City Council - Aug 14, 2025

Welcome to the City of St. Petersburg City Council Meeting. Your elected officials are Mayor Ken Welch, District 1 and Council Chair Copley Gerdes, District 2, Brandi Gabbard, District 3, Mike Harding, District 4 and Council Vice Chair Lissette Hanowitz, District 5, Deborah Fick Sanders, District 6, Gina Driscoll, District 7, Corey Givens, Jr. and District 8, Richie Floyd. Welcome everyone to the August 14, 2025 St. Petersburg City Council Meeting. Clerk, can we please have a roll call? Lloyd? Here. Gerdes? Gabbard? Here. Harding? Here. Hanowitz? Here. Dick Sanders? Driscoll? Here. Givens? Here. Well, we will have our invocation given today by Pastor Chris Futch from Our Savior Lutheran Church. Then please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. Pastor? Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, as we gather here this afternoon, we give thanks for your presence. We give thanks for your goodness. We give thanks for your forgiveness and mercy and grace that is freely given to us through faith in Jesus Christ. Lord, a few thousand years ago, you raised up leaders in Moses and Aaron and Miriam to lead your people through some challenging times. And in the times when things were not going well, the Israelites were quick to blame their leaders for the situations that they were in. But at the same time, when things were going well, the Israelites were slow to recognize and encourage their leaders for their tireless work and dedication to the community. Lord, the same holds true today. Oftentimes, our leaders are quick to receive blame, and yet very rarely are they encouraged for the difficult work that they do. And so my prayer for us this afternoon is that we as residents of this incredible city will both encourage and build up our leaders on this council. May we consider the burdens that they carry, and may we also take the time to thank them for the many ways that they are working to lead us through these challenging times. Bless their families and their friends and their neighbors and all of the people who love them and encourage them as they continue to serve on this council. Bless our president and our Congress. Bless our governor and our state representatives. Bless our mayor and the city employees. Bless our men and women who protect us from harm and danger every single day. We also ask that you would bless our families, our workers, our seniors, our veterans, our widows, our homeless, and all who call this city that you have established as their home. Lord, may each of us continue to help make St. Petersburg a community of progress for all residents each and every day. We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the one who created us, the one who redeemed us, and the one who promises to be with us to the very end of the age. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the states of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Y'all may be seated. Thank you, Pastor Fuchs, for that wonderful invocation. Council members, is there a motion on the floor for the approval of the agenda? We have to delete item J-1. The appeal was withdrawn, and the letter is also on the dais if you wanted to read it. And with that, I'll entertain a motion. Move approval. Second. We have a motion and a second. Clerk, can you open the machine for validating? Council members, please enter your votes. Seeing that all present council members have voted, can you please tally and announce the vote? Madam Vice Chair, the motion to approve the agenda passes unanimously with Council Member Figg-Sanders and Council Member Gerdes being absent. Thank you. Now we move on to open forum. Clerk, can you please read the rules? If you wish to address city council on subjects other than public hearing or quasi-judicial items listed in 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. Petersburg government. If you are 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. 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 Raise Hand 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 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 violations of the rules of decorum, the chair is authorized to accept public comments by alternate means, including by email only. Madam Vice Chair, we do have several speakers. Thank you. So, for everyone that hasn't been here before, we're going to be calling speakers two at a time. The first 30 minutes we take open forum, and if you're not called within those first 30 minutes, you can speak at the end of the meeting. We don't have a very long meeting, so for those that don't have an opportunity to speak at the beginning of the meeting, you can speak afterwards. The three minutes go really quickly, so be ready when you come up. Have your name, address, or cross street. Okay? So, with that being said, Clerk, you please start calling speakers two at a time. Okay. The first two speakers are John Gascon and Andy Alver. Please go to an open podium. State your name and address for the record. Aye. You have three minutes to address city council. Hi. My name is John Gascott. My address is 3600 Yardley Avenue North. This is not my favorite kind of public speaking. I'm normally a ham and a big mouth, but I don't love this, but we have to do this. So, I just wrote a short statement about how I feel about this. I want to thank you for your time and for everything you do for our city. And I'm here today as both an artist and proud resident of St. Petersburg, as well as a member of the Latino and queer community here and everywhere. So, I had the amazing honor, really one of the most amazing things I've ever done, to be one of the artists to help create the Black Lives Matter mural, which was so impactful to our community that we were all asked back to recreate it as Black History Matters. This is a jewel of our city, and it's under threat right now. And I'm not going to call it a removal, because what it is is erasure. This move by the current administration is not about safety, and it's certainly not new. It is part of a pattern, a calculated effort to erase voices, visibility, and histories that challenge the status quo. Let's not forget that one of the very first moves that this current administration made when they got to Washington, D.C., was to erase and remove the BLM mural from the city streets. And what's happening now? They're unhoused, are being erased with unjust imprisonment. So, you see, one erasure leads to the next, and the next, and the next. And when we don't stand up to tyranny, what happens is the most vulnerable always pay the price first. But make no mistake, it's going to affect you and me eventually. We've already seen studies that show that street art can actually enhance safety by slowing traffic down. So the safety issue or argument does not hold water. What we're facing is a cultural and political decision disguised as bureaucracy. I also am the creator of the Diversity in Democracy mural on 5th and Central. You might be familiar with it. It was commissioned by the League of Women Voters. The way things are going is that next, because we know that diversity and inclusion are dirty words right now, and they're not seen as values by the current administrations, but threats. I want to be clear that the murals that we're speaking of today are not mere murals or decorative. Wow! That went fast! For real! No, so I know we are very passionate about the issues, but we do have to keep the quorum in here, so that means no clapping and anything like that. So I understand that everyone feels strongly, but please just keep the quorum. Thank you. My name is Andy Oliver. I'm pastor of Allendale United Methodist Church. I'm disgusted that Governor DeSantis is pushing to erase our Rainbow Crosswalk and Black History mural. This is not about paint. It's about power. It's about the interconnectedness of oppressions, all rooted in white supremacy. If you know your black history, you know this city, like so many others, once engineered a whole set of laws, Jim Crow laws, designed to harass and push black people out of public life, laws against jaywalking, sundown ordinances, prohibitions sitting at lunch counters and on green benches, bans where people could swim, fish, or gather, every one of them in an attempt to erase black life from St. Petersburg. What's happening today is the same story, just a new coat of paint. The state is trying to scrub out visible reminders that LGBTQ people belong here and that black history matters. So let's be clear. We don't have to look all the way to Tallahassee to see this playbook. Right here, our own St. Pete Police Department is working to erase people experiencing homelessness. I did a public records request. There have been over 500 arrests since 2024 of people whose only crime was sleeping, something every single person in this room requires to live. That's over one-third of our current unsheltered population arrested. And this wasn't using the state law. This was using our very own ordinance passed by a prior city council, something you all have the ability to repeal. Unhoused people have told me they have been cited for jaywalking when near new luxury condos. I did another public records request. Over 100 jaywalking citations since 2024, the same Jim Crow law just enforced against poor people instead of black folks. I'm glad so many of us are here to defend our crosswalks and murals. I hope we show up just as fiercely for our neighbors as our police tries to erase them, too. Can we really say we are St. Pete if we're silent while our neighbors are erased? Let us defend the colors on our streets and the people sleeping on them. Let us protect murals and the humans whose stories they tell. If we are St. Pete, then all of us are St. Pete, and we fight for every neighbor's right to be seen, remembered, and free. Thank you. Thank you. We have 30 minutes, so we want to get as many people up there as speak. So I really want everyone to get that opportunity. Next two speakers. Next two speakers are Nora Aguskiw and Terry Scott. Please go to an open podium. State your name and address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address it. So you can press the button. You can go and help her. My name is Nora Aguskiw, 6601 17th Lane. A little while ago, my mom and I helped paint the pride flag on Central Avenue. I painted the dark blue stripe. I painted it in honor of my Uncle Keith, who was gay and who passed away. When I painted that stripe, I felt like I was giving a piece of my love to him and also to everyone who feels like they don't belong. The pride flag is like a big hug from the city to say you matter. I think it's important for kids like me to see our city and celebrate it with all kinds of people. It makes me feel, see kindness, and I see a promise that we will stand up for each other. I hope you keep the murals because they aren't just paint. Their stories, their family, their hope, and they make kids believe that this city cares about everyone. Remember, love is love. And thank you for letting me speak. Sorry. I'm not. Good afternoon. I'm Terri Lipsy Scott, Executive Director of the Woodson African American Museum of Florida, 2249th Avenue, South St. Petersburg. I stand humbly before you today with a heart full of gratitude. Thank you for having the courage to create for the residents of St. Petersburg, a community that is safe, loving, and inclusive. A place where all are seen, heard, respected, and valued as an essential part of the fabric of our great city. I understand the pressure placed upon our local government to comply with state and national directives. Yet, I deeply applaud your steadfast desire to make St. Petersburg a beacon of hope, where every person can enjoy an equitable quality of life, sustained by fairness and justice. The Woodson African American Museum of Florida has stood as a pillar of truth, history, and justice. In 2020, we boldly proclaimed Black Lives Matter with a street mural brought to life by gifted local artists. In 2023, we declared Black History Matters, our welcome mat to the world. Our allies, whose murals speak of harmony, love, and acceptance, understood that these vibrant works of art cast a light so brilliant, it blinds those who choose to remain in darkness. Now there are plans to paint over our messages. They say it's about safety, but we know it's about suppression. So let it be known, they can paint over our streets, but they cannot erase our faces. They can edit the history books, but we will keep telling the truth. They can attempt to dim our light, but we will only shine brighter. We will not falter. We will not be silenced, because indeed, we are St. Pete, and forever, together, will we rise. Thank you. Next two speakers, please. Next two speakers are Alexander Vesalek and Rob Hall. Please go to an open podium, state your name and address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address city council. My name is Alexander Vesalek. I live at 340 47th Street North. So I'm here for a different issue today, but I support everything you all are doing. I think it's amazing. I'm here today to once again ask you to pull your support for Iris Working Definition, or excuse me, bullet points 7, 8, and 10 of Iris Working Definition of anti-Semitism, because it coddles the Israeli government. I'm also asking you to recognize and renounce the genocide in Gaza that you endorsed shortly after October 7th. What I'm asking you is not bold, is not brave. Almost every genocide scholar and Holocaust scholar on earth is recognized as a genocide. B'Tselem, an Israeli physician's group, have both recognized as a genocide. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Doctors Without Borders, all recognize it as a genocide. As of right now, there's 62,000 dead, the vast majority being civilians and women and children because of the demographics of Gaza. 14,000 are missing, presumed to be dead under the rubble. 180,000 are injured and maimed. So far, 90% of K-12 schools, which is a war crime, have been bombed and completely dysfunctional, if not completely flattened. All 12 universities have been flattened. 18 out of the 36 hospitals have been flattened or completely useless. They are targeting journalists in a way that is now very provable and tangible. Everything I just listed is a war crime. Not only is it a war crime, but as far as what originally started this war, October 7th, which was disgusting, more Palestinians have died. Palestinian civilians, unarguably, have died at food distribution sites than all Israeli civilians and soldiers who died on October 7th, just at food distribution sites. They talk about opening more food distribution sites, which is great. The problem is that Israeli soldiers have a nasty habit of opening fire into the crowd. I would ask to people who don't recognize this as genocide what they view as genocide when 850-plus mosques have been bombed, and all of the buildings I'm talking about are being bombed have had civilians inside of them while they're being bombed. 