Welcome to the City of St. Petersburg City Council Meeting. Your elected officials are Mayor Ken Welch, District 1, Copley Gerdes, District 2, and Council Chair Brandy Gabbard, District 3, Ed Montenari, District 4, Lisette Hanowitz, District 5, and Council Vice Chair Deborah Figg Sanders, District 6, Gina Driscoll, District 7, John Muhammad, and District 8, Richie Floyd. Good afternoon, everyone. We will call to order the December 7th, 2023 City Council Meeting, beginning with a roll call. Hanowitz? Here. Vic Sanders? Here. Driscoll? Here. Muhammad? Here. Lloyd? Here. Gerdes? Here. Gabbard? Here. Montenari? Here. We will begin our meeting today with an invocation, which is going to be given by Councilmember Copley-Gerdes, followed by- Followed by a moment of silence for our fallen first responders, and then the Pledge of Allegiance. Please join me in standing. Please join me in bowing your heads. A verse from Thessalonians. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you. Lord, 2,000 years ago you sent your son to live among us. Let us not forget that he walks this earth still. He walks this earth inside each of us. In each of our neighbors, we will find his love. Please reveal yourself to this council, this administration, all city employees, all of our residents, and all who visit here in every interaction we have with each other. Please bless us during this Christmas season. Remind us that it is not the lights nor the decorations, but the love and empathy we share with each other that defines this season. Guide our decisions in this room today, not with our interests in mind, but with those of our neighbor. As this year comes to a close in a few weeks, bless all those we encounter. Bring them peace and joy during this season of celebration. Celebration of your birth, of your sacrifice, and of your unending love for us. This Christmas, let us rejoice always. Pray without ceasing and in all circumstances, for this is the will of God. Amen. Amen. Please join me in a moment of silence as we honor our fallen first responders. Chief of Police James J. Mitchell, end of watch December 25th, 1905. Police Officer James J. Goodson, end of watch December 25th, 1947. And Firefighter George W. Ludwig, last alarm December 19th, 1966. Thank you. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. You may be seated. Thank you, Council Member Gerdes, for that beautiful invocation. I appreciate you. All right, Council Members, we have an agenda before us today. I'll entertain a motion for approval. Move approval. Second. And we have a motion and a second to approve the agenda. Clerk, please open the machine for voting. Council Members, enter your votes. Seeing all Council Members that voted, Clerk, please tally and announce the vote. Madam Chair, the motion to approve the agenda passes unanimously. And we next have our consent agenda. Clerk, are there any cards for the consent agenda? Madam Chair, there's not. Okay, need a motion to approve the consent agenda. Move approval. Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Seeing no request to speak, Clerk, please open the machine for voting. Council Members, enter your votes. Seeing all Council Members that voted, Clerk, please tally and announce the vote. Madam Chair, just need one moment. Okay. Motion to approve the consent agenda passes unanimously. Okay, and next we will move to open forum. Clerk, can you please read the rules for open forum? Madam Chair, if you wish to address City Council on subjects other than public hearing or quasi-judicial items listed on the agenda, you may sign up with the clerk. Only the individuals who wish 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 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 the method of participation used, normal rules apply, including the three-minute time limit on comments. The requirement that any presentation materials must be submitted in advance of the meeting and the rules of decorum. If light public comments is disrupted by the violation of rules of decorum, the chair is authorized to accept public comments by alternate means, including by email only. And, Madam Chair, we do have some speakers. Okay, great. Please call the speakers two at a time, and when the clerk calls you, please go to either podium. The first speaker is Wendy Snyder and Karen Mueller. Please go to either podium. State your name and address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address Council. Respectfully, I would like to address the Council when the relevant matter comes up for discussion. Excuse me, ma'am. State your name and address for the record, please. Apologies. Wendy Snyder, S-N-Y-D-E-R, 6407, Sandpiper Way South. Ma'am, which item were you coming to speak on? Any item dealing with the CBAC, whether it's to approve the nominations or any other resolution. That will actually be much later in the meeting, so if you would like, you can fill out a yellow card with the clerk for that particular item, and then we'll call you whenever that item comes up. Okay. Yes, thank you. My name is Karen Mueller, and I will do the same thing and fill out a yellow card. Oh, all right. Very good. All right, so were there any other speakers? Anyone in Zoom? No? Okay, we'll go ahead and close open forum. We'll take up our legal item. Item, let's see. Put my glasses on, sorry. Item I-1, approving settlement of a lawsuit. And we are joined by Assistant City Attorney Ken McCollum. Good afternoon, everyone. Hello. Pleasure to see everyone again. I'm here on a proposed settlement on an auto accident case involving a city vehicle. This is the Rhonda Gary Jackson case. I've been litigating this particular file for close to three years at this point. This accident happened on 22nd Avenue Northeast in Bay Street when one of our Parks Department vehicles essentially ran a stop sign, and it was kind of a head-on collision with some significant damage. The plaintiff has incurred over $400,000 in medical bills due to a couple of surgeries to her cervical region. So liability, unfortunately, in this case looks clear, and the bills are excessive. We ended up in a mediation, a second mediation, a couple of months ago. And we're ultimately able to resolve this case within the sovereign immunity cap at $150,000 pending council approval. And I would recommend that this settlement be approved as a good resolution to this case. Move approval. Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. Seeing no request to speak, clerk, please open the sheet for voting. Council members, enter your vote. Seeing all council members have voted, clerk, please tally and announce the vote. Madam Chair, the motion to approve agenda item I-1 passes unanimously. All right, very good. Thank you, Mr. McCollum. Thank you very much, everybody. Have a great day. Happy holidays. You too. All right, next we're going to go into new ordinances and take up item E-1. Clerk, can you please read the title? Proposed ordinance number 568-H, an ordinance amending Divisions 1, 2, 3, and 6 of Chapter 2, Article 5 of the City Code, related to purchasing, contracts, etc., moving the procurement code to Division 1, modifying the types of purchases exempt from the procurement code, modifying and adding definitions, modifying provisions regarding approval authority of the mayor for certain contracts and renewals, modifying the criteria for sole source procurement, setting forth processes for request for qualifications, small purchases, request for information, and protests. Establishing provisions prohibiting certain communications during competitive solicitation. Clarifying provisions, creating a new Division 2, establishing a new equity advisory committee. A business equity. Excuse me, a business equity advisory committee, reserving Division 3, deleting Division 6 in its entirety, related to grant opportunities through grant writers and providing for an effective date. The public hearing for this item is January the 4th, 2024, and we do not have any cards on this one. Move approval. And can we take A and B together? Okay, and was your motion for A and B? We need to read B. We didn't read the title for B. Okay, so just for A? Just for A, Madam Chair. Okay. So, Council, do we want a presentation, because I saw Council Member Montaneri was going to push his button, Council Member Driscoll first hers. So, do we want a presentation first, or do you want to go straight into questions? Council Member Driscoll? I don't need a presentation. Okay. We're joined by Procurement and Supply Management Director, Stephanie Swenson. Hello, Ms. Swenson. Council Member Driscoll? Thank you. So, the concern that I have is with changing the threshold for purchases from $75,000 to $100,000. It was just a few years ago, the City Council lowered that to $75,000, or yes, for Council approval. And I don't recall there being discussion about changing it. I don't know what the circumstances are that have caused us to agree to raise that limit. So, in our presentation, in our one-on-ones, we discussed, are recommending raising that limit back to $100,000 due to just the amount of work that's being added to staff. And we feel that, based on other entities, that this is in line with the other agencies in our area and in our size. Is there anything in particular? Mr. Green, would you like to? The other thing, you know, we did present this to Budget, Finance, and Taxation a couple of weeks ago. That committee approved bringing it here to full council. So, in addition to having our one-on-one discussion with each council member, we did have, it was vetted by the BF&T Committee. Mm-hmm. Thank you. My reasons for having the $75,000 threshold have not changed since then. So, I'll be voting no on this ordinance. Thank you. Council Member Gurdas. Thank you, Madam Chair. Council Member Driscoll, I just thought I'd provide a little bit more context. We did discuss some of the reasoning that it was lowered to $75,000 a few years ago with the previous administration, and it's a very, it has become very cumbersome. The 75, the difference between 75 and 100, it's creating, I think, on average, nine items, if I remember correctly, to bring to consent agenda. And so, it did pass unanimously in the BF&T, so I just thought I'd provide, not trying to change your vote, but just providing a little bit more context. Thank you. Okay. Council Member Montaneri. I did want to mention that both in my one-on-one meeting with administration and at the BF&T meeting, we discussed this at length. And the circumstances, in my opinion, have changed, and I understand the workload that administration has when it comes to the $75,000 threshold. So, I voted in BF&T to raise the threshold back to $100,000, and I'll be supporting this ordinance. I would like to have two separate votes on these two ordinances. Thank you. Our motion is for A. So, speaking just with you privately in our one-on-one, was not able to, you know, be at the BF&T meeting and not a voting member either. But I do support this. And I think one of the things that really stood out for me in our conversation was understanding that, I mean, over the time period of which, you know, from where we lowered it before and now where we are today, things have become much more expensive. So, that threshold, in my opinion, needs to adjust based upon what we've seen with, you know, the various costs, overruns, and things like that. So, for me, because, as Council Member Montaneri said, circumstances have certainly changed. And so, I'm very comfortable with us moving this forward. I think we have a very good process for evaluating our procurement report at our agenda review, and I feel very comfortable with that and appreciate the professionalism of which you and your staff handle all of these matters. So, thank you so much. I appreciate you. All right. So, we have a motion and a second. Item E1A, seeing no further requests to speak. Clerk, please open the sheet