So I'd like to begin with the approval of the minutes. Does anyone have any issues with them, any conversation?
I did have one question on one of them. It said something about that we had asked the Public Works Department. I don't recall that. I recall asking the two other ones, but was it Public Works? Yeah, I can hear you. Under the summary, it says that the board requested an overview of special projects from the Library of Parks and Recreation and Public Works. Did we ask Public Works? I don't recall that.
Sustainability is under Public Works. Okay, thank you.
I also think that we were general about it and asked for the departments that we would be hearing from in the future. Anyone else? Can you hear me better now? Yes. All right. Can everyone move their schools? Yes.
I move that we accept the minutes as written.
Is there a second?
Is there a second?
Yep, there.
All in favor? Aye. Aye.
I just want to pause and ask each of us to speak into our microphones because you're here to hear from us. I'd like each person to just say hello so that we make sure that they can hear us. Do you want to start? Yes. Will you try speaking into it so they can make sure they can hear you? Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. Just keep it close.
Hello?
Hello? Hello? Hello? Okay. Hello? Hello? Hello?
Is everyone able to hear? Oh, I apologize. I will keep it very close. I'd like to move forward with new business, starting with project updates.
Yes, Chair. Before I start, I did want to share why Mr. Hughes will explain that Mr. Hughes is not here today. He did want me to share that he was out of town on family business and so on a family matter, so that's why he's not here today. But I do have some questions that he has submitted to me that I will go over during the meeting as the topic comes up. With that, regarding project updates, so what I wanted to make sure, based on what the board directed at the last meeting, is provide the specific departments that this board will have some close interaction with. But also keep in mind that it will be based per council's direction. So council really directed this board to focus on those two areas of the strategic plan and really the projects that are identified under those topics. So the departments, the respective departments, will come up and provide updates on what they are working on. They may also advise of items that may be coming before this board or before council, just as requested, such as grant applications or if there is, like, for instance, in Parks and Recreation, if there is a request to rename a ball field per code, this board would hold the public hearing for it. And so that is what they are going to focus on to make sure that the board keeps in line with what council expects and directs from the board.
Okay?
So with that, we will have the library director, Jennifer Obermeyer.
Good afternoon. Jennifer Obermeyer, library director. This will be short and sweet. The library does not currently have any major projects that are in the strategic city's strategic plan or are part of the CIP project. We do have CIP projects. They're just not. There are regular ongoing CIP projects. So I really don't have any major programs to present to you. But I'd like to take this opportunity to explain a big part of your role in regard to the library, and that is, and this is on our website, but you may have seen it already, but if a patron wants to challenge a material in our collection, the library has a formal review process for that. So say a patron says, I don't think this book or DVD or audio book should be on your shelf for this reason, this reason, and then this reason, we have a formal process, and it goes like this. They have to fill out a formal request for reconsideration. Once they do that with me, I form a staff, internal staff committee, to review the item in question. The staff committee gets together. They review the item. They make a recommendation to me, the director, whether the item should stay on the shelf, stay in the collection, or not. If the recommendation is to remain in the collection, and I agree with that recommendation, but the patron doesn't, then the patron will come to you as a board and ask for you to review and make your recommendation. So I just want to point that out, that that's a big part in regard to the library's portion of your roles and responsibilities that is in your purview. So I just want to make you aware of the procedure and the process that we have. So I'd be happy to answer any questions.
Are there any guidelines to, you know, what is banned, a banned book, for instance? Because I would hate to see a vast category taken out just because somebody doesn't agree with that philosophy.
We do not have any established guidelines. Okay. No.
So it's just opinion. Jennifer, I have a question. Does this happen often? And could you give an example? Did you have a, maybe the last year, how many times this has occurred?
We have not had any formal requests since I've been director, since 2017. Oh, wow. And actually, I was assistant director before that, and I can't recall the last, maybe 2010, 2011. It's been a long time.
So you're doing a great job.
Yeah.
Are there any other questions?
Are there guidelines in your part of the review that you follow?
Absolutely. So we have professional journals that review library materials. So I look at professional journal reviews. I look at, you know, the library's philosophies, we always have a balanced collection. I always say the best library collection is something that offends everybody. So we have various points of view. Some people may not agree with that. So that's why we have this process. If you don't agree with it, you know, with a book or a subject matter, we will review it, see if it is appropriate for a collection, and then we follow that process.
So we're the public hearing part of that, where someone can come and express their opinion about that book after this review is done. To you? Yeah. The board? Yeah, the board.
They would, the process is they would start with me first. Yes. And then if they don't agree with my recommendation, then they would approach this board and ask for an appeal. Okay.
But you're saying you haven't had any of these since 2017? Is that correct?
Actually, probably before that. Probably 2010, maybe earlier. I don't have that. Well, that's a long time. Yeah, it's been a long time.
Very good.
We've had informal, you know, comments. And when someone has a comment or they question whether this is an appropriate item in our collection, I always offer, you know, do you want to formally, you know, appeal? And it's their decision if they want to do that. And we follow the American Library Association's guidelines for reviewing what we call challenged materials.
Thank you.
Great.
Any further questions?
I would just like to make a comment. I've used your digitization services lately, and you guys are doing a great job. Thank you and your staff for being so helpful and giving us good products. Thank you.
Yep. Thank you. It's one of our jewels of services, of many services. So thank you.
Thank you for your time. Thank you.
Next we'll have Art Cater with Parks and Rec.
Good afternoon, board. Good afternoon. First, I want to thank you all for serving in this capacity. It's great. Listen, I am the director of Parks and Recreation, and I've had the privilege and the pleasure to work with several boards and councils and mayors and have also been able to work with various very talented, wonderful coworkers and people throughout the years. I've been with the city for 47 years. That was a long way to get to the 47. So you can see, as I have, and I'm so glad that we're going to be able to work with you as a board. I'm sure most of you have come in contact with our Parks and Recreation Department in one way or the other. Matter of fact, we try to, as Parks and Recreation professionals, look at each resident's lives, and we try to touch your lives every single day. And whether you realize it or not, Parks and Recreation probably does that. We're very successful at that because of the width and the breadth of what we do. It's very large. For example, if you've been to the beach or you go to the beach, you know, we've touched it because we maintain that beach.
You've done a great job.
