City Council - Jun 05, 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 Lisette Kanowitz, District 5, Debra Figg Sanders, District 6, Gina Driscoll, District 7, Cory Givens, Jr., and District 8, Richie Floyd. Floyd? Here. Gerdes? Here. Gabbard? Here. Harding? Here. Kanowitz? Here. Rick Sanders? Here. Okay, we will have our invocation given today by Pastor Paul Gibson from Trinity Lutheran Church. Then please remain standing for a moment of silence and the Pledge of Allegiance. Please stand. God of love, we thank you for the diversity of your creation, that you embrace everything and everyone that you have made and call them blessed and good. Strengthen the pride each one of us holds in being a completely unique part of your creation and help us to know the purpose for which you made us. God, we do not understand why the way a human being understands their own gender or why the person they love can be the cause of fear and hatred, but we pray for those people for whom it does. Their understanding of you is so limited and so small. But remind us, God, that all of us succumb to fear at times. All of us can be made uncomfortable by difference. All of us have ways that we must grow in our love and acceptance of all your children. We pray that this month dedicated to pride, to the eradication of shame, will help all of us to better understand, respect, and honor people who are not like us, who do not look like us, think like us, or act like us. In a year when so many are being driven to acts of violence, we pray that people will be safe during our city's celebrations of pride. We are grateful for the members of law enforcement who are working toward that goal. Bless the leaders of this city as they persist in their commitment to making it a place of welcome and of opportunity for all. Bless the speaking and the listening that will take place in today's meeting and in the days to come so that all of us can work together for the common good. We ask this in the name of all that is holy, all that is beautiful, and all that is true. Amen. Please join me in a moment of silence for the repose of the soul of Vince Cox, who passed away this week, a servant to St. Petersburg, and a friend to all. 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. Thank you. Thank you, Pastor, for that beautiful invocation, and thank you for joining us this morning. Okay, Councilmembers, before we get into the approval of the agenda, just a couple of quick things, as you've probably noticed, we're having some technology difficulties. So for those that are speaking during open forum, the only clock you're going to see is the clock you see up on this screen. The clerk will give you a 10-second heads-up when your three minutes is coming to an end, and at the end of that three minutes, I will say thank you, and your microphone will be shut off. You won't hear a beep like normal. So I apologize about that, but just be patient with us. Give us a little grace. Councilmembers, also, our buttons are not working, and so we will do a roll call on each vote. Councilmember Driscoll, I'm sorry, but that means you start each vote on a roll call because it's June. So no pressure there. And then also, councilmembers, as we wish to speak, because it is a little hard to have an angle to see all of you, if you'll just raise your hand, the clerk will then put your name up on the speaker list, and I will go from the list up on the screen. All good? Any questions there, councilmembers? And if anything changes as this meeting goes on, we'll let you know. But I think I covered everything. Are we good to go there? Yes. Okay. Clerk, good? Okay. So, councilmembers, we have an agenda in front of us. I'll entertain a motion for approval. Move approval. Second. Okay. Let's do a roll call, please. Driscoll? Yes. Givens? Yes. Boyd? Yes. Curtis? Yes. Yes. Harding? Yes. Hanowitz? Yes. Sanders? Yes. Okay. The agenda is approved. Now we'll move on to the consent agenda. Clerk, do we have any comments on the consent agenda? We do not. Okay. I'll entertain a motion for approval on the consent. We have a motion and a second. Let's do a roll call, please. Driscoll? Yes. Givens? Yes. Boyd? Yes. Curtis? Yes. Yes. Harding? Yes. Hanowitz? Yes. Rick Sanders? Yes. Okay. Now we're going to go into open forum. Clerk, could you please read the rules? If you wish to address city council on subjects other than public hearing or quasi-judicial items listed on the agenda, please sign up with the clerk. Only the individuals 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're speaking to an item on the agenda, you may only speak once during the open forum or when the item comes up on the agenda. 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 material must be submitted in advance of the meeting and the rules of decorum. If live public comment is disrupted by violations of the rules of decorum, the chair is authorized to accept public comments by alternate means, including by email only. And, Mr. Chair, we do have some speakers. Okay. Let's call two at a time, please. The first two speakers is Karen Carmichael and Jason Mathis. Please go to either podium, state your name and address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address council. Karen Carmichael, 400 4th Avenue South. I am the president of the Sage Condominiums and the president of the Downtown Neighborhood Association. Good morning. Downtown St. Petersburg gives the impression of being almost like a pristine Disneyland to many who visit, from other states, other countries, and even other parts of our city and county. The buildings are new, the roads are smooth, the infrastructure looks clean and modern, and on the surface, it feels like an ideal downtown. But recent incidents have reminded us that the reality is more complex. Just a short time ago, a man lost his life at the corner of 3rd Street and 1st Avenue North. It was a tragic moment, but also a powerful reminder that there are many people in our city, especially in our downtown, who are struggling with serious mental health and substance abuse issues. We see it every day, individuals living on the streets or in temporary hotel housing, exhibiting behaviors that reflect deep, unmet needs. Children on school field trips to our museums and parks are exposed to people yelling, using disturbing language, or acting in ways that are frightening and unpredictable. Parents and teachers are left trying to explain situations that children simply cannot understand. Senior citizens, many living in our 55-plus affordable housing communities, depend on city services like accessorite and public transportation. These residents regularly encounter people in a mental health crisis, often being screamed at or harassed while they wait for a ride. Homeowners are faced with regular intrusions to their garages and courtyards, and in some cases, their lobbies and their hallways by people who present as dangerous. They're afraid, and they shouldn't have to be. I do want to acknowledge that the city has taken important steps. Programs like PATH and CALL are already helping. These are vital programs, and they are a solid foundation. We appreciate the addition of another evening downtown police unit and the recent addition of an evening PATH unit, but the reality is their services are still overstretched. We need more boots on the ground. We need more clinicians, more outreach teams, more consistent engagement. These teams are doing their heroic work, but they can't keep up with the need at the current level of staffing and support. This is no longer a housing issue. It's a public safety issue. It's a public health issue, and it's a community quality of life issue for residents, for tourists, for business owners, for families, and for those who are in need of essential mental health services. So I'm asking the council to prioritize increased funding for this issue and to explore new scalable solutions that help address the root causes of what we're seeing on our streets. We can't allow the image of a clean, thriving downtown to cover up a growing crisis. Let's do better, not just for appearances' sake, but for all of our residents, including those who are less fortunate. Thank you, and thank you for hearing this. You know, we appreciate you understanding what's happening downtown. Thank you. Hi, my name is Jason Mathis. I'm the CEO of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership, and I wanted to start by thanking you all for your service. You don't make a lot of money on city council, and you put up with a lot and have to make big decisions, and I want each of you to know that your service is genuinely appreciated, and I'm sincerely grateful. As Karen mentioned, I think people are concerned. I think the recent incident created some new light on this, but this is an issue that's been going on for a while. The last three years, we've seen an uptick in some challenges for the downtown. I do want to, as Karen mentioned, I do want to thank our police department. We have an extraordinary police department who are compassionate, ethical, they have high integrity, and one reason downtown has not deteriorated like many other cities is because of the great work of our police department. Downtown really is a system, and it only works if all of the parts of the system are working together, and it's changing a lot. In 2010, there were 3,000 units in downtown St. Pete. In 2025, there are almost 20,000 units in downtown St. Pete. It's just changing dramatically, and when you have more people living downtown, more people visiting downtown, more people spending money downtown, working downtown, it means that we need to change the way that we think about managing our downtown area. In a lot of ways, downtown is an economic engine for St. Petersburg. It represents nearly 20% of the property value for St. Petersburg, even though it's only about 3% of the total land mass. It's a gathering place for the entire community. It needs to be a place that everyone in the community has a sense of ownership and feels comfortable visiting, and it's a neighborhood. It is all of those things, and the people who live downtown have a unique perspective in seeing how downtown is changing and some of the needs that downtown may be facing. It's important that we have a clean, safe, and vibrant downtown for everyone. Downtown belongs to a family living in Tyrone. It belongs to a young couple in Riviera Bay. It belongs to the children of Campbell Park. It belongs to a retired couple in Pinellas Point. It belongs to professionals living in Crescent Lake. Downtown is the one place in our city that should belong to everyone and where everyone should feel safe and comfortable. For the last few years, we've been talking to some of you and members of the administration about a clean and safe program. We still have a lot of details to work out on that, but I would urge you to consider that now is the time to think about adding this element to really help ensure that downtown remains a place that is safe, welcoming, and clean for everyone who wants to visit. Thanks very much. The next two speakers is Ronica Whaley and Carrie. I'm sorry, Carrie, I can't make out your last name. Please go to either podium. State your name and address for the record. Hi, I'm Ronica Whaley. Let me tell you about my last two weeks. Could you please give us your address, please? Oh, 221 First Avenue North, right next to Williams Park. In the past two weeks, after notifying the city that they are in noncompliance of Bill 1365, I have been peed on, pooped on, death threats, saying that the homeless man was going to come back and slit me from behind my throat. I have had six gun threats that they were going to come back and murder me. I have been broken into in one of my restaurants. I have been, actually, I need to look at some of these notes. I have called the police multiple occasions with the police not being able to do anything because they say, if I remove this property, if I remove this homeless person, if I do this, I will be sued. The police will