Welcome to the City of St.

Petersburg City Council meeting.

Your elected officials are Mayor Ken Welch.

District 1, Hopley Gurdis, District 2, Brandy Gabbard.

District 3, Mike Harding.

District 4, and Council Chair, Lissette Hanowitz.

District 5, Deborah Fig Sanders.

District 6, Gina Driscoll.

District 7, Corey Gibbons Jr.

And District 8 and Council Vice Chair, Richie Floyd.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Welcome to the January 22nd, 2026 City Council meeting.

Clerk, can I please have a roll call?

Curtis.

Gabbard.

Harding.

Hannawitz.

Here.

Sanders.

Here.

Driscoll.

Here.

Givens.

Here.

Floyd.

Here.

Well, today we're going to have our invocation by the Reverend Kelvin Jackson, the St.

Petersburg Fire Rescue Chaplain.

If you could please stand and then please remain standing for our Pledge of Allegiance.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Don't get nervous.

This is not a Bible.

Let me pray.

Pray now.

Father, we thank you, God right now for who you are.

We thank you for your protection.

And we thank you for your patience and your guide.

We pray for the city council and our mayor.

And first of all, Father, I'd like to thank you for the mayor in this council of distinguished men and women who you personally selected through the will of your people to lead us into that safe place.

Can look back and say, Thank you, God, for my city.

It was a council like this one, Father, that laid the foundation in the groundwork for somebody like me to have a family, three kids in the military.

To look back and remember that they spent long nights and toiled and prayed for me and for my family and for my children.

And that's what I pray for this council.

I won't read the rest of what I have, but I just thank God for each one of you in your places here today.

I pray for your families, your children.

I pray for you and your safety.

And I pray that God give you the vision that He gave the council that was here when I when I first started that gave me my footing, that took care of my family, that fed my children.

Give you the vision that they had to continue to move us forward.

There was good here.

And you guys you guys are leading us into that good in that safe place.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

One nation.

Under God.

With liberty and that's for all.

Thank you.

Y'all may be seated.

Thank you, Reverend Jackson, for that beautiful invocation.

Council members, we have an agenda before us.

I'll entertain a motion for approval.

Second.

Clerk, we have a motion and second.

If you can open the machine for voting, council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing that all present council members have voted.

Clerk Q, please tally and announce the vote.

Madam Chair, motion to approve the agenda, passes unanimously.

Thank you.

Council members, we have a consent agenda before us for approval.

Before we entertain that, I just want to thank uh administration and uh Amy Foster and her team for getting the CBDGR.

I got all the acronym wrong.

Thank you.

And thank you for allowing us to put it on the agenda late notice.

Thank you.

It was late notice, and it's uh HUD agreement that was received after the HLUT meeting.

Um, so we're very thankful that that was done.

So I'll entertain a motion and move approval.

Second, a motion and second.

Clerk, you please open the machine for voting.

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing that all present council member.

Sorry.

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

Madam Chair, motion to approve the agenda, passes unanimously with Councilmember Gabbard being absent.

Thank you.

Clerk, are there any speakers for open forum?

Uh yes, madam chair.

If you so, can you please read the rules?

Uh, if you wish to address city council on subjects other than public hearing or quadrijudicial items listed on the agenda, please sign up with the clerk.

On the individual wishing to speak, may sign the open form sheet.

Only 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 wishing to speak 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 counsel, each individual will 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 raised 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 reach 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 a 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 live public comment is disrupted by violations of the rules of decorum, the chair is authorized to accept public comment by alternate means, including by email only.

State your name and address for the record, and you'll have three minutes to address City Council.

Hello, Brad Falbo, 1856 Al Mario Way South.

People across this country are fed up with government at every level because too often we see dishonesty, self-protection, and a lack of accountability.

You have the authority to change that here.

If you choose not to, then you are separate.

You are not separate from the problem.

You are sustaining it.

Right now, the public sees a breakdown in basic civic standards.

Weeks weak checks and balances, limited accountability, reduced transparency, and an erosion of decency, decorum, and values in public service.

We just observed Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Day.

His legacy is not ceremonial.

It is a standard.

The diversity represented on this council did not exist decades ago, and it did not happen by accident.

People fought, suffered, and died so that leaders would represent the public faithfully.

Yet too often the same patterns repeat.

Elected officials act untouchable, dismiss constituents, and treat scrutiny, scrutiny as an inconvenience rather than a duty.

Council members work for the public.

Taxpayers fund this government and pay for your salaries.

That comes with an obligation to demonstrate transparently how your time and authority are being used.

So why am I receiving communications indicating that Deborah Fixanders worked roughly 40 hours over the course of October and November?

In my professional role, when I bill clients, I work, I account for my time in 15 minute increments and document what I did by project, by task, and with specificity.

Why is it difficult for the public to obtain basic information about the calendars of elected officials?

Why is it difficult to determine whether officials are working and what they are working on?

This shouldn't come as a surprise.

You will be receiving another lawsuit from me.

The public records process is not improving.

It is deteriorating.

For two years I have raised public records concerns directly with you.

This council, the mayor, the city clerk, and certain members of this administration are weighing wasting taxpayer money and public resources to shield public records from public viewing.

More importantly, it signals that this body does not respond to constituents until forced.

After my first lawsuit, the city changed its approach to fees.

I am now being charged for virtually anything that requires more than $20 worth of effort.

Yes, yet the city's current administrative policy indicates charges should be applied only after a defined time threshold.

The public should not be subjected to shit shifting standards that appear defined uh designed to discourage lawful request.

I requested the last three Amazon purchases made by the mayor that were billed to the city.

I was invoiced approximately 11 dollars.

I pointed out that this was below the three $20 threshold, yet the record records are still being withheld because I refuse to pay.

Records related to retention of records are being withheld on the theory that is at a it is a security risk for the public to know how long records are kept.

Even the names of files within a city department are being withheld.

Again, claimed as a security risk.

Requests are met with inconsistent fee demands, brought exempt, exemption claims, delayed responses, and noncompliance with the law.

And now I am being denied a listing of city email addresses on the grounds that it would require extensive resources to generate and then redact.

There should be no legitimate basis to redact standard city employee email addresses that exist for the purpose of conducting uh public business.

This is not what democratic governance looks like.

Transparency is not optional, accountability is not adversarial.

Compliance with public records law is not a favor you grant.

Thank you.

Afternoon, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

On a lighter note, my name is Walt Driggers, and I'm my address is one Beach Drive Southeast, St.

Petersburg, Florida, 33701.

And I'm here today on behalf of Friends of Albert Weddett Airport.

I'm as I'm sure y'all have memorized, and um since the beginning of our scholarship program in 2023, we've given away um 78 flight scholarships for a total of 425,000.

The city of St.

Petersburg has been part of that, and we want to thank you so much for that.

But I came here to um uh give you an update of where we are, because we're for our 2026 scholarship program.

