Welcome to the City of St.

Petersburg City Council meeting.

Your elected officials are Mayor Ken Welch.

District 1, Popley Gurdis, District 2, Brandy Gabbard, District 3, Mike Harding, District 4, and Council Chair, Lizette Panowitz, District 5, Deborah Fake Sanders.

District 6, Gina Driscoll.

District 7, Corey Gibbons Jr.

And District 8 and Council Vice Chair, Richie Floyd.

Okay, welcome everyone to the May 21st, 2026, City Council Meeting Clerk.

We will please have a roll call.

Here.

If you can please stand for our invocation, and then please remain standing for our pledge of allegiance.

Good afternoon, sir.

Good afternoon, sir.

Let us pray.

Let us pray.

Please turn your phones off.

Almighty God, source of every good gift and the author of all just governance.

We pause at the opening of this assembly to seek your blessing upon the work of this council and the people it serves.

We thank you for the city of St.

Petersburg.

For the beauty of its waterfront, the vitality of its neighborhood, and the extraordinary diversity of its people.

Grant that gratitude for what we have received, may sharpen our resolve to care for what has been given to us.

We pray for the members of this council.

Give them wisdom to discern, courage to act, and humility to listen.

Where the path forward is clear, grant them resolve.

Where it is uncertain, grant them patience.

And where they disagree, grant them the grace to differ without contempt.

Remembering always that they serve not their own interests but the common good.

Today this body will honor citizens that have given themselves for the sake of their neighbors.

We thank you for their lives of quiet faithfulness for those who build community not for recognition, but because they believe the city is worth the effort, may their exam example kindle the same spirit in all of us.

Bless the men and women of the city, police department, its emergency medical services, and its public works.

Those who protect, heal, and sustain the daily life of this community.

May we never take their service for granted.

No God in a world too often fractured by suspicion and self-interest.

Make this council a sign of what is possible when people of good will gather to seek the flourishing of their neighbors.

May the work done here today bear fruit in justice and safety in the common life of this beloved city.

In your holy name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

If you may all be seated, thank you, Reverend, for that wonderful invitation.

Council members, we have an agenda before us with an addition of F3, a resolution changing the start time of the May 28th, 2026 council meeting.

I'll entertain the motion for approval.

We have a motion, a second.

Clerk, if you can 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 the agenda, passes you.

Thank you.

Um I know I understand we're gonna have a brief announcement from um Mr.

Green, and I don't know if Tom if uh Mike Jeffries is also gonna join in on that regarding the South Branch Library.

Sir, thank you, Madam Chair.

Um, earlier this week, Mayor Welch authorized the use of the emergency section of our procurement code, section two-213.

And when the mayor authorizes the use of that section of the code, we're required to report on that at the next available council meeting, which is today.

Uh, but under that section, and I'm paraphrasing, the mayor may waive or any requirement, procedure, or other provision of the procurement code to the extent the mayor deems necessary to deal with an emergency situation.

In this situation, the emergence, the emergent situation is the library collection at the library at the south Branch.

As you will recall, we had a small fire, smoke and ash got into potentially got into the HVA system.

We've shut that down, and we want to get that remediated as quickly as possible.

So we have engaged BMS CAT to complete that restoration.

The estimated cost is about $169,000.

And Mr.

Jeffries and Mrs.

Ms.

Lindsay are here to answer any questions if council has them.

Else, we have any questions.

I don't see any.

Well, thank you so much for letting us know.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Now we move on to open forum.

I would just want to say to everyone here before we start.

I know there are a lot of people here, maybe your first time here at City Hall.

Um when we have open forum, there's no clapping or anything like that.

The only clapping you can have here is during the awards and presentations.

So you will know when the awards of presentations are happening.

The other thing I want to remind everyone is as you notice, if you're out there, we can hear you in here, and it can be very disruptive, especially if somebody's getting an award.

So we kindly ask again, once you're done, you go outside, but you go downstairs.

You can't be outside, because we're gonna have to have um y'all removed and then go downstairs through to uh room 100 just so we can keep the meeting going and cell phones off, please.

With that being said, Clerk, are there any speakers for open form?

Yes, madam chair.

Can you please read the rules?

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

Only the individual wishing 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 wishing to speak on an item, you may only speak once during open form or when the item comes up on the agenda.

Applause is not permitted except in connections with awards and presentations.

In order to provide an opportunity for all citizens to address city council, 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 9 on your phone at the time the agenda item is addressed.

When it's your turn to speak, you'll be unmuted and asked to state your name and address at the conclusion of your comments or when a 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 the quorum.

If live public comment is disrupted by violations of the rooms rules of the quorum, the chair is authorized to accept public comment by alternate means, including by email only.

We have one speaker in Zoom, Madam Chair.

I'll do them first.

Marley, once you enter the meeting room, state your name and address.

You'll have three minutes to address City Council.

Marley, you're there.

Yes, can you hear me?

We can.

Try it again, Marley.

Marla, can you hear us?

I'll call the two speakers.

Marley, if you can hear us, we're gonna call the first two speakers in the room.

You're trying to take care of an audio issue.

Maureen Stafford and Amanda Cutt.

Please approach either podium, state your name and address.

You'll have three minutes to address city council.

I'm Amanda.

Amanda?

Do you okay?

Maureen Stafford.

She may have signed up, but she's here for for one of the awards and presentations.

You can.

And then Gary Mormino, please approach either podium, state your name and address.

You'll have three minutes to address city council.

You're also here for the memorial tribute for Robin Reed.

Yeah.

Jason S.

Once you enter to the meeting space, unmute yourself, state your name and address.

You'll have three minutes to address city council.

I guess they're talking, but we can't hear them.

That's what I was just.

Yeah, that we can.

Can we go ahead and come back to ahead and come back to it?

And see if we can fix it.

Yes.

Okay.

So we'll go to that all the speakers we have.

We have two and soon.

Okay, so those that are online waiting to speak, we're gonna try to take care of the itch issue right now.

So if you can just hold on, and we're gonna start taking up some of the agenda in between, and once um it's fixed, hopefully, then we can let you know that the issue's been fixed, and then you can give your public comment.

With that being said, we move on to awards and presentations.

And the first award is D7, which is the Distinguished Citizen Award, and is gonna be given by Councilmember Driscoll and the recipient is Gillian Freers.

Thank you.

Thank you.

If I could have um, whenever you're ready, Gillian and the family.

If you'd like to join me at the podium here, so those that are with Jillian, they can you can join Councilmember Driscoll at the podium.

Or if you want to stay seated, whatever you're more comfortable with.

If you're able to, if you if you're not able to, that's understandable.

There she is.

Good afternoon, everyone, colleagues, administration, and members of the community.

Um this one.

Um I'm I'm so proud that we're kicking this off with this one.

So let's meet at the Chataway.

How many times have we all said that over the years?

It's been said countless times by friends, co-workers, neighbors, and visitors who want to know where the locals go.

The legendary Chattaway, where neighbors gather and new friends are made over an ice cold beer, a big burger, and the best shrimp basket in town.

Since the mid-1970s, Gillian Lundfrares has consistently opened her business and her heart to the community, helping create a sense of connection, belonging, and neighborhood identity in old Southeast.

Now, running a restaurant is not easy, but success was found here with true grit from a true Brit.

She's been a cornerstone of the old Southeast community for decades through her stewardship of the Chattaway restaurant, a beloved neighborhood institution that has become far more than just a place to get a bite to eat.

Her support for neighborhood events, artists, and residents has helped strengthen the cultural fabric of St.

Petersburg and preserve the unique character of the Old Southeast through plant swabs, art raffles, neighborhood gatherings.

Gillian has helped bring residents together while supporting local artists and community organizations.

Gillian has played an important role in helping the old Southeast become recognized as one of St.

Petersburg's designated artist enclaves by welcoming community programming and fostering a creative spirit in the neighborhood.

Even during the challenges of COVID, she again stepped up by opening the Chattaway to the community to serve as a staging place for neighborhood outreach and as a gathering that brought residents together safely and responsibly.

The Chattaway has become a true St.

Petersburg landmark, not only because of its history and charm, and if you know those bathtubs and the beautiful gardens, you know what I'm talking about.

But also because of the generosity, the hospitality, and the community-minded leadership that Gillian has demonstrated for decades in a rapidly changing city.

This represents the kind of locally rooted business owner who helps preserve the authenticity, warmth, and sense of community that makes St.

Petersburg so special.

Gillian fosters the true spirit of what it means to be a legacy business.

Her legacy is not measured simply through business success, but through the countless residents, the families, the artists, and the neighbors whose lives and memories have been enriched by her kindness and civic spirit, exemplifying what it means to be a distinguished citizen, someone who quietly and consistently invests in the well-being of her community and inspires others to do the same.

And so it is with great honor that I present this St.

Petersburg City Council Distinguished Citizen Award.

Whereas a great city is only as good as great as those persons who give exemplary service to their communities, whether through participation in voluntary programs, through unique personal achievement in their profession, or other endeavors, or simply through a lifetime of good citizenry.

And whereas such service that is truly the lifeblood of the community and our city so often goes unrecognized and unrewarded.

But now, therefore, as a duly elected member of St.

Petersburg City Council, I, Gina Driscoll, hereby recognize that in Gillian Lund Frares, we have an outstanding citizen, one who is worthy of the esteem of both the community and the great city of St.

Petersburg, Florida.

Would you like to speak?

Or I'll speak.

You want to talk, Mom?

You say thank you to everybody.

I haven't seen you.

She's telling all of our family secrets up here.

Hi everybody, my name is Amanda Keto.

This is my brother, Greg.

This is my sister Winona and my sister Debbie.

And we, on behalf of my mother, Gillian, Lady Chattaway, thank you so much for this incredible honor.

For 75 years, this community has been her life's passion.

While her dementia makes it difficult for her to express it today, please know that your love and support and recognition mean the world to her and to our entire family.

Thank you.

And as my mother has used to say, my sister Winona reminded me.

She used to say this all the time may all your days be Chattaway days or Chattaburger days.

Thank you.

Miss Gillian, if you can stay there one minute, we have uh Councilmember Harding who wants to say something.

Councilmember Harding would like to address you if that's all right.

Who?

Councilmember Harding.

Yes, ma'am.

I want to tell you that uh that my career, um, not as stored as yours, but all I've done so far is restaurants.

Um I've opened lots of them, I've closed some of them.

And I know factually that the average life cycle of a restaurant is eight years, and I know that the average life's life cycle of a chain restaurant, a big chain restaurant, is 16 years.

What you have done is amazing in this regard.

Food, and you know this, and I'll tell all of you this.

Food is secondary to what this industry is.

Hospitality is what makes makes people come back.

And my kids um have all eaten at your restaurant several times.

My wife and I have eaten at your restaurant several times.

My dad used to take me when I was little to your restaurant.

That the the culture that you have created throughout these years, is absolutely second to none.

I I would challenge anyone in this room to find something that has lasted half as long a restaurant that has lasted half as long as yours.

And really it is on the on the backs of uh or on the back of just your strength and personality.

It is the welcoming environment that you have created twice a day for 75 years.

And that that that is you there's nothing else that it that is on the chart that compares to what you've accomplished and I want to recognize that uh that no one else is going to do it.

What you've created is just literally second to none.

And uh and I I speak for everyone when when we tell you thank you and that we're very proud of your efforts.

Thank you.

Ms Jillian Miss Jillian Council Member Givens also wants to say something.

Hey Mama Jill how are you it's so good to see you and all of the family it's thank you so much Councilmember Driscoll uh for bringing this honor forward uh when I think about my childhood Councilmember Harden some of my most fondest memories are at the Chataway uh watching the coy fish uh eating a good burger in the wings which we need the recipe by the way but so many great fond memories in your love your love the smile that is what I will always remember the most um I chose to celebrate my 30th birthday party at the Chattaway because it's just been that special to me my entire life and I'm gonna miss it I'm gonna miss the memories but I have the photos and I have you and I have your legacy which is your offspring such great people your children your grandchildren your great grandbabies you get to love on all of them now Miss Jill you get to spend all your time at home and not at the restaurant but we're gonna miss those tea parties that many of us spent there and most of all we're gonna miss you but you know um I think about what Amanda said you know about your dementia and some of the closest people in my life I have seen them battle that very same thing and one thing I will say is even when you can't remember Miss Jill we will always remember your love.

So thank you so much thank you Miss Jill do you want to say something?

You want to say something?

I want to but I'm um I I sometimes forget what I'm talking what I'm talking so do I.

Oh he'll help me okay this is my not favorite or other we love the local community and the international community very dearly and we are so thankful.

Thank you very much you guys.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It's Jill you have left your mark on our community forever and you are second to none so thank you very much.

Thank you.

And we're still gonna be down there, y'all.

Thank you.

Hey okay so the other thing I forgot to mention obviously if you receive your award you don't you're welcome to stay if you want to through the whole meeting or you're also welcome to go back home if you want to do that or work.

So whatever you want to do you're welcome today but you can also leave and that would that that's fine too.

Okay next up we have the core can see oh yes is the audio we're okay so they're crossing fingers at this point and they're gonna give it another shot.

Jason once you enter to the meeting space unmute state your name and address you'll have three minutes to address city council.

Hey everyone, can you hear me?

Everyone can you hear me?

Can you hear me?

Let's let's let's let some exit the room so we can hear you.

We can hear you.

Hold on one second.

Hold on one second.

Can you have them go downstairs?

Can you have them go down to the move downside?

Okay.

Go ahead, try now.

Go ahead, try now.

Go ahead, try now.

Great.

Uh I'm Jason.

Uh Jason Scott, 4636 Redfish Lane Southeast.

It's gonna be hard to follow.

Um all the Chat Away.

All the Chat away.

But I just want to provide a update on our electric bills.

Uh Duke Energy recently admitted to the state that it overcharged residents by over 90 million dollars in storm recovery costs alone.

Uh not only was that 10% of the total recovery cost that we faced, but they knew about their over collection before November of 2025.

And yet did not act on it until later on in 2026.

When it was too late when it was too late, only to then advertise it as Duke Energy reducing our bills.

Um this is why I'm looking forward to the city conducting a feasibility study in the near future.

Uh to look into our options because Duke Energy is not responsible, and does not look into the interest of its customers.

It's customers.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Nobody would hear us, man.

Just joined me.

Unmute, state your name and address.

You'll have three minutes to address city council.

5034, 30 seconds Av North.

Um I wanted to thank you all again for doing the work you've done so far for the feasibility study to look into our options outside of Duke Energy, similar to the last speaker.

Um even just the work that looking into our options.

I don't know if you all have been on social media recently.

Um there have been a slew of advertisements that look like normal articles.

Um they're not normal articles though.

These are like AI websites, Tampa Business Daily, Golf Coast Dispatch, I've never heard of these websites.

And then you click into it and it's just like an advertisement for Duke Energy.

I can't imagine who's paying for this other than our electric bills.

These are such weird tactics just for a city that is wanting to get unbiased data at the end of a 30-year contract.

So I really look forward to doing our due diligence and um in two weeks seeing the city council kind of stand unified similar to what they did in Clearwater, and really see what our options are and get this unbiased data because um just seeing the mayor's face like plastered on these advertisements that are like unrelated, seemingly the headlines are about housing and just a negative like hit piece on him coming from Duke Energy.

With our utility payments, it's very it's an odd thing to see.

So I look forward to um to see the city do their due diligence on this and uh thank you all for your work on this again.

Okay.

Given that we have no more speakers, at this time we will close open form and go back to awards and presentations, and we'll take up the second award and presentation, which is D1 Distinguished Citizen Award to Alex Kaufman, George Retkees, and Laura Spencer.

Then this is gonna be given by Councilmember Gurtis, and if if the awardees could please join Mr.

Councilmember Gurtis at the podium.

Thank you.

Thank you, madam chair, colleagues.

Um it dawned on me as we were talking about Chataway uh a couple of minutes ago.

Um, the mayor and I just got back and some and some staff were there from New Orleans, and one of the first presentations we got in New Orleans, there was a question about the culture of New Orleans, and there are two answers were food and art.

And so uh I don't uh it it just, you know, God works in mysterious ways that the first two things we're gonna talk about today are food and art that create the culture, and and and what I would tell you is that it's not just culture, it's the soul of what a city can can be, and so uh I'm just truly blessed to be able to celebrate here with Alex, Laura, and George.

As you know, they created a piece of art in the west side of St.

Pete, um at Sunset Park called the uh Sunshine City Mosaic.

That was a lot of S's for me.

And, you know, listen, I will I was the first to be hard on them, because selfishly I wanted it and I wanted it fast, and it didn't happen as fast as we I think even you wanted it, certainly.

And um but when you go and you walk that amazing piece of culture in our park system, it truly uh is a part of the soul of City of St.

Petersburg.

My kids got to go tour it with me as it was being built.

And there's a video uh while we were doing it, and my kids' eyes were as white as watermelons.

I mean, they were just taken aback by the whole thing that this was being created by three young people in the middle of a park in 95 degree weather, okay.