365 days a year, rain, shine, holidays, whatever. Somebody is out there raking that beach, taking care of it, making it really what it is. Or if you just drive down the road and you see a median or you just look down Cleveland or you go down here, all that work that's been done, just the beauty of it, just to see that, that's something that Parks and Recreation has. Or you see any of the public buildings, those are some of the maintenance that's going on around there. If you go to a rec center or you're involved in a program, if you go to an event, Coachman or any of the other places, you go play golf. We have three golf courses in the city as well. So I'm sure that we touch you in one way or the other. And as a board, though, I would like to share with you today some of the things that you can do to help us in Parks and Recreation. The first one I would say is to keep your eyes and ears open to the public and to whatever they're saying about our Parks and Recreation department and bring it to us. We value your input. And I know that all the boards that I've had before, that's one of the biggest things that they did for us. They were in the community. They saw the things that were going on. If they saw something that was wrong or something needed to be corrected, they'd bring that to us. And the best way really to do that is to go online to myclearwater.com and put in the connects. You can call me. I'll leave my cards here for you to do that, but the really best ways to do that, it gets done very quickly, and people will respond to that. So that's one way you can help us. The other two ways as a board you can help us, and you've already done that with your first meeting, is in grants. We have several grants, and it's important for us to have public input into those grants. It allows us to get additional points because many of the grants are based on points. The higher the point value, the more you have opportunity to be able to get those grants. So we will come to you with grant opportunities we have. I don't have one as far as the ones that were coming up. We do several grants. One is the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. They have a grant that they give at least once a year, $200,000 usually for parks, so you'll be received. That will be one that will be coming up. We have TDC grants, which we just received one for the NEC Moore complex, so that would be coming up. We have FDOT grants for things like Missouri Avenue median. The median is there, and we would have that kind of grant and would come before you. There's the U.S. Tennis Association. We just received a small grant for a wheelchair grant. That would be one we'd bring to you. We have others, Florida Forestry grants and the Florida Coastal Management Grant. We have several of those grants. They're already out now, but those are some that you might be hearing from us in the future. We'll certainly let you know that. And the second thing that you can help us with is in the naming of parks. We need to have a public meeting so that the public can come in and speak to whenever we want to name a park. Most parks, if you notice, we have 110 parks in the city representing about 1,700 acres. And most of the parks have been named simply by roads or locations. Sewell Road Park, Montclair Road Park. You can remember them. They just go down. They're generally locations so people know where they are. Now, Coachman Park, named after a person. Crest Lake Park. But there are some parks. The one that I can think that might be coming to you pretty soon is a piece of property where, does anybody know where the Shuffleboard Lawn Bowl Club is? What's the name of that park?
They've been closed, haven't they?
It's Shuffleboard Lawn Bowling. That's all we know it is. They're severely named, not named.
And they've been closed, right, after the hurricane? They had damage?
Yeah. Yes. So I'll give you an update on those projects coming up, but you're right. So we're going to need probably a name. The Lawn Bowling Club is going to be closed. And so they'll be no longer. We're actually, because of the storm came through, we're going to have to demolish the two clubhouse buildings that are there, both for Shuffleboard and for Lawn Bowling. So they will be gone. And we also are looking at making that more of a passive park with a canoe launch there, as well as just, you know, open green space, picnic tables, that type of thing. Shuffleboard will still remain there, at least the covered Shuffleboard courts. But their building won't be there. So, anyways, I'm getting into the projects.
Can you tell me the direct – where is that again? And that's near Ross Norton? Is that park near Ross?
The Beller Lake?
She wants to know the location of the Shuffleboard.
Yeah, that's Ed Wright and Ross Norton. That's on the south side. Okay, right. This one is the one, if you go down Edgewater Drive, it's on the right-hand side before you go over the bridge there. Oh. It's called the Lawn Bowls and Shuffleboard Club. And because I asked somebody, I said, well, now, if Lawn Bowls is leaving, is it just going to be Shuffleboard Club or do we have a name for the park? So, anyways, that's something that we will probably be bringing forward to you because our own staff has started looking at names. There's Mangrove Bay Park. Manatee Park. I said, well, I don't think I've ever seen a manatee there. But in any event, so those are – this is pretty fun, but it also is – a lot of people bring different names. So that's one of the things we will need your help in basically making that recommendation, which goes on then to the council who makes the final recommendation about the name. It's not only about names of parks, but it also can be names of facilities. For example, at the North Greenwood Recreation Aquatics Complex, there are actually three different rooms specifically in that complex named after the different individuals. So those will be coming forward to you. As far as the projects go, let me just real briefly go through them. We've got a lot. Some of the completed projects that we've done that are in the strategic plan are the Marymount Park renovations. I don't know if you had a chance to get through. That is completed. State Street Park renovations. We're going to have the ribbon cutting there. Hopefully –
And tree planted.
Yeah. This Saturday and a tree planted there. So it's going to be a beautiful park. McKay Park renovations. That has been completed. There are six pickleball courts there. It's a beautiful park. If you get a chance to go by and see it, a new playground. We put some portalette polish there, put them in the wrong place, but they have since been removed. So it's very nice to go to that. The Clearwater Beach and Aquatic Center has been closed down since the storm. However, we don't want to publicize it, but I think it's going to be open April 1st. That's great. Wonderful. So April 1st. Wonderful. And if it's not, then we'll just say it's April Fool's and we'll open it up on another day. Okay? So we're aiming at April 1st. I just got that word that it will hopefully be open then. As far as projects on end construction, the North Greenwood Pool is being repaired. It's a $2 million project, and it will be repaired hopefully before summer because all of our summer camp kids and everybody else will be there. In construction are landscape renovations to Clearwater Beach. That's another one of the projects that you will see on the list. It's about $800,000. FEMA, we get no reimbursement for any of the plant material or trees that we lost during the storm. So this is a project to basically revegetate and put back. And we've done probably, I'd say, 50%, and we still have about 50% to go. But as far as in design, Ed Wright Park is in design. Countryside Pickleball Courts, again, six pickleball courts for the Countryside Recreation Center. It will be just north of there. Missouri Avenue Medians, that's what I mentioned, the beautification of those medians. Moccasin Lake Park, there's a Woodring Meadow. We purchased an additional six acres up there, and we've added that to the park, and that will be developed. Eddie Seymour Softball Fields, renovations, one through four. That's a very large project, $21 million, and we're right now in the design for that. Montclair Road Park Playground, that's just a replacement playground. And Pier 60 Repairs of the T-section, that's the very end. Pier 60 is open, and the concession stands open there and doing very good business, as they always do during spring training. Funding for out years are in the McMillan Tennis Complex courts and Woodgate Park renovations. Projects that are still in waiting are the Sailing Center dock replacement. They also got blown down through the storm. And Coachman Park improvements, basically some shade shelters, maybe some more restrooms, and maybe some additions to the splash pad that we have down there. And then the other project that I really don't have any comment on, but it's down there, if you should ask, is the Phillies contract negotiations. Those are ongoing, and hopefully they'll be completed very soon. With that, I'm available to answer any questions. Yes, ma'am.
