team, they do a great job.

When they're out there talking to that unhouse situation, they're asking, do you need food?

Do you need shelter?

What do you need?

Because we've again we have all the services there.

It's not just a path team.

You got Amy Falls and her team, Helen in April.

Uh you got again nurse practitioners.

So when we're out there, those officers are bringing a service to that unhoused or homeless individual.

We're not out there to make that arrest.

What can I do to help you?

What can I do to bring you to services?

So those officers come with all those referrals, and then as you can see, then they can take these uh individuals to these locations.

If you if you want something, we're we've got things in place that we will try to get that for you, or we will try to connect you to the right service.

Thank you for that, Chief.

And I just wanted you to be on record saying that because I've gotten calls even this morning uh from leaders in Tallahassee telling us how we should handle our problems here at home.

Uh and I think we're doing a great job at handling those problems and mitigating the situation with our unhouse.

Um, you mentioned them, our social services department, Ms.

Foster, her team, Dr.

Slaker, uh Helen.

I think they're doing an awesome job, but we can do more with the right funds, right?

Um, this is more of a question for administration.

But how how much um does the social action department get to help with homelessness?

Because that doesn't have anything to do with the police department's budget, correct?

Councilmember, though that's budgeted in multiple different areas.

We'd have to put that together for you, and we can give a total to city council.

Gotcha.

Okay, I look forward to seeing that because in our conversation that we had this week, we we discussed that, right?

Then being able to do more with more funds.

So as we go into the budget season, I just want to be cognizant of the fact that you know they've kind of been sitting in the same place for the last few years when it comes to funds, and I think they could do more uh with the right amount.

And uh, I don't know if Administrator Foster wanted to comment on that, but I just saw her walk in.

Uh, but we were talking about our unhoused, and I would just commending your department and asking about funding where you all have been the last few budget years and where we're going next year.

Is that enough to address the issue?

Thank you for the question, Councilmember.

Um, the amount for social action funding specifically, which is what goes to other organizations to assist the homeless, has been 700,000 for a few years.

I think um a few years prior to that, it maybe was 500,000.

But as Administrator Gurdis already mentioned, that is one funding source, right?

You have a number of what I'm gonna call legacy funding contracts that um go into that as well.

Um so you know, we have 150,000 for the day center at St.

Vincent of Paul.

We provide funding to Safe Harbor, we provide funding to Pinellas Hope.

You increase that last year to allow us to add 25 beds in preparation for the state law to change.

Um, there's money for neighborly home network for seniors for meals on wheels because that's a part of homeless prevention.

We have homeless prevention dollars at more than 250,000.

We have 260,000 towards the childless childhood homeless project.

Um, the rush funding, which you've recently been made aware of, that's more than a million dollars.

And then in addition to that, we do have our federal funds that we are very lucky to receive.

Now, the majority of those go to capital projects, but ESG, which stands for emergency um solutions grant, and um public services portion of CDBG, which is capped at 15%, does allow us to use dollars towards these types of things.

We actually have uh a white paper that I can um share with all of you that we recently prepared that gives you a breakdown of all of those investments that you've been making.

Thank you so much, and thank you for going above and beyond in description and what we're doing to address the problem.

And all I wanted to just go on record saying for those who may be listening in Tallahassee is that we are doing our part.

We're investing in solutions.

And so I thank you so much for the work that you're doing, Administrator Foster, and thank you so much, Chief Holloway.

Um, we know that we can't arrest our way out of this problem.

Um, but you said it earlier.

Um, you guys are working hand in hand uh proactively to try to address the situation.

So thank you so much there.

Um, and then lastly, this is probably more so um a question for administration, but I did notice that there were 67 uh guns um that were stolen in total between the months of April and June, that's a three-month period.

55 of those were taken out of vehicles.

Um, this is an issue that I brought up a few times is how we can address this problem, right?

I know we can't solve every situation.

We're preempted every which way when it comes to gun control in the state of Florida, but full support of the second amendment here.

I don't think we're doing enough to tighten the rules here.

Um I'm looking at 55 guns stolen within a three-month period out of 67 total.

I see Tampa has a program where they're giving out free gun trigger locks to try to combat this issue.

I'm wondering, is that something that we have looked into?

I know I brought it up.

Uh there are vendors who are literally giving out these gun lock triggers to try to help to local municipalities.

Is that something we've considered?

Sir, we have free gun locks, and I've we have told you that.

So if people want to get them, we have stationed, they can pick them up at any given time.

We have boxes of gun locks.

Uh so there's any organization that wants to pass them, pass them out, they can contact us and be more than happy to give those gun locks out.

An organization has to contact you, a resident couldn't visit the St.

Pete police department and get it.

Uh no, sir, because we have to teach.

Well, we could let me rephrase it.

We will do that.

We just have to show the person how to put the locks on the gun.

So any resident can visit the police department and get a free gun trigger lock.

I would tell them to call that we can have somebody respond to them, a CSO or some officer will show them how to use it, and then we can give them the lock.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilmember Gabbard.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Chief, for the presentation.

Um, and I just want to continue to thank you for reporting on the stolen guns issue to us.

Uh that was something I had asked for quite some time ago, and you've continued to uh report that so that we can continue to advocate for our residents because really for me that is a public responsibility issue.

Um police can do everything in the world to try to inform, we can hand out gun locks, we can do all of that.

But if residents who own these firearms are not being responsible with them, how are we supposed to solve that issue?

Eighty-two percent of the guns stolen came from cars.

It's irresponsible enough to leave your car unlocked.

Then you go and you leave your firearm in it, it makes zero sense to me.

So I continue to pound this like into my residents' heads, and yet still we continue to have these icons on the map over my district.

Um, but I commit to you that I will continue to try to get that word out.

I think as council members, that is our responsibility is to continue to try to advocate in place of all of the other things that quite frankly we cannot do.

Um so really just want to send that message to residents that this is a piece of um really our community responsibility that we need everybody to be working towards.

So thank you for what you do on that.

Um just a word of thanks because um I wanted to thank you for the wake zone uh legislation that we as the city were able to get passed.

Collaborative process that took place alongside um of our representatives, Senator Nick DeSigley, uh Representative Lindsay Cross, we had emergency management, St.

Pete PD, Sheriff Galtieri's office, and this is really um you know, kind of an example of when we all come together and we all rally around an issue that are of uh concern to our residents, we can make change happen.

So this didn't just end up being a great bill for St.

Petersburg.

This is a great bill for the entire state of Florida.

So I'm very happy that you uh inserted a slide in there.

Thank you to the officers that have been going and educating our communities on this.

We hope that we don't have to use it, but it is now another tool in our toolbox to keep our residents safe.

And so I just wanted to say a public word of thanks on that.

And then the last thing that I have is just in response to the PATH team.

I do want to thank everybody who really um is working to try to address the needs of our homeless population.

It is a citywide issue.

Um we talk about it kind of in the microcosm of downtown, but it is a citywide issue.

And if we focus only in downtown, then the issue just becomes greater elsewhere.

And so I'm really glad um to see all of the different and have the conversation.

I'd love to see that white paper about all of the different resources.

But I just wanted to say a special thank you to Major Patterson because I know there are numerous times I see a resident in need in District 2.

I will just text her, let her know what I've seen, and she will have someone go out and speak with them and try to offer services, and that means the world to know that you know you all are just a phone call away and we can directly connect those resources.

I just really wanted to say thank you, not only to her, but to you for your leadership.

So thank you, Chief.

Thank you, ma'am.

Councilmember Harding.

Thank you, Chair.

Chief, thank you very much.

Congratulations on your team's success.

It seems like you're working yourself out of a job.

The um the second the second chance program um is both unique and successful.

And I I was hoping you would take a minute.

Um, I don't I don't think everyone really clearly understands what it is that uh that's being achieved.

Will you take a moment and explain what the program is?

Sure.

So the the way it is a team effort.

So the way we look at it as when that child he or she shoplift.

So it used to be three or four months before they got anything solved.

That week, if the child admits that he or she has done something wrong, the family admits they've done something wrong, then we take that child, we work with Lisa Willow Bowman, we work with the call team, we give that child a coach, Lisa Willow Bowman and looks at what programs and we get that child started in the right way.

Maybe that child was shoplifting because they didn't have anything to eat.

What's going on in a family?

What type of counseling can we give that child?

So that's what we work with.

We don't wait three or four months for the court to resolve this issue.

We work on it right then and there.

And the biggest thing is then that child does not have a record.

If he or she does exactly what we're supposed to do, that report's not sent to the state attorney's office.

So when that child leader on here, she's trying to get a job, they can say they never have been arrested, which is a true statement.

But again, the child has to admit that he's done wrong, he or she has done something wrong.

The parents have to agree to it, and it is done within a week period of time, so we can jump right on the situation.

Thank you, Chief.

Um, and congratulations on the success for that with that.

I I I want to, I know that that recently um we have talked a lot about and it it's been in the news that the issue and and to uh to councilwoman Gabbard's point, um homelessness uh the the unhoused population and what's going on in in downtown St.

Pete.

And I and I want to uh I want to come back and um and make a point and thank you uh for being here today that the the core competency of your department is um is is criminal justice.

That that's that's what the uniforms are for, that's what the lights on the cars are for.

Um it is unique for um for not only a department and a leadership team, but also uh a municipality to look at issues like this in a different way.

Um the the idea that folks are unhoused is horrible and it happens everywhere and it's it's not going to go away, unfortunately.

We're going to continue to battle it.

But I I want to call attention to um the uniqueness that not only the uniqueness but the success of the call program of the path program of uh administrator foster's street teams, and um and I greatly appreciate um the willingness to try new things.

Um and I would imagine along the way, and I'm not aware, but I would imagine along the way that chief you tried some things that failed.

Um and they had to in order to get to to where we are.

My point in all this is thank you very much for um for using um your position, your department, your leadership team for things other than um just the the criminal enforcement part of what a police force does.

It is unique.

Um there are models to be uh to be looked at here, and I encourage you to to keep moving in this direction.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilmember Driscoll.

Thank you, and thank you, Chief, for the report.

It's always good to see you.

See you, man.

Um it's good to hear that um your numbers that you said at the top of the presentation are moving in the right direction.

Um I did have an additional question regarding um crime offenses year over year on um one of the first slides, uh they're not numbered.

Um it looks like so.

The total for the quarter year over year for burglary burglary and breaking and entering seems to be up significantly.

And it that's comparing qu quarter to quarter.

Yes, ma'am.

And I and I I want to go back and check because as I'm looking at those those numbers, it could have been just uh we have to the the old way was doing it uh was if if a burglary happened on one street, uh the old use uniform crime reporting would be if there were six burglaries that happen on one street, it would be classified as one burglary because it happened at one period of night, but now we had to change the way we we take report, so now it's six burglaries instead of one of our under the way the government wants us to classify things now.

So, like if if if three cars were broken into and happened the same night, the old way would be that was one.

Now it's three.

Well, that would explain it.

Do you have a way to break it down?

Do you think it's hard to look at this because you know, when I looked through the report when we got it?

I was wondering why are burglaries up by so much?

Why is breaking and entering up by so much?

Is there because you're really good at finding the root cause of something or when there's an uptick, you often know the why behind it.

So that's what I was gonna ask you.

Now it sounds like you've changed the way that the reporting is done, and so it's not really an apples to apples.

Remember I explained to city council how how it changed January 1, but I will double check because that could either be an accounting error.

But let me go back and I will definitely give you answer by tomorrow or Monday to make sure that is correct.

That would be good.

It it it does look like an anomaly with all of this, you know, throughout the report.

So I'm thinking that it is simply because of that.

Um the use of force incidents.

So crime being down overall, and yet um use of force is staying the same.

So is it just the crimes that are happening are shifting and there's a higher percentage of incidents where use of force is used?

So counselor uh council member, if you remember, we at St.

Pete we do it differently.

Anytime we use force, we mark it down.

So if two officers on the scene and two officers use force on one person, it's two incidents.

Not one, it's two.

So anytime I use any type of force where I put you up against the wall or I take you down to the ground, that is use of force.

So if I taser you twice, that's two.

If I take you down to the ground, that's three.

And that one incident.

So that's why you're gonna start always see those numbers like that because we count everything.

A lot of agencies don't count everything.

Any the key word is force.

If you use force, it is counted.

If there's three ulcers there and three officers use force on one person, three use of fourth.

Every ulcer has to fill out a form.

Yeah, I understand that.

It's just with if crime overall is down, but use of force is staying the same, that means there's a higher percentage of crimes that involve a use of force.

And it just could be there could be more officers on the scene instead of one officer, there could be six officers, there could be three officers on a takedown.

So I would have to really do a deep dive to figure out why the numbers are staying the same.

It could be again, it could be two ulcers and both officers gonna get counted for that use of force.

So again, if we could do a deep dive to see exactly how those numbers are, it's gonna take some time, but I could get that to you.

Yeah, at your convenience, I just I really like looking at trends, and this this tells us a lot of that, but then when you do want to look more closely, it takes more than a um PowerPoint slide to to get to that.

Um it looks like the um path unit is you know continuing to stay busy.

It's great to hear there's so much support on the dice for for what that unit is doing.

Are you looking out at expanding the path unit any more at this time?

Because you're up to six now.

No, ma'am, we're not, but uh Chief Gilliams is already looking at how we can bring other officers from other areas on peak time so we can cover more.

And again, like Ms.

Foster's here right now, it's a team effort, not just path, it's everybody in the team that's working on on how situation because the those clients, as we want to call them, they need the assistance.

So by me adding more bodies to the past team, it will still be citywide, not just in one area.

So we're using our CSOs, our community service officers more to where we can put them to where we can uh address the problem.

And I should have said that earlier.

Uh doing this quarter now, we're keeping track of that.

That the path team alone handle 85 C click fix tickets.

So that's a lot.

That's people calling and complain about something.

So again, the team effort is there, and I'm not just gonna put the we have 557 officers that work for us.

So I expect my 300 and some odd that are in patrol.

I expect for all of them to learn the tools on how we're going to deal with our unhouse uh situation so we can give those the same service.

So adding two more people to the team of wouldn't it could help, but again, I have more officers out there that can learn the traits that they learn because they need to take time off.

So if I got an officer working midnight, he or she should know the same thing as the path team and the same services that are available throughout the city.

All right, great.

And then um finally wanted to let you know earlier this week I spent some time at the Salvation Army on Fourth Street South.

Um, and um the gentleman who's leading it now is um very nice and and very very much an open door um for our uh members of the police department to visit and learn more about what they're doing.

So I wanted to make sure that that invitation uh was extended.

I I don't know when last time you was that you were there, but they've made some some really nice improvements inside, and it's worth a look.

So I wanted to just bring that up for you and um not just the path unit but others as well.

Um that they should make a point to arrange for a visit sometime soon.

And there could be some opportunities to talk about how um what um good neighborhood relations can look like there.

Yes, ma'am.

All right, thank you so much.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilmember Fig Sanders.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you again, Chief, for the presentation and all that we're trying to do to make it better.

So I I have two comments.

One, I want to thank you and the mayor for the innovative equity project, though, for together.

I was with the mayor when he listened to the community in regards to youth crime, and um, you know, I thank him for having the initiative and giving the direction to create it, especially when I see the Child's Park Rattlers and the St.

Pete Gators, which are very popular amongst our young people.

And you all did not hesitate in making that move with that program.

So I want to thank you for that.

And then also you provide information for the second chance program.

I am hoping that this request will be added to again.

Not only do you provide second chances for our youth, but you also mentor them at the preschool age.

We continue to forget about the POPS program that you financed, and it's the police officer program where we send police officers.

It's not just to read books, but we send police officers to preschools because a lot of times the fear of men and women in uniform start very early because of bad experiences with parents and what they are being taught at home.

And we're I want to say we're in the third year of that program, and at Kids World, it is still extremely successful.

So now our young people are not fearing uniforms, they're looking forward to police officers.

We've actually been able to convert some of the parents and some of the attitudes that they had toward um law enforcement and police officers.

So when we talk about everything that's good, don't forget that that's good because we're starting at our babies, we're deterring them at such a young age.

Because some of the things that some of I don't know if you all heard some are four and five year olds, but you will swear that they've been here before.

Some of the conversations that they have, but let us not forget the awesome programs that you are doing that, you know, to me I think are extremely relevant to send the police officers in to deal with children in preschools, um, and that you're establishing and setting a standard at a very young age.

So I want to thank you for continuing to allow you officers because we get a lot of wanting uh uh requests for police officers to want to participate, uh, because that's a fun activity for them as well, and it's not just going in a room and sitting and reading books.

Um, you know, the POPs program, they get the lollipops, uh popcorn, popsicles, the derivatives of pops.

Um, but it is a fun, but more importantly, it is teaching them not to fear and to not walk in um and fear with our police officers.

Thank you again for funding that for us.

I appreciate it.

Oh, another question I forgot.

Speaking of funding, we're working in the on the budget now with the innovative equity project.

Can we kind of count on those to still be for 2026?

That program is for 18 months.

I think it runs.

Oh, I can tell you exactly when it runs out.

March.

Yeah, my understanding is we're in good shape for FY26 on the program.

Yes.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Well, Chief, always uh good to have you here.

Thank you for the quarterly update.

Just quickly, uh, I mean, you know the things that I mostly talk about, the park walk and talks, the even in the hot months, the you can see the continuous growth and the spread of those throughout the city.

So just very thankful for that.

And then uh I think council member Harding hit it on the head with uh just all the the work that we're doing in in multiple different areas.

Just thankful for for you and and the entire uh department and and let me give a special shout out to your command staff over um you know my time here, been able to have multiple conversations with a lot of them, and they just that they just do such a good job from leading in the front, and I know they get that from you.

