City Council - Aug 13, 2026

Welcome to the City of St. Petersburg City Council Meeting. Your elected officials are Mayor Ken Welch, District 1, Hopely Gerdes, District 2, Brandi Gabbard, District 3, Mike Harding, District 4, and Council Chair, Lisette Panowitz, District 5, Deborah Fig Sanders, District 6, Gina Driscoll, District 7, Corey Gibbons Jr., and District 8 and Council Vice Chair, Ritchie Floyd. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the August 13, 2026 City Council Meeting. Clerk, can I please have a roll call? Floyd. Here. Curtis. Gabbard. Here. Harding. Here. Panowitz. Here. Rick Sanders. Here. Driscoll. Here. Gibbons. Here. Today we're going to have our invocation given by Pastor Michael Hawkins of Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church. If you could please stand and then remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. Good afternoon, Pastor. Good afternoon. We thank you for the opportunity to come before you all to this day. Let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, we come now. We want to first say thank you for this day. Thank you for the opportunity. And God, I want you to say thank you for the city of St. Petersburg. We ask that you bless everyone that is here, those of our citizens. But trust the council, our mayor, and everyone that's involved in making decisions that cooler heads prevail and that we'll be able to do the business that you have set before. So we thank you for this opportunity. And this we ask in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. You may all be seated. Thank you, Pastor, for that beautiful invocation. Good. Council members, we have an agenda before us. I'll entertain a motion for approval. I'll approve. Second. We have a motion and a second. Clerk, if you can open the machine for voting. And council members, please enter your vote. Seeing that all present council members have voted, clerk, please tally announce the vote. Madam Chair, the motion to approve the agenda passes unanimously with the council member Gerdes being absent. Thank you. Clerk, are there any speakers for open forum? Yes, there is. If you can please read the rules. If you wish to address city council on subjects other than public hearing or quasi-dedicial items listed on the agenda, please sign up with the clerk. Only the individual wishing to speak may sign the open forum sheet. Only city residents, owners of property, business owners in the city, or their employees may speak. All issues discussed under open forum must be limited to issues related to the city of St. Peeves-Rourke government. If you're speaking to an item on the agenda, you may only speak once during the open forum or when the item comes up on the agenda. Applause is not permitted except in connection with awards and presentations. In order to provide an opportunity for all citizens to address council, each individual will be given three minutes to speak, and after which the microphone will be muted. If you wish to address city council through the Zoom meeting, you must use the hand-raised feature button in the Zoom app or enter star 9 on your phone at the time the agenda item is addressed. When it is your turn to speak, you will be unmuted and asked to state your name and address. At the conclusion of your comments or when you have reached the three-minute time limit, you will be muted. All raised hands will be lowered after each agenda item. Regardless of the method of participation used, normal rules apply, including the three-minute time limit on comments, the requirement that any presentation materials must be submitted in advance of the meeting and the rules of decorum. If live public comments is disrupted by the violations of the rules of decorum, the chair is authorized to accept public comments by alternate means, including by email only. And Madam Chair, we do have one speaker. There are two Zoom speakers as well. Okay, we can call the speaker that's here present, and we'll call the Zoom speakers. Alexander Westlick, please go to either podium, state your name, address, or cross street. For the record, you'll have three minutes to address council. Hey, my name is Alexander Vesalik. I'm here today to ask you all to get rid of the Flock cameras in St. Pete and to force the SPPD to discontinue its relationship with ICE. In case some of you all are unfamiliar with Flock, the Flock cameras. Excuse me, sir, can you give your address? You didn't give an address. Oh, sorry. 340 47th Street North. So in case some of you all are unfamiliar with Flock, they're a company that started producing cameras for HOAs in 2020 that began relationships with police all across the U.S. And essentially the way that the cameras allow the police to act or to circumvent warrants. So it used to be if they suspected someone committing a crime and they would in the footage, if someone wouldn't give it up willingly, they would get warrants and they would obtain this footage. The problem now is that they run 24-7. They're ingrained with AI. They read license plates. And there's no procedure from any police department across the U.S. as far as seeing which officer gets to go into the camera, go into the computer and get the live footage from the camera. So all across the U.S., currently we have dozens of cases of cops stalking ex-girlfriends, stalking people they don't like for political reasons. And one big thing that's because of the AI, you don't actually even have to put in a license plate. You can put in a bumper sticker, and it will literally give you every car in the U.S. with that bumper sticker on it. So the implication is that especially where the U.S. is heading, whether we're at a precipice of mass surveillance right now, the idea of having cameras that we already know for a fact cops are abusing and stalking people that they don't like or other significant people used to be their significant other. And the thing with that is that the police essentially get away with everything they do in the U.S. They don't really get charged very often. So the idea that we have dozens right now of cases right now with cops getting caught stalking ex-girlfriends or actually having charges brought against them means we might have thousands, tens of thousands of cops abusing this. Second off, the idea, there's also I think 100 cities so far that have already sworn off the cameras because they've caught the police abusing these cameras and stalking people. And then as far as forcing SPPD to cancel its relationship with ICE, I really don't feel like I have to go into too much detail about that with American civilians and just human beings in general being shot. And then every single time they say they were trying to ram them with their car, and then every single time we find out that wasn't the case. They just canceled TPS, which made 1.3 million legal citizens illegal. And we have a lot of Haitians that work here in the medical field that are now being made illegal, people who went to college here, lived here, paid taxes, had children here, had lives here. And we're probably going to start to see a very heavy ICE presence here, and I would love to see us not use the FLOT cameras to help ICE grab people who don't have it. There's no reason that they should have to leave in the first place. I would like to lessen the relationship with ICE as much as possible and try to deter them deporting Haitians as much as humanly possible. Thank you. Next two speakers, please. We have another speaker, Jason Scott. Jason Scott. Please go to either podium. State your name, address, or cross-seat. Hey, guys. Good to see you all again today. I'm just speaking regarding... You give us your... Oh, yes, sorry. Jason Scott, 4636 Redfish Lane. I'm coming here today to talk about the rate increases on our water utilities. I believe that we need to look at other creative solutions for our residents. Right now, we have pilots, which is payments in lieu of taxes on our water utility bills. I think the city can take a reduction on those revenues to benefit the residents, to lessen the raise on those rates going forward. And then I also want to add one other item, which is around Duke Energy. Right now, they're pushing really hard on the administration and city council. And I think we need to have a firm stance to push back about their misinformation here. Thank you. Thank you. Next two speakers, please. We have two more cards, Matt. Yes, that's fine. Gary Wallace and Thomas Hodge. Is that correct? Go to either podium. State your name and address for the record. Either podium. You can go to the other. You can start, sir. Is that name and address? Name and address, yes, please. Gary Wallace, 11601 4th Street North. So, yeah, I'm not familiar with all the ins and outs of the utility increase, but I know I'm a resident, and it's hard enough as it is, and I would just like the city to take anything they can do to keep rates from going up. So, you know, it's been a rough couple of years. Yeah, that's all I got for you. Thank you, sir. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Thomas at 4927 13th Avenue North. What's your last name? Oh, Thomas Gross, G-R-O-S-S. Go ahead. Okay, thank you. I just wanted to repeat some of the comments on the water utility bills and just on stuff I've heard while talking about the Duke Energy and the possibility of the city taking it over. A lot of the concerns have been about how the city has handled the publicly owned water utility. And so I do think, like, while I do think publicly owned power is definitely necessary, we do need to put our money where our mouth is and actually, like, address concerns from residents in terms of our increasing water rates and addressing the affordability crisis through much more progressive plans for billing rates. One thing I have heard from some people is in relation to the pilot and pile-off payments, money collected through water bills being transferred to the general fund through payments in lieu of taxes and fees. These function like taxes but are not necessary. If rate increases are needed because of infrastructure or utility department costs, council should consider reducing or eliminating these transfers so the money residents already pay stays within the utility. I do think, again, like, I do think the city taking over our energy grid would be overall massively beneficial to residents, but we do need to address concerns from residents who are skeptical of the city's ability to take care of this. And one of the main benefits for city owning these utilities is accountability to the residents. That's all I think. The first Zoom speaker, Marlee. Marlee, I'm going to enter you into the meeting space. Please unmute yourself. State your name and address for the record. You have three minutes to address city council. Marlee, can you hear us? Yes, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Awesome. Thank you. Marlee Price, 5034 32nd Ave North. I'm also speaking today about the water bills. I know our water and wastewater system need a lot of investment, and I fully support making those investments. But another across-the-board increase on residents, I really don't think that should be the automatic answer every year. I would really like to see the administration and then council look at some more creative alternatives before these rates are finalized. One is the pilots, the payments in lieu of taxes, like others have brought up today, that get transferred from the utility into the general fund. If the utility is struggling to catch up on the infrastructure or any other department costs, I think I'm asking council again to consider even just temporarily reducing or eliminating those transfers so more money residents pay right now stay with the utility. Even if that only reduces the burden of the increase this year, that is something. And especially since the city has talked about reducing the franchise fee for Duke Energy, I just think it would be a lot more beneficial for the city to do that for its own utility before doing it for a for-profit utility that is making billions of dollars a year and paying no taxes federally usually. So just really something to consider to the benefit of those citizens here. The other thing is looking at the sewer capacity fee for new developments. And if that is changing this year, I think it would be really cool if council like is yelling that from the rooftops because people are really frustrated with the development. And I think that would really just help people stomach this even better if that is changing because I have not heard that yet. But yeah, it would be nice if development is paying at least the full cost and not putting more of a burden on existing rate payers. Again, I know we need more investment in the system, and I really hope the administration is looking at every possible creative option before another across-the-board increase. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. The next Zoom speaker is Yama. Yama, I'm going to enter you into the meeting space. Please unmute yourself. State your name, address, and cross street. I'm sorry, your name and address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address city council. My name is Lama El-Hasan. I live in the Barclays State off of Gandy, and I'm here to talk to city council about the Save Our Streets proposal. This is something that the Bay Area Dream Defenders has been advocating for year after year. I do want to thank council members Gabbard and Floyd for having it as part of their priorities for this budget cycle because they clearly recognize the need to prioritize children and being proactive about their safety. Too often are young folks right here in St. Petersburg impacted by gun violence, whether it's from community or from the police themselves, and neither of these should be the reality. So if we want to actually address gun violence at its root, if we want to address the quote-unquote scare around teen takeovers, if we want to address the challenges that young people experience, we really need to be proactive about creating safe spaces for them. Save Our Streets is one part of that puzzle by making sure that families are aware of the programs that exist and making it as transparent and easy as possible to register the youth in their households for these programs. There is absolutely no reason that any programming in this city should have any vacancies. But there's too many barriers that people experience, whether it's a complicated registration process or transportation challenges or inadequate child care for different age kids, or simply being unaware of their existence. So the Save Our Streets proposal addresses some of these concerns, and we know that we need more. And this is one way to move us towards a holistic approach where our city is transformed to a place where kids get to be kids without fearing for their lives. So I ask that as we near the final decision around the upcoming budget cycle, you prioritize Save Our Streets and pressure the mayor who claims to care about kids to incorporate it in the next fiscal year. I also want to second previous constituents about removing flock cameras, dissolving the SPPD relationship with ICE via the 287G agreement, and dropping Duke. Thanks. Thank you. Any other speakers? Any more speakers? Okay. We close open forum and we move to awards and presentations, which I believe is the reason why most of you are here today. So we will start off with D1, and that is the proclamation and recognition of JWB's 80th anniversary, and Councilmember Gabbard will be presenting this proclamation. So I think for those that are here on the JWB, if you want to join her at the podium. What's up, everyone? You're welcome to join her. Thank you, Madam Chair. And so thank you to JWB for coming out in volumes. This is fantastic. And of course, Mike Jeffries, our community enrichment administrator, and our entire team here with the city. I'm very honored as a mom of a school-aged child who sees the direct impact of JWB within our programs, within our schools. I am so honored to be able to present this proclamation today. There has been a long, rich legacy of JWB that has stood strong for over 80 years in our community. And you're going to hear a lot of names mentioned in the proclamation today, and that's very intentional because I think a lot of times, you know, we talk about the legacy that people leave behind, and you can think over 80 years' time, there have been a lot of people who have played a part in making sure not only that JWB was created, but that it has stood strong. And so with that, I want to go ahead and start reading the proclamation. But whenever I'm finished, I'm going to turn it over to Mike Jeffries. I don't want to miss the opportunity. Where did she go? There she is. You've got to stand right on up in here. That JWB has a new leader and a new person to carry forward the vision. So I am joined as well today by the new interim CEO, Karen Bogus. Sorry, I knew I was going to butcher that, so I apologize. But she is here with us today, I think, for the first time in City Hall. Yes. So very excited to have her with us. So I will go ahead and hand you the proclamation, and I'll read my big type. So there we go. And the proclamation reads, Whereas, in the early 1940s, few alternatives existed for troubled and dependent children in Pinellas County other than adult jail, a need recognized and championed by juvenile court judge Lincoln Bogg. And whereas, attorney Leonard Cooperman drafted legislation supported by the Pinellas County legislative delegation to create an independent taxing district governed by an autonomous board to guard the rights and needs of our children. And whereas, Senate Bill 618, sponsored by Senator Henry Baynard and co-sponsored by Representative S. Henry Harris, passed both legislative chambers in May of 1945. And whereas, on November 5, 1946, Pinellas County citizens ratified the Juvenile Welfare Board, creating the nation's first independent board dedicated to improving the lives and futures of children. And whereas, in 1947, the Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County, JWB, chaired by Melaine Hallen Barton, adopted its first budget, distributed funds to three agencies, and served 1,500 children. And whereas, today, JWB strengthens our community by funding 87 quality programs across 49 agencies, providing cradle-to-career prevention and early intervention services that reach more than 83,000 children and youth every year. And whereas, JWB also serves as a convener, forging partnerships and leading initiatives to prevent needless childhood deaths, nurture early childhood development, champion children's mental health, promote grade-level reading, fight childhood hunger, sure youth development and college readiness, and support fathers and grandparents in their caregiving roles, reaching tens of thousands more annually. Now, therefore, I, Councilmember Brandi Gabbard, on behalf of Kenneth T. Welch, Mayor of the City of St. Petersburg, Florida, do hereby recognize and express congratulations to the Juvenile Welfare Board for 80 years of putting children and youth first, and for their dedicated service to the citizens of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County. The partnerships that our city has with JWB, I think it's only fitting that Mike Jeffries take it from here, and so I'll turn it over to you. Thank you, Councilmember. I really appreciate that. And I will be brief. I know that we've got a lot of folks standing waiting for me to finish, and I do definitely want to give Karen an opportunity to speak as well, and Rick Craft, but I want to be perfectly clear with our community and with the council members here on the dais, and I know that each of you know this. Our department, our city would not look like the city that it is right now without the support of the Juvenile Welfare Board. When it comes to partnerships, the Parks and Recreation Department, the Library Department, the Fire Department, Aquatics, the list goes on and on. We work so closely with the Juvenile Welfare Board to make meaningful, intentional changes in our community. We have partnerships that are limitless as far as the number of organizations we work with. When I was preparing for my comments for today, I sincerely cannot think of an organization that has been a better partner, has been more meaningful, and has helped us move the needle here in St. Petersburg more than the Juvenile Welfare Board. When we celebrate 80 years, it is important that we note that not only is the Juvenile Welfare Board a funding organization for us, but they also force us to improve ourselves. And we constantly talk about accreditation and how many of our departments are accredited and how we hold ourselves to a higher standard. I can tell you that, you know, it's great that Karen is the interim CEO. Karen and I have worked together for decades now in different roles. But it's interesting because many times when we've had conversations with the management staff of Parks and Rec, libraries, aquatics, fire, we want to position ourselves so that we are exactly, as Councilmember Gabbard said, a quality organization that's offering quality programs. It's one thing to have a program. It's another thing to have a measured quality program with deliverables. And that's what the Juvenile Welfare Board requires and demands. I can tell each of you that we don't take that lightly. We get a report card. We get an audit from the Juvenile Welfare Board every year. We are very, very proud of the results that we get. And, again, you know, we hear it all the time, iron sharpens iron. And it's one of those situations where because they're forcing us to improve and to do better each year, we have become a department that is outstanding. And I think the visitors and the citizens and the children, especially, of this community benefit greatly from that relationship. So, again, I know it's normal to have the organization speak after the proclamation, but I asked for a point of privilege from Councilmember Gabbard if I could speak because I just wanted to set the stage without the support and the partnership of the Juvenile Welfare Board, we would not look as we look today. So, without further ado, I will turn it over to our new interim CEO, Karen Bogis. Hey, wow. Good afternoon, St. Petersburg City Council members, community leaders, and residents. It is my honor to be before you today as we celebrate a remarkable milestone in the history of Pinellas County, the Juvenile Welfare Board's 80th anniversary. My name is Karen Bogis, and I'm the interim CEO. With me is two of our board members, Judge Patrice Moore and Jimet Shea, as well as a number of our South County Community Council members and professional staff. For 80 years, JWB has been guided by a simple belief. When we invest in children, we invest in the future of our community. We are a special taxing district established by a special act of Florida legislature and solely funded by property tax. Our annual impact budget is $128 million, and last year, we had the privilege to serve over 83,000 children and families countywide. Every investment we make is informed by community needs, guided by data, and focused on creating lasting impact for children and families. From a child's first days of life through adolescence and into adulthood, our goal remains the same, helping every child reach their fullest potential. And that is the one reason being here in St. Petersburg is especially meaningful. Your city leaders embrace our mission and partner with us to strengthen opportunities for children and families. Mayor Welch, city council members, and city leaders regularly support our programs and initiatives. They attend new program ribbon cuttings, help kids pick out books on our book bus, support our children's mental health initiatives, fatherhood collaborative, grandfamilies events, and so much more. Your libraries serve as a vital hub for families. They are dynamic pit stops for our Turbo Babies campaign, educating families on early brain development and distributing free pit crew bags to families. They've served as a summer break spots, providing nourishing food to children as part of our childhood hunger initiative. And they are important partners in our early readers, future leaders, grade level reading campaign. And thanks to the collective work with partners like you, 70% of Pinellas County third graders are now reading proficient, outperforming the state average. Like the leaders and citizens of St. Petersburg, we understand that investing in children early and often is not just the right thing to do. It is one of the smartest investments any community can make. And today, about half of all households with children in St. Petersburg, an estimated 48% benefit directly from a JWB-funded program. And across your great city, an impressive 117 program sites featuring 47 programs are funded by JWB to help children learn, grow, and thrive. And this includes the out-of-school time and pool sites of the City of St. Petersburg-TASCO program, a long-standing and cherished partnership that JWB has with the city. TASCO is a youth development program offering vital before and after school and summer programming that keeps youth productively engaged, supports student academics and enrichment, and affords parents peace of mind while they work. And it also includes swim lessons and water safety. JWB also invests in a host of other programs within your city, including quality early learning and child care for working parents of little ones, mental health and behavioral health services for children and families, out-of-school time programming to support student academics and working parents, shelters and services for survivors of domestic violence, neighborhood family centers for out-of-school time and family support services, early childhood home visiting and maternal health supports, and other much-needed services to include school-based health care, mentoring, leadership, kinship, vision screenings, family stability, and more. We are proud of our 80-year history of putting children first, a milestone made possible by your partnership. Thank you for sharing our commitment to the children and families who call St. Petersburg home. And in your packets at each of your seats in the orange folder, you will find information about our investments in the community, the outcomes we are achieving together, and resources available to support children throughout every stage of life. And we also have here a map that you will all get to keep with all the funded program sites within your city. As we look ahead to the next 80 years, we see tremendous opportunity to deepen our partnership with the City of St. Petersburg. Together, we can continue identifying needs, expanding opportunities, and ensuring that more children and families have access to the support they need to succeed. Because the greatest legacy any community can leave is not the buildings it constructs or the road it paves. It is the future it creates for its children. For 80 years, JWB has stood alongside communities that share that belief, and we are proud to stand with St. Petersburg to celebrate the impact we are making today and work together to build an even brighter future for generations to come. And thank you for your partnership, your leadership, and your unwavering commitment to the children and families of St. Petersburg. Thank you again. And now I will pass it to you. Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, City Council. I'm Rick Kraft, and I serve as the Recreation and Programming Superintendent for the Parks and Recreation Department. And, you know, on behalf of our department, I want to congratulate JWB on 80 years of service. JWB has been a partner with Parks and Recreation for a significant part of that history. In fact, this year marks our 25th anniversary that we've partnered with them to provide grant-funded programs to the children of St. Petersburg. Our partnership began primarily with after-school programs and summer camp programs. Over the years, we've continued to grow on level of investment and our service to the community. A great example is the academic enrichment, that component that we've recently employed. We employ education specialists who are certified teachers and certified education specialists and behavior specialists. They work directly with our young people on homework, tutoring, academic goal-setting, responsibility, and skills that can serve them throughout their careers. And I know Karen already mentioned the Safety Run Water Program that provides swimming lessons for children ranging from infants to 14, helping young people in our community develop an important, potentially life-saving skill. I think this really demonstrates the impact of what we've been able to accomplish together. We're helping young people succeed academically, gain meaningful work experience, learn important life skills, and develop into leaders. We're extremely grateful for our partnership with JWB, and I also want to thank you, the City Council, for your longstanding and ongoing support of these programs and the young people that they serve. And while I'm here, I want to point out some of our staff that's here. Rob Lovelace, Recreation Programs Manager, who oversees our recreation centers and our grant operations for the JWB grant. Brandi Dorson, who is our aquatics and athletics manager, who does the SAW program. Lynn Gordon is in the back there. She oversees our citywide TASCO teen programs. And Mandy Morris from the Libraries is here somewhere. She's in the back. That works with JWB and Libraries, so thank you very much. Council Member Givens. I just want to thank each and every one of you so much for all your hard work. This is truly a team effort. And thank you so much, Karen, for stepping up and taking the reins of an organization that has a longstanding history of serving our most vulnerable residents, and that's our youth. When you think about where the highest concentration of youth in Pinellas County exists, it's right here in St. Petersburg. And so you all are really practicing what you preach by taking this quasi-judicial body and putting property taxes to best use. And so when people ask, well, where's our money going, this is a good example and a worthy cause. And so I want to thank you all for allowing me to be a product of your labors, a benefactor of your efforts, having attended some of our after-school care programs as a youth and summer camp youth programs myself. I've seen the work that you do, and I just want to thank you all for the impact that you make. You've already listed those programs, Karen. I don't have to go down the list, but so many of them from your fatherhood programs to your academic programs, you are nurturing the whole child, from the womb to the workforce. And we are so grateful for your labor because your labor is not in vain. So thank you so much. It truly does take a village. I appreciate you all. Thank you, Karen. So I want to tell you all something. I am so thankful for you all. I want everyone here in this room to see, look at this group here. These are the experts when it comes to children and families and the youth in our community, period, end of story. Right here. Everything you need to know about our children and our youth in Pinellas County, they deal with, and they know all the problems in our society, and they try their best with what they have coming in property taxes, which is $128 million, and it's still never enough, right? Because you have programs that have wait lists, and you have programs where children can't get in because there's not enough money to serve them. And I will tell you, I'm on the board of the Shirley Proctor-Puller Foundation. I've been on the board for a few years, and I went to one of your board meetings many years ago when Shirley Proctor-Puller was a very young organization, and people in the room, especially board members, were like, who is this group, right? They weren't sure about Shirley Proctor-Puller Foundation, but they believed in Bridget Heller and her team to deliver. And you have been the biggest supporters, and you know why? Because they, you look at the data, you actually hold, like, you hold the city, you hold these organizations accountable because there is only so much money, and you want to make sure that where the public money goes, it is effective. It's not just random, oh, a group comes in, and you're like, oh, sure, we'll give you money. That's not how it works. And I want everyone to understand that. It's you put in a lot of labor to make sure that those dollars go to serve the children, not just for salaries, to serve those family and children. And I will tell you, I am so thankful for you. I worked for Bernie McCabe before, and he was the biggest cheerleader, and Bruce, and every board member knows the work that you do and what you give back to the community and the employees, and I just want you to know how thankful we are. And I'm so thankful that you work with the city of St. Petersburg. So thank you. Okay. And like I said, you're welcome to stay, and you're welcome to leave if you have other things to do, because we're going to go on with other proclamations. So I know everyone is busy and has other work to do, and we'll give you a minute to be able to walk out of the room. And the next proclamation that we're going to be presenting, it's going to be Councilmember Figg Sanders, who's going to be presenting this proclamation. It's Proclamation Honoring Black Business Month. And for those who are here for this proclamation, you are welcome to stand up and join Councilmember Figg Sanders up at the podium. Okay, because you know those are my favorite words. I know. I'm not black business. So I am Councilmember Deborah Figg Sanders, and I am so honored to stand here and honor black business, honor what you contribute. Just a couple of notes. This annual observance started in 2004 to recognize the economic impact, innovation, and resilience of black entrepreneurs. And so some of the ways that are jotted down that I hope everybody supports black business, shop intentionally, do business intentionally with black business and black entrepreneurs. You know how y'all have to have that yelp and do your reviews? Y'all be positive and make sure that they can give you a positive review, as well as other black businesses support each other. We can't do it all, and if you can't do it, refer it to somebody else that can. Don't let another black business lose business, because you don't want to refer support. So I'm going to go ahead and start and read the proclamation. And I do understand, Ms. Cloud, you are going to speak on behalf of small business? Yes, you will, y'all. Whereas National Black Business Month, celebrated annually in August, is a time to recognize the resilience, innovation, and vital contributions of black-owned businesses. And whereas the impact of black-owned business is the United States in multifaceted and dynamic and translates into real economic impact, creating jobs and innovation while reshaping the future of commerce. And whereas, during Black Business Month, we encourage all residents, businesses, and community organizations to learn about and support black-owned businesses through patronage, partnerships, and advocacy, thereby contributing to the growth and prosperity of our entire community. And whereas, we also shine a light on the vital organizations supporting black-owned businesses, such as the Pinellas County Urban League's Next Level Urban Alliance, a powerful network of entrepreneurs, professionals, and development leaders driving equity and opportunity throughout our community, and the Tampa Bay Black Business Investment Corp., also known to us as TBVIC, a financial and business development organization helping black entrepreneurs in our region turn vision into enterprise. And whereas, as we celebrate Black Business Month, we invite minority and women-owned businesses to register for our minority and women-owned business enterprise programs to take a part in our inclusive procurement and contract opportunities, networking, and collaboration opportunities, and business development support. Now, therefore, I, Council Member Deborah Figg Sanders, on behalf of Kenneth T. Welch, Mayor of the City of St. Petersburg, Florida, do hereby recognize August 2026 as Black Business Month in St. Petersburg and invite all businesses to take part in the city's inclusive procurement opportunities and business development support. And as I stated before, we're going to have a few words for Ms. Cloud. Okay, you know, they don't tell you the script until you get up here. So, Mr. Smith, George Smith, is actually going to speak now, and he will introduce Ms. Cloud. Thank you. Good afternoon. Thank you, Council Member Figg Sanders, Madam Chair, Vice Chair, Council Members. I'm George Smith, Chief Impact Officer for the city. It is an honor for us to join together today with the City of St. Petersburg, recognizing August as Black History Month, Black Business Month. Nationally, this observance dates back to 2004 when it was established to advance the policy agenda facing Black-owned businesses across the country. For generations, Black entrepreneurs have built businesses, created jobs, and generated opportunity, often while overcoming significant barriers to capital, contracts, and property ownership that other business owners did not face. Here in St. Petersburg, that legacy runs deep, especially in South St. Petersburg, where Black-owned businesses remain part of our economic and cultural fabric, strengthening neighborhoods and building generational wealth. The city supports that spirit through offices working in partnership. The Office of Supplier Development opens the door to city contracting opportunities, helping Black-owned businesses compete for and win municipal work. The Office of Community Impact invests directly in South St. Petersburg, and through the South St. Petersburg CRA has provided funding behind the micro-fund program, putting capital directly in the hands of local entrepreneurs. And the Greenhouse rounds out the support through counseling, training, technical assistance to help those businesses grow. This month, the Greenhouse is once again bringing that commitment to life with a full calendar of programming, workshops, and marketing and media panel discussions on building blocks of business success, and opportunities for residents to connect directly with Black-owned businesses across our neighborhoods. So today, as we adopt this resolution, we do more than recognize a national observance. We reaffirm St. Petersburg's commitment to equitable economic development, to making sure that every entrepreneur in every neighborhood has a genuine path to opportunity. We thank the Greenhouse, the Office of Supplier Development, and every Black business owner who has bet on themselves and on the city of St. Petersburg. I thank you. We will have comments from two business owners, if we may. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Council Chairman. I would like to thank you for this opportunity, and I'd like to thank my family, and I have a former student who started with us, and I'd like to thank all of these Black businesses that are standing behind me, because truly, too, we are significant. But Starling School is significant, because we have been in the city since 1974, and we've served this community for more than 50 years. We have served over 20,000 children, according to the Early Learning Coalition, and we are proud to continue doing business in this wonderful city. What has kept Starling School resilient throughout the years is family leadership, community involvement, and a steadfast commitment to helping children become better citizens. Our motto is rooted in Proverbs 22, 6. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. At Starling, we believe that character is the foundation of a child's success. When a child has a good nurturing platform, the academics will come. We strive to provide an environment where children are nurtured, guided, encouraged, and prepared not only for academic success, but also for life. One of our greatest joys is that we are now serving the children of students who have once attended Starling School. We are proud that former students have grown up, started family, and chosen to bring their children back to Starling. This is a powerful statement to the trust families have placed in us over the decades. Today, four generations are working in this family business, continuing a legacy built on love, education, character, and service. Starling School and Daycare Center remains committed to the children and families of St. Petersburg and to building a stronger community, one child at a time. And I'd like to thank the city for the partnership, the Greenhouse, and Councilman Sanders, Deborah Fick Sanders, for starting Pops with Cops, where the City of St. Petersburg Police Department comes into our center with Cops, where the children have learning about policemen, not to be afraid of them, and then they're serving Pops, Cool Pops or Popsicles, and the Greenhouse for their commitment to us. So we are in partnership with the city, and thank you. Thank you. And if we could, I'd like to have a few words from Chef Mel from Love 22, one of the new businesses on the deuces. Hello, how are you guys doing today? So I am Chef Mel. I am the owner of Coasis Restaurant and Bar in Tampa, Florida. And then I am back in St. Petersburg on the deuces. I just opened up Love 22. I'm super excited. I was in St. Petersburg before with my food truck, and it was great. I mean, we put it right in the food desert. As you know, it's a lot of food deserts in South St. Pete. We put it there, and we created a space for a business. And then, you know, we went to Tampa. We wanted to grow a little bit more, and then we came back. So I'm excited to be here today. So good evening, mayor, council members, city leaders, and members of our community. My name is Melissa, and I own Love 22. It's located at 929 22nd Street South in St. Petersburg, Florida. First of all, I want to, you know, sincerely thank you guys for honoring black businesses. I live, eat, and breathe black businesses. I've been an entrepreneur since I've been 19 years old. So I graduated from St. Petersburg College with a degree in information technology and management and a subplan in analytics, and I did not do anything with that. I went right into business, and I took everything I learned, and I decided to, you know, just open up businesses from there. At my restaurant, we serve breakfast and lunch. And then at my restaurant in Tampa, we do the same thing. But we serve breakfast and lunch and soul food. But what we're really building is a place that belongs to the community. We want our neighbors to walk through the doors and feel welcome. We want our young people to see a black-owned business operating in their neighborhood and understand that entrepreneurship and ownership are possibilities for them as well. This morning, in celebration of our children going back to school, my business, Love 22, we partner with Pinellas County Herbal League, and we gave away free breakfast to the kids in the community. You know, they're the heart behind, you know, my business and what I do. We don't simply want to operate in a community. We want to be a part of building. The Deuces has a powerful history of black entrepreneurship. Generations before us built restaurants, shops, professional businesses, entertainment venues, and gathering spaces, often during a time when black businesses had very few opportunities elsewhere. So legacy matters. And today, as a black entrepreneur, I have the responsibility to honor that history by creating the next generation of businesses, jobs, opportunities on this corridor. I'm 35 years old. I've employed over 150 people. It is not easy. And, you know, I wrote this, but it's more personal to me because I did this all on my own. So I made the money, and I constantly reinvested it. And I do this over and over and over. I did not know a lot about loans and all those things, so I learned that game a little bit later because I went to Tampa, and I realized, wow, this is huge. Right? I need more money for this. So after that, I'm like, okay. I wanted to get deeper into what I was doing. I made sure, you know, my paperwork was right. I had my CPA and all those great things, and I could have went anywhere in the world and opened up more restaurants, but I came back to the deuces because it meant a lot to me. People said, why did you come back to St. Pete? Why did you come back to St. Pete? Well, when I run around St. Pete, South St. Pete, it feels like it needs something more. I don't see coffee shops. I don't see co-working spaces. I don't see free Wi-Fi. I just don't see these things. So I, you know, Miss Lorraine, she retired. She was at the restaurant for 35 years. I purchased the space from her immediately, and within three weeks, we flipped the building, and we made it a restaurant, and we got the opportunity to take over the whole space. So then the next door space, I decided to call it, you know, Love Cafe. It's called Love 22 because I feel like the south side needs love, and it's on the deuces, the 22nd, you know, the deuces, the 22nd corridor. So that's why we called it Love 22. So now we're opening up. It's Love Cafe. So it's a co-working space for people to just come in and pop in and get free Wi-Fi. So often it's warm outside. We're in Florida. I'm from Miami, Florida, and it's hot, and I see people just come into my restaurant, like catching air and things like that. So I was like, you know what? I thought I had a big idea for this space. I wanted to create a lounge and all that, and I'm like, we'll just turn this into coffee, co-working, you know, Wi-Fi. Give people the opportunity to come in and, you know, truly enjoy themselves. So I just ask you guys to make sure you put a light on black-owned businesses in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is not many. I travel everywhere, and I see so many great businesses flourishing in other cities, and I think that with a little more information in the community and showing people the resources and the access they have to things, I think it can spread light. I mean, you don't have to be like me and, like, you know, do it all on your own. So thank you guys for hearing me out. When I stand here, I'm representing other black-owned businesses. I think it's super powerful when we come together. Collaborations mean everything to me as a business. I will collaborate with an entrepreneur as fast as I can to make sure that we're all pushing each other, you know, forward in what we're doing. So I appreciate you guys, and thank you guys for hearing my story. Thank you. Madam Chair, if I can indulge one more moment, please. I'd like to introduce some of the businesses that have joined us. We have Roy and Isabel James with James Insurance. Of course, you've met Ms. Carolyn Cloud, Mr. Freddie Simmons of Simmons Investment, Dr. Lakita Works from Play It Forward Pediatrics. Oh, thank you. Sorry about that. And Whitney Sanchez from Zola Zulu Solutions. And I also would like to recognize our staff, our team that does the work. Andra Falvey, Managing Director for Economic Development. I think I saw Chris Griffin, Ronnell Montgomery, Brittany Cagle. Any other staff around? Very good. Thank you so much. Council Member Givens. Thank you so much, Chair. And thanks to each of you who took time out of your busy day and away from your businesses to be here with us today at City Hall. Prior to my time here on council, I ran my own business. So I know that it's not easy. And I understand the sacrifices that you make. But I do want to thank so much Mr. George, his team, Andrea, and her team, the Greenhouse, especially the Greenhouse. Shout out to you. There have been multiple times that I have sent multiple businesses your way, and you all have helped them. So I appreciate you all so much for the help that you provide to our community. You know, the Greenhouse really does help to create pathways to upward mobility for a lot of people. And I really thank you all for doing that, regardless of what the zip code may be. And shout out to the District 7 businesses in the house, Starling School, Love 22. So good to see you all. Thank you so much, Chair. Thank you. Council Member Faye Sanders. Thank you. I was honored to be able to present the proclamation, but now I can actually speak to you all from the heart. And so you all do know that black business has always been a focus and a passion to actually help celebrate. You know, my husband has a business, and thank you for those that actually utilize his business. I have a business. My insurance agent is here, Roy James Insurance, Ms. Isabel. Mel, thank you for coming back to St. Pete. Ms. Cloud, thank you for embracing the POPs program for our babies that, you know, the whole intent, again, was to get rid of not only the fear of our babies, but also to improve the relationship of the adults in their household when it comes down to the men and women uniform. And that has been a phenomenal program. And thank you so much for you and the other child care centers that have done that. But I just want to say thank you to the black businesses for not being defeated, right? I have been on council for a while, and I was not the biggest supporter of the greenhouse. I was not. Because I felt as though there was something missing when it came to be intentional with black business. We've come a long way. And I think it's because we've been introduced to a different mindset, a different way of thinking. And not only that, we've placed a higher value to the contributions of black business. And so for that, I thank you. And I'm going to continue to promote black businesses as I've asked you to support each other. But y'all give us something to support. Make sure that, you know, if you're