not abide by the code, and the city is not abiding by House Bill 1365. So the police are not able to do their job when the city is not in compliance. I am in fear on a daily basis by these homeless people in our area. I am stocked at my restaurant on 14th and Central at the Shiso Crispy there. I have a homeless person showing up there on a regular basis. Every single day, actually, we have a homeless person there either robbing us, taking my employees' tips, stealing stuff from the inside, stealing stuff from the outside, taking all of the food from the trash and throwing it, coming up and taking the food and throwing it in our faces. I have restaurants next to me that have homeless people coming up and taking customers' drinks and throwing it in their faces and then smashing it on the ground, taking their food and flinging it into the streets. I have homeless people sleeping on my property to where we can't even open doors. And when you call the police, they come and they say, even with video, even with witnesses, there's nothing we can do. They're not on property. When I send these people to jail, they show up right back on my property. Mia Moore, you sent me to jail. Now you will pay. This means war. I have a gang of homeless people right now that know that I am trying to make a difference on my block, and they have all come to my property and told my employees that they declare war. There are homeless people sleeping all over our sidewalks all day. There are homeless people taking up our parks, covering our benches with their homes, covering our streets with their homes, making our beautiful white sidewalks black because they poop and pee all over them. And you call the police, and they will do nothing. You call code, and they do nothing. I'm at a standstill of what to do when there's no help and there's no way for the police to be able to do what they do, and the city isn't abiding by the law with shelter registered with DCF for the homeless people to go where they have to have water, restrooms, and security. The city has not done that, and that law has been in place by the governor since the 1st of January. Is that my time? Yep. Oh, since the 1st of January, and it's not abided by. So when we don't have a place to displace these... Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Okay. I'm Carrie Amboga. I live at 225 1st Avenue North, downtown St. Pete. I'm here to speak today in regards to City Bill 1365, and I stand before you today not just as a concerned citizen, but who is somebody who believes deeply in the power of policy and the policy in policy backed by meaningful action? We're fortunate to live in a city that has passed a progressive legislation, but with the aim to improve lives. But what good is the bill or what good is any law if it isn't enforced? City Bill 1365 was passed with the intention to improve public safety, but months after the passage, the reality on the ground is telling a very different story. Let's be clear. The bill didn't fail. You did. You failed to follow through. You failed to enforce... to ensure agencies the responsibility to enforce the funding to staff and to do their jobs. You failed the community that was counting on you. Why hasn't the bill 1365 been properly enforced? Is it lack of accountability, or is it absolutely deliberate? The public deserves answers, and more importantly, we deserve action. Two weeks ago, a business owner was forced to take somebody's life in order to save his own. This happened directly in front of where I live in the middle of the day. Some may say it's an isolated incident, but that's untrue. The same individual has been complained about several times in the past, and if it would have happened on the next corner, it would have been my friend that was forced to murder him, or worse, have her own life taken. Why is this being ignored? We cannot allow policy to be symbolic. We cannot allow City Hall to treat legislation like it's a press release. Enforcement is what gives bill its backbone, and without the City Bill 1365, it's just ink on a paper. Another broken promise to the people that live in this great city. Let us remember that trust in government endures not from what they fail to say, but what they fail to do. So today I'm asking you to take action to uphold City Bill 1365. I'm asking for transparency in the agency's performance, public reporting of informants metrics, and a timeline to correct this. Thank you. Thank you. The next two speakers is Aaron Peter. Aaron Peter and Sandra Chalapa. Please go to either podium. Please state your name and address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address counsel. My name is Aaron Peter, 5800 12th Street South. Today I am representing the Ovation Condominium, located at 180 Beach Drive, northeast in downtown St. Petersburg, and I have a letter from the Board of Directors, addressed to Mayor Welch and the esteemed council members. On behalf of the homeowners of the Ovation Condominium Association in downtown St. Petersburg, we are writing to express our growing concern regarding the increased presence of homelessness in our city parks and surrounding downtown areas. Many of our residents have reached out to us directly, sharing their discomfort and concern for personal safety, as well as for the long-term well-being of our downtown community. The issue appears to be escalating and is beginning to resemble conditions we witnessed in years past, before St. Petersburg became the vibrant and thriving downtown that we are all so proud of today. We recognize that homelessness is a complex issue and appreciate the city's ongoing efforts to provide compassionate and sustainable solutions. However, we urge the city to give renewed and immediate attention to the matter. The current situation is beginning to have a visible impact on public spaces, small businesses, tourism, and the overall sense of safety and pride in our community. It is also affecting property values and the confidence of residents and visitors alike. We respectfully ask that the city explore enhanced measures and resources to address this growing concern, particularly in our parks and high-traffic downtown corridors. We are eager to support efforts that maintain the balance between compassionate outreach and the continued vitality of downtown St. Petersburg. Thank you for your time, leadership, and attention to this serious matter. We are hopeful for swift and thoughtful action that reflects the values and vision we all share for the city. Sincerely, the Ovation Condominium Association Board of Directors, Holly Tomlin, John Hartman, Ray Murphy, Kathy Ewenrow, and Janice Barnes. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Yes, my name is Sandra Schepetta. I live at 3717 46th Avenue South in St. Petersburg. So I wasn't aware of the rules, but I would like to talk about an issue that's going to impact all the seniors in our community, and St. Petersburg has a lot of senior citizens. And I'm here to urge all the citizens of St. Petersburg to call the senators and let them know what's in the budget reconciliation bill. Medicare, that's what I mostly want to talk about. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office report states that the House bill, as passed, will blow up the deficit, and that's going to trigger PAYGO, the statutory PAYGO law. That will make an estimated $535 billion in mandatory cuts to Medicare. The seniors in St. Petersburg, most of us, are not aware that this is happening and that we will be negatively impacted by this bill. There's also state rights that are going to be impacted by this bill. They're being taken away from the state. The state will have no right to regulate artificial intelligence for 10 years, and that impacts everyone in this room and everyone in St. Petersburg because they can misuse AI in any way they want as long as the states can't regulate it. There's also sections in the budget bill that are non-budget. They have taken away anyone's right to sue the federal government for any environmental damage. They are not allowed to go to court for that, and that's retroactive, so it's going to impact all the court cases currently in review that are trying to protect our environment. And certainly that's a major concern here in the city of St. Petersburg with the red tide and everything that we have. We want to protect our environment, and we want to protect our wildlife. So that takes away our state right to sue and a citizen's right. And there's also Section 70302, which takes away anyone's right to hold courts in the administration in contempt of court. All these are non-budget items, and they're not allowed to be in that bill. So I just wanted to stand up today and hopefully make some residents of St. Petersburg aware of what's in the budget reconciliation bill that they might want to call their senators and discuss how they feel about that, especially Medicare and the senior citizens because most of them are not aware that that's in there. That's all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you. Next two speakers, please. Kisan, Jean Baptist, and Michael, I think it's Michael Dito. Please go to either podium, state your name and address for the record. We all have three minutes to address counsel. Good morning. My name is Karan Jean-Baptiste. I'm the provost at the SBC Downtown Center. Address is 244 2nd Avenue North. The SBC Downtown Center is located steps away from Williams Park. We serve over 1,000 students each semester, offering a full range of academic and student services. Also located at the Downtown Center is the SBC STEM Collegiate High School. We also share space with American Stage, the Florida Orchestra, and the St. Pete Partnership. SBC takes the safety of its students, faculty, staff, and community partners very seriously. While we are proud of our longstanding record of safety, we did experience three notable incidents in 2004. Two involved homeless individuals pushing pedestrians to the sidewalk and one involved unauthorized use of our restrooms. These incidents while isolated underscore the need for proactive and collaborative safety measures. In my closing, we are committed to being a part of the solution and helping make downtown St. Petersburg a place where everyone feels safe and supported and inspired. Thank you for your time. Thank you. How you doing? My name is Michael Dito. I'm a manager over at CISO Crispy, 1421 Central Avenue. Basically, my day consists of walking to work because since it's so close, every day that I pass by, there's at least abruptly, without even like a overestimate, 10 to 15 people that I walk by and it just, the smell is just wretched. It's, I'm handing out food sometimes, you know what I mean? Because I'm not an uncompassionate person. I get to work and then throughout my day at some point in time, my employees' tips are stolen, my tips are stolen. We've got chairs thrown at us. I'm handing out literally, like sometimes I'll have extra work clothes or whatever, like there'll be people then like naked, half naked, and I'm handing out clothes. Like I'm like, dude, here, take my clothes, put this on. It's, it's getting really rough and like over the time, it's just been getting worse and worse. I also used to work at Seesaw St. Pete and it was the same situation walking, walking past there. So the only reason why I brought that up, it's like an on, it's been three years and I'm four and a half years in recovery. So with programs or some kind of outreach thing, some kind of way that we can reach out to these people, things will change. I mean, sometimes they have to want to change, but if the police is not enforcing the things and taking an act of the bill and getting these people off these streets or the city's council is not like making these things in effect, then of course these people aren't going to go anywhere. I mean, I was homeless for 10 years of my life and things aren't changing at all. All we have to do is have some kind of people on the ground making sure that this bill is intact. These homeless people are going somewhere. These people are off the streets. If you see people laying down and doing stuff and you're not doing anything about it or you're verbally assaulting people and we're throwing things at people and then we make calls and these people come out and nothing is happening. It makes no sense whatsoever. How come if I were to physically assault somebody and somebody called on me, had video footage of me, there's police knocking on my door and I'm going to jail. There's no reason for it at all. And it's taking a hold of businesses. It's taking a hold of people's homes and it's taking a hold of our streets. Every time when I walk home, there's, I mean, people have beds set up in the roads, in the sidewalks and they're posted up sleeping like it's nothing. Using the restroom right there, not going into a gas station or showing up somewhere. No, they're going right there in the sidewalk. And that's how we want our city of St. Pete. I've been here all my life, even through my homelessness. Now I'm four and a half years over and I changed my life around. If I can do it, anybody can do it. All we need to do is have some kind of system to where these people have somewhere to go. Some kind of situation where they're going to jail and instead of coming right back out, they have some kind of place that they can go get a program, something, anything. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Chair, the next two speakers is Emma LeMay and Stephen Overstreet. Please state your name and address for the record, please. My name is Stephen Overstreet. I live at 1433 Central Ave. I just want to speak on the safety of workers because we all have the right to feel safe at work and we don't. I'm speaking on She's So Crispy We Have. We don't feel safe at all. On two occasions, one of the employees had a knife put on them. The owner had a knife put on her. We walk outside to go get product. People are coming out behind the truck. I had to go in the restaurant in the morning because somebody broke in. I don't know if people are going to kill me when I go to work and nobody's doing anything about it. So I ain't going to hold your time up, but you got to do more. The police have to patrol the area. They have to do more. Because we go to work, we don't know if we're going to get killed, stabbed. We don't know what's happening. It's just not right. We're citizens and we deserve better. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, I'm Emma LeMay. I'm a manager at She's So Crispy. I stand before you to address an issue that has a major impact on the way I feel about going to work every day. I feel my life has started more every day with the violent act of the outraged homeless people. We have coming around the business of She's So Crispy. I have dealt with walking into work, always checking behind me to make sure I'm clear of any harm that could come my way. We need to recognize homelessness is not a choice. It's the result of systematic failure, lack of affordable housing, mental health issues, and substance abuse are just a few factors that contribute to the situation we go through. Thank you. Thank you. The next two speakers is Pete Bolin and Sean McNera. Please go to either Williams, date your name, address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address counsel. Good morning, Pete Bolin from 293rd Street, 274th Street, and 374th Street, adjacent to Williams Park. And I've spoken with several of you, and thank you so much for your leadership and your genuine compassion in trying to serve our community and help solve these problems. These problems are not unique to St. Pete. They're just being exacerbated in St. Pete. And, you know, that incident that happened right before Memorial Day, that could happen to one of us. It could happen to one of our staffs. That could happen to any of the staffs downtown. And I think that it's a multifaceted problem that has a real difficulty of solving, but it's going to start with a lot of little things. It's going to be a lot of those little bites to the apple. We need to work with the circuit courts to improve things. When we talk to leadership and police force, when I talk to Lieutenant Hillsden, and when I speak with Sergeant Sequoia, they tell us, hey, Pete, we get these people arrested for ordinance violation, and they're back out eight hours later. They're being released on ROR. Repeat ordinance violations. So we need to work with the court system to these repeat violators need to be addressed. There is a lack of implementation of the new SB law that went into effect January 1st, the sit-lie law. There is a lack of enforcement there. I know some people may not agree with the scenario of that law, but we have to go forward. We have to carry forward with this stuff. I think there's not enough police officers, too. When I talk to rank-and-file police officers, like, you know, Pete, hey, we have a stabbing here. We have a domestic violence issue. We can't go address the ordinance. Sometimes they have to drive by violations because they have to prioritize their huge call volume. So we need to work on that. We need to give more support there. I think we probably need at least another 20 officers from what I'm hearing. So there needs to be more support on that front. And also the Clean and Safe Program that so many downtowns do throughout America. These are things that could supplement those services that can help support that, you know, it's the broken window theory. When things are in disrepair, when there's litter everywhere, we have problems on the Central Avenue Alley that I've been, you know, famous for advocating getting cleaned up. Those things invite these types of difficult situations. A proper Clean and Safe Program will help supplement police force, help clean up some of these areas, and make things less, you know, if things are inclement, they're going to be treated that way. It's the same stuff we've been talking with Williams Park. So please consider these solutions, advocate for real changes, and continue your retired leadership. Thank you so much, Councilwoman Driscoll, for helping move that PATH program into the evening time. I know all of you have been really great at taking our call and our concern, and just continue to go fight for these positive changes. Thank you. Hi. My name's Sean McNamara, resident at 100 Beach Drive. I'm also a member of the St. Pete President's Condo Association, and I emailed all, and I brought with me here a copy of a petition for a clean and safe program that I sent to you. We've sent this out on Monday, kind of on an informal basis, and I've gotten 300 signatures so far and over 100 comments. So I guess I'm speaking for at least 300 people. Following up on Pete's point about the implementation of the program and some of the other speakers with the state law, I'm just going to give one example because people can give hundreds. So starting on October 28th, a person in front of the Noy condos started living on two park benches that went on for somewhere between 68 and 70 days. They finally left or were removed in mid-January. So laws are not being followed. Implementation is not occurring. There's a whole variety of reasons for that, and we think that resources is a major component, and that is why we're proposing a clean and safe program. I also, just as another, I've been living downtown for 10 years, and I just noticed over the last couple of years when my visitors come from out of state, and I've actually witnessed this because I go running along downtown, along the pier probably five times a week, and visitors come back to me, and they say, oh, I love St. Pete. This is great, but you have a real problem with, they say, homeless, and I want to make a distinction here because I think when we say homeless, I think that's just a character, I think that that's a misnomer. I think the problem we have is what I'm using the term social disruptors, and those are people that are choosing their lifestyle over the greater good of society or our community. So there are collections of people that sit on benches and aggressively panhandle, or, you know, of course, there are people with mental illness, and I wake up a couple of times a week with people screaming on the sidewalk in front of me. And I think we have to separate that, and I think if we can bifurcate our efforts towards supporting the homeless, which need to be supported, but then aggressively going after these social disruptors who are choosing, who are choosing their personal lifestyle over the greater good of the community, I think we'd go a long way to solving this. So we look forward to, yep, we look forward to working together with you guys to help solve this. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Chair, the last speaker is Christopher Pitts. Please state your name and address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address Council. Yes. Thank you. My name is Christopher Pitts, and I am the general manager of One St. Petersburg in downtown St. Pete. And good morning, Mayor, City Council. So it's good to see some of the familiar faces and some faces I haven't seen before. As the general manager of One St. Petersburg, we are a high rise in the heart of downtown St. Pete. And I'm here today and follow up of what Mr. McNamara just explained in strong support of the proposed Clean and Safe Program and to speak candidly about the challenges we face on the ground every single day. Our building has 253 units. We have approximately 600 people that live in our building. So I'm speaking on behalf of approximately 600 people in addition to the residents and neighbors of downtown St. Petersburg. It's a beautiful and a thriving community, but over the past few years, the conditions have steadily declined. We're experiencing what is not just a nuisance, but it's becoming a real concern of safety, cleanliness, and long-term vitality of our urban culture. At the One St. Petersburg, we've had what Mr. McNamara described as social disruptors found sleeping in our bushes. We've had rocks thrown at our property. We have triple pain hurricane-resistant windows that were shattered because someone who was walking by our property decided that they wanted to throw the rocks that we have in our planters at our building. And we were very fortunate that they didn't strike an individual during that process. Clear acts of vandalism, a threat of safety, trash is picked up daily by our staff, not just from our property, but from the streets and sidewalks surrounding it. And our team has become the official cleanup crew for the city early mornings. What's worse, the dumpsters from neighboring properties are often overflowing and unkept, sending a message of decay and not care. These conditions drag down not only our property values, but the spirit of the community we work hard to maintain and you work hard to maintain as well. The Clean and Safe program is a practical and much-needed response. We need cleaning crews dedicated to restoring the beauty and sanitation of our public spaces, safety ambassadors to support a welcoming and secure environment, a homeless liaison team to compassionately address public safety concerns and connect people with the services that they need, and most importantly, a financial commitment from the city to sustain this effort. On behalf of the downtown stakeholders of which I represent, I want to stress we are major contributors to the city's tax base as well as everyone else. And the residents and businesses of downtown fund the city services, yet we are not seeing the value reinvested back into our streets. We love St. Petersburg. We want it to shine, but we need your leadership and we thank you for your time. Thank you. No more speakers. Okay, we'll go ahead and close open forum. I'm going to turn it over to you, Vice Chair. Thank you, Chair. So we're starting with our awards and presentations at this time. The first up is D1, which is going to be presented by our own Chair, Gerdes. It's the Distinguished Citizen Award for Henry Peter. Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. And I'd like to invite Henry, and I believe his mom, his dad, his grandpa, and a few of his teachers are here as well. I'll tell you what, I don't think any of my high school teachers would have shown up for me. So that tells you something right there. And as I make these comments, Vice Chair, you're going to see some of Henry's art rotating up on the screen. So today we're here to celebrate an amazing young artist, Henry Peter, a rising senior at Gibbs High School. I'm waiting for it. Council Member Givens. Go Gibbs. Yeah. That was actually, that was actually... How many years? Who has won U.S. Representative Kathy Kassar's 2025 Congressional Art Competition. Out of 105 incredible entries from all over Tampa Bay, Henry's photo, the one you see over here, and you'll see it rotating as well, Hurricane Days stood out. His picture shows a real, raw moment. His family dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Selene and Milton, it's a reminder that no matter how hard life hits us, no matter how exhausted we feel, we fight back. We get up, we rebuild, we keep moving forward. Henry started taking photos when he was just eight years old. I didn't know how to use a camera at eight. Inspired by his grandfather and encouraged by his teacher, Brian McAllister, now his artwork will hang in the U.S. Capitol for a whole year. Representing not... Yeah. Representing not only his talent, but the strength and spirit of our community. It's important to remember that art just isn't... isn't just beautiful. It's powerful. It helps us heal. It brings us together and it supports thousands of jobs right here in Tampa Bay, pumping millions of dollars into our local economy. So today, we're proud to honor Henry Peter with this Distinguished Citizen Award, celebrating his creativity, his courage, and the message in his art that no matter how hard we get knocked down, we always fight back. And we're going to play a video. We do have Marsha from Kathy Castor's office also joining us, but we have a video from Congresswoman Castor that we're going to play now. You know, St. Petersburg is truly the city of the arts, and I'm so proud that Henry Peter was the Congressional Art Competition winner, of course from Gibbs, Pinellas Center for the Arts. They've now won two years in a row, but Henry really captured the trauma of the hurricane season last year, and I'm so proud that he's going to represent our Congressional District in Washington, D.C. for the national competition. His artwork will hang in the United States Capitol, and I look forward to seeing you next week in D.C., Henry. So, Council Members, I give you our Distinguished Citizen, Henry Peter. Well, I just want to reiterate what I said at the actual ceremony that we were all affected by the hurricane in some way, shape, or form, and the way our community came together was truly amazing. I have to thank the City of St. Pete for giving me this award. I have to thank my teachers, Ms. Purchase, Brian McAllister, for all the help they've given me throughout the school year. It has been a great honor receiving these multiple awards for my artwork. I never thought that my shots of the hurricane, of my family, of my friends, would get this attention. I was just documenting what my life was at that moment. And to see our lowest point shown so high is something I could never imagine. So, thank you all for presenting me with this award, and I hope you have a good day. Don't leave just yet. We have some Council Member comments. First up is Council Member Gabbard, then Council Member Figgs-Anders. Thank you, Vice Chair, and congratulations on your award. Much, much deserved. The minute I saw it pop up over here, I felt that choke in my throat because I think our entire city can feel what we all felt in those days after, and it is incredibly powerful. Thank you for having the courage to express our entire city's trauma through your art because it's more healing than you know, and I think that it is very important that it hangs in the halls of Congress to remind the people at the federal government of the people who need them to support us now more than ever, and you will do that. Advocacy looks like a lot of things, and I hope that you know that your art will stand there as a testament to this city and that we will come back with or without their help, but we sure could use it. So thank you for who you are. Congratulations to your parents. As the mother of a teen, I know how proud you must be feeling in these moments, and thank you to Congresswoman Castor if she is listening to this. Definitely happy that she recognized you, and thank you for being here today with us. Thank you. Well, first of all, I have to say good morning and give those two accolades. We do have our class of gives, 1955, here, as well as I am a Gibbs class of 1983, and all of my family has graduated from Gibbs High School, and now you guys refer to it as Jonathan C. Gibbs High School, but either way, Gibbs is the best. No matter how you want to call it, Gibbs is the best, but it was such an honor to hear of your recognition and to know that I can't follow what Councilmember Gabbard said because she summed it all up. You took your eye, your vision, and you reflected what all of us were feeling during that time, and so young, right, and so young to be able to have that vision that you had and that you captured in your photos, but I'm even more impressed. You know, your grandmother came up and introduced herself to me to make sure that we recognize the fact that you have a legacy and your family is here in strong support. I agree with Chair Gerdes. I don't know how many teachers would come back for me, but this is such a wonderful, wonderful show of support that you have, Henry, and I am so proud that you thought it not robbery to make sure that you told our story, not just your story, but our story because that really was a difficult time for a lot of us. I mean, I'm still getting repairs done, so that's how that whole thing played out, but with those of you that came to support Henry, thank you. You did not have to, but I know today was not the only day that you've been present for Henry and the other students that need our educators and our administrators. Thank you, Principal Brown, for coming. We appreciate you being here. You have a true village, young man, a true village, and for that, I want to thank you, and I want to thank those that are here to support you, and Grandmama, you have a right to be proud. Thank you. Council Member Driscoll. Thank you, and congratulations. We can see that this is so well-deserved, and I loved seeing the other examples of your work, especially the wildlife, because that is not easy, and it takes a lot of patience to catch that osprey at the right moment when it's flying away with a fish. That is really extraordinary work. I had chills. I have chills now just thinking about it. You are the reason that the city has been working on strengthening its support for our arts community. It's about you and others like you who are just still learning their craft and taking it to the next level as you have here. Council Member Fig Sanders is right. You have a village. I hope that you'll recognize that that village includes the city, that we are standing with you. I mean, take a look at some of the grants that we're offering now to help our artists. I hope you know that you are supported by us, and we're going to keep working to make sure that if you decide that your path or part of your path in life going forward includes continuing to hone your art and grow that, we are here for you. For now, celebrate this moment. I love that you are going to be in the halls of Congress. That is just amazing, and Council Member Gabbard is right. It really makes a strong statement about to remind everyone there of what a hurricane is and what it does to actual people right here in St. Petersburg. So thank you for doing that, and congratulations, and I can't wait to see what you put out there next. Thank you, Madam. I want to just finish off first, Chair Gerdes. Thank you so much for bringing this recognition to Henry Peter. My colleagues have said it best and so eloquently. You found beauty in the world when we most need it, and we applaud you. Seriously. If you don't feel the love here today, you have to feel the love that this city has for what you're doing, and parents, and teachers, and administrators, your school, everyone, your support system is there behind you, cheering you on, and so are we. So is our city. And you know what I'm going to say? It's great that you're in the halls of Congress. You know where I want to see your art? Here in City Hall. So hopefully, that way our citizens can see some of your art too. So hopefully, that comes in the future. Thank you, and like Council Member Driscoll says, we want to see what the future brings, and we can't wait to see it. Thank you. So next up, we have item D2, and it's Aphasia Awareness Month proclamation that's going to be presented by Sher Gerdes. Thank you, Madam Vice-Sher, and I'd invite Debbie Yones and Laura Hodley-Fay to join me. I had the pleasure of sharing this proclamation last year, and as my time on CAPI, I've shared with you in the past a couple of organizations, and frankly, just the work that CAPI does has really shaped my time here on Council, and this is one of the organizations that has done the same, Voices for Aphasia, and not because of just the work that they do, but frankly, very personally, my grandfather struggled with aphasia after some medical issues, and so I kind of lived this for a little bit, and for this organization to give a voice for people that do not have one or have lost theirs is critically important. Debbie was sharing a story about an encounter with a police officer and somebody dealing with aphasia and the ability not to be able to communicate what the problem was, and it was just so impactful, the story, and so I just want to thank them for the work that they do on a daily basis, and frankly, it's quite an honor to share this proclamation, both with the organization and with the city. So the proclamation reads, whereas aphasia is a language disorder caused by injury to the brain, most commonly because of a stroke, but can also occur with other neurological disorders such as traumatic brain injury, tumor, or progressive disease, and whereas aphasia may affect a person's ability to access language needed to speak, comprehend, read, or write, while intelligence remains intact, and whereas many people with aphasia also present right-sided weakness due to the damage on the left side of the brain, however, many have no visual impairments, and whereas it is estimated that a stroke occurs every 40 seconds in the United States, accounting for over 795,000 people per year, approximately 30 to 40 percent of strokes result in aphasia, and whereas approximately 34 percent of those people are living with chronic aphasia, 1,924 to 2,200 of the residents of the city of St. Petersburg are living with aphasia due to stroke today, and whereas stroke accounts for 72 percent of the cases of aphasia, so as many as 3,000 people may be living in our city with aphasia due to all etiologies. Now, therefore, I, Copley Gerdes, chair of the city council, on behalf of the mayor, Kenneth T. Welch, of the city of St. Petersburg, Florida, do hereby proclaim June 2025 as aphasia awareness month in St. Petersburg, and encourage all students and students to increase awareness, advocacy for resources, and to provide support for those and their families in our communities living with aphasia due to stroke or other neurological disorders. Thank you. Thank you so much, Chair Gerdes. Thank you to the entire city council. Thank you for recognizing us, for bringing this to light. June is nationally aphasia awareness month, and I am so grateful that our city as well recognizes the need to increase awareness, and I am grateful for your continued commitment to making our city accessible to everybody, including communication disorders. So