At this time, we'll call to order the February 5th, 2026 meeting of the Clearwater City Council. If you wish to address the council tonight, please complete a comment card. Comment cards are located by the clerk seated to the right of the dais. When called to speak, please hand your card to the clerk. At this time, we'll move to item two on the agenda, and that's our invocation. I'd like to call forward Major Ted Morris from Salvation Army, who will deliver it tonight. And then ask everyone to remain standing afterwards for the Pledge of Allegiance.
Let's bow for prayer. Father, we thank you for those who stepped up to lead our community in this way. Our mayor, our vice mayor, members of the council, city attorneys, city managers, and all the staff who work with them that make the city run. Father, we thank you for our first responders, those who are tasked with keeping our city safe, the fire and rescue and police force and those who help out in this way. Father, we thank you for this place where we can meet and view the business of our community as it's done in a public forum such as this. We pray that the decisions made, discussions that ensue, will be in line with your will for our great city. For it's in your holy and precious name we make this prayer this evening. Amen.
Thank you, Major Morris. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, the Republic for the Visible.
Before we continue further into the agenda, I'd like to introduce our dais. To my far left is our deputy city clerk, Nicole Sprague. To her right is city clerk, Rosemary Cole.
Good evening.
To her right is city attorney, David Margolis. Good evening. To his right is council member, Ryan Cotton. Hello. To his right and my left is council member, Mike Manino.
Good evening.
To my right, council member, David Albritton.
Good evening.
To his right, vice mayor, Lena Teixeira. Hello. To her right, city manager, Jennifer Poirier. Good evening. To her right, assistant city manager, Dan Slaughter. And to his right, assistant city manager, Al Battle. That will move to item four on the agenda, and that is the National 211 Day Proclamation. I'd like to call forward Mickey Thompson and Sean Schrader from the First Contact Organization to receive this proclamation. Thank you for coming tonight. Whereas 211 is a free, confidential, three-digit helpline that connects residents and visitors to essential health and human services, including crisis and emergency counseling, disaster assistance, food, health care, and insurance assistance, stable housing, and utility payment assistance, employment services, veteran services, and child care and family support. And whereas in the city of Clearwater, 211 services are provided by first contact, ensuring individuals and families have access to compassionate, accurate, and timely information and referrals when they need help the most. And whereas 211 provides expert, caring assistance by listening to callers, identifying underlying needs, and connecting people with appropriate community resources that help stabilize households and improve quality of life. And whereas in 2025, 211 responded to more than 62,000 calls, texts, emails, and online requests from Pinellas County residents seeking assistance with critical needs. And whereas 211 maintains a finger on the pulse of community needs by collecting and analyzing health and human services data, which is used by local governments, emergency managers, and community planners to inform decision-making and improve services. Now, therefore, I, Bruce Rector, Mayor of the City of Clearwater, Florida, on behalf of the Clearwater City Council, to hereby proclaim February 11th, 2026, to be National 211 Day in Clearwater, and encourage all residents to recognize the vital role 211 plays in supporting health, safety, and well-being of our community. Thank you for coming tonight, and we know you came to a work session shared with us the great work you do, but anything you'd like to share with us tonight?
Yeah, well, thank you very much, Mayor and Council. As you know, Sean Schrader, proud Clearwater native. And, you know, throughout my life, it's been exciting to get engaged in a number of great efforts in the community, and I think one of the most exciting is the work that First Contact does. As you just outlined there, there are so many different types of questions and comments and challenges that constituents face across a broad number of issues, whether that's a hurricane or, you know, challenges with housing or challenges with other types of assistance, and to know that you can refer those individuals to trained and talented staff who can help them and can kind of help make their challenging situation just a little bit better is really, really important. And so to be a board member for First Contact is a great honor to work with great leaders like Mickey Thompson is an incredible honor, and we're just very appreciative of your supporting your partnership.
Just quickly, I want to thank everyone in the city of Clearwater for celebrating February 11th. It's the National 201 Day. It's the second month, 11th day, so hence 211, and it's a national holidays, and joining together with cities all over the country who are celebrating this day. So thank you so much for all you do. And last year we helped about 8,000 Clearwater residents, a little bit less this year than the previous year since we did do a lot of hurricane response with Helene and Milton, folks calling in for that. So if you can, help us out. Tell two people about 2-1-1. That would really help us out building awareness. Thank you.
Well, we know you've already helped a lot of people in Clearwater, and we thank you for that, and we thank you for the work that you do every day to make our residents feel better. And handle some of the toughest situations and connect them with the services they need. So thank you for coming tonight.