Uh I was under the tent.

It wasn't helpful.

And so I just am so thankful to these three for one, putting up with me uh and and my pushback, but two for um being yourself and being a part of the soul, the culture, the art of St.

Petersburg, we are all uh more blessed in this city having you share your unique talent, your unique profession uh with the rest of the city and all of its visitors, and uh this was the best way I could show that appreciation.

So it's my honor uh to present, and I'm gonna try to combine this.

So if I mess up the wording at the end, again, big surprise, Copley messed up.

Whereas a great city is only as great as those persons who give exem exemplary service to their communities, whether through participation voluntary programs, through unique personal achievement in their profession or other endeavors, or simply through a lifetime of good citizenry.

And whereas such service, such service that is truly the lifeblood of the community in the city so often goes unrecognized and unrewarded.

Now, therefore, I, Councilmember Copley Gurtis, a duly elected member of the St.

Petersburg City Council, I hereby recognize that we have outstanding citizens, Alex Kaufman, Laura Spencer, George R Retkish, who are worthy of the esteem of both the community and the great city of St.

Petersburg, Florida.

Thank you.

We go to council member comments.

Do you want to say something before Laura does?

Hi, Miss Driscoll.

Um on behalf of my fellow artists' friends and colleagues, uh, this project was unprecedented in a lot of ways.

Uh unprecedented scope of work for the city of St.

Pete and unprecedented for the three of us as emerging artists who live, work, play, and are deeply in love with the city of St.

Pete.

So thank you all so much for your extended patience.

Um for the lessons that we learned along the way.

Um and you haven't seen the end of us yet.

Many, many, many more works of artwork to come.

Thank you all so very much.

Thank you.

Councilmember Driscoll.

Thank you.

If you haven't had an opportunity to go and see um the Sunshine City Mosaic yet, I I urge you to um take the time.

I mean, I know it's on the west side and all, but um it's worth the drive.

Just pack a lunch, you know.

I always give him I always give him a hard time about uh Westside.

But um seriously, this this work is extraordinary, and as you as you look at it in and enjoy the the imagery, and you think about how hard it was to do that.

This is not a simple project.

It is intricate, um, it is it is difficult.

Um, the way that they have to do it um can change with the weather.

I mean, it it's just there's so much that goes into creating a piece like this, and I couldn't be prouder of the way it turned out and of the people who made it happen.

Um I wanted to ask, is this the first collaboration that the three of you had done together?

Uh, the first collaboration of the three of us, yes.

George and I work together quite often and have for the past 13 years, and this was our way of forming kind of a super group of artists.

Yeah, to create it.

And just for those of you listening at home, it's a hundred and seventy-five-foot-long mosaic, uh, kind of a mural or illustrations.

There's 15,000 pieces of tile individually cut and placed, and it tells the story through nine illustrations of the sunrise on Tampa Bay to the sunset out on the beaches, and there's all these different ecological uh elements.

So, your favorite animals native to Pinellas County, are there from manatees to Pelicans, of course.

Uh uh Southern Magnolias and Green and Old Lizard.

So please, please go visit it and go walk on it.

So, Laura and George, you've worked together before, and then you add Alex into the mix.

Ah, okay.

Oh, that's good.

Okay, that tells me a lot because sometimes when you get three artists, two, let alone three artists together for a collaboration.

Uh, there are times when you just want to kill each other, so um, I'm sure, and you know, each other why they're revision.

Yeah, but this is a case where I I know each of your individual art, and you brought through that you each were able to bring your own superpower to the table.

So you're like in Justice League of three that made this happen.

And um, I just I have always admired all of you as um as artists and as human beings, and I am just so grateful for the work that you did for our city that people are going to be able to enjoy um for a very long time.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilmember Gibbons.

Thank you very much.

And I just had to say thank you to you all for making St.

Pete what it is, a special city.

Um, and what makes us so special, it really is our art.

And now we have another piece of art to add to this special collection that we have here in St.

Pete, and you all are who we owe to that.

So I know there were some hiccups, some storms, some timelines that had to get extended, but through it all you persevered.

Uh so I'm just excited uh to see what more you're going to bring to St.

Petersburg's artistic landscape.

Uh, I really think this is just the beginning of something special.

Uh Alison George, I've seen your work before, Laura, you're my girl.

So I'm just excited to see what you're gonna bring here in the future.

So keep up the good work, and thank you.

Thank you all so much.

Thank you.

And I just want to say real quick, um, you all, like it's said before, y'all have come such a long way from the first time we saw you at City Council till now.

And but you know, but but here's the thing it's those experiences that grow you not just as an artist as an individual, as a business person, and I guarantee you all those lessons that you have learned through this process are gonna make you much better later on, and it was a great learning experience.

And look at where you are today.

So we are looking forward to seeing what your future holds because y'all are young, and so we expect to see more of you.

Uh, the other thing I want to say for those who don't know where the mural is, it's at Sunset Park, it's on the west side, and you know what?

A good time to go see it will be when the sunset is happening, right?

And see the mural and the light coming down and watching what they the work that that they did there.

So thank you all for everything you've done for our city.

Thank you.

Okay.

So next up, we have D2, which is Older Americans Month Proclamation and recognition of the 2026 Senior Hall of Fame inductees.

Uh, and we have our mayor here, Mayor Welch.

Good afternoon.

Madam Chair, Council, members of our St.

Pete team, and all of our citizens, thank you all for being here today.

I am super excited to present the older Americans Month proclamation and to recognize some of our senior Hall of fame inductees who are with us today.

I'll ask our Community Enrichment Administration and Parks and Rec team if y'all would join me at the podium.

This moment is special because it recognizes and celebrates the remarkable contributions of our seniors.

And we all frequently say it's important to know our history so that we can build inclusive progress for our future.

And it's a real privilege to be in the room filled with individuals like these seniors who have helped to shape the history that's made St.

Pete the wonderful city that it is today.

Our seniors hold the wisdom, the lived experience, the energy, and the vitality which creates a foundation of shared goals and collaboration that enriches our community and inspires future generations.

On behalf of the city of St.

Petersburg, I want to extend my sincere thanks to all of you and salute you all for your leadership.

Y'all look great, by the way, too.

And if the seniors uh just if you want to stand, that's fine, or just wave your hands.

I want y'all to be recognized as I read this proclamation.

All right.

So those who are able to stand, if you can stand while the mayor reads a proclamation, um, those who were inducted in the senior hall of fame.

And it reads, whereas the month of May is annually observed as older Americans' month for the purpose of recognizing the value of the nation's older citizens.

And whereas the city of St.

Petersburg includes a thriving community of older Americans who deserve recognition for their contributions and sacrifices to ensure a better life for future generations.

And whereas the city recognizes that there are citizens over the age of 70 who are still contributing to our community through gainful employment.

And whereas the city of St.

Petersburg is committed to helping all individuals live longer, healthier lives in the communities of their choice for as long as possible.

And whereas we recognize the value of community engagement and service in helping older adults remain healthy and active while giving back to others.

And whereas our community can provide opportunities to enrich the lives of individuals of all ages by promoting and engaging in activity, wellness, and social inclusion, emphasizing home and community-based services that support independent living, ensuring community members of all ages benefit from the contributions and experience of older adults, and supporting the city's nationally accredited Sunshine Senior Center in its operations.

Now, therefore, I, Kenneth T.

Welch, Mayor of the City of St.

Petersburg, Florida, do hereby proclaim May 2026 as Older Americans Month and urge every resident to take time this month to celebrate older adults and those who serve and support them as powerful and vital individuals who greatly contribute to our community.

Thank you all for you.

Good afternoon.

You can you can be seated if you wish.

Honorable mayor, Madam Chair, City Council, and those within my voice.

You know I love this part.

Arthur Ash said, start where you are, use what you have, and do what you can.

As we celebrate older Americans month this May and Senior Citizen Month in August, this year's theme is Champion Your Health.

It reminds us that prevention, wellness, and personal responsibility are key to healthy aging.

On April 15th, we saw that spirit in action as we celebrated the 42nd anniversary of the senior Hall of Fame.

We honored 37 outstanding senior nominees who together have contributed more than 900 years of volunteer service to our city and our community.

Their work spans education, faith, civic engagement, organizations, and countless sites of service that continues to strengthen our city.

One inductee, and she gave me permission for this, at 90 years young, still volunteers, and sometimes take the bus to do so.

So there's no excuse.

During the ceremony, 11 extraordinary seniors were inducted into the senior hall of fame.

We thank the mayor, and I'm gonna say my administrator because in council, because you all are so supportive to the senior programs, and supporting senior programs recognize the value of older adults such as myself.

I try to make sure y'all know that I'm a senior and fighting against ageism.

Earlier today, the mayor, this is hard, such a sweet home, presented these 11 inductees with keys to the city.

And what I'm gonna ask now is I'm gonna call your names, and if you like, you can stand.

Otherwise, you can remain seated.

We honored Dr.

Cody Clark.

If you like, you can hold your applause.

That'll help me get through the name.

You sound like the chair.

You're speaking my language.

Lynn Harold Johnson, Pastor Deborah Heel, Teresa Jones, Thomas Lally, Lizzie Latimer, that's our 90, your young person, Madeline O'Berry, Marion Tagalarino.

Okay, Marcy, thank you.

Tagler Reno.

And Danny White.

Roma Ragu and Virginia Ryan are not with us today, but we wanted them all to know that we appreciate them.

Now you can applaud.

Carol has been in this business of recognizing the Senior Hall of Fame and contributing to that for years.

I just joined her five years ago, but I'm very honored for Marcy and Carol and the support of our administration and my boss right there that tries to hide Rick for what they do and what we all do for our senior community.

It also makes this world a better place.

Councilmember Givens.

Thank you, Chair.

I'd be remiss if I didn't say just a few words because I know just about each and every one of you.

From T to T, Teresa Datome.

You all have each touched my life and impacted my life in one way or another, to my cousin Pastor Heel, my fraternity brother Dr.

Clark.

Congratulations to each and every one of you.

You have earned this recognition.

May God bless you with health, wealth, and happiness.

Congratulations.

So although they you all are on the Hall of Fame, I still expect to see you all in our community doing what you do, because I will tell you every time that I see you all out there, you're giving back, and we need as much of that as we can to keep our community going.

So thank you for everything you do.

Next up.

And if you all again, if you want to stay, you can stay, but if you're you're welcome to leave.

I don't want people trampling over each other.

Thank you.

Thank you all.

We're going to your cause.

So yeah, I think that's where we do it.

You're following directions, madam.

Yeah, no.

I want to make sure they get out of here safe.

Yeah, yeah.

Thank you.

Okay.

Okay, next up we have the five of National Public Works Week proclamation with our mayor.

Again, Mayor Walsh.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Uh, this is not my twin.

This is Paul Tankersley.

Uh trying to catch up with them on the bow ties.

But we're gonna start off this National Public Works Week uh proclamation with a video.

Great.

My name is Sylvia Rosario.

I am the first Hispanic Latina, female chief plan operator for the city of St.

Petersburg.

You if you don't wake up wanting to be a chief plan operator or a wastewater operator, this is a job that you are either born into, your parents did it, or maybe your family member did it, or it falls out of the sky for you.

It fell out of the sky for me.

I was a nail tech, and um I came to my wastewater interview with beautiful old nails, fancy hair, all the makeup, and the operators and the team behind the table, they looked and they were like, What does she think of?

We sat down, we had a great great conversation, they had confidence in me, and it happened.

I was like, I don't know if I want to do this, this is crazy.

The change is so big.

I decided to go for it.

I figured, you know, I had four sons at the time, and um they deserved better.

I looked up to my mother.

She also was a single mother.

We were living in New York in the Bronx.

She went back to Puerto Rico with me where I went to school and to high school, some college.

I looked up to her and she was always so proud of anything I did.

That was very encouraging to me to see that no matter what, how simple something I did, she was always a big cheerleader.

So my sisters were older than me.

And they also were accomplished.

So I had that look up to.

So I had a lot of females to look up to.

Of course, my favorite color is pink.

This is a very male-dominated field.

I want to say, I've met four to five females operators.

So I always keep my office as girly as I can, because I tell the guys I am part of this team, but I'm still a girl.

I'm very proud of what I've done.

I'm I'm very proud to work for the city.

I'm very proud of what we do.

I'm proud of the water we put out.

We do it for the environment.

We do it for our children, for your children, for our families, for the families out there.

You have to be driven in life.

You have there has to be a goal.

And there has to be a reason.

It has to be a reason.

There will be obstacles and obstacles.

But you have to be the person sitting back figuring out how you're going to approach those obstacles and how you're going to get through them.

My definition of a trailblazer is a person that has a vision, and can see an opportunity to come their way.

Just grab on to that goals and know that you have a meaning and a reason and go for it.

Continues to break barriers in a very traditional male-dominated field.

I know we all take pride in knowing that our leadership and staff innovate and problem solve with the support of a diverse staff in a way that inspires others to study our model and our way of work.

Thank you and your team for your great work on that.

We are who we are due to our employees.

And with that, we have our public works administrator Claude Tankersley and our public works employees to uh join me at the podium, if y'all would for the reading of the proclamation.

Y'all can come on over.

Thank you all for your service.

Appreciate it.

Great video.

And it reads, whereas public works professionals focus on infrastructure, facilities, and services that are vital importance to sustainable and resilient communities and to the public health, high quality of life and well-being of the city of St.

Petersburg.

And whereas these infrastructure facilities and services could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of public works professionals who are engineers, managers, and employees at all levels of government and the private sector who are responsible for rebuilding, improving and protecting our nation's transportation, water supply, water treatment, and solid waste systems, public buildings, and other structures and facilities essential for our citizens.

And whereas it's in the public interest for the citizens, civic leaders, and children in St.

Petersburg to gain knowledge of and maintain an ongoing interest and understanding of the importance of public works and public works programs in our community.

And whereas the year 2026 marks the 66th annual National Public Works Week sponsored by the American Public Works Association.

Now, therefore, I, Kenneth T.

Welch, Mayor of the City of St.

Petersburg, do hereby proclaim May 17th through May 23rd, 2026 as National Public Works Week in St.

Petersburg, and ask citizens to join with representatives of the American Public Works Association and government agencies and activities, events, and ceremonies designed to pay tribute to our public works professionals, engineers, managers, and employees, and to recognize the substantial contributions they make to protecting our health, safety, and advancing the quality of life for all.

Thank you all for your great work.

So before I get started, actually, I'd like to we we have a whole lot of people in here from public works, so I I we have six people that I want to recognize, but all those who are public works folks, would you mind standing just so that they can they can recognize you guys?

And I'd also like to ask Whitney if you'd come on up to the join this group.

I'd appreciate it.

So I am old enough to remember when I was in college in engineering, there were not a lot of females in engineering college.

So we've made a lot of pride, made a lot of strides, I should say, in the last 35 years.

And when I went to work within the industry, not uh there was even fewer females within public works.

Uh, and it was a very male-dominated uh industry, as uh Sylvia mentioned during her video.

So today I wanted to take a um an opportunity to recognize the women of public works, and I have with me today seven women that I want to recognize.

And if you guys don't mind when I read your name, if you would wave or step forward or some way, let people know who you are.

And so let me begin.

We'll start with Jennifer Anderson.

Jennifer.

Yes, she is.

So Jennifer is our asset management manager, and Jennifer is in our newest department, our asset management office, which is I think two years old now.

Jennifer has been with the city for 20 years this July.

So Jennifer serves as the manager of the asset management office and is the only female member of the department.

In the role that she has, she navigates complex and unprecedented challenges, making decisions on matters that have not previously been addressed with the City of St.

Petersburg organization.

Her leadership is grounded in empathy while maintaining a strong focus on achieving organizational goals.

She has also led a transformative initiative to consolidate data on all city-owned utility facilities into a single CMMS application.

That's a that's uh one of those many acronyms we love to throw around in public works to improve the efficiency and standardization in asset management.

Looking ahead, Jennifer aims to develop a comprehensive capital asset registry to support data-driven forward-looking budget planning.

So thank you very much to Jennifer.

And if you guys don't mind, I I'm gonna take um the clue from the previous folks, and let's let's hold our applause until I get through my seven folks here.

So the next person would be Maureen Wingfield.

Maureen, you're probably right behind me.

Yeah, there you are.

There you go.

So Maureen is within our engineering department.

She is a senior professional engineer, and she's been with the city now for seven years.

Maureen is the city's first, I'll say that again, is the city's first design build Institute of America certified professional.

She has demonstrated strong leadership and a commitment to advancing innovative project delivery practices.

She is also a licensed professional engineer with extensive experience in both design and construction administration, giving her a well-rounded perspective on capital projects.

Recently, one of her city projects was awarded the first nationally recognized Envision Award for the City of St.

Petersburg.

And it happened to be a project where Sylvia is the uh chief operator for the plant.

So there's a lot of a lot of synergy going on back here.