93% of residential buildings are gone. 70% of all buildings in Gaza are gone, bombed with people inside them. They tell people to go to one other area, and then they bomb that area. They're currently on the ruins of Rafal talking about building a humanitarian city where they're going to force 2 million Palestinians in and ready them for ethnic cleansing. They're talking to different governments. The first one right now is South Sudan about taking these people. This is a genocide. And it wasn't, maybe, I don't know when this became a genocide. Very early on, it became very clearly a genocide. But you announced that you supported this war shortly after October 7th. It has long been a genocide, and you have a public responsibility, after having endorsed this, to renounce it as what it is. Thank you. Next speaker. Hi, my name is Rob Hall. I'm the executive director of Winter Pride in St. Pete, a realtor. And today I'm here representing not just Winter Pride, but also Poor Behavior, the largest LGBTQ-owned business in our area. And by extension, the many LGBTQ businesses that make St. Pete the vibrant, welcoming city it is. I moved to St. Petersburg in 2022. I had just come out after 28 years of marriage. I was starting over not just in a new city, but in a new life. I didn't know exactly where I belonged yet. One day I was exploring Central Avenue, and I turned a corner and it was there, the Rainbow Mural. I stopped, I stood there, and I looked at it. In that moment, something shifted inside of me. I wasn't just looking at a piece of art, I was looking at a promise. A promise that here in this place, I could be my fully self. That here, I was welcome, and I can tell you that feeling changed everything. Over time, I made friends, I volunteered for St. Pete Pride, and eventually I helped create Winter Pride St. Pete, an event that exists to share the love, the joy, and spirit of this community. To make sure every single person who comes here knows exactly what I felt that day in front of that mural. The truth is, times are challenging right now. Many of our LGBTQ businesses, including poor behavior, are seeing sales drop. Friends, family, and visitors are hesitant about coming to Florida because of the political climate. And when they ask us if it's safe here, we tell them, yes, St. Pete is a bubble. We are the safe space. But here's the thing. It's not just our words that tell them that. It's the art and our streets. It's the mural that greets them before they ever speak to a single person. It's that silent, powerful message that says, the city is for you. You belong here. If we remove these murals, we're not just painting over streets. We're erasing part of the identity and the promise of who we are. And the world is watching to see what we decide. On behalf of Winter Pride St. Pete, poor behavior, and the many LGBTQ businesses that make our city a destination, I ask you to please consider the impact of removing them, not just on those of us who call St. Pete home, but for everyone who is watching to see whether we continue to live up to the message we've been sending for years. Thank you for your time, your leadership, and for your ongoing support of the LGBTQ plus community. You make it possible for St. Pete to remain what it is and has always been, a place where love and acceptance are not just ideas, but realities. Thank you. Next two speakers. The next speaker is a Zoom speaker, Christy Ibrahimovic. I'm going to enter you into meeting space. When I do, please state your name and address for the record, and you'll have three minutes to address city council. Can you hear us, Christy? Yes, I'm good? Yes, go ahead. Okay, perfect. Good afternoon. My name is Christy Ibrahimovic. I'm on Tyrone Boulevard, 17th Avenue, and today I'm not here to make legal accusations, but to share firsthand what happens when public safety takes a backseat to speed and profit. Leading up to Hurricane Ian, Duke Energy ignored multiple requests from residents to trim the overgrown trees posing a threat to the lines, and they declared it was not their responsibility. Those same trees fell during the storm onto the lines, and as a result, my neutral line was severed. Duke failed to fully inspect the nearby poles before restoring power. In the open neutral they left caused severe load imbalance and electrified every water line in my home. On arrival, the fire department shut off my breakers and advised us to wait inside until Duke arrived, and they didn't respond for nearly two hours. After about an hour, after they were notified, things started to get crazy, and the garage began to fill with smoke. While trying to get the garage open, I stepped in water from the washer hoses that had melted from electrical current going through them, and it resulted in me slipping and falling and permanently disabling myself. My injuries could have been prevented with a timely response on Duke's part. They caused over $200,000 in damages and made three special needs children homeless for months. We turned to them for help cleaning up the mess they made and the claim they denied within 24 hours without ever contacting me, and that constitutes bad faith under the Florida statute. They left us to bear the consequences of their actions alone. This list goes on about the lack of safety standards Duke Energy has for this community. After Milton, I arrived home and found over 100 feet of line that they discarded in my backyard and also found three individuals near my house that had suffered the same fate we did in 2022, two of them stating they notified Duke that they had lines down and they re-energized their homes anyways. My 12-year-old child was present and heard Duke's liability manager, Douglas Everhart, state that it was not standard practice to check every line before re-energizing because, in his words, it would take too long. This was confirmed again on July 22nd this year by a supervisor that came to explain why they left the wires of my meter exposed for anyone to touch and kill themselves on after completing infrastructure upgrades. His response was, they're not high-voltage wires, they're just like the outlets in your home. The feeder wires for your home carry 240 volts of raw, unprotected electricity with no breaker and you will die if you touch them. When mentioning their concern for public safety needing to become a priority, I was told that there's a fine line between public safety and people wanting their power back because that's a safety aspect as well, people without power and the heat. Landlords aren't even legally required to provide AC, so at some point we have to stop confusing corporate convenience with public safety. Duke Energy may have a mischievous statement, but what happened to my home and to others in my neighborhood makes it clear that safety is only a slogan when speed, profit, and plausible deniability come first. I have recordings, witnesses, documentation, and this is not a story, it's a fact. And the fact that Duke Energy's supervisor justified exposing energized wires by comparing them to household outlets tells you everything you need to know about the culture we're dealing with, and if this council renews Duke's contract knowing this, then you're not just tolerating the risk, you're endorsing it, and that's something the public won't forget. I've emailed all my evidence and I have to counsel. Encourage everyone watching today. Next two speakers are Rick Nail and Brian Conkstreff. Please go to an open podium, state your name and address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address city council. I'm Brian Longstreff, 4505 5th Avenue North in the Central Oak Park neighborhood. I'm a native Floridian and a 41-year resident of the city I love, St. Petersburg. I've had a gay business in St. Pete since 1992, also known as a business. I've been involved in many wonderful community efforts in St. Petersburg over the years. I've never been as angry and anxious as I am now, mostly with the state. Um, you've, you, I believe you've seen the memo from Equality Florida, and I just want to read one line, don't capitulate until there's clear guidance, cities should pause. This is a moment to stand firm and insist on legal review. This directive is politically motivated, not safety driven. There's a complaint filed with the Florida Board of Professional Engineers. The writer of that, uh, FDOT memo has failed in his legal and ethical duty as a licensed professional engineer in Florida to promote public safety. I promised myself and others the only F word I would use today is fascism. Pardon me for paraphrasing a little bit. I'm not a socialist. I'm not a trade unionist. I'm not a Jew. I'm not trans. I'm not a person of color. I'm not an artist. I'm not an immigrant. I'm not a drag queen, other than a few charity events. Y'all hush. I'm an old white guy asking you, all of you, to stand up against fascism. Stand up to this state-sanctioned overreach. Stand up for local rule. Stand up for this attack on art. Stand up for the freedom of expression. Stand up for traffic and pedestrian safety. Stand up for diversity. Stand up to the attacks on people of color. Stand up to the attacks on the LGBTQ plus community. Stand up against our erasure. And stand up for all of our street murals, not just some. It's fine to be looking at alternative ways to be inclusive. We can multitask. But the fascists will come for those, too. Do not capitulate. Now is the time for all of us to stand up. For the Epsteinth time. Stand up. Stand up. Stand the F up. Together we rise. We are St. Pete. And like Key West, we are one human family. Thank you. Next up. Now, 535 51st Street South. It's been a few years since I've been in these chambers, and I'm really happy to see that there's a few members here that I was fortunate to work with. When I was on the City Beautification Commission for 25 years, chair, vice chair, and also I got involved in that. So I could be involved with the Palm Arboretum downtown. So I've kind of retired from that. They gave me an award. But it's so, it's different why we're here today. I started at 17. I started my activism at 17 when I moved to Philly as an emancipated minor. I was fortunate enough to find, well, they found me, too, a really incredible gay rights activist who became my mentor and taught me a lot of things over the years about not just gay rights activism, but activism for everybody's rights. So I was 17. I'm 68 now. I'm still doing it. A little bit more armchair than being out there, but, you know, all the protests we've had here standing up for them, we've been out there with trust in that. So my main purpose here today is I know what a wonderful council we've had through the years, and the council has always stood up for the community, and I believe our community has always stood behind our council. So what I'm here today is to ask you to ask you to take into consideration. Vero Beach, Key West have started a lawsuit. I'm asking the city and our mayor to please seriously consider joining that lawsuit about street art murals because I remember I've been here this long as I remember when the city first started revitalizing, probably in the 80s. And remember what we got all that, we got a Mediterranean parking lot. So I've been here to see all the wonderful work that's gone on in the years since, and the city has come to life. It's vibrant. It's alive. It's diverse. There's just so much beauty in this city that we want to see going and not taken away and not erased. I thank you for considering, taking the time to consider, and I hope as a council as a whole, that you will take serious consideration in joining the lawsuits that are already started. Thank you. Thank you. Next two speakers. Next two speakers. I'm Michelle Lison and Richard Freed. Please go to either podium. State your name and address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address city council. You can go ahead. Hello, new friends. I usually enjoy speaking extemporaneously. Can you give your name? Michelle. Okay. I can do that. Can you give your name and address first? Michelle, and I live in Lealman. Is that okay? 54th. 54th and what? Neal Drive. Oh, you're in Lealman. I'm sorry. No, you're not in the city of St. Petersburg. I'm not, so I can't speak. I'm sorry. This form is for residents of the city of St. Petersburg. Cute. I thought St. Pete was St. Pete. I'm confused. Thank you. Next speaker. Sure. Hi. I'm Richard Freed, 56th Street. I am here to talk about a little bit of history. Viola Desmond in 1946, she dared to sit in the white section of a segregated movie theater in 1946 in Nova Scotia, Canada. She is the Rosa Parks of Canada. This is a $10 Canadian banknote. She is the first black person on the Canadian black note and the first black woman to be on a banknote, Canadian banknote. And I might suggest that Canada needs to teach us a few things. We have much to learn. Secondly, there are many of us here, queer folk, who are parents and children. And when we're young, we know that we're queer. Right? That gaydar thing. Right? Parents know their children are queer. Children know their parents are queer. And I'm going to suggest that I know why Ron DeSantis has an issue with queer folks. I suspect that at least one of his children is queer. And I'm going to suggest that Ron DeSantis contact PFLAG. And I'm also going to say that conversion therapy is child abuse. And I'm going to say that if Ron DeSantis should have one of his children converted to heterosexuality, that we contact the Department of Human Services and report him. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to have the last two speakers. The last two speakers are Janae Preby and Samira Burnside. Please go to either podium. State your name and address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address city council. Hi. My name is Janae Preby. I live at 4047 24th Avenue North. I'm the owner of No Good Deeds Consulting and the former director of the Shine Mural Festival. Thank you all for your service to the city of St. Pete and for hearing our concerns today as it relates to the possible removal of asphalt art. Having overseen the installation of the Black Lives Matter Mural, the Black History Matters Mural, the ground mural at the intersection of 11th Avenue South and 46th Street South in Child's Park, and the USF ground mural, I know firsthand we followed every city and state guideline for safety. I worked closely with multiple city departments, including engineering and transportation, who were meticulous in ensuring that we followed every protocol with precision because the safety of drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists is not something to be taken lightly. We used the traffic paint outlined by the DOT manual on uniform traffic control devices. We mixed the proper additives to ensure the roads wouldn't become too slick. We kept the paint within the city right-of-way intersections and have purposely never painted a crosswalk like other cities have because of how this city interprets the DOT regulations. There is no shortage of data to support the traffic calming effects of ground murals. Cecilia Loez's 2016 Ground Mural on 5th and Central was part of a reputable nationwide study, which found that more than a 70% reduction in traffic accidents at that intersection after the art was installed. I know the city has this data, but we know this isn't about safety or data. This is about erasure. This is about compliance. It's about censorship, and it's the beginning of a slippery slope. I have been a proud resident of this city for 15 years, and I can say with confidence there is no other Florida city I would want to live in. St. Petersburg has been a haven for artists, the LGBTQ plus community, and other progressives. I urge you to truly consider the impacts of this moment in time to contemplate the consequences of compliance, the real-life dangers it would create not only on the roadways, but even more broadly in our communities. This erasure would send a clear message to residents and visitors, you are not safe or protected here. I trust you will do what's in the best interest of your constituents. I trust you will follow the data to make educated decisions about the safety and well-being of your neighbors, friends, children, and colleagues. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon, esteemed members of the St. Petersburg City Council. My name is Samira Burnside. I'm from Tampa, but I'm a recent transplant to 600. If you live in Tampa, you can't speak in open forum. If you were listening to me, I said recent transplant. I was about to say my address. Oh, okay. Yes. 600 13th Avenue and MLK. Ever since I was young, St. Petersburg has appeared as a bastion of freedom and expression in a state that is often hostile to people like me. When I walk down Central Avenue and see the rainbow flags that wave there and attend the biggest pride in the state, which is hosted in your city, I feel like I'm home in a way that is rare and special in this state. It is for these reasons that I'm here to ask that you not create a committee to discuss the destruction of the rainbow sidewalks in the art that makes this city, this city. Part of what makes St. Petersburg such a cultural bastion is its bold steadfastness in the beliefs of equality and freedom of expression. To remove something as harmless as a crosswalk and even as helpful as a crosswalk is to signal that this city doesn't actually care about the culture it's built and the varied and diverse constituencies that elected its leaders. And I want to believe more than I've wanted most things that that is not true about the city of St. Petersburg. I want to believe that this council will be bold, that it will make its name in history by not giving in to the political pressure that propels hate. I want to believe that this council will truly make a stand for its people and not even humor the destruction of the cultural soul of this city. There is no purpose for a committee when we all know that something is wrong. I want to believe in this city and in you council members. Thank you for your time. Thank you. And now we close open forum. For those that signed up after the meeting we reopen open forum. Now we move on to awards and presentations. D1 which is going to be presented by Councilmember Gabbard. The Gulf of Mexico Climate and Resilience Community of Practice. Spirit of the Community Award. Councilmember Gabbard. Thank you Madam Chair. And just wanted to real quick invite up a couple of people to join me for this award. Hannah Rebholtz, our city floodplain manager. Amber Boulding, the city's emergency management manager. And if she is here, Chris Ciminello from Gulf Coast Ocean Observing System. I'd like you all to join me for the presentation. She is. Alright. So, a little background on the award. In 2009, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Otherwise known as NOAA's Gulf Regional Collaboration Team. Partnered with the four Gulf Sea Grant programs. To establish the Gulf Resilience Community of Practice program. Yeah, hold on. I'm going to give it just one second. Yes. Madam Chair. If y'all can come in and close the door please. Go ahead Councilmember. Very good. Thank you. Alright, the initiative was to create and bring together local decision makers, extension agents, outreach professionals, and educators to collaborate on incorporating coastal hazards into the planning efforts for all Gulf Coast communities. As part of their commitment to recognizing excellence in this work, the Gulf Resilience Community of Practice awards were created. These annual awards are presented to individuals, organizations, and communities that have demonstrated outstanding leadership in communicating resilience and proactive planning on how to mitigate against the dangers that exist from being near the Gulf. Today, I am excited to share that this year, the City of St. Petersburg was awarded an honorable mention award in the Spirit of Community category for these awards. This recognition highlights the impactful journey of our floodplain and emergency management teams. And this was all spearheaded way back when, when the city had the Program for Public Information, which Amber, Chris, myself, then Noah Taylor, who worked for the city, numerous individuals set on this committee. And eventually what happened was there was a decision that was made that was really quite groundbreaking. And it decided that the city would join forces with the other 24 cities across Pinellas County to form the Local Mitigation Strategy LMS Working Group, of which we are all so familiar with now. This group is a first-of-its-kind collaboration that brings together municipalities from across the county to jointly develop flood communication strategies and mitigation efforts that strengthen our collective resilience to environmental vulnerabilities. Most recently, this partnership was instrumental in assisting the city in the adoption of the five-year floodplain management plan in compliance with the National Flood Insurance Program and FEMA. So at this time, I want to go ahead and personally thank and present to Hannah and Amber and the entire team in our floodplain and emergency management department, the city of St. Petersburg awarded for leadership in implementing actions to enhance community resilience and the golf resilience community of practice award. Congratulations. If I can just real briefly before I turn it over to both of them to say a few words, I really want to thank Chris as well because as a community advocate and through her work with USF College of Marine Science, she's really one of the early pioneers of this work and I learned so much from her in those early days. So I want to thank you. And Chris is really the reason that this award came back around. We were originally up for this award when COVID hit. And then it kind of went away a little bit and then one day Chris reached out and said, guess what guys, your application from way back when got looked at and we'd like to reignite it. So she really was the driver behind us being here today. And so Chris, I want to thank you for everything you taught me, everything we've worked on together over the years and for your advocacy and what you do for our city. So thank you, Chris. Hannah, Amber, would either of you like to say something? I would always love an opportunity to speak. Good afternoon. Pleasure as always to see you. And just a big thank you to council member Gabbard. As she said, I feel like it's been many moons ago when we sat on that PPI committee. But just for your steadfast leadership, you know, before council on council, it really does take that strong partnership, you know, to make these things happen and really meet those, you know, preparedness, mitigation, resiliency goals. So it's more than just floodplain and emergency management. It's that entire partnership and all of your support as well. So thank you so much. Come on, Hannah. Hi, everybody. It's always a pleasure to be here. Floodplain manager, Hannah Rabholz. This is a great honor. Again, I wasn't a part of it at the beginning, but it was quite a surprise this year when we said we were up for it. It's very exciting. We put a lot of work into this and we put a lot of passion into protecting the community and to be to be seen for that is feels really good. So thank you very much for always your support. And we'll hang this on the wall. So as you know, climate change is real and this city is leading the way, not just here in St. Petersburg, but regionally and nationally to set the tone for how to address some of those crises and issues and please remain forward looking. Don't give into the all the climate deniers. It's real. And the second comment that I will say is that this team has been really powerful and it's not just the safety of the people. It's the economy. You've saved taxpayers millions of dollars that people are never going to be aware of. But because of the work that this team has done in the floodplain expertise that the city brings millions of dollars have been saved and passed along to taxpayers. So thank thank your floodplain managers. You all for all the work you do. Christina Amber and Councilmember Gabbard for being such a champion on resiliency. The storms taught us very vividly last year how important it is. We're a peninsula on a peninsula and clearly we've been doing the work and it's wonderful to be recognized. So thank you so much for everything you've done. Thank you, Chair. Can we take a moment to take a picture? Yes, absolutely. Go right ahead. Let's take a picture. What's your award on? Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. And next up we have D2 Proclamation honoring Black Business Month and it's going to be presented by our mayor, Mayor Welch. Is that for me? I'm not used to getting that, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, members of Council, members of our fantastic St. Pete team and members of our community. It is really good to be back with you today. And I'm honored to bring you to what I think are very timely proclamations. And the first is in recognition of Black Business Month. August is Black Business Month and cities across the country are recognizing the history, the challenges, and the contributions of black businesses to our communities. And particularly today as some question the value or even the appropriateness of this kind of recognition. We believe that inclusive progress absolutely depends on us first having a clear understanding of our history and the lived experiences of our residents. And then acknowledging that reality and then acting on that shared understanding to move our entire community forward. Now that model is going to get me in trouble with the chair. That model has informed our work in the city of St. Petersburg, including the 2021 disparity study, which showed a clear lack of opportunity, the under utilization of black and women owned businesses in our city. And so based on those facts, that's the basis of our minority and women owned business enterprise program. And it's a great example of how we recognize and why we recognize Black Business Month in the city of St. Petersburg. It is intentional. It is based on data and facts. And that is our path forward in our city. So today our administration is proud to join cities across the nation in recognizing the significance and impact of black businesses in our community. Now we are joined by several representatives, business owners, and several representatives from organizations who support black businesses and encourage their growth and development. I'll ask you all to stand and just gather around for the proclamation. From our staff, we have Tracy Smith from the greenhouse. As you know, several of our staff members are engaged at the MSC responding to the state doge. And we will have one speaker, Mario Summers, representing the Pinellas County Urban League, will speak. Thank you all for what you do every day and thank you all for joining us. And the proclamation reads, 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 businesses in the United States is 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. Therefore, 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, including 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 Corporation, a financial and business development organization, helping black entrepreneurs in our region turn vision into enterprise. 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 part in our inclusive procurement and contract opportunities, networking and collaboration opportunities, and business development support. Now, therefore, I, Kenneth T. Welch, Mayor of the City of St. Petersburg, Florida, do hereby recognize August 2025 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. Thank you all for the work you do. Thank you, sir. Good afternoon, everyone. On behalf of President and CEO, Nikki Gaskin Capehart, thank you to the City of St. Petersburg, to the Mayor, Mayor Welch, and to you all on council here for your continued support and partnership with the Pinellas County Urban League. My name is Marielle Summers, and I have the privilege of serving as the director of our Anchors Job Placement and Entrepreneurship Pillar, as well as our Health and Quality of Life Pillar at the Pinellas County Urban League. The Pinellas County Urban League, where we are supporting our local businesses impactfully through, as Mayor mentioned, the Next Level Urban Alliance Collective. I want to recognize our PCUL team members who are here present with us today, our director of finance, senior director of finance and administration, Vonda Ford. We also have Genevieve Esperanza, Crystal Vasquez is here, and Tamika Mitchum, I know I've seen. Thank you guys for being here. And I want to acknowledge the entire Next Level Urban Alliance team that pioneered this great collective. It wouldn't have been possible without these folks, Gypsy Gallardo, Tiesha Scantlin, Latora Bowles, Andrew Ware, Lynn Harold Johnson, Albert Lee, Brent Everett, Nancy Dunham, Attorney Tamara Felton Howard, Marche Brown, and Anthony Williams. I'd be remiss if I didn't recognize our funder for the initiative, the Foundation for a Healthy St. Pete, Dr. Kanika Tomlin, Julie Rocco, Dr. Belon Joseph, and the entire foundation team. We are very grateful. And today, lastly, we invited two of our Next Level Urban Alliance business owners to join us for this proclamation. FaceTime Beauty Lounge owners Jamie McClendon and Michael Vega. Other lot. As well as the iCoach Support Services owner, Tenille Williams. Thank you guys for joining us today and being a part of our black business community here in this great city. At the Pinellas County Urban League, we're thrilled to be a shining example of what collaboration for progress looks like. We encourage you all to come out to the Urban League on Friday, September the 5th, for Food Truck Friday, where it's