on behalf of Lauren and I and the rest of Voices of Hope for aphasia, thank you very, very much, wholeheartedly. Well, thank you, Chair Gerdes, for always being an advocate on this issue, for your service on CAPI, and you for being a voice also on this issue and always being there for our community and making sure that we are aware of what's happening, and please keep us posted as to what you're doing and how we can help. So thank you. Thank you. And next up is D3, and it is the Juneteenth proclamation presented by Councilmember Fig Sanders. Thank you. All that are here to receive the proclamation for Juneteenth, if you would please join me at the podium. And normally, when it comes down to having such an honor, and I am so grateful to be able to present this proclamation, and for the first time, I'm kind of speechless, because what I want to say, I can't say. So I want to make sure, you know, in the effort of time, that I read the proclamation, and I'm going to ask Terri Lipsy Scott and Esther, what's the new name now? Signing. Signing. Signing. Signing. Yeah. To have a couple of minutes to speak on our behalf in the celebration of Juneteenth. Whereas, nearly two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on June 19, 1865, nearly 90 years after our nation's founding, enslaved Americans in Galveston, Texas, finally received word of their newfound freedom. How about that? Whereas, those who were formerly enslaved were recognized for the first time as citizens, African Americans began commemorating Juneteenth with celebrations nationwide, honoring a tradition that lives on today. And whereas, Juneteenth represents our ongoing commitment to honoring history, remembering our troubled past, and celebrating our hopeful future. And whereas, Juneteenth is an opportunity to remember the evils of slavery as though we've forgotten. and the lasting toll it has taken on our country and our people, including a dreadful legacy of systemic racism, inequality, and inhumanity. And whereas, we know that as a nation, and as a city of inclusivity, we possess the ability to heal and emerge with purpose and resolve. And whereas, we are committed to further establishing and improving equity and justice through pathways forged by abolitionists, educators, civil rights advocates, and everyday Americans. And I'm going to have to add our mayor. And whereas, we continue to work for progress as African Americans and people of color, as we continue to face disproportionate burdens and negative outcomes, despite their numerous contributions to society. And whereas, Juneteenth, in its third year being recognized as a federal holiday, is a call to action. Now, therefore, I, Councilmember Debra Fick Sanders, on behalf of Kenneth T. Welch, Mayor of the City of St. Petersburg, Florida, do hereby and proclaim Thursday, June 19, 2025, as Juneteenth Day in the city of St. Petersburg and acknowledge the emancipation of African Americans, acknowledging the wrongs of the past, committing to our collective work for an equitable, future-free of the vestiges of systemic racism. And for that, happy Juneteenth Day. So first, we're going to have Esther Sonny. Did I? Oh, I'm going to get it eventually to give us a few words. Good morning. Jason Matthews, said it earlier, but I don't think any time I stand before the mic, I don't think I've ever said thank you for your service. I haven't, right, Rob? I know. So thank you. Thank you for your service. Newly married, so yes, still Esther. A little softer on my personal side, still very militant as it relates to the NAACP. That will not change. Thank you, Vice Chair. Thank you for your words earlier. While we gather together today to celebrate progress, we must also confront a sobering truth. In many ways, we're not moving forward. We're moving backwards. We're witnessing the erosion of hard-fought civil rights, the rewriting of history in our classrooms, and the silencing of collective voices. And I know oftentimes we live in a bubble, so we can sit back and say, that's not my issue. But today, I'm going to make it short. I look forward to the day when we can shift from symbolism to systemic change. Thank you. Mr. Chair, Vice Chair, Mayor in his absence, Deborah Fick Sanders, Council Member. I remain humble to represent the Woodson African American Museum of Florida and the mission of preserving, presenting, interpreting, celebrating, and educating others. Thank you. regarding African American history and the culture. I am saddened today in a way that I have never felt. To live in this space during my lifetime, where we're revisiting so much of what I thought we'd overcome. Yet, I'm grateful. Grateful to live in a city that embraces the essence of each and every resident of our community. It is my prayer that we will hold the light and always be the beacon that draws others to recognize the importance of who we are individually and collectively. Juneteenth, sadly enough, a celebration that occurred as a result of not knowing. and here we are still, not knowing. I applaud the strength and the courage that each of you have in standing in the face of adversity and declaring that indeed we are St. Pete. I love you and I'm grateful to you all. Thank you. And before we go to speakers, I fail to recognize the Juneteenth community event organizers. And if you're here, please stand. Paulette and Paul Jones, Renee Edwards, J. Carl Devine with the Banyan Tree and Shundra Allison with the Urban Drinkery. Who wants this? Council Member Givens. Thank you so much, Chair. And thank you so much, Council Member Fick-Sanders for bringing this forward. You know, I think Ms. Terry Lipsy Scott said it best. We are living in a time when our history is under attack. Our stories are being forgotten. Our history is being erased. Books are being banned. It's important that we acknowledge our stories, tell our stories, because if we don't, somebody else might. And they may not tell our story with the same level of truth and accuracy. So thank you so much for preserving those stories. And it's important that we continue to preserve our stories and our history with our African-American History Museum that we will be erecting one day in the historic gas plant. But beyond that, I want to recognize a young lady who is not here with us today, but she was with us at the very beginning when St. Pete started celebrating Juneteenth, and that is Ms. Juneteenth herself, Ms. Jeannie Blue. So I want to speak her name and I want to recognize her and I want to honor her legacy because as you all know, we wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for her. So thank you, Ms. Blue. God bless you all. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Well, I just want to quickly thank, I'm going to personally thank Esther and Terry and Councilmember Fig Sanders, thank you for bringing this forward. But on my time on council, last week I spoke about leaning in. Both Esther and Terry have given me the opportunity to lean in in the last four years. And I just want you to know how appreciative I am of that. and I'm very glad Councilmember Givens, you brought up the Woodson Museum because when I was elected the first time, one of the first things, one of the first calls I got was from Terry Lipsy Scott and I told her we were going to get that museum and we're going to get it and we're going to get it and we're going to get TDC on it. I know the city is behind it and that has not changed. And so thank you for bringing that up. And so I just wanted to personally say thank you to both of you for giving me the opportunity to lean in to not only in our community but the history of our community and just so very much appreciative and Terry, what I would tell you is no, no, no, no, no. I love you and thank you. Okay? Thank you very much. Okay, we're going to move on to D4, our Pride Month proclamation given to us by Councilmember Floyd. Thank you. And I'd, you know, like to be joined by what I have listed here is the St. Pete Pride crew. I have Darius, Travis, Trent, Nathan, Eric, Claire, Lorelai, Jane, and anyone else who is an LGBTQ advocate or a member of the community, feel free to join us as well. I don't think the whole room will fit. Yeah, yeah, that's true. Yeah. Okay, so I have some comments, but I'm going to go off script first just to say a little bit about solidarity, solidarity between communities of people facing, I guess, disparate impacts of, how do I say this politely, the just meanness that's coming out of some corners of our state government, to be quite frank, and how it's nice that we get to honor different communities and their history at the same time and show that while we may not have everything in common, we're going to be stronger when we stand together. So, keep it brief. I'm incredibly honored to give this year's Pride Proclamation in the city. And I know that in a lot of ways it feels like we've taken a step back as a state over the last few years when it comes to inclusion and honestly just basic decency. But I truly believe it's nothing more than top-down bigotry pushed by those who seek to divide us in order to maintain their grip on power. I believe the majority of people in this state are decent people who care for and respect their LGBTQ family, friends, and neighbors. And nowhere do I believe it's more visible than right here in St. Petersburg. All of us at City Hall may not get along 100% of the time. It's politics after all. But I rarely feel more unified than when we're standing for the dignity of our LGBTQ residents. I'm incredibly grateful for this city's culture of inclusion, a culture fostered and maintained by wonderful advocates like those joining me today. And with that, I'll read the proclamation. So, whereas the city of St. Petersburg has a diverse, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning community and is committed to supporting intentional equity for all people throughout our city, and whereas many of the residents women, students, city employees, and business owners within the city of St. Petersburg who contribute to the enrichment of our city are part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning community, and whereas it is our vision that St. Petersburg will be a diverse, vibrant city guided by principled progress and intentional inclusivity where innovation, partnerships, and ingenuity create opportunities for all, and whereas this year we celebrate the 23rd anniversary of St. Pete Pride, Florida's largest pride parade and festival, and recognize the substantial economic impact that an event of this size has had on St. Petersburg and the surrounding areas, and whereas we partner with our neighboring cities and cities across the United States to recognize and celebrate June as LGBTQ Pride Month, now therefore, I, Council Member Richie Floyd, on behalf of Kenneth T. Welch, Mayor of the City of St. Petersburg, Florida, to hereby proclaim the month of June 2025 as LGBTQ Pride Month in St. Petersburg and invite everyone to reflect on ways we all can live and work together with a commitment to mutual respect and understanding and further recognize Pride Month by flying the rainbow flag at City Hall during the month of June. Good morning. My name is Darius Lightsemm, the Board Secretary for St. Pete Pride, and I want to say on behalf of our Board President, Dr. Byron Green College in his absence to Mayor Welch in his absence and to you all, the City Council and all of St. Petersburg, we, St. Pete Pride, thank you all for your continued support of the LGBTQ community. We thank you for helping us foster a community community of inclusion, diversity, and love. And our theme this year is the Banyan Tree and we're rooted in all these things and so many more and that is because of the support that we receive from you all and so we want to thank you. I know two of my fellow board members are here today from St. Pete Pride and I'm also going to pass the mic to Mr. Nathan Brewer at this time. What a glorious day. Chair, Vice Chair, members, on behalf of the people of St. Petersburg, on behalf of