Um but I just wanted to give them a shout out because I know um you know they they feel what we talk about, what the community talks about, and I just wanted to say a big thank you to them.

Um because I know that they're doing a great job too.

Well, I want to echo that, sir.

Uh I'm good at what I do because I have three great assistant chiefs, so they make me look good.

Yeah.

Well, Chief, thank you so much for being here and thanks for the update.

Thank you, sir.

Okay.

All right, council members.

We are gonna move into F two, our Mahaffey presentation.

I think we have Beth Herrendine from City Development and Bill Edwards from Big Three Entertainment.

Welcome, Beth.

Thank you.

Uh Chair Gertis, Vice Chair Hanowitz, members of City Council.

I am very pleased to bring you our Big Three Entertainment, Duke Energy Center for the Arts Mahaffey Theater Annual Report.

The theater was formerly uh under Chris Ballestra's purview, but I am very happy that it has uh become my facility uh after Chris's retirement last spring.

So I do have a very unique perspective and love for the theater.

As um in my previous life, I served as event manager, operations manager, and GM uh in 2001 through 2005, and and I was um very fortunate to be involved in the renovation of the theater after the arena was demolished in uh December of 04.

So but for today, as you know, Mr.

Edwards and Big Three Entertainment have been managing the Mahaffey Theater since September of 2011, following a competitive RFP process.

They came out of the gate very strong with top acts such as Don Henley, Mark Anthony, Cedric the Entertainer, and over the years have continued to provide um popular, diverse, and accessible programming for our entire community, uh including, of course, our Florida Orchestra and the Class X uh children, uh Class Acts um arts education program for for school children.

Um, unfortunately, last year, as you also know, the facility did sustain damage during Helene and Milton.

So I would like to thank Mr.

Edwards as well as uh General Manager Jim Beaman and production manager um Nick Mitzus for working with us on uh getting the facility repaired.

We're still working on things, but working so hard to get the facility up and running, and I know Mr.

Edwards has a little bit to say about um about that as well.

Um then following the storms um with the help of engineering, we did do a facility assessment um to identify other capital needs.

Um, because as I mentioned um uh in our in our earlier one-on-ones, the building itself was built in 1965 and was a fairly plain Jane Um Bayfront's uh auditorium.

In 87, it was renovated into the beautiful European style theater that it is now and was renamed uh the Mahaffey.

Um, and then um the latest renovation was in 2000 uh 2005, following the the um demolition of the arena.

And each of those renovations did not include all of the systems within the the theater, so not everything was fixed every time um it was renovated.

So um, so you all thank you, council, for recently approving several uh several uh capital items, uh and um we are looking to use our FY26 capital proposed capital funds um for uh additional uh roof repair.

So um the current agreement is set to right now to expire in September of 2026.

Um we have talked to Mr.

Edwards about a potential one-year extension just to work us through some of these capital repairs.

I know he'll he has a few things to say about that, but today is not for any action.

Today is uh is really just simply as part of the management agreement.

Uh Big Three uh gives an annual report, and that is what we are here for today.

They have prepared a beautiful video that I believe the clerk is is ready to show, and then following the video, uh, Mr.

Edwards has some remarks as well.

So enjoy.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Nearly 15 years ago, the city of St.

Petersburg made a forward-thinking decision to entrust the management of the Mahaffey Theater to Big Three Entertainment and visionary leader Bill Edwards.

Hi, my name is Bill Edwards, and I am very happy to be here today.

I've been running the Mahaffey Theater for 14 years.

I always like projects that had a challenge, and this was a failing theater.

I've been putting on concerts for 35 years all over the world.

Here in St.

Petersburg, I started the Taste of Pinellas, raising money for all children's hospital.

Then I purchased the Rowdies.

It was interesting because I had never been to a soccer game, and the first soccer game I ever went to.

I owned the soccer team.

We worked on that for about six years, and uh became very successful.

And uh, we took it from bankruptcy to a very successful uh soccer team, and the Tampa Bay Rays bought it from us.

They still run the team, and I'm very proud that we saved that team.

And and uh at the time the Greys were leaving, and the routers were the only professional team left in town.

And somebody said to me, You gotta take it on.

Here at the Mahaffey Theater, Big Three Entertainment started with a bang.

We had Don Hanley, we had Mark Anthony, we had Cedric the Entertainer.

Those were the three acts for the first weekend.

I brought it brought in record numbers of people, and it made them aware that the theater was here.

Since then, the Duke Energy Center for the Arts, Mahaffey Theater, has become a cornerstone of downtown's cultural and economic vitality.

Last year, we welcomed over 225,000 visitors and over 290 performances, bringing our total to more than 2.6 million guests since taking over, hosting world-class entertainment and creating measurable impact for local businesses and the broader community.

To date, Bill Edwards has personally donated over 12 million dollars to elevate the Mahaffey into a top-tier venue, improving infrastructure, programming, and the guest experience.

As a result, we've attracted premier talent, including Christina Aguilera, Tony Bennett, and Patty Labell.

Last season, we brought in top-tier acts such as River Dance, Burt Kreisher's Netflix Special, Fortune Themster, Wanda Sykes, Paw Patrol Live, Elvis Costello, The Black Crows, and endless more amazing shows.

Each year, over 200,000 visitors pass through our doors, many of them traveling from outside the city.

That influx supports local restaurants, hotels, and small businesses, contributing directly to St.

Pete's economic ecosystem.

But the Mahaffey is more than a place to see a show.

It's a platform for community enrichment.

Through the Bill Edwards Foundation for the Arts, we've reached over half a million local students, many experiencing live performance and arts education for the very first time.

Class Axe continues to engage, educate, and entertain students across the Tampa Bay Area, reaching over 28,000 students last year.

And that's not all.

Class Axe has since expanded to include a hands-on summer camp for aspiring young actors.

We also provide a professional home to the Florida Orchestra, offering them nearly a hundred dates annually, never increasing rent in over 11 years.

When the orchestra faced financial difficulties, Bill Edwards stepped in, donating over 2 million dollars to keep them performing here at home.

This year, the 2025 to 2026 season is projected to be our most successful yet, with a diverse lineup that includes John Mullaney, Cirque Dreams Holidays, Morrissey, the Coral Reefer Band, Pink Martini, Forever Motown, and of course the Florida Orchestra.

Behind the scenes, our operations go far beyond the stage.

We offer fine dining in-house, unique among regional theaters, and have partnered with Trish Duggan and the Imagine Museum to bring major visual art installations to our campus, uniting the performing, visual, and culinary arts in one destination.

I'm very proud of the accomplishments to in this theater.

Thank you so much and have a great day.

Welcome.

Thank you.

I want to thank the city council for allowing us to be here today.

I'll try to be as quick as possible.

Prior to share our accomplishments for the past 12 years as an operator, as a booker, as General Stewart from the Mahape Theater.

We brought again, we brought 2.6 million people into this theater that holds 2,031 people.

So I think that's a heck of a accomplishment over the last few years.

And I just want to thank uh first of all, Beth Harendine and James Corbett for all the time and energy they put into helping us get through hurricane uh uh damage.

Um we had some pictures that we wanted to show, but we couldn't get them up here, but they were the before and after of the orchestra pit, which is an intricate part of a theater, is the pit of an orchestra.

And um, and so um it affects us, it affects the Florida Orchestra, affects everyone.

Um the last year, uh we haven't had one that's been broken, and so I want to thank this body for giving us the money and the time and the energy to take almost a year just to fix that one thing.

Okay, we fixed a lot of different things.

We need more help in regard to repairs.

It's been 22 years since we had a sound system, a lighting system changed, our our speakers changed.

Um we lose a lot of entertainment because of that, okay, and we need to uh fix the technological obsolescence that we're dealing with, okay, and we deal with it, and we've been dealing with it for many, many years.

And we deal with it.

And we've been dealing with it for many, many years.

Um, and I'm hoping that we can get money from the budget to be able to have a regular situation.

Um for the last 14 years, um, we've pretty much been on the same path as far as get how we get paid for this theater and how we repair the theater.

And and so we need help in that respect to get it caught up because obviously, you know, if uh costs go up 35 percent, 40 percent, and we're still sitting with the same budget year after year after year, it's very hard for us to increase our situation.

So it requires extra money.

That's where the extra money came in that I've donated, okay.

But I can't continue to do that, and so I need um the Mahaffey Theater um to be fixed.

One and two, we're asking the city's offered us one year to um um continue on with the theater.

We're asking two more years, it gives us five years, and we can continue on uh doing with the job that we're doing.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Okay, let's go to public comment.

Yes, the first uh the first two speakers is Robert Blackburn and Lance Rogers.

Please go to either podium, state your name and address for the record.

You'll have three minutes to dress council.

I think some of us were was wondering if there was a Robert Blackburn in the room.

Thanks.

Uh thank you very much.

Robert Blackman, 11901, 4 Street North.

Um, really quickly just wanted to speak as a citizen on uh the Mahaffey Theater, uh, where it's where it's been, where it's going and its future.

Um Bill Edwards just gave a presentation, uh, the CEO of Big Three.

Um, and I just wanted to kind of remind people of his love and what he's done for our city.

He literally put St.

Pete on the map when he put the big signage on the highway announcing that you were in St.

Petersburg.

It showed that we had arrived and that you had arrived when you came to town.

But he also supported all children's.

Uh, he's brought the rowdies back from the brink of extinction and made them a world-class organization again.

Uh, he developed the Tropicana block, which is a long-blighted, long vacant uh commercial block right across from Janice Landing.

He also saved Sundial when it was going through Rough Financial Times.

Uh he he managed Taste of Pinellas, and he also gave money to Walmart, uh, gave $300,000 to bring Walmart to Tangerine Plaza when that was a food desert and it was vacant.

Um and I read an article uh yesterday about uh Mr.

Edwards X, and it said um he came for an update before council and some of the predecessors of everybody up here today, uh Councilmember Darden Rice, Councilmember Charlie Gurtis, Councilmember Bill Dudley, Wen Gay Newton, and Steve Cornell all showered him with praise uh for his good acts to the city and his philanthropy.

But uh I'm also acutely aware of the fact that nostalgia cannot impede progress.

And that being said, we need to look at what the Mahaffey is going to be moving forward.

And uh I think we all acknowledge that the city has a lot of big projects going on.

You know, you had public speakers and you guys have been discussing starting a new utility, uh, what's going to happen with the marina, Tropicana Field, Municipal Services, a new entertainment district along the waterfront, the Manhattan Casino, Tangerine Plaza, the job course sites, potential redevelopment of Al Lang, the Sunshine Center.

When I walked by here, the Mirror Lake Library has tiles missing off the roof, and uh a lot of our citizens are still without homes.

And with all these big projects, I think we need to stay the course because I'm reminded of what happened with the Manhattan Casino.

It needed help.

We didn't give money till it was too late, and it's been vacant now for five years.

If we don't put money into the Mahaffey right now from perhaps the CRA because the Mahaffey's in the CRA district, we need to protect our own asset as taxpayers and as stewards of taxpayers.

We need to protect that asset by putting money into it now to make sure that it's world class for our taxpayers, but also for the arts, because we do not want it to be vacant.

I also would please uh employee to consider giving an extension to Mr.

Edwards.

He's done a fine job, and I think anybody new would have such a learning curve and would discover so many problems with this facility that it would really be a disservice to our citizens and our arts community.

So I please consider uh would ask you to consider funding and uh giving Mr.

Edwards uh more time to continue his good works.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

I'm Lance Rogers, uh Lance Rogers Fine Art.

And I'm more of a visual artist, and I've been around here a long time.

I remember the original Bayfront being built in 1965.

My first concert was Hermann's Hermits.

But more importantly, the opening act was the Who.

No one had ever heard of them.

I'm a sixth grader.

I'm seeing Pete Townsend throw his guitar up in the air and smash it.

And it was like, man, this is such a cool place.

And it's kind of gone through its ups and downs, but it still is.

Um my wife and I have in the last few years we've become members of the Bahafi, and uh we've just enjoyed every minute of it.

And to see the transitions and the things that Bill Edwards has done, and uh he's not only uh music and entertainment guy, he's an art collector.

I I know because he showed up in my house one night and bought three pieces off the wall of my house, and it was a good thing.

And uh so anyway, he's very aware of all of this, and the uh you know the concerts that leapfrog, I mean they might leapfrog this area if they don't have the right sound system.

This is a weird area anyway, and concerts they might go to Jacksonville and go straight to Miami.

So any advantage we could have to get them in this area, and all you're really doing is getting them up to snuff.

They're you know, not going to any great great uh uh leaps down the road.

But uh, you know, the Mahapi's such a beautiful waterfront jewel, and uh under his leadership, the Mahaffey is blossomed, and I just encourage you to let him continue to let it flourish.

He is a visionary, and uh he's uh his passion through this venue has been evident, but passion doesn't pay the bills, trust me, I know.

Um but uh anyway, I just wanted to say again my two cents and please help Mr.

Edwards continuously and seamlessly stay the course on the vision that the Mahaffey Theater has.

So thank you very much.

Thank you.

No more speakers.

Okay, Councilmember Gabbard.

Thank you, Chair, and uh thank you for the presentation.

Always look forward to it.

And uh, Mr.

Edwards, I want to thank you for our impromptu conversation we had on the phone a few weeks ago.

Uh very much enjoy always speaking with you and um just your depth of history for how we've gotten to where we are on so many things in our city.

Uh just really wanted to thank you for that, taking that time with me that day.

Um also want to thank you.

One of the things in that video that really speaks to me the most is the work that you do with our youth and with our kids.

Um, as a little girl that fell in love with the theater at 10 years old, but was in a small town and didn't have a lot of access.

Um, what you're doing for our children and helping them explore what art can mean in their lives is such a beautiful thing.

So I just wanted to thank you for that personally.

Uh the question that I have is around this extension.

Uh so Beth, can we talk a little bit about this?

Because you mentioned this kind of towards the end, and we've talked about this, we've talked about this, so I kind of wanted to talk about it now.

Um there was a mention of one year.

Can we talk about how administration came to that decision?

Um, because well, I'll let you answer first and then I'll give you my opinion on that.

Sure.

I think we uh came to that decision uh mainly because we we know that the theater needs um some repair work and and and that um and the current agreement that we have now, we we know that Mr.

Edwards is looking for and understandably looking for some changes to that agreement, and um you know, knowing that I think we were comfortable um getting the one year so that they can get could continue could continue to book and continue to operate while we worked on something potentially longer.

Okay, yeah, um and Mr.

Edwards, I don't know if you have any comments about the one year and kind of your feelings about that, because I have some concerns over that short of a time period.

Well, here's the situation, okay.

The situation is that when we repair the theater, we're right now we're we've had to repair the orchestra pet.

We've been closed and we've been dark all of August.

Okay.

We have two or three payrolls going on inside the theater, okay?

We're a for-profit for big three entertainment, we're for so big entertainment does two things.

It books and it runs a theater, okay.

Um, and it also runs a restaurant, okay.

And so all those people have a payroll, okay?

And we were closed.

The payroll still continues on.

Maybe we have to.

So recently, um, I think we spent about 148,000 in payroll, and we've been closed all of August.

In September, we have 12 shows, and after that we have a bunch of shows uh all the way through the year.

But again, the point is we lost 148,000 in August while we spent 700,000 fixing the orchestra pit, which is a beautiful job.

They did an amazing job.

It's new cylinders, it's new electrical, it's up in the air, it's where it's belongs.

It's it's a great job they did, and we're very happy for what has happened.

I was up and down on that orchestra pit the other day, so I enjoyed the fact that it worked, okay, finally.

Okay.

So um, and and so, but in the same instance, our payrolls run on, and no one came and said, hey, I'll help you with your payroll.

And quite frankly, we needed that help.

We still need that help.

We're gonna ask you for subsidy for it, you know, somewhere along the line here because I need to be reimbursed for the fact that I've been closed because of something that happened a year ago, and and we're still running a business inside the theater that where we have employees and we have staff, and we don't want to lose them.

So we of course have to pay them.

We have to pay their insurance, we have to pay their the matching taxes, and all the things go along with being uh in business.

Um it's it's very expensive.

And um, so um stopping and starting is not a good thing for theater.

Um we talked about this.

This is the I I say it's a lifeline to the to the um the waterfront district uh of the arts.

And and that's because people come to the theater uh for all times, times of hardships.

Um during the hurricane, we had um we had a situation where between hurricanes, we were supposed to put we had sold uh sold out black crows, okay.

And I expected it because right in the middle of it, they were in the state.

Our orchestra pit was 10 feet of water, we pumped it out, we fixed the theater, we had mold, we got rid of the we renumerated it, we took care of it all thanks to help with uh staff, and we were able to put that show on.

And when that show came on, 1,500 people showed up out of the 2,000 that we sold seats or 1800 and uh a 1900.

And I was amazed that anybody came because it was we were supposed to be you know evacuating for the next storm.

So I asked people why are you here?

And the answer was emphatically, we needed a break.

This is where we want thought we'd get it.

So this is born a theater.

This is a place for the community to come and be comfortable during pandemic, and I'm okay.

During pandemic, we were the only theater that opened up for the Florida orchestra for social distancing.

Okay.

Now we put up the plastic, we got the we paid for the masks, you know.

We did everything as a theater that we needed to do.

And we were socially distanced in the theater and we're so distanced on the stage.

So the Florida Orchestra played in sections, okay.

I mean, it was really a very interesting thing.

In the meantime, the Edwards Family Foundation, which hadn't done much, you know, during the pandemic, uh, was at it was asked by Meals on Wales for kids to give them money.

We ended up packaging those groceries inside the theater in the in the front lobby and getting them into the trucks and delivering them to the families that needed them.

And we were able to put out over 50,000 during the pandemic, over 50,000 meals out of that theater.

That theater's been used.

That's a very special place in this town for everyone.

