marketing. I'm here to report the quarterly update for the BayCare Sound for October. Since our last visit, we celebrated the third anniversary of the BayCare Sound, which is hard to believe. We did our first live TV broadcast with the AEW Dynamite Beach Break, and it was something to see. The sound looked awesome on TV. I don't know if you guys got to see it, but it was pretty amazing. We installed the sunshade, the much-anticipated sunshade, and it has been working. We use it in different shows, depending on what the weather is like, but it has been really nice to have. Some upgraded electrical that you're aware of, and then you saw that on the screen, the best rankings to date, and I will get to that in my later in the presentation. So far, for 2026, we've presented 50 total events, and we still have over 10 events left to go. October is very, very busy. I've seen a few of you out there over the weekend. We had three shows, and then we have a show tomorrow night, too. At the end of the month, we have another set of four, so we're hustling. So I hope to see you out there. We are excited to announce that this month we unveiled sort of a relaunch of the Florida Central Credit Union view space with some new amenities and some elevated food offerings. One thing you'll notice is there's half-priced beer, wine, and soda for people who go to that area or pay for that experience, as well as the $5 specialty cocktail that we have. And then there's enhanced culinary selections, meaning there's just kind of a lot of food. There's just a lot of different things, a little bit of something for everyone. We're kind of doing some specialty items that are going to hopefully become just staples of that area. Again, I experienced it over the weekend, and I heard a lot of great things, and hopefully you'll notice it as well when you come out. Next, those awesome rankings that I talked about. Last year I came here and told you number three and number three, so now we're number two in the United States, which is very awesome, as you know. Giving some updates on some of our social followings, Facebook and Instagram were at almost 30,000 for each of those. We saw an increase since this time last year of over 20,000 new followers on both total, between the two platforms. Instagram really takes off. We do a lot more collaborating with artists now, and that's very impactful to our followers. Editorial coverage. Over the year, we saw a 65% increase from last year. When I did this report, we did 130,000. This year, we're at 198,000, and that's mostly in TV, with some in radio and print as well. Last year, I brought you some stats on some of the surveys we did. We've done a few more show attendee surveys. We started doing those after every show, so now we're getting a little more data for those, like, specific show-by-show instances. Some of the things that we plucked out that we thought you might be interested in is 75% of people said that they parked within three blocks of the venue, so that was a positive thing. 11% are using rideshare or public transportation if they aren't driving themselves, and 69% of the people dined out, and of those, 62% reported dining out in Clearwater. And then this one's one of my favorites. How many repeat visits? Five or more shows was 23% last year, and that statistic more than doubled this year. So 53% of those people polled said they have come to five or more shows at the Sound. Obviously, two shows, 25%, but typically the people that are coming are repeat visitors. And then a little bit more feedback from some of our statistics that we got from those surveys include how likely are you to recommend coming to the BayCare Sound, and 82% said they're very likely. And the ease of parking, kind of going back to that parking within a few blocks, they said 79% said it was easy and likely to return. 84% are very likely to return. Some top positives included excellence of the venue and overall experience, friendly and helpful staff, cleanliness of facilities, and smooth admission process, which is great to hear. Top obstacles, really, everything sort of just boiled down to weather concerns, whether they were worried it was going to rain or the chance it would rain or who knows, you know, all weather. They were warm. Looking ahead for 2027, I know this number because I have to send you this report in advance is way different than what I'm telling you today, but we have 17 shows confirmed. There's a few little sneak peeks of some there, and we have 55 offers, but I know talking to Bobby, that number is a lot more. Lots of great and new names coming next year, so that's very exciting. And then from there, I'm going to pass it over to our fearless leader. Hi, Susan Crockett, CEO, President of Ruth Eckert Hall. Back in April of 22, we were the underdog trying to convince this council that we shared your vision for this venue and that we would not let you down. And I know that council members, Albritton and Teixeira, this will be our last quarterly report in front of you. And since you were two of those three votes that awarded Ruth Eckert Hall the sound contract, I do want to circle back to what we promised you back then. Since opening in June of 2023, there have been 161 events at this beautiful venue, and we've had all genres of music from pop, classical, country, rap, rock, R&B, progressive, alternative jazz, and electric dance music. We've had all ages. We've had senior crowds, middle-aged, 20-somethings, elementary school field trips, and free family programming. In the foot traffic last year alone between the Bill Heimer Capital Theater and the Baycare Sound, there were 275,000 concert goers. We promised you a first-class experience. We outfitted the dressing rooms, the backstage areas in the Florida Central Credit Union View with first-class furnishings and extra amenities for the artists. And I was thrilled when one of those artists commented from the stage that our dressing room was nicer than his house. Notwithstanding the summer heat, people are coming back over and over again with satisfaction rates in the high 90 percentiles, as you saw. Our service fees, everyone complains about service fees, but our services remain lower than all the third-party ticket sites in this area. And we keep our commitment to processes, equipment, and inventory that are eco-friendly. We promised to launch an award-winning venue, and Visit St. Pete Clearwater had us as the best newcomer in its first year. Tampa Bay Magazine has us as our best outdoor concert venue three years in a row. Visit St. Pete Clearwater says we're the best live music venue three years in a row. And just last Wednesday, Creative Loafing announced that the Baycare Sound was the reader's choice for best large concert venue of 2,000 and above. Four shows at the Baycare Sound made their final list for best large concert. Alabama Shakes, T-Pain, Tedeschi Trucks Band, and Weird Al Yankovic. And Weird Al won. We promised to build a strong brand, position this venue, and gain national recognition for your investment. Finalists for International Entertainment Buyers Association, we were Amphitheater of the Year finalists. This year, the Baycare Sound ranked number three in the world, number two in the nation in ticket sales. And I know we've repeated that about 50 times. We promised to put skin in the game and invest in that venue ourselves. And to date, Ruth Eckert Hall has added $4.85 million in assets and facility improvements to the Baycare Sound. And we have plans to do more. The financial impact is we agreed to help offset the debt service for the city asset, remitting a quarterly payment based on the number of visitors. And we understood from the first discussions going back to 2015 that the city was making this investment to drive economic growth, which is why we're so proud that the latest independent economic study reports that Ruth Eckert Hall activities at the Baycare Sound had an economic impact of over $110 million last year. And the total economic impact from our three venues that we operate for you, the city of Clearwater, reached $252 million. So thank you for envisioning the Baycare Sound. Thank you for selecting the local underdog. And as we move forward into 2027, I can promise that we will continue to build on your legacy. Thank you. Thank you, Susan. I might ask you a question. First, you all have learned a lot about this venue and where it fits in the marketplace and not just our Tampa Bay marketplace but the national marketplace as far as attracting entertainers. But the Polestar rankings, where we're number two in the country and we're number three in the world, how do they drive those? Is it based on attendance and sales or what? They have different rankings. They have tickets sold and then they also have revenue. So those stats are revenue. Okay. Which I think that's important for our community to know this isn't – those aren't rankings where, you know, you kind of pay to give somebody's opinion or get – those are off statistics. Correct. So we're being compared statistically to other successful venues around the country and world. And that's very impressive that we're performing in that way. So thank you for that. Thank you. And, you know, it's just – who would have thought, you know, we would have been ranked the top music venue and outdoor music venue in Tampa Bay three years in a row. And it would have achieved the success as it has. And thank you for all you've