Thanks for having us. Thanks for your leadership. Thank you very much.
Thank you. It's good to see you, Sean. Thank you for coming tonight.
Always good to see you.
It's good to see you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.
This time we'll move to item 5.1 of the agenda.
Approve the minutes of the January 15, 2026 City Council meeting. So moved.
Second.
All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Now move to item 6 on the agenda, the consent agenda. Are there any items to be removed from tonight's consent agenda?
Yes, Council. I received a request to remove items 6.2, 6.3, 6.6, 6.8, 6.10, and 6.12.
Could you repeat those again, please? Sure.
6.2, 6.3, 6.6, 6.8, 6.10, and 6.12.
Is there a motion to approve those items that were not removed?
So moved. Second.
All those in favor?
Aye.
Opposed? Unanimous. Moved to item 6.2.
Approve a professional services agreement to Instago LLC doing business as Instago Agency of St. Petersburg, Florida for sponsorship sales services for the City of Clearwater assets in the amounts of $5,000 per month retaining fee plus an additional 12% of gross sponsorship sales that are negotiated and secured by Instago for an initial one-year term with four one-year renewal options pursuant to request for proposal 54-25 and authorize the appropriate officials to execute same.
Good evening, Mayor, Council. Art Cater, Parks and Recreation Director. Now, this item was discussed at last Monday's work session, but I'd like to add some additional comments and some information regarding the item. The item is a recommendation to approve an agreement between the City and Instago LLC for sponsorship sales services. Now, staff is bringing this item before you in response to really some conversations that we've heard kind of for the past couple of years from the dais and from others regarding the fact of see how you can make, you know, create new revenue sources or make new partnerships, private partnerships, and those types of things. So in that regard, we're trying to create new revenue opportunities. And in that regard, just so you can remember, because you've been a part of that to date, we have increased user fees at all recreation centers and programs. We've introduced new amusements to our parks, the Ferris wheel, and hopefully more to come. We've managed the turkey trial event this year for the first time, and we covered all of our costs, of the total cost, which basically before that we were paying $60,000 to $75,000 of in-kind services that we were giving to this event. We also made a profit of $40,000. We are in the process of putting out two RFPs, one for beach concessions and the other for the concessions on the beach, the sand volleyball or what do they call those? Inflatables, yeah, the inflatables, the big things you see all over the place. I know that Dan loves them, so anyways. The reason I share that with you is this item simply reflects that ongoing effort on our part to try to find new revenue sources. And one of the first special events where this will become important for us is with the 250th anniversary of our country on the 4th of July. We hope that this sponsorship, it costs the city right now, we pay for all that, about $75,000, of which the fireworks are $55,000. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to pay for that with sponsorships or at least cover 50% of it? So that's one of the reasons why we hope that you will approve this item. We issued RFP 5425 in September of 25 to see if there was an interest in providing the sponsorship services. We included naming rights services in the RFP, but that is really not our main target or our main goal. We left it in there simply because if the opportunity did exist, we would want to have someone on staff so that we could do that, a contract to do that. Our main focus is parks and recreation sponsorships. To be quite honest, we were disappointed with the responses we got. We only received three. I would have loved to have had many more than that, but that's what we had. We went through them, looked at them all. We got a response from Instigo, LLC, CB Content Creation, LLC, and the Superlative Group. These responses were evaluated by a committee made up of finance, cultural affairs, and parks and recreation. Mr. One's firm, Instigo, was chosen because it's a local firm, its costs were lower, and it's a minority business, and he's available to put his full efforts into this agreement. This agreement is to cost $5,000 a month as a retainer and 12% of gross sales. I understand the concern of paying a monthly retainer and not seeing any money coming in right away. That's one of the reasons we put in at nine months to have made at least $45,000. That way we would at least be balanced in that regard. Of course, there's no guarantee that that would happen. However, in this agreement, the city can terminate it at any point and any time with or without cause. So that is available for us. In closing, Mr. Oney is the only full-time employee, and depending on his workload, he hires part-time employees and interns, and he hopes to build his company. Wouldn't that be great to be able to hire another one or two full-time employees and be a part of this young entrepreneur's business? He likes the other two firms that submitted the proposal, met all the requirements of the purchasing department, and are e-verified as a Florida-licensed liability company doing business in St. Petersburg. His first priority will be to perform an asset evaluation and inventory of everything that Parks and Recreation has in terms of programs, facilities, events, et cetera. I'm available to answer any questions you might have.
Anyone here tonight from the public desire to speak to this agenda?