for voting. Council Members, in your votes. Seeing all Council Members have voted, Clerk, please tally and announce the vote. Madam Chair, the motion to approve agenda item E1A passes 7 to 1 with Council Members Fig Sanders, Floyd, Gabbard, Gerdes, Hanowitz, Montaneri, and Muhammad voting yes. And Council Member Driscoll voting no. Okay, Clerk, can you please read the title for E1, I'm sorry, F, sorry, E1B. I am having a problem with my letters today. I apologize. My eyes are failing me. Okay. Proposed ordinance number 569-H, an ordinance amending Chapter 2, Article 5, Division 4 related to the Small Business Enterprise Assistant Program, modifying thresholds from $50,000 to $100,000 for bid discounts, sheltered market, and required participation percentages. Removing references to the SBE committee and establishing the authority and responsibility of the pod. Clarifying provisions and- All right, Madam Clerk. Is that the revised ordinance that you have in front of you? Yeah. I know, I was trying to find where you were as well. There was a sentence, I think. One moment, please. We'll pause for just a moment while the clerk- The legal's going to bring you another copy, clerk. Thank you so much. Proposed ordinance number 569-H, an ordinance amending Chapter 2, Article 4, Article 5, Division 4 related to the Small Business Enterprise Assistance Program. Updating, finding, setting forth a procedure for modifying annual goals for small business enterprise participation in the contracts. Modifying thresholds- Contracts. City contracts. Modifying thresholds from $50,000 to $100,000 for bid discounts, sheltered market, and required participation percentages. Removing references to the SBE committee and establishing the authority and responsibility of the pod. Clarifying provisions and providing for an effective date. Public hearing for this item, public hearing is scheduled for January the 4th. I'll second. All right, we have a motion and a second for E1B. Seeing no request to speak, and we don't have any cards on this item either. Madam Chair, we do not. Okay, clerk, please open the sheet for voting. Council members, enter your votes. Seeing all council members have voted. Clerk, please tally and announce the vote. Madam Chair, the motion to approve agenda item E1B passes 7 to 1. With council members Driscoll, Vic Sanders, Floyd, Gabbard, Gerdes, Hanowitz, and Muhammad voting yes. And council member Montaneri voting no. All right, very good. Thank you so much, Ms. Winston. Thank you, Mr. Green. All right, let's move into our report items. Oh, don't go away, Mr. Green. We have our agreement between the city and Inner Circle Sports LLC. And we are joined by Assistant City Administrator, Tom Green. Good afternoon, City Council. Good afternoon. Last week, we had a pretty vigorous discussion of this agreement. Between that time and now, I think each of you who wish to have a one-on-one visit with Mr. Abrams of Inner Circle Sports have indeed concluded those discussions. We additionally have provided the information that Council Member Hanowitz had asked for with respect to net present value calculation of certain revenue streams and things related to the overall gas plant redevelopment and stadium program. I'm here to answer any additional questions that you might have. In addition, I could run through the presentation again if Council so chose. But I will just remind you the impact. You know, there were certain actions you took last week that used some of the resources of the contingency. This action would use another about $274,000 of the general fund contingency for the gas plant. Another $274,000 would be appropriated from the general fund to coincide with the resources we would get from the county with respect to our interlocal agreement with them to help fund the contract with Inner Circle Sports. Thank you. Council, did you feel the need for the presentation again? No? All right. Council Member Floyd. Thank you. I don't need to go over anything I said last week, but I wanted to key into some of the stuff that my colleagues were on last week, which was specifically the stuff about STADCO. I met with Mr. Abrams, and I always felt that he was accessible, and he was really helpful for me. And it seemed interesting. I know this isn't directly related to this contract, but it came up in this conversation. It seems like STADCO was just a stand-in name for the LLC that the Rays would create to do the project. It's interesting, though, because it kind of brings into focus that it's not necessarily the Rays that are going to be doing the project. It's this affiliate corporation that's going to shield them from some of the possible downsides that go along with it, as well as silo it off so that it's a cleaner business deal. And I think the shielding, I think, is what gave me some pause, but I understand that's how business is done. I just wanted to say out loud that I kind of saw where my colleagues were coming from, and it's an interesting perspective that got brought up in last week's discussion that I'm glad came out for us to focus on. Thanks. Thank you, Council Member Hanowitz. Thank you, Chair, and, well, first of all, I want to thank administration for setting up the meetings. For those that don't know, the meetings were set up immediately. I think my meeting with him was a Monday afterwards. And as I mentioned in that meeting, David Abrams, the first time I spoke with him and I met with him, he was very helpful in terms of providing me information. I had some issues, it wasn't with him specifically. And I do appreciate Mr. Green for providing the calculations. It's a lengthy three-page memo, which is very helpful, and it's what I was asking for, so that's very much appreciated. And with that, I will say that in terms of this agreement, you know, I have no problem voting yes for this. I understand the need for David Abrams expertise going forward. Whatever issues and whatever discussions we may have on