been doing. So with that, others have questions or comments? Councilmember Albritton. Seems like I'm always saying great things about Ruth Edgar at all. You know, I think you could – a lot of the success is because of what you guys are doing, what Bobby is bringing in, different genres of music. I see more people coming to the sound that I haven't ever seen before because of different genres. And to tell you the truth, some of them I don't even know, and I go, and I'm like, wow, I have my eyes open, you know. I'll be coming to more of those. So I think that's been – at least what I've seen in the last year is so many different genres bringing big crowds in, and that's part of your success. So thank you. Thank you. Councilmember, I appreciate it. So, you know, you're very aware that it took a big group of people, private citizens and community leaders, to make this a reality. And I was one of the many that did that, and it took us so many years. And so I have to say, I was nervous when you work on something for so long and it becomes a reality, then you hand it over to someone that has that trust, right? But I'm so grateful that it thrived under you guys because it was something – it was a little bit nerve-wracking to work so hard for a project and then hand it over to someone else to manage it. So thank you so much for taking care of our little baby and making it thrive. Thank you. Councilmember Nina? Thank you, Mayor. Well, you've not only met those promises that you just discussed, I think you and your team have exceeded them. So thank you. The way you give back, not only to this facility, but to the community, can't be captured on a spreadsheet or a ranking, and that means a lot to us. So thank you. And then to our colleagues that won't be a part of your presentations quarterly anymore, thank you both, Councilwoman and Councilman, for having the courage, as she said, for selecting the local underdog. And I think that, without question, has been the right decision, and we are, as a community, reaping those benefits. So thank you, and thank you and your team. I also want to add, too, that I think it's important that the community and the public recognize that it's very helpful to us and to Ruth Eckert Hall to have three different size venues, the Capitol Theater and the Sound close by, and Ruth Eckert Hall, and working with performers to get them in the right space in our community. We've been able to get great performers in all three venues because you have a mix to work with to find the right space for the right performer at the right time. So I think that's very important. And it was, again, applauding the decision of the prior council to choose you because that gives us a lot of opportunity that other communities don't have to get music talent into their city. So thank you for the work you're doing, and we look forward to working with Ruth Eckert Hall for continued success at the Bay Care Sound. With that, we're going to take a five-minute recess before we move to the next agenda. We now call the meeting back to order and move to item 3.1 on the agenda. I'll authorize a purchase order with St. Petersburg College for the Clearwater Police Department, Clearwater Fire Rescue for Police Academy sponsorships, paramedic training program, and ongoing advanced training for existing personnel. Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, counsel. How are you? I'm Lieutenant Hasey with Clearwater Police Department. In recent years, recruiting and hiring qualified police officer candidates has become increasingly competitive. To address this challenge, the Clearwater Police Department has implemented several recruitment initiatives, including sponsoring qualified candidates through the police academy. Because academy sponsorships have become a common and effective recruitment tool among local law enforcement agencies, continuing this practice is essential to maintaining the department's competitiveness and staffing levels. The police department sponsored 14 cadets in fiscal year 25, 16 in fiscal year 26, and we anticipate sponsoring another 16 in fiscal year 2027. The police academy is offered through the Southeastern Public Safety Institute at St. Petersburg College. It's a 22-week, 790-hour program providing classroom instruction and practical scenario-based trainings in criminal law, investigations, interviewing, report writing, traffic stops, defensive tactics, firearms, emergency vehicle operations, and de-escalation techniques. That's why it's 790 hours. It's a lot of stuff. Upon graduating from the academy, cadets enter an additional 20-week training program administered by the Clearwater Police Department. This comprehensive training prepares new officers to serve and protect Clearwater's residents, their visitors, and business owners, while meeting the evolving demands of modern law enforcement. Academy sponsorships cost $5,000 per cadet. Based on a preliminary estimate of 16 sponsorships, the anticipated cost is $80,000. An additional $20,000 is requested to provide advanced training for current officers. This training will help officers remain current on emerging practices in high-liability areas and obtain specialized instruction for roles such as instructors, detectives, community policing officers, and supervisors. Based on the preliminary estimate, the police department's total funding request is $100,000. Clearwater Fire and Rescue is requesting $68,000 for educational sponsorships and advanced training at St. Petersburg College. Of this amount, $62,000 will be utilized for the sponsorship of 13 new emergency medical technicians, or EMTs, and four existing EMTs to attend their paramedic school. This investment responds to the critical need for qualified paramedics in the Clearwater community. The paramedic program spans three semesters covering paramedic one, two, and three, and includes essential hands-on clinical experience in both hospital and field settings. This comprehensive approach provides personnel with the knowledge, skills, and practical experience necessary to meet the complex and evolving demands of emergency medical services. An additional $4,000 will sponsor one newly hired EMT through the Fire Academy, also at St. Petersburg College. The 13-week academy is offered during both the spring and fall semesters. The remaining $2,000 will support advanced training for current firefighters and EMTs, helping personnel stay current with emerging practices, technologies, and trends in the fire service and emergency medical fields. The City of Clearwater is recognized throughout the region for the exceptional training and professionalism of its police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel. Supporting these academy sponsorships and advanced training opportunities will strengthen recruitment and retention, enhance operational readiness, and help maintain the high level of public service that Clearwater's residents, visitors, and business community expect and deserve. Thank you. I'd be happy to answer any questions. I have just one question. Has the pricing on this gone up, or has it stayed level? It's not. It's stayed the same, sir. Okay. Okay. Any questions for you, too? While you're here, congratulations on your graduation from the FBI National Academy in Quantico. Thank you. It's a very rigorous and important training, and we appreciate you representing our city and graduating from that program. I appreciate the opportunity. It was fabulous. Yeah. With that, do we have consent on this agenda? Yep. Okay. We have consent. Thank you, Lieutenant Hastie. Move to item 4.1 of the agenda. I approve a purchase order to Ingram Library Services, LLC, for the acquisition of library books and materials, and a purchase order to the Pinellas Public Library Cooperative for the acquisition of library materials. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council Members. Bonnie Potters, Technical Services and Acquisitions Librarian 3, Clearwater Public Library System, who is requesting authorization to purchase library books and materials using competitive piggyback and cooperative contracts for our two largest vendors. A piggyback contract with the Commonwealth of Virginia on behalf of the Mid-Atlantic Library Alliance, which we are a member of, in the amount of $191,000 for Ingram Library Services. The Clearwater Public Library System is also part of the Pinellas Public Library Cooperative, and as part of the Interlibrary Agreement, we provide funding to the cooperative to purchase shared databases and e-book materials. We are requesting $217,000 for the Pinellas Public Library Cooperative's shared purchases. This agenda item aligns with the city's strategic plan of high-performing government and community well-being, ensuring exceptional communities and neighborhoods where everyone can thrive. Does anyone have any questions? We've got any contracts that I can answer? My only question is, like, the one for the last agenda item. Is this roughly what we've spent in the past on you? Yes. It's exactly the same. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Do we have consent on 4.1? We have consent on 4.1. Thank you. Thank you so much. Gennda on 5.1. Approve a contract amendment with Black & Veatch of Overland Park, Kansas, for project management and software implementation services in support of Phase 2, Enterprise Asset Management System for Public Works, for ongoing configuration, maintenance, and support of the Trimble Unity Maintain Asset Management product. Mayor, Council Members, Dan Mayer, IT Director. We began this project back in 2003 and had a hiatus during storms in 2024, and have picked up and finished Phase 1, and now we're ready for Phase 2 with Public Works. So this will cover forestry, sidewalk maintenance, all our stormwater maintenance, and several other business processes within Public Works. We've also added a component for Construct, which is an engineering project design and construction management module that we're going to pilot. It's a small dollar amount for the pilot. We felt it was a good first test of a product that would dovetail with our asset management project, and Marcus Williamson can speak to that if you have specific questions. This should take 12 to 18 months, and then we would move right into Phase 3 with our gas department at the end of this phase, and I'll be happy to answer any questions on this project. Questions on this agenda item? Do we have consent? We have consent on 5.1. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Agenda item 6.1. Approve the Seventh Amendment to contract for sale of city-owned vacant land between the City of Clearwater and Lake Billview Development, LLC, for real property located at 1454 South Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue. Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council, City Manager, ACMs, and other respective members of the dais. This is Chris Edwards, Economic Development and Housing Director for the city. This item requests approval of an extension to an existing agreement to allow additional time for the project to move forward. As a reminder, this is a 24-unit owner-occupied townhome development project that would be developed by Tampa Bay Neighborhood Housing Services and Habitat for Humanity. Staff has been working with the development team and is supportive of the requested extension. The extension will provide additional time to address the remaining items needed prior to closing. While keeping the project moving forward toward completion, at this time I do have with me today Mr. Frank Cornier, who is our President and CEO of Tampa Bay Neighborhood Housing Services, who is here on behalf of the project team, Frank will provide Council with just a brief explanation of the circumstances leading to the extension request. Frank. Good afternoon, Council Member. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. About three years ago, Tampa Bay Neighborhood Housing Services and Habitat for Humanity decided to come together and do something that hasn't been done in this area, and that is to collaborate to create a mixed-income affordable housing project. And it was a decision we made. Shortly after that, the city issued an RFP, which we applied to collectively. It was a competitive process, and we won. Since then, because it was something that hasn't been done before, there have been challenges. Development is challenging to begin with, especially on virgin land. When you combine that with a new structure that hasn't been done before, then that adds some complication. We are now in the final stretch of that pre-development process. Our attorneys are finalizing the financing mechanism, and then we can close. So we're at the final stage of this, and we're really excited because this is an opportunity for people in the tourism, first responder, and medical fields to have access to affordable housing right here where they work and they can live and not living a county or two counties away, as we're hearing now. And that combined with partnerships that we have with some of our funders, bank partners, where they have portfolio products, which can bring the interest rate down to 3.99% as opposed to 7% that we're seeing in the market now, helps make it affordable for our constituents. So I'll pause and see if there's any questions. Any questions? Okay. If not, do we have consent? Thank you. Yes, we have consent on 6.1. Thank you. General item 6.2. Review and approve the results of the solicitation for proposals of a city-owned property at 1875 Airport Drive and provide direction to the city manager for next steps. Good afternoon. I'm here before you again to kind of give you the next phase of the process in which when we talked back in August, we provided an opportunity for you to hear high-level staff review, listen to the public resources advisory groups, review of the proposal, as well as hear from the proposer in person and ask questions about the project and where they're going in terms of the proposal in front of us and what it could mean to the city of Clearwater. We also ask that you accept that proposal and give us an opportunity to solicit additional proposals as a part of that process. So we did as you asked and we solicited additional proposals, but before I get into that, I also want to let you know that this agenda item also allows for five minutes after I complete my comments for both teams to come up and tell you about their project so you can have a little bit more context of what we received, what the evaluation committee reviewed, and also at the end of my comments here, I'll give you the staff recommendation in terms of what we think is before you to consider to approve this afternoon. So long story short, back in 2025, October we received an initial proposal. We then reviewed that, said it was insufficient. It was then updated and amended, if you will, at the end of 2025, and we started down the path of pursuing the review of said proposal. Prior to that, after we received that second proposal, the city manager spoke with the council and the mayor and asked if they wanted us to pursue this endeavor, vet the proposal, do the due diligence, and come back and allow that process to end up in front of you with a public discussion about the opportunity in front of us. That high-level review was conducted between about January and May, which led to the August agenda meeting where we formally kind of presented the project to the public. The proposal at that time was from Sunrise Recreational Entertainment. Current proposal is still one of the two proposals that will be in front of you this afternoon, and it was submitted under the P-3 statute, Florida statute 255.065, which allows government entities to pursue these types of developments as a qualifying public project, and the project was submitted as a large multi-use sports complex with multiple features, multiple sports fields, pickleball courts, aquatic and water park attractions, restaurant and food service, and entertainment and its tournament programming focused on the sports tourism type of return on investment and what it would mean to the future of Clearwater. Total investment at that time was anticipated to be at about $180 million, and the project is still anticipated to take about three years for construction to complete it. After reviewing and evaluating that proposal, the staff presented its findings in August. The presentation from staff included a summation of the high-level review by staff in Prague, a copy of the pre-development high-level review by city and departments, and the prior report were attached to that agenda item back in August. During the August meeting, as I mentioned, staff also made a presentation in which we recommended acceptance of that proposal, but also to solicit other proposals. On Wednesday, August 19th of this year, the RFP for additional proposals advertised, and we received two responses. Prior to receiving those responses, we did hear from the community, many of them expressing concern about the process to submit a proposal. We listened. We then asked our procurement department to hold basically a pre-submittal event that was done virtually about a week before the proposal were due, and in response, those questions were addressed at that time. On Tuesday, September 15th, I'm sorry, Monday, September 21st, two proposals were received, one from Sunrise Entertainment and Recreational. Basically, they submitted an updated proposal, and the other from Clearwater Golf Associates. Copies of both submittals are attached to the agenda item that you're looking at today. The evaluation committee met, ranked the proposals on October 1st. The outcome of the committee's report or work concluded that the top-ranked proposal was Sunshine Recreational and Entertainment. Based on the review of the unsolicited proposal from January until May, and also the results of the evaluation committee meeting, staff is recommending accepting the results of the evaluation committee's work and authorizing us to enter in negotiations for an interim agreement with Sunshine Recreational and Entertainment. The purpose of an interim agreement, because there are two agreements outlined in the statute, is that, as you can imagine, someone who's going to advance a project of this magnitude, they want some assurances that they can work on that due diligence process, as well as, if you also remember, the funding stack for this includes other funds and not ours. So they still have to work on a number of those elements in order to take it to a point where we can have a comprehensive agreement. So the interim agreement would allow for them to also be identified as an exclusive negotiating partner. In other words, it would not be in their best interest for us to accept the proposal, say we'll negotiate a comprehensive agreement, and we're out negotiating other