I always have questions for you. I figured I'd go right to the source. When you were talking about the shuffleboard and lawn blowing complex, I read online that manatees go in there. Is that correct? Do you know? Is what? Manatees go into Stevenson's Creek.
They do. That's what I've heard, too. They go in there, and that's why I said somebody suggested the name manatee park. Right, right. But they do go in there, yes. Yes, they are up in there. They go in there. It's just a nice place. It's warm.
I was just thinking, if that was true, that, you know, in Homosassa they have a manatee viewing station. That might be an idea.
Well, one of the plans there, future plans, is the canoe launch, canoe ramp there. We'll basically, and that would have a dock that could go out and an observation platform or something would be so they could do. Yes.
Any other questions? Yes. Do you have an estimated opening for the Long Center pool?
Oh, the pool? That will, it's on schedule. I should have gotten that before it came. I don't have that.
I'm in Morningside. We're all waiting for them, you know, for that pool to open up.
I know you are, because we spread out all of those activities to all the other pools in the neighborhood, and you all have been good neighbors to help us with that. But I think that it's on schedule, and I believe it's the middle of the summer is when it's open.
Okay.
Coming very close. Somebody said they were going to start filling the water up, so hopefully it'd be prior to the summer. That would be great. That would be awesome. Yeah.
Do the Countryside Pickleball Courts, are they going to have staffing, or is it just going to be open courts?
At where? The Clearwater?
The Countryside Pickleball Courts?
Yeah.
So, for example, McMullin has, like, tennis staff that will teach lessons. Are the courts in Countryside going to have staffing like that, or are they just going to be open for play?
It's going to be open play. It'll be similar to all of our courts. The only ones except for McMullin would be, you know, basically you can reserve them, that type of thing. Pickleball is very popular, as you may know. So, and the ones on Clearwater Beach, they're packed and crowded, but they apparently have a civil way of playing pickleball, which is putting paddles, you know all about it. Your husband, yeah, plays that. He's already asked me about that. But there's a way that they can do that by putting their paddles on and then playing. So, but they're going to be open, at least to start with. I'd love to be able to reserve them and charge for them. But for right now, we're going to open to the public that way.
To your point about people, the courts being full, I would suggest maybe that we talk about programming, though, because I'm a tennis player and wanted to learn to play pickleball. They take it very seriously if you don't know what you're doing when you show up. And I had a very hard time finding lessons within the city. I had to go up to Oldsmar. So I think maybe some clinics might be very well attended. I would pay to go.
Well, we can certainly do that, and I agree. I think that's a great idea.
Because I could not walk into the Clearwater Beach pickleball courts and play because I don't know the rules. They take it very seriously. No.
They really are. Well, that's one of the things we do with the courts, too. We try to say there's a beginner court, and then there's kind of intermediate, and then there's one that's for the upper level pro type because you don't, they don't mix.
Yeah, you're numbered players. Correct. Like you're ranking. You have a ranking.
Well, I'm sure that we will have lessons and classes. We do have a lot of programs in our rec centers, as you know, yoga and those types of things, gymnastics and things. So probably we'll take it out on the courts like that. That's a great suggestion. Thank you. That would be wonderful. Anything else?
I think they still play a few in the morning.
Ma'am?
Yeah.
You can speak during public comment because speaking from there, nobody's going to hear you on the video. So when it's open to public comment. Okay.
Yeah, Morningside has pickleball.
Pickleball is everywhere. We do it in all of our recreation centers. It's indoor. People love it indoors. They do like it. It's outdoors. We're kind of a little bit behind on that, but we are catching up, again, with the six out on Clearwater Beach. We'll have six in Countryside. There are three at Sewell Road Park. There are two at Del Auro Park. And then we have striped some of our tennis courts. You'll see that. And, honestly, tennis and pickleball people, they may like one another, but the sports are so totally different. And the peeing of the ball bothers the tennis players because they're a little bit – doesn't make as much noise, so to speak. Well, listen, thank you so much. Appreciate your service. Thank you for your time.
Thank you very much.
And Cassie Cordova regarding sustainability. Receive one. So while we wait for Cassie to pull up the PowerPoint, I want to share with the board that part of your purview also includes identifying educational opportunities. So when you hear these presentations regarding items that are identified in the strategic plan, it would be good also to start thinking about what – And I would say for the first year, maybe the goal is to have one educational opportunity to coordinate with the community and bring – to educate or to seek feedback. But think about those opportunities while you're listening to the staff.
Welcome. Thank you.
Thank you.
My name is Cassie Cordova. I'm the Sustainability and Environmental Division Manager in Public Works. And again, I want to echo what Art said. I want to thank you all for your service on this board. I'm looking forward to being grouped with libraries and parks. I know that parks and library touches my life every day. I love both of our departments. We have great relationships with both of them. So I think it makes sense for us all to be together. And as the Sustainability Manager, you know, previously I was liaison to the Environmental Advisory Board. But as you hopefully know or you're about to find out, sustainability is not just about the environment, right? So I'm just going to go over a little bit about what we do and some upcoming projects. And then we'll open it up to whatever questions or if you have questions along the way, that works too. I don't know if this video will work. Do we have audio if I try to play the video? It should.
If not, then we can try. And if it doesn't work, you can send me the PowerPoint, and I'll share it with everyone if it's just a link. Let me see.
So we worked with our public communications team to make this video last year.