going to be open, say you're going to be open. If you're going to provide a service, make sure that service is A plus service. Because, you know, we're held to a higher standard. Just go ahead and put it out there. We are held to a higher standard. And we have to make sure that we produce and that we actually give the products that we say that we're going to give. And so far, I have not been disappointed with how we have represented. I have not been disappointed as how we have supported each other. And I have not been disappointed in the fact that I've been able to advocate for black business, small business, woman-owned businesses. And we have definitely held the reign as far as excellence is concerned. So, again, thank you so much for that. Thank you to the greenhouse. I'm just so glad that you all have embraced black business just a little bit more than when I initially came into this position. But, again, for you all, congratulations and happy Black Business Month again in August 2026. Thank you, Chair. Well, I want to thank all of you for being here and representing because you're just a small slice of the black businesses that we have here in an important part of our city and sharing your stories and having the courage to be entrepreneurs because it's not easy being an entrepreneur, especially in this economic environment. So, I just want to make sure that you know that we understand the sweat equity that you put into it. And, frankly, what I see is, to me, I'm inspired hearing the stories because I know that you're going to be paying it forward and building that ecosystem here in St. Petersburg that we already have, but making it grow. Because that's what I would love to see is continually grow. And whatever the city can do to help you, whether it is the greenhouse or you have an idea of something we're not doing, we're listening. So, I hope that we get to see more of you all, not just here, but kind of at the greenhouse, at events, because I think we need to get those stories out there as much as we can. And so, that way, the community knows where our businesses are and where they should be going to spend their money. Okay? Well, thank you all for being here. Okay. And we are up to D3 right now, which is Wellness Month Proclamation. Our vice chair is going to be presenting this proclamation. And he's going to have, I think, Mike Jeffries join him. And those who are here for the proclamation, they also could join him at the podium. Yeah, I think we'll wait a second, but we do have a number of people joining us. All right. Thank you, everyone, for joining us today for this proclamation. I'm honored to be able to read this Wellness Month proclamation, specifically emphasizing mental health awareness. And I'm honored that the administration asked me to read this. I feel like it's an important topic to myself. Like so many millennials, I have plenty of anxiety about the future of the world. And so I relate through my own mental health struggles as well. So I'm grateful to everyone who's come here today to celebrate. And with that, I'll read the proclamation. So whereas the city of St. Petersburg recognizes that the well-being of every resident is essential to thriving, resilient, and compassionate community. And whereas mental health is a cornerstone of overall wellness. And the city affirms its commitment to supporting accessible resources, reducing stigma, and encouraging every resident to seek support when needed. And whereas stress affects individuals, families, workplaces, and neighborhoods. And the city encourages practices that promote stress reduction through mindfulness, healthy routines, and community connection. And whereas trauma, including trauma resulting from violence, deeply impacts individuals, families, and communities. And the city is committed to fostering healing, expanding supportive services, and advancing efforts that prevent violence and promote safety for all residents. And whereas the city of St. Petersburg acknowledges that wellness is not an individual journey alone, but a shared responsibility that flourishes when neighbors uplift one another, organizations collaborate, and leaders champion inclusive, people-centered policies. And whereas coming together as one community strengthens our collective ability to face challenges, celebrate achievements, and ensure that St. Petersburg remains a place where every person feels valued, supported, and heard. And whereas the unity is deepened when community partners, neighborhood groups, nonprofits, and local institutions work alongside residents to build connection, expand wellness opportunities, and uplift those most in need. Now, therefore, I, City Council Member Richie Floyd, on behalf of Kenneth D. Welch, Mayor of the City of St. Petersburg, Florida, do hereby proclaim August 2026th as National Wellness Month in St. Petersburg, and urge residents to participate in activities that promote mental health, reduce stress, foster peace, and strengthen our bonds as a united community. Let us commit to showing up for one another, listening deeply, and building a future rooted in wellness, dignity, and hope. We have a couple of speakers as well. I believe we're going to start with Dr. Brittany Peters. Okay, all right. I am mistaken. We're going to start with Kim Latow. Get up, man. Thank you, Vice Chair. I appreciate that. So happy to be here today. Thank you so much. Kim Latow. I coordinate Healthy St. Pete in our Parks and Recreation Department. Thank you for having us, Mr. Gerdes, council members, and our residents, and our fellow wellness partners. We have several here today that I would love to recognize. We have Dr. Brittany Peters, clinical director for the Center for Wellness and Clinical Development, Dr. Lakita Wirtz for Play at Ford Pediatrics, and one of our Healthy Kids Partners for Family Flow and Movement. Whitney Sanchez, owner of Zola Zulu Solutions, and I also want to recognize that one of the best managers in Parks and Recreation, Ms. Lynn Gordon, who coordinates our Healthy St. Pete division, and also Sarah Weimert, our very best health planner. So thank you guys so much for having us here today. We're proud to recognize National Wellness Month and celebrate the importance of health and well-being and building a stronger, healthier, and more vibrant community. And as that proclamation states, wellness is more than just the absence of illness. It's about opportunities to be active, to eat well, to connect with others, to learn, to care for our mental health, and to live in a community where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. Our city departments, members of city council, businesses, health advocates, and the city's Healthy St. Pete division have been working to advance that vision through education, wellness programs, health services, initiatives, and initiatives that truly make living healthy the center of our city's quality of life. And I can say without a doubt, across the nation, our city does health. It prioritizes health. It is a quality of life here. And for that, I'm thankful, we are thankful, the citizens and residents are thankful for what our leadership, Mayor Welch, and city council does in recognizing that a healthy community is a stronger community. And we're grateful to the many residents and organizations, businesses, and community partners who contribute every day behind the scenes, we don't see them, to make St. Pete a healthier place to live. So, during National Wellness Month, let us celebrate our collective progress and continue working together to make wellness a priority and an opportunity for everyone to thrive in our city. So, thank you. I would love to introduce and bring up Dr. Brittany Peters for a few words. Thank you. I just want to say the podium was lifted for the taller people. It's okay. I'm used to this. I am Dr. Brittany Peters. I'm a licensed clinical social worker as well as a qualified supervisor for those who are pursuing licensure here in the state of Florida. I also have a certification in addictions. And so, I have been blessed to be in this field for almost 20 years. And I love what I do. With me, it's one of my amazing clinicians under my practice, Katoya Jordans. I just want to honor that she is also on the ground doing the work. And I just want to say thank you to you because this work cannot be done without those who do it. Also, thank you to city council and our mayor. We are also blessed, my practice, to be one of the providers under the hub. And what that means is that if you are struggling with, you know someone who's struggling with, or you just need to vent, that you can get 15 free sessions, right? And that's important and that's special because a lot of times people go on saying, hey, I have a high deductible. Or, hey, I can't afford therapy right now, but I need it. So, our mission at Center for Wellness and Clinical Development has been to address community mental health needs. And not just addressing them for the residents here in St. Pete, but ensuring that those who want to pursue licensure are competent to serve those who don't always get service. That means our BIPOC community. We operate under the philosophy of lead clinically. That means we train well so that we can serve well. What I will say is that one in five individuals live with a mental health disorder. That means if we count it off in here, many of us are also living with a mental health disorder. I also want to honor that because it's National Wellness Month that we recognize that many individuals don't just live with a mental health disorder, but are also living with a chronic health disorder, right? And sometimes those diagnoses are what bring people to therapy. I've recently been diagnosed with cancer. I've recently been diagnosed with diabetes, and I don't know how to manage it. I've recently been told that I have high blood pressure, and I need to learn to calm down, right? And so, the co-occurrence between mental health and our overall body health is ranging between 29% to 68%. So, we don't operate in a vacuum, the body. The mind and the body is fully connected. It is Oprah Winfrey that said, you have to feed yourself with love and loving thoughts in order to show up more fortified and complete. And with that, when I hear the word wellness, I want us to think beyond our mental health. Mental health does matter deeply, but so does our relationships. So does our community. So does our environment and our sense of purpose. And so, for me, when we think about wellness, really what it means is that we are returning to ways and practices that have always existed in many of our communities, no matter where we are from. That means getting outside in the sun, moving our bodies, sharing a good meal, not by yourself. I know we like to eat lunch in the car by ourselves so we can breathe, but sharing a good meal with our loved ones. That also means pouring back into others and creating space for people to reflect. There is power in our community. There is power in gathering around food, music, and storytelling. And healing does not always have to happen in a therapist's office. It can also happen when we reconnect with others and with ourselves. And so, during Wellness Month, I hope that you all will give yourselves permission to be intentional about your whole health, not just your mental health. I apologize. I forgot one of our partners, our valuable partners. I apologize for that. And in Vital Spa, we have Christina Kustas and Adriana Anderson. I just like to recognize those folks. Also, she's going to get put on the spot. I would like to bring up Dr. Lakita Wirt real quick to tell us where her first job was. This is strictly for Councilor Harding. Hi. Thank you for having us here. Actually, my first job was working with the city of St. Petersburg with Parks and Rec. I am a product of the city for sure. I am a native to St. Petersburg, Florida. And I will say that when I was a kid, I went to Lake Vista Recreation Center. My grandmother worked for Pinellas Opportunity Council. Has since been retired. But she called my mom up and said, you need to get these kids into camp. They're giving out funds for them to be able to go. And it's a great opportunity. And ever since I started, like, we literally did not want to stop. And so much for me, I remember distinctly as a kid saying, when I grow up, I want to make kids feel the way they made me feel. And that has stuck with me so much that when I was kicked out in teen camp, I, you know, after, you know, aging out, then I went to school in L.A. And I came back, or prior to that, actually, my first job was with the city of St. Petersburg. It was actually Frank Pierce. And I remember, like, I'm going to do this. I'm going to make a lasting impact. So thank you so much. And now I have my own practice, and I get to do the same thing. Dr. Rort has been a wonderful partner with Healthy St. Pete. She's doing our Movement and Flow class out at Crescent Lake. And it's with babies and new moms and getting them moving and active at an early age. So we really appreciate her. Thank you so much. And happy National Wellness Month. Councilmember Fick Sanders. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for all that you do. And I have to say, you all can tell why Dr. Brittany Peters is, like, my most favorite, right? And she is the absolute favorite when it comes down to the mental health issues and mental wellness that we have here in the city of St. Petersburg. And thank you so much for mentioning the hub, because that was an endeavor to get it started. It was an endeavor to get it moving. And I'm just so grateful that it is still happening and providing those services for the constituents of the city of St. Petersburg. So, again, we do realize, you know, that we have, as you know, you said, it's greater than mental health. It's the holistic approach. And I just, I wish I could grab hold of that holistic approach. But I will say that, you know, having those that we know that we can pick up the phone and call and have those conversations and being able to, because it is okay not to be okay. It is truly okay not to be okay. And it is always wonderful to have someone to talk to you. Sometimes you can't talk to your family and friends all the time, because you won't get the same results. But to be able to have that unbiased opinion and to have that person on the other end of the phone that really does care about your well-being is just phenomenal. So, again, thank you so much for what you do. Thank you for the hub. And continuing, Dr. Peters, please know you will always be my favorite. And I say that, you know, affectionately, because she really is a very welcoming and free spirit when it comes down to addressing the betterment of everyone that she touches. So, for that, I do congratulate you and happy wellness month. I do want to thank you all for everything you do in the community. I have to agree, Council Member Fig Sanders, hearing Dr. Peters, I will have to say that I felt hearing your voice, I felt calmer. So, I think you're probably pretty good at what you do, because I felt myself listening, like, oh, that sounds very nice. So, I really do appreciate it. The only thing I'm going to ask is, can you please provide, like, information on the hub for those who may want resources? Could someone just provide some information for those that may be listening, how they can reach out? That would be wonderful. And any other services that we may want to make sure that those that are watching need that we can provide? Sure, I can do that. And so, first of all, if you are listening and you are on the computer, you can go on right now. It is stpetehubs.org. And if you scroll down to the bottom, you can self-refer or refer someone you know. Keep in mind, they don't just provide services for therapy. They do holistic healing as well. They do sound baths. They do care coordination. And so, whatever your needs are, you can reach out. That's the easiest way to reach out to the hub. Great. Thank you. And any other services that we want to make sure that those that are listening want to hear about? One service that's important that we forgot about is our home service, keeping our homes clean, cleansed, and cleared. And that's what I do with Zola Zola Solutions. A clear space is the foundation of a clear mind. And I feel like we forgot that our homes need love, too. So, if you feel overwhelmed, discombobulated, any of the above, I am here to help because that's also a form of therapy. So, thank you. Thank you. And so, Dr. Wirtz here again with Play It For It Pediatrics, treating kids from birth to 18 years of age. It's already been stated that we do free classes with Healthy St. Pete. That's every second Friday. So, actually, tomorrow at Crescent Lake at 9 o'clock, we will be able to provide that service. And all the information about the clinic, Play It For It Pediatrics, you can go online and type in www.pifptherapy.com. Or, if you're on Instagram, just simply go and type in Play It For It Pediatrics. Thank you. Thank you. One more. We have one more. Hello. My name is Ariana from the Omotelli Spa. This is Christina over here. You'll recognize her face. She's our lovely manager. I just wanted to say thank you so much to the mayor and to the city council for recognizing Wellness Month and giving us all the opportunity to be here. I'm going to keep it short. It's truly an honor to represent in Omotelli Spa. As a local woman-owned business, we're incredibly grateful to be a part of the St. Petersburg community and to help people feel their best both inside and out. I look forward to seeing what more we can do with the community with all the years to come. Thank you. Thank you. Well, thank you all for being here. And we are going to move up to the next item, which I'll be presenting, which is the Women's Equality Day Proclamation. We'll give everyone a minute to step out and for me to go down. Done, Mike. Thank you. So I'm joined by Tammy Sims and Amy DeVobo, the former and current, right? So you're the former and you're the current. We're all over. All over. She's local and I'm state. Okay. Local and state, right? President of the National Federal, Federation of Business, right? Florida. Florida. Federation of Business and Special Women. Okay. There you go. I was going to mess it up. I knew it. So we are here for the Women's Equality Day Proclamation, and this marks an important milestone in the long history of women advocating for the right to fully participate in our democracy. Derek Kilbourn provided me a fun St. Petersburg fact before the meeting. In 2016, the city of St. Petersburg designated the Virginia Burnside House at 136 Fifth Avenue North, a local landmark for listing in the St. Petersburg Register of Historic Places, and St. Petersburg gave women municipal suffrage in April 1919. This is before the federal government did. Mrs. Burnside was the first female city commissioner, was elected to the city commission, and assumed office in July 1st, 1920, almost two months before the 19th Amendment was ratified. So that is a pretty great fact. And then I was doing a little bit of history research, and there was another fun fact that came across. So as to the vote that led to the 19th Amendment, in the middle of the 1920s, 35 states had voted to ratify the amendment. So they needed just one more state where a vote could be taken that year, and the state was Tennessee. There was intense lobbying efforts, as you can imagine. I know some of us have experienced that on certain things. And that became known as the War of the Roses. And supporters for suffrage wore yellow roses, and those that would oppose suffrage, they wore red roses. Harry Byrne was 24 years old, and he was the youngest member of the state house there. And he would end up being the deciding vote in Tennessee to ratify the amendment. He showed up with a red rose on his lapel, which would indicate he wasn't for it, but surprised everyone when he voted for ratification. It turned out his mother, Feb Byrne, had written him, and he had her letter in his suit pocket, and she asked him to be, quote, a good boy, close quote, and vote for the amendment. Well, he was a good boy, and he ended the 70-year battle of suffrage. I thought that was a fantastic story. Women in our city contribute in every capacity, as our neighbors, educators, entrepreneurs, as we've seen, professionals, caregivers, volunteers, advocates in our community, attorneys, public servants, and their leadership strengthens the entire community. I am especially proud to serve with three fantastic women, Councilmember Gabbard, Councilmember Fig Sanders, and Councilmember Driscoll. I'd be remiss not to mention my most important capacity, which is that as a mother. And I hope, as Feb Byrne did for her son, my daughters are good girls, and pay it forward, ensuring that women's equality is not just for us right now. It's for the young children and women growing up in St. Petersburg, in Florida, in our country, who will be tomorrow's leaders. So I am very honored to read this proclamation. Whereas Women's Equality Days observed annually on August 26th to commemorate the certification of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920, which guaranteed many women the right to vote and marked a pivotal milestone in our nation's ongoing pursuit of a more inclusive democracy. And whereas the passage of the 19th Amendment was made possible through the courage, perseverance, and determination of generations of suffragists and advocates who challenged barriers to expand opportunity and strengthen our democratic institutions. And whereas we also recognize that the promise of equal voting rights was not realized equally by all women, as many women, particularly black women, indigenous women, Asian American women, Latinas, and other women of color continue to face discriminatory laws and practices that denied them full participation in the democratic process for decades afterwards. And whereas the city of St. Petersburg celebrates the invaluable contributions of women who have shaped our community as leaders, educators, entrepreneurs, artists, health care professionals, first responders, public servants, scientists, military members, volunteers, and caregivers enriching every aspect of civic life. And whereas through initiatives that expand access to education, workforce opportunities, affordable housing, entrepreneurship, health care, and civic engagement, the city remains committed to fostering a community where every resident can thrive and contribute to our shared success. Now, therefore, I, Chair, will say, Hanowitz, on behalf of Kenneth T. Welch, Mayor of the City of St. Petersburg, Florida, do hereby proclaim Wednesday, August 26, 2026, as Women's Equality Day in St. Petersburg. And I urge residents to join me, with me, encourage all residents to honor the trailblazers who advance women's rights, celebrate the achievements of women in our community, and recommit ourselves to building a city where everyone can succeed. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you for your time, members of council, staff. It is my honor, excuse me, to be standing with you on behalf of business and professional women, both our local, our state, and the legacy of the national organization that came before. I'm honored to join with the city of St. Petersburg in recognizing the 19th Amendment, and generations of women whose courage and persistence made this milestone possible. There's a special connection between this history and BPW. Congress passed the 19th Amendment in June 1919, sending it to the states for ratification. Just one month later, in July of 1919, the National Federation of Business and Professional Women was founded. So BPW was born at a remarkable moment in American history. Just as women were on the threshold of gaining a constitutional right for which they had struggled for generations, early BPW organizations got to participate in that fight for ratification, while also organizing women to have a stronger voice in business, the professions, public policy, and civic life. When the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, it opened an enormously important door. But it did not open that door equally for every woman, as you mentioned previously. Discriminatory laws and practices continue to prevent many women, particularly black women and other women of color, from fully exercising the right to vote for decades afterwards. That history reminds us that progress is both something to celebrate and something that we're responsible for carrying forward. More than a century later, BPW continues that work by advancing the leadership, economic opportunity, equality, and civic participation of women. Going a little off script again, there are so many wonderful stories about the fight for the right to vote. Our local BPW has, for many, many years, held an annual tea, an equality day tea. Now, many of you know that our business and professional women's group is not particularly your afternoon tea type. However, we are living the legacy as people were showing their support for and against. Of course, women suffragists were not supposed to be talking about gaining the right to vote. So if there was an invitation to a pink tea, it meant that the conversation was going to be about the suffrage movement. Right? Hush, hush. And so we hold the BPW, St. Petersburg Pinellas, we hold every year an equality day tea at which we have a lot of fun and we celebrate the right to vote for women. And any of you, all of you would be invited. I will say that this year will be a particularly moving one as we will be at the Chataway for the last tea service that they will have. And that will be on the last Sunday of the month. I welcome anybody to contact me for information. So, in conclusion, we are proud to stand with the city of St. Petersburg today in honoring the 19th Amendment, not simply as a moment in our history, but as a reminder of what determined women can accomplish when they organize, participate, lead, and make their voices heard. Thank you. Councilmember Fig Sanders. Thank you. Well, I can't be a woman and not say thank you and congratulate us during our Women's Equality Month. And if I'm not mistaken, Councilmember Gabbert, we were a part of the first woman majority council back in 2020, where we held the most seats in St. Petersburg City Council. So, we have to acknowledge that moment in history. But again, you know, it was stated in the proclamation, some of the shortcomings that women have had to endure, and especially in a certain place of change and impact. And so, I'm grateful that we have been honored. And thank you for bringing, I don't know who brought the proclamation forward, but whoever it was, thank you so much for acknowledging the fact that we all understand and know this to be a fact that women rule. We, you know, there could not be a place of sanity without the rationale of women. So, I'm going to actually state that and say it loud and proud that I am just so honored to be a part, and what a wonderful proclamation for our Women's Equality Day. So, again, thank you so much for your words, and thank you for the proclamation. Thank you. And I will have to say, I do have to thank the men that stand behind us and support us in every form. So, well, thank you all for being here for the proclamation. It's very much appreciated. Are you here for this proclamation? Oh, okay, because you were raising your hand. Okay, well, if we missed you, you can go ahead. We're at the end of the Women's Equality Day proclamation. If you just wanted to add something, sure, that's why I'd opened it up before. Sure. Yeah, that's fine. What did you want to add for, this is on the Wellness Month proclamation? Yes. Yes. Yes. So, unfortunately, Vandana couldn't be here. She's out of town on a planned family vacation. But she just wanted to thank the council, the mayor, and the city for the St. Pete Yoga Fest. She started it in 2011 in Sunken Gardens. And each year it's grown. This is going into its ninth year, and it will be in November at the St. Pete Yoga Fest. So, thank you on behalf of Vandana for this recognition of collaboration community. Thank you. Thank you for being here. And I hope that you actually send us the information when the next Yoga Fest is in, you know, November, you said? November. Yeah. That would be great. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Hi. I'm Jessica McKnight. I'm with the WooWoo Lab. I'm also here on behalf of Vandana. I wanted to say that in regards to health and wellness that now more than ever, when we're dealing with burnout and all kinds of health issues, that it's no longer considered WooWoo to do yoga. It's actually prescribed by doctors. And now more than ever, we need this in our life. This yoga festival will actually open up the opportunity to reach out to community members that did not know about yoga before or understand the importance of mindset, meditation, and yoga in our community. We are a safe space for people. And we also collaborate with community in bringing people together. So I just wanted to add that, that yoga is really, really important. And this yoga festival will bring that to our community. And I'm really excited as a member in the yoga community to see it grow year after year. So thank you so, so much for acknowledging that. Yoga is very important. So thank you very much. Absolutely. Gardens is a great place to do yoga, especially in November when it's cooler. So do we have a date for the yoga fest? So November 7th, yoga fest and sunken gardens. And it should probably be on the pier. Oh, it's a St. Pete pier. Okay. Spa Beach Park, St. Pete pier. And we're going to probably have something on our website, too, at the city website. Okay. Great. Thank you. Thank you for being here. And sorry there was that confusion. Okay. Next up, we are going to new ordinances. E1, setting August 27th as the public hearing dates for the FY27 utility rates, charges, and ordinances. And charges ordinances. We are going to read each ordinance separately. And then we're going to vote on each ordinance. Okay. Okay. So, Clerk, if you can read the first one. Proposed ordinance number 644-H, an ordinance relating to sanitation rates and charges amending chapter 27, section 27-557 of the St. Petersburg City Code, amending rates and charges for sanitation services, providing for severability of provisions, providing an explanation of words struck through and underlined, establishing a date to begin calculating new rates for billing purposes and providing for an effective date. The public hearing for this item is August the 27th, and we do not have any cards. Move approval. Second. We have a motion and a second. Clerk, if you can open the machine for voting. Council members, please enter your votes. Seeing that all present council members have voted, Clerk, please tally announce the vote. Madam Chair, the motion to approve agenda item E1A passes 6-1 with Council members Driscoll, Vic Sanders, Floyd, Gabbard, Hanowitz, and Harding voting yes, Council Member Givens voting no, and Council Member Gerdes being absent. Thank you. If you can read the second ordinance for setting the August 27, 2026 public hearing date. Proposed ordinance number 646-H, an ordinance relating to utility rates, amending section 27-405, subsections B1 and B2 of the St. Petersburg City Code, amending the stormwater utility fee, amending the tier rate structure fees for single family residential parcels, providing for severability of provisions, providing an explanation of words struck through and underlined, establishing a date to begin calculating new rates for billing purposes, and providing for an effective date. The public paying for this item is August the 27th, and we do not have any cards. I'll entertain a motion and a second. Move approval. Second. We have a motion and a second. Clerk, if you can open the machine for voting. Council members, please enter your votes. Seeing that all present council members have voted, Clerk, please tally announce the vote. Madam Chair, the motion to approve agenda item E1B passes 6-1 with Council members Driscoll, Vic Sanders, Floyd, Gabbard, Hanowitz, and Harding voting yes, Council Member Givens voting no, and Council Member Gabbard is being absent. Thank you, and Clerk, if you can read the third ordinance regarding setting the August 27, 2026 public hearing date. Propose order number 645-H, an ordinance relating to utility rates and charges, amending chapter 27, Section 27-4, 27-109B, 27-109D, 27-113B, 27-141A, 27-141B, 27-142A, 27-143, 27-144, 27-146B, 27-177A, 27-177D, 27-250A, 27-283A, 27-284A, 27-284D, 27-335D, and 27-337 of the St. Petersburg City Code, amending liability for charges, amending charges for portable water connection, amending meter relocation charge, amending charges for portable meters, amending base and volume charges for water service, amending various service charges, amending wholesale water service charges for the City of Gulfport, removing references to combination fire service, amending fire service charges, amending rates and charges for irrigation only accounts, amending rates and charges for commercial water only accounts, amending rates and charges for reclaimed water service, amending sewer capacity fee, amending retail and wholesale wastewater service charges, removing grease discharge permit fee, amending grease management program fees, providing for severability provisions, providing an explanation of words struck through and underlined, establishing a date to begin calculating new charges for billing purposes, and providing for an effective date. The public hearing for this item is August the 27th, and we do not have any cards. That was a mouthful. You did a good job. Council Member Gabbard. Thank you, Madam Chair. So, Claude and Tom, I think the first question might be for Tom, for actually Claude. So, residents came today earlier during Open Forum, and there were two very specific things that were brought up. The first being the sewer capacity fee that, you know, obviously we've had a lot of conversation around. And so, Claude, I wanted to ask, because in the backup, which is very dense for people to, you know, kind of go through, I want to make sure that they understand that full cost recovery of $1,700 and what our plan is to get there, and how much I have that it's an increase of 35% this year. But can you talk about that glide path to get to the full cost recovery? Yes, thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. So, we did do the calculation, as you mentioned, to determine that it's a full cost recovery would be $1,700 per bathroom, per water closet. Rather than proposing to do that in one fell swoop, going from $1,000 to $1,700 in one year, we are proposing to do a $350 increase this year, and then the remaining $350 increase the next year. Was there any evaluation that was done as part of the utility rate study about going to the full cost recovery and what relief that might give to the residential rates? I don't recall whether we calculated, do you recall that? May I ask Mr. Please. Whoever can answer. Thank you. Good afternoon, Council Member. Thank you for the question. We did have our consultant Stantec consulting group look through that, and it was about, I think it was, if I remember the number correctly, about $500,000, almost $600,000 per incremental increase. So, that would be a direct relief in that amount to the rate payers. If we did the full amount, it would be about another $600,000. So, between the two increases, it's about $1.2 million. Okay. Is there anything at this point in process that would keep us from entertaining that before the public hearing? I mean, it doesn't change the title of the ordinance. Chair, counsel, Devin Haggett from the city attorney's office. I do believe that the ordinance, as long as Stantec had the ability to calculate those new amounts, I believe the ordinance could be amended prior to the public hearing as the title will not change. I mean, I would be open to having that conversation and to see what, you know, if that would actually give any relief to the rates that are being proposed. And I'd be very interested to hear what everyone else has to say about it as well. But I would certainly be agreeable to that if it doesn't, you know, throw off us being able to move forward with our public hearing. And then my second question. Oh, please. So, I was just speaking with Lance. The overall revenues we're proposing on next year is roughly $250 million. And so, if this represents the $500,000, that's roughly a 0.2% difference. I mean, listen, I don't think it's going to be so substantial. You know, these numbers are smaller. But I do agree with residents that, you know, at some point, and we've talked about this in committee. You know, development does need to pay its fair share as well. And that's what we've been trying to get to. Again, we are in a position now where we're essentially talking about, like, trying to just cover the cost of keeping the system moving forward while we're bringing the GO bond in November. So, anything that can lighten the load on our residents, I think, is important for us to have a conversation about. So, I'm open to what everybody else has to say. But I would be very agreeable to making that change before we vote at the public hearing. My second question is, again, the residents brought this up. So, Tom, I think this is for you. This isn't something we talk about quite as much in committees. So, I think I probably need a little bit of a learning curve on this, maybe. But the payments in lieu of taxes, the transfers to the general fund, can you just kind of give everybody a brief on that and talk a little bit about what that means? Yes, absolutely. Excuse me. And maybe, you know, some folks earlier were talking about a history lesson. Maybe I'll start with some big picture history for the chair. I see she's giggling. But payment in lieu of taxes originated back in the 1930s. The federal government was asked by certain western states who have a lot of public lands if they would make a payment to those states in lieu of property taxes because, you know, the federal government owns that lands. They don't charge any ad valorem or property taxes. So, that was the original concept. And over the decades, different levels of government started to deploy that same strategy. So, in local governments, like the city of St. Petersburg, we have publicly owned utilities that, if they were private, they would be paying us property taxes. So, it's a way for organizations like ours to replace some of that theoretically lost revenue for the general fund by virtue of the fact that the utility is owned publicly. So, that's kind of the big picture concept of why local governments started to do payment in lieu of taxes. Currently, we charge about six enterprise funds, water, stormwater, sanitation, marina. There's two more. What am I missing? Absolutely. Parking and golf courses, a payment in lieu of taxes on an annual basis. Okay. And the amount for water, stormwater, and sanitation, do you have those? I know I'm kind of springing this on you. Yeah, absolutely. Do you have those numbers handy? Absolutely. And I will remind you that this is, you know, it's rolled up in our general fund budget and it shows the amount. And so, for FY27, it's in the aggregate, it's $30 million from those enterprises. And from water, it's $9 million. Stormwater, $1.6 million. And then smaller amounts from sanitation, about $146,000. Similar amount from marina, $146,000. And golf courses pay $65,000. And parking is $74,000. So, between, you said water, stormwater, and sanitation, it's about one, let's say about $10.64 million? Something, yeah, that's about right. Now, there is also another component, which is the franchise fee. And the franchise fee is a 6% on the previous year's sales for three of our enterprises, which is water, stormwater, and sanitation. And how much does that? Let's see, franchise fee. It's $12.9 for water, $12.9 million for water resources, $2.5 million for stormwater, and $3.9 million for sanitation. Okay. All right. Thank you for having that information. I'll think about that for a minute. So, thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. So, going back to when you did the calculation, I want to make sure, because the $500,000, and then compared to $250 million, that, I think you said 0.2%, it's 0.002%. Am I off? If you divide $500,000 by $250 million, the number that I get is 0.002, not 0.2. Correct. And then I multiply it by 100 to get it. And then you multiply it by 100 to get it. Okay. I just want to make sure. Okay. Okay. And then, in terms to just explain the pilot thing again, to make it a little clearer, because it was a little confusing, you have the pilot money. It goes into our general fund, and you're talking about $30 million in the aggregate, and then the rest of the franchise fees, right? So, that means that it will leave a hole in their general fund that pays for the other things, so we'd have to cut other things. Exactly. Okay. That's, yeah. Okay. Sounds good. Council Member Floyd. I have been on this for a long time, and I will say that the reason why I've been on this is because for a few years, we were cutting the taxes to the general fund while raising utility rates, which was if we had instead used the funding to lower the pilot or the payment lieu of fees or the franchise fee, we would have more substantially lowered people's utility rates than we did their taxes. We can see that by the way that we're doing the GO bond and how it's going to lessen the impact on, like, the bottom 88% of households in the city. And so, using property taxes to pay for things in the utilities is a more progressive way for us to pay for utilities improvements. And transferring money from one to, from the utilities to the general funds is going to be more aggressive because the utility rates are flat, they're paid for by everyone, renters included, and I think a lot of people in this city want to see us put more burden on, you know, development. And this is one way to do it is by getting right now, you know, the biggest properties in the city are quite frequently owned by out-of-town developers and out-of-town real estate holding companies, and they're not contributing the same way that residents are to utilities because they're not here paying utility bills. And if we put it on a property taxes, they will be. And so, I recognize that we're going to have to have a plan to actually lower these numbers, but I have brought it up the last few years in a row, and so I think it's time for us to create that plan, and I'm interested, I'm not interested in continuing down the path we're on until we have, until we have a plan to actually do that. And so, having said that, I'll also talk about, I'll go in reverse order to Councilmember Gabbard, and talk about the water closet fee. I'm forgetting the actual name, but the water closet fee. I've been upset that we just had, I was upset we didn't just go to $1,000 immediately when we saw it was $1,000, and I'm upset that it's taken us two years. We should not subsidize development. We shouldn't. And that's what's happening, is the rest of our utility bills are going to subsidize development if we don't just get the full cost recovery. Every year, we should just move it to the full cost recovery because we shouldn't be subsidizing new development like that with our water bills. And so, I am glad that we changed it because it was way too low when I first got here, and so I'm grateful to the work. But, you know, I think we should just move it every single year to the full cost recovery. It is what's fair. I mean, you know, I calculated it looks like like $3 a year. It'll save people 0.2%. I can't say for sure that that number is accurate. I can say 0.2 is accurate, but I can't say for sure that my rough math, $3 is accurate, but it is about fairness. I don't want to subsidize these buildings, and I don't think anybody here does. So, having said that, like, I will make whatever motion I need to to make that happen. To instead do the full cost recovery for the water closet fee, I'll move that instead of, you know. And I want to ask administration, I was just curious because I'm confused in terms of at some point, I thought we were doing that or something. It was supposed to be a longer period of time, but I thought we had shortened it a lot more. And I'm trying to understand. Yeah. I thought we were getting. Yes, ma'am. So, we started this, I think it was back in 2022, when the rate was in the 300s, and the original concept was to do it over the five years. When we got clarification on what we could do, because we had some confusion about some state statutes, the next year we accelerated that from the five-year to a three-year, I believe it was. Right. And were there some legal issues in terms of how much you can increase? Because I, that's what I was, I thought there were some legal issues and to how much you can increase at a time. Yes, Chair. At first, when STANTEC proposed it, it appeared that that a rate would be subject to the Florida Impact Fee Act, which requires that the fees only go up 12.5 percent each year. And upon doing some research, I determined there is a carve-out for water, for sewer connection fees, so that it is not bound to the requirements of that act, so that we would be able to raise them at whatever rate we, we wish to raise. Okay. And that's what, that's what I thought. So, I guess as a body, because I know we had this conversation before, we had gone from five to three. Okay. Because I, I remember having a conversation as a body. City Council, at some point years ago, we brought it down and shortened the period. To be clear, and we had this conversation, we, we can shorten that period even more. But I want to make sure that we had that opportunity. We spoke about it. So, it's not like we haven't been speaking about bridging that gap. But now, if we can do it faster, and there is no legal reason why we wouldn't, right? There isn't. Okay. So, then. Be brought to full cost recovery. Okay. So, and your motion is? Yeah, that we move it to full cost recovery. Okay. Can I, can I just jump in real quick? Sorry. So, I think for, like, you know, you've heard me harp on this. So, this is an ordinance. So, you would need to see exact language. So, that type of more general motion, I think that conveys, in my opinion, that would convey what, if the body votes on it, what you would be looking for. I think it would be requesting, this is just a suggestion, requesting that the, when the ordinance is brought back for public hearing, that that change is incorporated into a subsequent draft. Because voting on anything specific now, you don't really have it in front of you. I will rescind my previous motion and move exactly what you just said. And I second. Okay. Yes, you could. Yep, go ahead, Vice Chair. So, okay. I'm glad we're there on that. I've said what I needed to there. I want to take a setback and just finish on the payment in lieu of taxes and fees and franchise fee thing. Is that this has been something I've brought up most years I've been here. But a lot of times it happens in the one-on-ones and the planning meetings. And then, you know, we hash back and forth. And then I just sort of vaguely mention it in our meetings. And so, I am coming to the realization, like, I'm going to be more loud about it in our current meeting, in all of our sunshine meetings. Because, you know, I recognize that, you know, there's a lot of conversation that happens in those one-on-ones ahead of time that doesn't all come out. So, I've mentioned it every year. And so, I'm glad we're having this conversation. But, you know, after having mentioned it a bunch of times, like, and showing with everyone, especially through the GO bond, how the impact changes to households. Like, I'm not interested in these, like, blanket rate increases unless we can come up with a plan to shift burden a little bit. So, that's where my focus is. And I appreciate everybody hearing it out. And I'll leave it there. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Council Member Harding. Thank you, Chair. Full cost recovery. Can we define it, just so we make sure we all understand exactly what it means? So, full cost recovery would be the cost that the consultant has determined is what the program costs to move forward with the permits and the monitoring and full implementation of that process. Okay. And how does that differ from what we do right now? I apologize. I'm a few steps behind here. So, when we've started this process, and I think it was 2022, we evaluated the process, and that was the cost of the program moving at that point in time. Over the course of the past few years, you know, of course, we've seen an increase in costs and inflation, and across the board, things have just gotten more expensive. So, that translated directly to the the need to recover more on that fee. Thank you for that. Council Member Florida, I apologize during your, I enjoy listening to you, and I appreciate you bringing this up. But during your talking, you said, I'm sure that none of us up here want to see that. I don't mean this to be contentious, but don't speak for me. I don't, in listening to you, I don't know if I agree with you or not. But I need to be the one that decides what I do. So, I don't want people to get the idea that all of us are on the same page. So, I appreciate that. Thank you for that. So, as the motion that is before us, can we have that read back, or can we, or can you, we went through a couple iterations, and Council Member Floyd said exactly as Jackie had restated it. I'm not clear on exactly what it is. So, can we have it restated, or who can we? I think the main thing, I'll let Council Member Floyd, I'm sorry, Vice Chair Floyd speak for himself. The main thing for me is just from a procedural standpoint, whatever you want to request from a substantive standpoint of what you would like to see in the next version of the ordinance. We can't really amend it today, because we don't have any specific language, and there'll need to be some discussion on administration. So, Council Member Floyd can ask exactly what he is requesting. The main thing is, it's just a request by this body to have a change to the ordinance when it's brought back to you for public hearing. Yes, ma'am. And I get that. But there's a motion on a second, and I'm not clear on what it is. That's the... So, the motion is that we're requesting that when this ordinance comes back, it has language in it that shifts us from half the full cost recovery for this water closet fee to the full cost recovery of the water closet fee. And we're requesting that that's how it comes back. So, we're not amending anything today. We're just requesting that in the future it comes back like that. Thank you very much. I just wanted clarity on that. And can you put this in perspective for us, that in terms of a project or one water closet, can you give us perspective on what those numbers look like? Are we talking about doubling the number from $500 to $1,000 or doubling the number from $100,000 to $200,000? But just to give scope to what we're talking about. So, currently, the current water closet fee right now in 2026 is $1,000 per water closet, which is basically a bathroom. And so, if somebody's adding one bathroom, they'll pay $1,000. If they're adding two bathrooms, they'll pay $2,000. Under the change that's in the current ordinance, it would go from $1,000 to $1,350. Under what I believe the request is, it would go from $1,000 to $1,700, $1,700. And, Claude, just again, just to give the scope and understanding, not asking for a number, but in your years of expertise, how many water closets does this city add in a year? Roughly, on average, about $500,000 per year. I mean, it can be more in one year as, you know, multiple developments come on, and then the next year, it might be slightly lower while developments are being built. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. And thank you for your patience with me. Thank you. So, and that's part of the reason, Council Member Harding, I know, like, you weren't here for some of the historical part with the water closet. I thought it was important for administration to kind of, you know, talk about how this started, because we started talking about water closet fees a while ago, and they were extremely low, and then there was a very, a much longer period in terms of getting up to the number where we needed to get to, then we shortened that period. They've updated the numbers for the water closet now, right, now to recapture the cost of operating the system for new users, it is $1,700. So, we're at $1,000, right, and then $1,350, and then $1,700. So, what you're, we're looking at is, if I'm correct, right, if it's $500 a year or something, that's $350, that's $175,000. Okay. That's what we're talking about, right? Okay. I just want to make sure we all understand what we're talking about. So, it, so basically, it's the cost, right? It's $350,000 times $500,000, right? $170,000, it's about $175,000. Could the math people check? But I just want to make sure that this is what we're talking about in terms of numbers, because it sounds, I want people to understand, like, we're talking about things, people, there is a context of the dollars we're talking about, what the cost of the system is, and the real impact. So, I just want to make sure we all understand. I'm happy to move everything forward, and, and actually, I think all of council, when we had this conversation, it was to do it as fast as possible, because we were behind. But I also want to make sure that people understand, is that we have been having this conversation of catching up on the water closet fee for years, and it took a study that had to be performed to figure out what the system costs us to be able to do the impact fees, because you can't willy-nilly do it. And that took time, and we've been catching up, and we are finally there, right? Correct. I hope I haven't misrepresented anything. Okay. So, at this point, we have a motion and a second just on this change to, to go from the $1,350 to the $1,700 total, okay? Clerk, if you can open the machine for voting. Council members, please enter your votes. Seeing that all present council members have voted, clerk, please tally announce the vote. Madam Chair, the motion to approve the motion on the floor passes unanimously, with council member Gardis being absent. Thank you. You don't want to repeat all that? Okay, so now we go back to the ordinance, which we have, we've already read, and I'll, if there is no other request to speak, then we would need a motion and a second. Move approval. The seat, we still have to, we still have to entertain this last motion. Oh, okay. I mean, the last, that last ordinance. We have a motion and a second. We have three ordinances. This change has nothing to do with this. They're going to bring something else. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Everybody's on the same page, I hope. Yes, ma'am. Jackie, we're all good. We're good. Thank you. Okay. Okay, motion and a second. Clerk, if you can open the machine for voting, council members, please enter your votes. Seeing that all, oh, I pushed it. I'm sorry. Yeah, there you go. Seeing that all present council members have voted, clerk, please tally announce the vote. Madam Chair, the motion to approve agenda item E1C passes six to one with council members Driscoll, Vic Sanders, Gabbard, Gibbons, Hanowitz, and Harding voting yes, council member Floyd voting no, and council member Gerdes being absent. Thank you. Okay. Council member Gabbard. So just to continue the conversation, since we're in the sunshine, Vice Chair Floyd, you're talking about wanting to bring a plan forward to be able to have a conversation about these taxes or payments in lieu of taxes. So would you mind to kind of tell us a little bit about what you're thinking? Because I mean, I'm very in favor of having this conversation, very robust conversation to figure out like, what does that look like? But when I'm sitting here looking at these numbers today, and then I think about the implications to a budget that's also coming forward, like, I don't know how we get there in real time. So what does a plan even begin to look like from the conversations you've been having? Because you're right, we do have all of these conversations behind the scenes, right? We all have like, I don't know, my meetings like an hour and a half, almost two hours every single year. And so I'm just so curious to know what what you think a plan to even start the conversation looks like. Okay. So first, it can't happen in the silo of utility rates, it has to be a part of the budget conversation. Yeah. And it has to be in coordination with how we set our millage rate as well. Because, again, I go back to the years where we lowered the millage rate while we increased utility rates, like that was, that was a golden opportunity to more, to do a better job impacting people's cost of living by shifting the burden. So I can't say for sure, like, what exactly I want to cut to be able to do this, because it has to be a part of the budget conversation. And we're setting this for this year. But the fact that we have not, you know, confronted this so far is a source of frustration for me. And so, yeah, I would say that it has to be part of our budget conversations going forward. Yeah. Well, I think it's certainly warrants sooner rather than later. I mean, you know, this council will start its budget priorities next year in January. And so, I mean, only four more months on the council for me, I won't be sitting there with you in January, but I would be more than happy to be part of that conversation now. So if there was a new business item that came forward to be F&T, I would very much support that. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. You don't need, you already spoke. Okay. No, because I was looking at who's speaking. Council Member Harding. Thank you, Chair. Interesting thought, Council Member, Vice Chair Floyd. And since we're in the sunshine, I am, I'm trying to do the math on, not the math, but the logic on what I think you're presenting. And I put it in perspective to my business. We sell a product. Everyone does sell a product or a service. We sell a product. And with that product, we pay our bills and then whatever's left over goes to our investors. So we sell a product and we pay our water bill with it and we pay our property taxes with it. In this case, the city has enterprise facilities. It has separate entities that live on their own. It charges a fee for its service and it pays its bills. And in theory, there's no money left over. It does CIP. But it charges you and I at our individual houses me at the business for water. And it uses that water to pay property tax, which seems fair because I pay property tax and you pay property tax. Just because it's a city facility, it should pay some form of property tax too. So the idea of a payment in lieu operating as an equitable property tax that it would pay if it were a private entity, I'm good with. So in theory, I mean, it's in the name. In theory, the water department operates the same way as our houses do and the same way as my business does. So I'm very interested. I would support you bringing this conversation. I'm very interested to talk about it. My first reaction is that that that is part of that service flow. That entity has to pay a property tax in order to have a piece of property, in order to generate water, in order for you and I to have water. That is the logical flow of how that entity exists. And so that's the first half of me trying to piece through. If you push it to, if you push some of that onto property tax and you dissipate the payment in lieu, but you assume we still need to be, the city still has a budget, wants to be made whole, then you raise the millage rate on what's left of the geography. And then, and so in theory, I, you as a homeowner just have a higher millage rate to pay, so you pay more in property tax. I, as a renter, whoever owns my property will, will, this is their only source of income, they'll pay it, but they'll raise my rent in order to, in order to pay it. And so those are my two, those are my two struggles as, as, and again, I, I appreciate the thought process. I appreciate you presenting the idea, but those are my two, I need to, I need to, I need to make hay out of those two thoughts. So thank you for the opportunity. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. And before I go back to Vice Chair Floyd, look, this is a very interesting conversation, given the fact that this year there is a referendum to get rid of property taxes. And the fact of the matter is, I was just reading the, our Cal minutes, because I have to review them. And then every council member has a wish list of things they want, which comes out of our general funds, which then you have to find how do you pay for those things. So I, it, and it's funny, because I was literally reading the minutes, and it's like, oh, and we want this, and we want this, and this program, this program, this program, this, and it's like the constant list of programs that everybody wants, and you have to pay for them. And then that comes out of the general fund, including some of the advocates that are here asking for the pilot, that money goes into the general fund, which a lot of times pays for some of these programs that people want. So I'm really interested to see how the numbers work out, because I think that's the challenge that we have as government. You always try to find what is fair. But I will, I would be interested to see how this actually works out, because the reality is, there's always more programs that we all want. And all you have to do is look at every council member's wish list of everything in the city, and that we can't get and pay because there's not enough money. And then now you, now it's like, okay, well, the state of Florida wants to get rid of, you know, our property taxes. And by the way, that actually pays for public safety. So then we have to find a way to pay for that. And then this cover, you know, this is we're talking about 30 million here, 90 million there, whatever that means that we have to cut something else. So I'm very interested to see how this all plays out, because I know that somehow people think that there is a fund out there that we have that's just sitting there that is nobody's using, and there's money to use for all these things. That's what I think sometimes the public thinks that there's this money sitting there, or better yet, we're just using it for lots of things that are not necessary. And, and that is not true, because if we had a pot of money sitting there, trust me, there's always things we could use it for. And I do agree with council member Harding on the fact that it always sounds nice on paper, just like the state of Florida says, well, we're going to get rid of property taxes, so you don't have to pay for it. But the reality is, it's just going to show up in a fee. So I'd be interested in to figure out how that costs, because somehow that cost is going to be allocated. And if it does go, and somebody rents out their house, they're going to pass that tax. If, if businesses have extra costs, they are going to pass it to the consumer. So these are great conversations, because I think they're fantastic economic conversations for everyone to have an understanding of, and how you make the numbers work to pay for all these things. So with that being said, I don't see any other requests to speak. Um, we move on to reports. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you all. Appreciate the time. Thank you. Next up, we have F1 Ford Pinellas update. And I have Whit Blanton here, the executive director of Ford Pinellas. I'm going to defer to council member Driscoll. She is the chair of Ford Pinellas, right? Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. And Whit, welcome. Um, as I've been on the board of Ford Pinellas for, um, several years now, and I've served as the chair, um, last year and this year, it is, um, it has just really, um, given me an incredible amount of respect for Whit and the team that he has that worked day in and day out for Pinellas County and for the region, for the Tampa Bay region. So I wanted to start with a thank you and thank you for taking the time to come and visit with us today to provide, you know, just a quick refresher on what Ford Pinellas does and then an update on some of the exciting things that you're working on that affect, um, those of us that are here in St. Petersburg. So, um, it's, it's just, it continues to be an honor to serve on the board, to serve as the chair, be able to work with you. And I'm excited. I know we have four city council members who sit on the board of Ford Pinellas, but that means that there are four who, um, you know, we can, we can show what we're up to. So with that, I'll hand it over to you, Whit. All right. Thank you so much for having me. It's a, it's a pleasure. You're part of our summer series where we've been around all 25 local governments, uh, and just giving them an update on some pretty important things that are happening in our region and countywide. And I do have a presentation that if you can, there we go. Perfect. I'll keep it pretty brief because you do know Ford Pinellas and most of you are on my board or at least half of you are. Uh, we have, um, about a 10 year legacy of being merged between the metropolitan planning organization and the Pinellas planning council, which is a land use and a transportation linkage. And we're unique in the state of Florida with that linkage formally to where our governing board decides on land use cases and transportation investment choices. Uh, there are 27 MPOs in, in Florida and we're working real hard to reduce that number. And I'll get to that shortly. Um, we, um, have a responsibility that's pretty broad. It's countywide planning. Uh, it touches on so many different things. And I feel like instead of introducing myself as executive director, I should be chief cat herder and boundary crosser because that's kind of what we do. Um, the board is 19 members. Uh, we expanded after the 2020 census from 13 to 19, and that's why we have four, uh, council members on the board. We are an advisory board to the board of county commissioners on land use cases, maintaining the countywide plan, but we provide all the technical resources, all the work, uh, to essentially carry out the county's charter for countywide planning. Uh, as the MPO, we are the decision maker on transportation investments for Pinellas County. Uh, and, and I do not report to the county administrator or the board of county commissioner. So, uh, you all are my bosses who serve on the board from a transportation priority standpoint. It starts with our call for projects, our local government grant program. Uh, it has been in place for 11 years, almost as long as me. And, uh, we have awarded about, um, $13 million in grants, either in planning, uh, dollars or in construction dollars. Uh, these are competitive dollars. We have a call for projects that's currently open. Uh, we provide technical assistance in addition to the grants, but, um, it's also part of the grant. In some cases, um, we manage the grants on behalf of our smaller local governments, uh, work with the consultant, provide the direction and the cities are involved, uh, and certainly providing direction, but they're not doing all the, the, the work for St. Petersburg, the grants award, you have a competent staff. That's great to work with, and you're carrying those out yourself. This year, uh, as with the last couple of years, we have $150,000 in planning grants, uh, that are available. Uh, the minimum project award is 35,000 and, uh, the call for projects went out in July. They are due this fall and they will be selected by our board officially in March, uh, of the year. Uh, we use these grants for a wide variety of things. They can be for public engagement, uh, community engagement, uh, safety analyses, visioning workshops, uh, walking audits, safety studies, all those kinds of things related to transportation, because these are federal transportation dollars. Uh, for construction grants, uh, we award $3 million, uh, in construction capital projects to each project, up to $3 million, I should say. Uh, the minimum awards $300,000, uh, and we have awarded many projects for complete streets and multimodal planning, uh, technology investments and the like. So the timeline, as I mentioned earlier, uh, is, uh, this fall for award recommendation or award recommendations to be early 2027 after we receive the awards this fall. I'm either not pushing the right button or it's hard to follow. There we go. So I wanted to talk a little bit about two big things that are happening, um, uh, in our world right now. And we've been working on this for quite some time. The Pinellas Planning Council, uh, operates under a special act that was authorized by the legislature in 2014. And I was hired as the first executive director in 2015 when that act was amended to incorporate the Metropolitan Planning Organization, uh, into the agency. Used to be the MPO was under Pinellas County government. It was a division of the planning department. And, uh, there was a lot of concern, you know, from years ago that it pretty much carried out what the state wanted and what the county wanted. And we've been really working hard to focus on being, uh, a voice for all, um, uh, local governments in Pinellas County. The reason this graphic is up here is because we're doing it again. It took five years, uh, and I hope it doesn't take five years this time. Uh, but a lot of things can happen on the way to getting a bill, um, passed in the legislature and signed by the governor. So what we are going to be doing this year is amending the special act, uh, in the event that we are successful at merging the three MPOs in Pasco Hillsborough and Pinellas County. And we're doing a few other things as well, because if you open up the special act, uh, it gives you an opportunity to, um, address other issues that have been coming up in the community. And so we want to make sure that we're modernizing our process and aligning it with the needs of today's Pinellas County. Uh, so the intent is for us to provide very broadly defined policy-based countywide planning that addresses things like housing, uh, future land use, transportation, intergovernmental coordination, all those things, uh, but providing a consistent framework for all 25 local governments, uh, in the county. Uh, the challenge we have right now is that the PPC's board membership is identical to the MPO board membership. And in the event that the merger happens, uh, we really don't want Pasco County elected officials or Hillsborough elected officials deciding land use cases in Pinellas County. Um, so effectively the, the Pinellas planning council board would cease to exist if the merger goes forward. So, uh, we have established a board, uh, subcommittee that has been meeting, I think four times so far. We have one more meeting on August 24th. Uh, council member Floyd is part of that group. Uh, and they have been reviewing the special act, discussing options and developing recommendations that we will present to the full board this fall. Uh, essentially what we are looking at is, uh, ways to, um, address that board composition, uh, with an if then clause. So if the MPO merges, uh, then the Pinellas planning council would revert to a smaller board representing only Pinellas County, uh, cities in the county. And most likely we're looking at a 13 member board, although that is still to be determined. Uh, and it would have, um, some shared seats, uh, for the 24 cities, uh, and it would be based on population. So those are some things that we know would happen. In addition to that, uh, we are recommending a series of streamlining provisions that would kind of reduce the footprint of, of what Ford Pinellas does as the countywide planning authority, um, to let cities and the county be a little more autonomous in some of the work they do. So some things that currently require public hearings under the streamlining provision would no longer require public hearings. Uh, if they are straightforward, if they do not impact large countywide considerations, uh, and an example of that would be if you are expanding an activity center that you've defined locally, uh, by less than 10% and you're just picking up some parcels on the fringe of that, or you're extending a multimodal quarter that you've designated. Those kinds of things would be reviewed by us and would not require public hearing city council would have to act on those things. You would still have to transmit it to the state and have that review happen, but it doesn't make sense to us, uh, and probably to your staff that we would be involved in reviewing that. Um, especially if we're already certifying the comprehensive plan and your land development code is consistent with the countywide rules and the countywide plan. I won't go into all the details because they're not all fully baked, but that's generally the sense of what we are looking at. Uh, if you were to create a new brand new activity center, which allows is our highest density development category that would not fall under the streamlining provisions, that would still be something that we would review, have a public hearing and recommend that to the countywide planning authority. Similarly, if you were proposing a large amount of residential development in the coastal high hazard area, that would be another area that we would have to scrutinize because of state law and the countywide rules. Uh, but for the most part, we've looked at the last five years of land use cases and something like 70% of the land use cases, um, could be, uh, either addressed administratively at the staff level, uh, or under some of the language we're proposing here, uh, not have a public hearing. And that's a pretty significant time savings. Um, and also something that would save money for, for, for folks who are applicants. And a lot of these projects that we now review are three acres, two acres, one acre, and they are non-controversial and they just happen to fall under the, the responsibility of, of our review and the public hearing process. Uh, I am all for limiting, uh, government inefficiencies whenever we can. This is a timeline of, um, how we are working to advance a local bill, uh, with our legislative delegation. And I had a very productive meeting yesterday with one of our representatives and I believe I have a sponsor, um, and, and it has to start with the house. And of course, a local bill can be stopped in the Senate, uh, but it starts with the house. So I need to find a house, uh, member who can