opportunities for the same site. So they're looking for some assurances so they can tell their funders and partners that this is the path that we both want to endeavor to pursue. The type of work that they also can be, that they also, we think, would be working on during this interim agreement period would be advancing project planning, the project planning process, including design, engineering, and completing some level of environmental review. Also completing additional due diligence with respect to financial analysis and securing the financing for the project. That is something that they'll also need to present to those funders as they get to the final, one of the steps in the process. This work will be and we expect to be happening while we're negotiating a final comprehensive agreement between the proposer and the City of Clearwater. Entering into an interim agreement is a recommended step. However, approval of this does not mean that a comprehensive agreement is guaranteed. We still have to negotiate to get from there to get to another there. So this is a step in the process as well. The scope, terms, and rights of both parties are limited and governed by the framework still outlined in the Statute 255.065, specifically Section 6 of Florida Statutes. So I am here to answer any questions. Prague representatives are here as well, city staff who contributed to the review of the proposal. Many of them are here as well. So that concludes my presentation of the item. I'm happy to, of course, I'll still be here, but answer any questions that you have along the conversation this afternoon. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Before we go further, I'd ask the city attorney to clarify the updates on the status of the conflicts that two of us had at the prior voting. So I know this came up at the last council meeting on the first citizens we heard. So Mayor Rector does have a voting conflict. He's already indicated it. He would be and will be abstaining from voting on Wednesday because he's an employee of a sports management facilities. He can actually, he's an elected official, so he can participate in any discussion, just can't vote on it. Now, as it relates to Mr. Menino, when this item came up on August the 6th, he stated he had a conflict, not under the voting conflict statute, but 286.012. Now, under that statute, elected officials are required to vote unless they have a conflict. In his situation, there is a potential issue. So what I did was the following week, I requested an opinion from the State Commission of Ethics. I got it back on August the 21st, and Mr. Menino does not have any type of voting conflict, so he is permitted to vote. I think that there was some discussion in that letter that he could abstain from voting, but that would really be based on some type of new information, some change in circumstances, something different than what was presented to the State Commission of Ethics. So Mr. Menino does not have any type of voting conflict, and he is permitted to vote on Wednesday. This time, then, we'll move forward with hearing from the two proposers. And first, we will call forward, let's see, make sure I get this name right here, on the LLC. I believe it's, well, I had it right here in front of me. I know it was Sunshine. Sunshine. Ms. Ronks, maybe you can tell us who the proposers are. Sunshine Red Regional and Entertainment LLC. There we go. Thank you. Thank you for reminding me. Yes, sir. 625 Court Street here on behalf of the qualified bid that was selected unanimously by council on August 6th. We were very pleased to continue the conversation and to keep that conversation moving in a positive direction, and that's what we're here advocating for tonight. And once again, we're perfectly aligned with your city staff recommendation and with your city staff evaluation committee. I do have a PowerPoint. If we could get that on the screen, that would be ideal. How do I get this to do slideshow? There it is. Okay. So when the council accepted our bid as a qualified bid, it opened up the process for other competing bids to see what was out there, and that's what we advocated for on August 6th, and that was the recommendation of the staff as well. And in that process, we did some self-evaluation, and we said, what is our weak spot? If we were going to submit a bid competing with our bid, based on the solicitation criteria, the scoring criteria, how would we beat ourselves? And what we said is we're missing a significant part of the market, which is a key critical function that Pinellas County has been desperate for, has been looking for for decades, and that's indoor recreation, a field house. So instead of all of the rectangular fields being outdoors, we now have one indoor field, and we also have eight basketball courts. So this further diversifies the recreation, the activity, the amenities, the accessibility for families of all ages, for people of all ages to enjoy this facility. That's a conceptual picture of the covered pickleball courts. So the only thing that changed from what you saw in August to now is that we have covered two of the outdoor courts or outdoor fields, putting them inside. One will continue to be an indoor field for things like football, et cetera, and the other will be eight basketball courts, which could be used for all kinds of different activities, indoor volleyball, not just basketball. So, again, this is the exact same concept but better, and the county in our initial conversations with Pinellas County is very excited and very happy. But this isn't just about recreation. This is also about bringing an outdated, out-of-code compliance site up to code for stormwater, water quality, treatment, runoff, attenuation, a site that has been a municipal recreation facility in 1970, and before that was a municipal landfill. So we're going to bring the site up to code from an environmental perspective. But what's even better, as Mr. Battle said, this interim agreement, this agreement to agree, Mr. Porter is going to immediately begin the environmental studies without even getting the agreement to agree. So if the council approves staff negotiations on Wednesday night, we will immediately invest $50,000 to do a Phase I environmental site assessment to identify potential recognized environmental conditions, ground-penetrating radar to help delineate historic landfill areas and other subservice anomalies, and debris and fill contamination activities to further evaluate the nature and composition. That's what a large sector of the community wants you to do. They want the city to shoulder that burden, which you might have to if we don't move forward with this process, but Mr. Porter is willing to do it now without even having an interim agreement because he needs to know what's there, and we need to know what that process is. And again, our national brownfields expert, Myles Balog, is here to answer any questions you have on that. The field house alone increases the tax contribution of this site to $75.5 million from $47 million, which was what you saw in August. These are numbers provided by our property appraiser, Mike Twitty. So these are not numbers that we made up. $13 million of that will be paid directly to the city of Clearwater for a site that is not on the tax rules. So you've got $13 million coming in ad valorem tax to the city, $45 million total in ad valorem tax, $10 million in sales tax, about $11 million in sales tax, and about $19 million contributed through additional hotel stays to the bed tax, which, as you know, Clearwater is already the biggest contributor to in Pinellas County, and this will just supercharge Clearwater's contribution to that. There was some confusion on the selection committee. We are not proposing no tax or rent abatement. What we're saying is we'll pay a minimum of $240,000 a year in rent, but we will get an offset for taxes. So if we pay you $1.3 million a year in taxes, we don't pay any rent. That's the proposal. Also, there was some confusion about who was going to operate the facility. Mr. Porter is not operating it himself. That's why he has sports facilities companies, the best company in the country to manage this, and Pinellas County has hired them as well. So Pinellas County trusts them in this field. You know, hundreds of jurisdictions across the country trust them. And finally, this field house, indoor field house, would be a crucial emergency operations center and management center. And I do want to just address before my time runs out, we are working hand-in-hand with FlyUSA, and any final site plan will be fully FAA compliant. Thank you, Ms. Trumps. Okay. Now we will move forward with the second proposer, Clearwater Golf Associates. My name is Julie Houston. I am the president and part owner, along with my brother, John Houston, of Clearwater Golf Associates. Thank you. We have successfully operated the Laney's Golf Course and partnered with the city of Clearwater for the past 26 years. I am here today not to propose a redevelopment, because we obviously already exist, but to propose a renewal to our current lease with the city of Clearwater. We are proposing to renew our 20-year lease that will include a capital investment in the first seven years of the new lease term. The property would stay in its current use, an 18-hole, public golf course, and driving range with clubhouse. We plan to make upgrades to the clubhouse, rebuild the current