I'm Mr. Haluba. I don't believe this is any kind of a professional services agreement. It's just an example of misplaced priorities and government overreach. Parks and Recreation is a tax-supported department entirely. It's supported financially by everyone for the benefit of everyone, whether they go to a park or not. Return on investment plays no role, and there should be no attempt to make it part of Parks and Rec. It just doesn't fit. Now, I heard him say that there's been several, pardon me, I've got a little bit. This place chokes me up. So, there were several assets proposed, you know, for this branding. Some of them, one of them mentioned was the splash pad. Well, splash pads are widely understood to spread germs and cause harmful chemical exposure if they're not, you know, exposing people to bad stuff. Many people won't even take their dog there. So, my question would be, it's no wonder there's been a disappointing response. Who would endorse such a filthy thing as a splash pad? So, we're going to sell naming rights. Why don't we sell naming rights to the Clearwater Police? I can name a few. So, whatever the intent is here, if it's to raise more money, we're looking in the wrong place. You know, it should not come from Parks and Benefit. It's not going to benefit Parks and Rec. It's not going to benefit the citizens. It's going to cheapen the experience of going to a Clearwater Park. I mean, it's really a bad idea. And I don't understand it. There's been so many previous shady financial operations with Parks and Recreation that this is a really bad idea. An abuse and a waste resulting in bad oversight. And this needs to be voted down.
So, you want to ask him to hear from the public that I desire to speak to this agenda item. If not, is there any council discussion? There's no council discussion. Is there a motion?
Move to approve agenda item 6.2. Second.
All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Thank you. 2-9 and 6.3.
Authorize an increase in extension to the purchase order with Century Event Services of Tampa, Florida for citywide security and event services. And the amounts of $86,000 for year four. Increasing the annual not-to-exceed amounts from $200,000 to $286,000. And extending the contract for up to 120 calendar days pursuant to request for proposals 6-22. And authorize the appropriate officials to execute same.
Art Cater, Parks and Recreation Director. This item was discussed at our Monday work session. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer that.
Does anyone here from the public tonight desire to speak to this agenda?
Are we on 6.3? Or did I lose track? Yes, sir. 6.3. All right. Now, Mr. Haluba, this is about outsourcing citywide security and event services to Century for $286,000. I'm not terribly opposed to this, but it is an outsourcing of police duties. Something I've stood in front of all of you many, many times and advocated for, not for Century, but for Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. Why don't Clearwater Police do this kind of work? Why do we have to hire an outside guard agency to do this? I'm guessing because it's a lot cheaper. Now, Clearwater Police are allowed to outsource their duties. It's another argument for getting rid of Clearwater Police altogether. If any outsourcing of police and law enforcement duties are undertaken, it should be with Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, their primary law enforcement. So, like I said, I don't have a problem with Century, but I have a problem with Clearwater Police, again, apparently, you know, not taking care of their business.
Is there anyone else here from the public tonight that desires to speak to this agenda? Hearing none, is there any counseling discussion? If none, is there a motion?
Motion to approve agenda item 6.3.
Second.
All those in favor?
Aye.
Opposed? That would be unanimous. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Cater. Agenda item 6.6.
Award Construction Contracts at TLC Diversified of Palmetto, Florida, Murphy, Pinellas Contractors of Jacksonville, Florida, and Applied Drilling Engineering of Tampa, Florida, for the Water Reclaimed Water and Well Repair and Improvements Project in the annual amount of $9 million for a one-year term with the option for three one-year renewals on a unit basis pursuant to invitation to bid 25-0027-UT and authorize the appropriate official executes name.
Good evening, Mayor, Council. I'm Mike Lanning, Interim Director of Public Utilities. The item before you is a multi-vendor contract with TLC Diversified Murphy Pipeline and Applied Drilling. TLC would handle the point repairs, the asphalt and concrete portion of it, whereas Murphy would handle all the trenchless pipeline installments. And the wells and the pumps maintenance would be done by applied drilling. This is pursuant to ITB 25-0027. It was competitively bid. The annual amount is $9 million per year for one year with three potential extensions of that. It's tied to high-performing government, specifically with asset longevity and cost effectiveness. So I'm happy to respond to any questions that you may have.
Thank you. Is there anyone here from the public that I desire to speak to this agenda item?