advance this. What we are planning to do is after our final, uh, workshop, uh, with the board subcommittee, uh, in a couple of weeks is to have that language developed, uh, sent to the representative. Uh, and then in November when they hold their delegation meeting, they would introduce this as a local bill. Local bills are meant to be non-controversial. So we were working very hard to make sure that these are things that everybody likes. Uh, and, um, so far I'm hearing some good things about this. I want to mention also that we are currently advancing a number of countywide rules amendments, uh, that would also contribute to the streamlining provision. Uh, that public hearing will be, um, approved at the September board meeting and then the county commission would act on that later this fall. So those are some things we can do without opening up the special act. And then the special act changes would be to build on that. So let me get to the, the, the bigger item probably. And the one that's probably more of a, of a heavy lift and that's the proposed MPO merger. I did speak to you all last year about this. So, um, I wanted to just mainly provide an update. There we go. Um, now I've advanced way too far. Me too. It's operator error. I am certain of this, but you've got all my contact information up there. Okay. So here we go. Maybe there's a delay. Can you advance that slide for me once, please? I'm not having much luck. Now I'm at the very end again. Well, as we're getting, there we go. As we get this sorted out, um, we've been working since 2023. Uh, we prepared a, well, really longer, but we prepared a MOU, a memorandum of understanding, and a feasibility report for the governor and the legislature in 2023. We could have just stopped and, and said, we did what the legislature asked. Um, and then, but we decided at a staff level to let's keep working this issue because we know the legislative, legislature's intent, uh, to create a single MPO. And the benefit for this for the Tampa Bay region is that it would give us the platform to speak with one voice on transportation priorities for our rapidly growing region. And while Pinellas is not growing as rapidly as Hillsborough or Pasco, uh, we still are a prime destination. Our beaches are still attracting many visitors, uh, and residents, uh, and we're not growing any more beach. Uh, so we need to make sure our transportation system can support the growth of the region because we are an integral part of that region. Uh, and, and, you know, it's interesting when I started my career, uh, most of the workers, the workforce, uh, commuted from Pinellas County into Hillsborough County for higher paying jobs. That's not the case anymore. It's about 50 50 on the Howard Franklin bridge for journey to work travel because we've added so many more high tech jobs here in Pinellas County. And while the population growth hasn't grown that much, the employment base has changed considerably over the last couple of decades, but we have done a lot of work. I won't go into great detail, but as of this week, we are finalizing every component of this merger down to what the staffing plan would look like, the org chart, uh, the financial plan. We have an interlocal agreement that's been revised and modified a few times, a set of bylaws, the provisions in the bylaws and the interlocal agreement would prevent, uh, any consideration about tyranny of the majority, uh, a larger population county, for instance, dictating transportation solutions for the whole region. And taking all those dollars, that's a concern that I've heard a lot. Uh, and we've put provisions in there to prevent that. Um, those provisions include not only a majority vote of the board for our adoption or amendment of our long range transportation plan or our five year budget, the transportation improvement program. It would also require a majority of each delegation voting for that. Uh, but in addition to that, the Florida department of transportation has to certify that it's five year work program is equitable and that dollars are allocated based on population over that five year period. So every year they have to make that certification. Uh, and while in one year we may have more money going to Hillsborough County because of a large project, they're supposed to balance that over a five year period. And a good example of how it's hard to kind of track all this is, uh, in 2018, we voted to make the West shore interchange state road, 60, I two 75 near the Tampa international airport, the number one project in the region. We initiated that, uh, our county was the first one to send a letter of support. I believe St. Petersburg sent a letter of support and it became the number one priority as adopted by all three MPOs. It's now under construction at 1.5 billion dollars. That project is in Hillsborough County. So, but it directly benefits Pinellas County. Uh, we've recently completed the Howard Franklin bridge construction. That project is in our transportation improvement program, although it is truly a regional project. So it's a little hard to, to show that the dollars are, are directly in each county, but, um, that's what regional collaboration does. And, um, you know, we are still going to need to be able to telescope between these big regional projects, like I just mentioned, and the small projects on 18th Avenue South or Martin Luther King junior street, um, because that's what the MPO does. And I think we can walk and chew gum effectively to do both. Um, transportation funding is incredibly competitive. So, um, while we do have formula funds that come to us based on population, the overwhelming majority of transportation dollars are determined, uh, at the state and federal level based on the quality of your application, the, the demonstrated need, the safety record, all those kinds of technical factors. Uh, and when the region can come together and speak as one voice, you have far better chance of getting those projects advanced successfully. And right now we're fighting over scraps, competing with each other in this region. Unlike Orlando, unlike Jacksonville, unlike Tallahassee, which I have multiple county MPOs, unlike Sarasota manatee, for example, I'm really hesitant to advance these slides. So, uh, here's the 2020 population that we've, uh, based everything off of. We are required by federal law to use the census population, uh, in the decennial census. So, uh, we will revisit the apportionment plan for the board after the 2030 census. And you can see the different breakdowns of population. Uh, what we have created here is a, a 25 seat board. Uh, that's the recommendation. Uh, it would include, um, two off the top seats for non-elected officials representing Port Tampa Bay and the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, which is Tampa International Airport. Uh, they would be represented by their CEOs or designee. And then the 23 other seats would be elected officials. There would be 10 seats for Hillsborough County based on this population number, eight seats for Pinellas County, uh, and then five seats for Pasco County. We had a concern expressed previously that if you include the port in the airport, that's a lot of seats for Hillsborough County and that's unfair. Hillsborough County voluntarily gave up a seat, uh, to Pasco County, which showed, I think, a real sense of, of partnership on that. Um, there are still some calls to, uh, create a board that looks more like Tampa Bay water, which would be equal representation for the three counties. And I understand the sentiment behind that. Uh, but right now we allocate sales tax revenues and gas tax revenues by population. The DOT, uh, ensures equitably equitable work plan by population. And, um, I'm afraid that if we were to go to a different model, it would require legislative and gubernatorial direction. And there's only one MPO in the state of Florida that's done that. That's Miami Dade. And they have, uh, all of their board of county commissioners on the MPO board and Miami, which has 550,000 people has one vote. Hialeah, which has 280,000 has one vote. Uh, and they have five gubernatorial appointees. Um, and one of the things about MPOs is that they were set up by Congress to represent local interests and provide direction on local priorities and local needs for transportation. We already have the state of Florida that is responsible for the state highway system, uh, and the interstate system. Why would you put more authority with the state of Florida given those dynamics? Let MPOs be MPOs and let them represent local communities. Um, so I'm confident that we'll get there. Um, but I did want to share that that is one issue we're still working through politically. This is the breakdown. I think I shared with you last year. It hasn't changed, uh, eight seats for Pinellas would, uh, our recommendation, and this is still recommendations. Nobody's voted on this, uh, would have two for the county, two for the city of St. Petersburg, one for each city over 50,000 population, and then one rotating smaller seat for a large number of jurisdictions that have much smaller population level. I'm hopeful that that rotating seat could be determined by the Pinellas Planning Council, for instance. Uh, we, um, not sure yet how Hillsborough and Pasco will allocate those seats, um, but that is something that we're leaving to their, um, their respective MPOs and, and, and local governments. This apportionment plan and all the other documents need to be approved by four principals. Uh, they are the three county commissions and the city of Tampa. In federal law, the largest city in the region, um, has authority, um, to, to support this. That is still a consultation with the governor. So ultimately it'll be between those governmental agencies and the governor. Um, so that, uh, action will likely take place, um, in sometime in 2027. We're not in any rush. We're going to wait till after the election. Uh, and then we are going to present this to the boards of county commissioners for approval sometime in 2027. My hope is to have this done locally so that we do not have a bill filed in Tallahassee forcing this merger and dictating the terms. Um, I have heard that there may be a bill filed, um, and I am hopeful that the bill that is filed, uh, will represent what we've recommended at the staff level. Um, what I've heard so far is that that that will occur. Um, but once you get in the legislative process, anybody can file an amendment and anything can change. So my, my firm hope is that we will decide on this locally, uh, and, and, and act in good faith, uh, in the legislature's interest. We have a workshop with the, um, leadership group representing the three counties on October 2nd. Uh, and at our board meeting on September 9th, uh, we have a workshop prior to that board meeting and we'll be introducing all of this, the bylaws language, the interlocal language, the, uh, organizational chart and all those things, uh, at that meeting for discussion, not for action. Uh, and then the MPO will take action sometime after the October 2nd, uh, leadership group meeting. Um, and then that's a simply a recommendation, um, to, to the three county commissions and the city of Tampa. Um, so I think that's really what I wanted to cover. Um, uh, these are the next steps. Um, uh, gives you a little bit of sense of the timeline. The last little point here is that, um, likely, uh, it'll take a little bit of time to get the MPO standing up, but once the governor approves it, we have six months, um, to begin operations as the new MPO. And we would actually de-designate the three MPOs that exist today. And there's a little bit of a process involved with that. So the summer, July 1st of 2028 is when we are targeting, uh, the official start of the new MPO. And, um, we have not determined anything about who would be part of that staff, but we are proposing a staffing plan that's robust, that would meet the needs of the region. And that would essentially have about the same full-time equivalence of the, as the three MPOs today. So that's my presentation. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today and give you a little bit of an overview of my world. And if I can answer any questions, I'm happy to do so. Thank you. And it must be a very exciting time to be meeting for Penelis. Council Member Gibbons. Thank you very much, Chair. And thank you so much. It's a pleasure meeting you. Uh, you have a broad responsibility, a big role. Um, we're talking about county-wide regional planning, uh, 24 cities. And I know that's not an easy job to do, but I thank you for making it look easy. Um, and I thank those who serve for their service as well. Um, when we talk about land use and transportation options and, and addressing our priorities, I just want to hit on a couple of things very briefly. Um, first thing is our investments in bicycle and pedestrian safety. Um, you know, for me, pedestrian and bicycle safety is a high priority. Seeing the Complete Streets projects through to fruition and making sure that we make our streets safer is something that is very near and dear to my heart. This Saturday, um, on MLK Street, we saw a woman was killed, a pedestrian trying to cross the road. Can you talk a little bit about, um, those grants, investments that we've made here in St. Pete through forward Pinellas to help make bicyclists and pedestrians safer? Sure. Well, we have an active transportation plan that we develop in partnership with our local governments. Uh, we have a safe streets for all plan that we are currently, um, updating. And that's also done in partnership with our local governments. And we are, um, really mindful of those places where we have not only serious injury crashes and fatalities, but also near misses, um, because not everything gets recorded and it feels very unsafe for people. Uh, so, uh, we have, uh, consistently worked with the city of St. Petersburg to advance Complete Streets project and other, uh, multimodal, uh, transportation projects, whether it be sidewalks, street crossings, intersection upgrades, uh, curb bulb outs, things that slow down traffic, turning at intersections. And you can see examples of those, uh, completed around, uh, downtown and other parts of the, of the city. We really are looking forward to 18th Avenue South 22nd street and others advancing as well. Um, I mentioned the grants. That's one way that you can get funding, uh, through, through our agency, but we also adopt a list of transportation priorities every year. And those priorities aren't always, um, something that the local government has to apply for that just sometimes is something we identify, uh, based on a request from a local government. And so we do have, uh, ML King Jr. street south, uh, on our priority list. It can be moved up. Um, what we want to make sure though, is that there is always a local responsibility to, um, advance those projects. And we want to make sure that we do so keeping in mind the capacity and resources of your staff, uh, and your, your, your city. Uh, so that's, you know, sometimes things don't advance as fast as we would like, but that's because there's other projects that are moving through the pipeline and other activities that we're working on as well. I appreciate that. Um, and speaking of, you know, multimodal projects and, you know, different modes of transportation that people are using to now get around, not just the city, but our region, um, but both what's here and what is to come. Can we talk a little bit about autonomous vehicles, um, about e-bikes? How are we bracing for these new modes of transportation? How are we helping to educate our general public on the, the benefits and the risk, um, and, and just improving safety standards across the board? Well, we, um, are actually scheduled, uh, next week on Thursday with the board of county commissioners to have a work session on e-bikes and e-mobility. We've drafted a white paper, um, that I am happy to share with you all, um, uh, that, uh, outlines some best practices and examples, uh, and also, uh, documents the trends and safety issues associated with some of these devices. The challenge is that, um, e-bikes were, uh, created in Florida statutes, recognized with different classes, uh, and, and that's worked pretty well as a framework, but now we have a lot of other devices that are flooding the market that aren't legal. Um, they are e-motos and they can go up to 40, 50 miles an hour and parents are buying them for children, uh, and, or teenagers generally, and they're riding them on the sidewalk. They're riding them in the street. They're riding them in an unsafe manner in some cases without a helmet and that's not everybody, but it's happening enough to cause alarm. So that's driving, uh, the white paper. Uh, we've also worked and the city of St. Pete, um, uh, Cheryl Stacks was part of that, uh, development of that white paper. So I want to thank her for her time and effort. We've also, um, looked at drafting a potential ordinance if the board of county commissioners is interested, uh, in that, which would put some restrictions on the use of those devices. For instance, uh, requiring that you have a learner's permit or a driver's license, and then preventing the use of some of those on in some locations on sidewalks. Uh, it's a little bit of a mixed bag because you've got to be careful with a countywide policy because in St. Petersburg, you have such good bicycle infrastructure on your streets for the most part, um, not everywhere, but in a lot of the city, when you go to North County, in some cases, the only safe place to ride is on the sidewalk, um, at least from a perception standpoint. So, uh, this would be an ordinance that the county commission would consider for unincorporated county, but we're hopeful that there are enough provisions in there that other local governments would see some value in it and it would be consistent across the across the line. Well, I will certainly be tuned in and watching that meeting. Uh, we certainly look here in St. Pete for that guidance from our friends at the county. Um, and then just lastly, how can we help, uh, with push your agenda forward? I'm thinking about outreach in particular, right? You can't do it alone. Government can't do it alone. It takes public and private sector working together. Are there any community groups that help you, uh, push your message? I'm thinking about like activate St. Pete and other groups like that. Are you working with those community partners? We are, we meet with them pretty regularly. We talk to them a lot. Um, you know, we, we also collaborate with our transit agency, PSTA, uh, your city staff. We do outreach events, uh, in partnership, and we like to go where people are already gathering rather than hosting a workshop in downtown Clearwater. Nobody's going to come. So we, we go to where the community's already meeting. And a lot of those are festivals and events. Uh, so like the, the collard green festival, things like that. We would love to set up a booth and talk to people at events like that. Well, I look forward to working with you with, I will be extending a few invitation, invitations to a few events that we have coming up. So thank you so much for what you and your team are doing at Fort Pinellas. Thank you so much, Chair. Thank you. Council Member Govard. Well, thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you, Whit. Always good to see you. Um, I've had the pleasure of serving, you include this year, uh, seven of the nine years that I have been on City Council. I have had the pleasure of serving with you. And so, um, appreciate the update, but you know, kind of already knew all of that. I'm only pushing my button to say thank you for just on a personal note, what you do for Pinellas County, what you have taught me over the years. Um, working with you has been nothing short of amazing. Um, and I really do believe that you are the right person for the role at this critical time. Um, this merger, I think you maybe didn't even sell it as, as much as you could have when it comes to the regional competitiveness that that will give us at the federal level. Um, it's just, it cannot be understated. The need for us to be able to invest in transit across Tampa Bay in, um, multimodal and all of the things that help our community get around and get around safely that I just firmly believe is going to be so much easier when we are speaking with a regional voice. And you have navigated some really complicated conversations, um, both, you know, with other counties, even on our own board. Um, you know, chair Driscoll, thank you for your, uh, leadership because those conversations have, you know, been difficult, I think at times. Um, and so, you know, just trying to continue to move everyone, uh, pun intended forward. Um, you know, I think the name speaks volumes, right forward Pinellas, and that's where we want to continue to go. Um, I just also don't want to be remiss when it, when we talk about the e-bike safety. I think that's something that, you know, is so important. Um, you know, I have a teenager and have fought, you know, the e-bike purchasing because I just, I don't believe that our kids should be riding around on these death mobiles, um, at high speeds. And I just want to make sure that it is all publicly well known and everyone, no one ever forgets that there was an e-bike bill that went through the legislature that Governor DeSantis vetoed. And, you know, I just think that is such a shame because, um, it would have capped speeds, uh, specifically when you were around pedestrians. And I just, I don't understand the sense behind that. And so I know that we're going to have some conversations. I know that the county is having some conversations. I just really want to stress that within all of this, there is personal responsibility. The lady who was killed last week, um, that was in a crosswalk using, uh, the, the facilities the way they're intended to be, uh, the young, young kid that was hit at St. Pete High on the last day of school, utilizing the crosswalk, the way that it is intended to be utilized. There is personal responsibility that needs to happen within our community. And I don't know how we get that message out anymore than, you know, we're trying to do, but that is just something that anyone who is listening needs to understand that these are people's lives and people deserve, regardless of how they get around our city, they deserve to have a better chance of getting home at the end of the day. And so, um, you know, for all of that, that you do to try to enforce safety, to try to make our roads better for all road users. Thank you. Because you are making a difference in people's lives every single day. So thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Council Member Driscoll. Thank you. I just wanted to say great presentation. Um, it was a good overview, kind of shows where we're at right now and where we're trying to go. And, um, you know, I'll be right there with you to the end of the year, uh, helping to get, get it, get the ball moving a little bit more. Um, a lot of things have been brought up here that aren't necessarily an, and, and under the purview of forward Pinellas, but we understand how all of these things work together to make our, um, streets, road sidewalks, trails safer for everyone. And so I appreciate the work that forward Pinellas does as its part in all of that. Wanted to point out also, um, forward Pinellas is typically, um, so we have four representatives from, um, St. Petersburg city council on forward Pinellas right now, two of us will be terming out and not on forward Pinellas next year. So that means there will be two open seats. Um, and so I, as some of you look ahead to next year and committee assignments and things like that, um, you know, I strongly recommend this. You see how important it is for St. Petersburg, especially as we're growing and as the kids would say, it's kind of chic to be on the board of forward Pinellas. So, um, I hope that, um, I know that no matter, no matter who takes our spots on that board, you're going to be in good hands because we've got a fantastic city council here. So thank you. Thank you chair. Thank you. Um, well, you clearly have your hands full with everything that's going on. There was a lot there. The one thing I'm going to ask, which didn't really come up, but it's something you hear every once in a while people ask about is rail. And obviously the new Howard Franklin has a rail capacity. Cause I heard that years ago. I grew up in Miami. I know how long I look the Metro rail, it took decades to get off the ground, cost a lot less back then. And I just want to talk a little bit about rail and where you see that in the future going in the region. That's an answer I have to give when I, I have to know my audience when I give that answer. It's a very controversial topic. Oh, I know it's a controversial topic. Rail's expensive. Rail's extremely expensive. But, uh, you know, I think, um, what I will say is that, um, we are, um, probably the largest region that doesn't have a fixed guideway system in the United States. I was in Orlando when sun rail was approved and, uh, open for construction in 2014. And I was so pleased and proud to see that happen in Orlando because it's made a difference. Um, what I will say about rail in the Tampa Bay area is that I think, um, the best opportunity would be to address regional rail between Orlando and Tampa with potentially Brightline or improvements in Amtrak service. Uh, Florida is not one of 21 states that has an agreement with Amtrak for inner city passenger rail service, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, other states have done that and they've got much better inner city passenger connections as a result of that. It's actually not a very expensive proposition. To partner with an existing rail operation like Amtrak. So, you know, we would start there. Uh, there is a plan. We've had many plans to connect downtown Tampa, USF, Tampa International Airport. We've had plans in our county to advance rail historically, but we don't have the funds in place to do that. So any initiative for light rail, heavy rail, whatever rail would entail some sort of ask of the voters, um, most likely a sales tax because that would generate the most revenue. And that's probably where you get into the biggest challenge of when is the right time to make that ask. The other issue I would just say is that typically with rail, like in Miami, uh, you need a very large employment base to serve with that fixed guideway. And the rule of thumb I've always learned is 50,000 population at a destination employment population. And we don't really have that in too many locations in Pinellas County. So we're spread out, even though we're an urban county, and that makes it a little more challenging. The CSX tracks that we have, um, are not, uh, in good condition. They would need a lot of investment. And at one time, while CSX wanted to sell, sell those, they're no longer interested in selling them. Last I've heard. So a few hurdles, but I think this is why the regional MPO could come together, uh, not specifically for any one project, but if that is the will of our region and our, our voices, then that's the forum to make it happen. And I've told people over and over, if you keep your MPO separate, you're probably never getting a project like that because it just, it doesn't give you the forum to really make those big decisions. Mm-hmm. No, I agree with that. And I, and I asked the question just because people do ask, and they don't understand how difficult it is. And you need a lot of money, a lot of money. And you have to have the political will, not just the political will, the voters have to want to have it also. And so, um, and you need a willing partner at the federal and the state government level. You can't just do it. Look, that's exactly right. You can't just do it with local money. You need state, you need federal money. And frankly, um, those things aren't lined up right now. So, um, okay. Well, thank you so much for the presentation, for coming here. Thank you to all the council members who serve on Ford Pinellas and for your service on the board. And for those that are coming off of Ford Pinellas for your many years of service on, I mean, this is probably the last time you're going to be here with them that are rolling off and giving your report because council member Driscoll and council member Gabbard, this is their last year. They're termed limited. So, um, so it's very much appreciated. And so whatever you need from us, you know how to reach. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you. Okay. Next up we have, and they have been so patiently waiting here in the front row. Oh, I mean, every time I look, y'all are there with the smiles. We finally got to F2. Finally, Bowley Center's update on Enhanced Street Outreach Services. So I think you're going to lead us out. Good evening, Chair. Good evening, Council. Dr. Avery Slyker, Housing and Community Development. I am very pleased to introduce you to the report for the Bowley Firefly Project. This is a city funded street outreach and engagement program for individuals with mental health. As you all know, this is funded through our first round of rush funding. And as you heard this morning in HLUT, we will be renewing this contract in round two. I hope that you all had the opportunity to go out and see the outreach van this afternoon. We are so pleased, so pleased. And with that, I welcome Kevin Marone, CEO of Bowley Centers. Good afternoon, Kevin. Good to see you again. Good afternoon. Thank you for having us. Thank you, Council members. We're excited to be here, even though it's, well, good evening, right? We're about into evening. So I'm CEO for Bowley Centers. And, you know, this, yeah, like it says up the top, this is our vision of hope on wheels. You know, Bowley Centers, since 1970, we specialize in serving those with serious persistent mental illness. And this project is really about identifying those unhoused individuals on our streets here in the city of St. Pete that are experiencing serious mental illness. And the approach is a trauma-informed approach. It is a different approach to be able to, you know, I guess I have the clicker. I'll see if it works like the last time. So this began, and really to complement this program, I just wanted to highlight briefly, you know, Bowley's infrastructure, because this is a complement to our infrastructure. You know, we have over a thousand units of different types of housing here in Pinellas County, and a lot of that in the city of St. Petersburg. Housing that includes both residential treatment, transitional housing, supported housing, voucher housing, scattered site, community-based housing. Housing is our expertise, and in particular housing for those that need extensive supports to be successful there. Now, unfortunately on this one, you know, we continue to move the needle and continue our housing pursuits. You know, we have, we did propose in the recent HUD NOFO round to expand our work, so additional 20-bed transitional housing program in downtown St. Pete, as well as an expansion of a street outreach of this street outreach project through HUD continuing care dollars. And unfortunately, if you've heard, HUD has closed the competition again, and so that is still up in the air. We did also submit for a NOFO Build's construction proposal for the rehab of 12 additional permits for housing units. So there's still a little bit to be determined on what happens with HUD with this, but what I can assure you is that Bowley will continue to move the needle as far as housing for those with vulnerable needs. As it relates to the Firefly project and our procurement process, we looked at several vendors that specialize in customized mobile vehicles. We chose Nomadic Homes. This is a female-owned local business here in Pinellas County, and the reason we chose this group is they really connected with the mission. It was important as we developed this building that they understood what we're trying to accomplish so that we could create that environment that was going to, you know, help with their journey and their recovery towards getting housed. We had a couple earlier barriers. For those that did get a chance to see the bus, you'll notice, you know, it was a little bit tight quarters, and there is a story behind that, of course. We have a fleet of 54 vehicles, and these were all, most of these mass transits were funded through the Florida Department of Transportation, and so the vehicle we had hoped to use was not approved for release by the Florida Department of Transportation. So this was the only vehicle in our entire fleet that they would allow us to use, but we made it happen. We made it work. It was a smaller footprint than we would have liked. There was a lot of rust. There was a lot of improvements that needed to be made to it, but we made it work, and our contractor did amazing work with the tight quarters that we have, and I believe it turned out beautiful. I do want to say, in addition to this, a lot of details to work out, the dump station being one of them, you know, because of the size of the vehicle, you know, the tank is a bit smaller than we would have liked, so that dump station is important. So thank you to the City of St. Pete for working with us on providing the resources to be able to do that so that we can be efficient with the showers and the waters that would be going through this vehicle. You know, we, despite some of the the delays in the vehicle, you know, Boley was able to pull together some contingency plans. Fortunately, we had an apartment complex downtown St. Pete that was available, and we used those apartments to get this program started. So even though the bus was a little bit later than we would have liked, we continued on with our goals and initiatives for this by providing the showers, providing the safe, welcoming environment, and really starting the engagement process to the people that we're going to be serving. You'll hear in a little bit more about the details of the program with my team here, Lauren, Sav, Dama, and Kira. You know, some of you might recognize the gentleman on here. He's been downtown St. Pete for a long time, and it was amazing to see in our initial launch of a temporary bus, how he jumped on the bus right away. And you're going to hear some great stories about how this program is already making an impact. So we're proud to bring the Firefly Project. So if you haven't seen the bus, it is outside. If you don't get a chance today to get inside and take a tour, please reach out to us. We're happy to do a private tour with you sometime in the future. But here it is. And I'm going to hand the torch on to Sav, who's going to talk a little bit about some of our outcomes so far and how amazing this project is, and Dama. Thank you. Thank you all for having me here. My name is Sav Kiroglu. I supported the development and now manage the Firefly Project with Bowley Centers. I'm very excited to be here and share what we've done so far. So I'll start from the very beginning, give a really broad overview of what our mission is, what we try to do, and what that has actually looked like over the last couple of months. First and foremost, we are a trauma-informed outreach program. We try really hard to bring the services to the community where the people we're trying to serve are. We believe that every person's story matters and that homelessness is shaped by a complex mix of life circumstances, not just one reason that somebody might be living outside. We're under the belief that healing needs to start with understanding someone's story, hearing them out, identifying what the barriers have been, identifying the strengths in their lives and hopefully guiding them towards the stability of housing. So let's see. So how do we do all that? We, our focus is particularly on individuals that have a severe and persistent mental illness. What that really means is that the folks that we're working with are individuals that have very complex behavioral health needs. They are not the average homeless individual that we see in our streets. I was looking recently, it's not going to be in the slides, but a third of the folks that we've been serving since January have actually been homeless for over 10 years in the city, right? So that really speaks to the level and acuity that we are working with, that we are targeting with the folks that we're working with. So let me go over here. Well, let me back up a little bit. Actually, this is something, oh, you're right about the button. Right about the button. Okay. So I guess all in all, part of what I'm trying to say here is rather than asking the people that we're working with, how do we get you to the services? What we're doing is how do we bring the services to you in a way that's going to meet your needs and support you in your path to stability? Oh, no. There we go. Okay. So how do people get connected to us? We have two different ways that people can be connected. One, through referrals. Two is outreach. Our referral process is innovative. It's new. It's something that I think has been extremely beneficial in our operations so far. We receive, well, yeah, I apologize. So what we do is our referral system is innovative. It's new. We have a QR code. It's placed on these flyers. We also have on the side of the bus and on the BOLI website that's circled in red right there. That's at the top dashboard of our website. And anybody in the community is able to access this form, put in a referral, and get connected with us. All we ask is some information that would allow us to connect with the individual they're referring. For example, if you drive by this intersection every day and you see the same individual on that corner, you're able to submit the referral and say, hey, on these cross streets, I always see this individual. He's generally wearing XYZ clothing. He usually has a cart with him. That way, when we get the referral, we're able to go out and find them and start our process working together. So this is a flyer. I have a time here too with us if you guys were interested in receiving some of the materials and I don't know why it's going backwards. Okay, referrals today. So to highlight how great and impactful our referral system has been, I put up our two maps here. This the map on the left shows the referrals we've gotten as a whole. Obviously, we're only serving the city of St. Petersburg, but I thought it was an important point to note that we are having reach and impact and people are hearing about what we're doing. Map on the right is more zoomed into St. Petersburg and the referrals that we've responded to. Today, at the time of this, it was 199. I think right now we're close to 220 referrals that we've received since in January. And the current referral network that at that number 50 is probably around 55-ish at this point. And what I mean by referral network is community partners that we have met with and sat down with and explained who we are and what we do too. And they've agreed to take our flyers, take our QR codes, take our window clings and support the mission of referring our unhoused neighbors to us. So some of the key features and services that we're offering is the trauma-informed design. I know we've mentioned that a few times. I think those of you that were able to tour the bus, you saw that the design choices inside were very intentional. They're not like other mobile outreach units that are out there. It is warm, it is comforting, it is inviting. We have partnered with our local Panera, who gives us fantastic donations every single week and we're able to do a coffee, a pastry, and sit down and have a conversation with the people that we're working with. We're able to provide crisis intervention and de-escalation. I am a licensed mental health clinician and really what that means is I have a master's degree in forensic psychology and I'm licensed by the Florida Department of Health to be able to assess and initiate Baker X as needed. I will talk about that a little bit more on how that has worked into our systemic impact. But so moving forward we have on our bus and in our interim Marconi apartment office we have private showers in a restroom. We provide hygiene kits, fresh change of clothes, nutritious food options, weather appropriate supplies. It has been incredibly hot lately and we're looking always looking for new creative ways to keep our people cool and harm reduction supplies. Safety is going to be at the forefront of what we do as well. Today we've interacted with 78 different individuals. At the time of making this presentation it was 78. I think we're at around 85 at this point. We have 27 individuals that are continuing to receive ongoing services, meaning we've made that connection. We've established rapport and we have a relationship and we're working towards them getting housed and stable. We've completed 10 coordinated entry assessments to connect them to our housing system and we have provided 949 service services to the 78 people that we've worked with. I think when we look at the number that's around 85 now we're at 1,030 services that we've provided. We're almost at 1,100. Okay. It was 1,030 last week then. And we've been able to provide 200 showers, over 200 showers. So this is the systemic impact that I wanted to talk about a little bit. The crisis intervention and the benefit of having a licensed clinician out on the streets on this mobile unit every day is that we've been able to provide 69, now I think 75, crisis intervention services, meaning that we were able to resolve or divert a crisis in a way where we did not need to use additional emergency services or resources. We were able to provide the support that the individual needed. We also, in addition to those 69 is the number up there, in addition to those 69 crisis interventions. We have initiated 8, now 9, Baker X. This also allowed, I'll speak about this a little bit more later too, but this also has allowed us to strengthen our partnership with our community healthcare system. Our fantastic leadership team over here met with leadership over at BayCare St. Anthony's to strengthen the collaboration and support between what they're doing and what we are doing. The population of individuals we served, you guys heard me talk about the severe and persistent mental illness. Really what that is is what you're seeing up there. This schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders and bipolar disorders are the top ones. We also see a lot of complex trauma and substance use from the folks that we're working with. So this is a little bit of the systemic barriers that I was talking about. We have identified so far in the last six to seven months we've identified that there's a limited access to behavioral health care delays in medication access and stigma experience within healthcare settings that prevent we're working with from getting the services that they need to ultimately achieve that stability. And what we've done in response is what I said earlier about meeting with BayCare and strengthening our collaboration, our support communication, and we've also met with the St. Petersburg Police Department last week Chief Anthony Holloway who really appreciated what we had to share and has assigned a liaison to work with us and identify more folks, more individuals that are experiencing and living with severe and persistent mental illness in our city. So all that to say, oh, well, I'm always out of order in my brain. So client success story, those numbers are just numbers. I think when we bring it back down to the really person level, I think about two individuals in my mind that we've been working really hard with. So one of them, and I think speaks to the work that we're doing as well. So one of them we've been working with since late January, early February. So I want to say since we started operating, we've been working with her and it took over one month for her to even agree to take a shower. It was not something in her practice. It was not something that she wanted to do, honestly. Like, she just did not want to. But through trust, through rapport building, through relationship building, we were able to get her to take a shower and start taking an interest in her own hygiene and her own life. And then three, four months after that, she expressed interest in wanting to be screened for a safe haven location. One month after that, which was actually, I think, last week or the week before, she was finally screened and is now awaiting placement. That's an individual that has been offered shelter 101 times by 101 different people and did not agree 101 times. But now it's an individual that's waiting for placement and is looking forward actually to being sheltered. Same story, kind of different with another individual. He has, he grew up in foster care. He aged out of the system, has very limited supports. I want to say no supports actually, other than what we are providing him. And he's gotten to the point where he's stable on his feet and hoping to start college at SPC for a certificate program. And it's ultimately going to support his long-term stability, his income, his housing, moving forward. And really, I just wanted to share those two stories to highlight that the work that we've been doing is making a difference and is making an impact in our community. And we look very, we look forward to, I guess, continuing to do it. I'm not really, yeah, I'm very excited for this project. I'm so excited that our bus is back or not back here. Finally, here, finally, it has been heartwarming to see the response in the community to the vehicle being rolled out. The support we've gotten from the folks that are receiving ongoing services from us that we've already built relationships with and had engagement with. They are some of the most incredible people that I've gotten the privilege to know, honestly. And I am so looking forward to continuing to do this work with them. And I thank you for your time. And I thank you for giving us this opportunity. And I also wanted to thank Helen for the support that she's provided us. Because her partnership has meant a lot and has helped a lot with the transition piece. And I'll just leave it at that. Thank you very much. Thank you. We have some council member comments. Council member Gabbard. Thank you, Madam Chair. And I just want to thank you all. Always the work that Bully has done in our community is just, it's sometimes thankless. But I think that when you come here before us, I hope that you understand how much we appreciate every single thing that you do. Um, notes I was kind of taking while you were talking, Sev, was like, you, you don't give up on people, right? And I think that that is such an important message is that you said, you know, so many people, 10 years, like they've been in their situation and 101 times someone reached out and 101 times they said no until the 102nd time. And I think that's important, um, is that, you know, that's a message that we take away is that you never give up on people because they may not be in the place at that point, but that day may come. And if you're not there when that day comes, then what happens? Right. And so thank you for what you did do everything, um, that you're going to continue to do. I did have an opportunity to come down and see the bus. Very impressed. Um, I just loved, like we were talking the attention to detail, like it's just, it's really beautiful for like, it's such a small space. Like you guys did a great job. And I think that there's something to be said for that dignity that we talked about, that you're giving people by not welcoming them into like a sterile environment, right? It's warm and it's inviting. And that, I mean, we all want to feel that. And so they deserve to feel that as well. Right. Um, so I love that all the supplies that you had in there for people, the food, the fact you partner with Panera to give like breakfast. I just, I love everything about it. So the only thing I'm thinking is like, how do we get more of it? Right? Like, how do we get more of these? Um, because I mean, even with just one, you're doing so much. So, um, you know, as you're talking, I'm thinking about different areas within my district. Um, you know, we're far, far away from kind of the core, but we still have a lot of people in need. And so you talked about the referral system and, you know, if you see someone on an intersection, you can go on and you can give a kind of brief summary of who, you know, you might be looking for, but how long would it take to get out? Um, if you did a referral, like what's about the lead time? So we're not a 24 seven operation because it's such a new program and we're small, but mighty team. However, we do aim to be responding to referrals within one to two business days. Oh, wow. Okay. Okay. That's actually, I think a lot sooner than I thought. Um, what I tend to notice specifically within, you know, our area is that, you know, you may see them on one street, say, say MLK one day, and then you don't see them for a couple of days. The next day you may see them over on fourth street. You don't see them for a couple of days. Then you see them back on ninth street. So I'm kind of curious, like if, if I, you know, sent a referral for an individual and I said, they're here, do you kind of look for them? Like how does that work? I appreciate you bringing that up because one of the most interesting things I think we've been able to notice with this referral system is oftentimes people are referring the same person and they don't even know it. Yeah. And we're able to, by having this referral, um, in this way, we're able to connect the different pieces and almost follow this individual through town. Sometimes, not always, but depending on how many referrals we get for that individual, but