And it's special to me because it's special everyone.

Everybody goes there.

Okay.

Um they expect us to be there and give them a great we sold fun.

We sell, you know, we we're the ones in town that sell funds.

And so, you know, I'm just saying, hey, you know, um, we've we've done a lot of things.

We just, you know, we just need help from all of you.

And you know, we've got so many things.

We, you know, this this millions of dollars it's gonna take to get this theater up to speed.

You know, it's been 20 plus years since the city's really put any money into the to the theater, and it needs to.

It needs to badly.

Okay, whether I run it or somebody else runs it, you need and we all need to fix a piece of city property that's not mine that needs to be fixed.

And and if I may interject for just a moment, um, we'll be working together to um pursue both county and state funding.

So we already have that on the on the books.

Yes.

Well, and and to my point, I mean, you know, the it needs a lot of work, like you just talked about.

And it's not just hurricane damage, it's upgrades that need to realistically happen.

Um, I think with that amount of work, what I see, I think if I were in your shoes, I would want a greater time length commitment.

Um I don't want to be the one that fixes it and and gets it right.

Right.

And then you go out to for bids and somebody else says, Oh, this is a great, I'll take it.

Exactly.

So and that's my point.

And and I have here with me today also live nation and representative from Live Nation that's here on behalf of our I'm just gonna matter and say and and a lot of other people here that you know realize all the hard work and and effort we put into this, and it's important that we keep it this way.

So I guess maybe Rob, I don't know if you want to chime in as far as the administration's flexibility around looking at a longer term extension.

Um, I don't know with everything else going on right now and recognizing that we have this, you know, commitment for the work.

Mr.

Edwards is going to put in more commitment, more time.

Um, one year to me doesn't even seem to really like even get us there.

I think we'll probably still be doing work on the facility throughout that entire year.

What would be the flexibility to give a little bit longer of an extension?

So there is more certainty.

And then my next follow-up question to that would be is it the administration's intention to go out for RFP at that point once whatever that time period of extension is ends?

So I appreciate your question, council member.

We're certainly having good discussions with Mr.

Edwards, and we'll see where we end up at uh on a potential one-year extension.

We do think that if we weren't able to achieve that, um, it probably is time to um look at an RFP.

Of course, you know, Mr.

Edwards could go through that process and be selected as part of that.

But it's been a long time since we did an RFP, and we think it probably would be a good idea.

Okay.

Um, I think that's still up for a lot of discussion.

And uh I just I I think also there's a follow-up to the damage that we saw from the storms, and I realized that you know that was kind of a unique piece of damage to a city facility, and um, you know, we've fixed it now, but did we mitigate the actual entry point where that water came in because you don't want to just continue to throw good money over bad if we would God forbid have another event.

Yes, and and we've started that work, for example, with the orchestra pit.

Um, the electric that was down where the water got to it, all of that electric has been raised.

Um, we are working with engineering to do some other things to make sure that that um those most flood-prone areas are protected in the future.

We need to do the same with other mechanical equipment because it's all at that um that ground level.

Yeah, very good.

I'm glad to hear that.

And so I'll just reiterate before I I yield my time, Chair, that I just feel like we've got a lot of moving pieces here.

I don't know that the time is right to go out for a new RFP.

I certainly would support having a conversation that looks like a longer extension with big three at this point.

So uh that's my position.

I'll leave it there.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Vice Chair Hanowitz.

Thank you, and thank you for the wonderful presentation.

Um Robert Blackman did a good job of talking about all you've done for the city in a broader context, and for those that are not aware of what you've done for a city just in general.

I I'm very appreciative of it.

I will tell you this: the foundation for the art that you mentioned, your Pinellas County Schools partnership, you know, having a one million students go through there.

I went there as I'm a mentor to one of the school, um, one of the children in Pinellas County Schools, and I went to one of the events, and it was fantastic.

And you do this all the time.

And my daughter, and I've mentioned this before at meetings, you know, she uh is a dance studio, and they get to do their dance performance at the Mahaffey, and watching kids in our community up there in a stage like that is fantastic.

Um, so I love all that.

I will say right now, what I'm really concerned about on the city's part, and we've the last time that we renovated this was 2005.

So there was a renovation in 1987 and then 2005.

So that's about every 20 years.

We're at year 21.

And again, so we are at that point.

We've had so many conversations about city assets that need money.

There was a laundry list just given, and I'm not even sure if it obviously did not include everything.

Um, but I want people that are listening to understand our city does have a lot of needs, including the MSc and in in in downtown.

So we really do before we start looking into other things, we really need to address some of the things.

I know that you're looking at state and federal funding, but at the same time, we uh have a responsibility to do some of this work, and there it is in a tip, it is in the CRA.

And every time we've had these conversations before in different contacts, and I'm just gonna put it out there.

I've mentioned this before in different contacts.

There are assets we need to invest in because we own it.

So that's I'm gonna say I'm not gonna get into the one year, two year or any of that because I'm gonna wait for you all to do your thing, and I will have my opinion on it, and I'll give you the opportunity to do the magic that y'all do, and then bring it to us.

But I I do have those concerns.

We went to RP on the marina, and guess what?

Now we're doing it, we're gonna probably do it all ourselves.

So I just I you know um, I think that investment is important because I think at the end it costs more money when you don't invest.

And to clarify, thank you, uh, Council Vice Chair.

We are also looking at the CRA funds in addition to state and county funds as well.

So I'm glad putting the package together.

So I apologize.

I like it.

Okay, I'm glad you said that.

That's all I want to hear.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Jusco.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you both for the report and Bill for all that you have done and continue to do for our city.

Um the Mahaffey is um an extremely valuable asset for our city.

Um, and it is it's really difficult to see it in the condition that it's in.

I mean, most people when they go to a show, they don't really notice, but I have the misfortune, if you will, of knowing um more than most about what's really wrong there.

And um, I could not be more supportive of investment, um, especially through this Syria.

That's that's part of what it's there for.

So let's not let it, let's not let it sit there.

Um we need to take care of this.

We do not have plans anymore for another performing arts center in or near downtown.

This is what we've got, and as Vice Chair Hanowitz said, we have so many other things that we're trying to take care of right now.

But this is one, it's one that actually is um a strong part, a significant part of our arts community, our performing arts community in particular, but you do have opportunities to bring in the visual arts to highlight other types of arts.

So um investment that we can make, not just in repairs, but in upgrades and really modernizing the facility, and this is gonna get me uh give me a little bit of a segue into talking about the Florida Orchestra, because there are changes that need to be made to the Mahaffey Theater to make it um more um uh user-friendly for the orchestra.

So you're talking about the um changes to the stage, things like that, but I don't feel like anything is going to happen after seeing this video here today, because it wasn't really talked about as one of the assets that comes out of the Mahaffey, and I'm really disappointed that there wasn't more said about that.

It was first brought up as if it was you know, some uh homeless orphan child that was taken care of.

The Florida Orchestra made it through the pandemic, yes, with help, yes, with creativity.

What you saw them doing online while they weren't allowed to work together, the way that they had to rehearse separately for shows that they would perform together was absolutely extraordinary.

What they give back to the community is extraordinary, they are not just a tenant, and yet, and they have their full calendar of events.

If you look at what is going on at the Mahaffey, if you go to the Mahaffe's website and you click on the upcoming shows, there isn't a single Florida orchestra performance listed.

They start in September.

Just like every just like the others.

I don't understand that.

There is no reason why a website for the Mahaffey doesn't list the Florida Orchestra performances.

It's as if they don't even exist.

May I speak?

Yes, sir.

Okay.

First of all, the Florida Orchestra is a rental company, and they rent from the theater.

Okay.

They sell their own tickets.

They have their own website.

They do their own thing, and they end up renting the theater as their place to play.

Okay, so they don't sell the tickets to us.

They they everything is is the Florida Orchestra is a totally separate organization that comes to us and rents rents the theater and the space from us.

They're a rental organization.

Right.

That's a totally different business animal than what we're dealing with, which is we sell tickets through Live Nation and through Ticketmaster, uh rather, and um, and because that's what we do.

We'd be happy to sell tickets for the Florida Orchestra, but they sell their own.

Okay, so if they sell their own and they're doing everything themselves, then what they do is they rent the stage and they pay the union, and you know, we haven't raised their prices in 11 years.

It's it's it's below the rates of any um long profit organization out there.

We haven't changed the rates in 13 years, even though prices have gone up 35-40 percent.

So we support the Florida Orchestra, and I personally support the Florida Orchestra financially for years.

Okay, so uh I I appreciate what they're doing.

Um I try to give them as many Saturdays as possible.

Um right behind me is it's a people from Live Nation who beat me up because I don't have Saturdays because I give them to the Florida Orchestra, and they beat me up because I can't get put the shows that want to play on Saturday, that's a big night to play in the theater.

I give those nights to the Florida Orchestra.

Okay, so they have almost 80, 90 dates, 100 dates, something like that that's already booked for next year.

And um, and we support them.

So I I can't support them anymore other than what we do.

They could they get the use of a a members lounge um that that we made for our members of a foundation that you know is the Bill Edwards Foundation for us for people who pay.

Okay, um, so we rent that lounge out to the board orchestra so they can have allowance uh to be in, and we do the best we can to support them.

And if I may, Bill, if I may add just because I clarified, only because typically the season the orchestra events are on the website, so I just said why aren't they on the website?

Um the the uh Mahaffey folks, I guess received the um assets from the orchestra uh late last week and are in the process of putting those on the website now.

So you should see those on the website any any minute for this uh uh season that starts next month.

All right, I'll hit refresh soon.

Thank you.

And and yes, it is because of the um uh the agreement between the city and um big three entertainment that the Florida Orchestra gets those dates because it is very specific in that agreement, which we don't have with us here.

I have a copy, but we don't have it in our backup.

Um it is in the use agreement that the Florida Orchestra be prioritized, and that's why I'm always looking for that.

Yes, they need to have the dates, but they also need to be recognized as an important part of the Mahaffey experience.

And so if we're talking about um continuing this partnership, if we're talking about working together to make improvements, if we're talking about extending this in any way, we need to be talking about the Florida Orchestra.

I am very interested in doing an RFP process for this after 14 years.

I think it's healthy for us to do that, um, especially in the entertainment industry, things are changing all the time.

It's a tough business.

We want to make sure that we have an operator that really meets the needs that we have today for the Mahaffey, and that very well could be Mr.

Edwards and his team.

It might be someone else, but I think going through that process is going to be a very healthy exercise for us all.

And so I wanted to, since we started talking about that, I wanted to make sure it was clear where I stand on that today.

But no matter what happens, I'm going to be watching to see what happens with the Florida orchestra.

Because what I saw today and and what I've seen in the past is an area where I think there is opportunity for great improvement.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilmember Hardy.

Thank you, Chair.

Bill, thank you very much.

Um, I want to make sure we recognize uh not only the the experience and expertise that you you've brought over the the past decade plus, um, but the the the commitment from both your foundation and your personal family.

But that the the commitment from both your foundation and your personal family.

And and that goes a long way.

There are no other city assets where we have we have citizens putting money into the asset itself.

And I want to recognize that and thank you.

I um I agree with you and this should be on the agenda that um that this asset is important to the city.

It's not a not a not a core asset but it's a it's a cultural important asset and uh and I look forward to uh to to talking about um to to council member Hanowitz's point that every 20 years um there's need for an upgrade and this time probably more than most we need to recognize this asset and figure out what we're gonna do with it and I'll look forward to that discussion.

Thank you very much.

Thank you chair thank you.

Councilmember Floyd thank you I put myself on here just to ask one quick question of administration um I think it might have been answered by Councilmember Driscoll but how long has it been since there was an RFP done the the last RFP was done in uh 2010 in late 2010 with the big three taking over in 2011 okay thanks I just wanted clarity on that because administrator Gurtis had mentioned it had been a while but I didn't have it firmed up in my mind.

Okay other than that I'll just say uh you know thank you for uh the work that you've done at the Mahaffey uh I support us um investing in it uh and I'll just take this moment to say like uh when we have assets the city owns that are revenue generating I feel we should be creative uh I think that's a common uh uh refrain you hear from me all the time uh this is one of them uh they bring me a lot less qualms to invest in than other things uh because I know that there's opportunities for us in those investments so uh I look forward to getting into more depth on this but I'll just leave it there for today thank you thank you councilmember Fig Sanders thank you and thank you Beth and thank you so much Mr.

Elwitz how are you I agree with definitely with council member Harding um with the aspect I've come to the Mahaffey I've come to see and participate with the children of class act because you didn't have to extend it out to the children the way that you have and I did a Facebook post because if you would have just walk and close your eyes and to hear the laughter of those children um and to see what you have introduced them to um and your efforts to bring inclusive X to the city of St.

Petersburg I'm gonna say thank you.

I I agree with councilmember Gabbard about that one year.

I agree that you know you haven't invested a lot of your own money um into the Mahaffey and I guess you know people say well he has it but still does that make it right um it's the city uh own facility but again thank you um but my biggest biggest gratitude is for what you do for the children of the city to see all the school buses come um and tour and be outside and and to actually laugh and to be introduced some of our greatest St.

Petersburg citizens are Angela Basses are you know that are out there doing those things what if we had more children that were introduced to things like that.

So again thank you and I truly support um the efforts that we're doing here today and um I think that's all I have chair thank you thank you.

Well Mr.

Edwards thank you so much for I mean it's been echoed across you know thank you for all you do throughout the community east west south north um you know I don't it doesn't get unnoticed by I think our residents and certainly by us so we're very appreciative.

Just just quickly I'll comment um you know I agree with uh Vice Chair Hanowitz you know I I'm gonna let administration do their thing and then they'll come back to us and we'll and we'll have that discussion but I think the I think what you've heard is the over overwhelming support of making sure the Mahaffey is with the Mahaffey things what we think it should be and what we expect it to be.

And so how we how we do that whether it's CRA and TDC and state you know um I I had that conversation with Beth about T D about TDC.

I sit on that board and so um you know I I know some iteration of it almost came two years ago but anyway I I I think again my the point of all of this is we believe in the Mahaffey you've been a great steward of the Mahaffey over 14 years and so um whatever administration brings us back at that point then we'll have that discussion but the big thing I want to I want you to walk away with is I I'm so proud when I watch a you know six and a half minute video of that um you know I I got to bring my kids there uh a few times this past year uh I I will give council member Driscoll some credit um one of them was uh uh uh uh I'm getting emotional because my my son had such a great time it was a Florida orchestra event and he literally spoke to Cynthia Arrivo from the stands one on one having a conversation with her and so uh for the ability for him to be able to

Um, you know, I I got to bring my kids there uh a few times this past year.

Uh I I will give Councilmember Driscoll some credit.

Um one of them was uh uh uh uh I'm getting emotional because my my son had such a great time.

It was a Florida orchestra event, and he literally spoke to Cynthia Arivo from the stands one on one having a conversation with her.

And so uh for the ability for him to be able to do that.

Um that's a memory I'll never forget.

That's a core memory that my heart will never let go.

And so um I I know that you want to help create those memories that's been talked about uh over the last you know uh 30 or 40 minutes already.

But thank you for what you've done.

We're gonna continue to to work through this path with you and uh looking forward to the next conversation that administration brings back to us.

And thank you so much, Mr.

Eck.

Good to see you.

Okay, I had to hold back a tear.

All right.

Uh we're gonna move into F3 and we're gonna talk about uh Tampa Bay Rowdies, an extension of their agreement, and Beth is gonna stay with us.

I am hello again, everybody.

Um I'm also very excited to bring forward, I hate to say it, but a one-year agreement for the rowdies to continue operating and managing Alang Stadium.

Uh their current agreement is scheduled to end in November of 2025, but we want to get that to November of 2026 so they can plan um their next season and get that underway.

Um the rowdies have been playing in Al Lang since 2011, and they've managed the facility since October of 2014.

It too, as the Mahaffey's next door neighbor sustain sustained damage during Helene and Milton.

And I want to thank uh team president Ryan Helfrick and Vice President of Operations uh Jeff Parkinson behind me for all of their work and of course engineering for working to get the facility repaired in time to um to get the players back on the pitch.

We are still working on sustainability efforts.

We're raising again mechanical and electrical and doing those things, but we first wanted to get the the team back on the pitch and the fans back in the stands, and now we're working to to improve that facility as well.

So um speaking of the fans and uh of course specifically Ralph's mob, the rowdies average about 5,500 uh people per match and about 6400 per match per playoff match.

Um and I'm sure you all know when there's a match going on because you see the green and gold hoops um walking around downtown.

So it's it's definitely um a great asset for our downtown uh in that way, and also the visiting team stay in our hotels and they do uh away watch parties and some of our um bars and restaurants downtown.

So um the rowdies have been a great partner for us.

So um we are only doing a one year to to let them get through, and we've we've got some some things we're working through otherwise, um, which I think we uh both sides agree that the one year is the is the way to go for now, which brings us to November of 2026.

The agreement is uh truly uh the same as it has been with one um uh change, and that's only just uh increasing the number of parking spaces they have for staff because they've increased the number of staff they have working out of the out of the facility because you know, ticket sales and a new beautiful um store and all of those things.

So that's the only substantive change.

Everything is exactly as it has been um for the last few years.

So um so with that, we would just ask uh for council's approval of that one year agreement.

And again, the team president Ryan Helfrick is here, and we're happy to answer any questions that you have.

Thank you, Beth.

Councilmember Driscoll.

Thank you.

Were there no public comments?

I don't I don't think so.

Okay.

Um thank you for that, and thank you to the team for um continuing to provide uh such an incredible um sports, you know, sporting experience for our community.

I have um said to quite a few people lately that if at the end of the day we end up where we just have the rowdies, and that is St.