Hi, Mr. Huluba. This is really another reclaimed water issue. Why? Because it's mentioned in there. The reclaimed water availability fee is, in fact, a tax income generator. It is not an enterprise-funded item. Why not? I've stood up here many times and talked about my disdain for reclaimed water. But Slaughter says, you know, they can charge you a fee for not delivering anything because they get away with it. It's a tax if you don't want it and don't use it, but you have to pay for it. That's the definition of a tax. It's not enterprise funds. According to generally accepted accounting principles, according to those rules, goods have to be delivered if you're going to charge a fee for it. Or it's a tax. It's difficult, I think, for a lot of people to understand because these two things get intertwined with each other when there's no accounting basis for it. We don't know where this reclaimed water fee money goes. And I'm disappointed with Mr. Ravens because, you know, if he's a good accountant, he should not let this go on, this wrongful, sketchy mingling of tax revenue and enterprise funds. Now, I believe that the same, you know, hocus pocus, fog and mirrors, sleight of hands accounting will be absolutely prevalent if the city takes over the electric grid. They can't manage the utility department and they want to take over the electric grid makes no sense. And that needs to stop. Let's leave the electric grid to the professionals, which is Duke Energy.
Anyone else here from the public tonight decide to speak to this agenda? Now, is there any council discussion? No discussion. Is there a motion?
Motion to approve agenda item 6.6.
Second.
All those in favor?
Aye.
Opposed? Unanimous. Tend item 6.8.
Approve the standard grand agreement between the State of Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the City of Clearwater for the design and construction of six stormwater pump stations and associated conveyance upgrades phase one of the North Beach Stormwater Improvements Project in the amount of $3 million, providing state funding with no required match and authorize the appropriate officials to execute same.
Good evening, Mayor, Council Members, Marcus Williamson, Public Works Director. We're excited about this one. Again, this came through the state appropriations, $3 million to help offset construction out there on North Beach. We're continuing to pursue other grants to help drive those costs down also. So, again, excited to reduce a little bit of the taxpayer's bill there.
Okay. See what happened in public tonight. Does your honor speak to this agenda?
I'm Mr. Haluba. Another North Beach update. You know, is it going to do any good? Probably not because eventually it's going underwater no matter how much you pump. This time at least the state is footing the bill through a grant, but wait. If you look at the PDF buried in there, it states that this is a portion of the cost for six stormwater pump stations. So let's try it, try again. And previous pumps were destroyed by, of all things, water. So on it goes, ad nauseum, I mean, you know, pump out North Beach to where? Where does this water get pumped to? Since this water likely will have contaminated, you know, will be contaminated right up there on the scale of a splash pad. I understand EPA rules prohibit this water from being pumped back into the ocean. So what are you going to do with it? The city has been required to issue a hold harmless to the Florida EPA to get this money as a requirement because in order to dispose of it, you're going to have to do something environmentally questionable. And since, you know, this particular stormwater problem has been ongoing and ongoing and pertains almost entirely to North Beach and North Beach residents, perhaps what should happen, instead of just throwing money at it, you know, over and over and over again, why not have a special assessment to North Beach residents? They're the only ones that are going to benefit if they benefit, because who knows what's going to happen to the stormwater. I still don't know what they're going to do with it. I will, you know, grant the fact that this is a gigantic mess.
Anyone else here tonight for the public desire to speak this agenda? Hearing, seeing none. Is there any council discussion? If not, is there a motion?
Move to approve agenda item 6.8. Second.
All those in favor?
Aye.
Opposed unanimous. Judd item 6.10.
Approve a purchase order to Roteware, Inc. of Austin, Texas, for solid waste and recycling service verification, including camera systems with back office system integration in the not-to-exceed amounts of $769,626.65 for a 36-month term pursuant to Clearwater Code of Orances, Section 2.563, paren 1, paren C, piggyback and authorize the appropriate officials to execute same.
Good evening, Mayor, Mayor, Council members. I'm Kerving Center and the Solid Ways Director. Mayor, this item was brought to you during the workshop on Monday. This is for implementation of Roteware, Smart City, modernizing our trucks, adding cameras and tablets to our fleet. It's going to help us with turn-by-turn navigation, pre- and post-trip verification, and also, it's going to improve our services to all customers. I'm happy to answer any questions.
You want to hear from the public that I desire to speak to this agenda?
I'm Mr. Haluba. Another waste of money. $769,000. For a camera system to monitor garbage and recycling verification. Well, I sent Ms. Poirier an email this afternoon when the brown truck picked up the recycle bins on my street. Of course. Do I get a response? No. Because everybody knows it all goes to the same place. This is to modernize collection operations where they can't even send the right truck out. But it can be modernized simply by only sending one truck around to pick up the garbage and quote-unquote recycling. Because we all know it goes to the same place. It goes to the same dump. A digital turn-by-turn navigation. That's an interesting one. I kind of am of the belief that, you know, the people that drive the garbage trucks, they probably know where they're going. You know? They do it every week. What is that for? They know where they're going. I mean, you know, I imagine a lot of you don't use your GPS to find your way here tonight because you know how to get here. I have 360-degree camera views of what? I mean, what? The back of the garbage truck? Inside the garbage truck? The back of the truck? Is it going to be on a big pole like Google Maps? It's ridiculous. But one of my favorites is the breadcrumb trail tracking reference. Why not throw a little Hansel and Gretel in there, too? It's ridiculous. I wish spending this money was just a fairy tale. This is absolutely an asinine use of enterprise funds. You know, if there's anything that needs to, you know, be monitored as far as location, that would be Ms. Poirier.