This year we're gonna be awarding eight scholarship uh starter scholarships at a thousand dollars apiece, 12 intermediate ones at $5,000 apiece and 14 advanced ones at 10,000 apiece, a total of 34 scholarships, the most we've ever done.

Um we were hoping to cut back to 30 to 25, but we went to 34 instead.

We can't help ourselves, and it's totaling 28,000, of which the city of St.

Petersburg is part of as well.

We really seriously thank you for that.

This year uh the number of applicants increased about 50 percent because our new uh scholarship chairman, uh Scott Eshelman uh personally contacted all the high schools in uh Pinellas County, and of that 34 were giving away um on January 31st, 10 of them are from Pinellas County schools, four of them are from students in USF, and two of them from St.

Pete College.

All of them attend, all of them live as residents in St.

Petersburg.

At this point, um we have 30 three certified flight instructors at St.

Pete Air, where we're working with for the scholarships.

Three of those three started with our first scholarship program working on their private pilot certificate.

Now they are making their living as a flight instructor, building their time so they can move forward with their professional uh aviation career is working.

Um you have all been invited to the award ceremony January 31st, 10 o'clock uh to noon.

We hope you can make it to help us present these awards, these scholarships to these outstanding deserving young adults.

Thank you so much for everything you're doing for us.

Thank you.

Next two speakers.

Uh, next two speakers are Sean Wilson and Christy Brunner.

Please go to an open podium, state your name and address for the record, and you'll have three minutes to address City Council.

Good afternoon.

Sean Wilson, president of Blue Sky Communities.

We are your home.

You provide your address, please.

Excuse me?

The address, the business address.

Just Yep, I was gonna stick one little phrase in before the address.

Your hometown affordable housing developer with offices at 180 Fountain Parkway North.

Um 180 Fountain Parkway North.

Uh tickled to be part of St.

Petersburg.

Everything that you guys do.

We work in so many different cities building affordable housing, cities and counties, but um but but the city of St.

Petersburg is is probably one of the best to work with, not only because you have a robust funding programs, but because the administration and city council and the line staff all the way down is so in tune with uh with with the fact that it's a city priority, and that really comes through all the way down to the the planner reviewers and the inspectors and the utility department.

So we so much appreciate being a part of that, and we hope that uh we hope that we're making you proud also with the properties that we develop.

Blue Sky has developed, I think uh six properties in the city of St.

Petersburg, and I want to thank those who were able to attend uh the recent uh ribbon cutting uh down uh in the Skyway Marina district.

That's a really that's such an important kind of a development because we're capturing some a couple of acres for affordable housing in an area that's redeveloping that if five years from now you probably wouldn't get any affordable housing down there.

And I hear that there's gonna be a few more units delivered in that area too, so that's wonderful.

We are part of a team uh that is uh looking at the gas plant, and we've got some really great ideas about how to incorporate affordable housing in that in the whole redevelopment effort.

And so um we're really excited to be here with uh with with the rest of our team and um to be bringing all the things that we do, but not only the things that we do in the city of St.

Pete, but the things best practices that we learn about around the state and around the country about incorporating affordable housing into one of these mega multi-use developments.

It can be done.

There are some great examples, and uh and I commit to you uh that that uh we're we'll make you proud uh whenever that uh whenever that process comes to fruition.

And I thank you very much, and I invite you to take a tour of any one of our properties uh and and any time.

Uh thank you very much.

Thank you.

Okay, uh the next speaker, Christy Bruner is gonna speak when the agenda item uh comes up.

Okay.

The final two speakers are Peter Van Warner and Donald Odom.

Please go to an open podium, state your name and address for the record, and you'll have three minutes to address City Council.

Go ahead.

Good afternoon, honorable city council members.

My name is Peter Van Warner, 100 2nd Avenue North St.

Petersburg, 33701.

Standing before you today, this feels like a rare civic moment, our city's Hamilton moment where history is about to be made.

For 23 years, Blake Investment Partners has lived and breathed St.

Pete from Whitney Village in 2004 to Whitney Plaza, from Whitney Plaza in 2004 to Whitney Village in 2024.

Additionally, our firm has completed over 200 projects in the Southeast.

We aren't just developers and engineers.

We're residents, locals who truly love the city and have loved the city before it became cool.

We are here today to level set with you.

We've seen many ideas presented before that have not been truly planned or vetted in a public discussion.

We are dedicated to a listening process inclusive of both community advisors and outside experts, such as the Urban Land Institute.

St.

Petersburg is tired.

The community is fatigued by decades of developers who have tried and failed on the historic gas plant.

We must chart a successful path forward.

We appreciate and share the mayor's sense of urgency.

We share his dedication to ensure St.

Petersburg future.

The unsolicited bid process has focused us to focus on what truly matters.

We know that the Welch administration's focus is to respect the original historic gas plant residents, African American heritage, addressing our affordability crisis, and create jobs and opportunities for all.

And my dear friend and partner, Donald Odom, we'll tell you a bit more about this.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, City Council.

My name is Donald Odom Jr.

102nd Avenue South, Suite 205 in.

And following up on what Peter said, we are asking for cities city council's help and communicating that the critical issues that Peter discussed, they need to be addressed.

And also to ensure that any bidder should not be considered unless that bidder it will should not be considered if that bidder does not have a track record of excellent performance and the capacity to perform for the next decade and possibly beyond.

If they don't have a pragmatic and well-funded plan that can be executed, and if they don't know all of the different groups in the community intimately, including but not limited to the African American community, the arts community, the business community, and the LGBTQ plus community.

Finally, any bidder needs to pledge to listen and plan first with our community before they execute.

Oh wow.

So these are the professionals given in all they have for the city of St.

Pete.

They've been working 20-hour days because they believe that this isn't just a Blake offer.

This is a St.

Petersburg offer.

On February 3rd, we will deliver a vision to Mayor Welch and a pledge to evolve a true plan first with the community.

That plan then will be executed by people who love this city, backed by transparent financial information and a track record of excellence.

Let's finally move forward together.

Thank you, and we hope to see you again soon.

Thank you.

No more speakers.

Okay.

We close open forum and now we move to reports.

F1.

We have Freddie Williams here from the Boys and Girls Club of Tampa Bay to provide us a presentation.

I'm not Freddie, but I know you're not.

I can say I have been here for two years with the city.

And uh one of the first things, or one not long after I started my first meeting with each of you who were on council was to talk about my vision and to share with you that data for impact is very important to me, both qualitative and quantitative.

They're both very important.

Followed uh shortly after that, you all, I'm pleased to say, voted on my first presentation to you for an organization that just as recently as today in the Tampa Bay Times could proudly say that 100% of their high school students graduate.

82% of their club members read on grade level, 99% of their club members avoid negative interactions with law enforcement, and have had 150 paid internships.

So I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you for trusting me.

And now I will yield the mic to Freddie Williams for him to continue the story as you prepare to vote for Boys and Girls today.

And for the record, that was Dr.

Sharon Brown.

Thank you.

Do you need my address too?

Not at all.

Thank you, Dr.