Petersburg's sports team it's it's actually I'm okay with that because the right as much as I want as much as I would love for the the race to call St.

Petersburg home forever, uh we know how that might go.

But I'm really hoping that even beyond this extension that we are able to work towards a path for the rowdies to call St.

Petersburg home for the long haul.

I mean just watch the families that go watch the Ralph's moth.

I mean, some people go just to watch all of that entertainment, you know.

But it is it is just such an incredible experience on our waterfront um with uh a sport that really speaks every language and um touches everyone in some way.

It is an incredible asset for our city.

Um I do have um I wanted to give the team uh I wanted to give you an opportunity to speak if you um if you would like and say a few words.

I also would like to know from either of you um are the repairs and and upgrades.

I mean, we had things that needed to be done before the storms.

So I'd like to know what are we looking at.

This is yet another asset where we've got to put money into it to keep it going.

Um but where do we stand with that?

And is there um along with this extension?

Is there a plan for continued repairs, maintenance, upgrades to keep us moving forward with soccer here?

Well, I'll certainly let Ryan jump in, but but just from a city perspective, um contractually, um the city does provide 200,000 per year for uh general CIP and they provide a plan and we're doing that be above and beyond that.

We are working on repairs.

Um we we we're full steam ahead getting ready for the season.

We're a little bit slower now doing getting the rest of the things, but engineering's working on that, getting all the sustainability things.

But yes, as we're looking at the CRA and looking at all of the things within it, um Al Lang is certainly in that conversation.

So there's that we haven't um made any determinations at this point, but absolutely it's it's in that those conversations and in our conversations with the Center for the Arts and with the feedback we receive from council, so we are talking about that, yes.

Okay, okay, great.

Good afternoon, thanks for having me.

Uh so the rowdies are Tampa Bay's first professional sports team.

Started in 1975 in the modern era, and the rebirth of the rowdies was in 2010.

I've been blessed to uh to be the fifth employee with the team and with them since 2001.

And as we have played at Owl Lang Stadium and been able to call that home the last 15 years, we've created a lot of special memories for people all across the region.

More importantly, we've given back to the community.

We actually just held last week our back to school or a couple weeks ago, our back to school clinic where we brought in close to a hundred kids, provided them with backpacks, school supplies, and our players ended up putting on a clinic for them.

Those are the things that we like to do, and we love to give back in the off season.

We're focused on bringing high school soccer to O Lang Stadium.

We also will work with local youth soccer clubs to have them play matches at O Lang Stadium, and we would like to get back to a point where we're hosting other events at Owl Lang as well.

Thank you.

So we appreciate the support.

Yeah, thanks.

I'm I'm glad you brought that up.

It was actually um the other question that I had, um, or really just a statement as we as we look ahead and um and look at a possible further extension.

The additional events, like the non-soccer events, um is something that I really miss, and it seems like we're we have such an incredible opportunity to bring in um, you know, to book outdoor concerts and and things like that.

Um things that we used to see, haven't seen in a while.

And um, I'm hoping that we can come to an agreement to start bringing that back.

Is that part of the future that you see?

Oh, we will see.

I think the one unique thing about soccer is the ball rolls on the pitch.

And to replace that pitch is anywhere between 400 and 600,000.

And when you have a concert take place there and you have to put down flooring and the stage, it kills the grass on the pitch.

And during the season, it is tough to replace the pitch and give it six to eight weeks rest before we start play again.

So we're exploring different options.

I can tell you we would like to see more events there as well.

Um, but we'll see how we can bring all that to fruition.

All right, that sounds good.

Well, thank you.

Um thanks for all you're doing, and and Beth, thank you for the for overseeing um what looks like a small stadium, but it's a it's a big job.

So thanks for all you're doing.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilmember Harding.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you uh to both City and the Rowdies.

Um soccer has gained popularity.

I am uh a Rowdies fan from uh the original rowdies.

Um my family is a soccer family.

Um yeah, I I am still refing today.

I don't know if you guys need refs.

Um throwing that out there.

And the uh you need a fourth job.

All right.

She's just laughing about what I look like in shorts.

And uh and I I greatly uh appreciate um the the sport itself, right?

There are nine um private private kids' groups just in the St.

Pete area.

Every high school has a team.

Um it is definitely still an up and up and coming sport to this day.

Um the the city uh did uh an amazing job taking what what clearly is uh a baseball arena and in a Shazam kind of moment, transforming it into what it is today.

The uh the rowdies um have been uh a great organization.

We have season tickets.

Um we've met plenty of friends to the this is this like the mahpi um is part of the culture of St.

Pete and and uh and look forward to it continuing.

So thank you for the efforts and thank you for the success.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

I'll move approval.

Second.

Okay, uh just quickly, Beth, thanks for all the work on this, and then um Ryan, I think you've heard it from us.

I mean, we we really enjoy having the rowdies here.

I know my family does, the city does culturally, it's a part of the fabric.

Um, and I I'll just I'll repeat myself from the last item.

I think we're gonna use CI or we're gonna use CRA for CIP there, then we double down on county TDC.

Um and so we gotta we gotta find avenues where we can, and if we're gonna if we're gonna invest in it, I think first professional sports team here in Pinellas County.

We gotta we gotta use the TDC for for what it's there for.

And I know you know that Beth.

I'm just saying it out loud.

Okay, we've got a motion and a second.

Seeing there's no other council members wishing to speak.

Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting?

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing as all present council members have voted, clerk, please tally and announce the vote.

Mr.

Chair, the motion to approve agenda item F three passes unanimously.

Okay, thank you, Beth.

Thank you very much for both of the items.

Thanks so much.

Okay, we're gonna move into F4.

We've got an uh we've got a site plan approval extension for Fairfield Avenue.

Uh and council members, there is no action required on this item.

This is an update only.

Mark, welcome.

Thank you, thank you.

Good afternoon, council members, council chair.

Uh I'm here to this afternoon to uh kind of give you the latest on uh the Fairfield Avenue apartment project and uh just to confirm the uh site plan extension, site plan approval extension.

So uh I didn't prepare a presentation because we've recently been able to connect with all of you on this uh matter, but I wanted to give you a few updates.

Um in recent weeks, the uh developer, first of all, back in April before the uh expiration of their current site plan approval, they did apply in writing or request in writing for an extension, which was a condition of granting that.

So they did meet that requirement in recent weeks.

Uh they've completed demolition on the site in preparation for construction, and most importantly, uh they have now received a firm commitment from HUD for their 221 D4 loan, which is a cornerstone of their project financing.

So for all of those reasons, uh we did uh uh the POD or person of designation was able to approve a site plan approval extension uh for them to be able to begin construction soon.

So I'm available for any questions.

I also have representatives from the developing team development team here if you have any questions.

Okay, we'll go to Councilmember Gabbard.

Thank you, Chair.

I'll be brief.

I just wanted to say thank you, Mark, thank you, Amy, for continuing to stay on this project.

Uh this is a very special project to me.

Um one of the first that we put through the 13 uh 39 legislation that we did that was groundbreaking back in the day.

And uh we continue to push this project forward, and I'm so glad um see Angelo and Fred here today, and so glad that you all have secured financing through HUD that things are continuing to move forward, the demo is done.

We're gonna put a shovel in that ground one of these days.

So I'm looking forward to it, and thank you again for your continued commitment to making this project happen.

So thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

And I should mention that uh financial closing on all funding sources is currently scheduled for October 22nd, and I believe there will be a groundbreaking soon after that.

Okay, Vice Chair Hanowitz.

Thank you, and Council Member Gabber diddle with everything she said.

Y'all are doing great work here.

I just want to get kind of uh in Mark, you just started with kind of a timeline of what we can see in the future.

I'm not holding anyone to exactly a timeline, but just so those that have not we have new council members on here um just to kind of give us what you see when this is gonna happen and what moving forward.

I'd invite uh Angelo to come up and and provide kind of the latest from the development team on what the timeline looks like as we go through these few next steps.

Thank you, Mark.

And uh we've been working on this project for so long that Mark originally started the project working with the county and Rob had a different job, and Amy had a different job.

And but I've had the same job the entire four years on the project.

So we're very fortunate.

Uh my business partner, Fred is one of the lead managers on the development team, Senator uh Jeff Brandis, uh his family originally owned the piece of land.

It was very complicated structure because half of the land was owned by the lumber company, half of the land was owned by the family.

Um the the 64,000 question is taking a little longer be ultimately because of financing and raising the money, and what makes the project really unique, in addition to being 100% affordable housing, it's being built by concrete.

Concrete is 25% more expensive than building your typical uh affordable housing apartments and really market apartments.

Uh, if it was been built in lumber, we probably would be finished with the building uh in the next few months.

So the short answer to your question, uh Councilman Hanowitz, we will plan to break ground in October.

Uh my birthday was October 16th, that's what I was aiming for that.

But it looks like the week of the 20th, worst case within a week or two of that.

Because the demolition is finished, the building permits are ready.

Uh they have to be in order for a HUD loan closing to occur.

Um we anticipate breaking ground immediately.

So, all kidding aside, um the loan servicer who's been working with us for four years, has offered to pay for all the golden shovels, and you all be invited, um, hard hats included.

And with a little luck, we will be starting, you know, first day of November.

It's uh scheduled for about 18-month build, which in construction world means 20 months.

Um, and the beautiful part of the um actual deployment of the construction is there's three separate buildings.

Uh Pinellas County Housing Authority is involved, they'll be managing the buildings.

20% of the 264 units uh are allocated for 50 AMI, the part of the piece that I'm most proud of.

Uh 25% of the project will be allocated for 80 MI 80 AMI, and the other 55% for up to 120 AMI.

Market studies indicate that the uh 55% probably will anticipate to be averaged around that 100-10 AMI number.

Um because there's three buildings, one should be ready in 18 to 19 months, the second one within six weeks, and then the third one with within another six weeks.

And the idea being that you can deploy each building and all the AMI uh residents will be spread out somewhat equally through all three of the buildings.

There will be a pool, a community room, a bike corral.

It's right on uh Pinellas Trail, and there will be a computer lab in each of the three buildings uh for the residents' use.

Um we've jokingly have called this project a unicorn, it checks all of the boxes, and so we're very excited.

And and I shout out to both the former mayor, the current mayor, uh the the city council here, the county commissioners, and certainly Amy and Mark and Mr.

Gerdis for just helping us keep this thing alive.

But most especially I I want to um thank State Senator uh Brannis's family.

Um I told them we could get it done in two or three years, so I got pretty close.

Um they have they have stayed committed to this project.

They view this as a legacy for their um grandfather um who started the lumber company or bought the lumber company back in the 30s.

So well, thank you for that overview.

It's a wonderful legacy, wonderful work.

We want to keep that unicorn alive.

I'm sure that when you started this, like all of us, we never imagined all the things that are happening geopolitically and everywhere.

Um terrace and all the other crazy stuff that are coming down uh the pipeline, and you know, I want to see this sooner rather than later.

So 18 months.

I'm looking forward to it.

Even maybe 22, but but we're looking forward to seeing it.

So we're using the same contractor that Fred and I use to finish reflection.

We started reflection in April, May of 22, and we had the CO in August of 24.

It was a probably a more difficult time.

That was a lot more complicated project, 18 stories.

So we feel like we have the same team ready to go and feel pretty confident in the timeline.

Good, good.

Well, thank you so much.

Well, uh, thank you for the update, Mark and team, and uh I I would just echo everybody's excitement.

I think to uh one get shovels in the ground and and then open the doors for this.

So thanks for bringing this update, uh Mark and team.

Thank you so much.

My pleasure.

All right, we're gonna move into F5.

This is our C D B G DR implement implementation support and technical assistance, and this was pulled uh by Councilmember Gabbard.

Councilmember Gabbard, I'll throw I'll turn it over to you first.

Thank you, Chair.

Um, yeah, so I went ahead and pulled this uh because I mean we have all been very anxiously awaiting um, you know, kind of what the path forward to deployment of these dollars is going to look like.

And uh I was sitting on council when we got ARPA funding back during COVID, and it was very important.

Uh, Councilmember Fig Sanders, Councilmember Driscoll, that we uh had council involved every single step of the way as it pertained to not only executing programming around those dollars, but the implementation and uh really being able to give our feedback.

I look at this money very much the same way.

Um, this is kind of one-time funding.

You know, we've got a lot of diverse priorities with funding, but um we get one shot to get it right.

And so when I saw this large uh amount on the consent order, I thought that it was appropriate for us to pull it, have a conversation about it, and kind of set that precedent that city council really wants to be engaged in every single dollar that is spent through these this program.

So that's the reason why I pulled it, and with that, I'll go ahead and turn it over to Amy Foster.

Thank you, Councilmember Gabbard.

Um, before I turn it over to Aubrey, I just wanted to do a quick thank you.

Um, as many of you know, this work along with all of our other recovery work has been piled on top of the normal work that staff has been doing.

And without Aubrey's leadership and Jess Ridell, I don't know that we would be here today.

Um, we also had a great team with Horn who helped us put together our action plan next week is our 45-day deadline from HUD.

So we're hoping to hear about an approval next week and looking to bring you some type of grant agreement, hopefully in an early October time frame.

So I just it it has been way more than Aubrey and Jess.

Every department in the city has been a key component of this.

Claude's department has had a um heavy lift as well as finance and legal.

Um, and so it's exciting to be here today to move forward these consulting services agreements.

But I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of the staff members across the city administration that have been a part of this work.

And with that, I'm gonna turn it over to Aubrey.

Thank you, Administrator Foster and Council members.

Happy to be here.

And there's the clicker.

Uh so I'm Aubrey Phillips, Strategic Initiatives and Grants Director for the City.

Uh today we're here to request council approval for vendor agreements to support the 159 million dollar Sunrise St.

Pete disaster recovery program that's funded by the community development block grant for disaster recovery, and that's a six-year grant program.

So, just as an overview of these two agreements, uh it is two agreements, one with Horn LLP, one with ICF Incorporated for a total contract value of just over 12.9 million over the six-year grant period.

These two vendor services agreements provide the capacity and expertise needed to ensure effective and compliant implementation.

And this really is important with these funds because it helps to minimize the risk of noncompliance and the federal associate penalties associated with non-compliance.

So today we're requesting uh council authorization to execute these agreements and related documentation and approval of the supplemental appropriation from the CDBGDR fund to support these agreements.

For some context on this, um, I definitely appreciate and uh that council wants to be engaged, and we've appreciated council's engagement up to this point in this process.

We did originally place this on the consent agenda in anticipation of that forthcoming HUD approval of the action plan.

We'll speak more to this in the next steps as well.

But once we receive that action plan approval, we'll be coming back to you again with a full report that includes the grant agreement with HUD, a staffing memo, and an amendment to the city's agreement with Horn for those uh direct beneficiary costs that are associated with um residential recovery and relief, particularly.

And so today's action is critical for it really permits us to continue our planning activities with this vendor support and expertise and really ensure that we are ready to proceed without missing any beat uh once we receive that HUD approval.

I do want to emphasize here that this is unlike some of the COVID relief dollars.

CDBGDR is governed by decades of really layered complex federal regulations.

So there's extensive federal registry requirements that apply to these funds and noncompliance really risks not only that our community is unable to benefit from these funds, but worst case scenario would be a recapture of funds where we're having to pay back grant funds.

So that's something that we're really wanting to make sure that we've got the capacity and the expertise to make sure that staff are supported in implementing these projects compliantly.

Oh I may have pushed it too many times.

No, that's it.

So just to um refresh everyone's memory on our timeline to date.

In January, we received notice of the allocation of these funds.

Also in January, we issued an RFP for comprehensive disaster recovery services, which included services associated with implementation of the community development block grant.

Through February into June, we did a lot of consulting with council and community engagement to inform the action plan development that included surveys, two public hearings, a pop-up session at uh City Hall on Tour and a 30-day public comment period.

On July 15th, we submitted our draft action plan to HUD as approved by City Council.

HUD has been reviewing that, and as administrator Foster referenced, we're expecting approval by uh the 45-day period ends August 29th.

So the draft action plan that was approved by council at the June public hearing directed the 159 million in CDBGR funds to a variety of programs over that six-year grant period that included residential recovery and elevation programming, affordable rental housing, public infrastructure mitigation, and disaster relief programs that helps get checks in people's pockets very quickly to help with the financial impact of these storms.

At this point, I'd like to take a moment to introduce our vendor partners who are here with us today.

Deb Seafort is from ICF Incorporated.

She's going to be providing support on capacity planning along with the rest of the ICF team and technical assistance as staff get familiar with these complex uh federal requirements.

And then also joining us are Scott Keller, Ryan Flannery, and Tyler Bridges from Horn LLP.

Ryan and Tyler are gonna walk us through the next few slides detailing the residential recovery program and the public infrastructure programs that they'll be leading up the implementation on the city council.

Uh it's great to be in front of you again.

Um Ryan Flannery, Horns Director of Policy and Compliance.

Um, if approved, I'll be uh serving as your client executive and senior advisor.

Um Tyler will be serving as your program director.

I just wanted to take a moment to thank the administration to thank staff for all the great work uh and collaboration that we've that we've had along the way developing the plan, and just to take a moment to thank council for consideration of this contract.

We're very much looking forward to supporting uh the city's recovery efforts.

As you all know, it's deeply personal to me, so this opportunity uh really is special uh and I look forward to everything that we can do to support uh again in this recovery.

I'm gonna hand it over to Tyler, but um both Scott and myself are available for any any questions you may have after.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Uh nice to see everyone again.

Uh so we're gonna go over uh just a few slides here to focus particularly on the residential recovery and elevation programs and also the disaster relief reimbursement program.

So with the residential recovery and elevation program, there's two pathways uh rehabilitation or reconstruction, and that would also include uh providing funds for uh elevations or uh participation in the Elevate Florida program as non-federal match, uh whereas the reimbursement program uh allows for reimbursement of repairs already made and through uh the date of application.