cart barn, and tee boxes. Also, repair, replace the perimeter fencing along Keene Road and Airport Drive, and cart pass as needed. These items will be included in the approximately $1 million capital investment to be done over the first seven years of the new 20-year lease. The proposed lease would also increase the city's fixed annual rent from $48,000 to $60,000, while including a performance-based revenue component of 3.5% of annual gross revenue above $1.2 million. The landings has grown from approximately 30,000 rounds of golf annually to more than 50,000 rounds in 2025, while also selling $20,000 of driving range bottles that same year. The landings attracts visitors from all around the globe. But the value of the landings cannot be measured by rounds alone. The landings fill a unique recreational role in the Clearwater community. It is one of the area's few remaining shorter golf courses, allowing players to enjoy a round of golf in significantly less time than a traditional championship-length golf course. That matters because residents are busy. Families have competing demands. Seniors may not want or be able to spend four or five hours on a golf course. Juniors and beginners can find a traditional championship course intimidating and overwhelmingly demanding. The landings provide accessible and affordable golf. It is particularly well-suited for seniors, juniors, beginners, families, working residents, experienced golfers looking for a shorter round, visitors, and tourists seeking an accessible public golf course. The golf industry itself has increasingly recognized the importance of making golf more accessible, less time-consuming, and welcome to new players. The landings already provide many of those characteristics today. It is also fully public. A golfer does not need to purchase a membership or belong to a private club to play at the landings. And perhaps just as importantly, the landings has worked to remain one of the most reasonably-placed places in played golf in Pinellas County. At a time when the cost of recreation continues to increase, affordability matters. The landings not only serves the demand for golf tourism, but also an accessible and affordable course for the local residents of Clearwater. We have run a successful company for the past 26 years and have had a great working relationship with the city of Clearwater and feel we are a sure thing. We ask you to strongly consider continuing our relationship and renew our lease for another 20 years. We believe this is more than a lease renewal. It is a plan to preserve a unique community recreational asset for the next generation. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Mr. Battle, I think we'll have you present whatever other comments to staff, and then we'll take questions from the council if they have any. Sure. Thank you, Mayor and Council. So we've done, I think, what we can do to bring it to this point for your conversation and questions from staff. We've tried to be as fair in the process that we've outlined, understanding that we were given the opportunity to review a proposal. We did not have any predetermined interest in making improvements to the golf course. But when we were presented with this proposal, I think all of you, when you heard about the opportunity conveyed to the manager, let's have a conversation, and we were brought to this point where the conversation has been a bit of us reviewing something that's very different than what exists today, as well as understanding that there is an existing use. So from the standpoint of what we do next, again, our recommendation is to accept the top-ranked proposal and enter into negotiating an interim agreement. But, again, we look forward to any questions you may have about what we have learned along the way to help with your decision-making process. Okay. Any questions from the council for either one of the two proposers or both or Mr. Battle? Vice Mayor? Yes, thank you. Mr. Battle, I think my questions are going to be directed towards Sunshine Development at first, more so with the new addition to the Covered Field Eight Basketball Courts. You ended on Emergency Operations Center. Can you expound on what that may look like in the future? Yeah, I think there's a good question. Thank you, Mr. Battle. Thank you, Vice Mayor. If we could put that slide back up. It is actually currently on my screen. So this is a unique site in that it's 70 feet above sea level. That is one of the reasons why the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office stages their helicopters at the Clearwater Air Park during emergencies. Obviously, with the adjacency to the air park, it could serve multiple emergency functions. It is also near a middle school. God forbid if there are any emergencies that were necessitated at that school, this would be a very, very safe place to take people and to congregate the community. So this would be built, fully lead standards up to all those hurricane resistance standards. And as a site that would now be up to code for stormwater and flooding, it would not flood like it does today or to the extent it does today. And it would be perfectly situated really central North Pinellas County for emergency operations and potentially shelter as well. Yeah, thank you very much for going over that because as the new addition, you know, I just wanted to let you clarify more of what the thought process is there. And as an emergency management coordinator for, you know, my fire department here in the county and dealing closely with Pinellas County emergency management, I know that the needs for sheltering and assisting during catastrophic events is something that they're constantly searching for. So to be able to put something like this near the only airfield that will be in Pinellas County should any major hurricane come, because for those of you who do not know, we've become a tiny little island, and the only thing to drop resources should any of the causeways or bridges go down would be our Clearwater Airport. So this new addition piqued my interest, and that's why I wanted you to go into it a little bit more. And the willingness of Sunshine Development and the operators there to potentially put that with Pinellas County emergency management would be greatly appreciated and much needed. So depending on what happens through the rest of the discussion, I would hope that we could definitely include that going forward within any type of other agreements to ensure that we would be able to utilize that in an amicable fashion for both parties. Another thing, if you can speak to it, or if we need the Browns Field expert to speak to it, why did we, or not we, you all, decide to go with turf or AstroTurf instead of turf? I've seen that question come up through the community as well as a few e-mails that I've received and personal conversations that I've received over the past few weeks. So if you could probably expound on that, that'd be awesome. I'll have Eric Sullivan address that, Mr. Vice Mayor. Thank you. Eric Sullivan, Sports Facilities Companies. It's a great question, one that comes up quite often. So the reason is really two things. One, diversity of uses for the different types of sports and activities that we can do over those spaces and the quality of those surfaces. So when we have tournament activities, let's say that we want to run flag football sports on one day, then we want to run soccer. Flag football is more difficult on the growing natural grass playing surface than artificial turf. Artificial turf keeps that safety, that playability. And then also when we have rain outs or rain delays, inclement weather for tournaments, it allows more playability because they drive faster and are more playable under wet conditions. Okay. Thank you very much for that. I appreciate it. I look forward to the rest of the discussion. Thank you for answering questions. Okay. So I had six, not down to two. Thank you for your questions. And after the presentation, that's great. Okay. So the first one, I think, goes up in the answer. So in your letter accompanying the proposal, I noticed that there were several modifications, and we actually went over them today, right? The additional landscaping, privacy walls, changes to the vehicular access, enclosed pickleballs, and the introduction of indoor fieldhouses, and then some more today. So I guess what I want to know is how was that shaped, and how do you foresee continuing that collaboration with the community if the process moves forward? Absolutely. Councilmember Teixeira. And I didn't hit on the things that we previously discussed about amendments to the site plan or improvements to the site plan because we previously discussed them, and I only had five minutes. I'm giving you more now. That's right. As you pointed out, the fieldhouse isn't the only difference between the very initial submittal, and the community was gracious enough to organize a town hall forum, and we attended that, and we heard what was, you know, concerns. So we incorporated several things so far. And, again, this is a concept. This is a concept plan. It will change. You're not approving any development. And even if you approve the pre-development agreement negotiations, you're not approving anything. So we closed off the airport drive access because that was a significant concern of the Marymount community. That may be just for emergency vehicles only, like a gate, but it