In addition, Maureen is an accomplished projects manager who consistently leads complex projects and programs.

Her leadership and accomplishments make her a strong role model for others in the field.

Thank you, Maureen.

Next, I'd like to recognize Michaela Klem from our fleet team.

There she is.

Thank you.

So Michaela is in our fleet group, fleet division, department, forgive me, and she is the automotive parts clerk, and she has been with the city for three years.

She was selected to be represented today as the only woman in the parts shop and the sole female blue-collar employee in fleet management.

So she's she's really blazing some grounds there.

She brings a unique and important perspective to the department.

Her prior experience in automotive and power sports parts, including work at a Toyota dealership, provides her with a strong technical knowledge base.

She also serves on the public works employee inclusivity committee and participates in community events, demonstrating her commitment to both inclusion and public service.

Next, I'd like to introduce Chelsea Freeman.

There she is.

Thank you, Chelsea.

Chelsea is with our Office of Sustainability and Resilience.

She is our urban forester and sustainability coordinator.

She's been with the city for two and a half years.

Chelsea serves as the city's urban forester and sustainability coordinator, a role that requires technical expertise, field-based problem solving, and a strong commitment to the community.

She leads efforts such as tree canopy analysis, urban forestry planning, and community tree plantings while also engaging residents through outreach and events.

Chelsea consistently demonstrates a strong passion for environmental stewardship and public service in the city of St.

Petersburg.

Next, I'd like to introduce Joanna Williams, right behind me.

Joanna is with our stormwater pavement and traffic operations department, and she is a stormwater utilities maintenance apprentice, and she's been with us for six months.

Joanna is part of the city's efforts to replace and maintain critical infrastructure in our stormwater system.

She joined the team after transitioning from a previous career in nursing, bringing with her a strong work ethic and service-oriented mindset.

She is hardworking, eager to learn, and consistently demonstrates a positive attitude in the field.

Her willingness to grow and adapt has made her a valued member of the team, supporting essential infrastructure work across the city.

And next, I'd like to have Sylvia Rosario.

Her job title is she is a chief plant operator at the Northwest Water Reclamation Facility.

Now remember, we have three water reclamation facilities.

She is the chief operator of one of them in the Northwest.

She has been with the city for 14 years.

And Sylvia, as she mentioned in the video, is the first Hispanic female chief operator and a respected leader in water reclamation operations.

She consistently demonstrates professionalism, technical expertise, and a strong commitment to her team.

Through her exceptional work at the Northwest Water Reclamation Facility and her willingness to take on added responsibilities.

She consistently goes above and beyond to support her team and contribute to its success.

She actively represents the city at job fairs, outreach events, and plant tours, helping to inspire our next generation, especially young women, to see themselves not only in this industry, but in leadership roles as well.

And finally, she didn't know I was going to do this.

Finally, I want to introduce Whitney Blair.

Whitney, there you go.

Thank you.

So Whitney is a special projects manager in the public works administration.

So she serves an administration level, not a department level.

Whitney is my right hand on all issues regarding the APWA accreditation process.

Matter of fact, she took us across the finish line in getting us re-accredited this past year.

And that's a tough, tough job to have.

And so Whitney also kind of helps me out when I will forget things, such as you know, putting stuff together to share with others.

She keeps me on my toes, and I'm always grateful for for her backup and her support.

And she shares the office with me, so come by and say hello whenever you're down my way.

So I just wanted to highlight the women within public works.

We could talk, I could talk, as you guys know, long time about public works.

But I'm just so proud the fact that we here in St.

Pete provide opportunities for everybody who wants to serve the citizens in a public work role.

We provide those opportunities.

We have a lot of trailblazers here, and we have a lot of people that are gonna take us to the next level, and I couldn't be more proud.

So thank you very much.

Council Member Givens.

Thank you really quick.

I just want to thank you, ladies so much for just being fierce She Ros, you know.

You know, they say who runs rural girls.

I really thank you, all of the ones who are running things, but you're also running St.

Pete.

Um, you're keeping our stormwater system, our wastewater system, our traffic lights, everything.

You keep this city running and operating so that we don't have to call PD in the middle of an emergency.

So thank you all so much for what you do.

Uh, and I just want to say again, you know, when you look at the future of St.

Petersburg, there's so many opportunities, and you guys are a prime example of the employment opportunities that are waiting for young women to grow up in take one day.

So thank you all so much.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

And I also want to extend my thanks for everything you do uh for being trailblazers, um, and not only you all, because someone opened the door for you.

So I would hope to see in the future more ladies like you all uh in your fields and you opening those doors and passing it on to the next generation because it really is wonderful to see different like fields of work change.

Like he mentioned engineering, it was the same thing in law, it's the same thing in every field.

There was a time where you didn't see women do certain jobs, and you're changing that, and don't forget that.

And some days may be difficult, but you know there's a lot of people supporting you, and we see you.

So thank you very much for what you do.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

So what we're gonna do, I want to make sure um, uh administrator Gurtis and Mayor, like I know that we're gonna have a large group coming at one point.

I don't want to like interrupt anyone while they're giving a presentation.

As long as we can take a quick break to let like the big groups come in at some point.

So just let me know when, and we'll do it between breaks because I don't want to, I don't want while the mayor is speaking, um, someone to interrupt.

Thank you.

Callie's downstairs, so Rita can coordinate with her maybe after this one.

Yeah, that we could we could kind of yeah, get people in here.

Thank you, Chair.

Absolutely.

And we'll let this group make their way out.

And then those that are making their way out, if they can make their way out down to downstairs.

And for those that are here for the later items, don't worry, we will get we will make sure that everyone is up here.

We just want to make sure we don't interrupt um the mayor while he's speaking or the presentation with a lot of people coming in, but it looks like that is happening now.

So we will wait.

That's light plans.

Uh you know.

Hey, Chair, if I may, I I just want to let Mayor Welch know.

I don't know if that was intentional or not, Mayor, but I did notice that you were the bow tie for Clyde today, so I caught that.

You're very perceptive, Councilmember, yes.

If anybody is out there, someone could just let them know if they're gonna come in, they should come in now.

If not, they can wait downstairs and we'll make sure they're up here for the presentation because that we're have the mayor and others here waiting.

Okay, at this point, we're gonna start um with D nine law enforcement appreciation month proclamation, and I'll turn it over to the mayor.

Thank you, madam chair.

In the city of St.

Petersburg, we annually recognize our appreciation for our law enforcement team.

I'm joined by Chief Holloway and his leadership team as I make this presentation.

I know y'all look forward to his report later on in today's meeting about public safety in the city.

The City of St.

Petersburg is blessed to have uh the best law enforcement team in the country, the brave men and women who serve our city, serve and lead daily with respect and dignity while they put their lives at risk for our community's safety and welfare.

And we're all grateful for their sacrifice and for that of their families.

We couldn't be proud of our police department, our leadership is top tier, and our public safety agency is accredited.

Our training, education, prevention programs, and cutting-edge technology helps us reduce and solve crime throughout our city.

This proclamation is one small way that we recognize their efforts and demonstrate our commitment to them.

And the proclamation reads whereas the safety and security of our community are paramount, and whereas law enforcement officers dedicate themselves to protecting and serving our citizens with courage, integrity, and professionalism.

And whereas these brave men and women risk their lives daily to uphold the laws that safeguard our neighborhoods, businesses, and families.

And whereas law enforcement appreciation month provides an opportunity for us to express our gratitude and admiration for their unwavering commitment to public safety.

And whereas their dedication often goes unrecognized, yet their contributions are invaluable to the fabric of our society.

And whereas their sacrifices and selfless service deserve our utmost respect and support.

And whereas we honor their bravery, sacrifice, and unwavering dedication to the protection of our community.

Now, therefore, I, Kenneth T.

Welch, mayor of the city of St.

Petersburg, do hereby proclaim May 2026 as law enforcement appreciation month in St.

Petersburg.

And I call upon all citizens to join me in recognizing the invaluable contributions of our law enforcement officers and expressing our deepest appreciation for their service.

Thank you all for your service.

Mayor City Council, on behalf of the men and women of the St.

Petersburg Police Department and law enforcement through automation, I just want to say thank you because you honor the men and women that have gone before that gave the ultimate sacrifice, and these men and women stand prepared today to also do the ultimate sacrifice.

So again, thank you very much for this acknowledgement.

Thank you.

And I have to say, Chief, and I know I speak for city council when I say this, um, any time that I reach out, whether to you or your command staff or any anyone in the police department, I will tell you whatever is needed, you are on top of it.

And I'm I mean, it is remarkable.

We get an email, there is an issue, and the response is it's getting handled, and it is not just appreciated by us, obviously, but by the residents of St.

Petersburg.

Um, we had a huge issue recently in my district um with um people that had basically taken over a house in a neighborhood, and basically had made that area kind of unlivable for the rest of the residents that were in that area, and the amount of work that you all did from reaching out an out of state, you know, owner of the property, I mean, things that people do not realize that the police actually do, right?

Because you all see them out there, um, and you think their work is just there in the field, but they're doing other things outside of that, and um the amount of work it took from getting that out of state resident, getting the legal things you needed uh done, you know, appropriately with the attorney, everything to allowing that neighborhood to be back in the hands of the neighborhood and not of the people that were doing what they were not supposed to be doing.

Um, and then hearing from your officers telling me, you know, we're probably gonna have a pizza party afterwards and celebrate with the residents, you know, the fact that they have their neighborhood back, and that is the type of service that our police department is doing day in and day out.

Some issues may be more challenging than others, and it takes a little bit longer to resolve, but the point is they're always looking for innovative solutions in dealing with these situations that arise on a daily basis.

And I just wanted to say that we acknowledge it, we know it, and whatever you need from us, we're here.

So thank you for everything you do in your service.

Thank you.

Next item we have is the six, and it is EMS Week proclamation, and council member fake Sanders will be presenting the proclamation for those that are here for that proclamation.

If they can join council member fake sanders at the podium.

Good afternoon.

So, this, you know, I I couldn't push my button because I was down here, but um, our law enforcement has always been um a priority um for me, and I do want to take this opportunity to salute them.

But now we are going to celebrate our emergency medical services area of the city of St.

Petersburg, and I was so honored to be able to present this proclamation.

The National EMS Week takes place from May 17th through May 23rd.

And this annual observance was first established by President Gerald Ford in 1974, which honors emergency medical technicians, paramedics, and the entire emergency medical services workforce for their life-saving work.

The National Emergency Medical Services Week, it brings together local communities and medical personnel to honor the dedication of those who provide the day-to-day life-saving services of medicines frontline.

EMS Week is a time to thank our paramedics, our EMTs, and the entire EMS workforce for their service and sacrifices.

And that word service, coupled with sacrifices, mean a lot.

It is also an opportunity for EMS to continue to raise public awareness about the critical role of EMS in the community.

So the theme for 2026 this year is improving outcomes together.

And the proclamation reads, as such, whereas emergency medical services is a vital public service, and whereas the members of St.

Petersburg Fire Rescue are ready to provide life-saving care to those in need 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

And whereas access to quality emergency care dramatically improves the survival and recovery rate of those who experience sudden illness or injury.

And whereas Emergency Medical Services has grown to fill a gap by providing important out-of-hospital care, including preventative medicine, follow-up care, and access to telemedicine.

And whereas the emergency medical services system consists of first responders, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, emergency medical dispatchers, firefighters, police officers, educators, administrators, pre-hospital nurses, emergency nurses, emergency physicians, and others.

And whereas the members of emergency medical services teams engage in thousands of hours of specialized training and continuing education to enhance their life-saving skills.

And whereas it's important to recognize the value and the accomplishments of emergency medical services providers by designating emergency medical services week.

Now, dear four, I Councilmember Deborah Fig Sanders on behalf of Mayor Kenneth T.

Welch, Mayor of St.

Petersburg, Florida, in recognition of this event.

Do hereby proclaim the week of May 17th through May 23rd, 2026 as Emergency Medical Services Week in St.

Petersburg and encourage the community to observe this week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

Now I'm going to ask our fire chief, Mr.

Keith Watts to please come up.

Thank you.

Mayor, Council Chair, Vice Chair, Council members, and members of the St.

Petersburg community.

We thank you for your continued support of fire rescue.

May 17th through May 23rd is the 52nd anniversary of National EMS Week.

The theme is improving outcomes together.

The City of St.

Petersburg and St.

Petersburg Fire Rescue began providing EMS service in 1974.

EMS Week and this proclamation are to highlight our gratitude towards EMTs and paramedics who provide life-saving care throughout our community day and night.

They do it through in sunshine, during hurricanes, and on holidays and anniversaries in many environments such as businesses, homes, roadways, and waterways.

EMS Week offers a time to educate the public about EMS and the essential services provided to our residents and visitors, as well as reducing preventable injuries.

St.

Petersburg Fire Rescue offers CPR classes and connects with the community to provide safety, themed children books, fall prevention materials, and drowning prevention, just to name a few.

St.

Pete Fire Rescue responded to over 55,000 EMS responses in 2025.

Some EMS incidents require multiple fire rescue apparatus to respond and provide quality patient care to residents and visitors.

Our total apparatus responses response in 2025 was over 63,000 calls.

Currently, we have over 375 sworn members who serve our community as firefighters as firefighter paramedics, paramedics, and EMTs, and we're grateful for their dedicated service and providing exceptional emergency services to our citizens and visitors.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Givens.

Thank you so much, Chair, and thank you, Chief, and to uh your entire team, the 375 individuals who are working uh to make sure that St.

Petersburg is paramount when it comes to public safety.

Um I have benefited from your services.

So many people who I know have personally benefited from your services.

Um you all are human lifesavers, and I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilmember Fake Sanders.

I'm gonna be quick, so I had to run up and hit my button.

Um, so again, it was an honor to read the proclamation for this valuable week.

But um, again, I know what you do firsthand.

I live that life for many years.

Um, and to know that every time you go on a call, you just never know what you're going to be met with.

And so again, I thank you.

I thank you, and I thank you, and I want to continue to have you walk our streets, walk our city, provide service, but I need you to be safe.

For that, thank you.

I do appreciate everything that you do for our city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So, Chief, just like um I spoke about our police department.

That's how I feel about your department, our fire department, our EMS and paramedics.

Um, I will tell everyone here.

If you haven't gone to your fire station and visited your fire station recently, you should.

You should definitely visit them because that is a community space, and you can go and say hi, and they will appreciate that unless they're running out on the call.

But 55,000 calls you mentioned, Chief, and how many of those end up being life or death situations and life when I say life or death situations because I I've heard of some of the the calls that they have had where they've saved someone and it's been seconds, the difference between seconds between them living.

Um, and that's why it's so important that we support our fire department and we make sure that they have the tools that they need so they can provide the services to our community, and they can be there when their community needs them most.

And so I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I know that every council member up here, whether they've spoken or not spoken, uh, feels the same way about our fire department.

And we always appreciate how much that you keep us involved and you communicate with us, and that's really important.

So thank you so much.

Okay, we are gonna move on to the next item, which is item D4.

It's the National Water Safety Month Proclamation for anyone that is here that um for that item.

If they can join council member Gertis, um, who will be presenting it.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and I think we have parks and rec.

Uh, we've got um St.

Pete Fire Rescue, I think, still for this one, and so um it's always uh bittersweet this proclamation.

Um our parks and rec department and our fire and rescue, um, you know, keep our city safe, and they do a great job of that, and thankfully we're not dealing uh with this issue like some other communities across the country are as often as they are.

Um and I know you have heard the story, but listen, I was talking about water safety in a house with a net around it.

My son walks out a back door, he thinks he can't get out of, or I think he can't get out of smart little two-year-old, and walks into a pool, and I had no idea it was happening.

College swimmer could swim before I could walk, was a lifeguard at St.

Pete Pools, and it happened to me.

And let me be very clear, it didn't happen to my wife.

She wasn't there, it was my fault.

And her her brother or his brother, I'm getting sorry, Callie saved his life.

Period, full stop.

His three-year-old daughter, three-year-old sister saved his life.

And so it can happen anywhere at any time and any moment when we're talking about drowning prevention.

And so, um, as much as again, the people behind me are doing the work every day to make sure that that doesn't happen, and we need to celebrate the work that they're doing, we also need to remind ourselves that it can happen anywhere at any time.

And so, I'll read the plot proclamation on water safety month.

Whereas drowning remains a leading cause of preventable injury and death among young children, and water safety is a shared responsibility requiring education, vigilance, and community commitment.

And whereas in Pinellas County, 75% of all submergent submersion incidents occur at beaches or at residential and community pools, and 26% of these incident incidents involve children with autism.

And whereas data from the Florida Department of Health and the Florida Department of Children and Families report that in 2025, Pinellas County experienced 27 drowning fatalities, 25 of those fatalities were children.

Whereas, evidence shows that drowning incidents can be reduced through public education, vigilant adult supervision around all bodies of water, enrollment and formal swimming lessons, installation of appropriate safety barriers, and training in CPR.