Brown, and uh good afternoon, Madam Chair, uh, Mr.

Vice Chair, and esteemed members of St.

Petersburg Council.

It's an absolute honor to have the opportunity to be able to give a one-year progress report on the investment that you made into the boys and girls club.

We've uh appreciated a long-standing partnership for decades between boys and girls clubs locally and the city of St.

Petersburg, and we're pleased to be able to help take this partnership to another level through a very, very near and dear to our hearts, but also to the entire community's heart around workforce readiness and life readiness for our teenagers here in St.

Petersburg.

Well, who boys and girls clubs are, uh, oftentimes people know they've heard the name of what boys and girls clubs are, but they don't know what we do.

And when you look at the programs that we do, I'd like to pause and take a moment to discuss a little bit about what we do.

Uh, locally uh throughout the Tampa Bay region, we serve over 24,000 kids, of what of which roughly half of those are here in Pinellas County.

Uh over 3,000 kids served every single day.

Again, roughly half of those are here in Pinellas County.

We're one of the largest youth development organizations.

But one thing that we're proud of is that we pride ourselves in being able to work with kids that oftentimes may be a little more difficult to reach.

It's something that we don't promote, but we treat kids with love and respect, and we welcome all kids inside of our boys and girls clubs.

Over 64 locations, of which three of those are before and after school programs in St.

Petersburg.

And we also have what are called community impact sites, which are reflected in that 64 location count uh at local middle schools here in St.

Petersburg.

And what we have, and we all understand the environment that we're in with the public school systems, but we're proud with the partnership that we have with the Pinellas County Schools where we have state-approved curriculum where we're actually providing boys and girls club programs during the school day for every single seventh grader here in our public school system.

Uh, we have four different primary areas.

Uh we have uh youth safety being the bedrock of everything that we do.

Uh you heard some statistics, uh, academic success.

We make sure that kids progress to the next grade level, they graduate from high school with a plan for the future.

Uh health and wellness, making sure that they're staying out in trouble with law enforcement, but we're also providing hot meals.

In fact, we provide over 600,000 hot meals and snacks to our boys and girls club members here locally after school, and it's all catered meals to make sure that young people have dignity and that they go home with the healthy meal that they're able to perform in school the next day.

Character and leadership development.

Well, we all know that you can have all the smarts in the world, but if you don't have a strong moral compass and understand not only the art and the science behind leadership, that we're serving young people uh not well uh by giving them that.

We're also proud of a fourth priority outcome area that we were able to localize and really springboard here in St.

Petersburg that is now spread nationally.

That's what life and workforce readiness.

It's a way for us to measure our mission and go beyond making sure like young kids are graduating from high school, but making sure that we can stay with them to help meet the unique needs of what our community needs, but also meet the unique needs of what the business community needs as well.

And in fact, we've been able to help expand the young people that we serve up to 24 years old.

Because if you're anything like me, whenever you're a high schooler, sometimes you needed just a little bit more love and support after you graduate from high school to make sure you're making the right decisions and that you're on track uh for a bright future.

Uh one thing specifically within the four different priority outcome areas of life and workforce readiness is a program that you were early adopter with and investing with our prosperity pathways program uh that really finds a way that we can take the unique needs of what kids are telling us they want jobs and work skills.

Uh you hear from the business community that they could grow their business by X if only they had access to talent.

Your investment inside Boys and Girls Clubs in this prosperity pathway program allows us to help get access to those kids who who want and are eager to have jobs and job skills and meet them with the local employers.

So thank you, Freddie.

Um good afternoon, everybody.

My name is Ryan Becker.

I'm the vice president of Life and Workforce Readiness for Boys and Girls Club in our region.

I'm proud and honored to be here today to discuss some of the successes and the framework of what our programming is and the impact we're making on the young adults here in our community.

If you look at our Prosperity Pathways program and what is that, it's a continuum of learning from typically fourth grade all the way through 24 years old with a specific focus on the 13 and up range here in this area with tangible skills gained over time with certifications layered in there.

It is not our job to be able to tell youth in our community what they need to specifically do.

It is our job to empower them to make the accurate choice based on what they are interested in for sustained career path and long-lasting success.

Through our prosperity pathways program, 100% of the members completing this program requested additional workforce support, which has layered in several phases to the programming that we offer to them.

Within phase one, it's Workforce Academy and the fundamentals of soft skills gained.

I can go a little bit more in detail here in a second.

Phase two is also within our financial literacy world of being able to gain early insights for healthy financial habits while we take on the burden of paying our students to be able to incentivize them getting them into our programs.

We also have a heavy focus within Workforce Academy and technology training and career exploration, which I can also touch on on the next slide, but layered into Microsoft Office certifications, AI fundamentals and coding fundamentals, AI prompting and some others.

And then just additional wraparound support and some expanded enrichment workforce offerings.

Within the program components, I did mention Workforce Academy.

We host this on a platform, an e-learning platform called Level All, with tens of thousands of e-learning modules developed by college and institutional leads across this country.

So developed by educators themselves, implemented by facilitators in the youth development space like us to be meet their exact and direct needs.

We have structured our own learning journey, which we've called our workforce academy, which is 32 hours of soft skills programming being offered four days a week for 45 minutes a day, and an eight-week program enrolling cohort-based model for opt-in and continued education as they go through.

Some of these elements are resume building, mock interviews, job readiness skills, and financial literacy layered in.

Some of our career exploration and additional wraparound support also include career showcases.

We're bringing industry professionals into our clubs to talk to the kids directly.

I am by no means an expert in any industry that these folks are speaking on, but I'm dangerous enough to put those experts in a room with interested and hungry to learn youth that want a career in that pathway and showing them.

You cannot be what you do not see.

So we are providing them that opportunity on a daily basis.

We also provide culinary classes to be able to provide surf safe certifications if wanted and desired by our youth, getting hands-on experience with entry-level skills in the culinary space.

We have our finance program that's also hosted in collaboration with Bank of America, including paid summer internships with students earning $23 an hour to work inside Bank of America financial institutions over an eight-week program in the summer.

Constructions and the skills trades with folks like Habitat for Humanity, West Pasco County, and Pinellas County for paid internships over the summer, gaining hands-on experience on the job with industry professionals to be able to see their future moving forward.

I mentioned IT with folks like Comp TIA designing tech plus certifications for entry-level into remote IT help desk work, where we're removing barriers of transportation and providing tangible work experience and certifications for their employment immediately upon certification gain.

We also have paid internships with folks in the healthcare space like Bay Care Healthcare Systems, where our students are on site at hospitals in our community with Baycare for 17-week cohorts, three days a week, four hours a day from 4 p.m.

to 8 p.m.

We work in a supplemental fashion with the school district and college and career centers here in Pinellas County to facilitate programs that work best for the youth.

Not telling them you need to confine to this, but how can we deliver a model that is going to set up the best support and success for you long term?