would not be for ingress, egress. We also significantly increased the buffers with St. Andrews Cove, the condominiums. You have at least 40 to 50-foot buffers that are landscaped. We have a masonry wall. I say opaque wall, but it's really a masonry wall that will further protect the property. We agreed to incorporate a 24-hour on-site security slash manager so there would always be someone there. We agreed to cover the pickleball courts so that to avoid some noise concerns, and also those pickleball courts are in the center of the site or actually right up on Keene Road in the center on the west side of the site. And we also agreed to remove any paid parking because there was certainly concern that folks would try to avoid paying to park when parking in the neighborhood and increasing traffic and on-site or on-street parking in the neighborhood. And additionally, as Mr. Yates pointed out, we're not taking away any public roads. We're adding public roads. We're going to add a turn lane on Keene. So this is millions and millions of dollars in private investment, not just in the environmental, but also in the city infrastructure as well. So hopefully that answers your question, Council Member. Yeah, I have one more. Sorry. You talked about roads. Perfect timing. Nice segue. So in the spirit of consistency, has pedestrian safety along Keene Road been evaluated, particularly given the anticipated number of families and children crossing that street, and would any special safety perimeter or street closures be necessary? So there will be no active street closures. But Mr. Yates can address the rest of that. Thank you. Good afternoon. Michael Yates with Palm Traffic. So we have not gotten into any detailed pedestrian crossings and all that. The southern access there that is shown, there is an existing signal there that modifications would be done. So there would be pedestrian enhancements done to modify that signal, to align with it, to add another leg. So to your point, we have not gotten to that detailed of an evaluation. We did do a full traffic study, which is the initial step to look at the vehicular movements. And that's where we identified the turn lanes that would be required for safe ingress and egress into the site and the operations. But as we get further along in the process, we absolutely would be looking at the pedestrian movements and how that would function. You know, you have a middle school across the street to the west. So that would be part of the next step. But obviously, with the signalized intersection there, it allows for that safe pedestrian crossings across King. And that would be part of that next step. Did that answer your question enough? Yeah. I just heard no street closures. That's what I heard. Okay. Thank you. Questions? Council Member? Thank you. A couple things. First, Ms. Houston, not a question. Just wanted to thank you for being here. Thank you for your presentation. Thank you and John for our partnership and the service you've provided and the value that you have brought to our community. So regardless of what direction the city goes or this dais goes, that should not throw any shade at all on our respect and appreciation for our relationship for many years. So thank you for that. Okay. A couple quick clarifications. There was discussions in the community about a 99-year lease. And I saw 65. Can you just expand? Yes. Yes, sir. So the proposed lease term would be 65-year initial term with a 30-year option. And that is what we would need for financing. And it's also consistent with the city charter. Beautiful. So it's not 99. Thank you. A couple things that are important to me on moving forward with whatever direction we go are making sure there's clear commitments. And four areas that I kind of looked at. And environmental remediation, stormwater drainage, traffic mitigation, and economic and community value. And because you had five minutes, we really didn't get to hit too much. And you talked a little bit about the environmental remediation. Can you talk about stormwater upgrades and how that is going to add value to our watershed and protections? Yes. We'll have our civil engineer, Mr. Cashin, address that for you, Council Member. Good afternoon. Sean Cashin, Gulf Coast Consulting. This redevelopment of this property would have to adhere to the new statewide stormwater rules, which requires 85% to 95% reduction of nitrogen and phosphorus. So it's a very, very high-level water quality treatment that it would be performed on-site prior to discharging off-site. And the majority of the site drains westward through culverts and eventually to Stevenson's Creek. So that water that right now is not being treated, the pesticides, fertilizers, what have you, from the golf course, our stormwater runoff will have a very, very high level of water quality treatment prior to release to the west. Yes, through the culvert system under Keene Road. Thank you. Additionally, with stormwater and drainage, there were discussions from the community about some flooding, whether it's blue sky or storm-related flooding in the immediate neighborhoods there. What are we doing to address that in this proposal? Okay. I think, yeah, at one of the neighborhood meetings there was a discussion of flooding. It was coming very, very close to the St. Andrews condos. So part of the golf course is within a floodplain, and we're aware of that. So part of our master stormwater design will accommodate floodplain storage in addition to water quality storage, in addition to stormwater storage. So the flooding that is occurring on the golf course currently that is meandering towards the condominium units, that will be contained and controlled probably by a combination of underwater or underground vaults and specific areas graded on the site that will accommodate floodplain storage as well. Perfect. Thank you. I think that's probably it for on the stormwater side. On the environmental side, I appreciate the work going forward for the landfill concerns. I know there's a $50,000 commitment up front immediately to start remediate that. Is there anything in a long-term plan regarding monitoring? Myles Bellog, National Brownfield Practice Leader for InSafe. Long-term, what we would do is we would pursue a brownfield site rehabilitation agreement, which would require we would do a full site assessment of the site, including soil and groundwater. We would also evaluate the solid waste that's on site. We would come up with an approved remedial action plan with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and that could result in some groundwater monitoring. The groundwater currently has not been tested. That's one of the potential remedies or actual groundwater remediation. And we do foresee removing solid waste from the site and also contaminated media. There's arsenic, lead, and some pesticides that have been identified already that will need to go. That's part of the redevelopment. Appreciate that. Yeah, I recently saw some studies that looks like we did in 2019 into 2020. We only did six inches of the topsoil, and we didn't do anything with the water below it at the water table. Yeah, we would do a comprehensive site assessment, so we would expand on what's already been done, and we would definitely do a network of monitoring wells. Based on the Phase 1 that Mr. Porter is going to fund, we'll look at the recognized environmental conditions across the site. We know about the landfill. We know about golf course activities. But there may be other activities that we need to look at and evaluate. Thank you, sir. Thank you. That was it for my questions. I said, Joy, you're going third or fourth. There's a lot of your questions get addressed before it comes to you, so thank you. Okay. Any others? Councilman Rolbritt. Boy, this is a hard one for me. I'm very familiar with Mr. Porter's developments. I think they've done a really good job of presenting and also meeting with the public. You know, I've gone – I also know the Houstons. We've had a long history with them. And then I think, you know, what kind of community we have. I know we need this for the youth countywide. But, you know, Clearwater has an older population too. And, you know, this golf course is – I'm hearing – and I'm not a golfer, by the way, so I don't have a preference here. But I know that a lot of the older golfers love the landings because it is a shorter golf course and it's less expensive than the others we have. So, you know, I've really gone over the evaluation tabulation from the city as well as what both, you know, have submitted as to what, you know, they're going to give us, give the citizens of Clearwater. And my only comment would be with the city, I guess. And I talked to Marcus about this earlier. He was the only one that really gave comments. I wish some of the other evaluators, the committee members, would have commented as well. It would have helped a lot, I think. But we'll see. I don't have any questions. I think a lot of the questions that I had were answered by other council – by, you know, council members that were presented and answered. So I'll wait until Wednesday night to continue. Thanks, Mayor. Yeah, I do have one more follow-up thing to say, just in case not everybody's here come Wednesday night. I agree. This isn't, you know, the easiest decision. I am a golfer. Ironically enough, one of my friends was inviting me to play around at the landings before he knew