Someone else here from the public tonight? Sorry, I just want to ask for any discussion. I just want to point out for the public that how much I appreciate how many comments, compliments I get in our waste management department. I got a comment, two comments yesterday, talking about how helpful these folks are when they go to neighborhoods to pick up all the waste, how friendly they are, how great a job they do. And I don't think most people realize this is one of the most dangerous jobs in our entire city government, what these folks do. So I just want to say, for the record, before we have any discussion, you do a really great job, and your team does a great job. And any time we can get technology or anything to improve the safety for these workers, we welcome that. So with that, is there any other council discussion? Okay. Is there a motion?
Move to approve agenda item 6.10. Second.
All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Unanimous.
Thank you.
Judd item 6.12.
Appoint Owen Kohler to serve as interim city attorney beginning February 10, 2026.
Mayor, this is my item. I know we discussed it very extensively at the work session. Happy to answer any questions.
Okay. Anyone here from the public tonight? Is there a speech, Mr. Judd?
I'm Mr. Haluba. Did you respond to those emails, Mr. Rector? Because you don't respond to mine. Probably not. But I want to congratulate Mr. Kohler. It would appear that all groundwork is being set to, you know, award him the position of city attorney. And with a 20% raise in the interim, you know, wow, why not? Clearwater needs new people. We need new ideas, new blood, new perspectives. That's not Mr. Kohler. Now, there exists a long list of items that, you know, constitute ties to a community. And Mr. Rector has mentioned some of those. Things like, you know, place of worship, where we work, residence. That's a few of the big ones. But it takes three of them to really be, you know, connected to the community. Where do your kids go to school? Now, certainly, when the community, in this case, the city of Clearwater, hires a highly paid member of management, the ties become even more entwined. The president, who, to be former city attorney, has a residency requirement in his contract. I don't believe, and I don't think a lot of people believe, it's not unreasonable by any means to expect and require the city attorney of the city of Clearwater to actually live in the city of Clearwater. The city attorney residence requirement should not be dropped out of fear of who's going to apply or expediency. Especially expediency, we have Mr. Kohler for the duration. The residency requirement should be enforced with public documentation, because otherwise we don't know where these people live. The residency requirement should absolutely not contain any provision for part-time residency. I hope that a residency requirement will be required, and I think that's the thing to do.
Thank you. Does anyone else hear from the public desire to speak this again? I'm seeing none. Is there any council discussion? If there's none, is there a motion?
Motion to approve. Agent item 612.
Second.
All those in favor?
Aye.
Opposed? Inanimous. Agent item 7.1.
Amend council rule 6, to temporarily restore public comment regarding matters not on the agenda, and adopt resolution 26-02.
Mayor, this is my item. If you'd like, I can read the title of the resolution now. Yes. So we have a resolution 26-02, a resolution of the city of Thirdwater, Florida, amending council rules, providing an effective date.
So you want to hear from the public tonight. Desire to speak this again.
I'm Mr. Huluba. Now, the First Amendment protects five fundamental rights. They are, I shouldn't have to tell you people this, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and the right to petition the government any way they see fit. It's in the Constitution. Now, my problem, my grievance, is that this board has restricted the First Amendment rights of nearly everybody. The Constitution needs to be restored now, right now, because right now, you people are stepping on the rights of anyone who wants to come up here and speak about almost anything. Having said that, we've had some pretty wild town hall meetings, and Mr. Rector, I certainly hope you will be able to control public comment much better than what went on at the town hall meetings. You're the one that let Frank Anthony Figueroa become the heckler's veto, and that was on you both times. You knew that guy was there, and you knew what he was doing, and it was the wrong thing to do, so do better.
Who else would hear from the public tonight as ours?