We also have support within the sports and entertainment industry, including at our Royal Theater Club with iHeart Media and Podcasting and Media Support, setting up programs where they can dive deep into the fundamentals of that industry as well.

Again, I thank you for your time and appreciate everything you do for us.

So Dr.

Brown also talked about being able to demonstrate uh impact and outcome, something that's something that we take very proud that we're very proud of and we take very seriously.

Uh when you look at the young people that have gone through our program, we have a very high completion rate.

Uh in fact, we have an independent study as well that was able to quantify the type of investment that you're making into a boys and girls club.

So the $250,000 that was provided to boys and girls clubs specifically for this program generated over two and a half million dollars to the St.

Petersburg community and current and future savings, both in uh societal and economic impact here locally.

Uh young people also are able through this investment are able to provide the technology, making sure that we can remove the technology barriers.

Uh, what is kind of the carrot and the secret sauce behind this is we're able to provide stipends for young people as well.

So that's incentivizes them to continue in the program and incentivizes good behavior and making sure that they have uh the results that are needed.

And also through a partnership with the state of Florida, we're also able to provide scholarships at a two-to-one match uh both for college and universities, but also for trade schools as well, uh, that we're able to leverage through this partnership.

Through this partnership, what you're able to do is take the national scale and scope that we have through Boys and Girls Clubs of America and bring it down at a local community to make sure that we can leverage that so we can create the greatest opportunities for young people here in St.

Pete.

Um I'm reminded I'll leave you with the quote um or a story.

I was talking to my wife a little bit this morning about this presentation.

She knows how excited I am about this program.

I'm a boys and girls club alumni.

The boys and girls club saved my life as a young person, gave me the pathway of what I needed to be and be a contributing member of society.

Uh, and we're talking about this linkage that she has.

My wife is a uh St.

Petersburg native and went through the public schools here in St.

Pete.

And uh we're talking about the core exploration that she had through Enterprise Village as a young person growing up.

Uh her job was to be the arts director uh going through.

She's now a local attorney and has her business that's headquartered here in St.

Pete.

Uh but while it was able to not, she's not an arts director, she developed an appreciation and exposure to the arts and is able to give her skills and abilities where she joined the board of the St.

Petersburg Arts Alliance.

So bring it all full circle, and you're able to provide impact and opportunities and exposure for hundreds of young people here in the community.

So thank you very much.

Thank you.

Councilmember Driscoll.

Thank you.

And thank you for the for the presentation and um Freddie.

I think it was maybe a year ago or so that you took over after the merger.

Um I I wanted to I wanted you to provide everyone some background or maybe a reminder of how the boys and girls clubs has um has changed and grown uh just in recent times.

Yeah, so thank you for that.

So we went through a merger in 2024, and actually the process started in 2023, where there's a separate chapter, the boys and girls clubs at Tampa Bay, which provided services for Pasco and Hillsboro County.

And we had the Boys and Girls Club of Suncoast that provided services for Pinellas County.

I was a CEO of the boys and girls clubs of Pinellas County uh for nine years prior to bringing both organizations together.

We said, you know, there's been a lot of consternation around regionalization and finding ways that you can bring organizations together.

We said let's turn the merger backwards and do everything backwards.

First, we'll date, we went through a managed service agreement where I served as a CEO of both organizations, seeing if whether or not this was right, and we were able to really look underneath the hood.

And then we've slowly consolidated other back end functions, whether it be HR, finance, and such and forth.

And then after about a year into it, we said we should have done this a long time ago.

And the reason why is because as we went into contemplating a merger, we said that this is going to be an impact generating exercise rather than an expense generating exercise.

And in fact, we redeployed every single savings of duplicated services by coming together right back to the boys and girls club members, and every single penny went back to the members.

In fact, it reflected in 118% year-over-year growth pre-merger.

So it's we have a lot of other nonprofits that are interested in learning of what we're doing, but it allows us to have more of your resources that go directly to mission instead of overhead.

Thank you.

And uh that speaks not only to the strength of the organization, but the strength of your leadership.

And um, I just have a great deal of admiration for you and all that you have done to lead through that time and on to where we're at now, which is a time of great success for the organization.

So thank you and kudos to you for that.

And this is one of the largest ones in the country now, isn't it?

In fact, we are the third largest boys and girls club chapter in the country.

So we're behind Milwaukee and Phoenix, but uh it's not about size, it's not about growth, it's about impact, and uh we'll put our impact numbers against any youth serving organization in America.

So and then thank you for the acknowledgement.

It's really because of the team that we have and a very dedicated board of directors that makes me look a whole heck of a lot better than I really am.

That's that's great.

It is true.

You can have great leadership, but the team that you put around you uh really makes a difference as well.

Um so congratulations on that.

You know, um I I recall that last time you guys were here with the merger and with the city funding, you know.

Now this means that it's not just St.

Petersburg, it goes, you know, far beyond that.

And I had not so much a concern, but just wanted to make sure that the dollars that are being provided by the city of St.

Petersburg are going to be specifically allocated to help the children of St.

Petersburg.

In the presentation, you showed the um the outcomes, which is always so important.

And it's very impressive, and that talked specifically about the St.

Petersburg students.

Um we have in this agreement three locations in St.

Petersburg that will be served by the funding if we were to approve that today.

Um a couple things come to mind.

And those three locations, do you verify that the children who are there um are St.

Petersburg residents?

Because you can assume that, but you don't know that for sure.

Is there a validation process or I'm sure you get the addresses when they sign up and you know that they're all they all live in St.

Petersburg and you don't have someone who happens to be from Gulfport or Pinellas Park.

So I I see nods, but I just want to.

Both of us will answer.

So that was yes, they are Tampa Bay.

So that was definitely a concern before entering the agreement and wanted to ensure that every dollar went to St.

Petersburg.

Right.

And so I don't know if I gave you all more work to do, but one of the things that has to happen when they turn in their quarterly reports is they have to show that they're identifying that the money is going toward youth.

That's on our end, because I needed to have that accountability piece.

But on their end, I'll let them answer your question.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah, so uh one of the beauties of working with a federate organization that has local autonomy here is some of the systems that we have.

So we have one of the largest youth-serving data systems nationally that's benchmarked against the CDC, which is one data point nationally that rolls up to our national organization.

We also have data sharing agreements with the state of Florida with the Department of Juvenile Justice, so it validates kids in their behavior and connection to law enforcement that we're able to cross-reference addresses and what schools they attend.

And we also, because of the partnership with the juvenile welfare board and the school system, we have additional data sharing agreements that allows us to have multiple uh checks and balances to ensure that the intended resources are getting directly to the intended young people that they're supposed to receive.

Fantastic.

Thank you.

It's good to know that it's because it wasn't specifically spelled out in the agreement.

I wanted to have some uh confidence that there's somewhere in there that you are actually verifying that.

It sounds like you are in more ways than one.

So it allows me to sleep a little better at night knowing we have to.

Oh, yeah.

So I'm I'm good with that.

I did want to mention when you talked about the um the career exploration.