that I had to sit in this chair. So when evaluating this, I do appreciate the time that the staff has put into this. And I also appreciate, you know, Sunshine Development going through and meeting so much with the community and meeting those needs. I know that I've said that a few times. But I agree. You know, we do have an aging population, and I've heard the same things, that the golfers there do appreciate the affordability that goes with the landings golf course. But we also do have the other rising need of young families and trying to support them. So this isn't tough. This isn't easy. And, you know, I do look forward to the rest of what has to come Wednesday. And thank you to both parties. Ms. Houston, thank you for being here. And Sunshine and Mr. Onks, thank you for your presentations. Okay. Anything else? All right. Nothing else? Then the council will consider this agenda item on Wednesday night. Thank you. We move to item 7.1 of the agenda. Good afternoon, council. Brandy Clondreia, director of general support services. Item 7.1 is going to be pulled because of some clerical issues with the supporting documentation. Any questions on this agenda item? If not, do we have consent? It's being pulled. We're going to pull the item. I couldn't hear you. We had folks leaving in the background. So thank you. All right. Thank you. Agenda item 7.2. Authorize a purchase order to Rush Truck Centers of Florida, Inc., DBA Rush Truck Center, Tampa, for the purchase of a 2027 Peterbilt 567 tractor and associated items. Good afternoon, council. Brandy Clondreia, director of general support services. Before you today is a request to authorize the purchase of a 2027 Peterbilt 567 tractor for Rush Truck for $288,237.50, utilizing the Florida Sheriff's Association Cooperative Purchasing Agreement. This purchase will replace Unit G4643, a 2018 Peterbilt 567 tractor used by the Solid Waste Transfer Station to transport refuge, which is garbage, for the city's transfer station to the landfill. The vehicle was originally identified for replacement in fiscal year 27, but was subsequently removed from the replacement list during the budget planning process. The existing vehicle, originally purchased for approximately $197,000, has reached the end of its economical service life. It has accumulated over 100,000 miles and 91,000 engine hours with approximately $133,000 in life-to-date maintenance costs, with an additional estimated $20,000 in current repairs needed to keep this unit operational. The Solid Waste Transfer Station currently operates six frontline tractors and maintains one spare. Replacing this unit is important to maintain reliable daily operations and minimize potential service disruptions. With an anticipated build time of approximately nine months, moving forward now will help minimize the risk of service disruptions while we continue maintaining existing units. And with that, I'm available. Should you have any questions or concerns about this item? Okay, questions on 7.2. Do we have consent? Do we have consent on 7.2? Thank you. To an item, 8.1. Approve the collective bargaining agreement between the City of Clearwater and Communications Workers of America, CWA, Local 3108, from October 1, 2026. Through September 30, 2028. Awesome. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Jessica Harmison, Human Resources Assistant Director. The item before you today is for a two-year collective bargaining agreement with the Communication Workers of America, Local 3108. I'm happy to report the City and CWA reached a tentative agreement on September 14, 2026. This was later ratified by membership on September 28. A list of numerous changes from the prior bargaining agreement has been provided, and I would be happy to review if the Council would like. However, as a high-level summary, this agreement contains changes to 13 of the 15 total articles. The most important change is Article 9. The negotiated salaries for the first year include longevity and a 3.5% merit increase, which will be retro to the beginning of the current fiscal year. Additionally, the minimum and maximum for all pay grades will increase by 2% in order to remain competitive in the market. For the second year, there will be a wage-only reopener, and this aligns with the strategic priority of superior public service. With that, I'm happy to answer any questions. Any questions on this agenda? If not, do we have consent? Yep. We have consent on 8.1. Thank you, and thank you for your work on this. Jim, I have 9.1. Approve a work order to Ovivo USA LLC for the purchase, removal, and installation of a replacement aeration impeller assembly at the Northeast Water Reclamation Facility. Good afternoon, Mayor, Council. Mike Flanagan, Public Utilities Director. The item before you is to replace an impeller at the Northeast WRF. So what an impeller is, essentially it's a shaft that goes down, and it provides aeration to microbes within the basin. So it serves two purposes. One purpose is for mixing, to get the microorganisms to come into contact with the food that we provide to them. It also provides them oxygen. So in that basin, there's about 40 quintillion microbes. So if you were to put that into context, if we were to count one every second, it would take you about 3 trillion years. And that's about how many we have in the basin at our Northeast WRF. So we need to provide them oxygen, essentially, to get them to do what we need them to do. So in this instance, what we need them to do is to convert ammonia into nitrate. So that's the role that they play within the space. And we create different environments in different bases. I'm bringing this up because the next item, we're going to talk about this more. So that's really the intention of this mechanical area, so that we can provide them the oxygen to feed these city workers. Good. Thank you for that explanation. Thank you. That's very helpful for me and I think for the public, too. We're not going to be counting. We just see that we see the name of the piece of equipment, and we don't understand all that. So that is very helpful. Thank you for sharing that. Any questions on this? If not, do we have consent? Yeah. We have consent on 9.1. 9.2. Authorize a $36,000 increase to contract number 902592 with ChemTrade Chemicals, U.S. LLC, for liquid aluminum sulfate. All right. Mayor and Council, the item before you, this is for alum. So essentially what we use alum for is to reduce the phosphorus in our facilities. We mentioned just previously about how we utilize these microorganisms. There's a different basin that we have within the facility where we actually don't provide oxygen. These microorganisms, they help us remove that phosphorus in that basin. We don't have that at all of our facilities. It only works to a varying degree, because to meet permit compliance with FTP, we need to get down to one milligram per liter, a very small amount of this phosphorus that's left. So if we can't do it biologically, which is how we intend to typically do it, we can do it chemically. So essentially it will bind with the phosphorus, allow the phosphorus to settle out with the solids, which is later used for fertilizer, which typically phosphorus is very positive for anyway. So that's really the intention of this. The reason we need this increase is because we've utilized more alum than we have in the past. Our intention is to be able to bring that back down. That's our goal, to continue to bring that back down. We'd rather do it biologically than chemically. But there are other constraints and other things that get in our way that prevent us from being able to do that. Okay. Okay. Any questions on this one? It doesn't say consent, but this is consent. Right. Yeah. Yes. Sorry. Okay. Do we have consent? We have consent. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Agent item 10.1. Approve the construction contract to C&T Contracting Services, LLC, for the Solid Waste Truck Wash Replacement Project. Good afternoon, Mayor, Council members. Kerr and Senator Amy Solid Waste today. We're going to team up with Public Works for this project. So I'll introduce it, and then Public Works will take it over. So I just want to share, Mayor, Council members, the Solid Waste Truck Wash brings a unique and needed addition to a fleet. Clearwater has invested significantly in improving our fleet over the past several years, thanks to you guys. Across the Solid Waste Industry, routine truck washing is an important maintenance practice because it helps prevent corrosion, reduce buildup. One of the things that will help us build up is what we call garbage juice. I don't have facts like Mike does, but it improves safety and helps prevent corrosion, reduce, and also it helps with our parents. It extends the service life of the equipment and providing a dedicated truck wash will help protect and maintain our city assets for years to come. And one of the greatest things it does is it helps and improves our morale in our team. I'll turn it over to Sam. Hi, Mayor, Council, esteemed staff, Samantha Riley, Public Works. So today we're requesting approval of a contract with C&T Construction for $6 million for the truck wash. So just some highlights on this is that we had bid this earlier, and we only got one bid. And so we had to revisit our design and our solicitation, and we put it out again, and happy to say we got three bids this time. And this time we have a bid that came in