issues that I may have with the deal, I do believe that the city is going to benefit from his expertise. Thank you. Council Member Montaneri. Thank you. Well, I too had a very good meeting with David Abrams, and yes, he's just a true pro in this area. And I just needed to understand these concepts and these new entities that were being formed, and I wasn't comfortable last week in moving forward with this agreement, but after my conversation with him, it was time well spent, and I was glad that we have him on board, and I'm supportive of this agreement also. So do we have a motion? Move approval. I'll move second. All right, we have a motion and a second. And Mr. Green, I just want to thank you. I want to thank all of the administration. I hope Mr. Abrams is listening. I definitely want to thank him for the one-on-one that I had. I left that meeting just feeling like I don't even know how we would move forward for the betterment of our city, and the betterment of our residents, and making sure that we really have that expertise without him. We're very, very lucky to have him on our side, working on our behalf. So I'm very glad to hear that my council colleagues that had concerns last week were able to clear those up. And as far as the LLC goes, I mean, certainly I understand, you know, being in business, this necessity that, you know, you want to divide liabilities, you want to make sure that you have certain entities running certain parts of your business. That very much makes sense to me. And so, you know, a very simple explanation on that alleviated all of my concerns around that. So I'm very happy with the way that this is moving forward, and seeing that we have a motion and a second with no further request to speak, clerk, please open the sheet for voting. Council members, enter your votes. Seeing all council members have voted, clerk, please tally and announce the vote. Madam Chair, the motion to approve agenda item F1 passes 7 to 1 with council members Driscoll, Fick Sanders, Gabbard, Gerdes, Hanowitz, Montanarian, Muhammad voting yes, and council member Floyd voting no. Very good, thank you. All right, thank you, Mr. Green. Okay, next we are going to go to item H1, which is our council committee report from last week's committee of the whole. So I will need a motion on this action item, which is approval of a resolution appointing two ad hoc members and one city council member to the Community Benefits Advisory Council for the Historic Gas Plant District project. And we have two cards on this item, so we'll go ahead and go to public comment. Wendy Snyder and Carrie Mueller. Please step up to the podium, state your name and address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address council. Wendy Snyder, S-N-Y-D-E-R, 6407, Sandpiper Way South. I want to speak in favor of this resolution in having both members appointed. I'm particularly in favor of Karen Mueller's appointment. She is a resident of the area. She has studied this proposal with a group of other citizens who have no vested interest in any party or any outcome other than the best interest of the city and the city's residents. And I know that she will be a superb member of the CBAC. Please appoint her. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Mueller. Thank you very much for the opportunity. My name is Karen Mueller. I live at 12th and Janes in Campbell Park. And I just wanted to speak today a little bit about Campbell Park and the Southside neighborhood community that I'm a part of and how much I've enjoyed living there. And some of the accomplishments over the last two years. I just wanted to talk about the community resources that we've tried to get out to our neighbors. And all the community outreach that we have done door to door to really build relationships between some of the new members of the neighborhood. And some of the members of the neighborhood who have lived there for quite some time and really build some bridges and build some unity with our community. And we've really seen some great results over the last two years. And we continue with that with the poinsettia program that we started at Christmas to give out poinsettias to some of our senior residents who we call our VIPs. So this will be our third year. And we're really looking forward to that effort. And then in regards to community outreach, we do quite extensive work with community resources that we like to distribute to people so that they're aware of all the different programs that are available to them. And I just think that there's three areas of community resources that are super important to be knowledgeable about, to be a good neighbor. And the first one would be all the different housing resources that we have available, especially in the Southside CRA, to be able to fix up homes that need repairs, as well as getting some help to purchase a home as a first-time home buyer. There's a lot of great programs out there so that people can start building equity and building generational wealth. So I'm a big advocate for the homeownership and assistance programs in the Southside CRA. And I also wanted to talk about some of the equity initiatives in employment and job opportunities in business ownership. I've seen quite a bit of opportunity that I'm really hoping to continue to be a part of after attending. Antonio Brown had a Black Excellence Summit at the P-TECH. And some of the organizations that were there was the Procurement Technical Assistance Center, the Small Business Development Council, Pinellas County Small Business Enterprise. And so I'm really looking forward to some of these equity initiatives benefiting our neighbors. And then there's so many different organizations I try to promote to our residents in the Southside, including CALL, CASA, the St. Pete Youth Farm, Urban League, Bowley Center, Cohort of Champions, Pace Center for Girls, Career Source, St. Pete Works, Suncoast Center, Bay Area, and Gulf Coast Legal