Um this morning we had a fantastic discussion in our economic and workforce development committee meeting about our um maritime and defense technology hub, which is located out on the Port of St.

Petersburg, and they bring they have youth groups that come and visit and do career exploration days there all the time, and then also throughout the innovation district.

Um I wanted to make sure that that was on your radar because we uh just learned a whole lot about how our um marine science and marine-related industries are really growing and thriving here.

So you mentioned what the what industry needs are are here today and will be here tomorrow.

That is part of that.

And so as you're looking at um ideas for future collaborations or opportunities for exposure and exploration for the students, I would strongly encourage um that you chat with Alison Barlow, the head of the innovation district about the hub and um other areas.

I was happy to see the hospitals included there, and um I see some some really cool extra um extra opportunities that you might want to explore.

Thank you.

We will definitely explore that.

Thank you.

All right, that's all I have.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilmember Gordon.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you for the presentation.

Always good to hear from the boys and girls club.

Having visited a few sites, just the amazing work that's being done all the time.

And very happy to see a few in District One.

But quickly, I just uh I didn't have a whole lot of interaction with Boys and Girls Club growing up, but I had some friends go through Boys and Girls Club.

And then I had a lot of interaction.

And they have a location right across the street.

And almost every kid from the school went to the after school.

Like it was crazy how many kids we had to walk across the school.

And I remember um helping coach and just seeing the joy on their face at that location.

It just I just showed me I was like, okay, that they're doing they're doing some cool things over there.

And now you get get to see it as an adult with kids, and you're just it's awesome.

That's my long way of saying it's awesome.

And thank you.

And and just I'm so happy we get to participate that and uh in that a little bit, and uh I love what you're doing from a from a readiness standpoint, your partners.

You just you're you're just hitting on all cylinders, and just wanted to say a big thank you and um move approval.

Second councilmember Givens.

Thank you, madam chair, and good to see you, Freddie.

Thank you for being here, and thank you all for your very in-depth presentation.

Uh learned a lot more than I knew.

Uh I was very similar to Councilmember Gurtis.

I never went through the boys and girls club.

Um, but I have always in adulthood, some sort of a way or another, gravitated to the Royal Theater.

So I don't know what it is about that place, but it's just something about it.

Um I I love the cultural and performing arts aspect.

You know, it was so many young people who I knew who got their start in musical and video productions right there.

Um I taught a couple of kids how to play instruments, the piano, I taught them piano lessons right there.

Um, so again, you are making an impact in a community that needs it the most.

You know, I think about the three locations that you have within St.

Pete, and then I think about the Burlington Avenue and over in Jamestown, and and again, these are neighborhoods where you don't have to travel far to find pathways to opportunities.

It's right in your backyard.

And it made me think about something I didn't see in the presentation, but I wanted to know, and I'm sure you're already on it, Freddie.

But St.

Petersburg College, being right across the street from the Royal Theater.

What partnerships have we established there?

Ron, do you want to speak to that?

Um, I would love to have a boys and girls club that's located on the college campus.

So we've kind of pitched that idea, and we hope that we can continue to flesh that out.

That especially now that we have the opportunity to serve young adults up to 24 years old, that we can now have our boys and girls club uh prosperity pathways, um, staff members that have great socialization already with the boys and girls club members that can maybe provide that additional support as young people matriculate through St.

Pete College, and we can just be the extra family that they need and can help them make sure they're choosing the right classes and they're also consistent with the careers and experiences that we helped expose them to whenever they were young people.

Great idea.

I hope Dr.

Williams is in support.

If not, we need to put some pressure on her.

But I like that.

Um I'm thinking about you talked about expanding these pathways.

They have high-demand industry leading certifications that they're offering right there on campus at the Midtown campus.

So I'm trying to figure out how can we get your students that are there at the Royal Theater across the street so that way they can tap into these soft skill training opportunities early on.

Um, and to Councilmember Driscoll's point, you know, again, exposing them also to the hub so that way they can see that there are careers that are within reach that are right here in St.

Pete.

So again, I'm grateful for the work that you're doing, and I'm happy to make sure uh that we can continue this work.

So thank you so much, Freddie.

Thank you.

We certainly appreciate that, and that's a great idea uh to be able to it's interesting.

You know, this whole concept and program has just absolutely exploded.

And it just goes to show the need that was needed in the community.

It's amazing to think in one year the progress that's been made, but is what is extremely exciting is to see what opportunities lie ahead as we come together as a community on behalf of young people in the community.

So thank you so much for those recommendations.

Thank you.

Hi, Cher Floyd.

Thank you.

Uh thank you for the presentation.

I just put myself on here to briefly say, unlike my colleagues, I did go to the boys and girls club as a kid.

Uh you just try to show us up.

And it was uh uh a really pleasant experience, and I made a lot of friends.

Uh it was just for a summer uh when I for some reason I wasn't doing sports, but um I really appreciate the work that y'all are doing in the community and just wanted to uh thank you for the presentation and say congratulations on the merger.

I really look forward to the uh world of possibilities that it opens up for you.

I already see a little bit of that going on now, so I'm really uh eager to see it to continue and uh look forward to hearing more uh getting reportbacks on how everything going uh goes as time goes on.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Well, thank you for a great project proposal.

Um you pretty much checked all the boxes.

I know that you also get funded by JWB, right?

And I will tell you I and I know there's other funding sources that you have throughout throughout the community, but seeing that you also have other organizations of that size that also support you kind of says something about the work that you do.

Um, and so um I do want to say it was mentioned about the merger, and when you um you were quoted or somebody was quoted when the merger happened, there were three core commitments that you all made.

Uh it was mission above ego, transparency over perfection, and culture before structure.

And I think those are great commitments, and I'm glad that you're keeping to those commitments.

Thank you.

So we have a motion and a second.

Clerk, you please open machine for voting.

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing that all present council members have voted, clerk, please tally announce the votes.

Madam Chair, motion to approve a genome F1 passes unanimously with Councilmember Gabbart being absent.

Thank you.

Okay, we move on to council committee reports.

And the first one is for the PSI committee, and is mine respectfully requesting city council approval to remove the following items from PSI's referral list a comprehensive report on the city's procedures for compliant with public records request since we just covered that an update on the city's wastewater collection facilities and the capital projects identified, funded and not funded to address the natural hazards associated with the three facilities, and we covered that.

That was also another item of mine.

And then a discussion regarding construction crane safety, which was Councilmember Driscoll's item, which resulted in some state action.

Move approval.

Second.

Councilmember Driscoll.

Thank you.

And um, it's unfortunate that I was unable to attend the meeting uh that day.

Um I wanted to make a clarification on the item that was uh voted to be removed that I had brought forward that was on the referral list.

That item actually had two parts.

One has been resolved as much as we can because of the state legislation, but the other part of that um was a discussion on the need for improvements to communication with residents regarding their proximity to dangerous cranes and how we go about that notification process.

We had some really good discussion during that time.

A couple of ideas came up.

