The St. Petersburg City Council met on May 21, 2026, beginning at approximately 3:15 PM EDT. The lengthy meeting featured numerous awards and proclamations, a quarterly report from the Police Department, an update on employee recognition programs, and unanimous approval of several consent items. The meeting opened with a report on an emergency procurement for the South Branch Library fire remediation (estimated $169,000) and closed with council announcements. Key statistics included a 7% overall crime reduction in Q1 2026, over 55,000 EMS responses in 2025, and 76 employees recognized for 20+ years of service.
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.