Services, PAR, the St. Pete Free Clinic, and the Campbell Park Resource Center. So we've accomplished quite a bit in Campbell Park over the last two years. We've won numerous awards for our neighborhood from Pinellas County and from the state of Florida for Keep Pinellas Beautiful, as well as the mayor's office for Neighborhood of the Year. And I just look forward to continuing the work for my community in Campbell Park. Thank you. Did I see another card? Yes, ma'am. Robin Davidov. Please state your name and address for the record. You have three minutes to address Council. Yes, Madam Chair, Council Members. My name is Robin Davidov. I live at 4830 Osprey Drive South in St. Petersburg in the beautiful Marina Skyway District. Thank you for allowing me the chance to talk. Carrie is very modest because what she told you, all those things that have been accomplished in Campbell Park, she led a lot of that effort. And she did this as a volunteer. She did this while she's working. She did this out of her love for that neighborhood. And she is the go-to person for a lot of the neighbors when they have a vacant lot and they can't figure out how to develop it. And when they're trying to figure out the whole complicated housing system, they go to her. They rely on her. And more importantly, she's a great listener. She listens to people. And she tries to understand it from their point of view. I think this is really important because this is a very, very important project. And this is a lot of money. And the most important attribute, I think, of one of these council members is the ability to listen, to understand, to help them find a way forward, and to find the best way to utilize these funds over the next few years. So thank you for the opportunity. And please vote for her. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Was that our final card? That was the final card, madam. Okay. Councilmember Mohamed. Thank you, Madam Chair. Look at that. Yeah, I was actually really happy to, and this is like not being a Monday morning quarterback or anything. But I was really happy to see so many qualified applicants that expressed interest in this opportunity. This is an observation on process. I was actually surprised to see that one of the recommended appointees only received two out of seven votes. And there was no runoff or additional process to try and get us to a majority of votes. So that the nominee would, you know, we would be able to guarantee that we have, like, you know, a simple majority, at least, before advancing them to full council. And because there were so many qualified candidates, I would have liked to have seen at least one more round of voting. So that a second nominee could ensure that we get at least to a simple majority. And I think doing so could have helped us to ensure that the person that we eventually advance truly reflects the diverse perspectives and considerations of the majority of councils. And so it's not to harp on it, but I'd like to know, and really hear from our colleagues, if we would be interested in having a conversation to discuss a process for future appointments that requires a simple majority from the committee to be moved forward and just see if that would be something that we would be interested in. And if it is, I'd like to move that we do so. So in the conversation we had last week, that was something that, as the chair this year, I mean, all I really had to go on for process was what we had done the first time, right? And I mentioned at the very beginning, you know, this is the process we've done before. It worked before. Let's try it today, see how it works. But with the caveat that we do need a process. I think that's something that's certainly missing. And so we do have a joint committee of the whole with the CBAC in the future. And I think that should be part of that conversation is what that process looks like when it comes time for the ad hoc. But I completely agree with you. And that was part of my kind of opening comments on process last week. And sorry that you were out sick and you weren't able because I know that was a vote. That you definitely did not want to miss. But, you know, understanding that we, I think all of us share in that same concern over, if we're going to be doing this more often, we need to have a process that makes sense. Awesome. Thank you. Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Absolutely. Thank you. And thank you for bringing that up. Council Vice Chair Fig Sanders. Thank you. Thank you so much. First of all, I have to say I am a huge fan of Ms. Mueller. I have seen her out there doing the work and actually being quite effective and impactful with what she does. And so, I still am very pleased of all of the applicants that we had. And have never once doubted the value that you will bring to the process as well as all the other candidates. And I think, well not I think, I know my no vote was based on the process as well. But I am going to move approval on this, because I have to vote for myself at least once. Second. So, I got a motion and a second, but please. Make sure we don't come here as well. Yeah, I have to vote for myself at least once. But I'm looking forward to moving forward with this to see what changes that we can make. But I also want to make sure that we are going to have to remain mindful with the whole intent of the whole process and the committee. And I look forward to us having that conversation, not just for CBAC appointments, but for future appointments, especially moving forward. So, that was going to be my comment, you beat me to it, but I do concur. And again, like I said, I've already moved approval on that. Thank you, Chair. Councilmember Hanowitz. Thank you, Chair, and I'm also very supportive. I agree that it would make it easier once we go in. Every time I go into those meetings, you have no idea what's going to happen. Is this going to be, is this going to be short or it's going to be very