going to be open to all, and you all have an opportunity to meet more of our team members, other business owners that we're supporting through the Next Level Urban Alliance, more of our Pinellas County Urban League team, our neighbors, and, of course, our resource partners throughout the community. So, again, thank you for this proclamation. Thank you. Thank you. I just want to speak. Going once. Going twice. Thank you all for the work you do. We appreciate it. And before you all leave, Council Member Givens wants to speak. Thank you, Madam Vice Chair, and thank you, Mayor, for this recognition. And thank you to all of you for taking time out of your busy schedules as small business owners. I know it's cutting into your bread and butter, but I appreciate you being here today. I just wanted to say thank you and that I'm grateful for each of you. I understand the importance of our small businesses in our community, our businesses in general, especially our black-owned businesses. And at a time where diversity and equity and inclusion is under attack, I really commend you, Mayor, for highlighting these business owners in our city. Because I know that the labor is a labor of love. You don't get up and do what you do every morning just because you have nothing else to do. You're employing other families. You are helping pull people out of poverty one day at a time. So for the economic impact that you make here in St. Pete from the bottom of my heart, I say thank you. Thank you, Chair. Madam Vice Chair. Thank you. Mayor, yes. Tracy from Greenhouse. Thank you. And I'll be brief. I, too, just want to thank all the business owners for coming out today. This is an interruption to your day, and we recognize that. But I just want to say we appreciate you. We see you. I also want to thank you on behalf of our manager of OSD, Corey Hendricks-Bell, and the Greenhouse. We work so closely together to do all that we can to support small businesses. But we see you supporting us as well at the Greenhouse. Some of you, I call, yes, please come today, and they are here, and they support us, and they see us supporting them. And I just say thank you. I know it's difficult now, but we see you standing in the gap and doing the work that, you know, the Council Member Givens mentioned about supporting your families. And so thank you for all that you do. We know that, you know, small business, economic driver for community. And so thank you also to Council. We see you supporting us at the Greenhouse and OSD, so thank you all for that as well. Thank you. And thank you all, really, for being such a wonderful fabric of our community. You are an economic driver, and what makes our city unique are really all those small businesses out there. That's what we all rely on, and you're part of that, and thank you so much for all you do. Thank you. Okay, we go on next to D3, the proclamation honoring the 90th anniversary of Social Security, and this is also going to be presented by our Mayor Welch. Thank you, Madam Chair. We'll give them a few seconds. Yep. And you all, if you're, you can go ahead. Yep. Bringing the whole crew up. Don't be shy. Y'all come on over here. You can join the Mayor. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. As we know, our seniors are very special to us in the city of St. Petersburg, and I'm pleased to present a proclamation marking a significant milestone, the 90th anniversary of Social Security. Social Security has proven to be a cornerstone program impacting the lives of seniors, children, and families in our country, state, and city. I'm joined by representatives from AARP and members of our city team, including representatives from Community Enrichment. Are they here? I don't recall seeing them. Okay. I'm honored to present this proclamation. And it reads, Whereas, August 14th, 2025, marks the 90th anniversary of the Social Security Act, signed into law in 1935, establishing one of the most enduring institutions in American history. And whereas, for 90 years, Social Security has transformed the lives of millions of Americans by providing critical financial protection for retirees, people with disabilities, surviving spouses, and families. And whereas, Social Security is critical to the economic security of countless senior citizens, helping individuals live better, more secure, and enjoyable lives in retirement with dignity and independence in their later years. And whereas, Social Security provides support for senior citizens who rely on Social Security to help meet basic needs such as housing, food, and health care. And whereas, Social Security faces challenges that demand thoughtful solutions as it remains the foundation of economic security for thousands of our residents. So now, therefore, I, Kenneth T. Welch, Mayor of the City of St. Petersburg, Florida, do hereby proclaim August 14th, 2025, as the 90th anniversary of Social Security, and encourage all residents to reflect on its importance and its support efforts that ensure Social Security remains strong and sustainable for generations to come. And thank you, Jeff, for all your support. Mr. Mayor, thank you, members of the Council. I appreciate you giving up time on this very busy day to honor Social Security. Again, today, 90 years ago, the Social Security Act was signed into law and the Social Security program began. You may think of St. Petersburg as a young community, and certainly it is. However, it is one that relies heavily on Social Security benefits. The state of Florida brings in $100 billion a year in Social Security benefits. There are a quarter of a million current Social Security beneficiaries who are in Pinellas County, tens of thousands of them right here in the city of St. Pete. And, of course, everybody in this room, at some point or another, if we're lucky, will benefit from Social Security. And so, AARP is working hard to make sure that this is just the first 90 and that we have many 90s yet to go. So, I apologize for not starting by saying I am a resident of the city of St. Pete and actually a constituent of Vice Chair Henowitz. And AARP Florida has had its home base in St. Petersburg since the association was founded in 1958. We consider St. Pete our hidden second home, and we are so excited that this city has stepped forward as one of a dozen or so across the state to recognize this important anniversary and this critical program for older adults, for survivors, and for those with disabilities. And we encourage you to walk with us as we make sure that Social Security remains strong, not only for our current residents, but for those yet to come. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Those who are still in the audience who may be AARP members. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Council Member Givens. Thank you, Vice Chair. And thank you, AARP, for being here today. I appreciate you all so much. You know, I think about the elders in our community, the elders in my family, specifically my aging grandmother, who relies solely on her Social Security to get by. And had it not been for you all standing in the gap, I don't think she'd made it this far. So I really thank you all for really being a resource that so many, our most vulnerable population relies on, our elders, those who are disabled. Thank you for just being a willing resource that we all can count on. Appreciate you. Thank you, Vice Chair. Thank you for all you do. I'm of that generation that is coming up to the age where I'm going to be looking at Social Security and wondering, is it going to be there or not? So I appreciate all the work that you all do in advocating for Social Security and for our older population. My mother and my grandmother, just like Council Member Givens said, I mean, relied heavily on Social Security, and as many of our residents here in St. Petersburg do. So we want to see this celebrated for many years, even past when we're gone. So thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Next up, we have new ordinances. We have E1, A, B, and C. It's the FY26 Utility Rates and Charges, and we have Claude Tankersley here. This is a first reading. I believe the public hearing is on September 4th. Clerk? Proposed ordinance number 16-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 provisions, providing an explanation of words struck through and underlined, establishing a date to begin calculating new rates for building purposes, and providing for an effective date. The public hearing for this item is September the 4th. Would you like me to continue? Yes, please. Proposed ordinance number 615-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 provision, providing an explanation of words struck through and underlined, establishing a date to begin calculating new rates for building purposes, and providing for an effective date. And the public hearing for this item is also September the 4th. Ordinance number 617-H, an ordinance relating to utility rates and charges. Amending Chapter 27, Section 27-4C, 27-6, 27-109B, 27-109D, 27-113B, 27-141A, 27-141B, 27-142A, 27-143B, 27-144, 27-146B, 27-146D. 27-157A, 27-144A, 27-189B, 27-156D, 27-142A, 27-167D, 27-202A, 27-168B, 27-147A, 27-184B, 27-177A, 27-177D. 27-26A, 27-177D, 27-24A, 27-234A, 27-177D, 27-24A, 27-24A, 27-23A, 27-27-24A, 27-27A, 27-23A and 27-23A of the St. Petersburg City Code. Amending owners liabilities for certain charges, adding adjustment relief for pool refill, following a declare of state of emergency emergency amending charges for potable water connection amending base and water base and volume charges for water service amending various service charges amending wholesale water service charges for the city of gulfport amending fire services charges amending rates and charges for irrigation only accounts amending rates and charges for commercial only accounts amending rates and charges for reclaimed water service amending sewer capacity fee amending retail and wholesale wastewater service charges amending grease management fees providing for several billion provisions providing an explanation a word 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 september the 4th thank you madam clerk so council members we have to vote on these separately and i'll first go to council member gabbard so madam chair that was going to be my question um it was my desire to have e1b specifically voted on separately so that was why i pushed my button okay so yes just wanted to make sure i saw them all up there together so it worried me so thank you you're welcome it's because it was listed on the agenda all together and i think that's that's probably why but we have to take them separately so i will entertain a motion uh on e1a so moved oh council member floyd presses button after sorry yeah but that's fine i just wanted to ask council member gabbard is uh you're thinking along the uh stormwater rate and what you're proposing okay i want to have a conversation about stormwater separate okay all right that's what i was hoping you were thinking okay thanks all right second move approval of e1a we have a motion and a second um clerk can you please open the machine for voting council members please enter your votes seeing that all present council members have voted can you please tally and announce the votes madam vice chair the motion to approve agenda item e1a passes unanimously with council member fig sanders and council member girdus being absent thank you e1b i'll entertain the motion council member gabbard thank you madam chair so last meeting we had a conversation about all of our utility rates we had our conversation about our stormwater rates and we had a conversation about a proposal that i had brought forward in our bf and t uh committee the last one that we had about a modest increase of a dollar sixteen um additional on top of the rate that is here before us today for us to expedite some of our stormwater projects um it was a proposal that would have been able to bond some of the um kind of pre-planning and expedited work that we need to do across our city um that proposal uh did not in my opinion reflect um exactly what i feel um could have been a a proposal that would have gotten us to a better place with a consensus among council um a little bit of uh surprise that we weren't able to move that conversation forward a little bit more and so i just want to read for everyone into the record an email that we received this morning to all of city council this email reflects emails and conversations that i have every single day in our district which was dramatically impacted by the storms of 2024 so it says please relay to council members that our opinion of the contemplated utility rate increase is this if a modest increase is needed to help reduce the chance of flooding due to storm rain hurricane situations do it now please that sums up better than anything else i could sit here and pontificate on about why we need to do more to increase our stormwater to make sure that we are protecting our city from the climate vulnerabilities that we see every day so because of that i'm very glad that this is a standalone item because i intend to vote no today on the stormwater rates because in my opinion we are not being aggressive enough and if we don't stand up now when are we going to stand up is it going to take another storm is it going to take another season like we had last year we have got to do more so i am a no on the stormwater rates as of today thank you thank you council member floyd thank you i have to agree with council member gabbard in that i hate raising the utility rates i think we do a good job of uh making it modest every year doing the best we can to keep costs down but i think i'm the only one here who's voted no on a utility rate increase in my time and uh have worked really hard with administration to get the rates restructured over the last couple years and i've been proud of that work but this year for stormwater i think council member gabbard had a very uh modest and simple proposal that was not too impactful that would help people whose homes uh are currently in a precarious situation and i've had a significant number of constituents reach out to me who are just scared honestly myself included i had a nightmare last night that my house flooded again like and it's not fun to live like this and i think uh you know the proposal for just like it was a dollar more a month dollar 16 a dollar 16 yes very small very reasonable for us to be able to jump start some of the work and i know administration does want to do a jump start and that's why we planned it but i would have liked to see us just push it that little bit further and so uh you know it pains me uh to raise utility rates at all and i scratch and claw every year to make sure it's as small as possible uh but you know i think we're in a unique situation right now where we've been shown our vulnerabilities and i and i uh i don't like what i saw that i can say that much and so uh i'm not there today on this either um but i