Massive stores that waste your time. Sustainability 101. In this video, we'll define sustainability, explain how it affects us, and highlight the city's efforts to build a sustainable future. So what is sustainability? Sustainability means meeting today's needs without preventing future generations from meeting theirs. It's built on three pillars. The first is people, ensuring fair access to health, safety, and quality of life. Next is the planet, protecting natural resources and minimizing environmental harm. And lastly, prosperity, growing the economy while using resources wisely. So what is resilience? Resilience is the ability to recover from disruptions. Clearwater's Greenprint 2.0 outlines this as key to long-term sustainability. During the 2024 hurricanes, city planning and quick action helped restore services and showed how resilience supports the community. So why does it matter? Sustainability improves our environment, our health, and economy. Reducing emissions and conserving resources helps fight climate change and creates healthier places to live. So what can you do? Everyone plays a role. Simple actions, like reducing waste and conserving energy, add up to real impact.
And so that's our little Sustainability 101.
My name is Lindsay Hanson. I'm the founder of this rock. This video is all about sustainability reports. What are our...
So a little bit of information about our division. So we have two main documents. Our sustainability action plan, that's called Greenprint 2.0. That is the second version. The first one was the original greenprint that was written back in 2011. And then in 2021, we updated it, and it has the same eight core topic areas that you can see there. Education, awareness, green energy in buildings, transportation, livability, water conservation, waste reduction, local food, and green economy. We also recently completed our vulnerability assessment. If you're not familiar with that, the state of Florida mandated that all local municipalities complete a vulnerability assessment. So that took about two and a half years, but we did complete it. And we looked at flooding, sea level rise, and we actually went a little above and beyond and looked at heat as well. So we partnered with a consultant that actually built a digital twin of the city and put in a bunch of data, state data, federal data, local data. And we were able to model future projections to see how that would impact the city. And then we're looking at updating or creating, rather, a new plan in the next year or so that will be more of a resilience-focused plan. So these are some initiatives that we've been working on for quite some time. So we have our city solar installations. So we are now in the process of installing our nine installations, so several on parks and libraries. So Long Center is complete. North Greenwood is – the installation is complete. It's not quite interconnected yet. That will take a couple of more weeks. They are working on Countryside Library as we speak. And then City Hall will also be getting solar. So those are our four new ones. We did buy four electric vehicles last year. We've got some chargers that we've been installing. And then we have a long-term program. It's called our Municipal Energy Savings Program. That's a five-year program with the goal of reducing our energy consumption by 20 percent over those five years. And that's our municipal energy. And so to date, we're at 15.7 percent. And then the cost savings, because we have the cost of the program and then the cost avoidance of electricity, we've saved about $2.2 million for the city with that program. And then we also had our Mayor's Monarch Pledge that we signed last year. The mayor brought that to us, and we were – you know, we welcomed that. So we did a proclamation, and then we did a couple of initiatives with that. One was we asked our libraries. They had a seed program already, and we asked if they would include some monarch-friendly seeds, which they were able to. And then we participated in our tree giveaway that we do every year. And then these are some upcoming things that we have. So we just launched our Adopt-a-Drain. This is a brand-new program. It just came out last month. And it is – we have – you know, the city has many adopt programs that are typically run in our Parks and Rec Department, but this one is a new one through us. And you can go on to myclearwater.com slash adopt-a-drain, and you'll find an interactive map that has all of the drains in the city. And you can pick one near your home, near your work, wherever you want. And then you commit to adopting that drain. We can provide supplies upon request, brooms, rakes, whatever you need, gloves. And then you commit to keeping that drain clear of debris and litter, which will ultimately then prevent it from getting in our stormwater drains, which then leads to the gulf or the bay. So that's a new program. I encourage you to spread the word on that one. We also are about to start an urban forestry initiative. So we did get a grant, which I'll talk about in a little bit, but we will be doing a tree canopy assessment as well as an urban forestry management plan. So I feel like that will be of interest to everybody on this board. And then finally, we are working on what I've called the Coastal Resilience and Education Initiative. I need to find a shorter way to say that. But this is going to be a large interagency initiative. We've got Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, Tampa Bay Estuary Program, Tampa Bay Watch, Ford Pinellas, Pinellas County, Pinellas County Schools, Clearwater Marine Aquarium. There's probably 15 or so organizations. We're going to have our kickoff meeting in about two months. And we are really just going to have a brainstorming session to see what all of these organizations can do to help improve our coastal resiliency and take it from there. So one thing I wanted to touch on that Rose mentioned is something that's very important to us is outreach and education. So we go out as often as we can to Clearwater events, community events, and we get out there and we promote whatever it is that we're promoting. So just recently we did a Flood Awareness Week proclamation. We did a website for that. And we've been working on what we're calling resilient Clearwater. This has been a long-term campaign. So typically we try to do a campaign about once a quarter. But as of this year, we're doing just long-term year, maybe we'll stretch it to two years, where it's called Resilient Clearwater. And then each quarter will be a different aspect of that. So we kicked it off last quarter with stormwater. So it's myclearwater.com slash stormwater. And then we're – so that's what it is right now. And then about halfway through Earth Month, we're going to transition to plants and trees. So that will be coming soon. And then, of course, we have Earth Month. So that's all month of April. We have a website dedicated to all the many, many events. Again, our libraries, shout them out. They do all sorts of wonderful activities during Earth Month as well as Parks and Rec and many of our other departments. So we kind of just collect all that information and put it out and encourage everybody to attend those events. Oh, and this is our Resilient Ray that we designed. And he or she will be accessorized every quarter for the topic. So I wanted to talk about funding because I know this is important. And first and foremost, you know, sustainability at its core really is about efficiency. And by being efficient, therefore, you're going to save money. So we take our stewardship of the taxpayers' dollars very seriously, and this is something that we work towards. And if you can see there, we have applied for $85 million in grants in about the last – less than a year. So we're working very hard as a department to get those funds to supplement what the city can do. We've been awarded over $14 million so far. Most of those are still pending. In fact, we've only gotten one no so far out of the probably 30 grants that we've applied for. Another thing that we've been doing is the elective pay program. That's a federal program through the IRS that allows you to get 30 percent back for any clean energy projects. So we applied the last two years for the solar panels at Coachman Park, the EV chargers we put in at Coachman Park. And then last year during the hurricanes – well, it's like