So 35 million and 12 million dollars respectively, and uh we're looking at serving 98 households under the rehab recon pathway and 288 households under the reimbursement pathway.

And then finally, with the disaster relief reimbursement program, this is available to both homeowners and renters, those earning less than 80% AMI.

Um, and this would allow uh money to get out the door quickly to households in need, um, and they can receive up to $15,000 uh for a maximum of six consecutive months for expenses that they've already incurred, such as rent mortgage utilities, et cetera.

All note under the residential recovery programs, they are available to both LMI households or those earning less than 80% of the area median income and urgent need if the funding remains available after the prioritization you know goes it goes through.

So prioritization will be on low mod households and also you know, uh families with dependents such as children or elderly, et cetera.

Okay, so the the immediate next step is to get these programs up and running.

Um so we want to immediately um you know engage the public with this uh concept, no wrong front door, which is to make this as easy as possible and make entry as easy as possible as well.

And so uh through outreach engagement, uh social media, the web, working with community partners and nonprofit organizations and also with city council to help you know make the public aware that uh these programs are launching and they're gonna be uh available to apply to receive assistance soon.

Um so not only will the city be providing regular uh email updates and reports to council and working uh with council, you know, through the program design and implementation uh phases, um, but we're also gonna be making sure that the public is aware that this is coming and they'll be able to, you know, apply shortly.

Uh we're already looking at locations to establish an in-person customer service intake and call center.

Um, it'll be you know geographically uh accessible and also um ADA compliant and accessible.

We're looking at hiring uh bilingual staff for the case managers and call centers, and also translation services will be available.

And then, although uh we'll be open, of course, during business hours, we're also looking at uh staffing on evenings and weekends to make sure that everybody has an opportunity to get that in-person uh you know, uh customer service.

Um, and then finally, uh the application status will be available to the applicants every step of the way.

It'll be available online, and we'll also be providing regular updates, of course, to council and also the public at large about the the status of all applications and even individual applications that they'll be able to access uh where their application is at.

So this is just a kind of high-level workflow.

There are three colors here.

The green color is uh key step for the homeowner, the blue is a key step for Horn as the consultant, and then orange is a key step for the city.

The all parties are going to be involved in every sub of the process the entire way.

Um, but in summary, the applicants will apply.

We will then complete the intake and eligibility review process, so make sure we have all their documentation, their applications are filled out, they'll have a designated case manager that will walk them through that entire process.

We then uh perform the damage assessment and DOB stands for duplication of benefits.

So we look at the uh funds that they've already received, either from insurance or for you know other sources, um, and then calculate what assistance is needed to make their award, whether it's additional repairs that need to be made or uh repairs they've already uh made themselves.

Um that then goes to environmental review and the city uh is the responsible entity, so it's required the city of course uh sign off in those environmental reviews, and then the city also has a step built into the process to perform a QAQC and ultimately ultimately make that award to the beneficiary of the homeowner or or the renter.

Um, and so the city is actually engaging in that process and signing the agreement.

Um we then get to where we all want to be, which is construction, um, and uh eventually when the construction is complete, we turn the keys back over to the homeowner, and hopefully they're happy and we're all happy to, and uh we get to close out the the each application and then eventually the entire program.

Okay, and with that, give it back to Aubrey.

So Horn will also be providing support to our public works administration on the public infrastructure and mitigation program, um, helping with some of that planning about which projects we're pursuing.

Um we do have a requirement as are you we discussed back in June that these funds must uh 70% of the funds must benefit uh folks who make 80% of the area median income or less, um, and that uh requirement is program-wide, including the public infrastructure mitigation program.

So that'll also inform the planning about what projects are pursued where.

In terms of the background on this procurement and how we got to today, so as I mentioned earlier in January, we did an RFP for comprehensive disaster recovery and emergency management consulting services, and really our discussion as staff was we're gonna need to do an RFP to get vendors to help support CDBGDR implementation.

Hey, is there an opportunity here for some efficiencies and going ahead and making sure that we have vendors on call that we can qualify now so that when an emergency strikes, we have pre-qualified vendors who we can go to to help support emergency services management and consulting services.

So we had five vendors that we pre-qualified for those selected services, and then as needs arrive, vendors submit proposals that are tailored to those individual project specific needs.

Those agreements that are executed on a project specific basis, they follow the city's standard contracting processes, including council approval for any contracts over a hundred thousand dollars.

So these two agreements before you today, uh, one is with ICF for overall technical assistance and capacity building.

One of the things as staff we've done with program design to help manage costs while making sure that we've got the appropriate capacity and expertise is many of our programs outside of residential recovery and relief and public infrastructure.

We are implementing in-house where we have existing programs that do buyouts and acquisition or home buyer assistance.

We're leveraging that existing staff expertise and knowledge of how our community works, but we're supplementing that with this technical assistance and capacity building from ICF to make sure that those programs are done in a way that's compliant with HUD's requirements.

And then Horn is providing specific uh program management services for that public infrastructure, residential recovery and relief.

Those are our first priority programs to get up and rolling based on council's prior direction about the priorities to get folks assisted out in our community as part of recovery and get investments, critical investments made in our infrastructure.

These costs for these two consulting services agreements are reimbursable under our CDBGR grant.

Some of the costs may be charged to the 5% administrative cost line item that's part of the overall budget.

Others are eligible for direct activity delivery cost that is billable to each program's budget.

That we're anticipating, as I mentioned earlier, HUD's approval of our action plan, and that grant agreement is uh it will be pending that approval of that action plan.

That grant agreement acceptance will be brought to council, as I mentioned, along with an amendment to incorporate those direct benefit costs.

As Tyler was describing, this is really a turnkey service for residents.

They're not having to learn how to manage general contractors or get quotes from vendors.

It is a member of the community saying, I was impacted, I need help, and they are walked through the process with their case manager.

Um and that also has a savings for us on the city side that we're not having to set up hundreds of homeowners as vendors in the city's financial accounting system.

And then in terms of next steps, uh we'll be executing the vendor agreements pending council's approval.

We're anticipating in the next week or so HUD's approval of the CDBG DR action plan.

We understand from HUD that they have the grant agreement ready to go.

So the action plan approval and grant agreement should come to us right together, if not one right after the other.

In September, we'll bring bring that back to council for grant agreement acceptance and appropriation.

Uh you'll see the staffing plan to approve those.

We are not filling any CDBGDR dedicated staff until we have that approved grant agreement, and then uh the amended vendor agreements as mentioned previously.

In the fall, we'll really be getting into engaging with council on program design and launch, uh designing the application intake portal, the intake center site selection, completing the staff hiring and training, making sure that everyone knows the way that we need to do things to make sure that we are meeting all of the compliance requirements, and finally advertising the programs to be ready for a program launch in early 2026, and that is again of those residential recovery and relief programs.

So our recommendation to you today is to approve the resolution authorizing consulting services agreements with HON LLP and ICF Incorporated and the supplemental appropriation of 12.9 million from the CDBG DR fund to support those agreements and execution of necessary documents associated with those two consulting services agreements.

And I'm happy to take any questions you may have.

Thank you.

Councilmember Gabbard.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you for the presentation.

Uh, very uh glad that we're gonna move this forward and keep you guys kind of rolling on this very complicated, quite frankly, program.

Um, so I don't want to get too in the weeds with it, but I do want to kind of understand.

So we are looking at 12.9 million dollars today for these two agreements, and you mentioned that uh the administrative allowance for kind of the total is five percent.

So is this being taken?

Because I tried to go back and match this up with what we were given in the action plan, the numbers.

I I understand they're kind of probably a little bit all over the place.

So can you just kind of break it down?

This these dollars that we're approving today, kind of where do they come from in the individual act?

Yes.

So most of what is covered by HOR would be covered by Horn and L and ICF under these agreements would be activity delivery costs.

So there are vendors or the vendors are providing services that are helping deliver the programs.

That 5% uh program admin costs, and I'll be honest, this is one of the things that we are very excited to get expert guidance on helping us navigate because it's important that that activity the program admin cost has that 5% cap per HUD requirements.

And that is for uh general program administration costs.

So things like finance uh review and approval of things.

If it's related though, um costs associated with delivering particular programs, that's where it can come in that activity delivery cost.

Got it.

So this 12 million is separate from that five percent admin.

Correct.

Okay, yes, good to know.

Thank you.

Um the residential program and recognizing this is not all like we're kind of building the plane while flying it, once again, like we like to do here in the city, but we're actually fairly good at.

Um, so you know, we've got a lot going on, and residents that I talked to who are still in very desperate need, are looking still for the availability of layering programs that we are going to have with, say, for instance, Elevate Florida, which you mentioned.

Um, can you kind of help to walk us through?

We talked about that timeline, and so council received the the item earlier this week that you shared that was kind of that breakdown of the number, um, and and they name it weird things, but in you know, kind of total, it's 152 um applications that have either been earmarked to proceed or have been finalized and submitted to FEMA.

So we know for sure we're gonna have 152, right?

Like pretty much, and um, that is starting to kind of move with the state, but we're looking at not having the matching potentially ready until early 2026.

How is that all gonna work for individuals?

And recognizing it won't be all 152 because we have those AMI limits, right?

Um, but for those individuals that potentially we could help them with that match, how's that timing gonna work?

Yes, so and thank you for the question because it it has been confusing and it's been an evolving situation that we've really had to stay in close communication with the state to try to navigate.

Um, when we originally briefed committee uh back in May, maybe it was quite a while ago, it seems like ages ago now.

Um, one of the early discussions we had about this concept of having CDBGDR be available as that elevate Florida match was our concern that the timing may be the biggest hurdle.

Um, as we got more communication from the state about how they were progressing with Elevate Florida, um, they communicated to us that they are notifying and making final decisions on all elevate Florida applicants this month in August.

Um, so that and they were telling us that basically if folks are gonna wait for your CDBG DR funds to be their match, they're not gonna qualify for Elevate Florida because Elevate Florida is only making awards if folks have that cash in hand to make the match when they're offered the grant award from the state.

So, what we're doing instead is the state has shared with us the information about the applications they received.

So we're preparing a proactive communication plan to reach out to those applicants.

They've already expressed interest in elevating their home to help them understand what assistance may become available through CDBGDR, whether they might be eligible to apply, and if they aren't eligible to apply because of those income limits, what other assistance might be available to them?

So we're looking at flood mitigation assistance and whether that will continue to be an option for homeowners.

So unfortunately, the using CDBGDR is a match for Elevate Florida because of the state moving very quickly, which is great.

We're happy that people are getting assisted.

Um, it doesn't look like that's gonna work out for that to work out, but we are working to make sure that those folks are getting shepherd over into the appropriate programs where they're available.

So if the state is sharing the information about those who did get approved, what about those who have not been approved?

That's who we're preparing that communication plan and getting that information as well.

Yes, I mean, I have some residents that I've been kind of personally like hand holding through a lot of this because of the layers of confusion and really quite frankly, just this feeling of desperation that am I ever gonna be able to get back home?

Yes.

Um, and so uh I just wanted to shout out uh representative Michelle Rayner and Representative Lindsay Cross who both met me at a residence property earlier this week because she is an elderly lady who is wanting to remain in her home.

Um she has been living first, she was in a hotel, now she's in an apartment, and she had owned that home for 40 years, and she kept her insurance in the bank so that she has the match.

And it's looking like, unfortunately, according to the information that she's sharing with us, that she has been waitlisted and waiting for someone else who probably had the means to go ahead and move forward and do whatever they were going to do for their living to basically drop out of the program.

And it's incredibly frustrating because if these programs are not built for people like her, who are they built for?

It makes zero sense to me.

So I'm trying to work and kind of navigate that sort of situation for some residents who are in that kind of unique space, right?

Fixed income, doing all the right things, and have been holding out hope for a program like this that isn't going to happen.

So then what you're saying is that there could be opportunity for someone like her, maybe through this program.

Um so you guys are assuring us that you're going to make that outreach to individuals.

If we as council members have residents like that, can we funnel them over?

Because I mean, I did talk with Amy about her last week.

I talked with Rob about her in the past.

Um, like these are the individuals we should be helping with this, these dollars.

So, yes.

I however, I will so I'll put a couple caveats on this just because I want to manage expectations, recognizing that folks have been through a lot.

Yeah.

Um, one, the state has been directing folks, as has the county who are getting uh letters that they've been declined from Elevate Florida to Sunrise St.

Pete.org.

And while there's not specific information, you know, we haven't gotten our approved action plan yet, so it's hard to say, yes, this program will be available on this date, they can sign up there for updates and we'll be pushing notifications and updates as on a recurring basis, but also as program applications open.

For those that did apply to Elevate Florida, as I said, we have their application information, so they will be getting a direct outreach.

We also have as part of their Elevate Florida application, they were asked to self-report their income and household size.

So that's part of how we can get an understanding now of whether and how many folks are likely to fall into our different prioritization criteria that were included in the action plan.

Okay, so the message is don't give up hope.

Um nothing is guaranteed, but we're gonna continue to try to provide as much relief as possible.

Yep.

And if folks go to sunrise.org, they can sign up and they'll get those updates as programs launch and applications become available.

Do you have more you want to add?

And so, Councilmember, we also have about nine to 12 applicants from the We Are St.

Pete applications that we are holding for Sunrise St.

Pete that we believe are gonna be more appropriately helped by something with a much higher cap based on the types of needs that they have.

And so we will refer those into the program whenever it opens as well.

And Aubrey stated it correctly, but because I know there's so much, so many eyes on this project.

I do want to just kind of clarify the record a little bit in full transparency.

So the answer is yes, that the majority of this work for our contractors is gonna come out of activity delivery costs.

But that is more true for Horn with the single family residential program than it is for ICF.

So there will be cost out of that 12.9 million that hits the admin line.

And I I just don't want you to be surprised by that later.

So it's a both and there's gonna be activity delivery costs in the single family homeowner program as well as some admin, but ICF's program is largely gonna hit the admin line item.

Got it.

Thank you for that clarification.

Um, the last thing I'll say about Elevate Florida, and I know that's not what we're here to talk about today, but I just want to remind uh administration of some conversations I've had, you know, behind the scenes and we had with um the chamber and a permitting task force a couple of weeks ago about um the vendors that have been selected by the state that are gonna be coming into our community.

They are not from our community, they do not know our permitting process, they do not know how the city works.

I continue to encourage administration to get that list of contractors, reach out to them, start to work with them, and then looking to uh collaborate with you on some sort of forum where we can connect those large vendors to subs within our own community because they're not going to do the finishing work.

They're gonna do the elevation, they're gonna get the properties up, or they're gonna build the new, but there's gonna be sub work, and we want that work to stay within our community.

So I just wanted to lift that up again just to make sure that we don't forget about that.

And then the last thing I have specific to this presentation is the mitigation program.

Um, and this may not be an answer we have today, but just kind of thinking out loud.

We had residents come today from other parts of our city talking about what they're experiencing, the flooding that they're experiencing, and the concern that some of that might be from damage from Milton.

And I know even in my own district, there is dredging that residents are asking for in Riviera Bay because of the siltation that has gone into those canals that is specifically from Helene.

And so I'm just curious if things like that are potentially what this 25 million could potentially be used for because there is if we can correlate a direct impact from the storms for those dollars.

Is that something that we think with our consulting team may be able to be used for that?

If you all feel like I misspeak, don't hesitate to come up here and add to it.

But um with painting in broad strokes, yes.

Okay.

The the devil is in the details in that these funds can't be used for regular routine maintenance.

So we have to be cautious of that.

And then currently our allocation does not include Milton.

So this is one of the things that staff have prepared communication to HUD seeking guidance on how we navigate that and what the impacts would be in relation specifically to infrastructure mitigation.

So we're we're actively working to navigate those because we're hearing that.

I'd forgotten about the difference between Helene and Milton and what the funds were supposed to be used for.

So the Riviera Bay example I used, yes, but maybe not the issue with Harshaw and Distan that we were hearing today.

Um but I definitely want us to keep exploring that.

So all right, very good.

With that, I um move approval and uh thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Second.

Okay, Councilmember Givens.

Thank you very much, Chair, and thank you all so much.

I appreciate you.

Good to see you, Aubrey.

Um, I'm happy to see that we are going to be serving our most vulnerable citizens, those living 80% or below the AMI.

Um, I've had those calls as well.

When is help coming?

Um, it's nice to know that help is on the way.

Um, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I understand it's a progress, excuse me, a process and a rigorous one at that.

Um, but it looks like you guys have done a great job at sort of addressing those areas of concern.

I did have a quick question.

Uh, just wanted to differentiate between the programs on the proposed programs.

On slide four, I see um the residential recovery elevation, uh rehab, and then I see um nonprofit community support services.

So, how do the two differentiate?

Because I I would love to see nonprofits supporting Horn in their efforts of outreach and engagement, but I just wanted to know is that more so uh their sole focus?

Are they looking to bring in nonprofits or other third-party organizations to help them there?

Are those two different pots?

How does that work?

I very much appreciate the question.

Um, and yes, Horn will be uh working with and we'll be working closely not only with city council but also with community partners as we get that outreach and communication out.

Um the nonprofit community support services program, though, is a distinct program that is specifically targeted at providing grants to nonprofits to deliver community support services.

So that could be programs related to food security, um, it could be programs related to mental health and uh you know recovery efforts related to that.

Um so that's more about service delivery versus outreach and education and horn, yes, we'll be connected with our community partners and helping get that message out because we know that's where where folks have trusting relationships.

If I could, I also this gives me an opportunity to come back to regarding Elevate Florida and then bringing in subcontractors for the residential recovery program.

There will be an RFP process that Horn leads.