the Board of St. Pete Pride, the hundreds of volunteers, the hundreds of businesses that are already leaning in and making events and joy happen in our city this June. Thank you. This year's St. Pete Pride theme, if you haven't seen it yet, is my pride is rooted in. My pride is rooted in. Whatever the thought in your head was, history, joy, resistance, struggle, freedom, family, music, celebration, whatever your answer, your personal intersectional answer, that is your truth. It gets to the heart or the root, yes, pun intended, of why we celebrate pride. And today we also celebrate and honor Juneteenth and Aphasia Awareness Month and the Gibbs Class of 1955. And as I look behind with my friends, we have done this work intersexually in the city because we are St. Pete and I'm so grateful to have Terry and Esther and George joining us. My pride is rooted in our community and all of you and we, the people. People like Jane, who is standing up with me, Director of Collaborations at SAGE, it's a national organization working on advocacy and support for our LGBTQ elders and people like Lorelei, long-time community advocate and friend who chose to move to St. Pete because of St. Pete being so special. She's volunteered for a lot of organizations, but especially one near and dear to my heart, Equality Florida, fighting for civil rights for all of us here in the state of Florida. And Claire. Now Claire has founded a local nonprofit inspired by the work and the advocacy and your leadership, an organization called Project No Labels. So I'm going to defer a little bit of time for you to meet somebody new, one of the faces of the many, celebrating pride here in St. Pete. Hi everyone. My name is Claire Leeson, founder and CEO of Project No Labels. We're a local 501c3 nonprofit out here in Tampa Bay. First, I just want to say thank you for having us and everything you're doing for our beautiful city of St. Pete. It's truly an honor to stand here surrounded by community, love, and pride. I moved to Florida in 2011 from San Diego and for over a decade now I've had a privilege of working with and alongside the LGBTQ plus community. What started as a small idea has grown into hundreds of events and initiatives and more importantly, thousands of volunteers who have poured their hearts into making our work possible. Project No Labels is 100% volunteer ran. We don't have grants. We're not backed by major corporations and we've never received federal funding. And yet we've stayed strong because of you, because of the people of St. Pete, our small businesses here, and individual donors who believe in what we do. One of the programs I'm most proud of is our mental health program called Dear Self, You Are Worth It. This is in partnership with Cypress Wellness Center on Central Avenue. Thanks to this collaboration, we've been able to provide over 10,000 low cost and even free mental health therapy sessions to the LGBTQ plus community where over 30% of that is subsidized by our organization, Project No Labels. We're not just helping the LGBTQ plus community out here, but also the greater community. I'm proud to say that this program is now expanding into other areas and we couldn't have done it without the support of the people of St. Petersburg and we're proud as an organization to call St. Pete our home. I always say it trickles from the top. So, and because of leaders like you, our LGBTQ plus community doesn't just survive, but we thrive out here, regardless of the current political climate. Thank you again for having us, for your service to our community and for continuing to show up for the LGBTQ plus community from all of us at Project No Labels. Happy Pride Month. Councilmember Fick Sanders. Thank you. First of all, again, Nate described it. I mean, today is a gloriously awakening day to a lot of the things that so many of us live every day. And the city of St. Petersburg, although Mayor Welch is not physically present, everything that he has done since he has taken office has been to promote St. Petersburg as a welcoming city. So in his physical absence, please know that everything that he's done is still here present in this room. And I want to thank him for not bowing or caving to the current political climate and recognizing the fact that we all deserve to be loved and to be somewhere, and that would be the city of St. Petersburg. So I applaud you for being who you are. I applaud you for accepting the challenge and patience of letting a community that wasn't always a welcoming population, but everyone that have gotten to the point to realize the fact that, you know what, God loves everybody. And I tell you this, as a mother of three, and I say it all the time, my babies are my babies. Regardless of who they are and what others think that they should be, they are mine. They are mine. And so, Nate and everyone, and thank you, Council Member Flora, for reading this proclamation and welcome, coming from San Diego. Girl, y'all got a basketball team out there, but anyway, coming from San Diego, I just want to thank you all for continuing because as you see, as we celebrate Juneteenth, and it's kind of bittersweet to say celebrating in this time where so many people just, they refuse to accept the equity that is governed by love. And I, again, thank you all so much and thank you for the proclamation. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Council Member Floyd, for presenting the proclamation today and thank you to the mayor and everyone who has come out today. I held my comments until after this proclamation because my sentiments for both Juneteenth celebration, Pride celebration, the recognition of everyone in our city, black, brown, LGBTQ, anyone who feels marginalized by what is happening at the state and the national level. I know so many people, so many people that I call friends, family, that I love, who feel attacked, disrespected, frankly, victims of a ideology of erasure that, quite frankly, has no place here in the city of St. Petersburg. And I hear a lot of people feeling this sense of wanting to give up, maybe even leaving our state, maybe even leaving our country. I just had a conversation last evening with someone that, I mean, he's like a brother to me, and I married him and his husband. And they're saying they want to leave the country, and that breaks my heart. And so my message to anyone who feels that way, I ask you to stay. I ask you to fight. Do not give up. Stay rooted in. That is why it's the theme this year. Stay rooted in. Because it's going to take all of us to make sure that we fight back against the hatefulness that we see coming from those who, quite frankly, are driven by fear. And we will not let fear win. Not here in the city of St. Petersburg. So I just want to thank you all for showing up, showing out, and being here with us today because we stand with you. When Council Member Floyd said, any advocate wants to come, I thought we were all going to get up and run down. But we got to stay here. So we still support you. You know that. We love you. And happy Pride and happy Juneteenth. Vice Chair Hanowitz. Thank you. And Council Member Gabbard, you read my mind because I was thanking both the Juneteenth Proclamation and this proclamation for Pride Month are in the same path with the political environment that we're in right now. And it's sad because at the end of the day, we live in a democracy and not everyone agrees, including people that spew hate. And we have to hear it because we live in a democracy. But the counter to that is showing them that there are more people that believe that love wins. And that to me is evident. Not just here in City Hall every day when I come and I see the people that come from our community to speak to us about their issues, but in all the neighborhoods that I go to and speak to people. Because the majority of people, the hate and division that's being sowed in our country to me does not represent what I see on the ground. It just doesn't. I don't see that. I don't see people. It reminds me of the movie, you know, Love Actually, when you see the people at the airport, right, and everybody's showing love. That's what I see in our city. And so, I didn't mean to say that, but it's the exact thing I see every day that people are showing love to each other in so many ways. And I just don't want us to forget that. So thank you all for continuing. You know what? Progress is never linear. Okay? It isn't. Things happen like this and you know what? Time passes and this shall pass too like my mother used to say or my grandmother and there'll be a better time. But for now, just hold on tight and continue loving each other. Thank you. Well, Vice Chair Hanowitz, I'm glad you used the word love a lot because I'm rooted in love and I'm going to make one sort of comic remark. Claire, thank you for the program. I heard you call the program Dear Self, You Are Worth It. And just so everybody knows that I just didn't pick one of the most popular musicals to talk about last week, all it did was remind me of Dear Evan Hansen when I heard that and how powerful that practice is. And so thank you for all that you're doing in our community. my colleagues have frankly hit it on the head but I'm just I'm so happy that St. Petersburg is a place that welcomes all and loves all because I wouldn't want to be a part of it if it wasn't. And so thank you for everything you do on a daily basis. Thank you for being you. Thank you for continuing to be you. Thank you for being rooted in in this community and know that we are here and we're with you. Deal? Thank you Councilmember Floyd for bringing this forward. Okay, we are going to recess as City Council and convene what? Oh my gosh. I was all emotional. I was trying to move on from it. Give me some grace. Councilmember Givens, I apologize. No worries and I'll try to read quickly. No, no, no. You take your time. You take your time. They've waited a long time to be here. You take your time. All right? So we are moving on to D5 Gibbs High School Class 1955 Proclamation given to us by our own Councilmember Givens. Take it away. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. You know, what better honor to present my very first proclamation as an elected Councilmember than to a group who has watched me grow up. So I am honored to have the Gibbs Class of 1955 join me here at the podium if you all don't mind if you're able to. No pressure. You know, we had a fun weekend together, this young, rambunctious group of octogenarians and I. This past weekend we spent time together touring their old stomping grounds at the historic Gibbs High School alma mater of our very own Councilwoman Deborah Figg Saunders. I'm a Spartan, y'all, but I enjoyed the time that I spent with these gladiators. They sure know how to have a good time. I'm glad you saved you as Spartan. Yes, ma'am. Yes, we got it right, Councilman Gerdes. But I definitely had a great time on our trolley bus tour going around the city seeing the new landscaping and changes in our city. Had a great time over at the Museum of History. Rui rolled out the blue carpet for these folks. So we had an awesome time just celebrating together. But 1955 was a milestone year in history. It was the year that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus starting the Montgomery bus boycott. It was the year that 15-year-old Emmett Till was abducted from his home and lynched by an angry mom. It was also the year that these young folks walked through the halls of Gibbs High School just one more time as students. And so we are honored to recognize them today with this proclamation on behalf of Mayor Welch. Whereas the city of St. Petersburg is proud to recognize significant milestones in the lives of residents, especially those who reflect the dedication, the unity, and the lasting commitment to community and education. And whereas the Gibbs High School Class of 1955 marks its platinum 70th year reunion this year, a truly remarkable achievement that speaks to the enduring bonds of friendship, shared experience, and lifelong