And whereas by raising awareness and promoting proven water safety practices, the city of St.

Petersburg remains committed to educating the community and preventing the tragic and lasting impacts of drowning.

And now, therefore, I, Councilmember Copley Gertis, on behalf of Kenneth T.

Welch, the mayor of the city of St.

Petersburg, do hereby proclaim May 2026 as Water Safety Month in St.

Petersburg.

And I urge all citizens to join me in actively protecting our children by promoting to learn by promoting learn to swim programs and parental caregiver awareness.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Gertes.

Um, I want to say thank you for this opportunity.

Aquatics division of parks and Recreation and FIRE has really partnered this month for the month of May to recognize water safety and drowning prevention.

And so thank you to Chief Watts, Chief Judah, Chief Gibson, Alana, and Alexa for the partnership that you have, you and your team have provided with us.

You know, we have done several things, and just to give you an idea of some of the things that we have done for water safety month in the month of May.

Um Water Fire, we came together to do a car wash.

All those funds that were collected, it was over eighteen hundred dollars, are going towards free swim lessons for people in the community.

We also came together to do water safety day.

Whereas in FIRE again came and partnered with us, they brought out the fire engines.

Um we had CPR demonstrations, um, JWB came out with some more education.

Safe kids came out with education.

Fire handed out lots of life jackets.

They fit it and gave out free life jackets to kids in the community.

We also did swim lesson evaluations because we know being able to have the access to pools, swim lessons, learning how to swim, that education, that all makes drownings preventable.

And so that's what we want to do.

Make sure people have the education, they are provided with the opportunity to learn how to swim.

We want to make sure that it's affordable.

So we have scholarships that are available, people have donated to us.

So we want to thank those in the community that have taken the time to recognize the importance of water safety and um drowning prevention, especially in the month of May.

Summer is here, it's time to um, you know, get ready.

Kids can come all ages, six months, all the way up to 18.

Um, adults, parent-child lessons, they're available.

Our pools will be open this weekend, and we are ready.

Thank you.

Well, thank you all for everything you do.

Um, a special thanks, um, Councilmember Gurtis.

You always share that personal story, and I think it's really important.

Um, every year, every time I hear you say it, you know, it makes me want to cry because I have a child, and but it goes to show you that it can happen to anybody, and with children, it's a split second.

I mean, we just at the end we were in a meeting and they were talking about a child who is out in the road, and it was by the highway, and one of our employees, it was at the award ceremony, found them on the street, and it was a toddler, and these things happen in a split of a second, and we live in a place where there's lots of pools, lots of water everywhere you go.

So, public service announcement.

If you have not learned how to swim, we have lots of programs, the city has lots of programs, um, and you just have to reach out to your fire department or our aquatics team or our parks and recs team, and they can guide you in the right direction.

Thank you.

Yes, okay.

We are next moving up to D 10.

Uh, it is Nicholas Nick Grasso Day proclamation.

And I believe if the family is out there or anybody that needs to come in, you're walking in just in time.

So, for those that are here for the proclamation, the family, if they can join council member Gertis up at the podium.

You can join them at the podium.

Right ahead.

Uh well, uh, administration was very nice to let me do this, so I didn't end on water safety day, so I get to celebrate a little bit.

Um, frankly, it's it's a big honor uh to be up here celebrating uh who I call Coach Nick Grasso.

Um, the GERTES and Grasso families go back on the west side a pretty long time.

Um Coach Grasso actually coached Rob at St.

P.

College.

I'm sorry you had to deal with that.

Um but what Mr.

Grosso has done for uh this community, both in education and athletics, uh I wouldn't need to tell the story.

All you have to do is if will his family and friends who are here, will you stand up for a second?

This is all you need to know about somebody when they're being recognized like we did earlier, is when people show up like this, he did something right.

Right?

And so thank you for being here and supporting um coach, thank you for giving your life to kids in this community to education to sports.

Um I got to I got to play against a couple of his sons, they kicked my butt, frankly.

Um and so it's just really an honor and a blessing to be celebrating you today and uh giving you a day here in here in St.

Petersburg.

So uh I'm gonna read the proclamation and then um there'll be one more quick introduction before uh let Coach Grasso at the mic.

So here's the proclamation.

Whereas, Nick Grasso has dedicated more than 35 years to advancing high school athletics and education in the state of Florida, leaving a lasting impact on countless students, educators, and communities.

And whereas Coach Grasso served with distinction as the president of the Florida High School Athletic Association Board of Directors from 2003 to 2004, and as athletic director for Pinellas County Schools for 11 years, demonstrating exemplary leadership and commitment to student athlete development.

And whereas, in recognition of his outstanding contributions, Coach Grasso has been inducted into the Florida High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame as part of its 35th class, an honor reserved for individuals whose service has made a significant and lasting impact on interscholastic athletics.

And whereas, as principal of Clearwater High School, he led with excellence, guiding the school to three state champion championships and five state runner-up finishes, and that ain't easy, fostering a culture of achievement, discipline, and pride.

And whereas, beyond his professional accomplishments, accomplishments, administrator and coach Grasso has played a pivotal role in mentoring and encouraging students, including providing personal support that helped individuals overcome challenges and achieve educational success.

And whereas his legacy reflects a lifelong commitment to leadership, mentorship, and the empowerment of young people to reach their full potential.

Now, therefore, I, Councilmember Copley Gertis, on behalf of Kenneth T.

Welch, mayor of City of St.

Petersburg, do hereby proclaim Thursday, May 21st, 2026, as Nicholas Nick Grasso Day in St.

Petersburg, Florida, and encourage all residents to join in celebrating his achievements and enduring impact on our community.

Congratulations, Coach.

So Coach Grasso has one of his former students here, Esther, if you want to say a couple of words.

Good afternoon.

I am the other person.

But I want to formally stand here and say there were two heroes in my life as a kid.

And it was my mom, and it was Nicholas Grasso.

Mom handled the home front, and Mr.

Grasso handled the school.

And I know you won't believe this, but I was a horrible student.

I was loud.

Consistently trying to get myself suspended.

But Mr.

Grasso was very clear I'm not going to let you go home.

I'm going to put you in my office and you're going to do your work.

And I know he's done this to tons of kids.

But what I remember is not just do your work.

What are you going to do after school?

And it's because of him that I'm here, so y'all can blame him.

But this man, this is this is important, but I tell you, it's not enough for his footprint.

Not only in my life, but I know in countless lives, I want to introduce the Nicholas Grasso.

Gosh, when I go out, I'm gonna have to carry those two with me.

Well, I tell you what, I have been blessed, fortunate.

I get emotional, these things.

But it all this is a reflection of my parents.

I just pass it on.

And that's what we all should do.

I surrounded myself with really good people, started with mom and dad.

I got the best wife in the world, the best teammate you can have.

My son's the best.

I got some great friends here today.

They're wonderful.

Uh just it's it's really good.

And it's uh it's a it's a good day in St.

Pete and a good day for the Grasso family.

I would like to recognize a couple, I mean, we're city people.

I was born and raised here, second-generation immigrant, uh, or people from Italy, and uh, but I got a niece, where is she at?

Stephanie.

Stephanie works uh in your water department.

Sheldon, a nephew.

He works in the traffic division.

I got another nephew, Matthew for Matt.

He's a firefighter paramedic.

Uh, I got another firefighter paramedic uh nephew who's not with us.

Uh a police officer, a uh a niece of mine, she's a police officer, and then I got one of my two older brothers that is here.

He's a retired firefighter paramedic, and my other brother is a firefighter paramedic.

So I mean, we're wow.

The glassos might have the Gurtes' beat.

I don't, I don't know.

I think I think you got us.

We got, and it's really good.

Well, I was a kid.

Uh, you know, I grew up in a home where there was dad worked three jobs, mom, mom uh did not have a driver's license.

We went everywhere by the bus.

St.

Pete did not have it going on.

What y'all got going on today?

You keep it going.

It's called progress, it's called opportunities.

Uh uh the successes of the job that I had.

People like Esther, just you know, she has just blossomed into just a wonderful, wonderful individual that has a man.

She's got it going on.

I and I know because I follow it, I follow what all y'all do.

I stay involved, I stay involved in the community.

But uh St.

Pete's the spot, period.

And I love it here.

So, anyhow, thank you once again so much.

I I can't thank you guys enough.

And uh to Mayor Wells, thank you.

Uh Rob is Rob around.

Rob had to go.

Okay, he he played for me at the college level when I was coaching at that at that point.

I did a bunch of different things throughout my lifetime and my career.

Turned a double play like no tomorrow, man.

A kid, the kid could play, but he had a great attitude, super leadership, like you're getting from Wells.

And I look over to my right and I see the the police chief.

I had the opportunity to interact with him when I was a principal of Clearwater High, when y'all got him from, I believe he was a captain at the time, and y'all put him in this position.

It's just you couldn't have a better guy in the spot, man.

I'm telling you.

So I see it, I see it, and and very proud of it.

Love St.

Petersburg.

We my wife and I, we drove uh from 34th Street to to the beach off central and drove around.

It is nothing like when I was a kid.

I mean, with USF down there and all the ongoings, just stay progressive, keep it up, God bless.

Well, Mr.

Grasso, I have to say you have clearly honored your family and your roots with everything you've done for our city.

The only thing I'm gonna say is the proclamation says that your legacy uh reflects a lifelong commitment to leadership, mentorship, and the empowerment of young people to reach their full potential.

I want to see that keep on going.

It's not over.

Good, good, good.

Okay.

Okay, next up, we have the three, and that is Asian American Pacific Islander Month proclamation.

And Aliza, you're going to be presenting it.

Good afternoon.

Yes, good afternoon.

And for those, I'll take a minute for those that were there for the last proclamation, you're welcome to leave.

And if there are any others that are outside that are going to be here for the last one, if you want to make your way up here, you can.

I just don't want to interrupt the speakers when they're speaking.

So okay, go on.

Okay.

Madam Chair, Vice Chair, all of City Council, colleagues, neighbors, and friends.

First, I'd like to ask: is there anyone else in the audience that's not here?

We may have lost a few who had to go get back to work, but I've got a few here behind me.

My name is Aliza Punzelin Randall, and I am the managing director for communications and community engagement in the mayor's office.

And it's an honor to work here at the city and to be a member of Mayor Welch's leadership team, which is, as many of you know, very diverse in its own right.

And so communicating Mayor Welch's vision, his pillars, and principles like inclusive progress and intentional equity in a city like St.

Pete, during a tenuous time in our state and our nation, makes days like today incredibly rewarding and fulfilling.

And we are St.

Pete.

So on behalf of my fellow Asian Americans who are present and those who are joining us in spirit, I am pleased to recognize Asian American Pacific Islander Month with this proclamation.

Whereas during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we acknowledge Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have lived and worked in the United States for more than 200 years and have made significant contributions to all facets of the United States, such as economy, health care, public service, arts, culture, education, military, literature, science, and technological developments.

And whereas Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month was first designated in 1978 with the passage of a joint congressional resolution and highlights two significant historical milestones: the immigration of the first Japanese people to the United States in May of 1843, and the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in May of 1869, an achievement largely attributable to the Chinese immigrant workers who laid its tracks.

And whereas the city of St.

Petersburg is proud to join in the national celebration of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and welcome the opportunity to celebrate their rich culture and heritage through events that invite people of all backgrounds to experience these cultures and develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of the role Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have played in our nation's history and continue to have in today's society.

And whereas the City of St.

Petersburg treasures its longstanding relationship with Takamatsu, Japan, our sister city for more than 60 years, and our exchange program remains a special opportunity to embody the deep-rooted connection between our cities and St.

Petersburg's commitment to cultural enrichment for young people and their families.

And whereas Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are integral to our history, our culture, and respective communities locally and beyond.

Now, therefore, I, Aliza Punzel and Randall, on behalf of Kenneth T.

Welch, Mayor of the City of St.

Petersburg, Florida, do hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in St.

Petersburg.

And I also urge citizens, government agencies, institutions, businesses, and schools to celebrate the contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Thank you.

Alright, so I'd like to introduce a few people who are standing behind me, and then I'm gonna ask one of them to provide a few remarks.

Okay, so we have um Brandy Ford.

Um she started a new business here in St.

Pete called Hanale, Hawaiian Shaved Ice.

Welcome, Brandy.

Um Leo Anderson.

Is Leo still here?

Leo is um he was here.

Um he is the founder of the new Queer Asian Museum.

That's another new business here in downtown.

Um, Tian Yu.

Tian's right here.

She's the founder of the very popular Tiger Tail Asian Film Festival.

It's uh we're so excited that it was very successful this year, it's going to be again for next year.

Welcome, Tian.

Um, and then some of my colleagues, Andy Chi, event recruitment and management coordinator, Tony Chan, Economic Development Specialist, and Brajesh Prayman.

I feel like you're like the city council whisperer, um, director of engineering, Bridgesh.

Um, and then I think RJ, I don't know if he's still here.

RJ Kilmek was here with the St.

Pete Youth Farm.

Um, but I also want to welcome Chris Lee.

Um, he is uh many of you have probably been to and and tasted some of the um very delicious fare at the Asian mega market festivals, and so this is Chris who's gonna come on up and say a few words, Chris.

Thank you, thank you so much, uh city uh council member and uh Mayor Welch for giving us proclamations for an Asian and American Pacific Islanders uh month.

Uh, our goal here at the Mega Knight Market is to showcase uh our rich culture throughout the community, and it's great to do that and to be in the city of St.

Pete, born and raised here to showcase our culture throughout the Mega Knight Market festivals and throughout all of the city.

Uh, we are really grateful to be here and uh recognizing us.

Thank you so much.

Yes, we have a festival this weekend at the Wind Derby.

Uh, from Friday to Sunday, thank you.

So I just I want to say for you know, when we were hearing from uh Mr.

Grasso earlier how much St.

Petersburg has changed, it's wonderful to see the different cultures that are coming more that you see more and more in our city.

Um, and it brings our city to where I think it should be, right?

A clearly diverse city representing what our country is, which is a melting pot, right?

And you clearly represent that.

And so I really appreciate all your contributions.

I know that I work with some of you uh on a daily basis, and we're very lucky to have you uh do what you do for our city, and the fact that we uh are acknowledging the contribution of our Asian American and Pacific Islander uh family here in our community.

I think it's important, and I'm glad that we do this as a city.

Um, and I think everybody should be going to the festival.

And what date is it again?

Tomorrow, Friday to uh to Sunday.

Tomorrow, Friday through Sunday.

So where is it located?

Okay.

10490 Gandhi Boulevard.

10490 Gandhi.

10490 Gandhi Boulevard.

10490 Gandhi Boulevard, okay, all weekend.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

We're gonna go to item D8.

And Council Chair Hanowitz is going to present.

Well, thank you, Vice Chair.

Um, this is a little different than some of the proclamations and awards that we have just presented.

Um, we are here right now honoring the life of a very important member of our community who is no longer with us.

And at this time, I would have if you cannot, Joe, if you can join me here, and if you have any family members with you, if you can join me here at the podium, I would appreciate that.

And any of the other uh here's a few individuals that are gonna be speaking.

Uh, you can also join us here.

To the Reed family.

To the Reed family, friends, and residents of St.

Petersburg.

Today we pause to honor the life of Robin Reed, a woman whose love for the city was visible in so many corners of our community.

Robin understood that preserving history is not simply about protecting buildings or landscapes.

It is about protecting identity, memory, and the character of a place that we call home.

Through her leadership with Preserve the Burg, the historical Northeast Neighborhood Association, the Community Planning and Preservation Commission, Sunken Gardens, Robin helped ensure that future generations would inherit a St.

Petersburg that still reflects its history, beauty, and authenticity.

She brought passion, intellect, kindness, and determination to every cause she embraced, whether advocating for a historic preservation, restoring gardens, or strengthening community institutions.

Robin served with grace and conviction.

On behalf of the mayor and city council, we extend our deepest condolences to her husband Joe, her children and grandchildren, and all who loved her.

We are grateful for Robin Reed's extraordinary service to the city of St.

Petersburg, and it is my honor now to read this resolution of memorial tribute to the family and friends of Robin Reed.

Whereas we are profoundly grieved by the passing of one of the City of St.

Petersburg's most devoted guardians, Robin Reed, who, since her arrival in our city 25 years ago, served as a tireless protector of St.

Petersburg's architecture, its green spaces, its stories, and its soul.

And whereas Robin Reed brought rigor and passion as an influential leader in the work of protecting the city's built environment.

She was devoted to educating communities about the importance of our history, and she understood that our landmarks from flamingos at Sunken Gardens to the Sundial in Coffee Pot Park and all the historic buildings that still stand are the accumulated evidence of a community's history and identity.

Robin knew that if we lose them, we lose something that cannot be remote, no matter how much glass and steel rises in their place.

And whereas Robin Reed served the City of St.

Petersburg with distinction as a two-term commissioner on the community planning and preservation commission, as president of Preserve the Burg, as a board member of the Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood Association, and as chair of its historic preservation committee.