am do want to say i'm grateful to the administration for the work they've done uh to have this conversation in the first place at all so thank you thank you council member harding thank you chair i appreciate my colleagues comments i'm going to be a bit contrarian today um and uh and claude i i want to address administration first the projects that have been put forth are well thought out um i think everything that uh that you and burjesh put forward are things that should be done um and in a perfect world they would be done but but eventually we'll run out of money um my contention uh and what i would like us to take into account is uh is this and i'll i'll use myself as an example my current uh the money i send to wells fargo every month is thirty six hundred dollars um it is eighteen hundred dollars of principal interest than it is eighteen hundred dollars worth of uh of property insurance flood insurance and and taxes and my point very simply is that that um the the number that was used a dollar sixteen is not a lot of money but this is becoming death by a thousand cuts and um and eventually you just can't get there we can't continue to if this were a discussion in my house it would be very simple we just don't have the money um and i think we are we are vastly approaching i looked up what we spent for all of water in the city of st pete for 2014 15 and 16 we spent 156 million dollars um last year this year um where we are and where we're headed and the projected budget for next year we'll spend 417 million dollars um i can i cannot guarantee you i cannot with with any certainty tell you that there's going to be a hurricane this year or next year that we're going to flood this year or next year but what i can tell you is that everyone is going to pay a little bit more money and eventually we run out of space and so i want us to be cognizant of the fact that that um that we're we're we're looking at increases in stormwater we're looking at increases in water we're looking at um at a referendum for a spar project i think everyone that's sitting up here has heard plenty from our constituents about electric bills and um and if you haven't seen your flood insurance bill for next year it's going to look a little bit different i've seen it already so my point very simply is that these are very important conversations the the what we have going for us is that that there's an expert team on the administration side that is very able um and very capable of looking at the system that we have and telling us what it is that uh that needs to happen to it and and my point very simply is that we can't do it all and um and when you look at spending uh 417 million dollars over three years and uh and a project that's going to speed up another half a billion of this eventually you just can't afford all of it and uh and so i want us to be cognizant of that and i'm i'm going to uh and i'm going to to to continue to err on the side of of um of we can't we can't ensure our way out of everything when there's not a lot not enough left over for the groceries the next day that's uh that's where i am thank you chair thank you council member council member driscoll thank you claude i wanted to give you an opportunity to um weigh in on this i think everyone's making good points this is this is not as easy as some might think what what are your thoughts and rob please um anything that you would like to add to this is is great but i want to hear from our expert first sure and um as the as the public works administrator there is a lot that is on your shoulders and i know that um you would love to be able to accelerate as many projects as possible to reduce the risk and strengthen our infrastructure at the same time people are seeing their all kinds of bills go up and up and up right now and i i have some concerns about adding to that so what can you tell us stormwater has been a big lift for the city um all utilities have been a big lift for 2016 but stormwater in particular has been a big lift because it was um back in 2016 the rates were were extremely low compared to where they are now and compared to where we need to be to fund the hundreds of millions and billions of dollars of stormwater work we have ahead of us so we do recognize that um you know there's a lot of work to be done it's uh we're doing our best to try to find uh federal grants to help pay for it state grants to help pay for it um we're trying to look at projects in a different way to see if we can do them more efficiently uh but it's a big lift and it's and it's going to be a long term lift um as as you know whenever we come to you we we show you uh what we're looking at in terms of rates not only for the upcoming fiscal year but for the next five fiscal years and um unfortunately in order to get to where uh we we want to be able to do the projects that we want to do and do them more quickly um it's going to be a challenge okay um rob did you want to add anything to this i i know you guys have given this a lot of thought yeah no thank you council member good afternoon council i i just wanted to say you know look we we brought forward working internally with our consultants our recommendation we had a request to to look at a possible amendment uh we brought that to city council we had that discussion we took feedback um we did not believe during that discussion that there appeared to be five votes uh to move forward with the additional funding for stormwater so we brought back our original recommendation this is really at the discretion of city council if you choose uh a higher rate for stormwater we will do everything we can to execute that spending on projects and and we defer to you on this decision all right thank you i think we with already having these the increases that are already in place i i've got to i've got to agree with with council member harding that um you can only do so much and i i think we can only ask for so much on the backs of our current residents um i i agree claude that there are um potential opportunities for outside funding to assist with projects and i i hope that you all are being as aggressive as possible in finding that i know we have um we have been pretty fortunate with with several several projects that have gotten some grant funding i just have a really hard time right now asking asking our residents to pay to pay more on top of the increases and in their other bills in this bill already um that the cost of building of living is just becoming um a difficult thing for a lot of people to to to manage and i i don't want us to add to that any more than we already are i i think we we need to look for ways that we can accelerate projects i absolutely need to be more aggressive about that but i think we need to look for another way to fund that that's where i am right now thank you thank you council member gibbons thank you very much um i have to concur with some of the previous comments and again claude you know i know you're you're in a hot seat and i appreciate you being patient being diligent um i appreciate administration doing all they can uh to try to get us to um a comfortable balance um i see both sides of this issue um i understand that you know we've been kicking the can down the road for so many years and unfortunately you know our aging infrastructure has caught up with us um and we saw that last year and if we continue to prolong this it only gets worse um so it's messaging that to constituents who corner you and question you and say we still have questions why are our bills so high right um you're asking for more money but we still have questions and so i i just want to pause for a minute because i know there was supposed to be a study with stantec i i don't remember finding out whether or not we had gotten anywhere to figuring out you know whether or not there were some contributing factors out there to you know why these bills are so high but it's it's tough to ask for consumers to pay more when we're already burdening them you know it's just a tough ask so you know how do we answer those questions you know where where are we there do we have an answer stantec it sounds like you're talking about the drinking water um bills from last year um no we we stantec did the analysis that they could do on the data that we had uh just to to to figure out you know how many of our of our um our customers did experience that that spike um but the data that we had did not allow them and nor did they do an analysis of what caused it because we didn't have the date we don't have the data to know what caused it uh and so we don't have any more answers on what caused it than we did before and so that's why administration and council work together to update our ordinances to allow us to to be more flexible in the future when these things happen yeah i would just add to that council member that um we have not seen a similar spike in uh utility bills or water bills after the hurricane we do believe it's directly related to the storms there were a couple things that we know one some homes were flooded appliances became disconnected and water was being used continuously we can see that through the digital meters right so we can understand that we also know that there was debris um for 90 days in front yards a lot of meters were covered up so there was delayed readings that impacted some of the bills um and so now we are back to normal numbers on the utility bills so it does appear to be directly related to the hurricanes and for a variety of reasons gotcha i hear you and i don't want to argue but i do have constituents who still call me and email me and say i still have high bills and it may be you know it's just the cost of living right it's expensive to turn on your air and to turn on your water it costs and i understand that you know sometimes we have to eat that cost and i'm just having a really tough time with telling 330 000 you know public utility customers that we need you to pay more when people are already hurting it's just very hard for me to you know say that you know if i ask you to contribute more we we're going to i know we can't guarantee or promise anything but you know we're going to deliver to me it sounds like we're over promising you know it's it's a huge undertaking to say that we're going to spend all these millions of dollars to fix the problem but realistically can we fix the problem and so my ask is that we don't try to bite off more than we can chew let's focus on those hardest hit neighborhoods those high priority areas you know let's let's look at some other solutions to where we can get some money you know i don't want to burden taxpayers with more bonds let's and i've said it before and i'll say it again let's burden these developers right who continue to build on to our our our capacity and and again we we aren't asking them to to pay more but we are asking our taxpayers to i'm looking at the historic gas plant redevelopment again you know can we look at that as an alternative to finding some cash to pay for the problems that we have i just i'm done but i just again have a hard time saying that you know this is something that we can deliver on when we don't have all the facts you you said it yourself we still have data that we're waiting for with this study and so when we still have questions on other issues it's hard for me to say that we want to impose a tax burden on our constituents it's just not the right time for me until we figure this problem out that we already have on our hands and council member or madam chair if i could i just wanted to clear something there's not another study that we're waiting on the study that we had stantec do was as mr girdis referenced was doing the analysis of the the bills that were anomalous during immediately response immediately after the storms so they have delivered on that that report we have that data we have discussed that data with council and i can certainly share that again but as mr girdis also referenced we've seen those we've seen the billing normalized certainly every day we have customers contacting us because they might have a leak they might have so those things happen just through the normal course of business um you know i've certainly had leaky toilet flaps at my home where you know the the toilet constantly runs and my bill spiked up so when i replaced that um that that cleared up the problem so those things are always going to happen but it's not as um it's not like immediately following the storm when we had flooded homes and things happen so i just wanted to make sure that that was clear thank you mr greener for clarifying that i appreciate you um and again my point is the data and correct me if i'm wrong there's still data that needs to be analyzed and no sir i'm not aware of any data that needs to be analyzed okay i thought that's what you had said that there was data no no i said um i forgive me if i wasn't clear the data that stantec looked at was that billing data but that was the only data that we have that that for them to evaluate we don't have data that would indicate what would cause it that data would need to be we would need to to know in which houses a a washing machine got dislodged and disconnected which uh which lines may have gotten broken in somebody's yard we we would need to know all that data and and we we don't collect that data therefore there's no data to analyze so and that's my issue there is is there a way for us to begin collecting that data to look at that because again i i don't feel like we're really getting to the root cause of the problem to say that it was a mechanical issue or we couldn't just get to meters but people are still calling and complaining and saying you want more when we still have an issue it's just hard to wrestle with i get it you know it's a whole nother pot of worms but it's very relevant when you talk about you know paying for fees for water potable water potable water storm water wastewater whatever it just costs so one of the projects that we have in our cip is the you know converting to the digital water meters in our ami system the digital water meters will allow us to be able to measure the water flow through a meter not just once a month but it'll measure it every hour on the hour and collect the data once we put get the ami system into place where we have the towers in place to read the data remotely and send it to us and then we we we have the appropriate software to be able to use that data and provide access to our customers with that data then the customers will be able to have alerts sent to their accounts whenever there's a high water usage they can go in and look at it on their own but before we get to that point we have to get we have to finish getting in the digital meters and the ami system and that is in our five-year plan which i appreciate that cloud and lastly uh madam vice chair i just want to say i'm willing to bring this you know uh forward fully for you know the purpose of giving constituents an opportunity