Good evening, Mayor, Council members, and staff. My name is Patrick Rafter. I'm a resident of the countryside area of Clearwater. I listened to a rather robust discussion at the work session on Monday relative to this item, and a lot of great ideas were proposed and agreed upon by the Council members. So I just want to comment that it is to be commended that you have decided to restore this opportunity for residents of Clearwater to speak. I do appreciate the concern for the safety of the members of the Council as well as the public, but I think it's an opportunity that the residents of Clearwater need. We tried to do this through our town hall meetings, and that did not work. So now that you've restored this, and I appreciate the opportunity for us to see how it works, and if we need to amend it, we can do that. But the most important thing will be that the residents will have an opportunity to speak. The one item that I had from the discussion on Monday was that where would this be placed on the agenda? There was a good discussion about that as well. And I'm uncertain where is the best place for it, whether it's at the very end of the meeting or certainly when the city business is conducted. But nevertheless, if we have something to say and we've registered to say it, we'll have to stay so we have our opportunity to say it. If it's not that important or relevant and you don't want to stay, then maybe it's a good thing that you place it where you do. But in ending, I'd like to commend you for taking this action and giving the Clearwater residents an opportunity to speak again on items that are not on the agenda. And I certainly hope that order and decorum is maintained for us to do that. Thank you very much.
Does anyone else hear from the public tonight desire to speak to this agenda? Hearing, seeing none, is there any council discussion? If not, is there a motion?
Motion to approve agenda item 7.1. Second.
All those in favor?
Aye.
Opposed? Unanimous. Attend item 8.1.
Mayor, 8.1 is the second reading of City Ordinance 9866-26, an ordinance of the City of Clearwater, Florida, annexing certain unaddressed real property located on the east side of South McMullen Booth Road, approximately 350 feet north of Gulf to Bay Boulevard. In Clearwater, Florida, 33759, together with abutting South McMullen Booth Road right of way into the corporate limits of the city and redefining the boundary lines of the city to include said addition, providing an effective date.
Anyone want to hear from the public tonight desire to speak to this agenda item? Hearing, seeing none, is there any council discussion? If there's no discussion, is there a motion?
Move to approve agenda item 8.1. Second.
All those in favor?
Aye.
Opposed? Unanimous. Agenda item 8.2.
Mayor, 8.2 is Ordinance 9867-26. However, the clerk is looking to see if we can retrieve that. It appears that 9866-26 was attached to the agenda item. So with your permission, it would be best to table that for the moment and return to it.
Okay. Thank you. No objection. We'll move to Item 8.3.
Mayor, 8.3 is Ordinance 9868-26 on second reading. An ordinance of the city of Clearwater, Florida amending the zoning atlas of the city by zoning certain unaddressed real property located on the east side of South McMullen Booth Road approximately 350 feet north of Gulf to Bay Boulevard in Clearwater, Florida 33759 upon annexation into the city of Clearwater as medium density residential, MDR, providing an effective date.
Is there anyone here from the public that I desire to speak to this agenda item? Hearing saying none, is there any council discussion? If none, is there a motion?
Move to approve agenda item 8.3. Second.
All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Agenda item 8.4.
Mayor, is it okay if we return to 8.2? We've now found that one attached.
Yes, 8.2.
Ordinance number 9867-26 on ordinance of the city of Clearwater, Florida amending future land use element of the comprehensive plan of the city to designate the land use for certain unaddressed real property located on the east side of South McMullen Booth Road approximately 350 feet north of Gulf to Bay Boulevard in Clearwater, Florida 33759 upon annexation to the city of Clearwater's residential medium, RM, providing an effective date.
Is anyone here from the public that I desire to speak to the agenda item 8.2? Hearing saying none, is there any council discussion? If there's no discussion, is there a motion?
Motion to approve agenda item 8.2.
Second.
All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Now agenda item 8.4.
8.4 is city ordinance 9869-26 on second reading, an ordinance of the city of Clearwater, Florida annexing certain real property located on the east side of Lauren Lane, approximately 550 feet west of North McMullen Booth Road, whose post office address is 2265 McMullen Booth Road, Clearwater, Florida 33759, into the corporate limits of the city and redefining the boundary lines of the city to include said addition, providing an effective date.
Does anyone here from the public that I desire to speak to the agenda item 8.4? Hearing saying none, is there any council discussion? If there's none, is there a motion?
Motion to approve agenda item 8.4.
Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Agenda item 8.5.
We have ordinance number 9870-26 here on second reading, an ordinance of the city of Clearwater, Florida, amending the future land use element of the comprehensive plan of the city to designate the land use for a certain real property located on the east side of Lauren Lane, approximately 550 feet west of North McMullen Booth Road, whose post office address is 2265 McMullen Booth Road, Clearwater, Florida 33759, upon annexation into the city of Clearwater as residential suburban RS, providing an effective date.