sometimes we do, um, we're also doing that outreach. Like you said, if you put in the referral for this intersection, they're not in this intersection. We are canvassing the area, approaching the streets. Usually if there's a fast food location or some kind of location that we think they might be inside, we go inside, we talk to the staff, see if they're familiar with that individual in any capacity. Um, the referral form also asks for the information of the referee. And so there have been times where we've made contact with the person putting in the referral and collaborated in a way where we could get connected to the individual they're referring to us. And last question about it. Um, so you go, you say you make contact. Now you're on site and you have someone there using the services. How long do you stay in that area? Because I'm thinking, you know, specifically, you know, around like the gateway target plaza. Um, I'm just thinking, you know, you're there and you're helping someone. You may have other people in that area as well. So how would that work to be able to serve more than just the individual who the referral was for? So the priority is going to be the referral. We want to check in on that individual and make sure that they are safe and not in a crisis that needs to be intervened in any sort of way. However, I think because we are so targeted to working with individuals who have a severe and persistent mental illness, there are a lot of homeless individuals that don't necessarily qualify for what we're, what we're offering. Um, we do regularly turn people away. We do regularly work with Helen's team, April and Jake, to get them connected to the city outreach team who might be able to gear services to them. Um, and then I think another piece of that is because of the trauma informed aspect, we, the, the way I frame it is quality over quantity. Um, I would rather personally do very significant, impactful work with five people versus like slapping on a, slapping a bandaid on a really big wound for 15 people, right? Cause the ultimate goal is that these people are housed in a sustainable way, not in a way that it's gonna all fall apart come a year or two from now. Yeah, that makes sense. So, well, thank you for kind of sharing that. So, you know, as we continue to try to, you know, help and make sure that we're pushing the programs that we do have, I think it is important to remember that not everything fits for every situation. Um, like many of the things we do at city council, it's highly complex. And so, um, it gives me a good frame to kind of be able to see how I could potentially, uh, refer. Yeah. I just want to elaborate on that for a second because, uh, we are doing everything that we can to educate individuals. This is actually, uh, an additional factor that's happening for our community. You know, a lot of people don't understand severe and persistent mental illness is schizophrenia, bipolar. It is an up to 30% of individuals don't even respond to psychiatric interventions, right? Um, and some of those people are on the streets right now that they're likely going to end up at a Florida state hospital. Um, one of them has, um, so educating the community as much as we can on severe and persistent mental illness and the signs and symptoms of it is actually happening at the same time, um, when we're asking for referrals. So that, you know, cause there is the call program that you guys already fund that does a phenomenal job. Uh, there's the, the city outreach. Um, I think volunteers of America has some outreach here, St. Vincent de Paul. I mean, there's plenty right of that for the general homeless population, but this is a very specialized kind of, yes. Okay. And what we're finding too, with the individuals with schizophrenia is that all of these people, which is exactly how Bully got started decades ago, had a caregiver, right? And when that caregiver passed away, um, most of them, it was a parent or it's an older sibling. They have passed away. They have moved to a 55 and plus one of those factors. And that is kind of when the wheels came off the bus for these individuals and they've just been kind of lingering on the streets. Um, so I just wanted to add to write the, the education piece and in the, the seven months, I think that we are much further along and getting the right referral. And I think in an additional six months, it's going to be a whole lot better. Um, and I also wanted to add that Seb talked about community partners. If you'll notice the, um, the little Firefly thing, um, we have window clings and it's not just community partners. It is actual, um, all of the businesses up and down central. We have gone to set and talked with explain the program. They have a window cling. Ferg's was amazing. He actually wants to do a special, uh, with us to promote it on his site. Um, and we're learning to how these businesses are supporting the homeless population in ways that people don't realize are happening. It's amazing. Well, thank you. And thank you for educating me more today. Um, I really appreciate it. And just everything that you all do. Thank you. Thank you, Madam chair. Council member given. Thank you so much. And thank you all for providing me with my tour of the bus. Um, those of you who have not gotten out there, I encourage you to get out there and get on board. Um, kudos to your bus contractor, Kevin, thank you for all that you do. Um, I'm blown away. I'm blown away by the level of service that you all are offering. Um, through trust building, low barrier, you know, relationship building, you are providing dignity centered services in the approach that you take. I think it's really what has allowed your, your numbers to speak for themselves. Um, I wrote it down impact 200 plus people you've engaged with 78 people over 1000 total services provided. That's very impressive. Um, I want to start where you left off talking about community partners. Can you speak a little bit to organizations like St. Vincent de Paul day star, the St. Pete free clinic who traditionally and historically have served our unhoused population or individuals with significant mental health illness? How are you all working together to address this issue? So, um, I think that the answer to that question is maybe a little bit of a lengthy one. We are not actually, we do not take referrals from folks that are already in shelter. So we're not necessarily working directly with St. Vincent de Paul or Salvation Army or any of the other existing shelters. However, we are able to collaborate and coordinate in a way where folks that may not be appropriate for their shelter or had to be asked to leave for any reason. Um, they do send those referrals our way. So the ones that the individuals that are back out on the streets, we do end up maybe serving as a safety net for those folks. Um, and for the other community partners that we've been working with. So we've met with the call team. Um, we actually are working on, we're working with an individual that they're also working with and we're collaborating to, um, get this individual into a bully group home. So I don't, I think really community partners, we are working with anybody and everybody that would be willing to listen to us and believes in the mission and, um, businesses, restaurants, agencies, organizations. We've been to neighborhood association meetings. Um, I think two or three of them. We're looking to go to more. So we have been kind of trying to put our footprint anywhere and everywhere that's willing to take us. I appreciate that and I would encourage you to to build on those partnerships specifically like Daystar, um, St. Vincent, even the St. Pete Free Clinic. Sometimes these organizations may not be providing shelter but they're providing services. Um, whether there is one that we've connected with actually that one, the first success story I told she, her referral came from Daystar. I love it. I'm happy when things come together. So I'm thinking about House Bill 1365, which really, you know, criminalize, um, our unhoused population, what it meant to be homeless, to sleep outside in these public spaces, banning sleeping in those areas. And what I've noticed is that, and we talked about this when I was on the bus, that unhoused population has gone from, you know, camping out in the traditional public spaces to now getting more creative and finding those places where they will not get caught. I'm talking about alleyways, shopping plazas, bus stops, you know, even behind residential homes. Um, I got a calendar here, um, for where you all will be stopping and it looks like it's mainly our city parks. But I'm just wondering, is there an opportunity to expand those focus areas to include some other places as well? Absolutely. So that calendar is just for the first month. So, um, because this is only our second week in operation with the bus, we, that calendar is going to be a little bit of trial and error, and we've only created it for the month of August. It's not set in stone. We kind of wanted to see what, um, impact we would make and how effective that approach would be. So there is room for change and growth always. Great. And I have your card, so we'll be following up. But I certainly think something is better than nothing. This is a great starting point, um, specifically Campbell Park, because I do know there's a heavy concentration of folks out there. Um, but I would love to see, you know, some expansion of this footprint. I'm thinking about our faith-based partners, right? There's a lot of churches that would be willing to allow you to park in their parking lot and provide this service. Um, so I would love to reach out and connect with you there. And I'm even thinking about like hours. Um, it looks like the average hours about 12 to 4, but a lot of our unhoused population, they come out at night. So I know you're just starting and you're short staff, but I would love for you as, as resources, um, become more plentiful. Um, we build more partnerships to consider expanding those hours to, as you said, reach people and meet them where they are. Absolutely. Absolutely. Awesome. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Um, first at the, at the top level, Bully, um, I, I got to travel with the call program and I heard more about Bully than anything else than, uh, that we talked about that evening. Um, I traveled with, uh, the PATH team, um, Sergeant, uh, Todd Hancock, who, uh, is a huge asset at the police department. I'm sure that you all know him. Um, he, he, uh, he cut off my sentences. You're not going to, if, if this is not an episode where we're going to take him to jail and say, Bully, if you have a, if you, you know, if you come upon this gentleman and he's, he's missing it, Bully. I heard about Bully. I'm like, guys, you work for St. Pete. Let's stick with that for a minute. Um, we heard about St. Pete an awful lot. I appreciate, um, the entrepreneurship. I appreciate the visionary way that, that, that you all approach this and, and, and look at issues, um, from, from not just the, not just the humanistic side, but from the, the perspective of, of how do we accomplish this mission? Um, and, and then, so on to you, um, the, the, this program works because of you, the folks that you're surrounded by. This is your leadership. Um, they, they visioned it, they created it, and they gave you an opportunity, and, um, and it was going to fail or it was going to succeed, but we're going to try it. And that, that's the beauty of doing that. But it succeeded, and it succeeded not because it was its time or, or it succeeded because of you. You made that very obvious to us today. Oh, my God. Thank you. This is going to come up again for us. I'm going to vote yes for it when it does, when we choose to fund it. I'm going to vote yes because of you. Thank you. Oh, my gosh. I don't even know how to respond to that. I really appreciate the support. You are, you are incredibly impressive. Um, and this is, as evidenced by you being, you being picked to, to run this program. We've been here for a long time. You all have sat here for a long time. I'm going to leave you with one thought. This leadership team behind you is incredible. Pay attention. Oh, I know that. If they were fantastic. Tell you why. You're going to run Bowley one day. Oh, my God. I don't know about that. They're going to teach you how to do it. Pay attention to them. We need a next generation. You're obviously it. Keep going, kid. Keep doing this. Thank you. You're really, really, really impressive. Thank you very much, Chair. I so appreciate that. Thank you. Councilmember Fig Sanders. Thank you. And I'm going to be really quick. Um, and I, I was listening in the back. I had to go kind of throw out a little bit. It's kind of cold in here, but I was listening in the back and I will say, you know, I hear what, um, Councilmember Harding is saying. And a lot of that comes from phenomenal leadership. Um, and as the Chair of Continuum of Care, um, Bowley has been around for a very long time and I will, you know, applaud the leadership that you have here today who thought outside the box, who never ever stops, does not take no for an answer, looks for every opportunity for resources to provide services to a lot, to a population that a lot of people consider the least of these and that's our unhoused. Um, because, um, and, and Bowley has been able to do that consistently with integrity, with honor, and allowing those that receive those services not to feel the society, um, judgment of their living conditions. And so for that, um, being able to work with Bowley firsthand and seeing this and seeing the commitment and thank you, Kevin, for always being on point and always being present, um, in those situations, that says a lot to the commitment of the organization. And it should be not only appreciated by those that you provide the services to, but for those of us that look to expound to be as professional, as, uh, um, excellent in service as you all have been to the community. So, um, again, thank you for that. And you may run Bowley one day, but I'm gonna tell you have any big shoes to fill, um, with Mr. Marone and the leadership that you have with in the Bowley, um, organization. So again, thank you for the presentation. Thank you. Councilmember Gibbons. One more question. I saw there was a need for donations. Um, how can we submit those donations? Uh, is there a website that we can use to submit a request? What is the best way to go about doing that? Um, I can pass out my cards to all of you and feel free to reach out to me with anything and everything. Honestly, I am happy to accept any donations. I think clothing is probably the thing that we go through the most. Um, but anything that we think our homeless community members could use is definitely beneficial. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Well, when Councilmember Vic Sanders mentioned you've been around for a long time, you've been around over 50 years, right? At least. Um, and you continue to find innovative ways to address some of the most urgent needs in our community, which I applaud you for and everything that every council member has said is absolutely true. I mean, the work that you do is unbelievable. Kevin, you had given me the tour of all your facilities. I mean, if you haven't taken a tour of the Bowley facilities and what they run, you should do that. It's amazing. Uh, I haven't been able to see the bus, but hopefully I can see it in the future. Um, I will tell you what I said about, I will say about you what I said about JWB. I mean, you, this is your bailiwick. You're the experts in this area and nobody touches that. Nobody knows more about this area than you. And every time that I've heard from you in terms of presentation and, and, and solutions to some of the the issues we have, it's just, you're at the forefront. And so you're extremely appreciated by us and our city and you work so well with our city. I know that, you know, Helen Rimes and our outreach team and, uh, our police department appreciate everything you do. So I just want to make sure that you're aware if you haven't already gotten the loud message loud and clear from city council. So thank you. Thank you. You can go to the partnership. It's it was said lots of times here, here this evening, but I mean partnership is, is what it's all about because, you know, we all have to work together to accomplish this. And, and I think Bowley has intentionally zeroed in on what we know we do really well. And then we connect with others that, that complement the work that we do. Um, so we, we appreciate your, your, your, uh, appreciation for this project. We're, we're, it's one of the most exciting things we've done in a while. And I, I agree, uh, with, with, uh, with you that, uh, Sev is, uh, is, is making it shine. You know, you can have a vision, but you need, you need a leader to, to bring that vision to fruition. So thank you very much. Thank you. And, uh, I'm sorry you had to stay as late as, as, as 635. It is dinner time. It is. Yes. You also waited very well too. I did want to say that, you know, just in that history of Bowley, you know, 55 years, um, and, you know, my predecessor and mentor, Gary McMath, um, passed away, uh, uh, about two weeks ago. And, uh, uh, and, you know, and I just wanted to acknowledge that here because, you know, he was a big part of the, you know, the, the development of this organization and, um, I wanted to give respects to him here. We are having a celebration of life for him this Saturday. Um, if any of you did know him and wanted to stop by, it will be at, uh, Bowley centers on 647 34th Avenue South at 4 30 PM. But thank you. And thank you for sharing that with us. Okay. Well, we have one item left and you're welcome to stay. And you're also welcome to go and eat. You welcome. Next up, we have G1. It's a referral and it's council member Driscoll's. Thank you. Um, for this item, I'm respectfully requesting a referral to the housing land use and transportation committee for a discussion on a city initiated historic designation of the Williams park band shell. Now, normally this is something that would not go to committee, but instead would go directly to city council and then onto staff to start doing their due diligence to prepare to bring it back to council. However, I know I have mentioned a couple of times in various meetings that, um, the renovations currently taking place at Williams park bandshell were kind of my, the first step in my idea. The second step being once those renovations are completed, then we would do a city city initiated historic designation as this is one of just a very few city owned properties that are eligible, but not designated yet. So in the interest of legacy, I just wanted to make sure that this, um, stays on everyone's minds. If it is not completed by the end of this year, considered a bookmark. Um, however, um, Derek Kilborn and his staff have some wonderful information to share about the band shell. Um, and if there is an opportunity to have it on HL UT, even as a short discussion sometime this year, let me kick it off and hand it off. Um, I would love that we're hoping that the renovations will be done by the end of this year, but obviously staff can't evaluate the structure until the renovations have been completed. So I'm just trying to get things set up here and, um, um, I hope that we have a chance to talk about it before the end of the year. With that, I'll move approval. Second. I have a motion to second. Clerk, if you can open the machine for voting. Council members, please enter your votes. Seeing that all present council members voted, clerk, please tally announce the vote. Madam chair, the motion to approve agenda item G1 passes unanimously with council member Gerdes being absent. Thank you. Next up, we have open forum. Do we have any cards? We do not. Okay. We close open forum and we go to announcements. Any announcements? Council member Givens and then council member Gabbard. Thank you very much. I appreciate it, chair. Uh, just want to ask administration a quick question. Um, I reached out, um, regarding just getting an update on the letter that we received, uh, Friday, uh, from Duke Energy's legal council. So just wanted to know what's the status of this franchise agreement that expired on the 31st of last month. And where are we going from here? So thank you for that question, council member Givens. And I have to apologize because I have been calling council members and I've only gotten through five. There's three. I still have to call which council member Driscoll is sending with you, um, to provide you updates and you're on my calendar to call tomorrow morning. So I'll call you in the morning with an update. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you, chair. Thank you. Council member Goward. Well, uh, I'll just follow up and let everyone know that I did meet with Claude and Maven today and we set the hers, uh, next meeting agenda. And, um, after getting permission from Rob, uh, we will be having the item that is on there about the Duke Energy franchise agreement. We will be bringing that to the next church meeting. So I just wanted to let everyone know there will be a sunshine conversation at that point. Um, that is not why I pushed my button though. So I'll take a moment of privilege if I may, madam chair. Um, I just wanted to ask for everyone's prayers. Um, I don't know if you've seen what's happening on the news, but in Indiana where I am from, my town is underwater. Um, it is basically cut our town in half. Um, my family is safe. Um, as far as I know, there's not been any loss of life, but this is a working class town of people who don't have a lot and have lost everything. And so if you will please keep Indiana in your prayers, we know what it feels like when the water rises. We know what it feels like afterwards. I know what they're going through. It is heartbreaking. All of my childhood memories are gone. And so if you could just please keep Indiana in your prayers, I would appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. I'm so sorry. Council member Gabbard, you and your family and everyone in your town and what they're going through and our prayers are with them. Thank you. Council member Fig Sanders. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Definitely in our prayers. Um, I want to take this opportunity to, um, thank our City Assistant Administrator Tom Green. Um, Delquanda and I host a Wraparound Services Collaborative, which we met on this, on yesterday, um, to a full capacity, um, in regards to resiliency. Um, because we do understand that where we are headed, um, that there's going to be a lot of changes that so many of us are going to have to make. And, um, we did have several distinguished panelists. It was a phenomenal session. And, um, I put out the, the cry for the panelists, Delquanda and I, and we also put out the cry to the City of St. Petersburg. And Tom made a valuable contribution to the discussion, um, that we had yesterday. So, you know, it is always an honor and a pleasure to know that you can call upon your City staff. And thank you, Administrative Gerdes. And I don't know if Tom is listening, but I needed to thank him for being present and to be able to provide the value of information that he has. Also in the, on those same veins, uh, 101.5 The Vive is having a very important conversation on the 18th where myself and, and Chief Holloway and, uh, Major First is going to be, um, having a conversation in regards to, and it's called the police and the people. Um, we, you know, we have, we have settled times, but then we also have times where the discussion does not need to be muted and it does not need to be forgotten. And so we will be having that conversation. Um, and I will be sitting as a council member as well, um, in regards to that. So I've put out a request if there's any, um, constituents that have issues that they want to bring up because the venue, you know, we've already capped out, you know, as far as the, those being in attendance, but because of the importance of the conversation, I wanted to make sure that I made the announcement that that will be happening. Um, and I will be glad to, you know, have the conversation if time allows, and the foreman allows, because we're going to be talking about accountability. We're going to be talking about what, what is next. We're going to be talking about what has happened that hopefully we've grown from. Um, and so with that being such a valuable conversation, I just want to make sure that I voice that in the sunshine, um, that that will be taking place at the radio station on the 18th. And with that, that's it. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. I see no further requests to speak. Well, thank you everyone for your work today. I know it's a little late and I'm sure everybody wants to get home and get some food in their bellies. So with that meeting adjourned. Thank you.