It's time we'll call an order to the special meeting of the Clearwater City Council for September 21, 2026. Move to item 2.1 on the agenda. Adopt Ordinance 9936 on second reading, declaring the millage rate to be levied for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2026 and ending September 30, 2027. For operating purposes, including the funding of pensions, debt service, and road maintenance for capital improvement expenditures at 5.8773 mills, which is a 0% increase from the rollback rate of 5.8773 mills. Good evening, Mayor and Council, Kayleen Castle, Budget Director. This is the final public hearing required by Florida statute to finalize the fiscal year 2627 operating and capital improvement budget. To quickly recap the budget process, the proposed budget was posted on the city's website available to the public on June 30th. A formal presentation was given at the city council meeting on July 16th, and that's the meeting where you set the tentative millage rate. We had a community engagement workshop on August 1st and a special work session for council discussion on August 11th. And finally, a formal presentation was given last week at our first public hearing on September 15th. This is for the final approval necessary to adopt a millage rate of 5.8773 mills to support the operating and capital improvement budgets for fiscal year 2627. The millage rate you are approving tonight is a decrease of 0.13% from the current year, which represents the rollback rate on 2026 taxable property values. These ad valorem tax revenues are necessary to fully fund the operating and capital project costs of general fund departments. This includes our police and fire departments, road maintenance, parks and recreation, planning, libraries, and city administration. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have, and I also have the presentation from last week if there's any slides you would like me to bring up and discuss. Thank you. And we have a reading. Yeah, this is a millage ordinance, so I'm going to read the entire ordinance. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you, sir. First, I'd like to thank all the directors that are in the room for stressing your budgets. I'm going to continue to ask you to keep doing that, because I can tell you that as a taxpayer and a city of Clearwater resident, second generation, it means a lot. So to be able to hit this rollback rate, thank you to this board for agreeing to do that. And then looking towards the future of maybe reducing the millage rate, I'm excited about and trying to work through those hoops and hurdles. I know that nobody really wants to hear that, but I think that it's important to try and do for those people that do pay for our services. And, you know, if we did that more often, maybe we wouldn't be looking at an Amendment 3 ballot initiative. But I want to thank you each and every one of you for doing the hard work, putting it in, trying to make the tough decisions. It does mean a lot for me, and we'll see what happens going forward, and I appreciate each and every one of you. So thank you. Any other discussion? If not, is there a motion? Move to approve agenda item 2.1. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Move to agenda item 2.2. Adopt ordinance 99.37-26 on second reading, adopting an operating budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2026 and ending September 30, 2027, authorizing the city manager to issue such instructions that are necessary to achieve and accomplish the service programs so authorized, authorizing the city manager to transfer monies and programs among the departments and activities within any fund as provided by Chapter 2 of the Clearwater Code of Ordinances. This is the final approval of the ordinance to adopt the operating budget as presented for fiscal year 26-27. Last week I went over the changes that were mated from the preliminary budget, and this budget will go into effect October 1st. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have. We have a reading. Ordinance number 9937-26. Ordinance of the city of Clearwater, Florida, adopting an operating budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2026, and ending September 30, 2027, authorizing the city manager to issue such instructions that are necessary to achieve and accomplish the service programs so authorized, authorizing the city manager to transfer monies and programs among the department's activities within any fund as provided by Chapter 2 of the Clearwater Code of Ordinances, providing an effective date. Is there anyone here from the public tonight that desire to speak to the agenda item 2.2? Mr. Johnson. Good evening, Council. Mr. Johnson. I thought I'd come back and point that out to you. You have a handout which has those, and in the first slide, there are three photos along Gulf of the Bay, and in each case, plants have died and not been replaced, just replacing them, or as you have done on several other areas, putting an alternative method of plants, but periodically upgrading and replacing plants. In Cochran Park, we again have an instance, the first one, that mulch area originally was plants and looked real nice. In the second photo, it's a dead tree in the lake that's been there for quite a while. And in the bottom, that used to be a grassy knoll, but for some reason, the grass in that area has just died out. Going to Clearwater Beach, we've talked once before about the shell used as mulch. In this case, the first one, weeds grow into that shell. In the second one, the vibrancy of the plants is reduced because of the pH change from using the shell. So, respectfully, I'd ask you to make a relatively minor readjustment to your budget so that it better aligns with Bright and Beautiful from the Bay to the Beach. And I'll close with a quote from Mark Twain. He said, a person has only one chance to make a first impression. And we want to make, I believe you want to make, a good impression on both your tourists and your residents. So, thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Anyone else who would like to speak to this agenda item? Mr. Roberts, are you speaking on this item? Are you going to speak on this item? David Roberts. Okay, no, no, no. This is just for agenda items. Pardon me? I'm sorry. This is just for agenda items, yeah. Oh, okay. Agenda item 2.2. Yes, yeah. Okay, anyone else from the public? On this agenda item. Hearing seeing none, is there any council discussion? If not, is there a motion? Move to approve agenda item 2.2. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Agenda item 2.3. Adopt ordinance 9938-26 on second reading, adopting the capital improvement program budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2026 and ending September 30, 2027. Approving the six-year capital improvement program, which shall be re-evaluated at the beginning of each fiscal year, authorizing the city manager to issue such instructions that are necessary to achieve and accomplish the capital improvements as so authorized, authorizing the city manager to transfer money between projects in the capital improvement program, appropriating available and anticipated resources for the projects identified. This is for the final reading of the ordinance to adopt the capital improvement budget for fiscal year 26-27. I went over changes from the preliminary budget with you last week, and also this budget will go into effect on October 1st. I'd be happy to answer any additional questions. Do we have a rating? Ordinance number 9938-26, ordinance of the city of Clearwater, Florida, adopting the capital improvement program budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2026 and ending September 30, 2027. Approving the six-year capital improvement program, which shall be re-evaluated at the beginning of each fiscal year, authorizing the city manager to issue such instructions that are necessary to achieve and accomplish the capital improvements so authorized, authorizing the city manager to transfer money between projects and the capital improvement program, appropriating available and anticipated resources for the projects identified, providing an effective date. Is there anyone here from the public tonight that desires to speak to this? Hearing seeing none, is there any council discussion? If not, is there a motion? Motion to approve agenda item 2.3. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Moved to item 3, citizens to be heard on topics pertaining to city business, not on tonight's agenda. Are there any folks here tonight to be heard on this item? Mr. Roberts? It says I have 30 minutes, but I think three minutes will be enough. I'm just here to appeal for the funds for the Clearwater Beach Library. I'm a resident of the area, Island Estates, but many of us on Clearwater Beach, Island Estates, Sand Key, still like the – or use the Beach Library. We've missed it for the last two years, done a great job restoring everything else on the beach. The tennis courts look great. The new pickleball courts look great. The gym is back in service, and the last piece is the one-room library, so maybe one-fourth of the rec center. And it's a focus of our community there. We have a lot of meetings there. I'm one of the members of the Friends of the Library Committee. It's Friends of the Library, Beach, and Rec Center. And it draws a lot of volunteer activity and interest, this committee, but we really don't have – we have a pop-up library as we have now in case you haven't been out there to see it. But it's only open 16 hours a week, and all we're asking is for the funds to be released that you voted for in a prior meeting. And that would, you know, restore our full-time library, so we had a place to go. And I think it's important for the image of the beach, too, for our tourists and snowbirds who, you know, don't come with their libraries. They want a place to go to read the paper or magazines or look up references. We had a small section for children, too, so it's a nice tradition to bring your children, grandchildren to the library. It's a relatively small funding item. I think it was – I don't know the exact figures, but a quarter million dollars compared to everything else that's been done here. So that's all I have to say. Do you have any questions? Not very controversial. Thank you, sir. I must say that's a very interesting shirt I made with the map of Pinellas County and Tampa Bay on it. So thank you for coming tonight, sir. Okay. Any other folks to be heard? Not moved to item four, city manager reports. Yes. Thank you, sir. I mentioned at the last council meeting that went a little long that I would postpone. I had – I've got two examples of just employees going above and beyond, trying to – you know, we asked our team things that we could do to make a difference to our team while we're going through these challenges. And they said recognition at the council meeting means something to them. And so I've gotten several stories about how our team goes above and beyond. And so I just will share two short ones with you real quick, if I may. And so the first one is about a code enforcement inspector. And this is for Yosef, who went above and beyond for his typical services regarding a city resident that reached out regarding an alleyway that was overgrown. And come to find out, it was her responsibility, the homeowner's responsibility, to take care of that alleyway. She herself identifies as an elderly resident who was getting ready to leave town and was really worried about that now she was going to be in default and get in trouble as a result of finding out that she's responsible for this overgrown alley. And he worked with multiple departments, and so it's a good collaboration example of how we were able to take care of that for that resident while they were getting ready to go out of town. And they understand that it's their responsibility. So just not answering – not only answering the question, but finding resolution and working collaboratively with our teams to be able to do that. So that's the first example. So thank you. I know there she has, Lawrence here, so if you'll just make sure you pass that on to him. And then the second example that I have is regarding Fred Hemrick. He's one of our water production managers over in public utilities. His example is a long one. I'm going to just kind of take snippets out of it, and I apologize if I butcher it because it's very specific to the water treatment facilities out there. But he worked with city staff and DEP to create a site-specific procedure for North Clearwater Beach that FDEP actually did just approve early September. And the approved approach maintains weekly monitoring and uses corrective flushing when needed, requires same-day bacterial sampling if the residual cannot be restored. So basically, he came up with a smarter operating model, fewer unnecessary flushes, lowers operating costs of the treated water, and stronger stewardship while the region remains in drought. So just an example – I know that one's a little bit complicated and harder to identify with – but just an example of our employees going above and beyond working with area agencies that we have relationships with to make these things happen in a better way. So I want to identify those innovative ideas that our team implements. So thank you very much for that. That's all I have for tonight. Thank you. City Attorney reports. Nothing to add, sir. And item six, closing comments by Councilmembers. Councilmember Albritton. Yeah, I just wanted to just bring up the fact that Lawrence Demmitt passed away a few weeks ago on September 4th. He's a longtime Clearwater resident, gifted athlete. I've known him most of all my life. He was a – under his leadership, Demmitt Chevrolet, earned General Motors Dealer of the Year Award, and he won many other awards for his dealership here. You know, a lot of people knew Lawrence, and I'm just sad to see him go, and I just wanted to make that announcement to people if they didn't know that he passed. Thank you for that. Any other council members to be heard? If not, we'll move to item seven, closing comments by mayor, and I just want to summarize what's been said by others in prior meetings. The budget process is a very long process. I appreciate that all you folks here tonight and the work you put in and your departments have put in a considerable amount of time. And – but we finally are at the end of the road for this fiscal year. But I just – as has been said before, city managers in a prior meeting and other council members in the Senate, thank you for all you've done to help find savings, to help find – allow us to keep the rollback millage rate. We appreciate you, and the citizens of Clearwater appreciate all of you and all that you do. So thank you in particular for the work you've done to help us prepare this budget and to get it approved finally tonight. So with that, we will move to item eight on the agenda, and that is to adjourn the special meeting of the Clearwater City Council for the night of September, according to Earth, Wind & Fire, September 2026. Thanks.