to engage so that way they can say whether or not we support this because the council member gabbert's point there are some people who want to accelerate this process right there are people who are tired of residential flooding and coming home to streets that they can't get down on you know so i just think it's important that we start looking at areas where we can you know accelerate certain projects and move those forward we can't hear you know hit every area all at once but the areas that we can hit let's focus on those so thank you council member gibbons i was going to suggest if you want to have a new business item or have a presentation to update on what happened with the billing and they can explain it at another meeting we can do that um and that would probably be appropriate council member gavin just to piggyback on your statement about the areas that were most affected so i just want to remind everybody that we have been undergoing a process with jacobs engineering and the tampa bay regional planning council for the saint pete resilient action plan that is in its final stages and so that will be coming back to city council council as a report item sometime this fall late fall maybe october november ish um just to kind of give you all the um kind of high level overview of exactly what was discovered during all of the neighborhood resiliency tours the workshops that have been done what jacobs and tampa bay regional planning council see as a prioritization and a path forward for us to start to kind of focus in on some of those areas of greatest need so i just wanted to remind everybody that we do have that project ongoing but it is starting to wrap up so i'll be bringing that forward to all of you whenever it's done thank you thank you council member gavard so um claude right now where we are it's at a 17.5 increase in storm water that's what we're talking about and this is based on a utility rate study that we do and just because we have a lot of people here and we started to kind of veering off on other areas but i just want to clarify for those that are watching because utility fees could be very uh confusing we do a utility rate study and i know andy's here if you want to talk about it what that covers and the fact is that whatever you have proposed is based on an extensive study yes ma'am it is and can you just explain what a utility rate study is for those that may not be aware yes ma'am and and i and i would invite uh mr um and andy burnham up to to join me because he is the expert and his teams are the ones that work with us on it um but every year starting in january we start putting together our budgets for the next fiscal year and we start determining you know what what are our needs in terms of operating and capital costs for the following fiscal year for our utilities we take that information we provide it to mr burnham and his his team and they go through and they look at all the information we have past trends in in costs they look at literally each line item in our budget to determine what uh you know what what we believe that the the um the upcoming fiscal year number would be for that line item and then we go through a bunch of different scenarios of what utility rates would need to be to cover the proposed budget that we're looking at and also in addition not just to cover the budget but to cover the requirements that we have on us for for the coverage necessary for the bonds that we hold and and the uh um the the what you know for lack of a better word contingency that we must have on on hand and we go through a bunch of different uh scenarios on on what those rates would be and it's and it's a long process and it's very data intensive it's all based off of a lot of data this is the kind of data we do have and that we can evaluate mr burnham would you like to add anything to that thank you claude good evening council welcome thank you for having me back uh the only thing that i would amplify of what claude said is that it's a very data driven approach with your local data and it builds upon the decision making process that you have in place when you consider operating budgets for upcoming fiscal years and give guidance for those and for what would be included in those from a level of service perspective as well as identify capital projects to be included in the capital improvement program those are the building blocks around which the rate scenarios are built and based and then obviously the decisions come to you for guidance relative to key policies that would affect the level of rates timing of capital funding strategies to be employed for capital but all this is done through that process of budget building and through discussions about what the options are and an understanding of the consequences of the options because there's near-term affordability considerations that have been talked about and also long-term and so different strategies for paying for projects have different impacts to near-term affordability long-term affordability and the ways that we cover cost speak to also affordability impacts in terms of the structures we use fixed versus variable charges so we get into some pretty in-depth and complex conversations each year and trying to really address the changing needs in current circumstances as part of the process and so i know there's a lot of heavy decisions and different consequences to consider particularly this year in light of last year's events but every time we go through that process as best we can with the data to provide options and then ultimately and unfortunately you have the hard decisions to make we can inform but ultimately those decisions do rest with you yes and andy if you can also explain when you go through this process other cities and municipalities and counties go through the same process as we do correct a very similar process their frequency you know they may look at it annually like the city does or in increments every few years but the rate setting process is something that many municipalities have because they have responsibility for water and sewer systems just like saint pete so cities of clearwater old smarr tampa they all have rate studies conducted rate adjustments to cover their identified capital needs and have to go through a very similar decision making process at points in time as well right and the same challenges that we're talking about in terms of how much you can do with what you have they have like we do i mean this is this is basically the norm this is a very common common conversation in terms of balancing level of service and capital needs and affordability considerations and it's a it's a conversation that's similar but different in every community reflecting their balance of those objectives and just where they are in the nature of their capital needs and level of service journey right and i think what the hard part is that level of service which means what is it that you're getting and what can you pay for and what can residents actually afford because the cost is so high and it's getting higher and higher so when we see some of these rate increases we're not the only ones that are facing this no you're not the increases that you're looking at are very comparable and similar to what we see across not just locally in the tampa region but across the state and nationally we do this work for many communities okay thank you so the rate that we are considering today that um administration has proposed is 17.5 percent um council member gabbard was expressing a little bit higher for additional projects that's not covered in the utility rate study that's additional from that wasn't part of what was proposed well correct what we we didn't we didn't include that um until after the the request to add the dollar 16 and i and i will acknowledge that i i rounded that to a dollar just for easy uh calculation but to add the dollar 16 for uh for bonding during fiscal year 26. okay and that was added um after the second bfnt it was i'm just saying because we had a conversation in terms of rates originally and then we had an additional conversation of what was added afterwards that was not part of our utility rate conversation originally that's my understanding and i'll council member gabbert i'll give you an opportunity to to ask questions um in terms of um so we're at 17.5 percent for storm water and then what were the other percentages of increase for the other utilities because i also want to make sure people understand there are people that have reached out and said you're raising utility rates by 17.5 percent which is not true it's the storm water portion correct so what we're proposing for water is six and a quarter 6.25 what we're proposing for wastewater is 7.75 for reclaimed water it's 9.75 for storm water it's 17.5 and for sanitation it's 7.0 okay and we're having the conversation now just about storm water to be clear correct um so my concern is increasing it additionally i know that we have more needs and i know there are parts of our city that have that have needs in terms of flooding and that would allow for more projects to go forward not all the projects because the reality is we have a lot more in our stormwater master plan that we're not even touching with this is that correct yes which is part of the reason that council is going to have a discussion to go forward with a referendum sometime in the future to ask taxpayers and residents whether they want to increase the taxes they pay so we can put in more money into our sewer system storm water and all that and that's a conversation that is also going to happen so i just i want people to understand there's a this is utility rates bills now there's also going to be a separate conversation on a referendum and whether or not on our tax bill we are going to agree that we're going to pay extra money for projects and that's coming up that conversation is happening and at some point we're going to decide whether or not that's going to go in the ballot to do additional projects this for me and i understand there are people that want to pay may want to pay more but i'll tell you right now i opened up my inbox and they're at three emails about not raising rates any more than we are and i get it every year and i understand and i can have a conversation explaining to people okay we have to raise rates because we have to keep up with maintenance operations the cost of materials all the things that are explained to us by our professionals i'm going to have a harder time explaining well we had the proposal by administration we're going to put more because we want to do more projects and on top of that we're going to do a referendum and then we're going to have the due conversation and i just i am really concerned about the capacity that people can pay even if it's a dollar it's a dollar here it's a dollar here it's a dollar here it's a dollar everywhere and and it's just it to me that's the hard part i sympathize with it i know we have a lot of needs that was part of the reason last year i didn't even want to spend any money on the stadium but adding an extra dollar right now whatever it's going to move in terms of projects or whatever i just and in terms of capacity because that's another conversation as to whether or not they're going to have the capacity i just i can't vote for the extra dollar and i know what i honestly what i think is going to move the needle if our residents say we really want to invest in this then just put it on the ballot and people will say yes they will say absolutely yes if they want to spend 500 million dollars and that goes on your on your bill for the next 20 or 30 years on your tax bill because you want to invest in resiliency in our city then we should let voters decide that but as it is right now i can't do any more with what we have and as it is i think people are going to be not happy about the rates as they are so council member gabbard and then council member floyd i want to be crystal clear where the dollar 16 not a dollar a dollar 16 came from i did not pull that out of thin air when you go back to the june bf and t meeting the original proposal that we were given then had scenario b it was an option for us then to talk about moving forward with i did not make this up this came from the rate study and it was a scenario that was proposed to us and then could have been the decision to do more to elevate to escalate the work that needs to be done in our city it came from the rate study i didn't make it up it's right here i've been carrying it around with me because residents are begging us to do more and i understand that it is a capacity issue it's hard to get more stuff done it's a planning issue it's all of these things but if we don't invest more we're never going to do more so i want to just be super crystal clear that is where that number came from i know we wanted to simplify it in the presentation that came to city council last week and call it a dollar we felt like a dollar was a cute way of trying to say that it wasn't going to be enough to move the needle it was given to us in scenario b that we would do a hundred percent debt financing of spar using utility bonds through that proposal it was given to us i didn't make it up so i'm i completely refute that we don't have the ability to do more we will never have the ability to do more if we are not willing to make the hard decisions to move it forward it is not a question it is a statement and i'm going to leave it there thank you council member floyd thank you um i appreciate everybody's perspective on this i'll add uh you know council vice chair hanowitz you uh mentioned like a sort of a litany of things like i i believe in our city's ability to do big things for our residents and so i i'm not concerned with a number of things i did just want to take this opportunity though to ask uh and make sure i still understand when we do a rate study analysis we also do an affordability analysis and part of our ability to bond things out and have good credit ratings and uh just continue on a fiscally responsible path involves that affordability analysis and so that was done this past year i see you shaking your heads yes and uh you know is there any concerns that we're pushing up against anything there's there's always concerns with utility rates and just impacts to lower income households i'm not going to say that this community or any is without any affordability concerns but when you look back from a community perspective and some of the indicators that are used by the rating agencies or by even the regulators um you know we're meeting in within a lot of those thresholds in terms of water burdens if you will in terms of the cost to typical households but i want to be very careful to say that there are going to be households that just the rate structures themselves in this community and others they they do represent burdens um just based upon the amount of dollars they represent versus their incomes it's it's