regular taxes. You apply for the year after the fact. So when the hurricanes wiped out all of our parking meters – I'm not sure if you're aware, but our parking meters are solar-powered. So we had to replace those regardless, and then we were able to get back 30 percent of that cost. So to date, we've gotten back about $132,000. But like I said, these are for the year prior, so we have not had – we have not gotten the chance to apply for those four solar installations we did last year. We will be applying now. And then next year, we'll be applying for the four that we did this year. So we're looking at well over a million dollars that we'll be getting back through that program. Another thing we've been working on recently is partnering with Duke. They have several rebate options. One is the charger prep credit, and that's where they will pay – they won't pay for the chargers themselves, but they'll pay for anything to get those chargers installed. So we did that when we got those chargers at MSB that came with the EVs that we purchased, which, by the way, those were purchased with grant dollars as well. So we did not pay for the EVs, we did not pay for the chargers, and we did not pay for the installation. All of that was grant funded or through rebate. And then the Smart Saver program, this is something we've just started looking at, but Duke offers it for a variety of different renovation and installation and maintenance of your energy, HVACs, and all this, like, you know, equipment, things like that. They will provide rebates. So we've just been looking at it, probably not even the last month, and we've already identified $10,000 that we'll be getting back for that as well. And that's just the beginning on that one. And then we have several allocations as well. So, like, the solar that I mentioned, we got about $2 million from the Department of Energy for those projects. And then on top of that, we'll get the 30% back. So the DOE, the $1.9 million, that was a 50% from the DOE and a 50% match. So we paid 50%, but then we get 30% back off the total. So really, we're only paying 20% of those solar installations, which is a phenomenal ROI. And then we have two brand-new state appropriations, $3 million for living seawalls. That's what kind of kicked off this coastal resiliency idea. And then we're doing a North Beach stormwater project as well. So my little catchphrase here is sustainability is profit. And then last thing is to keep up to date with all this stuff, we do have a newsletter. It's quarterly, so it's just four e-mails a year. We don't spam you. So I encourage everybody to sign up. And we will have an issue coming out next week. So if you sign up now, you'll get that next issue. And that's all I have, but I'm welcome to answer any questions.
I have just one.
Actually, I have a question from Mr. Hughes. So he said, if I were in attendance, I would ask the sustainability director about the new Coastal Resilience Education Program and how you expect the board to support or participate in the program startup.
So like Art mentioned, you know, this board, I think, will primarily be using four grants. And like I said, we have many, many grants. The urban forestry grant specifically, we've already been awarded that. We haven't executed the contract. But part of that grant is outreach. So we will be coming to you for that for sure. As far as the coastal resiliency initiative, we haven't even had the kickoff meeting yet. So I really don't even know what we're going to be doing. But whatever, once we get more information, we will definitely bring that to you.
I just have to say that you're just doing a bang-up job in installing infrastructure that pays for itself. And the grants that you're getting, I'm just, I don't know, I'm going to ask you how you're doing that. You know, because this seems fairly new to be applying for so many grants and being such for the first four solar installations on municipal buildings, of which Morningside Rec Center was one of them, that was totally paid for, that infrastructure was by grants. So right now, all the money being saved on electricity bills are just, you know, are just paying, could be used to be paying, you know, whatever, the 30% for the next four. But it's an incredible job that you're doing in sustainability.
And to build on that, so the parks and the libraries that these solar installations are on, they're the ones that are going to receive that savings because our departments pay their own electricity bills. So when the library now has a lower electricity bill, that's more funds that the library can use for their programs instead of paying electricity.
I didn't know that.
I just had a kind of an esoteric question. In your sustainability assessment, when y'all are looking at the urban canopies, do y'all have something that includes like the heat sinks? Is that incorporated into that? I'm not super familiar with that.
So the vulnerability assessment, we looked at various scenarios. So we had to choose 10 scenarios. And one of the scenarios we looked at was tree canopy in reference basically to heat. And we did it citywide, whereas some of the other scenarios we looked at specific regions. So we do have some very preliminary data of kind of where the tree canopy is and where it isn't. And that'll help guide this urban forestry management plan. But really, we'll be hiring a consultant for them to come in with the expertise and really guide that process.
That's very interesting. Yeah. Keep up the good work with that. Thank you.
You know, I would recommend that we have a presentation. The presentation you did for the Environmental Advisory Board on the vulnerability study, because I don't know how many people have seen that, have seen the results of that study, right? Just two of us here. And so when we make reference to that study or that assessment, you know, it would be good if we were all on the same page and all had that information. So, I mean, that particular presentation, what they did was they took 200 pages of a document, very detailed, and shrunk it down into whatever, you know, and summarized it in about 20 slides that were still quite informative and provoked a lot of questions by the EAB. And so I would recommend that we have that shown here.
Unless it's a, well, first it's, and I appreciate the comment, but I'll let the chair open it for discussion because it really is a consensus of the board. So the body must have a consensus to have it. But I was going to suggest, since you have board members who did not receive that information, maybe if Cassidy can share that presentation, I can share it with the board. The board can review it and look at it and then discuss at the next meeting how they want to, if they want a presentation or they want specific areas of the presentation to be go into more detail, delve into more detail.
That was going to be my recommendation as well, is I think we begin by sending it to those who haven't seen it because we're just getting started. So I think as we evolve our goals and things, if it becomes more relevant to hear, like, specifics of the presentation, then we can discuss it again. Does anyone else have any comment?
Not yet. Once the chair opens it up for a public comment. I did miss, not related to Ms. Cordova's presentation, but I did miss a question that Mr. Hughes raised. He would like to ask the Parks and Rec director for a list of outreach events and volunteer programs available to the public, but specifically he wants to know how you see the board supporting and participating.
I certainly do not have – I'm sorry, Art Cater, Parks and Rec director. I do not have a list of the various events that we have. We do have a volunteer coordinator, and it is also on our website, myclearwater.com. You go there, and it will have all of the various volunteer opportunities that we offer for parks and recreation. I know that some of the other departments also have volunteer activities. One of the things that I know is coming up, or at least they're looking at, we do a lot of cleaning projects on the beach, on the causeways, in our parks, but we also have other volunteer activities for events. We have special events where we need volunteers, and we certainly would welcome any of you here that would like to be a part of that volunteer program. My suggestion, again, is to go online, myclearwater.com, and look under volunteers, and it will come up.