So if we do have local contractors, there'll be an opportunity for them to throw their hat in the ring and want to participate and get that experience as well.

That's good news, and I'm glad Councilmember Gabber brought that up because those will be my conversation since I've been on the dais, making sure we can engage our local contractors on every opportunity and any opportunity that we can.

So that is good news.

Um so the residential program, you kind of alluded to it, Aubrey.

I believe that members of our community are the most trusted source to engage other members of our community.

Um, not knocking horn or you know, who is it, ICF, but I definitely believe we want to rely as much as we can on organizations like Metropolitan Ministries, the hub, St.

Pete Free Clinic, these people who are already engaged with people who may not necessarily be engaged with us, but they need that relief.

They need that help.

Can Horn sort of speak a little bit to their their track record and their experience with working with maybe faith-based partners, nonprofits, because I just want to make sure that we are engaging those boots on the ground people so you don't have to reinvent the wheel.

Absolutely, Councilmember, and thank you for that question.

It's a great question.

It's a very important part of our strategy for outreach.

And um, you know, we've been doing this for 20 years now of going back to Katrina.

Um, every location that we work, every state, local government that we work in, part of what we'll do is we'll develop an outreach communications plan.

That plan will include everything, it'll include for everything from social media to sort of direct opportunity for direct contact, like we've talked about.

We have we have you know the the roles from Elevate, we have the FEMA individual assistance applications.

All those things are very sort of easy and upfront ways to get to people, but they're also easy ways to get to people that you know we already know need the help where we need to focus in on or for those populations that are hardest to get to.

And and again, having done this for a long time, it's it's critical to get out there uh with those with the local leadership with nonprofits with folks who are serving those populations to the extent that you all have connections.

We very much look forward to working with you all to be able to make sure that we're getting to those populations and and the the key here is making them aware and making them comfortable with applying.

One of the things that we've seen is that there is sometimes a hesitancy to engage with government.

We want to make sure that they understand that this process is going to be as as uh easy as possible, uh, that we're working through these things as a partner with them to help them achieve their recovery solutions.

So, in general, it is a part of what we do, it's how we operate, it's something that we take very seriously, it's very important to us.

Very good news, and thank you so much for the assurance.

Um, I was happy to hear that we are gonna have those in-person intake call centers.

Um, I'm thinking about our you know, technologically disadvantaged populations, right?

Those people who may not be computer literate, they are going to need that help and that assistance.

That's the reason I've been pushing the cert teams, right?

Making sure we have people out there, boots on the ground, able to help uh people who may not necessarily be mobile, able to get out there to those centers, making sure we have people who are able to drive and go to them.

Um, I think that's also important.

You you mentioned comfortability with applying.

Um, that's important because I think people have a hard time trusting government, and it's the people that you mentioned uh previously, the latter, those who aren't already engaged, right?

We have to, that's why I mentioned our community partners, engage those community partners.

So I'm really looking forward to the fall.

Aubrey, uh, administrator foster so that we can work with you on this marketing plan.

Um, I have some great ideas, some some great targeted populations that we need to be looking at going to and not expecting them to come to us.

Uh so thank you so much for what you do.

I appreciate it.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Aubrey, thank you for the presentation.

Um and uh looking forward to getting this going.

Okay, we've got a motion and a second on F5, seeing as no other council members wishing wishing to speak.

Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting?

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing as all present council members have voted, clerk please tally and announce the vote.

Mr.

Chair, the motion to approve agenda item F5 passes unanimously.

All right, we're gonna move into new business G1.

Councilmember Fig Sanders.

Thank you, thank you.

Um, colleagues, it's been I want to say maybe three years since we've received an update from USF St.

Petersburg because it's right here in the backyard.

And some of you know about my work with the educational ecosystem with USF, PTC, Eckert College, and who am I missing?

And USF.

St.

P SBC, um, USF, Equity College, and PTC.

There you go.

Um, so there has been a while since we've received an update from USF St.

Pete because of when we went into the preeminence uh mode, we did lose a lot of participation from our young um graduates here in the city of St.

Petersburg.

So during that time, we received an update in regards to the subsidies and the financial assistance that the city of St.

Petersburg actually does partner with USF St.

Pete, but I would love to once again get another update as to where we are with enrollments and how we are actually benefiting from our partnerships with USF St.

Pete.

And with that, I move approval.

Second.

Councilmember Driscoll.

Thank you.

I I do wonder if as part of this discussion that um the folks from the College of Marine Science be invited as um, you know, they are continuing to get state funding for EOS and to expand on the College of Marine Science.

It's an important part of the university as well as an important part of our uh marine science sector that we have here in the city.

So I think it would be interesting to include that as part of the presentation.

Okay, and I was also gonna invite um Cynthia DeLuca, who's the VP for student success, um, to actually come whenever we get a date.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Okay, we have a motion and a second.

Seeing there's no other council members which speak, unless you want to go again.

Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting?

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing as all present council members have voted, Clerk, please finally announce the vote.

Mr.

Chair, the motion to approve agenda item G one passes unanimously.

Okay, we're gonna go to G two back to Councilmember Fix Sanders.

Thank you.

Um, on this one, as we all know, um, I want to say two thousand and nine, we started discussing about the community benefits agreement in regards to certain areas of the city with um economic with development.

And we and those of you that were here in 2020 that actually voted on it.

It was my item, and I couldn't be here to vote on it, because that was the one meeting I missed because I had COVID.

So I am still grateful for those that actually uh moved this forward.

But we are coming on to up to our fifth anniversary with the CBA, and I want to see where we are in regards to how it has helped us as a city is concerned, as well as invite a couple of those that were um very valuable in helping us move this across the line.

So with that, um request respectfully requesting referral to the economic and work for development committee or other relevant committees for a discussion on the advantages of the CBA since its adoption, and also with that I move approval.

Second.

Councilmember Driscoll.

Thank you.

Um, and the wording on this says it would be a discussion on the advantages of the CBA.

I know that now that um this process has been followed a couple of times.

Um there have been comments here and there about ways that it could be improved, so I wonder if the discussion will also improve um involve um uh potential changes or improvements to the initiative.

So thank you for that question.

That is the main gist of it because when we adopted it in 2020, it wasn't halfway of what it was that we actually asked for.

So that's why I wanted to have the conversation to see where we are and where we can move a little bit closer to the original request um that we had for the CBA.

So thank you for voicing that question because that will be a part of the discussion.

Thank you.

Okay, we've got a motion and a second on G2.

Seeing as no other council members wishing to speak.

Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting?

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing is all present council members have voted, Clerk, please tell and announce the vote.

Mr.

Chair, the motion to approve agenda item G two passes unanimously.

Okay, council members, before we go into council committee reports, we're gonna take a break.

And so, and then we'll come back and uh that should time us up pretty well for CRA and public hearing.

So we're gonna break until 445.

Council members were in recess.

Thank you, Chair.

Respectfully requesting City Council to remove the following items from the public services and infrastructure committee referral list, a presentation on the findings of the private laterals pilot study, discussion to include consideration of potential financing programs for residents to administer by self.

And this was Councilmember Gabbard's item and a discussion on the no wake zones on roads during flood events, potential signage and enforcement under Florida statutes, uh section three sixteen point one eight three.

This was also Councilmember Gabbard.

The chair brought it up at the meeting.

And so um I just wanted to give you opportunity if you had No, I mean, I think that oh Chair, sorry.

My mayor.

Absolutely, go ahead.

Yeah.

Okay.

Um so I mean the first you said what I was gonna say, so I was gonna give it right to you.

No, the first item we had just kind of left on there because we weren't sure if it would need to come back after it had gone to Cal, and now the program is kind of rolling out.

So I'll work with administration if there seems to be a reason to bring it back for another update.

We certainly can do so as far as the wake zone legislation.

We've only we've talked about it today, right?

Like we talk about it a lot, and I think that everyone's very clear on what happens.

So yeah, I'm good with it.

Okay.

Move approval.

Second.

Yeah, I'll just add quickly, uh, Councilmember Gabbard certainly wasn't trying to step on any toes, but thought it were what was two while we were cleaning up items on there that I felt like had gotten moved to a point that if we needed to bring them back, we could.

So uh good.

Yep, thank you very much.

Okay, we've got a motion and a second on H1.

Uh seeing as no other council members wishing to speak, Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting?

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing as all present council members have voted, Clerk, please tally and announce the vote.

Mr.

Chair, the motion to approve agenda item H one A passes unanimously.

It's just H one.

Yeah, they've got it as H1A on here on our agenda.

So we'll yeah, it is H one A.

Is it okay there's a report, and there's in the action.

Yeah, I guess I guess the report is H1.

Yeah, I I see it on mine.

So it's okay as it is, Jackie.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right.

Okay, we're gonna move into H2.

Uh Councilmember Floyd.

Uh yep, I am pulling it up right now.

Uh we are respectfully requesting city council approval to remove uh the following items from the housing land use and transportation committee referral list.

Uh it's two items.

The first one is percentage of required permeable green space for yards of budding streets, which was yours, Chair, and then potential amendments to section sixteen point twenty point one twenty point six point two regarding the calculation of floor area floor area ratio bonuses for workforce housing.

That was council member Driscoll's item.

Uh I'll move approval.

Thank you.

We have a motion and a second on H2A.

Seeing there's no other council members wishing to speak, Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting?

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing as all present council members have voted, clerk, please style and announce the vote.

Mr.

Chair, the motion to approve agenda item H2A passes unanimously.

Okay, we're gonna go to H3 back to Councilmember Floyd.

Great.

Uh this time we are respectfully requesting City Council add an ongoing report item from administration to the housing land use and transportation committee for the C D B G R C D B G D R money, and that the administration can bring items forward as needed to the committee prior to taking them to city council.

I'll move approval as well on that.

Thank you.

In the committee, um when this was brought up, I voted um against this simply because we have this adds another layer of bureaucracy to something that already has a lot of red tape.

And as we saw just earlier in this meeting, the item.

While I agree that it should not be on consent, it can be reported directly to city council with robust conversation.

Um and therefore I don't think that it really needs to go to a committee, um, which really just holds up the process.

So I'll be voting now on this item today.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Vice Chair Hanowitz.

Okay, I I wasn't at the meeting if I guess if someone can explain a little bit kind of the background.

If I guess if someone can explain a little bit kind of the background, and and typically typically um go ahead, Vice Chair.

I'm sorry.

I just no, that's all right.

Um, I mean, typically these are really early meetings at eight o'clock, so a lot of times I think my daughter to school, I can't make these meetings.

So I just want to understand kind of the basis before I vote.

I was I was gonna give it to Councilmember Floyd as the chair, but it was Councilmember Gabbard's item.

So I'll I'll go ahead to I'll defer to Councilmember Gabbard.

Yeah, and just the reasoning as to why we'll go to H L U T since we just had a discussion here because it was important for us to hear it, yeah.

So the pardon my I have to like take my brain back to that meeting, right?

And um, as I remember the conversation, you know, a lot of it had to pertain with the fact that you know this is a lot of money being expended, there's entire programs that are being built.

Um, some of that I think is very worthy of city council committee discussion about how those programs are being built, getting our input, making sure that you know we're very clear on those details, and that for me really is work that should be done in the committee when appropriate.

There was the concern brought up about timing, and so we did discuss that, and I think that um, you know, we tried to kind of I think thread the needle on dealing with the timing issues.

Certainly, I don't think that if there was something that could not make it into the committee and had needed to come as an emergency.

I think my only request of administration was that it not be put on consent that it actually be put on the agenda.

But I want city council to be involved as much as possible in all of these decisions, and there will be some complicated building of programming, and so um I'm not as concerned about the timing of it because I trust administration to tell us this was an issue that it just didn't work out.

We have to get it before you now.

And if that is the way it is, so be it.

But this is what this committee is for is to discuss funding that is specifically for housing programs, and so that is why it was important to me to go ahead and make sure that we move that forward.

I'm sorry, not housing programs, but um resiliency and those sort of things.

Okay, sorry, yeah.

By Cher Hanowitz.

Okay, so that I I guess the only concern I would have the only concern I have is it's not just housing, and so it's resiliency, and I just I mean, is that the right fit versus somewhere else?

I don't know because I don't think it's just housing.

Well, a large it says a hundred and I mean what's the total amount we're getting?

A hundred and hundred and sixty million almost and sixty million dollars.

So I I and it's an early here's the thing.

My my only concern is if we're gonna have a committee, I and I my only concern it's an early committee that some of us sometimes I have children in the I mean uh child that have to take to school and car line.

So I if it's something important, I can't make it, and if it involves something that I that is important to me, I don't know about other council members.

That's the only concern I have.

I whether we work it at a committee level, is it gonna come to city council?

Is it just gonna be the housing items maybe that go to H L U T versus you know, if it's something that should go to hers, maybe it should go to hers.

I uh you know, I don't want to complicate it, but maybe it should be the housing or whatever fits within housing go to H L U T, and then if it involves something else, sustainability goes to hers or the appropriate committee, maybe.

I don't know if that complicates things too much.

Yeah, because then it would have to live on the referral list of numerous committees, and I think that almost muddies up the works even more.

Yeah, that's just my opinion.

I mean, everyone can vote the way they're free to vote, as far as I'm concerned.

This was the conversation that came up in committee.

It's here before us today, and I still support us having committee discussion about these dollars.

So I'll leave it at that.

Okay.

Okay, thank you.

Uh Councilmember Fix Sanders.

Thank you.

Um, I understand what Councilmember Gabbard is trying to do, and I understand the question that Vice Chair Hannawitz just had.

And my only um contribution to the conversation is that all council members are invited to every committee that we have, regardless of what it is.

We get the agenda items ahead of time, so we know what it is that we're gonna be talking about.

Um, but I do think this it the DR money is a six-year commitment, right?

Um and that's why I sent my reports to committee because sometimes you can't get in detail when we hear um in council.

So I understand the purpose of it.

I'll be supporting it, but um, I don't know if there's a way if we need it to try to separate it depending on it it just seems like it'll be a lot to do.

Um but as they stated earlier, we're early in the process.

We're gonna go ahead and get it done, but we've always been very mindful in being able to talk about everything at committee level.

I don't think we've not voted to at least be able to engage in the conversation at the committee level.

So I just wanted to put that out there.

Thank you, Chia.

Thank you.

Just quickly before we go to councilmember Gabbard.

Rob, would you just remind us kind of administration's position on the difference between straight uh council in comparison to a committee and then council?

Yeah, I mean, we'll defer to city council where we're happy to work with the chair of HLUT.

Um, as council member gabbard said where there's time, we can work through that.

We can bring it to HLUT.

If it's an urgent item, we can let the chair of HLUT know and let council know we're gonna go straight to council.

So if if this is a setup that council would like, we're fine with it, and we'll do our best to work through it.

Okay, so administration's willing to be nimble on if it's something that needs to get done faster than we just communicate, let you use chairs.

Yeah, okay.

Okay, council member gabbard.

Two other points.

I put my glasses on, I read it again.

So let me just point out HUD is the one that gives us this money.

Yes, it will be used for other things besides just housing, but it comes from HUD.

So I think it's really important that we align that and make sure that we are having these conversations in the appropriate committee based upon where the funding is coming from.

Second, um, an ongoing report.

This was really the crux of what I was trying to get at, because to your point, Councilmember Fix Sanders, this is a six-year obligation, and this council, long after I'm sitting here, should continue to be engaged and understand and have reporting come back to a committee about how the how is it going.

And so this is a legacy item that will live far past me being here, and it will give the future councils the empowerment to say, wait a minute, we have this on here, we haven't had a report on this.

We don't know what's going on with these dollars long after that programming is built.

So that is another reason that I feel very strongly that we need to have this living on a referral committee so that it continues to have legs and it continues to have a conversation that is keeping council engaged.

Okay, Vice Chair Hannes.

And the only the only thing, and I'm fine with supporting it, just to be clear, and it is gonna be a lot of work.

H L U T is busy, so there's hers that may have more.

I'm just throwing it out there.

I'm I I don't if it's the to do the work, it's fine one or the other.

I don't really sit on either one of them.

So I you know it's not a big deal for me in terms of work right now, but you know, that's also a possibility too in terms of timing.

If it is something that administration needs to get on for you all to hear, so and you know, and maybe we the chair could talk to that, but you know, hers is also more flexible.

I'll support either way, councilmember Floyd.

Uh, I'll just say uh I'm chair of excuse me, both of those committees, and uh hers does not meet every month and has been very busy this year as well.

Yeah, so and now we might have a little more time at the end of the year than we will in HLUT, but I'm not sure that that's even the case right now.

So that that is a committee that's quite busy as well.

Uh all right, that's all.

Thank you.

Okay, we have a motion and second.

No, I thought we did.

Okay, just make it sure.

I skip that step sometimes.

All right, we have a motion and a second.

Seeing there's no other council members wishing to speak, clerk.

Could you please open the machine for voting?

Council members, please.

Any of your votes?

Seeing as all present council members have voted, clerk, please tell you and announce the vote.

Mr.

Chair, the motion to approve agenda item H3A passes seven to one with council member Driscoll voting no.

Council members Vic Sanders, Floyd, Gabbard, Gurtis, Givens, Hanowitz, and Harding voting yes.

Okay, we're gonna go into H4.

Back to Councilmember Floyd.

This one is an action item from HERS.

Uh we're respectfully requesting city council approval of a resolution requesting that administration issue a request for proposal for a municipal electric utility feasibility study, which requires city council approval before a contract is awarded to an offer to conduct the study.

Uh I'll just sort of foreground the conversation in.

We've heard a lot of things from speakers and when we had the meeting in hers, we got into details as the difference and whatnot.

But this is just a very like initial step to uh begin us as a body having a conversation about studying this issue when we have a big decision coming up next summer uh on our uh franchise agreement renewal.