long? And I think we all probably went into it, not, not realizing how it will work out. Um, so anything that helps with that process, I think is going to be helpful. Um, the other thing I wanted to ask, because I know we got the email regarding the change of one of the standing, um, council, um, members of the committee. And if administration could provide more context to that, because I think the word is getting out. I think there was an article today in Tampa Bay Times, and I think it's just important. Uh, we're appointing two new people, there was a change in one of the existing standing members. So can you talk a little bit about that, please? Certainly, Councilmember. Um, Chair Gypsy Gallardo did submit her resignation to Mayor Welch, uh, and to Chair Gabbard, uh, last Friday evening. Because she is a standing member that is in the middle of her term, uh, Mayor Welch did appoint Esther Matthews to continue that term. So she will, Esther Matthews will assume the term that, that Gypsy was serving. Following that, um, she will have the ability, if she would like to remain on, um, as, as a mayoral appointee, we would come to you at that point in time for a new three-year term. Very similar to, um, if a city council member, we would leave the process or, or another DRC, CPPC member. Um, so Gypsy had resigned, uh, Esther is now taking her place. Um, Vice Chair Ruth Whitney is now the Chair, uh, per the bylaws for the Standing Committee. Um, just to be clear, there will be an election of a Chair and Vice Chair for the overall Project Committee at our first meeting in January. Um, but per the bylaws, we will do an election of a Chair and Vice Chair as of February 1st. So we will convene the Standing Committee sometime in February to do that new election of Chair and Vice Chair. Um, for the overall Standing Committee, those four members, which would include Ms. Matthews, through the rest of Gypsy's original term. I appreciate that, thank you, so what was the reason of the resignation? Um, Ms. Gallardo indicated in her resignation that she really wanted to take a step back and focus on the Sankofa Project, and she felt that her efforts would be best served in reimagining that, moving it forward. As one of the elements that is contained in the intentional equity commitment, the $50 million from Reyes Hines, there is talk of a small business incubator. And the thought process was that it would not really make sense to have two incubators in such close proximity if there is to be one on the gas plant site, as well as one along 22nd Street on the Sankofa site. So she had indicated that she felt that her efforts would be best directed in taking a step back and working with Sankofa to determine how to move forward with that business incubator idea. Okay, so then the reason was basically that she wanted to focus on Sankofa, were there any other reasons? If I may, since I received the letter as well, that was obviously a very large part of it, and because of, you know, we all know who she is, and we all know her level of ethics. And I think that she just felt like because there is this opportunity for this business incubator, doesn't have a crystal ball, doesn't know where that's going to go, she wanted to go ahead and step aside now just to make sure that there would be no potential conflict of interest that could come along in the future. And that piece was very important to her for her integrity and making sure that the process was not skewed in any way, shape, or form. And so that was what I took away from the resignation letter that I received. Okay. I appreciate that, but I was asking administration if not according to them. I would conclude. Was there a conflict of interest issue? Is that what arose? There is no conflict of interest. There could be the perception of a conflict of interest. So we did indicate, staff did indicate, and administration did indicate to both Ms. Gallardo as well as Jason Mathis that there could potentially be the illusion of a conflict of interest. As we are talking about $50 million of intentional equity if Sankofa were to come up in that conversation, and that was something that we heard from the community at that community input session. Or if it was something that the advisory council wanted to explore further, at that point it may rise to the level of a conflict of interest. And so as Chair Gabbard stated, just to avoid any potential future conflict of interest, Gypsy felt that this was in her best interest and in the best interest of the CBAC and in the process. No, and I appreciate that because at that meeting I asked about whether or not the applicants were provided the conflict of interest information because that is going to be a critical issue for anyone who is a member. Yes. Going forward because you have to think about not just now, but in the future. In the future, and the conflict can occur at any point in time. So anyone that has any relationship with the city, and I mean, it could be a lot of things. And I think it's a very serious issue. So I'm glad that it was recognized and it was rectified. And for those that are on the committee right now, it's something that they should obviously be very wary about and thoughtful about going forward with their dealings. And I thank you for that. We will be doing an orientation with the new ad hoc members tomorrow. We will be joined by legal to go through, Sunshine Law, Communications, Conflicts of Interest, Form 1, Financial Disclosures. So we will be sharing all of that information with the ad hoc committee before we actually begin this process on the 13th. Okay, I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Absolutely. So we have a motion and a second, and I don't see any further requests to speak. So clerk, please open the machine for voting. Council members, enter your votes. Seeing all council members who voted, clerk, please tally and announce the vote. Madam Chair, the motion to approve agenda item H1A