Staff seemed receptive, and they were supposed to come back to us with what that plan was for, you know, how what what their new procedure was going to be, what the improved procedure was going to be.

I don't recall that that has happened.

And that is why I had um left it on there myself and never said, hey, we shouldn't go ahead and take this off because it's done now.

But I I have I I would very much like to keep this on the referral list because we never got an answer to that.

And I I know I'm not the only um city council member who has cranes in their district, but I got a bunch of them.

And I I would very much like to have that answer and be able to tell the residents of my district at least that there is more that we are going to do in the future.

Okay.

Um and I don't know um, Rob, if you have an update or you have any information regarding what council member Driscoll is thank you, Chair.

I don't have a detailed update.

We we have made some progress, I believe, on mapping and notification.

We'd be happy if you want to keep it on the referral list.

We can come back and do an update.

And I don't have a problem keeping on referral lists either.

You weren't there that meeting, and we remembered like it was dealt with at the state level.

I think that's what the committee was thinking about.

So with that being said, if there's an amendment to the motion, we can remove that item and keep it, if I may.

Yes.

Yes, I I I would be quite satisfied with that.

It's just a simple discussion.

I um I think it's important that we all know what those new uh procedures are going to be.

Um, but I also want to note we've got another item I've got to talk about too.

Um I just want to ask everyone very respectfully that I think we should all be very careful about referral lists when there's a city council member whose item is on the list.

Um removing it without having input from them.

Uh I I was completely unable to be at the city council meetings last week.

And it's understood, and that's why we're having this discussion here, and I appreciate just for future and in general.

I I just wanted to say, hey, you know, I was um very much unable to be here.

And I watched the meetings later once they were posted, and I was quite surprised to see that with my absence.

I had not one but two referral items that were removed without anyone waiting for my input.

And so I would love for us to just be a little bit more mindful of that in the future when we're going through referral lists.

Sure.

Thank you.

So who made a motion?

Council Member's Anders.

Would you amend it to remove the first two parts and not the discussion on the crane safety?

Okay, so read it as worded that I'm approving were you.

I mean, I'm I'm willing to amend my motion, but I guess we need to clarify what the motion is.

The motion is going to be to remove the first two items listed, but not the discussion on crane safety.

Gotcha.

Okay.

I moved to approve that.

Second.

We have a motion and second.

Councilmember Gurtis.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Uh, just quickly, and certainly Councilmember Driscoll, I made uh meant no disrespect.

Both of them were mine.

Uh I I think I brought up both, and solely because I thought the conversation was over with.

And so there was no disrespect intent whatsoever.

I want to make that very, very clear.

It was efficiency only and thought and thought the conversation was over and only made the motion knowing we still had to discuss it here.

So I just wanted to be very clear.

Yeah, thank you.

We have a motion and a second.

Clerk, you please open the machine for voting.

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing that all present council members have voted, clerk please tally announce the votes.

Madam Chair, motion to approve a gentleman.

H1 as a minute passes unanimously with Council Member Gabriel being absent.

Okay, we move on to H2.

Respectfully requesting city council approval to remove the following items from the BFNT referral list, a comprehensive update of all hurricane related expenses, and a discussion regarding potential child care benefit for City of St.

Petersburg employees.

And I wouldn't make a motion, but I'll wait for Councilmember Driscoll.

Councilmember Dresser.

We have a card.

Oh, yes.

Um Christy Bruner.

Uh, please go to an open podium, state your name and address for the record.

You'll have three minutes to address city council.

Hello, good afternoon, Chair and Council members.

My name is Christy Bruner, 866 40th Avenue North.

I'm here on my personal behalf today, and as well as the leader of a coalition of working moms across Tampa Bay.

Several months ago, Councilmember Dishal met with a group of our members to discuss her initial proposal for City of St.

Petersburg child care benefits for employees.

We deeply appreciated that conversation, and we were grateful for the presentation at the May BFT committee.

I'm here to ask you to consider not removing the agenda item from the referral list and to please continue the discussion.

While this proposal will directly affect city staff, we see it as a much more than internal HR benefit.

This is an opportunity for St.

Petersburg to set the standard for employers across our region to signal that child care is an economic and societal issue, not a personal problem for families to solve alone.

The data shared with council underscores that urgency.

The city currently ensures roughly 270 children under the age of three and 380 children under the age of five.

Even a modest subsidy covering just one-third of eligible children at 500 per month would exceed 500,000 annually.

That speaks to the scale of the challenge families face every day.

At the same time, we heard about this initiative, cost effective effective approaches like Bright Horizons backup care, which could serve nearly 4,000 families for about $62,000 annually while reducing absenteeism and lost productivity.

This is a smart business decision, as much as it is a family-friendly policy.

We also believe that the city has an opportunity to lead in how benefits are delivered.

I've been in conversations with a company called MERSA, a unified platform that connects family with government benefits from child care to housing to food assistance with automation, security, and scale.

MERSA could help streamline access for city employees, reduce administrative burden, and ensure equitable uptake of benefits.

This is exactly the kind of public-private innovation St.

Petersburg is known for.

We strongly support the next steps discussed by council that was included in that meeting.

Surveying employees, engaging labor unions, assessing provider availability, and exploring local partnerships.

And we appreciate the recognition that access varies by district and expanding local providers should be part of the conversation.

Child care is infrastructure, it is workforce development, it is gender equity, and it is economic development.

By continuing this discussion, St.

Petersburg can model what it means to be a family-friendly employer in a family-friendly city, setting a precedence for private sector and strengthening the entire regional workforce.

Thank you for your leadership, and we appreciate you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Driscoll.

Thank you.

As I mentioned before, unfortunately, I was unable to be at the meeting.

In January, I have had January written next to child care on my whiteboard since that day.

And so I know that we are supposed to bring this back.

If we were going to just send it out into never never land, I would have argued much harder that day to keep to keep going and to keep it in our hands.

Um in the meeting, it was brought up that it was under the threshold for city council approval, but that has not stopped us from having discussions on many other things, including the uh grocery co-op um funding that was uh requested not too long ago.

So that shouldn't stop us.

Um that threshold doesn't mean that anything under 100,000 we can't ask for.

I also was hoping that Chris and uh the administration the rest of the team uh would be working on some multiple options because as we because the general new business item was to talk about a child care benefit.

What Chris and I brought forward for the committee meeting was for the committee consideration was one idea.

We could go bigger.

Maybe Chris was working on something that would go bigger.

I know that um one of our local uh nonprofit child care champions in this city is interested in learning how they might be a partner with us.

There's some place we can go with this, and so I respectfully request that we leave it on the referral list and um that we have the the update from staff sooner than later because I've still got January on my whiteboard.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Well, this gives administration a good opportunity to kind of give an update in terms of what's happened with the item in HR.

If you have any robin, no, I'm putting you, I'm putting you on the happy check with Mr.

Green and Mr.

Guela.

I know we did do an employee survey.

Um, you know, again, we're happy to keep it on the referral list and come back and discuss it.