about a million dollars lower than our estimate. So we have an existing truck wash out there now. It's the manual truck wash. So that will still be in service while we're building the automatic truck wash. And then when the automatic truck wash is done, we're going to go in and replace the existing truck wash. And so the existing truck wash really helps get into those hard-to-reach spots that the automatic truck wash really can't get to that well. But instead of having to constantly do the whole thing with the nozzle, it will reduce that amount. Do you guys have any questions for me? Vice Mayor. Yes, once again, thank you for going back and, like, re-reviewing what you guys were doing to save the taxpayers a million dollars. I think that's admirable, and I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, and thank you for pointing out that it's really a cost-saving idea for us to, you know, to maintain the vehicles so that they last longer by reducing corrosion. And that's the goal here is to not just make our trucks look prettier, which we're happy to have that too. But reduce corrosion and make these vehicles last longer. Thank you. Okay. Any questions on this one? Further questions? If not, do we have consent? Yes. We have consent on 10.1. Gen. 9 on 10.2. Approve consulting service agreements for on-call construction cost estimating and advisory services for a period of four years. Evening, Mayor, Council Members, Marcus Robinson, Public Works Director. So in our efforts to keep driving down costs, this one's for on-demand services, so we'll only pay for them as we need them. But it will give us estimating, scheduling, and grant writing. So this will help us with our negotiations, holding the contractors more and A&E more responsible from a schedule and budget standpoint. So looking forward to getting this one. It's a list that we can choose from. Different ones have different capabilities. So we're looking forward to getting in and finding out which firms are best. Questions on 10.2? No questions? Do we have consent? Yes. We have consent on 10.2. Thank you. Agenda item 10.3. Approve an interlocal agreement with Pinellas County for penny for assistance toward the Gulf Boulevard Improvement Plan. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. I'm Anna Hallam, Transportation Division Manager for Public Works. This item approves an interlocal agreement with Pinellas County, extending the reimbursement deadline to March 31, 2027, for Clearwater's remaining penny for Gulf Boulevard funds. Council previously approved a purchase order for equipment to improve pedestrian crossings and add enhanced lighting using the remaining funds. This agreement allows the additional time to complete the project and request reimbursement. Questions? Questions on this agenda? If no questions, do we have consent? Yes. We have consent. Thank you. Thank you. And item 11.1. Point two, excuse me, Charlie S. Lander to the Community Development Board with a term expiring October 14, 2030. Council, there is one application available for you to approve. Okay. Discussion? We have one choice, but it does say that he was a developer with 35 years' experience, so he does fit the bill. Okay. Good. All right. We have consent. We have consent. Agenda item 11.2. Confirm the mayor's appointment of Chantel Rosario to the Clearwater Housing Authority Board as the housing recipient with the term expiring October 14, 2030. Any questions? Do we have consent? Yes. We have consent on 11.2. Okay. 12.1. Approve a construction contract and purchase order to Kelly Brothers, Inc. for the Clearwater Harbor Marino Northeast Walkway and Gangway Replacement. Good afternoon, mayor, members of council. My name is Kelly Petrich. I'm the engineering division manager with the public works department. I'm pleased today to approve a construction contract and purchase order for Kelly Brothers, Inc. This is actually a FEMA-funded contract, and it was caused by damage during Hurricane Milton, and it supports actually the north side of the Harbor Marina. The overall project purpose is to add resiliency and repair the damaged docks. Some of the highlights of the project scope includes replacement of multiple floating docks, two new aluminum gangways and pile guides, replacing of all cabling and utilities, and to fix the gangway that was actually damaged by a boat during the storm. This work, we hope, will add actually resiliency for many storms to come. I'd be happy to answer any questions today. Okay. Questions on this, Jim? Vice mayor? No questions. Thank you, Kelly, for pointing out that this is, you know, going to be going towards the FEMA reimbursement from the Helene response, so thank you for that. Okay. Do we have consent? We have consent on 12.1. Thank you. June 9, 13.1. So, Council, 13.1, it's a third reading for an ordinance relating to amendments to the comp plan to establish new plan redevelopment district overlay future land use category with bonuses, incorporate policies for a new North Greenwood community overlay district. So, just third reading. Okay. Okay. Any questions on that? If not, move to agenda item 13.2. So, 13.2 is another third reading, and it's an ordinance related to the future land use map to apply the plan redevelopment district overlay within the North Greenwood community. Any questions on that? None. Move to agenda item 13.3. So, 13.3, it's to approve a legal services agreement with Bryant Miller Olive. It's for the representation of the city in a case involving Nash Keys versus the city of Clearwater. So, a few weeks ago, the city was served with a complaint by Nash Keys. They are a local business in the downtown area. Again, the city is a defendant. They're not plaintiff. But it involves a couple different aspects. It involves the plaintiff is seeking an injunction and a declaratory action related to the garden vacation ordinance. So, I'm seeking the approval of this agreement to hire Bryant Miller Olive. They have represented the city for probably more than 20 years in various aspects of local government law. Ellie Nyberger is going to be the lead attorney on the case. She was the attorney that represented the city in the state of the garden complaint that was pending in federal court. So, the agreement is exempt from bidding. I would seek approval up to $100,000, which is pretty standard for a legal services agreement. Paige Roberts is doing very well. At the same time, this is sort of a, I would call it like a specialty item. And that's why I'm seeking outside counsel and I'm asking to be placed on consent. Okay. Any questions? If this does, say, go to court and Clearwater is found in the right, are we reimbursed fees that we spend in litigating this? So, I will, I want to double check on this, but typically cost, yes. Now, as it relates to attorney's fees, I think if it's determined to be frivolous, then, yes, we could seek fees. But cost, typically, yes. Okay. Any other questions? Do we have consent? Do we have consent on 13.3? Gen. Item 14, city manager. Nothing, sir. All right. Gen. Item 15, city attorney. I just wanted to give an update. So, the last, I think, work session, a couple weeks ago, there was a discussion about amending the council rules. Right now, we have council rules related to the card system, and there was discussion about changing it to the online system. The change is fairly simple, but I believe what council wanted was the ability to hire some type of software provider for a numbering system. So, for instance, if somebody signed up, that the person that signed up online would be able to get some type of number. This call is out last week and this week. I don't believe that we've gotten enough feedback as to that new software provider, but we do intend on bringing this back in November. Okay. Some hopeful information. Very good. Okay. I move to item 16.1. Annual evaluation of the performance and salary of the city manager and eligibility to sell back up to 10 days of general leave annually with an effective date of September 19, 2026. Okay. This will be on the agenda Wednesday night, so any of us want to discuss it now, but this is our opportunity to do so. So, I just have a question. So, I know that there is, and part of the item is the ability for the city manager to sell back vacation leave. If council would like an amendment to the agreement, I can certainly draft it and can be ready to go by Wednesday. That's what council is interested in doing. And if it's a written amendment to the agreement, then the city manager would be able to do it, you know, next year and the year after. Do you have objection to that? Good. You're good. All right. Yeah. Very good. Okay. We moved to item 16.2. Annual evaluation of performance and salary of the city attorney. Is this? I mean, we just hired you. So, by council rules, you're required to do an evaluation just by the council rules each year, no matter when I get hired. I understand that. Yeah. In terms of the salary, my employment contracts, I'm not eligible for an increase since October of 2027. So, it's just the review. Okay. Very good. Okay. Any further discussion? Okay. All right. We're going to item 17, new business. Any new business reports to add to the upcoming agenda? If not, move to item 18, council comments. Anybody got any comments today? Not. 19 closing comments by mayor, and I don't have any today. So, with that, we will adjourn the work session of October 12, 2026. Thank you.