I believe many of those are also included in the volunteer newsletter that goes out with opportunities, so I think making sure we pass that along so that anyone who wants to sign up can.
Very good point, yes. There is a volunteer newsletter.
I have a question. Do you think it would benefit us to have a copy of the master plan, the Parks and Rec's master plan? Yes. I have not seen it. I mean, I was there with the public input.
I would be happy to share that with anybody. There is a Parks and Rec master plan.
So, Art, just to clarify, so the board will be part of the master plan, and the Parks and Rec's master plan review process. So if you want to share that with me, and I can share it with the board, and you can bring it to the board's attention or engage the board when needed because that's one of the items on their purview. You're supposed to include them as part of the process.
That is correct. Thank you for that clarification. The master plan was just completed here two years ago. Right. So we probably will not be re-energizing that or looking at it usually ten years. Every ten years we look at that, and we would be engaging this board at that point in time with your input and suggestions.
In the meantime, it might be good if we could all have a PDF of the master plan. Yes.
It should be online. If it's not, then I'll make sure it will be.
I'll share. I can disseminate that to the board.
All right. I think we should keep moving so that we can have plenty of time for public comment. Let's move to item 3.2, adopt board rules and regulations.
Board members, so in the agenda item, I did attach a proposed set of rules and regulations, and it's pretty boilerplate based on other advisory boards, with the exception it's been specific to the board itself. So under purpose, you will see specifically the language that was included in the ordinance, so to make it clear as to what the board's purpose is. The officers and duties, as you already have, you elect a chair. The chair will run the meeting when the chair is absent, then the vice chair. And then it also discusses on how to, if there is a vacation of the chair, how it will, another election in order to fill the vacancy. As well as the meetings and the frequency, it discusses that, so every other month. So beginning April, it's every other month. And then order of business, and this is where I specifically need a little bit of feedback from the board. So currently it's call to order, approval of minutes, citizens to be heard, new business, old business, and then board members to be heard and adjourned. You can change where you have the citizens to be heard. It could be up front in the beginning of the meeting, after the minutes are approved, or at the end. And so if the board wishes to change that order, just let me know, and I can change that, and you can approve the rules as amended at that point.
I think I would prefer that we move citizens to be heard after the new and old business items, only because then if those items are what someone wants to comment on, we've already had an open discussion on it.
Okay.
Are the citizens to be heard on items not on the agenda? Isn't that that category? That's what it is.
It's to be heard by items not on the agenda.
So I would prefer it to be first. First? So, you know, because it's bringing new information to us, and also they can – then people can come at 4 o'clock, and they don't have to sit through the entire meeting before they have an opportunity to speak.
Is there a consensus of the board to leave it or to move it? Other thoughts? Yeah.
I'm not held on either way. My concern is when we have a strict time constraint, such as we do in April, that we won't get through the work that we are required to get through.
And we can limit to three minutes as well or less. It doesn't have to be three minutes, but that's up to the board as well.
I think maybe just what I'd like to say is that if we begin with that, I think we all need to be aware when making our own comments that we're being respectful of time and not keeping staff here and extended time because that's – we're giving our time to the citizens in that case by putting them up front. And I'm fine with that, but I know meetings can go on, and that's what I would just like to say if we keep it how it is.
Yeah. That makes sense. Yeah.
Those are three minutes. They're limited to three minutes per comment, right?
Yes.
So then would you like a motion to keep them as is or just to approve the –
Just approve as presented is fine.
I do have – I have one question. Under meetings, Article 6, Section 2, it says notice of all meetings shall be given to board members at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting. That's not much advance.
If it's an emergency, I doubt that this board will have an emergency, but it's at least – if let's say there is a need, I don't know what kind of emergency it would be, but if there was a need to meet, at least it's 24 hours. But that would really be an emergency. As with this meeting, even though it's an organizational meeting, you receive the agenda a week ahead, and it was noticed at the last meeting because that's when it was discussed. So I'm a proponent of providing as much notice, but if there is a need for the board to meet for 24 hours, it could be as simple as maybe staff, one of the departments has a grant request, and a public hearing needs to be held ASAP before the council meeting. I doubt it that will ever occur, but it gives you that leeway, that ability to meet.
So that would be thinking more in terms of special meetings than our regular meetings in which –
I wouldn't even say special because even with special meetings, I try to give not just you but the public a lot of notice.
And that's greatly appreciated, I must say. Okay. Thanks for the clarification on that. I'm good with it.
Is there a motion on the table to approve the rules as is?
Motion to approve.
I second it. All in favor? Aye. Aye.
Okay.
Great. Now we can move on to the much-anticipated public comments.
So for anyone in the public who wishes to provide the board comments on how you expect the board or wish the board to engage, this would be a great opportunity. You can come up, and you have three minutes. We're an informal group here, so all we ask is that you state your name when you come up to the mic. Just state your name. You can give it to me, or you can give it to Danny.
My name is Ursula Snow, and I live over on Patricia Avenue, which is kind of off Drew and between Drew and Hercules. And we were told – I was told to come tonight by some other people that are in my neighborhood because they couldn't come to come and give you input on what we would like from you guys. Okay? Is that good enough? Yes, ma'am. Okay. So what we would like is that you communicate really well. And something came up just while we were here when you asked for Cassie's presentation. And I – from going on the Clearwater site, I thought that everything that was at a meeting occurred was in there somewhere in the library with a meeting. I guess it isn't. Is that true? Because she's presented this already.
Yeah, I believe that the reference to presentations earlier was not to today's presentation by her, but a previous presentation. No, I – So it wouldn't have been in there.
No, I mean. Okay. It's the vulnerability presentation, and that should be somewhere. If she gave a presentation for the city in her other group, it should be online. So the one thing you could do right now, you have to go through a lot of stuff to find something like that. Like if the council has their meeting, it's the whole meeting videotaped, okay? So what you could do is you could – for her, that was a special presentation, and you were very impressed. You want to see that. But you could start to highlight things, and once the data's in there, it doesn't matter how you get to it. You could make multiple links to it. So you could have it in the minutes of whatever meeting she gave it to, but then you could also have feature presentation for the city of Clearwater. And it would be a feature for a couple days. And it would really help because we don't know what's going on. We really don't. So the more you can communicate with us and the more we can refine how we communicate, you're going to get a much more responsive and understanding public, really.