passes unanimously. All right, very good. Well, that concludes our business that we can do for now. So we will come back at 501 and take up our public hearing items. Until that time, council will remain in recess. And bring city council back to order, and we will take up item J1, ordinances A and B. Clerk, will you please read the title? Opposed ordinance number 756-L, an ordinance amending the future land use map of the comprehensive plan for the city of St. Petersburg, Florida. By changing the future land use map designation for a 0.41 acre parcel located at 266th Street North from residential slash office general R dash or slash 060 G, excuse me. To plan redevelopment. To plan redevelopment mixed use PR-MU, providing for repeal of conflicting ordinances and provisions thereof and providing for an effective date. Proposed ordinance number 788-Z, an ordinance amending the official zoning map of the city of St. St. Petersburg, Florida by changing the zoning of a 0.41 acre parcel located at 266th Street North from corridor residential suburban dash one CRS dash one to corridor residential traditional dash one CRT dash one. Providing for repeal of conflicting ordinance and provisions thereof and providing for an effective date. And we do not have any speakers. Okay, very good. We will start with a presentation by city administration and we are joined by urban planning and historic preservation planner, Britton Wilson. Do you swear in? Good evening. Do we need to swear? Britton Wilson, yes, I have not been sworn in. Yeah, we need to swear in. Anyone speaking on this item, please stand and raise your hand. Do you swear or affirm that the evidence you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Thank you. Very good. Thank you, Madam Chair. Britton Wilson, city planner for the record, presenting amendments to the future land use map and official zoning atlas. For a point for one acre site located at 266th Street North initiated by three W LLC. And the purpose of this amendment as stated by the applicant is to allow for the potential development of mixed use to include townhomes. This is an aerial of the subject property, which is located within a larger triangular shaped land area. The subject site consists of an east facing lot containing one single family home built in 1950. To the north are two more single family homes. To the south is a single family home on a double lot that was recently amended through Flum 69, followed by another single family home that was converted into office space. Then to the west separated by 16 foot wide paved alleyway is a park Vendome condominiums, which consists of two three story walk up multifamily buildings built in 1968. And north of the condos are four townhomes. And to the south of First Avenue North is a Walgreens and the west central shopping center that has the 66th Street Sunrunner bus station on the east side of the parking lot. As identified in the comprehensive plans future major streets map, the subject site is encompassed by three major roadways of Pasadena Avenue North, 66th Street North and First Avenue. This is a feature land use map showing the subject site designated residential office general or ROG, which is proposed for amendment to planned redevelopment mixed use or PRMU to match the property to the south. And the hatched area represents the central avenue corridor activity center overlay that provides an increase in residential density and development intensity as this area has been identified as an appropriate location for concentrated development. This is the zoning map showing the site as currently zoned corridor residential suburban or CRS1, which is proposed for amendment to corridor residential traditional or CRT1 to be consistent with abutting property to the south and the first add north parcels that are also zoned CRT1. The property to the west is zoned neighborhood suburban multifamily or NSM1 into the south and southwest as corridor commercial suburban or CCS1. The change in zoning from CRS1 to CRT1 will provide for an increase in residential density by four units. It will double the potential for non-residential development intensity, but the height and impervious surface requirement will remain the same. And there's a slight increase in allowable workforce housing density bonus. As noted in the staff report, the proposed amendments are consistent with many policies of the comprehensive plan. And to highlight a few, the proposal furthers these policies as a subject site is located on or near three major roadways served by the Sunrunner Rapid Transit and is in keeping with the character and established zoning pattern of the area. The requested amendments also further the recommendations of the Sunrunner development study as a subject site is located within a short 325 foot walk from the existing 66th street bus station located in the central west shopping center. And where the subject area is identified by the study is having potential for redevelopment with higher density and intensity than what the current zoning allows for. And the plan also calls for the rezoning of suburban classifications to higher densities that provide for more traditional walkable building and development formation. And this study was accepted by council last April. Staff has received two public comments in opposition of the proposal due to the increased density potential. And with that staff recommends a finding of consistency with a comprehensive plan and recommends approval of the proposed future land use change to PRMU and zoning change to CRT1. Because it furthers provisions of the comp plan and is consistent with the neighborhood's established land use and zoning pattern. And is consistent with the Sunrunner development study. And that concludes my presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. And the applicant is here as well. All right, great. Thank you, Ms. Wilson. Presentation by the applicant? No? Okay. And there is no registered