So you want to hear from the public desire to speak to this agenda item? Hearing saying none, is there any council discussion? If there's no discussion, is there a motion?
Move to approve agenda item 8.5. Second.
All those in favor?
Aye.
Opposed? Unanimous. Agenda item 8.6.
8.6 on second reading is ordinance 9871-26, an ordinance of the city of Clearwater, Florida, amending the zoning atlas of the city by zoning certain real property located on the west side of Lauren Lane, approximately 550 feet west along North McMullen Booth Road, whose post office address is 2265 McMullen Booth Road, Clearwater, Florida 33759, upon annexation into the city of Clearwater as low-density residential LDR, providing an effective date.
We want to hear from the public desire to speak to agenda item 8.6. Hearing saying none, is there any council discussion? If there's no discussion, is there a motion?
Move to approve agenda item 8.6. Second.
All those in favor?
Aye.
Opposed? Unanimous. Move to agenda item 9. City manager reports.
Thank you, Mayor. Just one thing, I wanted to thank the Bloomberg Harvard team and the city's innovation team. We just had two days of on-site training and a lot of interactive work on our innovative project that's going to look and really redo how we provide some customer service to our residents and businesses and people who interact with us. And so just really wanted to thank everybody for their teamwork on that and for the engagement. We had a lot of department heads that came by to participate. All of council has been by to interact with that and really looking forward to our strategic planning work session that will also be hosted and helped out with facilitation by the Harvard Bloomberg team. So thank you.
Thank you. Move to agenda item 10. City attorney reports.
Well, Mayor, as you're aware, I've spent the last month primarily preparing for my transition. This is my last council meeting. I will be working tomorrow as well as Monday. Ironically, I have always – well, I won't share a personal anecdote. I'll just say I've always believed that you should work as hard on your last day as you do on your first. And so I can say with confidence that is my plan. We are continuing to do the transition planning literally up through the end of business day on Monday. The manager and I, ironically, have a meeting with Duke Energy all afternoon, Monday afternoon. I may, in fact, be working into the evening on Monday, which would be hilarious. But I can say with confidence – With the lights on. Yes. I can say with confidence that taxpayers are deriving significant value from me at this point in time during the transition. But I am working very hard to ensure the baton is handed off smoothly. We are meeting in legal literally every day to ensure that there is an appropriate transition and that nothing gets dropped during this time. I will only offer kind of the briefest reflection, which is to say that if I think about the last five years and when I joined the city, I said in public, in the dais, that I wanted to be part of big things. And I can say with confidence that Clearwater has given me that opportunity. And I am appreciative of that because we have worked on a tremendous number of very large, very complex items, many of which, of course, are reported in the media. But I also want to say to my team, as well as city staff in general, that I have found in representing government all these years, both with Clearwater and previously, that sometimes it's not the high-profile things we do that make the biggest impact. It's not always the things that are in the media that make the biggest difference. So, for example, it wasn't long ago that Public Works and the legal team paired up to completely redesign our design services contract for design professionals, for architects and engineers. That was something that had been done the same way for many, many years in the city, and we have completely revitalized our contractual relationships with architects and engineers. That's never going to make the front-page news. It won't make any news. But I am confident that those changes that we have made together will save taxpayers money, and they will help deliver city projects on budget. Those are the kinds of differences that really matter. And so my encouragement to my team, as well as city staff, is to continue taking pride in your work, because everything I have seen makes the difference for our residents, for our businesses, and our stakeholders. With that, thank you very much and appreciate the opportunity to serve.
I just want to say, in an appropriate time for my comments, thank you, David, on behalf of the citizens. Certainly, I think we all agree you provide a great service to this city. And you, throughout, since you tendered your resignation, you've handled it completely professionally. You've worked really hard to transition your work to the rest of the staff, and met with you just today with Mr. Kohler to help complete that transition. But, as you said, we have done some remarkable, difficult things, prior counsel and our counsel, since you've been city attorney. And you've been lead on some very instrumental projects that we've been working on. And some, you know, took a lot of courage and took a lot of determination for you to stand out there and give your opinion for what it was and be direct about it. But I can tell you, we appreciate it as a city. And citizens have expressed their appreciation to me for the service that you've provided to the city. So, thank you for that. You should be very proud of the work you've done. We've got a great legal department here, much because you've helped form that and lead that. And we wish you the best as you go on from here. But thank you again for all you've done on behalf of our city.
Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate that.
We have removed item 11, closing comments by council members. Council Member Cotton?