Thank you. Can I ask a question? So you're referring, for example, to the vulnerability assessment.
Could be, yeah.
And I agree with you. I think everyone in Clearwater should see that presentation of the vulnerability assessment that has been done. And it's been done in several places. But so what you're suggesting is – are you suggesting, like, we have a website? Or are you suggesting that – You already do.
You have a huge website.
Well, but I mean this board.
Yes, you could have one if you wanted to, and people could go directly to that.
Or it would be a special –
I think that this is a thing that we should defer to her on just for now because she's the one who's administering to our committee. So I think let's hear what is in place first before we start, like, coming up with new ideas.
So when it comes to the advisory boards, all advisory boards have their agenda. And if you click on the – just like the council, if you click on the agenda, you will have access to whatever has been attached to the agenda item. In this case, for example, just like I do for council, I did not have Cassie's presentation. When she emails it to me, I will attach it to the agenda item so it's available afterwards. And so it's always there. And because our website is pretty intuitive, if you go in the search bar and you click in keywords, if it has been presented at a council meeting or an advisory board and attached to an agenda item, or if the document has been published by the department or if it's included in our LaserFish, which is our records, our online records suppository, you can search it and then click it and it will bring it up to you and it will tell you every time it pops up. So it may not – I would not say to create a website just specifically because none of the advisory boards have a dedicated website, but we have links to the advisory board, what it does, and then all the meeting agendas, which have any supporting documentation that they have presented or was presented at the meeting. But most of the times when you're talking about publications, it's available on the website, usually through the department or someplace else. It's been published somewhere.
I'd like to make a comment, if I may. I just typed in City of Clearwater Vulnerability Assessment, and it's 29 megs. I got it right here. So it was real easy. Her heat study would be very interesting. I got that. So, yeah, the whole thing is there.
Thank you for your time. Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to speak?
Good afternoon, board. My name is Patrick Rastry. I reside in the countryside area of Clearwater. I appreciate the opportunity to provide the citizen-resident expectations of the board and appreciate the time that you're taking to allow us to do that. First of all, I'd like to thank each of you for volunteering to be on this board and to dedicate service to providing your service to the residents of Clearwater. After the Citizens Academy that I attended, I was encouraged to join an advisory board, and I did so. In 2019, I was appointed to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. I served there for six years, two years as chairman. I enjoyed the work immensely. I enjoyed working with professionals within the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, and I hope you will find the same experience that I did. I noticed that on the rules and regulations that were published that you just adopted this afternoon, Article 2 is a very comprehensive and detailed purpose of your organization. I was very impressed with that, and I think you should keep that purpose in mind each time you meet and discuss matters before the public or have people come and speak to you. It is very comprehensive and really is detailed as to what your purpose is in having this board. In discharging that responsibility, I recommend that you partner with respective departments in the spirit of cooperation, collaboration, and constructive criticism when needed. For those of you that need to be reminded, constructive criticism is criticism given in such a way that the recipient thanks you for your comments and gets excited about making the changes that you have suggested. It is not to be an adversarial or confrontational type relationship for the various departments that you'll be dealing with. Publicize the good things that are accomplished by those departments and the corrections made for issues that are raised by either yourselves or residents. Encourage residents to reach out to yourselves as individuals on this board and also to educate and communicate with them those things that you are accomplishing. Visit the parks in your area specifically to understand firsthand the condition of those parks so that you may provide input, good or bad, to the parks department. Some issues that are approaching you that you may need to be aware of that may come under your purview that I think you should be aware of are the proposed development of the landings, which is currently understudied by the city staff, the reimagined use of the lawn, bowling, and shuffleboard court that Mr. Caters already spoke to relative to how they intend to make that a passive-type park. The model tree ordinance that has been adopted by the county of Pinellas needs to be perhaps married to the Clearwater Tree Policy that was proposed and adopted in 2023. The one for Pinellas County is very, very comprehensive, and merging the two might be a very good thing to do. Finally, I'd like to say, Coastman Park needs to be provided attention to keep it the gem that it should be with respect to Clearwater. It needs to be well-maintained landscape-wise and the bathrooms. Thank you very much.
Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you.
Hello, Mr. Johnson.
Hi. Yes, I am Bill Johnson. I'm also a resident of Countryside. I think it's exciting that this group of people has been appointed to this board. I know your background, and so I think it'll be important. I wanted to suggest that one of the things that this board can do is to highlight items that have been done in the past quarter that are related to the park's environment. For instance, along the Courtney Campbell Causeway two weeks ago, there was a seeding of four million baby clams that were done on the north side of the causeway in order to provide improvement to the water quality in the old Tampa Bay area. There's quite a bit of opportunity within Tampa Bay and sea grasses in Tampa Bay, so I share that. As part of that effort, my involvement is as chair of the Courtney Campbell's Scenic Highway Corridor Advisory Board, and as part of that, I went to a statewide conference yesterday over in Sebastian. One of the things that we learned about there, we are a partner of Visit Florida, so we talked about some of the ways that our singing highways contribute to tourism. Also about the myths and important aspects of appearing to visitors and to residents, and that's expectations. Your agenda item is expectations, which is right down that line of the discussion. But we want to provide an experience within our parks and within our city. But that comes with expectations of the person. So if we've just had a hurricane, yeah, the beach is going to be a mess for quite a while, and people won't expect that. But on the other hand, if we have a logo that says Bright and Beautiful from the Bay and the Beach, there are certain expectations that come along with that. I would rather not disappoint our visitors and our citizens. So I suggest that this board could be kind of the experience expectations representative of it as you go.
Thank you for your time. Thank you.
Hello, good afternoon. My name is Jared Leone. I'm a longtime resident of Clearwater. First, I want to thank you all for your service and answering the call to action from the city to serve on this board. I served with many of you on the Environmental Advisory Board. I served for more than a decade as chairman of that board. And during that time, we advocated for wide-ranging environmental sustainability and resiliency policies that impacted all of Clearwater and led to millions of dollars in savings for the city itself. I hope that you'll build on that foundation as the stewards of our community and representatives on this board. And I encourage you to reach out to myself as community leaders and others here who came out today if you need help or have questions navigating this new board. And I thank you for your service. Thank you.
Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to be heard at this time with that? We need a motion to adjourn, right?