real it's of course and i appreciate that i just wanted to make sure we're still in the same position that i intended we were in because that would have swayed my opinion uh i'll add though that you know we've had a discussion over the last couple of years uh about uh continuing to deepen the analysis on our affordability in this and providing some relief uh i know that that hadn't been a huge topic of a conversation this year but i'm still interested in it uh and just wanted to take a second to uplift that uh going forward but i think that we can do that at the same time that we still make the kind of decisions that we're making today thank you thanks council member hardy um i i want to go back to i absolutely understand where um where we where we have have have brought all this information from the process that our engineering team and their consultants go through is is amazingly in-depth and amazingly technical there is value um in the thought that years and years ago a decade ago we did not invest in our infrastructure and we're paying that price today um and i think that that if you look at at everything that has been brought forth and asked for in this funding there are no marshmallows in there right there's nothing in there that that is extra or um or you would look at and go a little little iffy on that one this this is all critical infrastructure stuff my point very simply is that that we're looking at we've talked about increases of 17 and a half percent or 22 and a half percent or numbers there about and that's that's just part of the the money that that that we're asking my wife and i to pay from our house and neither one of us are going to get a 17 and a half or 22 and a half percent raise next year all right that is not going to happen and so and so that we have to be able to split this into to uh to claude everything that you have is absolutely worthy of doing but we need you to decide what is the most critical of that we just can't do it all anything emergent absolutely gets done without a doubt anything that dot dot dot you know that that fits within the if claude looks to you and says buddy we just can't not do this then we have to do that but some of this is catch-up work it is absolutely important but it can't all get done and that's my point um is is the the job of of of the the public works department is to absolutely make this city the best city in the world the job of this side is to say we just can't put that that much of a burden let's find the middle ground as to what we can afford and uh and so that that is my struggle and it will be my struggle um not only this year but next year as we proceed with with this issue that is not going to go away we're not gonna we're not gonna catch this one um we're just gonna get as far as we can chair thank you thank you and i'm just gonna say i know that council member floyd i know we could be do big things in our city but we pay for them like everyone pays for them like no matter what we're doing all the decisions we're making here all the money the budget is people's money and so i know that and it's that it's hard to balance all the needs in our city and i know we're all trying to do the best we can for all our constituents and i know we all doing it for the right reasons but but at the end of the day it's it's costing people money no matter what we're doing and we have to find a good balance and and claude the only thing i'm going to ask if if you or anyone from administration just the basis for your reasoning again we had the meeting council member gabbert brought it up again um since it was in another meeting just could you articulate again what the reasoning was for the advising that this was the best path forward in terms of the rate increase so as i said earlier um chair um you know this was our recommendation we had a specific request to look at a potential alternative we brought that forward we had a very robust uh discussion about it we were asked by the chair at that time if we had heard enough information to come forward with our recommendation and reviewing the comments that were made by council members it did not appear to us that there were five council members who wanted to go above the 17.5 percent increase so we kept our recommendation the same and we defer to council on the vote but what is the basis for the original recommendation just the 17.5 that recommendation itself looking at our our capital improvements program and trying to balance that program versus reasonable increases and the utilities financial position over time thank you okay uh i don't see anyone else wanting to speak i'll entertain a motion i'll move approval of item e1b you're a second a second okay we have a motion and a second clerk you please open the machine for voting council members please enter your votes seeing all present council members have voted clerk callie and then else votes madam vice chair the motion to approve agenda item e1b passes four to two with council members driscoll givens hanowitz and harding voting yes and council members floyd and gabbard voting no okay next one we have up is e1c there one wishing to speak or is there a motion move approval of item e1c i have a motion is there a second second we have a motion and a second clerk please open the machine for voting council members please enter your votes seeing that all present council members have voted clerk you please tally and announce the votes madam vice chair the motion to approve region item e1c passes unanimously with council member fig sanders and council member gardus being absent thank you thank you claude and thank you andy for being here on this item we'll see you again on september 4th um next up we have new business item we have g1 which is a referral um to the cow and this one is council member driscoll's item thank you for this item i am respectfully requesting a referral to the committee of the whole for our comprehensive report on arts funding grants and other programs this item came up the idea for this item came up in a discussion in an earlier economic and workforce development committee meeting um i believe it was actually council chair girders who um said he'd you know love it if we could have a talk about everything around the arts that we're doing and so here we are and i'll move approval second i have a motion and a second seeing no one wishing to speak clerk you please open the machine for voting council members please enter votes seeing that all present council members have voted clerk you please tally and announce the votes madam vice chair the motion to approve agenda item g1 passes unanimously with council member fix sanders and council member girders being absent okay we have next g2 a referral to hlut by council member gabbard thank you madam vice chair and uh first of all before i read the item i just want to thank everyone for coming out today all of our friends who had to leave already i'm very happy that you were all able to be here today um you know it i was writing down more i always write down comments during open forum but today i just wrote down words and so i just want to kind of repeat some of that before i read the uh referral item i wrote down love acceptance belonging pride history expression diversity safety freedom home and then a call for us to stand up this item that's before us today i heard someone say we don't need to make a committee to talk about this right well unfortunately if you're not familiar with florida sunshine law we do have to go to a committee to talk about this because we as a council cannot have conversations outside of the sunshine we also need to have a collaborative conversation with our administration because this this is on both sides of the team we all have to come together and rally around what the city response is going to be so that is the purpose in moving this to a committee so with that i respectfully request a referral to housing land use and transportation for a discussion regarding the florida department of transportation engineering and operations memorandum dated june 30th 2025 that was sent to the city of st petersburg discussion should involve collaboration between administration and city council regarding plans to comply with the memo's requirements regarding the prohibition of pavement and surface art additionally the presentation should include but not be limited to options for displaying other forms of placemaking and public art that support the expression of history or community commemoration and have a clear connection to business districts or other identifiable areas and with that i so move second okay we have a motion a second um madam clerk is there any cards on this we have one card and max mccann please go to the podium state your name and address for the record you'll have three minutes to address the council good afternoon max mccann 2648 3rd avenue south just want to quickly encourage this council and this administration to protect our street art i preface this by saying i fully understand the power dynamics between state and local government we're just hoping that the the city can push back a little bit i know the f dot memo says there can be exceptions for good cause shown it seems like at a minimum we should say okay we want exceptions for our street art because we've shown that they make streets safer a lot of these safety projects that i'm up here talking about we're talking about seven figures i'm saying complete streets budgets i'm talking about time five-year timelines we can put pavement art down in a weekend and it oftentimes doesn't require any public funding that's what's great about this from a safety perspective in addition to all the culture and identity and personal um important reasons that people have spoken about already i'm coming at it from a safety perspective these are quick projects we can knock out right away let's at least try to protect them thank you everybody appreciate it thank you next speaker next speaker is esther sonny please go to either podium state your name and address for the record you'll have three minutes to address city council awesome thank you so much esther sonny president of the saint petersburg naacp 1601 16th street south um before i address the matter i want to name some cities these are cities across the nation who have stood firm against the removal of murals um in particular murals that celebrate black history lgbtq pride and other symbols of inclusion seattle washington portland oregon oakland and berkeley california dallas texas hartford connecticut minneapolis minnesota jersey city east orange new jersey chicago illinois and right here in florida miami beach so let's talk about it when we talk about the why and what it looks like this is a moment and an opportunity for both our city council and our city administration to work together not to use this crucial issue to create further division and not to frame it in ways that serve political theater and to be intentional with problem solving it's important that we look at innovative ways and to also send a very clear message that saint petersburg will honor both its commitments to safety but also its commitment to truth this is history and history has its eyes on us the question is will saint petersburg be remembered as a city that erased its own story or as a city that stood up and said our streets will speak the truth about who we are our streets will tell our history and also our streets will remember that we truly are one saint pete thank you and i'm just gonna say um a lot of you were here for this and if you're gonna you can speak now as opposed to open forum even though frankly opens form is after but if you want to you can speak now you just have to fill out a card to speak on this item now the next speaker is rachel corvello and stacy schurader please go to either go to either podium state your name and address for the record you'll have three minutes to address counsel hi my name is rachel corvello first i want to thank you for the work you've done and continue to do to stand up push back slow down seek legal counsel and when necessary take action to prevent the erasure of who we are as a city your willingness to defend our community values values matter to us to future residents and to our visitors as a proud queer jewish woman i believe deeply in the separation of church and state even in council chambers and just as firmly in the separation of state democracy from a dictatorship that forces us to remove symbols of who we are i am a business owner tourism expert local artist event host proud wife of a florida fishmonger and an aunt to a transgender nephew i moved to st petersburg because of these symbols the murals the crosswalks and the inclusive establishments that make our city a beacon for belonging these aren't just paint on pavement they're a visual promise you are seen here you belong here they show that our community values truth and history these symbols are also tied directly to our economy as someone who works in the tourism i knew travelers choose destinations where they feel safe celebrated and represented murals like these appear in photos videos and travel stories that inspire people to come here when we erase them we erase identity we chip away at economic fatality we've seen the impact already when visit florida quietly removed lgbtq plus content from the website its website i reported the story to nbc and gave tourism destinations across the state a heads up i told them they had a chance to do the right thing to speak up before damage was done to our inclusive destinations they didn't and now people across the country and across the world are boycotting our state as a content creator and travel blogger covering florida and beyond i've seen this erasure spreading words like gay queer transgender and pride are disappearing from marketing just last week we we were told our company was told to remove inclusive and diversity from an article and to make a married lesbian couple in our video look like friends this is more than crosswalks it's the slow erasure of cultural truth from our streets our tourism materials and our shared narrative this week delray beach stood up and said you cannot take our murals i urge st petersburg to do the same to that together we can be a powerful force against erasure thank you good evening council stacia schrader 692 10th avenue south historic roser park i'm here today because the state and federal government are overreaching into our local governance and our community deserves better st petersburg is a city of color of lgbtq pride of unity in diversity but we are also a cultural city a city of the arts creative creativity is not just part of our identity it is our economic engine our embrace of the arts fuels tourism supports local businesses attracts investment and inspires the people who call the city home through murals performances festivals and museums we tell the story of who we are that story is vibrant inclusive and uniquely saint pete