In these capacities and beyond, Robin worked tirelessly to maintain an authentic sense of place, not only for her neighborhood, historic Old Northeast, but for the city of St.

Petersburg as a whole, and whereas Robin Reed's legacy will enrich the lives of others for generations to come, and whereas Robin Reed has been called from her season of service on March 24th, 2026.

Now, therefore, be it resolved by Mayor Kenneth T.

Welch, Council Chair Lissette Hanowitz, and this St.

Petersburg City Council that we, for ourselves, and for the community she serves so well, publicly acknowledge the depth of gratitude the city owes to Robin Reed for her untiring and steady steadfast service.

Be a further resolved that we express the family and friends of Robin Reed our heartfelt condolences with the hope that they will take some measure of consolation in the knowledge that she gave herself wholeheartedly to the service of this city.

Thank you.

I believe there are a few speakers, and if you want, Maureen, do you want to start it off, Joe?

Do you want to say anything?

Okay.

Um, I want to thank the mayor for uh giving Robin this honor posthumously.

I had started this effort two months before she passed, and um I'm glad to be here now.

And I apologize, but what I have to say is so important for Robin, for the community.

Robin's work was extraordinary.

From planting oak trees in the neighborhood to getting Mirror Lake designed as a local landmark, she was stunningly effective.

Through it all, we see a holistic picture of her philosophy on preservation.

One of the ways Robin understood that history is most authentically preserved.

One of the ways Robin understood that history is most authentically preserved and most compellingly conveyed is through the irreplaceable inventory of historic buildings and spaces that define the city's character.

These are the stories that form the soul of a place.

And they draw hundreds of thousands of visitors each year to cities like New Orleans, Charleston, Savannah, and now St.

Petersburg.

They bear witness to what life once demanded, how generations survived and prospered through difficult times, the sacrifices and risks people took in building what would in 1892 become the city of St.

Petersburg.

The railroads, the daring people who built them, and the people they brought to St.

Petersburg who lit the flame for its birth, our citrus industry, which used to be where homes are now, our visionary pioneers who built world class hotels and houses, betting people would come.

Our survival through hurricanes, roller coaster economic times, and much more.

Robin reorganized, sorry, Robin recognized that growth without deliberate preservation is a form of omission.

To neglect our historic inventory in the course of the city's expansion is to risk becoming a place whose history no longer merits the telling.

She was singular in that understanding.

Her life's work stood as a testament to a fundamental truth, that in striving to protect our greatest assets, we are safeguarding what is most essential, the shared cultural heritage of the city of St.

Petersburg.

Robin Reed's contribution contributions to our city are far too encompassing to capture here.

But in an attempt to honor her, let me try.

She understood the deep meaning our history holds, not merely as storytelling, but as a source of pride for every citizen of St.

Petersburg.

We are a city like no other.

Robin's tireless work to preserve our uniqueness was her gift to future generations.

Her devotion she engendered in her devotion, she engendered in us a deeper pride in knowing why we're so special.

That we can point not just to buildings, but to a rich tapestry of landmarks that embody our distinctiveness, brings our shared truth to life.

Robin knew that the more we grow, the more that specialness becomes our prized asset.

A drive through any of the city's neighborhoods listed in the National Register of Historic Places offers clear and moving evidence of how exceptional St.

Petersburg is and why we must hold fast to what makes us so.

Robin gave enormously of herself to this cause.

She deserves our deepest gratitude and respect for her devotion to preservation's higher meaning, the understanding that our history will not be written in new construction alone.

It must include the keeping of what is valued from the past as we continue to define our future.

Rob, those who knew Robin well will find truth in the words of Joni Mitchell.

Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got till it's gone.

She knew, and because of her, so do we.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Gary Mormino, retired professor from the University of South Florida.

Robin Reed was one of the kindest, most curious, and most interesting persons I have ever known.

She possessed a keen mind, a beautiful smile, and boundless energy for causes that matter.

She, like so many predecessors, moved to St.

Petersburg from someplace else, and came to love it and its glorious architecture, especially her beloved Old Northeast.

She did not move to St.

Petersburg to retire.

She moved her to create a new life, a new life in her adopted city.

We met in the early 2000s after she and Joe had moved to the old Northeast.

She came to my office at USF to ask about historic architecture.

I happened to have a huge pile of clippings from 1930s St.

Petersburg Times.

They had a weekly column called Little Houses in Old St.

Petersburg.

And Joe now has that document, by the way.

Robin was a beautiful person who possessed an invaluable talent for bringing people together, particularly strangers for a common cause, historic preservation.

Joe was her sidekick, her beloved husband, and supporter in every way.

What a what a marriage.

They often invited folks to their historic home to discuss and debate projects.

Her legacy lives through the creation of Sunken Gardens Forever Foundation, her tireless work for preserve the Berg, the Garden Club, and so much more.

But most importantly, we will remember her cheerful disposition, her many friendships, her commitment to lost causes, as well as her pride to being a St.

Petersburger.

She made us and her city a better place.

Thank you, Robin.

Okay.

Good afternoon, Derek Kilborn, City's planning department.

That was a beautiful tribute and opening to this, so I'll try to keep my remarks brief by saying that Robin Reed understood really the importance of place and place making.

And she acted with great enthusiasm to motivate our residents toward action, and she inspired our residents to appreciate the buildings, the gardens and parks, and neighborhoods that make our community so special.

So not only was she there for each of those local landmark uh debates, which can be difficult, but she also used her talents and service to our youth through, for example, the city builder summer camp, which used to serve kids 10 to 13 years old at the St.

Pete Museum of History.

Mrs.

Reed didn't just express an opinion, more importantly, she acted.

And she planted seeds and she cultivated them in our community.

On behalf of myself, the entire planning department, the historic preservation division and staff, we are most grateful for her service to St.

Petersburg, and we will do our best to continue her legacy through our work.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Robin was the first non-native I met that fell so deeply in love with this city.

Upon meeting her and talking to her, you think that she lived here her entire life.

I met her when she joined the board of the museum.

I just started there, and we uh she quickly helped me convinced the convinced the remaining of the board, the remainder of the board that we needed to expand our mission from rather than just having things on display to become an institution that went into the neighborhoods and helped neighborhoods realize what their history was, research their history, and helped historic homeowners understand their homes and their neighborhoods history.

Um she was very persuasive, right?

If you knew her.

When I started a St.

Pete history class there at St.

Pete High, she most graciously donated uh a number of her views from the Vanoy books so my students could learn about the hotel in the old Northeast neighborhood.

Um she was an amazing woman in the modern era of out with the old and in with the new.

We need more Robin Reeds.

The first time I should ever speak before Ray Arsenal.

My name is Manny Leto.

I'm the executive director of Preserve the Burg.

I want to thank Chair Hanowitz and the mayor for this honor.

Um, and I want to thank all a look at this turnout.

So I want to thank all of you for being here.

Um Robin served on the Preserve the Burg board for well over a decade.

She was the immediate past chair or past president, and she guided the organization importantly through through COVID.

She rebuilt the board of directors that had been kind of uh scattered to the winds because of COVID.

Um she championed our place economics study and insisted that we follow through on designating Mirror Lake as a local historic district.

Personally speaking, she was as I understand it uh responsible largely for my hiring.

Uh she was my boss and um, as I have said previously, um you can kind of blame Robin for me.

So she took a chance on me personally, on the Tampa guy, and I'm very grateful for that.

Uh importantly, she guided me personally and the organization through my role at Preserve the Burg, helped me learn about St.

Petersburg, and we talked almost daily during her presidency, certainly several times a week.

Uh she was both my right and my left hand.

Um, she was a preservation award recipient.

She lived in a historically designated, so she put her house on the local register.

Um, uh, and she helped found the Sunken Gardens Foundation and many others, and she was preservation in action.

During her tenure at Preserve the Burg, she pushed hard for us to complete our place economics report.

Uh it was not exactly a small undertaking.

It took uh more than a year and a half, and uh included a substantial financial investment from small organizations and individuals.

Uh, and unsurprisingly, uh, she and Joe were the study's largest financial contributors.

I recall her frustration uh that the progress on Mirror Lake was slow.

She encouraged, maybe even demanded that we follow up immediately with the neighbors.

She kept us motivated and moving, uh, and it was not easy.

Again, a two-year effort uh to designate Mirror Lake, uh, and it became the city's tenth historic district.

And of course, as you've heard, that's really just a fraction of the work that she uh undertook in her time here.

Um, I know someone in the audience will tell you that she worked with the neighbors to conduct a tree inventory of Old Northeast.

Can you imagine?

A tree inventory.

That's just citizens doing doing the work.

Uh Robin and many Preserve the Burg board members and volunteers exemplify service, advocacy, community engagement, not for personal gain, not for networking not for professional connections not for business Robin and the organizations she led advocated not for what might benefit her but for what benefited the wider community she did not lead an idle life she left her mark on this city I'm humbled that she took a chance on me I'm lucky to have known and learned from such a remarkable and dedicated leader.

Hello I'm Ray Arsenal I'm another retired historian USF.

Robin was a lovely human being as you've heard I think everyone who knew her felt that they enriched their lives really anybody quite like her.

She was one of our most heroic citizens I would say in some ways the epitome of responsible and courageous citizenship and it was surprising in a sense because she came in a kind of quiet package you know she did you just she would surprise you uh she was tenacious and uh one when the rest of us sort of fell by the wayside she'd she'd pick us up I mean she saved the organization really of preserve the burgh during the COVID period and it was I always felt honored to uh to be on the board with her for the decade or so uh in fact uh I always felt a kindred spirit with her you know she grew up in an Air Force family uh moving every two years never really lived in any one place I I grew up in a Navy family the same way never lived anywhere more than two or three years uh and we both fell in love with this city you know I think with good reason uh I don't know if anybody I knew who was more passionate about St.

Petersburg about its sense of place about preserving what's best in the city and uh um as people have said she did so many things we can't enumerate them today but uh whatever whatever she could do uh she did it in spades and uh I would counsel you if uh the next time you walk around Mirror Lake you know think of her because she really is more responsible anybody else for the historic district and the next time you go to Sunken Gardens visit the flamingos those are Robin's flamingos and say hello to them for thank you.

I think that may be the end of our expected speakers unless they're um Nick were you gonna say something okay um council member Driscoll oh yes okay yes absolutely Joe can you go you no you it council member Driscoll speak after you it's your floor Joe.

I don't have a speech I just want to thank everybody here that spoke out for Robin I especially want to thank Maureen Stafford and Council Chair Hanowitz for making this happen.

Thank you.

Councilmember Driscoll thank you.

And thanks to Marine and um Chair Hanowitz for um bringing this bringing this together so beautifully today I met Robin right away when I started on City Council because right away there's something going on right next to the Florida Leon and the lessons began then and they never stopped and I was always grateful.

Um Joe, you and Robin had me over to your house one day, uh, gave me a few addresses to look at in your neighborhood on the way um before I got to your house, so that I could see what you've been talking about with um how neighborhood character can change when the history of a neighborhood is um not honored the way that it should be and um that was a real eye-opener, and then you walk into their house and it's like wow, this, these people know what they're talking about.

And um, I there are so many different so many different projects that have come up over the last eight and a half years that I've served on on city council where she was able to weigh in, um, you know, mostly um about historic preservation issues.

Uh, we talked about everything from um Mirror Lake, of course.

And wow, I learned a lot about Mirror Lake and the history of the lake itself, not you know, let alone the things that are around it, uh, just from her.

Once Manny joined the team, um, everything was elevated.

So if it was she who is mainly responsible for bringing him, I'm grateful for that.

That is a lasting gift that we can carry forward.

So thank you, Manny.

Um Sunken Gardens is one of those places that you walk in and it's just magical, like from the first step to the last flamingo.

And so I know that no one does this alone, but you can't think of sunken gardens without thinking of Robin.

And so um, oh, I wasn't gonna do this.

I'm glad that um everyone in our city, everyone everywhere will have a place to go and see exactly what Robin has done for our city.

It's a place where people like me will be able to go to remember her and be so grateful and talk to her there.

Wow.

Um, so looking through this wonderful um piece, I loved reading the quotes, and my favorite is from Gary Mormino, where he said, through skillful reasoning, through skillful reasoning or a firm stare.

She helped raise fund for a myriad of causes, and I laughed because I know that firm stare.

And it wasn't for fundraising, it was for like submitting a new business item for the uh historic designation of something, and I know that stare, and it's like, yes, I I will file it on on Friday and I will let you know when it's gonna be on the agenda.

Like you just did it, you know.

Um right now we're working on the restoration of the Williams Park band shell, and I remember two, three years ago I told her about it, and she was happy to hear about that.

Um and of course, we um, you know, it's one of the few city-owned assets that does that's eligible, but it's not designated historic.

And uh we all know how important Williams Park is and that band shell.

And so um I I worked to get the the initial funding to get going on the renovation, and of course, we brought Derek Kilborn in um to make sure that we're doing it in a way that it will still be eligible and that it's you know keeping with that.

And I always say once Derek Kilborn gets involved, everything gets more expensive.

But we're making it happen, and if you go by there today, you'll see, you know, it's fenced off and everything.

Um it won't be done, everything won't be done before I'm finished with City Council, but um I plan to nudge uh my colleagues who are still on the diets to please try to uh create some kind of a Founders Day type celebration and do and get that historic designation done.

Um and I think that because that did serve as our city's first town square and it has such a heavy um historic significance in our city.

I think I would like to uh personally, and this will be next year when once everything is done, um I will do um a donation through our gift tree program and have a tree planted there in honor of Robin Um in our very historic Williams Park.

So I just don't want to do it yet.

No, no, no.

No, no.

This is like such a it's such a small thing.

It's just a uh another way that we can honor her.

Um I just don't want to do it right now because construction and things fly around and tools happen, and I want it to be safe.

So I'm gonna wait until um we have the right the right timing for that.

But yes, um I am going to uh make that happen, and that'll make my dream of a restored Williams Park even more perfect.

We can all honor her every single day by carrying with us her lessons, her love for the heritage of our city, all that it was and all that it is today that we still love, and her relentless pursuit of what is right for St.

Petersburg.

That is how we honor the great leaders of our city.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Vice Chair Floyd.

Thank you.

I'll be brief.

Um I was incredibly disappointed to see uh Robin's passing and just wanted to say a couple of things uh about her and her family.

Uh Joe was one of my first constituent meetings after I got elected, made me feel very welcome.

Uh it was very thoughtful conversation, really pleasant, didn't necessarily prepare me for all the other constituent meetings I was gonna have in the future.

But it was a great uh a great way to uh get started, and I got to meet Robin soon after that as well, uh, to talk specifically about an issue that had come up.

And uh I think really what I want to impart, it was just as pleasant, uh just as thoughtful.

And what I want to impart is that I always uh had had an affinity for historic preservation, but never really thought about it in depth and couldn't necessarily put words to it.

And it was the conversations that I had with Robin, and also the uh uh like the place economic study as well, which uh makes sense now that I know that Robin was uh such a big backer uh that really helped me to understand uh how to talk about and how to advocate for historic preservation, and so I'll keep that with me throughout my whole career and I'm really grateful to your family and uh sorry for your loss, and I I really appreciate y'all.

Councilmember Fake Sanders, uh too will um be brief and um but I have to take the opportunity just to say today was such a fitting memorial for such a fitting champion.

Um I know um when I first was gonna run for office, I don't know, maybe you all are the new candidate welcome wagon because they called.

I got a call, and I'm like, hello.

And it was Ms.

Reed, you know, telling me that me and my husband want to meet you.

And I was like, okay.

But it was the nicest interaction, y'all.

They actually fed me.

Um and we we had a really nice conversation, but again, that meeting um set the stage for what was coming.

Um and so when I when I did see um um of her passing, it it hit hard because she really was she was a champion, and she's still a champion because she has so many of you that there's so much of her within all of us that we're definitely gonna keep her spirit and her vision and her mission um alive, which is why I think uh I'm uh too like Vice Chair Floyd, didn't really understand the importance of historic preservation until I had interactions with Mr.

and Mr.

Reed, Mr.

and Mrs.

Reed.

Um so I just want to thank you for that, and I just appreciate um the education and the knowledge that they gave me in this position, but more importantly, how important historic preservation is in our day-to-day lives and for the city of St.

Petersburg.

So thank you, Mr.

Reed.

Thank you for it.

Well, I also I want to start off by thanking first Maureen Stafford, because I will tell you.

She immediately contacted me to get this happening, and my legislative aide Elizabeth.

It was because of Maureen that you have this beautiful memorial that was printed with all the reflections about what everyone in the community thought of Robin and how well this was organized because basically we had to reach out to all the groups to make sure everybody knew that they to be here today, and all her friends and family showed up, and we're so thankful.

When you have speakers that say start off by saying, and now another retired historian is speaking on Robin Reed's behalf, that is all you need to know about Robin Reed because I don't think I've ever seen that happen at City Council, to be clear.

And that is a testament to who she was as an individual.