Okay.

So council member Gurtis, I think you were gonna make a motion.

You were gonna wait till the discussion to I'll move a approval to move the comprehensive update on hurricane related expenses.

You have a motion and a second.

Clerk, you please open the machine for voting.

Council members, please enter your votes.

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

Madam Chair, motion to approve agenda.

Passes unanimously with Councilmember Garbert being absent.

We move to H3 Great.

Uh thank you, Chair.

Uh I have uh ended up with three items in a row here, so I'll start with this one.

Uh, this is an action item from the January 15, 2026 housing land use and transportation committee.

I'm gonna be requesting uh approval of a resolution regarding housing for households with income at or below 80% of the area median income, establishing that the creation of such housing is a priority of city council when subsidizing affordable housing that is not publicly owned, uh, requesting the city administration to allocate city resources in accordance with that priority, uh stating uh that requests from the city from city administration for city funding that deviate from that priority should explain for doing so and providing an effective date.

Uh I'll move approval and just say that uh I'm grateful to everyone who was in HLUC the other day in administration.

We had a couple of resolutions we settled on one that we felt comfortable with, and so I'm grateful for everyone for uh a thoughtful dialogue and continuing.

So I've already moved approval.

I'll leave it there.

Thank you.

Thank you by share.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Uh and I apologize I was not able to be at HLUT, but just wanted to bring this up because I I think it there's an important distinction.

The majority of the conversation was around rentals, and there is a large home ownership project coming to District One that will have a blend.

And the only way, and I'm supportive of this, but I just want to make it I because we don't get to talk very often.

That the only way that projects happen happens is if the blend, even though it will not have more, the 80s than 120s, but it's home ownership.

So I'm willing to I'm willing to support this because the conversation was around rental, and I believe I believe that.

We've had this discussion.

I've met with all of the groups I think most of us have, but just because it's on the horizon, it's coming soon.

I I don't want that to get lost because home ownership is different from a funding perspective to get those units done compared to rentals.

And so I'm all on in on this, but as we get to that, I don't want I don't want this to get lumped into that because this is different.

And so I just wanted to throw that out there.

Thank you, madam chair.

Thank you.

Uh just quickly, I'll say, yeah, that was contemplated when this was written because I saw the conversation.

I and thank you for all the conversation I appreciate.

In the future as well.

Thank you for that.

No, thank you.

We have a motion and a second.

Clerk.

You please open the machine for voting.

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing that all present council members have voted, quick, please tally in the also vote.

Madam Chair, motion to approve agenda H3 passes unanimously.

H4 by share.

All right.

I will move on to H4 here.

Uh we have a few action items.

Uh they are appointments to the uh St.

Petersburg Housing Authority.

So uh the first is a resolution concerning the mayor's appointment of Christina Luciana to the office of commissioner of the housing authority of the city of St.

Petersburg uh to complete the unexpired term of Derek Keyes uh ending April 3rd, 2027.

Uh this is a new appointment.

Uh we heard from the member.

Uh it was a nice conversation, and I'll move approval.

It's up to you, Vice Chair, but you can do them all.

So it's gonna suggest.

Oh, okay.

All right.

I'll take them all.

Uh we did not do that in the committee, and so I was uh I just assumed it was the same.

So yes, I will continue on then.

Uh the next two are reappointments.

So the first one is a resolution concerning the mayor's reappointment of James Dates to the Office of Commissioner of Housing Authority of the City of St.

Petersburg for a new four-year term.

And the final one is a resolution concerning the mayor's reappointment of Terry Lipsy Scott to the Office of Commissioner of the Housing Authority of the City of St.

Petersburg for a third term, and I will move approval of all three.

Second.

Thank you, Janine.

We have a motion and a second for H4AB and C.

Clerk, you please open the machine for voting.

Council members, please enter your votes.

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

Madam Chair, motion to approve a genitums H4AB and C passes unanimously with Council Member Gabbard being absent.

Thank you.

We move on to H5.

Vice Chair Floyd.

Last but not least, uh, this is another action item from the Housing Land Use and Transportation Committee.

I'm respectfully requesting City Council approval to remove the following item from the referral list, a discussion regarding the prohibition of street murals and potential alternatives for public art and placemaking opportunities.

And if anyone in the public is um interested, this was done because we did have this discussion already.

Uh so I'll leave it there and I'll hear from my colleagues before I move approval.

Councilmember Driscoll.

Thank you.

Just quick question.

I and I did not go back and look to see how that other discussion ended.

But weren't they supposed to come back and tell us what they were going to do?

I uh don't recall, and this was an item referred by council member Gabbard.

Right and Councilmember Gabbard, I believe made the motion.

But she was okay as well.

She was the one who initiated this.

Uh and actually, oh, excuse me.

I now I do I'm recalling in real time.

Uh it was moved, I believe, is the discussion that we had in HLUT about it being a discussion uh not an H L U T anymore, but in a committee of the whole uh for the future.

Right.

Okay, yeah.

Yeah, okay.

So that that was the reason we took it off from here because we felt that if there was any discussion in the future, it would be in a cow.

Oh okay.

Great.

And I I do look forward to that because it's been um a few months now since we had that conversation.

Um, a few months now since we've had that conversation.

Um it's clear that that some of us feel very passionately about this.

And um, you know, for all of the all of the talk and all of the um determination.

So far, we've got bike racks.

So I'm really looking forward to this conversation, and I hope it happens sooner than later.

Thank you, Chair.

We continue to work on it, and we're having multiple discussions with the city attorney's office on what is possible, and we look forward to updating you.

Excellent.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

You do we have a motion?

Yeah, second.

Motion and a second.

H five passes unanimously with Council Member Garrett being absent.

Thank you.

Well, it looks like we are done with our agenda, and the next item is public hearings, which would start at five oh one.

So at this point, we are in recess.

Thank you, everyone.

That way.

I've been trying to breathe on the water.

Okay.

Calling the meeting back to order.

Um first up, we have public hearings, J one and J two.

We have Joe Wah here.

And we could take these items both together.

Move approval J1 and two.

Second.

We have a motion and a second.

Clerk, you please open the machine for voting.

Council members, please enter your votes.

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

Thank you.

And thank you, Joe, for joining us.

You're here.

Next up we have J three.

Clerk, you please read the ordinance.

Uh proposed ordinance number eleven seventy-seven dash V, an ordinance approving a vacation of a ten foot wide dead end alley, abutting lots one, three, and four.

Chadwick's resubdivision, generally located within the 700 block of Burlington Avenue North, setting forth conditions for the vacation to become effective and providing for an effective date.

And we have no speakers for this.

Move for approval.

Second.

We have a motion and a second.

Clerk, you please open the machine for voting.

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing that all present council members have voted.

Clerk, please tell the announce vote.

J three passes unanimously with Council Members Sanders and Gabbard being absent.

Thank you.

Next up we have J four.

Clerk, can you please read the ordinance?

Proposed ordinance number six thirty-h, an ordinance of the city of St.