Oh, before we adjourn. So a couple things. One, the next meeting actually falls during one of our council meeting anomalies. So you are scheduled to meet on April 23rd at 4 o'clock, but we need to be out of here by 5.30. So just to keep no later than 5.30 just so we can turn chambers over for the council meeting that night. So that's one. And I failed to put on the agenda to set the agenda for the next meeting. So as you think about what you may want to do at the next meeting or open that discussion, Mr. Hughes did submit a request under new business. He said he wanted the planning. He would like consideration to invite the planning director to do a presentation on the comp plan 2045, specifically regarding the parks and public spaces section of the comp plan. And I did speak with the planning director. If that's the one item you want on the agenda for next month, we could put it on there, and she could come. And that does fall within your purview, and she can make that big document much smaller so that you have a good overview of what the comp plan in the parks and public spaces section of the plan. But I will leave it now for you to discuss and let me know what you want on the agenda for next week, for next month. So when is our next meeting then? April 23rd.
Beginning with the April meeting, that's when we will start our initial schedule that we agreed to, so every other month.
Right.
I was just going to say that. Okay. Yeah. So then the next one after April will be June. Okay.
So we're not having a discussion of the next agenda, agenda for that meeting right now?
If the board wants to have that discussion as to what you want, just keep in mind it has to be a short meeting, or not too long, rather.
It was brought up about the landing, and I think that was brought up by a board member last time, too, the sports complex.
The landings is still not before the council, so it really technically is not a project before the city. It's still – it's something – it's an unsolicited project, and really whoever is in charge of that project is the one who is moving along with that. But the city itself – Who is that, Mike? I do not know the name of the developer, but I can tell you that it's not before the council yet, and it's not something that has been formally presented. And when would we know that?
Would we just know that the Friday before the work session?
In terms of the project? Yeah. Well, once it becomes a project, then they will put an application in with staff, and it will be presented. It's just presented, and the agenda for the work session is not the Friday before, but rather the week before. But it is not a project that's formally presented to the city yet.
So it's not on anybody's desk?
I do not know – it might be – it's an unsolicited proposal, but it's not a city – the city has not formally received anything that they're actually going to start doing anything, is what I'm trying to say.
I get that, just that it – you know, if a decision was going to be made in, like, April or May, we meet only two times every two months. So that's kind of an issue of us being –
Again, there's nothing before the council, so there's nothing for the board to see. I know that the individuals who are in charge are looking and reaching out to the community, to the residents who are impacted by the project, and I know that they are planning on a community outreach meeting, but, again, there's nothing formal before the city, so there's nothing for staff to present yet.
I don't think it's appropriate for us to put it on our agenda at this time, but we do have the caveat in our rules that we just approved that I understand there's a lot of community conversation about this issue. I think we could make the choice – if it does not fit within our committee scheduled timeline, we could make the choice to set an additional schedule. I don't want to overlook it, because I know there has been a lot of conversation on it, but it's not appropriate at this time for us to be discussing something that's essentially hearsay.
If we could have a special meeting, because, I mean, the neighborhoods are meeting. I went to a neighborhood meeting at the East Library where, you know, there were 40 people there, and it was late in the two-hour session. They did a very good presentation.
If a formal application is presented to council or to the city formally, and there is a need to seek comment by the board, I will advise the board members of there is potential action. But at the moment, there is nothing before the city, formally before the city. Right now, I know that the interested parties are seeking and trying to work with the community residents to, I guess, garner support for the project or seeking feedback about their project. But there is nothing formal in front of the city.
I just don't want it to get away from us.
Again, I've said it before, and I've promised. First, if there is a need to meet outside, like today, we are meeting outside of your meeting schedule. We will meet. I will make sure that we have the ability, so long as we have quorum and there is a need. But I don't want the board to start discussing items that is not before the city and raising any concerns when there are really no concerns to be raised right now.
Yeah, I don't think that it is our role to be initiating projects that haven't even been proposed to the city. And so I trust that you will let us know when that comes before us, and you would know more than anyone when it would be on the schedule. So if it does not fit within our agreed-upon schedule, I will advise the board.
Okay. All right. Very good.
Anyone else have ideas for our next agenda? No. So with that, a motion to adjourn? Very good.
Oh, wait. I thought there was – don't we have each board member in the agenda? What is it? Well, technically it's not on our –
It's not on this agenda because it wasn't approved.
All right.
I'm open to going ahead to that. Do you want to begin?
Yeah. I've got – well, there's one other thing I would like to encourage everyone to go online and look at Greenprint 2.0 or just have it as a resource to you. So for our sustainability and resiliency plan, like I was saying about the master plan for Parks and Rec, it would be good for us to maybe do a little background for our duties and our charge. And then I just wanted to say, you know, I wish everybody a happy Earth Day and Earth Month in April. And just mentioned that there are activities for the month of April, for Earth Month in Clearwater. Starting on the 18th, which is a Saturday, is Earth Day at Moccasin Lake Nature Park. And so they'll have tours and live music and games and crafts. It's like 10 to 3. And then the big event is going to be on Wednesday, April 22nd, which is Earth Day. And that's at 6 o'clock at the beach. It's a family-friendly beach cleanup followed by the screening of the movie The Lorax, which is an animated film based on a Dr. Seuss story, an environmental story. And it's got, like, Taylor Swift doing a voice and Danny DeVito. And anyway, it should be a really fun evening. And the first 500 people, volunteers that show up, get, like, a restaurant voucher or something like that or a gift certificate and a little gift, an environmental gift. So, anyway, those could be fun. And at the same time, also the Unitarian Universalist Church has, from 5 to 7 that Wednesday night, they have a food forest on their grounds. They're on nursery. And so from 5 to 7 they're going to have tours. I've taken a tour of their food forest, and it's really pretty fascinating. These are Florida native plants that are edible. And they'll be giving garden tips and doing crafts and that kind of thing on Earth Day. So, yep, those are my comments.
Kelly? No, I... Do you have any? That sounds exciting. I just thought they were... No. I speak for the trees. Yes, absolutely. No, I think that's great and everything, and thank you for all your information. Very nice. Thank you.
Do you have any additional comments of your own? Okay.
No additional comments, is there. No additional comments.
With that, I, again, would like to ask for... Motion to adjourn. I'll move. We adjourn.
Second.
All right.
Thank you. Third. Third. Third.