Um the curiosity, right?

She, like it was said, she was not born here, but she wanted to know everything about this city and learn everything about this city and its history, and it became one of its most fervent advocates, and that just shows you the passion that she had, and it wasn't just for that.

You also have sunken gardens and starting the foundation and having the vision of knowing that you need that foundation to make sure that sunken gardens continues to be the special place that it is today.

Um, and her work with preserve the berg, and look, other council members have said it.

I also had that meeting.

I think a lot of people have had that meeting with her.

I did go to um Joe and Robin's house.

I think it was it was I think the first time was 20 about 2017 when they were doing land development regulation changes in the city, and I was president of Crescent Lake Neighborhood Association, and they were working on making sure that the land development regulations protected some of the character of the neighborhoods and all that, and they were extremely involved in that.

Um, but you know, Robin was a true advocate in every sense of the word, no matter what issue she was advocating for, and what was really strong in her heart.

And Councilmember Driscoll, just like Vice Chair Floyd and Fake Sanders mentioned, uh, there were times that they were talking, it's like that's my experience with Robin, because I did get that call when I first got elected, and I did meet with Joe and Robin, um, and it was wonderful because it's for someone in our position to deal with someone who's knowledgeable and is thoughtful about what they're advocating for, is really helpful and important, and it doesn't happen all the time.

Like we get people that reach out to us and they want something, but to have that knowledge of the why and why it's important and provide examples and provide the the facts that we would need to push that item forward.

That doesn't happen every day.

It's very easy to want something, but it's much more difficult to be a solid advocate for something and have the information ready at your hand to do that, and she did that every time, and I'm very thankful for all that she imparted in this community.

I will say Mr.

Kilborn said it best.

She planted seeds and cultivated them in the community.

Her seeds are all here, and I thank you all for being here and sharing this moment with us to celebrate the life of Robin Reed.

Thank you.

Okay.

We are now moving on to reports.

As I've told other others that have been here, you're welcome to stay in our meeting.

You can also, you're welcome to go if you would like, and we will take the moment to let you leave.

If you're leaving, please just if you're gonna talk with your friends and family, just do it downstairs because we can hear things outside.

Thank you all for again for coming here today.

I'm just gonna give them a moment.

Oh day, madam chair.

Highs and lows of awards and proclamations.

Okay.

Next up, we have F1, the St.

Petersburg Police Department quarterly report, and it's presented by Chief Holloway.

Hello again, Chief.

Hello again, Madam Chair.

Good evening, Madam Chair, Vice Chair and Council members.

This is gonna be the quarterly report for the first quarter for 2026.

You're gonna get two sets of numbers.

So I'm gonna give you the same information that I give the mayor.

You're gonna give the UCR report, which is we give yearly, and then you're gonna get comparing quarter, the fourth quarter to the first quarter.

So to start off with for the UCR report, that's uniform crime report that's reported to the federal government.

The overall crime for this quarter is down by eight percent.

20 year is down by 20%.

I'm sorry, 20 years, five years down by 20%.

Sorry about that.

Homicide for this quarter is uh three compared to one for the last quarter.

Those three homicides have all been cleared out with an arrest to refresh counsel memory.

One homicide was the mother that killed her son, an 18-year-old that set a house on fire, and a home invasion where the suspect shot his friend that came with him to the home.

The gun case we cleaned this up for you because I know we were giving you a lot of information, so we want to make sure when you saw what the gun unit was doing, it made more sense to you.

So this quarter, uh we had 89 guns we've recovered.

Doesn't mean we had 89 cases that just we can recover 89 guns.

Uh, because we could have thought one subject who had four guns, so forth and so on.

But we want to clean up so you can see what happened.

So this quarter we had 89 guns that we recovered.

Of those eighty-nine guns we record recovered, they hit on 74 cases.

So one gun could have been used in five cases, so forth and so on.

But we want to show you what the detective, the great work that they're doing, and how we're solving cases.

And the Nivea machine is is so I can get you the right acronym on that.

So is National Integrated Ballistic Information Network.

Uh, we got that through uh alcohol tobacco and firearm.

So any gun that's used in the United States, if we've got the showcasing, we can verify where that gun is.

That gun came from New York, Chicago, whatever.

Uh, we have that.

We have it in our police department.

It usually takes us six months.

It used to take us six months.

Now we can get that information within six hours or six days.

So now we can really track these guns as they're being used in our city.

We also have a detective that is assigned to the task force with alcohol, tobacco, and firearms, so we can do more information on that.

Our gun cases, as you can see, they're going down.

Continue to trend down.

We're never gonna hit zero, but one day, hopefully we will hit that.

Others quarter, 51 guns were taking, 37 out of vehicles, 24 uh were recovered.

For crimes, again, we're comparing fourth quarter to first quarter.

So, as you can see, compared to fourth quarter, crime is trending downward.

UCR numbers that are reporting as compared to last year, robberies are up by 18%.

Five-year trend, robberies down by 8%.

Burglary state the same five-year trend burglaries are down by 21%.

Auto theft that we've been working on forever are down by 22%.

Five year trend down by 45%.

So people are listening to it.

They're taking their keys and key fobs out of their cars.

So thank you very much for the people that are out there listening.

And also the other detectives are doing a great job on arresting the uh people that are still in cars.

And as you can see, those numbers there.

Traffic stats say about the same compared to fourth quarter.

Uh, we're still writing tickets, we still put on our message board, letting people know when we come, and we still are right people for doing uh aggressive driving.

Home unit, as you can see, compared to fourth quarter, it's up just a little bit.

We're kicking in getting ready for the summer.

Uh next week's school's out.

Uh, we work quite well with parks and work.

We're trying, I know the mayor's trying to get these kids involved as many programs as we can.

The kids that have been arrested, we're trying to monitor them and get them back on track.

Uh the path unit, you can see those numbers there.

I I know Councilmember Driscoll really wanted a breakdown on that from the last meeting, so we wanted to make sure we did that of those contact, 57% of the people we made contact with took the resources that we offered to them.

So we had we had over 980 contacts of that 980 contact, 57% of the people took the services that were offered to them.

And as you can also see, uh, all the contact paths are just not work downtown, they work throughout the city.

Uh they go to the west side, they go north, they go south, they go east.

You can see all the areas they hit, and you also can see a breakdown of where it's going to either be a referral, a transport, or contact.

How we break that down.

Our park walk and talks have increased, and again, you can see where we go throughout the city.

Eagle Eye program, we had 13 that registered this month.

Uh, this program is going to go away.

Uh uh before take a deep breath.

Uh it is a good reason that it's going away.

Uh, we're partnering now with Axon.

What is going to happen now is Axon is going to send out starting with the businesses and say, hey, you give us the information, we can give it to the police department.

So now that link is going to be there automatically.

Uh so we don't have to figure out who's registering.

Uh Axon will take care of that for us.

So they're gonna do the background search for.

So now we're instead of us seeing 904, we're really gonna find out who really has cameras in our cities because they work through the security firm or things like that.

So we can we can go through them to get information.

Use of force uh gone down just a little, but I want to remind council that's every time we use force, it's just not on those cases.

As you see, we had 327 use of force, but we had zero complaints of use of force by our citizen of the rest that we made.

Our Arctic.

Uh, this is the new unit that we just started.

So I want to bring council up to speed on as you saw the news on this.

This is really our challenge.

The uh detective bureau to come up with something as we saw around the country.

People having this.

So Chief Kavasov and Major Taylor really got this up and going.

We now have 36 pilots and 11 drones in the city.

And what that is now, so when the officers they come to work, they can take a drone kit and they can take it out.

Instead of us taking 10 to 15 minutes to respond to a call, we can be at any call possible within five minutes.

We also have what's called a hive at the police department.

So as you call in a robbery call, and we had and I'm gonna go to that one.

As you call the robbery call, the drone gets launched.

So the drone can be with there within I'll say five minutes.

So as the drone gets over the scene, it can start collecting data information, give it to the ulcers, and also as the victim is trying to describe what's going on.

We have eyes on the scene now.

Last night it worked great since we had a robbery at a location.

We had the person in custody within 30 minutes.

Because the drone got there, followed a person.

We got the description of the person, we followed the person where he went, now he's in custody.

So this is real-time information.

Uh, as we move forward, city council has approved this as we move forward.

We will put another hive.

A hive is three drones, so that'll be on the west side uh pretty soon coming, and then one will go north and one will go south.

But as we keep building it up, we will have uh up to uh 12 more drones added to our fleet, and and again, this will help us respond to calls faster.

We also can use this during traffic.

If someone calls, hey, the traffic is backed up.

Instead of us trying to find a choke point, we can launch the drone and figure out what's going on.

We can solve these problems.

And again, we have three civilian analysts now that as these calls are going out, maybe they can start feeding that information more to the ulcers and to the detectives.

So we're getting real-time information.

Uh 40 years ago, this we probably would have never seen anything like this.

So now it's amazing that technologists out there.

Call program again, it's very successful.

We still get calls from people from around the nation asking us how it works.

As you can see, our contacts are for this quarter is 978, had the breakdown of the uh area code that we're responding to.

And again, as I speak to other chiefs and other sheriffs around the uh country, zero incidents because we're sending people to the calls that know how to handle the calls that we don't need to send a badge and a gun to the four together program that we started uh last year, and again, thanks to the council and the mayor, where the citizens voted on this program.

You can see where that money has gone, see how it is working with our youth.

That again, once we arrest a youth, how we're dealing with that youth and how we're spreading this out so we can get ahead of everything.

I would like to use this slide with golf coast.

Again, 62% of the kids that go through this program, they're not re-offending, and we're talking felonies.

So that's working also.

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

Thank you, Chief.

Councilmember Gabbard.

Thank you, madam chair.

Uh Chief, thank you as always for the good work.

Um, very happy to see the numbers keep trending down, um, especially on the car burglaries.

Yes, so hallelujah, but summer's coming.

So um, we always know things pick up a bit when our kids don't have enough to do during the summer.

So, um, are we having any like on St.

Pete TV or anything like that?

Any kind of PSAs to remind people to continue to lock their cars, not leave their fobs, not leave their firearms, anything like any educational campaign.

Yes, ma'am.

So, what will happen is uh soon as schools out, we'll uh Yelon and her team will start putting it up on our social media page.

Uh the CSOs will go out and educate everybody again.

It's a summer month, kids are gonna get bored, they're gonna go what they call popping, you're gonna go walk around the neighborhood and see what cars unlocked.

If cars unlocked, they're gonna go inside.

So we just want to remind people to be extra careful.

Uh, our job is to not you know not make it safe but make it safer uh as we continue to do that.

My other question is a follow-up to that came up the other night at Riviera Bay Neighborhood Association about um the e-bikes.

Obviously, kids on the e-bikes, it's been an issue for a while.

Um, the conversation was really it's summer's coming, kids are gonna have more time on their hands.

Um, will you all be kind of ramping up some of those enforcements around e-bikes and making sure that we're keeping our kids safe for that initiative?

Because I know that's been a struggle, but you guys have done a great job.

And that's a great question because I get a lot, especially from people downtown.

Our traffic team is working on that.

We continue to educate uh the kids, and the traffic team will be out there enforcing it and also the CSOs as we see.

Well, as a parent of a teenager, educate the parents too.

Will you?

They're the ones buying the e-bikes.

Yes, ma'am.

That'm just saying uh it is a shared responsibility.

So I wanted just to, and maybe everyone else had this on their list as well.

The Eagle Eye program.

My apologies if I did not realize that that was switching.

I don't think I had caught the memo on that yet.

And again, just the other night talking about it in a neighborhood meeting.

So should we not be encouraging Eagle Eye, sign up anymore?

We're gonna keep people encouraging because we're just going to that phase while it's gonna phase out as it gets going.

First, we're gonna work on our business people because we'll know where they are, and then once we get the businesses, then we'll educate the people in the residential area that you don't have to sign up now.

We're going to have access.

So when you get door ring bell or whatever, yeah.

When you buy that, I guess they're gonna tell you that you could do this.

They're gonna actually give the customers something else to explain to the customers how they can do.

So, like an opt-in when somebody sets up a ring doorbell, there will be like an opt-in that comes through Axion.

Yes, ma'am.

Interesting.

That's the way to explain it to us.

So that's what we're as that rolls out, maybe we could do a follow-up on it because I'm just thinking of all the people who like I have a ring doorbell, like I'm not setting up a new one.

I've got one, and until it dies, I'll continue to have it.

So I just am curious like how that communication will phase to existing users, if they or if they are not already in Eagle Eye.

I think they're working on a marketing strategy to get that out.

Well, please keep us posted, because I want to be helpful in my newsletters and my communications with getting that information out.

Cause I mean, we've had a pretty good success, I think, up in my district, having people sign up for that, and we want to make sure that that continues.

And I should let me rephrase that by the end of the year.

But when I say if you would like so everything, so I would probably say maybe hopefully by November we would have that because that'll help the real-time uh intelligence unit.

They would be able to go into that link and say, hey, on B Street, address 1452.

They have a camera.

Let me go look at it right away.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

That would that would be amazing.

Technology is certainly come very far, right?

And the drones that is phenomenal technology, very excited.

I think that you know, is always any time that we can use tech to keep our community safer, keep the officers safer, I think that that is a good thing to do.

So congratulations on that.

Thank you, man.

The last thing I just wanted to note, and maybe this was on your last quarterly report.

I probably should have pulled it before I even noticed it, but I know it stuck out to me today.

The no wake citations, thank you for having that as a metric that we're going to track.

Um I know it's zero right now, but we just started getting king tides again uh very heavily la well last weekend.

I mean, I was driving through Riviera Bay last weekend on Riverside Canal, and it was almost impassable from a king tide and it was sunny outside.

So I think that, you know, we'll certainly be seeing that.

And again in Riviera Bay, people asking, how are you gonna enforce that?

Like, what's that gonna look like?

So people are paying attention to it, so I appreciate you marking it here as something that we'll track going forward.

I know you had a lot to do with that.

Uh we we also have been trained in the traffic team, so if it happens, we will go out and give the warning and you know, warning first time, take it second time.

Yep, thank you much.

I appreciate it.

You're welcome.

Thank you, madam chair.

Thank you.

Councilmember Driscoll.

Thank you.

Thank you for this report and um for adding that map uh showing where the path unit interactions are happening.

I think it's helpful to see that because we talk about how it's not just a downtown problem, it really is happening.

Um, you know, some uh concern that we have and across the entire city, and although it may be concentrated in certain areas, um, including parts of my district.

Um you you can see what's going on a lot better than just a chart with numbers, like where it's happening and what kind of success you guys are having with that.

So thank you for that.

Um just going back to the Eagle Eye transition.

Um I trust what you're what you're doing, and I see how you can actually get more people um engaged in this and have um have it be even more effective with more participants by doing it the way that you're transitioning to.

Um do you have you said we're still having people sign up for Eagle Eye right now?

But do you have an a sense of what the timeline is on this?

I don't, and and I'm I just want to make sure council's wherever so if it happens before the next quarter, you don't see that number, I can say this is what we're doing.

I just wanted to educate you, I don't want to surprise you.

Uh because that's what we're working on right now with Axon.

Uh, we're gonna do our business areas first, so and we're gonna be working on the marketing with them because we wanna make sure it is marketed correct way.

We're not telling our CSO to stop to signing people up.

We want them to continue to sign people up, but as this moves in and as they as they execute people on, hey, you got this camera system, you can opt in, and not just for the St.

Peter's gonna be nationwide, you can opt in this program.

Cause because people don't realize how much that does help law enforcement when we can get to that.

So for us, it'll just be into a database.

And let me make sure because people listen to the police department cannot monitor your doorbell ring.

Right.

You have to upload this information and then it gets sent to us.

So we don't we can't plug into your doorbells, oh I'm gonna see what's going on in your neighborhood.

You have to give us you're really just uploading what happened so we can see it.

Yes, I was going to mention that because it's something I really have to emphasize when I talk to people about it, what it doesn't do.

Because a lot of people think that when you enter the program that you're giving us access no, you're just letting us know that you have one so we know where to go and look for it.

Yeah, and and this partner may not be aware of um the sort of that barrier to entry that people have.

Is that skepticism?

So um just I know you'll make sure that the language is clear on that.

Yes, ma'am.

Um, all right.

Well, I still have a whole bunch of eagle-eyed door hangers left, so uh I'm just gonna be getting them out there.

Please still use them because like I said, we this transition.

I am they'll say it works today and then tomorrow.

Well, we're not ready yet.

So we wanna continue to act.

Yeah.

Well, yeah.

And you know, I've always been a big fan of it, um, since I learned how effective it is and how helpful it can be.

And I wanna I'm wanna make sure that whatever we're moving to is um even more effective.

You know, that we're we're leveling up on that one.

Let's talk about RTIC.

Um, I had seen not long ago you guys did uh an invitation to the media to come and and see a demo or to watch watch them working in real time.

And I um, I mean, we just got that as a regular media alert.