and it is that story that keeps our economy strong when outside forces try to dictate what we can celebrate what we can display on our streets or how we honor each other's identities they're not protecting freedom they're restricting it and that restriction strikes at the very heart of what makes saint pete thrive we have proven that when we embrace culture we build community when we support the arts we support jobs and when we allow people to express themselves freely we strengthen the very fabric of our city i understand that this may be a battle that you cannot fully win but i ask you do not go down without a challenge and do not go down without going on official record make it clear for history that saint petersburg stood up you spoke out you defended our culture our people and our voice and remember as our mural says black history matters how you respond now will decide whether we could also say with pride saint pete history matters thank you speaker next two speakers are dom rico and sherry lesniak please go to either podium state your name and address for the record you all three minutes to address city council hello council thank you uh good evening my name is domenico pontoriero i'm at 670 10th avenue south saint pete in the historic rosa park neighborhood and i've come here today uh before city council to ask the city to work with legal professionals and other resources to find a solution that will allow us to keep our beautiful traditional street murals despite ongoing political pressure and i say traditional because um we have a long-standing tradition of art in saint pete here it's central to our identity uh the morian art center traces its roots back to 1917 and for over a century um the the residents of saint pete have continued to cultivate a deep love and respect for the art and today we proudly call saint petersburg the city of the arts and we even have a comprehensive arts strategy adopted by our leaders that's how important the arts are to who we are and these street murals are part of that tradition i live within one mile of three of the street murals so they directly impact me and my neighbors quite a bit and one of my favorite things about living here is being able to show visitors all the art that our city has to offer and they love seeing our street murals and they love how the murals look in their pictures and that they take home to show their friends and their family how wonderful saint pete florida is it makes guests feel welcome that we live in a vibrant welcoming place and more specifically to erase murals that honor african american and lgbtq plus communities people who have been historically marginalized silenced and oppressed sends a dangerous message message that art is only worth protecting when it doesn't challenge when it doesn't speak the truth and when it doesn't uplift the people who need it most now is the time for civic leaders to choose courage over compliance resist the pressure to erase defend the art that defines us we need to protect the integrity of our city's identity and stand by the belief that art matters especially when it gives voice to those who have fought so long to be seen thank you hello my name is sherry lesniak uh 2438 4th avenue south and thank you for listening to your constituents today i'm a member of the saint pete public arts commission and am here today as a proud resident of st petersburg it bears repeating we are a city of the arts saint pete is ranked as a top arts and cultural destination among cities its size over and over again and as you know from the recent arts and economic prosperity report that it generates millions in economic activity and provides diverse employment opportunities across various industries indeed 77 percent of the respondents to that report that a cultural event was the number one reason that brought them to our city our building and asphalt murals play into that economic and visitor activity drivers as well it's not often you have something that ticks a number of important boxes for our city and contrary to what you're hearing from the state pavement and surface art murals are actually one of them they beautify our city they make our cities safer they're actually inexpensive compared to other calming devices as max mentioned and they can be quickly installed for example i live in palmetto park neighborhood and we are surrounded by some busier streets first and fifth avenue south where pedestrians and bikers have been injured yet years and years have gone by where we've got tried to get a crosswalk and lights on our neighborhood plan that are still in talks a street mural in these locations would be a beautiful way to help bring some safety to these dangerous areas in a quick way and also beautify our neighborhood the data that is out there shows asphalt murals function as a street calming device slowing down traffic and reducing accidents you'll note that the state has not produced data that shows otherwise but instead of basing the reasons for erasing these murals on fact these asphalt murals are being erased by hate and fear let's fight back with the facts first before we give the eradication of these celebrated murals and freedom expression especially by our marginalized communities my ask of the commissioners is like the previous to not just a race but take the take that pause take that strong path and push back with all legal means that you have ask for the data ask for the rationale before just painting over these murals please consider standing up before giving up we are all saint pete thank you for your time today and all you do to make saint pete a place we really can and want to call home thank you the last speaker is sloan mckinn please go to the podium state your name and address for the record you'll have three minutes to address council nobody's and if you've already spoken on this item at open forum you can't speak again on it sloan sloan if you yep go ahead watch you say say my name is sloan mckinn and i live at two two six four eight third avenue south i painted the mural in child's park and i want to be able to see it as i grow up i love the rainbow mural on central avenue it makes me happy thank you thank you thank you guys any other speakers okay did you fill out a card can you go ahead and fill out a card or you can fill it out afterwards you can go ahead and just all right and you can lift it up no there's a button on the side good afternoon my name is rachel pethay i live at 3209 54 street north i am a teacher and i am a mom and i have students who are and i have friends whose children are gay trans children black children brown children and the thought of removing art from our streets words from our vocabulary books from our schools it is a devastating blow to our kids our friends and our neighbors unfortunately now i am embarrassed to say that i am from the state of florida and i'm a native but i have not been embarrassed to say that i'm from saint petersburg we should all be able to prioritize inclusion and not what is dictated to us by a small faction of people who are doing everything they can to infuse hate in our community so today not only do i speak for our community but i speak on behalf and in solidarity of the mother of a queer child who grew up in saint pete where she felt safe and was able to thrive she did not feel the same way in other parts of florida it may seem to be insignificant but every time they strolled down grand central over the rainbow street or went to see the blm mural she was reminded she had community who supported her we need to fight and ensure that we can continue honoring all members of our community we are fortunate that we live in a country where we can speak up in fact i was outside from 12 to 3 two different protests one against doe and doge i'm sorry and the removal of our murals which explains my attire i apologize so i'm underdressed today but i still i want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to share our concerns thank you for your time i know it's been a long day and i want to thank everybody who is here for speaking out and standing strong thank you thank you fill out the card you have a card can you give it to her jonathan hackworth i live at 2510 central avenue it is literally on the intersection of 25th street where the rainbow is the muster seat at that intersection uh sure and sweet i'm a straight man i help paint that intersection i just think it beautifies the city i've lived there for a year and a half i have not seen a single accident pedestrian or auto i just want to put that out there thank you no more speakers madam clerk no more speakers thank you council member floyd thank you i'll keep it quick because this is just a new business item but i have one comment and then one question for administration so uh i think probably like most of my colleagues we hate the what that this is going on at all and uh i'll just say you know it's crazy because like i was at last year we had people defacing them and getting arrested for hate crimes and now the people who are in charge of the state and the federal government are literally siding with the people doing hate crimes this is no different to me this is another one and so um it's very frustrating for me to see this but i guess my question really is for administration and maybe legal my interpretation of the memo is like it's just sort of a review not like they're not forcing us to take anything down at this moment and so if that's correct i just want to make sure we say out loud that that's our interpretation of it and then uh just want to get some assurances that we're not taking anything down until uh at this time i'll defer to the city attorney okay thank you legal legal uh matters but i i will tell you that we've had multiple conversations with fdot we have provided an inventory to fdot we'll send that to city council today it just went out um and no we're not taking anything down right now we'll continue to have discussions with fdot that is our plan moving forward thank you legal uh good afternoon council ben james assistant city attorney i would just say that the the fdot memo does call for the removal of non-compliant traffic control devices service markings include including pavement art installations immediately it does go on to say that there is a process for good cause and that there can be a continued dialogue associated with that so there is some context there thank you and i i bring it up because i know one speaker mentioned delray beach which i had someone who actually spoke today sent me the video of the i think it was a vice mayor uh speaking there i watched it last night and i think the contention there was that they just immediately started pulling stuff up without uh going through any of those exceptions or review process and so just wanted to ensure that that wasn't anything we were planning on doing here i hear that we're still working and meeting our legal obligation but uh making sure that we're doing our diligence so i appreciate that from administration i'm grateful for the legal analysis and i look forward to um having this conversation in committee and uh as the chair of hlut we'll get it forward as soon as we possibly can i think i second it already yeah okay all right great um and on the on the legal matter i have a question on the letter um they state that if it's not removed it shall be caused for withholding state funds is that limited to fdo is that any state funds i was just curious about what their threat was the memo specifically cites a florida statute regarding state funding for non-conforming traffic control devices that statute has a process for how fdot investigates that and whatnot so that particular statute that they cite to regarding funding is only for traffic control devices okay now that being said funding generally is largely a discretionary practice so it is possible that there could be other sources of funding that the state uses this as a predicate to withhold okay and have we done any analysis on that or in terms of administration in terms of what they're looking to do because i just i mean i'm supportive of this trust me i want to have the conversation but i also want for the conversation everyone's here and we have people that are interested in this to understand what the state is threatening and what are the things that are at risk so i want to have some clarity on that we're looking at it i don't have a number for you today okay and and that would be something good to have at the committee meeting councilmember gabbard all of the questions that are starting to pop up those are all things that i anticipate working with administration to bring whenever the item comes um i know there's a september hout very early in the month so we'll be ready if you are chair so just wanted to mention that but those are all um the pieces that i felt were important for conversation then and not today yeah well i agree they're absolutely important pieces of the conversation but i want to give the public as much as information as we can today that's available from whether legal or administration um to make sure that we're giving as much information as we can to them because whenever we're going to have this meeting it's going to be in a month from now so i appreciate um ben thank you so much for the update we have a motion in a second clerk you please open the machine for voting council members please enter your votes seeing that all present council members have voted clerk please tally and announce the vote madam vice chair the motion to approve agenda item g2 passes unanimously with council member fig sanders and council member gertis being absent great thank you and thank you everyone for um who spoke on this item and now we actually go to open forum so uh for those who still haven't spoken who may want to speak um clerk um ash bradley and aunt avila please go to either podium state your name and address for the record you'll have three minutes to address city council looks like they may have left um next two speakers are molly robinson and adonis cuevas doesn't seem like they're present uh todd richardson and sharon friedman you're not here heidi stiller and ben rubin are the last two okay so i think everyone has spoken who wants to speak um at this point we go to announcements and any announcements i will say that i our chair is not here and as you know he is the person who announces birthdays and and and rob is smiling because tomorrow is the mayor's birthday and rita's birthday is tuesday and so as a tradition in honor of the share and make sure that we do this we sing happy birthday so ready okay happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday dear mayor and rita happy birthday to you with many more thank you thank you everyone for being here and um for uh it was a a very um wonderful meeting it's wonderful to see democracy at work and our first amendment um coming into play so thank you so much thank you everyone meeting adjourned great job