So uh I just want to make sure like people we I don't want us to get lost in the weeds of what is and isn't possible because we'll find out what is and isn't possible if we were to go through with this.

So I just wanted to keep remind everyone that and with that I'll move approval.

Second.

Okay, let's go to public comment, please.

First two speakers.

The first two speakers is Marley Price and Alex Schreckter.

Please go to either podium, state your name address for the record, you'll have three minutes to address counsel.

Hello, Marley, 5034, 30 seconds Av North.

Long day today.

It's cool though that the Duke uh representatives get to get paid to be here for this.

Wish I could.

Um so I don't think people really understand just how frequently I'm losing power at my house.

Earlier this week, I was going to a community meeting, but the usual location had a power outage.

Um but at my house, the power goes out so much that we've nearly perfected the process.

We have a generator, an overnight battery pack, a portable AC, backup internet.

So I guess it really comes in handy, but I cannot fathom how we pay some of the highest rates in the entire state, and I've had to accumulate all of these things.

So most of you know that's why I really care about our contract coming up.

Um, but one of the issues I want to talk about today really highlights the difference between Duke and the city when it comes to utilities.

So I'm asking you two things today.

First, please vote yes to start the process for sending an RFP to get bids.

So in however many weeks you can vote again on a feasibility study with the actual cost in the details in front of you.

And I'm really hopeful you will choose this route instead of continuing any backroom negotiations that are happening with Duke completely out of the sunshine, which is something that was said to us in a one-on-one meeting like it was a good thing.

For an agreement that touches every single person in the city, and we haven't been able to have input on in 30 years.

Your constituents deserve accurate informant information and transparency.

And the second, I feel like this is really what sets the city apart from Duke to me.

I know the city administration cares about negatively impacting hundreds of its residents because of some mega landlord in Texas that bought up a bunch of complexes, I guess without having any money.

Um, but does Duke think about those residents when they're doing shutoffs?

Because what I've heard from tenants is that they call Duke to try to find out if the account for the common areas is past due, and Duke won't tell them because they're not the name on the account.

But when those same tenants call the city to learn if their water is going to be shut off, do you know who tells them?

Would you guess which entity is willing to make the distinction between customer and neighbor?

It's the city.

So I'm also asking you, please do not shut off water at the Morgan.

Not today, not next month, and not two months from now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh my name is Alex Schechter of 503432nd AV North.

Um, I don't, I'm not good at scripts, so I have a few bullet points, but I want to first and foremost thank you, Councilmember Floyd and Anne Gabbard for getting us to this point.

And I want to additionally thank you, Councilmember Gabbard, for just being the one to mention that the residents want this.

This is not something that came out of nowhere.

The residents want this.

I've spoken to hundreds of Republicans, Democrats, and independents alike at their doors on their phone, um, you know, after they're done working their very long nine to five, or you know, uh their physical labor jobs.

Um, and this is very much a bipartisan uh effort.

Um I also just wanted to uh bring up that uh you know, us personally at our house, we had our highest bill ever.

And we also uh lost power twice during this billing cycle.

So it's just uh kind of uh wild to me that we uh have a higher bill with some portions of it that we did not have power.

Um also I just want to point out at the um the meeting on the 24th of July, there was an individual who brought up um he was part of the private sector, and he brought up the concept that businesses don't want to invest in St.

Pete due to the concept of uncertainty.

And I just found that ironic because that's what we're asking for.

We're asking for a feasibility study so we can be certain of the most feasible path for not just not the business heads, but the residents of St.

P that keep the city alive.

Uh thank you so much.

Thank you.

Next two speakers, please.

Jason Scott and Jill Jill Bailey.

Please go to either podium, state your name, address for the record.

You'll have three minutes to address council.

Good afternoon, Jason Scott, 4636, Fred Fish Lane.

First, I want to thank the HERS committee for bringing this to a vote.

I believe this step is the bare minimum to give residents transparency on what the costs are for a feasibility.

Doing this RFP has no cost tied to it.

I know we're all excited to hear Clearwater's feasibility, but I want to remind everyone we are not Clearwater.

And our leadership is here in St.

Pete.

We certainly welcome the results, and we can take a look into that, but um St.

Pete will still be lacking transparency if we wait for Clearwater.

I also want to add that according to Jeff Baker from Duke, the city receives 24 million in franchise fees in the last year alone.

I don't see how a multi-decade agreement with such value doesn't require you to do your due diligence and ensure your residents have a good deal.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Jill Bailey.

I live at 540 Caroline Parkway, 33716.

And while I understand that some of the council members may have some concerns of dropping Duke, there's really no harm in at least conducting this feasibility study.

This is to ensure that you the residents of St.

Petersburg have a say in what happens to our utilities.

This is not uncharted territory.

Other communities have done this and done so successfully.

This is just the first phase, and maybe many members of this community are asking for this.

We should be able to allocate a very relatively small percentage of our yearly nearly billion dollar budget just to look at the study to give the residents what they're asking for.

A public option allows the community to have a voice and a choice in the direction that the community wants.

While Duke only has to answer to their shareholders.

Thank you.

We have somebody in Zoom.

Okay.

Um, Christy Ibrahim Vik.

I'm gonna bring you into the meeting space.

When I do, please unmute yourself, state your name and address for the record, and you'll have three minutes to address city council.

Christy, can you hear me?

Uh yes, go ahead, please.

Okay, great.

Um, good afternoon.

Uh, my name is Christy Ibrahimovich on 6249 17th Avenue North.

Um at the open forum last week, I told you how Duke Energy nearly set my home on fire, left three special needs children homeless, refused to take responsibility for the damages that permanently disabled me, and continues to endanger my family every time they are on my property.

Today I'm here to tell you how they got away with it, despite the proof I've already sent to this council.

Duke Energy has built its business to be untouchable.

They are self-insured.

That means when they damage your property, your livelihood, or in my case, your body, they're not just the negligent party, they're also the judge deciding whether you'll be compensated.

Imagine being hit by a drunk driver, and then the driver gets to sit on the jury of their own trial.

This is the system Duke created, and the verdict is always the same, denied.

Unlike every legitimate insurer in Florida, Duke Energy holds no insurance certificate with the state.

That means that they don't answer to the Office of Insurance Regulation and they don't answer to bad faith statutes.

They operate in a vacuum where there is no referee, no oversight, and no consequences.

When they deny claim within hours without inspecting damages or reviewing evidence, it isn't a glitch in the system, it is the system.

And the Florida Public Service Commission, they don't regulate, they enable directly quoted from their own template response.

The utility will be contacting you to address your concerns.

The utility will attempt to resolve the matter directly with you and is required to notify us regarding the resolution.

In other words, Duke investigates Duke.

And when complaints are filed, the public service commission looks the other way.

I know this firsthand.

I have filed five complaints six since October 1st, 2022.

Duke has been found non-compliant more than once.

They have even been caught lying to the Public Service Commission, falsifying timelines to shift the blame onto me.

And when that lie was exposed, the Florida Public Service Commission did absolutely nothing.

No fines, no penalty, no further investigation.

For three years, I have filed complaints with every regulatory body in the state.

Not one has opened an investigation to Duke's actions or into the public service commission's failure to act.

That includes the auditor general and the joint legislative auditing committee.

My next step will be the Department of Justice because there is no justifiable reason why every single oversight body has refused to even look at the evidence.

I will not stop.

I will invoke every statutory right available to me, including equitable tolling due to fraud and concealment until Duke is held accountable and they can't do this to anyone else ever again.

So let's be honest about who we're dealing with.

This is not a company making mistakes.

It's a company that has designed its entire structure to be untouchable.

A company that knows regulators will look the other way, a company that has proven over and over again that they do not care about the people of our city.

It has happened to me three times on my own property.

So imagine what's happening across this city.

And that leaves all the families, ratepayers in communities trapped in a system where safety, fairness, and accountability does not exist.

Council members, this is not sustainable.

We cannot we cannot hand unchecked power to a monopoly that lies, denies, and injured, then escapes consequence every single time.

They do not care about you.

They don't care about this city, and until real accountability is forced on them, they never will.

Please approve the feasibility study.

Thank you.

And next two speakers is Nick Carey and Mary Gherkin.

Please go to either podium.

State your name address for the record.

You only have three minutes to address counsel.

Mary Gherkin, I'm speaking on behalf of Suncoast Sierra Club.

Sierra Club supports the feasibility study to provide the needed information to make a prudent decision on Duke's franchise agreement details.

There's been a revolution in electrical electricity generation and energy management since St.

Pete's last franchise agreement 30 years ago.

Sierra Club volunteers collected and analyzed what our St.

Pete citizens have done regarding clean energy through solar.

Yesterday, Sierra Club forwarded another update showing that more than 6,300 St.

Pete homes across all neighborhoods and demographics are already using solar and saving more than 16 million dollars per year.

Unfortunately, Duke Energy continues to fall short in this area, ranking a dismal 47th out of 53 investor-owned utilities on value and accessibility of energy efficiency program according to the American Council of the Energy Efficiency.

We can do better.

Many of you have shared that your constituents are crying out for relief from skyrocketing utility bills.

Um but you need more information about the costs and benefits of a municipal utility, and and that's where the feasibility study comes in.

Florida can um currently has 35 existing municipal utilities that prioritize citizens, not the corporate shareholder return.

Funding this study is a prudent investment that will provide important needed information on how St.

Pete can ensure affordability for residents and businesses alike for the next 30 years, whether through an improved relationship with Duke or a local locally controlled entity.

You've done a great job asking the right questions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Nick Carey.

I don't think Nick's here anymore.

Okay, he's four.

Okay.

Any anybody else?

That's it, sir.

Okay.

Let's go to Councilmember Harding.

Thank you, Chair.

Um I I have no issue moving this forward at uh at what council member Floyd is asking for before we get to a point of approving an RFP.

Um I think that there are some very basic questions that need to be answered before a study is done.

Uh you are talking about building from scratch a billion-dollar company.

Um, not only is it a billion-dollar company, but it operates more like the police station than a regular company.

It um it needs an emergency operations center that operates 24 hours a day.

It has to be able to do things literally instantaneously.

It needs to be a part of our emergency system.

Uh, it needs to be part of the the storm response system.

It has to coordinate with uh with several other agencies, and and and we literally need to be ready to do that the next day.

So I'd like to hear from public works.

I'd like to hear from um from someone on the administration side that that better understands what it's like to do something like this.

This is this is this will be an administration that is literally bigger than well, it's bigger than public works by a lot.

And we need to start it, and we need to hit the ground running the next day that we that this purchase goes through.

And um and can we do that?

Do we have the ability to do that?

I also would like to know about the appetite to do this.

Um at the end of the day, we need the mayor's support, and we'll need to hear from the mayor on if this is something he's willing to consider.

Um we should hear from finance.

The uh the there is a number, right?

At the end of the day, there's a cost-benefit analysis, and and uh and the the benefit is that that you can have whatever opinion you want to duke, but what we're talking about is their profit margin.

So that that number um can we overcome that with borrowing whatever we need to borrow and then starting a power company on our own.

And these are some questions that um, I mean, there's a these are this is a a massive undertaking for the city.

Um, and I would like to know uh if we're capable of doing this.

The um and so and so I intend to vote yes on this.

We can move this.

I I I think it's a it's a it's a uh it's a it's a good discussion to keep having, and obviously there's there are plenty who are concerned by it.

Um we keep coming back to that the amount spent on a feasibility study.

Not so much concerned about that, more concerned about the fact that that we need to have answers from our own team before we have other people look at this, and um, and I think we can get there.

Um legal.

Sorry, I forgot that.

And we really need to hear from legal.

Um this is not a this is this is not a this will not be a friendly purchase.

Um you won't have two willing parts two willing parties.

And that's okay.

That leaves us because we're we're sovereign, that leaves us with an option.

Um, and we can go after um eminent domain.

What does that look like?

What's the possibility of that happening?

Uh, what's the time frame for that happening?

What's the cost for that happening?

Uh and and the and that's a that that could be a a big red flag in right from the get go.

But these are the things that uh that we should ask before we go out and ask another company to take a look at us.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Vice Chair Hanowitz.

Thank you.

Um so for me on this issue, I think procedurally, this is more cart before the horse.

I would rather have the clear water study.

I think we need a committee of the whole, so we have both sides of the issue before we actually have a resolution asking already for a proposal on a feasibility study.

The problem that I have with these type of resolutions is the public, what they think is we're gonna do a feasibility study immediately.

Like it doesn't matter what it says or what this, you know, it's we're requesting administration.

That's what I'm hearing out there, and I just don't like that.

I rather have a real conversation first.

I think we are gonna get the clear water study, and I think this is gonna really be a robust conversation at a cow with all of us, and then we can have an appropriate vote with the information we have.

I don't think, in terms of timing or anything, it's gonna change anything.

So I'm a no on this just because I I don't like these type of resolutions.

I think it confuses the public.

And I think at the end of the day, what's gonna happen, practically speaking, is administration is gonna probably get the clear water study, it's gonna review it, and we're gonna get more information before even going forward with it.

So that's why I'm on no.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Driscoll.

Thank you.

I voted no on this item in the committee because I do think that it would be in our best interest to wait and see what the Clearwater Study says, what we can glean from that before we start expending time and funds on um a study of our own.

I would much rather have the administration working on improving the utility that we already have.

So I will remain a no on this.

Um, although in the grand scheme of things, I am very interested in hearing more from the public and from experts and the administration on what this might look like going forward.

But for now, I want to wait on clear water and I'll be a no today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Gibbons.

Thank you very much, Chair.

I'm just curious if we can briefly hear from uh legal, what would it look like if we were to go to court uh with Duke uh to battle this out?

Well, is speculation would be that Duke would not be a willing seller since they are not a willing seller to the city of Clearwater, and that we would have to go to a process of eminent domain and more importantly, valuation.

And that is a time where both sides bring experts together to estimate the value of the assets of Duke Energy, and then once that has been accomplished, um, it will be up to the court as far as us showing a municipal purpose for uh seizing those assets through eminent domain and the value of those assets through eminent domain.

Thank you very much, Janina.

Appreciate that.

I heard it mentioned earlier that there was no cost associated, but I want to make it clear that there is a cost.

Um we could end up in tedious litigation that could go on for God knows how long and cost taxpayers God knows how much.

Um so I'm realistic, but I'm also that council member who's willing to give people a voice, who's willing to listen to my constituents and to give them an opportunity to have a say in the democratic process.

And I think part of this discussion is affordability.

Our consumers are hurting at the pockets, and I'm one of them.

450 dollars was my bill yesterday.

The highest bill that I have ever received.

And I was disgusted because I felt what my constituents are feeling.

And I don't think waiting 10, 15, 20, or 30 years for a public power utility is what they want to hear.

They want help now.

So, yes, I am happy to have conversations with Duke.

I am happy to talk to Duke.

I don't want to just hear from administration what the conversations are.

I want to be in the room myself.

I want to be at the table making the demands of my constituents known that they want help now, not later.

Single mothers who can barely afford to put food on the table now have to try to figure out how they're going to pay their utility bills every month.

It's a matter of do I have power, do I have food, or do I have water?

Those are the questions that people are asking themselves these days.

Meanwhile, we want to talk about spending God knows how much on a study.

I am perfectly okay with pursuing the study because I want the study to tell us what's possible, what's not possible.

What can we afford, what can't we afford?

But what I don't want to do is just frivolously throw money away at a problem that we cannot fix.

I want to be realistic.

I have had those conversations.

I've done my due diligence.

I have done my homework.

I've spoken to leaders in in local Florida municipalities to say, how are you handling this situation?

What are the challenges and how can we overcome it should we decide to pursue this?

I think there's a reason it hasn't been pursued in the last two decades, but again, I want to also see what Clearwater study says.

But correct me if I'm wrong, it's been about a year or so, maybe longer, and we are still waiting.

And so I want to set a realistic timeline.

This could be a question for administration or for legal, but I believe we have until July 31st of 2026 to come up with some sort of an agreement and negotiations with Duke.

Um, what happens after the 20, the 31st, uh July 31st of 2026, should we not come up with an agreement?

Would you like to take that, Ms.

Williams?

Absolutely.

Um if we don't come to an agreement, then the status quo is basically what happens.

There are a couple of court cases that demonstrate that it's sort of like a tenant uh holdover tenant, I'll say, um, in an apartment.

So everything continues as long as the rent is being paid.

So the franchise fee would be continued to uh be accepted from consumers, which would be remitted to the city until there is an agreement that is reached.

So, in other words, we're still at Duke's mercy.

Um, and and that's what I want to make clear is we have to have a clear exit strategy.

And what I want to work on is contingency plans.

I want to make sure that there's an exit plan in place so that we don't leave our constituents, you all, the rate players, people like me, we don't put you on the hook to pay this bill.

Because it's going to come at a cost.

And I want to make sure it's affordable to you all before we just bought off something that we can't chew.

And so, again, realistically, I am supporting this study simply because I want to take it to the next step to see what can and cannot work.

But at the same token, I just want to be realistic and I want to also make it be known to Duke that you know we don't want another 30-year agreement.

We want to look at a shorter timeline, 10, 15 years, because yes, should we decide to pursue this public utility option, we want to make clear that the relationship's over and we want a way out.

So thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilmember Gabbard.

Thank you, Chair.

So we're gonna level set where we are today just because lift up some of the things that people have said you know earlier in open forum, just now, that really the step we're taking right now costs us nothing because administration, hopefully, will go with our guidance and they will issue this RFP.

And then that is gonna come back and it's gonna tell us what that feasibility study would even cost, what that would look like.

And then from there we'll make that decision.

This is a step-by-step process.

Today just begins that process.

And to your point, we're running out of time.

We don't have time to wait on someone else's study or for us to gather information that quite frankly, I think will be gathered through a feasibility study and will help to guide what that could look like overall.