It wasn't really the council.

Um I may have missed it.

Did you guys do like a thing where you made the rounds and invited all council to come and look?

Uh no man, we did not.

If you want to set it up, we'll be more than happy to show you how it worked and have you come in to see it.

Okay.

So who do we tell?

Who do we ask?

All you gotta do is call my office and we'll make sure it went.

Okay.

Um, which of your Chase, which which of your leadership is um heading this up?

Major Taylor's is in charge of the unit, so that's under Chief Cavasa.

Okay.

Yay, something new to bug him about.

That makes me happy.

Um with the drones.

Are you seeing opportunities for grant funding increasing as this becomes more prevalent or prevalent um in law enforcement?

I I do, but we are positioned ourselves within the next uh two years that we'll have everything that we need.

We were ahead of the curve uh on this.

Uh we've also had some donors that have actually bought uh drones for us.

So what happened right now with the signals?

So an officer, and I'll use the north side because that's where or what inside of the city, because right now the drones, the hive only goes to a three mile radius.

So say an officer's out by Gandhi, but he has a drone, he or she has a drone in their car.

They can launch the drone, and then the operator at the station can take over that drone through radio signals.

So so we say the hives are one location, but we actually have coverage throughout the city because when the officers come in, they pick up their kit and then uh they go out to their zone so they can launch it at any given time.

So right now we're in a great position.

Do we want more drones?

Uh sure.

I mean we've got 36 pilots.

But again, uh, I know I know how it works.

Right now.

Well, and they also the technology advances.

I mean, in five years, these will be obsolete, you'll have all new kinds that you want.

And I think I since see we do uh Chief Gerardo did a great job on that.

So in the contract, if it changes, then they will update the drones we have right now, and you get a chance to see that it also has infrared so we can use it at night so if a kid's missing uh it does amazing things and we'll be more than happy to show it to you.

Yeah I'm looking forward to that I think um maybe what I'll do is I'll ask Janie and if they're maybe she can coordinate so that you don't have eight council member offices calling Kavasif all at once.

Maybe Janie can coordinate for whoever is interested and just make it happen that way.

I'm just thinking efficiency here.

All right well everything else is looking good I just you know can't thank you enough for the work that you do you guys are amazing.

I was so happy to be at the Northeast Exchange Club this week to see Justin get that award and to see you all being um lifted up and recognize all of you for what you do and and you for being such an incredible leader.

It was just really special to to see a community organization um holding uh uh a really nice lunch for all of you to um enjoy and to honor um uh justin for his service so thank you ma'am and just like I tell the other chiefs and sheriff I'm very fortunate the chief to have a community like this because this community support is the police department 100% just like this council so it really shows yeah all right thank you sir thank you chair thank you and council member Driscoll you know to your point I'm I'm glad you brought it up um frankly I think what would be great is whoever's in charge could contact Janie and just offer it up and then that way council members that would like to go and see it because it's already been in the news and then we get questions from our residents so that way the opportunity is there for council members to take that up so that would be wonderful if whoever's in charge of the program could reach out.

I'll get with Major Taylor and have a set up a yeah as opposed to the other way around Janie yeah for for them to reach out and then offer that to council members that would be great.

Council member Gurtis.

Thank you madam chair uh chief thank you for the presentation always good to see you I I'm not trying to be a dead horse but I but I do think it's important um a lot of times businesses securities are on-prem servers and so axon would not know that they have cameras because all of that data is being stored on premise so a really good example I'll just use my wife's business Crystal Clear Technologies who St.

PPD has used I think eight or ten times on crashes on Central Avenue and today she can do that now because she went cloud based but for the first 12 years of their operation they were on-prem and using servers locally and so Axon would have never known because it's not cloud base and so I would just I would just make sure that we're thinking about that if we're using the business community to be the test run or the the pilot to get us into the neighborhoods I'm concerned my concern would be it's so sparse it doesn't help us because I mean let's let's get real like no not every business has the the ability to buy a cloud based system.

They're very expensive.

I would not have known this a year ago except this is the world I just entered and so they're they're very expensive and if they have them most of them don't keep the data for more than a week because again it's super expensive because you're buying the storage of all that data you're talking about gigs terabytes you know if you had it for 30 days and so I that that part concerns me a little bit.

So I just wanted to bring it up to make sure that we're we're thinking about those things um my I'm glad we're going in parallel while we're making this if if and when we make this transition.

So I I'm certainly going to continue to talk about eagle eye um because I I don't want us to go down a road where we stopped talking about Eagle Eye and then this axon thing doesn't work.

So I appreciate that.

But that's that was my only feedback is that I'm my concern about businesses because it's just less expensive to have it right on site.

And I'm glad you brought that up, sir.

So hearing your comments, uh, we're just gonna run dual system.

I'll just solve the whole problem.

We can do axon and we do Eagle Eye.

And and probably have a better outcome doing it.

We'll have two databases.

Right.

Okay.

Just regarding that, we'll have two databases.

That's all I asked.

Councilmember Gurtis.

Just changing changing the course of something.

Councilmember Hardy.

That's a command decision chief.

Done.

That's it.

There are 50 people scrambling back there.

So we're done.

Congratulations.

They can make it happen.

They're good people.

Why did he say that?

Congratulations on the success of you and your team.

I mean, this is cultural.

And these comments and are well deserved and shown out in those statistics.

And I'll take my time just to add to it with a with a quick story that happened this week.

A couple contacted me from a community in in my district.

They're rebuilding their house from the storm.

And uh and they've had multiple complaints from the the uh the contractors who are working on the house about the next door neighbors, and they'd contacted codes and and the lady was very reasonable on her story.

The houses run down.

They're probably in excess of 15 or 20 people living there.

There are two trailers in the backyard that people are living in, and they're abandoned cars, and so you can imagine the story.

And um, and codes is doing everything they could, but we limit codes and in what they can do in private property on purpose, but they're being very helpful to the extent that they could.

And this lady was just felt okay.

I'll reach out to my council member and and see if if they can be of any other help.

And and we talked to her, and and I when I hung up, I thought, you know, maybe PD, maybe they know about this movie.

They don't.

I'm just gonna I'm gonna call somebody at PD and uh and I called one of your team and they said, yeah, you're fine.

We took care of that yesterday.

Um the house had fentanyl involved.

Uh we already cleared it out.

There's a no trespass sign.

One of the trailers has already gone on.

I think the other one goes tomorrow.

Anything else?

And uh, and I thought that's the fastest response time I think I've ever seen.

We had a complaint, and you already took care of it yesterday.

Uh so thank you very much, Chief.

Um, just very very could not say uh enough great things about uh about your command your command staff and the culture that that you have very clearly um uh permeated through this department.

Thank you very much.

Um and thanks for the presentation.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilmember Givens.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh Chief, in the last month I've had an opportunity to do three park walk and talks.

Um, and I just want to share some of the comments that I received.

One of them was in Jordan Park, and I did two in Childs Park.

Um one of the comments that I received um when I was in Child's Park last night um with Officer Blitch was very positive.

They said this is what we want to see.

We want to see more police.

This is coming from Childs Park, and we feel safer when we see our police.

And so I just want to commend you and the team of officers, the 500 plus sworn officers that we have patrolling and protecting our streets, um, because I know that it is a labor of love.

It's not easy.

Um, but I respect the work that you do.

Um, another comment that I got from a little girl when I was walking through Jordan Park um regarding Officer Go Forth.

She says, I want to be just like Officer Go Forth.

Those are the types of positive, encouraging remarks that we want to hear from our community.

So I will continue to do my park walking talks every chance that I can get as long as your officers will have me.

Um, because I think what it does is it promotes that ongoing transparent uh communication and engagement between our police and our public.

So I just want to commend you all there.

And speaking of commendations, I noticed that the quarter one commendation report, literally those remarks almost doubled.

Can you talk a little bit about how we got there and what that means?

Well, I think is through the uh park walk and talks, and uh people just see like you say, see the work that the officers are doing.

So people call in.

Uh and we tell them that.

Tell us the good things and the bad things, and I think people there's a lot of good things to tell a lot of good stories, and we like to hear those stories.

I appreciate you, Chief.

The work that you do speaks for you.

So kudos.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Fix Andrews.

Thank you.

I am gonna be quick.

I want to thank um Councilmember uh Gerdas because again, my note was about Eagle Eye.

Um, and and thank you for saying that you're gonna run them concurrently, because I will tell you um these rain cameras have helped in my neighborhood immensely, um, especially one accident where someone was about to get off because nobody knew how it all unfolded until I sent that video.

And those are so important, and and I'm glad that you've agreed to not transition from that Eagle Eye program.

And one thing that I have noticed is whether you register for Eagle Eye or not, and hopefully Council Member Driscoll still have those door hangers.

When the officers come and if they see you have a ring, whether you registered or not, they will come and ask, can we look at your film?

We we know we see that you have um, you know, a ring camera.

Can we look at your film?

And so with that being said, some of the the additions of those in Eagle Eye, if an officer goes to that residence, even if they're not, leave that door hanger.

Because a lot of people that have a ring done know about the Eagle Eye program.

I know about it because I'm here on council, but a lot of people may not know about that Eagle Eye program because it it really um has saved um and been a help in certain you know, a lot of incidents in my community.

And then I also want to thank um, you know, Chief Kay and Chief Gilliam.

When I tell you that they are the most responsive officers out there, the the force is is phenomenal.

I know um Chair Hanowitz and I when we were at the officers um event, Chief K said, What are you doing?

What are the two of you all doing?

He said, Because we get no calls in your districts, and we there's nothing for us to report.

And so we don't take credit for that.

We give your culture credit for that because our residents are seeing your presence in the programs that we are helping you to support you, it's making a difference for us.

So we have to say thank you, but he did.

He came and made that that acknowledgement to us, and you know, we were like, we don't know what happened, but um it is all because of what you all are doing.

So again, thank you.

My first comment was about Eagle Eye, and second, I just wanted to thank you all for what you're doing.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Well, Chief, you got a lot of good feedback from uh council.

Um, I just want to touch upon the real-time intelligence center.

Uh obviously, I think it's it's great.

I mean, you know, it doesn't end with an arrest, as you know.

Obviously, it has you know, somebody gets arrested and then you have to prove a case, and and you know, it goes a long way to have video, and so for the prosecution and everything, I think it's fantastic to see something through.

The only thing I was uh wondering, given that it's just more gonna be more prevalent out there and the community doesn't know much about it.

Um, have you provided or is there been training for the community service officers?

Like when they have these meetings, you know, neighborhood association meetings, you know, obviously in terms of the reasonable expectations uh uh for privacy and all those other issues that could come up.

I was just wondering how y'all are dealing with it and just to make sure the community understands how it works and how the drones are working throughout the community, and there's also constitutional safeguards.

I mean it you you can't just do it you know everywhere.

And so you were the community service officer there are training on that, and we're teaching officers that uh we were very fortunate.

We were so to speak, not say ahead, but we had Senator Roussant help us write the bill for the drones.

We have to tell people that we just can't launch a drone.

There's five guys on the street corner sitting, you can't launch it for that.

It has to be a criminal offense, or that they get me, they have to get my permission when there's a large event because we're monitoring crawl, but you just can't put the drone up because hey, I see two guys on the street corner, so I'm gonna see what they're doing out there.

It has to be a criminal call.

So, yeah, we will continue to educate people on that.

And again, and that's what we got.

We told in front of the press.

If there is a priority one called burglaries, robberies, these drones are being launched, and they're going to those type of calls.

Yeah, and that's that's important for the community to understand because I mean the technology is changing so fast, policing, though, you know, the way policing is is occurring now is very different from you know, 10 20.

When I was a prosecutor, it's just different.

Um, and I think it's just these are wonderful tools that are gonna help the community, and the more the community understands it, uh, the better it's gonna be.

Yes, right.

Great, thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Next up, we have F2 Employee Recognition Committee annual update, and Ms.

Jordan is here to present it.

Hi everybody.

Hi.

Hi.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Chair Hanowitz and being our employee recognition committee or council champion, Vice Chair Floyd, Council members, Mr.

Green.

Thank you for having us this evening.

Hopefully, I won't be too long.

I know it's been kind of a long day, but it's been a great day, a celebration day, and we got some tie-ins, which will be pretty cool.

So, um, this is our employee recognition committee, and I am thrilled that two of them in addition to me are here today.

Uh, Jessica Taylor with Water Resources and Public Works Week, awesome, and then Ashley Doss, who is with marketing, and a lot of today's presentation is going to be focused on our rebranding.

So, this was a huge initiative for us this past year, and kudos to Ashley and her team for helping us do this.

So, oh, so actually, let me back up real quick.

So, we still have um what we do, we focus on administration-based members as it makes it easier, casts a wider net as a go as opposed to going to department-to-department replacement.

So, that has helped us a lot.

And this is our current administration-based team.

What you'll see on the right side, color coding.

I'm big into color coding, it helps me.

Uh visual gal, the color coding, CDA, CEA, so those are your different administrations.

So that is the by our bylaws, according to our bylaws.

That is the minimum requirement that we want on our team.

So that totals 11.

We have 14 people on our team, and we continue to have people inquire about what do I need to do to join the team.

And I make it very clear the responsibilities, the number of meetings we have each month.

I have them review our bylaws to make sure they understand what our bylaws are and the commitment that we request of them.

So all meetings except July, why summer break.

I started a couple years ago.

Let's go have a social.

So sometimes they come out, sometimes they don't.

So we'll see.

Um, and then one of the things that I personally love about being on the ERC is I never would have met these two women if I weren't on the ERC.

Additionally, we rotate, the team rotates where we have our meetings.

So then we get to see other city facilities, which isn't necessarily going to come into play in all of the work that we do, our jobs that we have.

So January, May, September, I would like to thank uh Chair Hanowitz and Councilmember Harding for coming out to our employee recognition ceremony yesterday.

So all of you now will get to see an unveiling of our new branding.

They got to see it yesterday.

So we're super stoked about that.

Uh typically, all of our um ceremonies are held in sunken gardens, which was a lovely tribute to Robin today.

I I know her as well, knew her as well.

So we're thrilled to have them there.

Sunken Gardens is going to be undergoing some repairs uh later this year, some HVAC upgrades.

So we will be meeting in the grand ballroom of the Mahaffey Theater in September.

I'm not asking you to remember that.

We'll let you know in advance.

Okay.

So again, I I'm not gonna read through this, but really our mission is we want to recognize those people, our employees, those staff members who have gone gone above and beyond with our kudos nominations that we do every month, and then in addition to um celebrating lengths of service or years of service uh three times a year.

So this was an undertaking that we put forth, and this really kind of came from Chris Gwella.

For those of you on council who don't know or are unaware, the ERC rolls up to HR.

So basically, for all intents and purposes, we report to Chris Guella, and by default, we always have somebody from HR on our team.

And our current liaison is Belinda Ross, and she's a freaking rock star.

All right.

So maybe it was last year or the year before, Chris was asking what is the difference between the Ben Shirley Impactful Service Award and the Servant Leadership Award.

And there really wasn't a whole lot of difference as it was defined, which you'll see on the left side of this chart.

So I went through the process, and of course, it's not it's not a me decision.

So I went through the process of how can we bring better clarity to the different awards that we or the different recognition levels that we offer our employees.

So this was a this was a really good exercise for me, quite candidly.

And with the assistance of the ERC, we it was a voting process.

So how do we do this?

And then as you'll see, head to the right, servant leadership.

Servant leadership to me is more of a theory, is what does it mean to be servant leadership?

So I wanted to come up with a different name for that category.

So I'm not kidding you.

It finally dawned on me one morning while getting ready for work in a shower.

Like, why aren't we gonna recognize the gentleman who started this?

Gary Cornwell.

So we have renamed the servant leadership award to the Gary Cornwell Award, which we're super excited about.

So those are the descriptions.

And again, it brings better clarity.

And it really boiled down to we were recognizing and we were recognizing people who were with Ben Shirley Impactful Service Award, for example, firefighters or law enforcement for doing what they are tasked to do on their daily basis.

So should they have been elevated to Ben Shirley?

Most likely not.

So this is why we bring better clarity to this, and we hope you agree with us.

Oh, this is so are we in slideshow mode?

How do I do that?

I know, but oh okay.

This was all supposed to be floating in and everything.

But so now you'll get to see it all.

So I was in my when I do slideshow mode, it's so super cool.

So here is our new rebranding.

Um, our employee recognition, so we have modeled, so our coloring is this dark blue.

What is the color?

What is our what what is it?

It's Sunrunner.

It's it's marketing's colors.

If you go to the please use the grid, go to the marketing website, you'll see all the different colors.

So that is our logo on the left, and as you can see, we've our the marketing team did a great job of incorporating our city seal.

And then kudos, Sunshine Award, Sunshine Award, is anyone who is nominated for kudos at least two times in a sixth month consecutive six month period, it's basically kudos on steroids, Sunshine Award, and then Ben Shirley Impactful Service Award, Gary Cornwell Award, and Innovation Award.