Petersburg, Florida, amending City Code Chapter 16, land development regulations to create a new subsection sixteen dot fifty dot zero five five.

Move approval.

Then we want to see the presentation.

Okay.

Okay, now we move on to open forum.

Clerk, do we have speakers?

Uh we have two speakers, madam chair.

If you can please read the rules.

Right now it's getting the foreclosures going through.

Uh they've actually uh had a default judgment uh because that um they they didn't even respond to the court case, you know.

So it's moving along quick, it's gonna be probably going to auction.

Uh in the tenants uh tenants have talked about uh wanting to see the city purchase uh that building.

Um put it under city control, noting uh not allowing another corporate landlord to come along, uh, you know, they're all the same.

I mean, Lauren's an egregious example, uh, but the uh corporate, you know, these corporate landlords, they're all the same.

They just drive these properties into the ground.

Think of it like infrastructure.

Imagine if our seawalls, uh, our roads, our sewer systems, all of that was all divided up between a handful of like rich companies.

Uh we would have inconsistent infrastructure throughout the city.

It wouldn't make sense.

We'd have some neighborhoods would have great infrastructure, we'd have probably working class neighborhoods would have really crappy uh unusable infrastructure.

It's the same thing with housing.

Why don't we look at housing like that?

Uh, you know, this is these buildings like the Morgan's about half a century old.

Uh, you know, and it's not the only one down there.

The the Osprey Point, 500 units, uh uh uh Lake uh Lake Pointed Vista, whatever, can't remember the names off the top of my head.

Lots of these older buildings.

Um, and uh they're getting driven into the ground by these corporate landlords, and this is gonna be causing displacement.

Uh, you know, over the next 10 years, next 20 years, uh, you know, probably won't even take that long.

Uh, you know, there's a large number of working people who live in these areas, and I think the city has a responsibility uh to step in.

Uh, you know, that's what we have a public sector for uh when the failures of the private sector uh are rearing their ugly head, and that's exactly what we have.

In general, this you know, things is political climate, things are seem like they're going down the tube.

I don't want to be like, you know, the sky is falling, but you know we need to see the writing on the wall.

I mean, uh things are not going back.

There's a sledgehammer being taken to federal funding, and I think the municipalities are really gonna have a responsibility to step in uh in and fill that void uh, you know, by taking this housing into public ownership.

Um, at the very least, we need to be doing more to assist these tenants.

I want to think the city staff has been doing a great job with the very limited resources they have and everything like that.

Um, but yeah, thank you very much.

Thank you.

Well, good evening.

My name's Melissa Gilbert, not a um public speaker, so apologize.

I've resided here for over 37 years, have always considered St.

Pete sort of like Tampa's little secret.

Um, a little town that had a lot of character to it.

Um with a splash of metro when we first started to to spread out, and then um thought we were going to be a green city, but apparently that's been sidelined, correct?

Are we planning on being a green city in any manner?

Ma'am, you you're okay.

You're speaking to us, we can't respond to that.

Okay.

Um so anyway, this wasn't on my schedule today.

I had plenty of other things to do.

Uh a couple weeks back, heard about the Hollander where they're taking down all those buildings and back, and apparently that was affordable housing.

Right around the time of COVID, there were the apartments that were across from Mira Lake.

My understanding is those people had about a month to make arrangements to get out.

It took over two years before they even bulldozed the place, and now it's setting there empty with a little fence around it.

And so nobody could think outside the box to maybe make some kind of compromise where you're moving your service industry people out, people that help this city function, and even build character, such as when a high school student graduates or a college student graduates, they can get an apartment with their buddies, they can put down roots, and they can grow here, and that's not happening.

I see all these high-rises everywhere.

And to me, you can go to Miami and see that.

You know, St.

Pete was like this crucky little nice town where people knew one another and got along, and then all of a sudden we had this influx of people, especially after COVID.

And I kind of feel that we're running our character.

So kind of keep that in mind when you're when you're moving forward.

Because I used to really like St.

Pete.

And I think it's sad.

Those are my thoughts.

And have a good day.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Uh the next one is in Zoom.

Okay.

Jason S once you enter to the meeting space, unmute yourself, state your name and address.

You have three minutes to address City Council.

Thank you.

Jason Scott, 4636 Red Fish Lane.

This month, Duke Energy is charging customers the highest rates in Florida history.

If you look at other investor owned utilities like FPL and especially publicly owned utilities, the rates are nowhere close.

So I need all of you to reach out to our public utilities department or the administration and find out why the RFP, which was approved way back in August.

Uh, why it's not released yet.

Uh there is no reason an RFP should take this long, and everyone knows it.

Additionally, I want to speak in support of the tenants at the Morgan.

The city cannot allow the building to end up in the hands of another slum lord.

Please listen to the tenants and do right by them.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our final uh speaker is Patrick Granny.

Please go uh to an open podium, state your name and address for the record.

You'll have three minutes to address city council.

Uh thank you.

My name is Patrick Grainy.

I live at 7901 36th Avenue North.

I am also here in regards to the Morgan.

Uh I know that the city doesn't have much to do with that, but out of state landlords are first the problem because they don't have to pay attention to the citizens of this city, which we do.

So the city should take over the Morgan.

The city needs to take care of its residents.

The out of state landlords do not care about us, they care about profits.

You always already know that the rents in this city are insane.

Nobody can afford it.

I have co-workers, I have kids.

Nobody can afford to move out.

Everyone has to double up, everyone has to share.

And then when we have people that actually have places to live, it's not great.

They can't even get water sometimes.

This is insane.

The government should uh the city council line requesting that you please take over the Morgan and help out any of these other properties where there are slum lords just basically milking people for their hard-earned dollars, and then the city just looks at them and goes, Oh, sorry, I guess you gotta live outside now.

That's nuts.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Any more speakers?

No more speakers, manager.

Okay.

Open forums closed.

We move to announcements.

Any announcements?

Councilmember Givens.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Uh, wanted to invite my fellow council members out this weekend to Lincoln Cemetery.

We'll be hosting a cleanup.

Um, we'll be having a couple of golf port elected officials out there.

So I'd love to see some St.

Pete folks out there if you'd like to join us.

So that'll be this Saturday from 8 to 11:30 at Lincoln Cemetery on 58th Street and 6th half.

So thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you.

Councilmember Gert.

Happy birthday, Madam Chair.

Oh.

It was Cher's birthday on Tuesday.

Yes.

Yeah.

So let's sing.

Oh, yeah.

Was it?

Did I that's the only one I have?

Brian.

Brian's having birthday.

Well, I apologize in advance.

Anyone else before I get I found out that Michael Flanagan's birthday was the day of my birthday.

We share a birthday.

Yeah.

All right.

So Michael, Chair, and Brian.

All right.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to my Brian.

Happy birthday to you.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you for continuing the tradition.

Okay.

Well, we have no more announcements.

January 22nd, 2026 meeting is adjourned.

Thank you all for joining us.

You