Yes, sir. Thank you. David, as it being your last day and our last meeting that we had today, I genuinely appreciate you. What you've done for us, the thorough analysis and articulation, walking through the mundane court cases to, you know, something that I know that you should be very proud of, the Gotham Project that will be wrapping up soon. You know, not every resident gets to be in those meetings with us, but the intricacies and detail in contracts like the Gotham Project and protecting taxpayers is greatly appreciated from this taxpayer. So I wish you the best as you go forward. And, you know, in the next chapter, I'm very hopeful for you, and I know you're going to do great things. So thank you again. Thank you very much.
Council Member Menino.
Thank you, Mayor. Going to go in the same way. I think we're all going to go in the same direction. And I think we all truly mean it. David, you've been more than a good professional legal guider for this city and for us as a dais and for us as individuals. But you've become a good friend, and I hope we don't lose that friendship as we continue to go forward, although we are losing you in the legal department. I do see you go with the same confidence that I believe you have in the staff you leave behind in being fully capable to continue to guide Clearwater to being brighter and more beautiful as we go forward. I won't run down a list of accomplishments and do that to you today because I know you are a private person, but you have, as you said, had your hands in the pot of some very large, complex things, and Clearwater is better because of your service. So as a friend, I greatly appreciate that. We will miss you and wish you absolutely nothing but the best going forward in whatever you choose to do.
Thank you very much. It means a lot, and, you know, I do live in Clearwater, and at least for the foreseeable future, we'll continue doing so. And so I look forward to keeping in touch.
Council Member Robrick.
Well, David, we haven't always seen eye to eye. But I've got to tell you, the entire time that you've been here as our city attorney, you know, I think you've done a good job for us. I mean, we have had a lot of big things that have kept you busy during those times. Fortunately, I'm glad we do because Clearwater is in a lot better place now than it was before. But I do wish you luck on your next endeavor, and we'll see you maybe before you go next Monday.
I appreciate that. I'll be here.
Thanks, Mayor.
Okay, well, let me begin by thanking you, David. Thank you for your service. I've truly enjoyed working with you. I always look forward to our one-on-ones. I've always learned many things from you. I was never in a boring moment, and so all I can say is that I wish you well in your next chapter, and I'm going to miss you. Now, I do want to talk about a couple of things. As everyone knows, I've supported the arts, and I'm very passionate about it. And so some of us have attended the West Coast Players Spelling Bee Theater last week. And it reminded me why it was so important to support the arts. This play was funny. This play was funny. It was clever. And the audience participated in it, and it added an extra level of fun. And I will continue to support organizations like them and others. I also want to talk about the Harvard Innovation Session. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The interactive exercises were engaging, energizing, and it quickly confirmed that my competitive side was alive and well. Give me a couple of sticky notes and a timer, and off I go. So thank you for that opportunity. I know that you and Mayor Rector have been very involved in that, and I appreciate what it can add to our city. So thank you.
It was great. Appreciate the city manager sharing that earlier. So just the creativity and the energy that our staff is bringing to that project is really, I'm impressed with the energy that's coming out of that. So thank you for leading that. I just have just one thing to share, aside from whatever, you know, just best wishes to the city attorney. But, you know, in Pennsylvania there are two things that signify that spring is coming. They have Puxitonic Phil, who, you know, whether he sees a shadow or not, and I guess predicted six more weeks of winter, which does not make people in the northeast. We've had a lot of snow here recently happy. But the other thing out of Pennsylvania that predicts spring at least is coming in Clearwater is when the Philly Fanatic loads the equipment truck in Philadelphia. And he did that this week. So it is loaded, and it's on its way, and it will get here this weekend. So we will have the Phillies here, I think pitchers and catchers, sometime next week, middle of next week will be. So baseball returns to Clearwater. And then this weekend starts the first of two major college women's softball tournaments. A lot of people know that we'll be featured on national television many times, not this weekend, but the following weekend, with the ESPN Clearwater Invitational. They bring in some of the top college softball teams from around the United States. Over half of them are ranked in the top 25 that play every year. But this weekend we also have the National Fast Pitch Coaches Association tournament. But not as many ranked teams, but some ranked teams and top college teams from around the country playing this weekend as well. So softball is a very fast-growing sport, particularly among young girls. And it's exciting for our entire community to host those two tournaments every year. And so those will be happening the next two weekends. And the ESPN Clearwater Invitational is a little tough to get a ticket to. Those college teams travel with a lot of their parents and fan base, and we're not set up to handle huge crowds for those games. But the one this weekend has topped college teams as well. And I think there are some availability to go out and watch. So I'd encourage the community to support both of those events, including the one this weekend. So with that, if there's nothing else to come before the Clearwater City Council, we will adjourn the February 5, 2026 meeting.