These were really cool on my laptop, you guys, when they were doing fly-ins and stuff.

But this is our new rebranding.

Marketing did a really good job of presenting pro what we these are called our award badges.

Probably five or six different images, different designs, and this is what we settled on.

We like the, as you can see in the background, that's the hextile, so an homage to our hex tiles here in town, and then uh we like the ribbon because that's it's a ribbon, it's an award.

Everyone wants a ribbon, right?

Okay, again, this was gonna be a fly-in.

So we had our old banners, if you guys remember our old stand-up banners, which really were like 1970s, 1980s kind of thing, and this is our new Stephen Repeat banner.

So it incorporates our branding, our new image.

Here's the best part.

It is 20 feet wide.

Yes.

So now Maria loves it.

So when we do photographs, it's not taking as long anymore because yesterday we recognized there were a total of 76 people with 20 years of more service, years of service to the city, with at we were supposed to recognize four Ben Shirley Impactful Service Awards, but um Captain Falls got stuck on the Skyway Bridge with that accident that happened yesterday.

So uh he will be pushed to September.

So it took a long time, so with and then 26 people accepted.

So it was a long ceremony.

I always try to anticipate when you're gonna get out of there.

I guess 10 o'clock, and it was more like 1040.

So I gotta do a little better at that.

Um, so this is our please.

If you if you can make it to the September ceremony, you'll get to see this in person.

So I always like to give numbers, I'm a numbers kind of gal.

So um, 20.

I'm not giving the last two years when we've done this presentation for you guys, it was an eye chart, it was a lot of different numbers.

So here's just a summary of uh what we are year to date.

So this is through May.

You'll see on there one Gary Cornwell.

I have been on the employee recognition committee now for a little over four years, and this will be our first, at least in my tenure.

Our first Gary Cornwell, who is actually supposed to have been recognized yesterday, but he decided he had to go and leave to get married.

So we're gonna be recognizing him in September.

So please join us to recognize him.

Then I always like to give our who's our top five.

So these are the departments that get our most recognition.

Right now, if you do the math real quick, if you're like me and do gen math, it's on a calculator.

We are on a run rate of a target of 495 kudos, Sunshine Benchirlies for the year.

So that's where we're running.

Would we love to break that 500 mark?

We would, of course.

So feel free to nominate anybody.

Something that I realized that I did not put in the last couple years is how many employees have we recognized at our employee recognition ceremonies, which are again January, May, September, and the years of service that they have provided.

These are really, in my opinion, impactful numbers.

So these numbers, of course, are through May.

We have one more ceremony to go, but as you can see, I mean, look at that.

Yesterday, I think the I think we had one, a couple with 35, and maybe one with 40.

So it is really truly incredible how many years employees will dedicate to the city.

And I love it.

Please nominate.

This is how you can nominate email kudos at St.

Pete.org.

Go to the grid, super easy.

Typically, I would say thank you, Rob Gerdis, for nominating Tom.

I've never seen a nomination from you.

Maybe one, so come on, let's get on it, please.

Um, because Rob has a Rob has nominated some people, so the administrator.

Um, yep, and just contact.

So here's so kudos to Ashley and the marketing team.

I had a so, um, for those of you who don't know, I think most I'm in neighborhood relations.

I had a neighborhood association president reach out to me, uh, wanting to give kudos to I think it may have been some stormwater team members, and he called me and he said, They're talking about this thing called the grid, the grid, the grid.

I need to nominate on the grid.

I'm like, just send me an email, Steve.

It's okay.

The grid is an internal tool.

So the words getting out even to our our citizens, which is pretty cool.

So this is how you can nominate, super easy.

And then um, what you'll see on the right side is if you go to the grid today, you'll see all our it's a rolling three months, so you'll see May, April, March.

You click on May, and then you click on an individual's name.

Of course, I brought up Belinda, one of our team members, and what pops up is the actual nomination that was written that was submitted, as well as her certificate.

You download the award, and that certificate is what is downloaded.

And I know, for example, Stormwater, I think water you guys may do it too.

Sanitation, they will actually either print those out and put them in common areas so everybody can see them, or have them on a rolling TV or TV rolling through.

So again, it just really brings up the awareness about kudos, and we want to celebrate our employees as best we can every day that we can.

So, and then again, with um complementing our branding or being in line with our branding.

Nadia, who is with Department of Technology Services, she is actually our program designer, so she has done a really great job in bringing us all a unified branding scheme.

So these are our actions, this is what we completed, and it was a lot of work this year or this past year, and we look forward to it, and we want to make it as easy as pop possible for our employees for our residents to nominate.

But updated award descriptions, make them very clear.

Uh, renaming the servant leadership award to the Gary Cornwell Award.

We're very excited about that.

Um, and then the rebranding, continued interest in the ERC, and I am thrilled that Kawa continues to sponsor us.

This is their third year for sponsoring coffee for us.

I'm thrilled that we didn't have a lot of coffee drinkers yesterday.

I got some cold brew happening in my fridge at home right now.

So that's all I have, and I am open and welcome to answer any questions you may have.

Well, thank you so much, Ben, for a comprehensive update.

A lot of work, a lot of good work.

It looked great yesterday.

Always love going to the uh employee award ceremonies because you come out feeling so wonderful.

And you not only do you like acknowledge the work of the employees, but you get to see them like an individual, like the yeah, employees share like how it is, like in their departments, you know, and you start getting a feel of like how that department interacts with each other and how they see each other, and it's always wonderful to hear those stories, and so I always I always live leave with a full heart.

Um, I do want to ask you do you have any, as marketing done any graphics that you can that we can use and put in our city council like uh newsletters?

Absolutely.

Like our like the badges and our logo, and just whatever, like if you want to acknowledge an employee or whatever, this is how you do it.

So we can like it's a plug-in thing for any newsletter in the city, actually.

And it would have all the information for sure.

And that would be a great way to get it out there.

Yep.

No problem.

And thank you for promoting that for us.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

Well, thank you very much.

Okay.

Love it.

Perfect.

Next up, we have the resolution changing the start time on of the May 28th, 2026 council meeting.

Move approval.

Second.

We have a motion and a second.

As you all know, it's a short calendar, and I don't see why we would be here at 1 30 and then come back for public hearings, which is a reason why we're moving it to not spend that much time waiting.

Okay.

Uh Clerk, if you can open the machine for voting.

Council members, please enter your vote.

Seeing that all present council members have voted.

Clerk, please tally announce the vote.

Chair motion to approve the genitum F3 passes unanimously.

Thank you.

Uh, next up we have H1, it's council committee report.

Uh, Councilmember Gurtis for BFT.

Thank you.

Respectfully requesting city council approval of a resolution of amending the city's investment policy.

Municipal funds to change the diversification schedule of authorized investments and to make other nod-substantive changes.

Just real quickly, this essentially just gives uh our finance team a little bit more flexibility on what is considered our overnight.

Essentially, we're giving them more access to high-yield savings accounts, and I'd move approval.

Second, we have a motion and second, clerk.

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

Seeing that all present council members have voted.

Clerk, please tell the announce vote.

I'm chair, motion to approve a genetic H1 passes unanimous.

Thank you.

Next up, we have H2 from H L U T.

Vice Chair Floyd.

Thank you.

I am respectfully requesting the administration move forward with changes to the city's comprehensive plan related to speed management strategies.

I'll move approval.

Second, yeah.

I'm sure motion to approve agenda H2 passes unanimously.

Thank you, Clerk.

Do we have any speakers for open form?

Not in person, nobody zone.

Okay, then we move to announcements and adjournment.

So well, it's a list.

Councilmember Gabbard.

Thank you, madam chair.

Uh, very excited.

Um, I'm not sure everyone saw it today, but it did come out um earlier in the week in a media release as well.

That the Office of Sustainability is going to be holding two workshops coming up.

Grow St.

Pete Together.

Very, very excited about this back in 2021.

Uh, myself, Michael Dima, we worked on the State Agriculture Act, we um, you know, passed the ordinance here at City Council for Urban Ag and then started working on food forest.

It's been a long time coming, and so I'm just very excited.

I hope it is short notice, so I do hope that people will be able to attend these workshops Tuesday, May 26th from 10 a.m.

to 11 30 at the St.

Pete Youth Farm, and then there will be another one um Thursday, June 11th from 6 to 7:30 at Walter Fuller.

So hopefully people will be able to attend, get involved, and start to create a uh more, I guess, um community collaborative opportunity for us to feed uh the people of St.

Petersburg.

So very excited about that and want to thank the Office of Sustainability for pushing that forward.

That's great.

No, and I'm chair.

Thank you.

I and I shared it as a matter of fact, Meadow Lawn has a neighbor uh uh community garden.

So I make sure that they got it.

Yeah, um, and uh we will be sharing that information with other neighborhoods.

So thank you.

Councilmember Givens.

Thank you, Chair.

I just want to um remind everyone obviously with Memorial to coming up, we will be doing flag placement at Lincoln Cemetery.

So I wanted to invite other council members to come out and help.

We have uh the veterans of foreign war who will be helping us to place flags out there Saturday at 8 a.m.

So I invite everybody to come out on uh Sixth Avenue South and 58th Street right next to Boga Siega High School in Gulfport.

Uh and then lastly, I just want to congratulate all the graduates in the city of St.

Petersburg and Pinellas County uh who will be walking across the stage this week and next week to receive their high school diplomas and even those VPK graduates.

I had an opportunity uh to speak at Starlings graduation uh last week, and I just want to say I'm very proud of all the graduates and their parents and their families, so congrats to the class of 2026.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for those updates.

Councilmember Triscoll.

Thank you.

Um I've got a few things.

I have two opportunities and two celebrations, and I'll try to move fast.

Um first I I wanted to make my colleagues aware of some communication that happened.

Um as you know from emails um on April 28th, all of City Council was invited by staffer from the office of the mayor um to the Equality Florida gala, which took place on um May 16th.

Um I had said yes, I I always go.

I usually buy a ticket, but it was nice to have that invitation.

Um on May 8th, um we received an email notifying us that we were uninvited.

Um given a miscommunication.

At that time, I tried um by email and phone call to um reach um the person from the mayor's office and did not receive any kind of a response.

Um on Saturday 5-9.

Um I went ahead and purchased my ticket, uh, which by then had gone up.

Again, I usually buy a ticket anyway.

Um May 13th, I still had not heard anything back, and so I emailed Janie with a copy to Jackie for visibility, um, explaining that I had been trying to get some information to find out what had happened, and I asked for some information about the event, including the number of tables and seats um reserved by the city of St.

Petersburg for city officials and any guests, um, the amount paid through city funds, which are taxpayer funds for those tables, and if offered as a complimentary thing by Equality Florida, please indicate so and the names of the attendees for whom those tables were being designated.

Um I still have not received a response from that, but I wanted to make everyone aware that I have requested that information.

The opportunity here is for transparency and for um a uh choice to have good communication.

The second thing I want to bring to everyone's attention is that I have been getting some questions from um residents, including um, well, about the Eccelman sculpture and the status on that.

Um, one of those is from one of the donors to the Ecclmann sculpture.

Um Friday, May 8th, I sent an email to James Corbett asking for an update on the Ecclman sculpture.

I did not receive a response um as of May 12th, so I forwarded it again.

I said, bumping this up in your email email inbox.

I know how busy you are.

Thanks in advance.

I still have not received a response.

I still have people asking me what is going on, and I have to tell them that I cannot get any information.

Um I was told by the city attorney's office that a memo would be forthcoming from the administration by the end of this week.

So if anyone like me has been trying to get that information, um, we are to have it by the end of this week.

Um, I will I will note that I also have media asking me about this topic.

Now on to the celebrations.

As you know, last Friday um I teamed up with the innovation district to hold the ocean of support fundraiser to benefit the USF College of Marine Science and the Florida Institute of Oceanography in light of the recent disastrous fire to help them start to get back up on their feet.

It was very successful.

We had over 370 people in attendance.

Um everyone had a great time.

We had I had invited the whole fire department and uh some of them showed up and I made sure they got gelato and they brought the ladder truck when with the extender and everything.

Made sure that uh everyone recognized them.

They got the biggest applause of the whole night.

And um all around there were people um talking about how good it was not just to raise money but to be able to gather and and talk about what had happened and what comes next.

Um I am incredibly excited to report that as of today we've raised over 400,000 for this cause.

So I know it wasn't it's definitely not just me.

It's a real team effort, but the outpouring of support from the community, including including Monetary, has been um just really um so encouraging, and it really warms my heart to see that so many people recognize and care about our marine science community.

Finally, um I saw either in an article or on social media this week that the city's hometown haulers program received an award um for that initiative at um I think it was the governor's hurricane conference, and um I saw that there were members from um economic and workforce development who were there or who uh had a picture to receive the award, and I actually wanted to uh give some virtual flowers to council member Fig Sanders, because although it wasn't mentioned, it was Councilmember Fig Sanders who really got that program rolling and got it done, got it going quickly, and um I I think she is to be commended as well for those efforts.

And if she wants to talk about it, I'll let her, but I just wanted to say thank you and also congratulations to you, council member, um, for that fantastic achievement.

That's all I have today.

Thank you, Chair.

Well, thank you, and Councilmember Driscoll, great job on the fundraiser.

That's amazing.

That's amazing.

It was amazing, um, and the wonderful work there.

I want to say on the other issue that you brought up with the records that when did you request records on the which one quality Florida issue?

Um 513, so last Wednesday.

Last Wednesday, okay.

Well, I mean, it's a public records request, so I assume whenever you get those documents and you can then we all get copied on it.

Yes, ma'am.

I did I did request that it be shared with all council.

I appreciate that.

So I just you know given the fact that I mean it's not a it's not a bass record request, right?

So it's not a lot of records, right?

I would think it would be pretty easy.

Um if I can just keep the floor for for a moment.

I ended up I I did purchase a ticket, I ended up having something personal come up at the last minute, and I wasn't able to attend.

Um, but luckily I had um a friend who got there early and noticed that there was a student that was having trouble checking in, and so I told them to give that person my ticket and a hug and have a great time.

So, and then um I was able to bid online and I actually won one of the silent auction items.

So I did participate, just not in the way that I had planned.

Um, but I'm almost feeling like I'm gonna start a new tradition of sponsoring um a student every year for the gala since it's not a cheap cheap night.

Yeah, that's a very cute idea.

Well, thank you.

Councilmember Fake Sanders.

Well, thank you, thank you.

Um, I I do want to or let me piggyback on on what um Councilmember Driscoll brought up about hometown haulers.

Yes, I would be very remiss not to acknowledge Dr.

Kanika Tomlin, Gypsy Galardo, Nikki Gaskin K.

Hart, Carl Lavender, and more importantly, Nancy Durnham, known as Fancy Nancy to us.

Um it started with a conversation of concerned community constituents during the um during the hurricane when we got together and I was called in, um, wanted to say and figure out what could we do, you know, as a community, what could we do?

So that did start the conversation and the ball rolling um when it was presented to the city and it became the hometown haulers, an award-winning program, and I just want to thank those individuals for having the wherewithal and the concern for our city um to even get together on their own to have those conversations.

So, yes, I would definitely be remiss if I did not call their names and thank them because we want to make sure that all of our constituents know that we hear them and we see them and we applaud them uh for wanting to contribute to the city.

So thank you for that, Councilmember Driscoll.

Um I don't know if you all know.

Um I am now the interim COC chair, and it's not official until after we vote in July, so you know, book busy and blessed, and also I want to confirm if you would, Councilmember Givens.

We were told nine o'clock to be the Lincoln.

So is it eight or nine?

Eight o'clock, okay.

So I'm gonna have to put a news out back um for eight o'clock because we were told by Mr.

Willie, but if they show up at nine, we'll take them, they'll be enough.

Okay, okay.

So I just wanted to make sure everybody knew the right time on that.

But other than that, those are my announcements.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, and thank you for your work with the hometown haulers.

And also, I mean, I don't want to say that, you know, it's always like knock on wood interim share, but we'll be looking to hear the news.

Okay.

Councilmember Gerdas.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Um, just quickly, I know I mentioned it earlier uh we had a great three days in New Orleans.

Think a lot of lot of things to bring back.

We probably see some new business items just to have discussion.

I will say, um, second year in a row going on that trip, very very proud of the progress St.

Pete has made ahead of some cities that have been around significantly longer than we have.

Um, other than that, we have two birthdays this coming week.

Councilmember Harding is tomorrow, happy birthday.

And uh Courtney Phillips in our office is uh next week on Tuesday.

So we're gonna sing Councilmember Harding and Courtney, happy birthday.

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, birthday.

Happy birthday to you.

Thank you very much, Madame Chair.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Well, thank you everyone for a great meeting today.

I know it was long, but you know, once I saw once I saw how many proclamations and awards, I knew that we were probably gonna end up somewhere after five May 6th.

So with that said, I appreciate I appreciate you all.

It was a great meeting, and with that meeting adjourned, have a great night.

Thank you.