learning. And whereas the members of the Gibbs High Class of 1955 have contributed greatly to the fabric of our city through their leadership, their service, their professional achievements, community involvement for over seven decades. Whereas the Gibbs High School holds a distinguished place in our city's history, and the Class of 1955 stands as a proud example of resilience, perseverance, the pursuit of excellence, graduating during a pivotal era. And whereas the 70th reunion of the Class of 1955 offers an opportunity to celebrate the legacy of these graduates, to reflect on the history that they have witnessed and shaped, and to honor the spirit of unity and pride that continues to define this extraordinary class. Now, therefore, I, Corey Givens, on behalf of Mayor Kenneth T. Welch, the mayor of the city of St. Petersburg, Florida, do hereby recognize and commend the graduating class of Gibbs High School 1955 on the occasion of their 70th reunion, and we extend our heartfelt congratulations and best wishes for continued health, prosperity, happiness, and fellowship, and witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the official seal of the city of St. Petersburg, County of Pinellas, and the state of Florida to be affixed this 31st day of May 2025. Congratulations, Gibbs High School Class of 95. Mr. Williams, he's going to speak, if you don't mind, and then any other graduates. My name's Louis Williams, and I'm a native of St. Petersburg, born and raised here, and I'm here with my classmates. As you all can see, we are not just senior citizens, we are super seniors. That's right. That's right. All of us are over 80, heading towards 90, and there are a lot of us that have health issues, but we're still kicking. Yes, you are. I sit down and I thought about our reunion and Lou Christian and I decided we wanted to do something because when you get in this age bracket, your kids and your grandkids don't have time for you, so you're going to be left by yourself. So I said, let's reach back to our classmates. And not knowing how to get this off, we reached out to Councilman Givens. We started working towards this in January, and I called his office in February to see what he could help, how he could lead us and whatever, and we made it. Here you see my classmates, we have over 100 years working in the school system. We have one lieutenant colonel and the VA of our class, there was 130. Over 80 are deceased, but over 40 graduated from college. We had in our class five medical doctors, two educational doctors, one president of a college in the Midwest, and we didn't have social promotion. If you didn't get it, you didn't go, and that's the way it was. And we all kind of hung real close together. Even now, we hang, we go out with each other, and we still socialize. And I'd just like to thank you all for inviting us. This young lady is very quiet, but I want to invite her if she's interested. I found out a little piece of history. This was the very first African-American Miss Festival of States, Miss Rosa Holmes Hopkins. She is the aunt of Angela Holmes' Ruth's son and also the daughter-in-law of the late principal, John Hopkins. But Miss Rosa, if you're interested. I'd like to say that I watched St. Pete grow and change. When I was a little girl, about seven years old, I used to walk from Fifth Avenue North to Third Avenue South. And they would have the Festival States Parade. And I'd watch the beautiful floats going by and the pretty girls on the float. And I would wish, oh, I wish I could be on that float. And in 1955, I was selected as the first black queen of the Festival States Parade. Councilmember Gibbons, don't let them leave after you take that photo. Councilmember Fix Sanders. Thank you. First of all, Glyb's class of 1955, I'm getting ready to be real petty because y'all got a true gladiator up here on this dais and y'all called that Spartan. But anyway, I'm going to let you up. But thank you, Councilmember Gibbons, for spending the time with the gladiators. You are, as we just found out, you are truly history. You are truly legacy. I graduated from Gibbs. My husband graduated from Gibbs. My aunts graduated from Gibbs. My sons graduated from Gibbs. My sisters graduated from Gibbs. All of us graduated from Gibbs, and we did so with pride. And had it not been for your establishment of identity as with excellence, none of us really wanted to have gone to Gibbs. You all went to Gibbs, and you made it the place to be. And I want to briefly read who Jonathan C. Gibbs was because I don't think many of us knew the fact that he was an American Presbyterian minister who served as Secretary of State. Secretary of State and the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Florida, along with the U.S. Congressman Josiah Thomas Walls. He was among the most powerful black office holders in the state of Reconstruction. During a time where we were not welcomed in a whole lot of restaurants, couldn't sit down on certain benches, but this man was making it, which is why I am so glad that you all are still here singing the praises of Gibbs High School. Seventy years. Y'all are not born seventy years. Y'all graduated seventy years ago. And I know you, I see you, I love you, and you all are still very active in the community and for that you are giving me something to aspire to. So again, Council Member Givens, I'm going to forgive you that you was Spartan, but I, yes, you wore blue and gold for me, but I love the fact that you are still recognizing our elders and that we need to ensure the fact that everything that you contributed to the city of St. Petersburg is not forgotten. So thank you so much, Class of 1955. Council Member Givens, thank you for bringing this forward and celebrating the Class of 1955. What an amazing accomplishment and so happy that you were here to celebrate with us and see you in five more years for the 75th. Deal? At the Manhattan. There you go. Okay, now we will recess as City Council and convene as the CRA and we'll take up CRA2 on Habitat for Humanity Pelican Place Funding. I think we have Mark Van Lue joining us. Morning, Mark. Morning, Chair, Vice Chair, Council Members. We bring before you today the Habitat for Humanities Pelican Place project who is asking for funding assistance to make the project, get the project going and get it completed. Brief presentation. This is 40-unit, for-sale, affordable townhome community. The plan includes 10 two-bedroom and 33-bedroom homes, but I think it's interesting that all units will have a den that can be used as an additional bedroom so it provides flexibility both for larger families who may be buying the homes initially and also for growing families once they're in the homes. The project will target households at 80% of area median income or less and under Habitat's program, all buyers would be provided with a zero-interest fixed-rate mortgage, closing cost capped at $2,000 and will receive extensive homebuyer education. You probably are familiar with the site, but just in case you're not, the red box is the site for Pelican Place. It's along 18th Avenue South and 22nd Street South, just south of the Tangerine Plaza site. This is a basic site plan showing the layout of the buildings with 18th Avenue being along the top of the site plan there. This is a street-level view if you were standing in the Tangerine Plaza parking lot looking across 18th Avenue South at the site and this is a interior street-level site showing some of the interior buildings, parking areas, sidewalks, landscaping. The numbers for this project, the total project cost is about $15.6 million which makes the total per unit cost at about $390,000 and that's pretty much in line with what we've seen in recent affordable for sale type townhome projects. City funds requested, which is inclusive of the land value because the city donated the land, totals $3.6 million which means a total city support of about $90,000 per unit which is also consistent with recent projects that involve affordable home ownership and townhome style projects. And the breakdown of those numbers, the Habitat expects to sell the units for approximately $300,000 per unit which will generate $12 million of the $15.6 million total cost. You can see that the land value was appraised at $1.43 million and the requested funding that we're here today to present for approval is just under $2.2 million which comprises the total of about $90,000 per unit in subsidy and makes up the total project cost. We did take this to the CRA, the Southside CRA Citizens Advisory Committee on May 6th and they unanimously recommend approval of this funding request and administration recommends approval as well. Happy to answer any questions and do have representatives here from Habitat if needed. Vice Chair Hanowitz. Oh, I'm sorry. Excuse me. Council Member Harding. Thank you, Chair. Mark, thanks for your work on this. I can't say enough good things about Habitat and I think the project is awesome. A little bit of clarification. We've arranged for 0% financing for folks. What's the base for that funding? Who holds that note or how does that work? So Habitat for Humanity generates the funds to build the project through a combination of, you know, they may borrow some funding, they may have funding from donations and other sources and from city and potentially county subsidy. They build the homes and at the end of the process sell those homes and use the proceeds from the sale to repay any borrowed funds if there were any and they end up not owing anything on those homes once they're sold. It completely satisfies the cost to build. Okay. But the individual notes. So I buy one of the units who holds that note. Is that Habitat? Yeah. Habitat for Humanity holds the mortgage. I get it. At the end of this and I think it's an incredible opportunity but do we have a sense for and the project's not done yet but do we have a sense for what would that payment look like? So if it's $300,000 over 20 years at 0% you're, I don't know, you're $1,200 bucks-ish. But I assume there's going to be a homeowners association and the, okay, and the property taxes. So trying to get a sense of how the project meets where my paycheck sits and pays for it. Do we have a sense for what that will look like in the end? Well, Habitat ensures that all of the homes are sold to buyers who earn 80% of AMI or below and that the combination of the payment, principal and interest, tax and insurance all combined does not exceed 30% of their income. So that makes it, that makes it affordable. All right. That's what I was looking for. That's pretty awesome. How about, how about the... Council Member Harding, I was just going to use Shell Dash which many of you were at recently. Similar type project. I believe many of the homeowners there are paying $700 to $800 a month. Is that about right? And then I think in most Habitat projects we're seeing the HOA fees come in around $100 a month. Yeah. And I was going to also comment that Habitat designs the projects to, with the fact in mind that these are going to be lower income buyers, that HOA costs need to be affordable. So you may not see some of the amenities and the, you know, extravagances that can be included in some developments. They're kept basic to provide good, sound, decent shelter, but at the same time and be affordable. We have Mike Sutton, the CEO of Habitat here and he's able to contribute to that as well. Sure. Thanks, Mark. Good morning, Council. Thank you for your service to our community and thank you for the continued support of Habitat for Humanity. So in this particular case with these units, the idea is that we sell them at $300,000 to the borrower. It's a zero interest mortgage, so keep that in mind. So those payments, $850,000 a month or so. I'm not a math major, so let's just say approximately $850,000 a month. HOA fees will be around $150,000 a month. Then you add in taxes and insurance. We're probably going to be somewhere around $1,200,000 a month. To Mark's point, it'll keep the payment below 30% on the front