opponent? All right. And you said there is no public comment, correct? That is correct. Okay. So, cross? Yeah. Formality, but no. Yeah, so no cross. All right. Any closing? Okay. So, we will go ahead and close our hearing and go into our executive session. City Council? Move approval. Second. All right. And that motion was for both A and B, Vice Chair Frank Sanders? Yes. Okay. All right, Council Member Floyd. Thank you. I just wanted to ask real quick if staff could give us just a little bit of history here. We've done things here. I'm just trying to remember what we've done on this so far already. So, on this particular site, back in 2012, there was a land use and zoning change from NT1 single family to the CRS one that is currently on site. A couple months ago, Council approved a land use and zoning change for what is asked here for the parcel directly south. That was just approved by the County Planning Commission on October 17th. Okay. Yeah, I remember that. I just wanted to have it out and refresh my memory a little bit. Thank you. Council Member Gerdes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Could we go to slide two real quick, please? So, I'm glad Council Member Floyd brought up that this was changed from single family, then adding the density to 15 units. And quickly, before I get to slide two, in the current zoning, they'd be able to put six townhomes on this if my math is correct. Is that right? Right. And with the proposed, it's ten. Right. Is it ten or is it nine? I think if you round up, it's ten. Okay. So, I want to, we can't zoom in, but my point is on the four townhomes, yep, there. Can you drop the light so that we can see it a little better? And as we're doing that, listen, I have been a proponent of adding density where density makes sense. I'm struggling with this just like I struggled with the lot just south of here. So, that four, that parcel there with four townhomes on it is point three acres. And there are four townhomes on that and we can see how that fills up that parcel. We want to put ten on a parcel that is point one more acre. I'm struggling with that. Also, on this, on this proposed, there are like seven massive oak trees on this property. What's happening with those? Would you like to hear from the applicant? Sure. I'm working with the property owner. Can you state your name, please? Yeah, Griffin Goodrow, 117 12th Avenue North. Thank you. I'm working with the property owner. We're, my group took the property to the south under the rezone a few months back and he asked us to help him with rezone his property because he wants to build townhomes on his property. Council member Curtis, you didn't get the answer to your trees. No, that's okay. I just, I'm pretty sure to the property to the south has the same history. It was single, it was single fam. Yeah, thank you. Single family double lot. And then we changed the, we up the density and then we're opening the density here. All, which we don't point out across from 66 street here. This is one of the only portions of 66 street that are all single family homes and not commercial. And so, I'm really struggling with this. I won't be supporting this. To put ten townhomes when you can put six already seems like a far overreach. So, that's where I'm at. Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay, very good. Okay, I don't see any other speakers and we have a motion and a second for A and B. So, we will go ahead and open the machine for voting. Council members, enter your votes. Seeing all council members have voted. Clerk, please tally and announce the vote. Madam Chair, the motion to approve agenda items J1A and B passes seven to one. With council members Driscoll, Fick Sanders, Floyd, Gabbard, Hanowitz, Montaneri, Muhammad voting yes. And council member Gerdes voting no. Very good. Thank you, Ms. Wilson. Okay, let's go to our final open forum. Any speakers for open forum? Madam Chair, we do not. Okay, we will close open forum and go to announcements. Any announcements? I think council member Gerdes, are you trying to push your button? Okay, we'll go ahead and go to you. Madam Chair. Yes, sir. We have two birthdays this week. Yesterday, yeah, yesterday was Janie and tomorrow is JC, two legislative aides in our office. And so, we will, which I feel really bad because I saw Janie yesterday and I had no idea. Don't feel very good about that. But let's see. We have another birthday, Mr. Corbett. Oh. Corbett. He tried to sneak by? Yes, he did. Yes. So, Mr. Corbett, Janie and JC, we all have birthdays. So, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, Janie and James. Happy birthday to you. J squared. J squared. J squared. Very good. Thank you, Councilmember Gerdes. Councilmember Montaneri. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to wish all of our Jewish friends a happy Hanukkah today. And I also wanted to recognize that 82 years ago in Pearl Harbor, we lost 2,400 Americans. So, I want to remember Pearl Harbor Day also. Thank you. All right. Very good. Thank you. All right. Very good. Thank you. All right. Very good. Thank you. So, I just want to announce that our director, Marshall Hampton, was honored with Progressive Leadership Award by the Florida Water and Pollution Control Operations Association during its Regional Awards Celebration over the weekend. And then furthermore, I also saw, very exciting, that we got an award as well from the Design and Build Institute of America. And the organization named the city's Lift Station 87 Wet Weather Flow Transfer Project as a winner of the National Award of Merit in the Water Wastewater category. So, congratulations to Marshall on his individual accomplishment. And congratulations to our Water Resources Department for all of their hard work and great work that they do to take care of our city. So, absolutely. All right. City Council. Well, seeing that no one else has any other announcements. Meeting adjourned. Thank you all. Thank you.