Um, I see no danger in us moving forward past today.

Um, I see a lot of danger in not moving forward past today, because then we're gonna be forced to go ahead and move into a negotiation without all of the information and without doing all of our due diligence.

And that is what I hear residents asking for.

The residents that I talk to are very keen on what the realities are around the potential for a municipal electric.

The residents that I talk to and the ones that we hear from, I don't hear them thinking that this is an absolute.

That once we vote today, well, then they're gonna give us some municipal power.

I that's not what I hear.

I just hear them asking us to lift up their voices in looking for alternatives.

I want their voices to be our guide through this process because they are the ones that are paying these bills.

They are the ones who are feeling this pain.

And so that's why I'm so adamant about us moving this forward today, because we cannot make the proper decision, negotiate in the right way, look at the future of the city without this step.

And so I would vote yes today a million times over to make sure that we continue to get the information that we need to make the best decision possible.

So I'm very happy to support this and looking forward to hopefully this passing today and then looking at what those next steps might be.

And then as far as administration, I really hope that administration will walk lockstep with us in making sure that they are also doing their due diligence and that no one is rubber stamping a 30-year agreement with a private company who is beholden to their shareholders without looking at every single other opportunity that may exist.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Uh before going to Councilmember Harding, we're gonna go to Councilmember Fix Sanders.

Thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

Well, um again, thank you all for your feedback and input on this.

So my perspective.

Dump Duke is not my perspective.

Um, but providing the information that we need to move forward one way or another is why I am supporting the feasibility study, which is going to tell us what we can, what we cannot, much it will cost.

Um, because at the end of the day, we are living under a 30-year contract that we're not happy with on a whole nother different area.

So I'm not gonna support another 30 year contract.

However, I do want to know that whatever decision we make, we've had all of the information.

It you know, when you go and and you know, you want to buy into something, and then you agree to it only to find out that you didn't have all the information.

You step back and you look at what it cost you to get to that point versus the frustration you've had by not having information.

So I would rather have the information and know than to not know.

We're gonna go back to do.

I would think that Duke would be interested in us wanting to know because they know what it's gonna cost.

They know how expensive it is, and this is a huge undertaking.

This isn't something we're gonna do in 10 years.

I don't see it happening anytime soon because of the cost.

So you do the feasibility study, you find out what it it costs, we talk about it and discuss it, and we may come to the agreement.

This is just a lot too much bigger than we can than we can handle.

So not having information to me is not doing due diligence to the constituents, not having not doing the study to me is not doing due diligence to us as decision makers.

Um so I'm going to support it because I just want information.

This is about education for me.

This is not an end game of dumping due.

This is about having the information to move forward.

So with that being said, I'm hoping that we remain objective.

I'm hoping that we keep, you know, um our constituents as our first line of decision making when it comes down to helping to relieve some of the financial burden that we've had.

All of us have highlight bills.

And the there's another question was was asked of me.

So if we do the physical feasibility study, where are we gonna find the money?

I hate when they ask those questions.

Where we because every time we need something, money is always found.

Why can't we find it for this to educate our residents?

Why can't we find it to have the information and be armed with what it actually would look like?

I know they keep saying waiting on clear water, we're not clear water.

This is the city of St.

Petersburg.

It's gonna look different, it's gonna be different, and we can't gauge what we do based on someone else's progress.

We don't know when clear water is gonna finish.

It was supposed to be finished, I don't know how long ago, and we're still waiting.

So I don't I think that's a poor excuse for us to not go ahead and move forward.

We want to wait on clear water.

I don't I don't gauge my household based on my neighbors.

I do what's best for my household, and I'm hoping that we will do the same thing.

I'm gonna support it.

Um, but again, I like that we're taking baby steps on this because we get back and we may not go any further than what we're doing here today.

So I just wanted to put my two cents in there.

For me, it's not dump do is educate our constituents.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilmember Harding, sorry, I'm gonna skip you one more time and go to Councilmember Floyd and let first round go through.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And uh I really want to say thank you to all my colleagues for their contribution today.

It's been a really thoughtful conversation, actually uh all day, has been, and so I appreciate it starting this morning and hers.

Um and uh, you know, we've spoken about clear water a few times.

Uh I waited for a long time to bring this forward to even have a discussion waiting for clear water, and uh just determined I couldn't wait anymore.

And I do hope that before we get into any more in-depth conversation, we'll get theirs back.

I'm really anticipating that.

Uh, but again, I can't say for sure.

And then I wanted to just comment on something council member Harding said earlier um about like all the questions you want to see answered um hopefully by administration.

I I can't say, you know, I don't know if administration's gonna be able to answer a lot of them.

Some of them are like uh cornerstones of what feasibility studies in this uh uh realm do.

But I do think that uh when I I'll continue to work on this issue, and as we bring it back, uh I think we some of the getting as much information as possible from administration is definitely gonna be a good part of the initial conversation, I think.

So I think you brought up some really reasonable points.

Um and I do look forward to actually getting as much info as we can before we make any other big steps.

So I'll uh I just wanted to let you know I've taken that to heart and I'll continue uh to work on getting as much info as possible.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilmember, really I could have gone, but I figured I'd let you go.

Thank you, Chair.

Um I'd like to to thank my colleagues first.

This this is absolutely the the best discussion um that this body has had since I've been on it.

Um this is this is what discussion should look like, and I I am uh I'm I'm very happy and appreciative.

Uh so thank you.

Uh I would I would like to get a a little bit of clarity from uh from legal.

Um the uh I I the I think it's called a fran the agreement that we have now, I'm not sure what you term it with Duke, a franchise agreement, a franchise agreement.

The franchise agreement that we have with Duke now.

Um does it have anything to do with whether we want to try and purchase them or not, or is it irrelevant?

If we want to try and buy them tomorrow or sign a new one and buy it then, um does it is it relevant or irrelevant?

The franchise agreement does not include a provision regarding that.

Uh so in other words, we could try tomorrow, or we could sign another one and try the day after.

So it so there's no deadline.

And when I say deadline, I mean if we wanted to, we could file papers tomorrow.

You guys have to stay up all night, I'm afraid.

Um, but we can file papers tomorrow, correct?

You say file the paper.

To for however eminent domain works, file papers of the court or whatever.

You could start the process.

Now the franchise agreement does grant a non-exclusive uh right to provide electricity within the service area.

So you could start the process, but to uh start another electric facility, you would have to wait until the term ended in that franchise agreement to be able to do that.

Okay.

All right, thank you for that.

Um the the point was made more than a couple times about taking steps, and that and that is my um and that is my ask, and um, and I'll back up a step.

Uh I haven't been doing this long enough.

I appreciate Vice Chair Hanowitz educating me.

Um I I see the value in um in this going to cow.

I didn't think about uh that as an option.

And um and back to the the the point and and thank you, uh Councilmember Floyd.

Um I I would just like to I would just like to hear uh not definitive answers, but I would like to hear from and and uh and to uh I'm gonna go ahead and say it now to my favorite council member Fig Sanders.

I apologize to all the rest of you, but I also have a favorite kid.

Um to her point.

Um I love you all equally I'm just kidding.

Wait a whuss out.

Um I I would like to hear from administration um on those points.

They might not have definitive answers, but again, you you're you're talking about um, and this is a discussion again well worth having.

You you you're talking about doing something that is that is absolutely bigger than anything the city has ever done.

You're talking about borrowing more money by twice as much as this city has ever looked at buying at borrowing in its history.

You're talking about creating uh an administration that uh that rivals police and fire together.

And um, and if that's a discussion that that and if we're going to move forward with it, absolutely.

But we should hear from the people who do that kind of stuff first.

Um that again, spending the money on a feasibility study, if that's where we're headed, and if that's what what our constituents want, then we should do that.

But it seems to me that before we do that, we should just hear from the people who are gonna have to carry that weight um on whether on whether they support it, on whether they think we can do it, um, and on whether they they think we can we can pull off the the legal financial part based on you know uh on on rounded off numbers.

So um so I would I would prefer that um that this go to a discussion before it goes goes to uh uh an RFP for a feasibility study.

Um and so I'll vote no on this, but if it moves forward, I'm all for it.

Okay.

Um so I I made comments in committee on this, and you know, I very much struggle with this.

And I've met with the some constituents, met with administration, met with I did a couple of one-on-ones up at FLC uh last week, and um you know I I very much am struggling with all of it, but I'm gonna stick by what I said in committee, which is I will move this item forward and see what comes back.

But it is a I am a far way away from a yes vote when these proposals come back when I see the cost and scope.

And I know there were a couple of comments about cost, you know.

I disagree with the cost of it doesn't matter.

Um there are a lot of ways you can spend quarter million dollars, half a million dollars, a million dollars.

And so um, you know, uh there's been talk about the Clearwater study.

Yes, St.

Pete is different than Clearwater, but it sure gives you a pretty good idea.

Also, if you know how much theirs cost, based on the size of our city comparison to their city, that should tell you about how much that's gonna cost.

And so I'm I struggle with it.

But I'm gonna I'm gonna stick to what I said in committee because uh I I'm not gonna I'm not gonna let that I'm not gonna flip-flop from that.

And so I'm gonna stick, I'm gonna stick to what I said, which is I would move this forward, but I'm gonna be super critical if administration if, and that's a if administration decides to go out to RFP and what comes back both from cost and of scope, because I would agree with both vice chair and council member Harding that I would much rather have a robust discussion at a cow than go out to RFP because I think that is more helpful.

But again, I'm gonna stick to what I said in committee.

Um I'll just I'll leave it there.

Okay.

Any other council members wishing to speak?

I think we have a motion and a second.

Clerk, please open the machine for voting.

Council members, please any of your votes.

Seeing as all present council members have voted, clerk, please tally and announce the vote.

Mr.

Chair, the motion to approve agenda item H4A passes five to three with council members Driscoll, Hanowitz, and Harding voting no.

Council members Fix Sanders, Floyd, Gabbard, Gurtis, and Givens voting yes.

Okay, council members, we're gonna recess as city council and convene as the CRA, and we're gonna go into CRA2.

And we've got Carly joining us.

Welcome, Carly.

Good afternoon, Chair and members of the community redevelopment agency and council.

Um so I'm just gonna give a little bit of information on the proposals that we received that we're discussing, and then I'm gonna go a little bit over the procedural requirements that we went over as well.

So the proposal is from Bright Community Trust, who is a Florida nonprofit that constructs um affordable homes, and they utilize a community land trust model that ensures perpetual affordability.

So the proposals that we received were for two lots at 974 23rd Av South and 835 Queensborough Av South, which are obviously in the CRA.

Um the proposals were for two single family homes.

They're three bed, two bath, one car garage.

They're to be sold at 80% AMI to qualified hope home buyers, and um they will receive a down payment assistance from the city of St.

Pete.

So the city plans to enter into a 24-month land lease agreement with Bright Community Trust.

Um, and this is very similar to what happens in the lot disposition program.

Um, and so it's very similar in nature.

The really the only differences is that it fit Sprite Community Trust model, which is a community land trust.

Um, and then the property itself, like I said, will enter into that land trust, and then the homes will be sold separately.

So the properties were acquired in 2010 through the neighborhood stabilization program.

Um they were under bank-owned foreclosures.

We've had these properties for quite a bit of time.

Um, and they are in line with the CRA plan, and the properties were noticed for 30 days per Florida law, which triggered an open bid process.

So this goes into that Florida law statute.

So we did receive two alternative proposals per property, so they are both from Habitat for Humanity, Tampa Bay Gulf side.

Um they were considered, however, Bright's proposals are gonna be for their homes are gonna be placed in a community land trust, which we felt was really really important for that perpetual affordability.

And the projects are going to utilize our home investment partnership Coto funds, so community housing development organization funds.

And the city has a 15% set aside requirement each year to spend those funds on new construction of affordable housing.

Bright Community Trust is one of our only chotos in the community, so it's really important that we get those funds out the door.

And so they've been a great partner in creating affordable housing with us and utilizing our funds to create permanent affordable home ownership opportunities.

And then the property is being disposed of for less than fair market value.

So obviously we have a public notice hearing.

So if you have any questions, I'm here.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Gabbard.

Thank you, Chair.

Very quickly.

So you mentioned, and I'm pretty familiar with the work that Bright does.

I don't think they do quite enough in our city.

So I'm very glad to see this coming before us today and very much support uh land trust as a very important piece of affordable housing.

Um but the question I had, and it might be kind of premature, is so next steps.

If this passes today, um they haven't yet submitted any site plan or anything like that for no, so they've submitted proposals to construct these homes.

Got it.

Okay, all right.

So um if we approve this today, then you would move forward with that process from there.

Um would there be any subsequent city council votes that would need to happen, or this would be it?

Nope, that will be it.

And we have timelines set aside in the lease agreement for that permitting process, and then when they have to get CO by.

So they have to follow a timeline.

That lease agreement is 24 months, right?

Yes, okay, for both homes.

All right, very good.

Um, so yeah, I'll go ahead and move approval.

Thank you.

Second.

We have a motion and a second on CRA two.

Seeing as no other council members wishing to speak.

Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting?

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing as all present council members have voted, clerk, please tally and announce the vote.

Mr.

Chair, the motion to approve agenda item CRA two passes unanimously.

Okay, we are gonna adjourn as the CRA and reconvene as city council, and we're gonna move into J 4.

Same item, council members.

Move approval.

Second.

We've got a motion and a second on J four.

Seeing as no council members wishing to speak.

Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting?

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing as all present council members have voted, clerk, please tally in announce the vote.

Mr.

Chair, the motion to approve agenda item J four passes unanimously.

Okay, we're gonna move into J 1.

If you could please read the ordinance, Clerk.

Proposed ordinance number 613-H and ordinance providing for a for the sales service dispensing possession and or consumption of alcoholic beverages in the Deuce Corner Park for an event to be held on November 1, 2025, and providing for an effective date.

And Mr.

Chair, we do not have any cards on this.

Move for approval.

Second.

We've got a motion and a second on J 1.

Seeing as no other council members wishing to speak.

Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting?

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing as all present council members have voted.

Clerk, please tally and announce the vote.

Mr.

Chair, the motion to approve agenda item J1 passes unanimously.

Okay, we're gonna go to J2.

Clerk, please read the ordinance.

An ordinance providing for the sales, service, dispensing, possession, and or consumption of alcoholic beverages in a portion of Azalea Park for an event to be held on March 7, 2026 with a rain date of March 8th, 2026, and providing for an effective date.

And we do not have any cards on this.

Move approval.

Second.

We've got a motion and a second on J2.

Seeing there's no other council members wishing to speak.

Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting?

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing as all present council members have voted, clerk please tally and announce the vote.

Mr.

Chair, the motion to approve agenda item J two passes unanimously.

Yes.

Okay.

We are going to move into J three.

Clerk, could you please read the ordinance?

Ordinance number 1173-V.

In ordinance approving the vacation of a street corner easement at the southeast corner of lot one, block one, City of St.

Petersburg, block 49, partial replant, generally located at 800 2nd Avenue South, setting forth conditions for the vacation to become effective and providing for an effective date.

And Mr.

Chair, we do not have any cards on this.

Approval.

Second.

I was about to say, Council members, this might be the smallest vacation.

Right.

And on it.

Yeah, I'm not sure if both my feet would fit on it.

And I'm not that tall.

All right.

We've got a motion second on J 3, seeing there's no other council members wishing to see.

Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting?

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing as all present council members have voted.

Clerk, please tally and announce the vote.

Mr.

Chair, the motion to approve agenda item J 3 passes unanimously.

Okay, we are going to go to picture J 5.

Uh Clerk, could you or yeah, could you please read the ordinance?

Ordinance number 139-HL.

An ordinance of the city at St.

Petersburg, Florida, designating Trinity Evangelist Vangelical Lutheran Church located at 467 4th Avenue South North as a local historic landmark and adding the property to the St.

Petersburg Register of Historic Places pursuant to Section 16.30.070 City Code and providing for an effective date.

And Mr.

Chair, we do have cards on this.

Okay, could you please swear in the speakers?

Absolutely.

Anyone speaking on this item?

Please can you please for a firm that they're blacking?

I do.

Straight.

Okay, we will move into presentations.

Staff, welcome.

Thank you.

Um, Chair and Council members, Cindy Kohannick, historic preservationist for the city of St.

Petersburg.

This project is for the review of a local landmark designation for Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, located at 467 4th Ave North, also addressed at 401 Fifth Street North.

This landmark designation application is owner initiated with support from Preserve the Berg.

The Community Planning and Preservation Commission recommended approval for this application at their July 8th meeting.

Trinity Lutheran Church is located in downtown, and the property is contributing to the downtown National Register Historic District and is listed as a potentially eligible property.

The applicant is seeking designation for the main sanctuary portion of the building only, excluding the additions to the north of the original building and the parking lot on the parcel.

Trinity Lutheran Church was organized in 1911.

Trinity originally held services in other parts of the city.

The first church building built for specifically for Trinity was located where the current YMCA is now, and that's at the corner of 2nd Ave South and Fifth Street South.

By 1920, the chapel at this location was no longer large enough, so the church purchased land at its current location of Fourth Ave North and Fifth Street North.

Construction for Trinity's original building on its current site started in 1922, but was not completed until the spring of 1924.

Services were held in the new building as early as January 1923.

The Gothic Revival style sanctuary was designed by E.

R.

Frost with the firm of Honorbaum and Froce out of St.

Louis.

Construction was supervised by Victor A.

Boki, who is a church member.

The main sanctuary building is a three-story masonry building in an irregular form.

The red terracotta tile roof is a more unique feature for this style.

The building has a first floor that says three feet below street level, and towers are present on the southwest and southeast corners.

The building still retains most of the original wood uh wood doors and original windows.