end, 43% when you add in all their debt on the back end, and they're building generational wealth from day one with the zero interest mortgage because 100% of that payment is going to pay down that principal. Mike, thank you very much. I am, in my short time here, I have been thoroughly, thoroughly impressed with you. I think with the city invests money in multiple different places, I think investment in you has been one of the city's best decisions. This project is just incredible. I mean, the thought of owning a home with a payment that leaves me money to buy Christmas presents couldn't ask for anything out of any more out of you and your team. We appreciate that. And without city support, we wouldn't be able to make the project work. So just keep it flowing and we'll keep building. Can you talk a little bit about the HOA? Sure. So we want to keep this low. Yep. And I absolutely understand that. But things come up. It's going to need a new roof. We're going to need new air conditioners. So is there a pool of money in the beginning or how do we handle ongoing bigger R&M issues? Yeah. So the great thing about establishing the HOA and the way that we've structured it, Habitat will retain a seat on the board for the HOA for the first five years of the neighborhood. And we're there to help provide guidance and support to the homeowners as they're establishing the HOA. There is an escalator that's built in. So it's a 3% increase year over year to deal with inflation, deal with cost increases that they'll see. But with the way that the HOA is structured, we're doing this with many other HOAs that we've established. We have one in Largo right now that's going. The projections, everything will be there. So 20, 30 years down the road as we're looking for, you know, new roofs or any sort of improvements that need to be made to the structures, the funding, the way that it's set up and the way that the funds are going into reserve. Projections right now have it right where it needs to be. Okay. And that was my big question. Sure. Is five years from now, seven years from now, we're going to need $25,000 worth of air conditioners. Sure, sure. So that's built into beyond we mow the lawn every week. Yeah. AC units are the responsibility of the homeowner. So everything on the inside of the home will be responsibility of the homeowner. The HOA will have very minimal expenses. There's not a ton of green space, but the HOA will take care of parking, parking lots, the roads, the roofs, exterior maintenance of the homes. Thank you. last on my list it was presented that in addition to there are also classes available that budgeting homeownership. Can you talk a little bit about that? Yeah. All of our homeowners candidates go through a series of 38 homebuyer education classes. I often joke that all of us should go through these classes when buying a home. I know when I purchased my home, I signed my paperwork in 15 minutes and told, you know, here's your keys, see you later. The classes our families go through, 10 of them are financially focused. So we teach them about budgeting, saving for the future. In this particular case, these 40 homeowners will go through a series of HOA classes as well. And then we teach classes like home maintenance and repair, fire and safety, you know, engaging in the community and that kind of thing. So those classes, it takes about 12 months to get through our program, maybe 18 months for some. And while they're doing those classes, they're also completing their sweat equity that is required to go into the units as well as homes around the community. Thank you. Last on my list, two years from now, my wife gets a big promotion and we're headed to Atlanta. Yep. Is this structured so that these can be sold? It's fully mine, even though I have a zero interest loan through Habitat, but can I sell it if that's necessary for our family? Yeah, so all of our homes, the homeowners have the right to sell the home. However, Habitat retains first right of refusal on the property. In this particular case, there are some land use restrictions on the property where the future buyer would have to qualify income-wise just like they did. So it would guarantee long-term affordable housing on this property. And then we also have an equity share provision in our mortgage docs. So someone can't just move into the home, be there for a year, turn around, and make a ton of equity off the home. That their equity increases the longer they're in the home and ours decreases. So we have a bunch of different provisions in place to ensure long-term affordable housing and long-term homeowners. You thought this through. A few times. Thank you. Thank you. Vice Chair Hanowitz. Thank you. And I'm going to start off by saying I support this, but I'm going to go back to making sure that procedurally we have the information necessary to find that it's consistent with the South St. Petersburg Community Redevelopment Plan because there's a short report, but I want to tie those things together. So just bear with me because I want to make the record. Okay. So we have, this is in the South St. Petersburg CRA, right? And that South St. Petersburg CRA plan, right, centers on reinvigorating the housing market in that area through rehabilitation and construction that this would fall within. Correct? Yes. Okay. And basically to implement the goals, right, the CRA will engage in land assembly, disposition and development efforts, infrastructure and streetscaping improvements, so on and so forth. And they also could go and do programs such as grants and loans, which is what this falls within. That's correct. Okay. I just, I'm doing this because procedurally, just to make it clear, we are now doing this as the CRA and we are finding consistency and then this comes back as a report item. So just having said that, it falls within the plan and therefore, the expenditure of the TIF funds is consistent with the South St. Petersburg CRA. That was it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Givens. Thank you, Chair. Certainly do think it's worth the expenditure of these TIF dollars. I am so happy with the work that you all are doing. Mike, I was so proud to be there at the Shale Homes. Ribbon cutting, I definitely think we need more of what you guys are doing in Habitat. So how can we make it happen? I know money is one way, but I definitely want you to know that you have a council that supports the work that you're doing. I did have a couple of questions. I see Mr. Lundy sitting back there, so I'm familiar with the St. Pete Housing Authority's homebuyer program that they have for those first-time homebuyers. I'm curious, are those residents going to have an opportunity and a shot at these homes for homeownership? And if so, what does your outreach look like for campus? Yeah, for sure. We have a great relationship with the St. Pete Housing Authority. We actually see residents from time to time that transition out of their facilities and go through the homeownership program with Habitat. Part of the negotiation on this property when Habitat submitted a bid was that we would do extremely active recruitment for the potential homeowners out of the CRA. And so just like Shell Dash, where we had 10 brand-new homeowners that all lived in the South St. Petersburg CRA and now they were purchasing a home in the CRA, that's our focus here is that we will do some deep recruitment for our future homeowners that are already living and typically renting within the CRA. Awesome. And is HUD, are they providing any funding for this project? So right now, the funding sources are from private philanthropy, the donation of the property from the city, these CRA funds. We may ask the county to chip in a little bit of funding, but outside of that, we'll use the sale of the mortgage notes to help fund the project as we go. And speaking of funding sources, Mike, do you have any partnership or have you worked in the past with the National Builders Association? The National? National Builders Association? Yeah, we have. We get support from a lot of builders throughout the community. The National Builders Association has a partnership with Habitat International on a national level. So, and, you know, we're an organization that we know we can't do it alone. So anytime there's an opportunity to partner or collaborate, we're open to it. And I think the best way to build generational wealth, right, is through home ownership. And the best way to do that is with a zero interest mortgage. So thank you for what you do, Mike. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Council Member Fix-Handers. Thank you. Thank you, Mike. Hi, Mike. Hi, Sean. You know you're my faves. Quick question. I know you mentioned, like, the two homeowner worries, you know, AC unit and things like that. So I'm going to go back to the AC. Since the homeowners didn't have an opportunity to choose the contractor or the type of AC, all of that equipment is still under the general warranty that will be extended to the homeowner. Oh, 100%. Okay, I just wanted to make sure with that because I heard you talk and you already answered my question about the equity shares. So I approve that. And with that, I move approval. Second. Okay. Council Member Gabbard. Thank you, Chair. I'll be brief. Hello, Mike. Hello, Sean. Good to see you guys again. I don't let Sean come up, by the way. Yeah. It's good. We know he's there for backup. Well, everyone knows I'm intimately aware of the work that you all do in the community and I have always, even from long before, being on this dais, been a supporter and so I'm just always so happy to see your projects come through and really excited about more townhome opportunities, specifically excited about CRA dollars going to homeownership that I think continues to be a challenge that we need to overcome and we need to commit more dollars there. But something you said made me raise my hand to speak today that I really want to put a pin in and I really hope that other developers who are coming to us for CRA dollars hear this, that you are looking to actively recruit CRA residents to purchase these properties. That is something for a very long time I have felt like we needed to make a greater effort at and so I just want to applaud you for taking that extra step. I know that, you know, it's tricky. It's not something that necessarily we can mandate but it's certainly something we can encourage and I think that the way that we encourage best practices is by developers like yourselves actually walking the walk and talking the talk and showing that there is such a need for homeownership opportunities across our city but specifically in the CRA and that is how those dollars do the best good. So thank you, thank you, thank you for that piece of it because I didn't want that to just be like something that you said and then there wasn't any kind of highlight on it. I think it is highly, highly important. So good work. I'm very excited. I can't push my button. I'm very excited to say yes when it comes along. Thank you. Thank you. Good to see you both again. Thank you. Okay. We have a motion and a second. Seeing as no other council members wishing to speak, could we do a roll call please? Driscoll? Yes. Givens? Yes. Lloyd? Yes. Curtis? Yes. Gabbard? Yes. Harding? Yes. Hanowitz? Yes. Rick Sanders? Yes. Okay. Let's move into CRA3, a resolution recommending approval of amendments for the South St. Petersburg CRA Affordable Housing Redevelopment Loan Program. I got all that out of my mouth. We have Dr. Schleicher joining us. Welcome, Dr. Schleicher. Good morning, Chair. Good morning, Council. So this morning we are here for a resolution through the Community Redevelopment Agency to recommend the approvals to our Affordable Housing Development Loan Program. These are designating types and amounts of awards available for construction or substantial renovation for affordable single-family and multi-family housing, modifying the definition of substantial renovation, expanding eligible projects to include new construction of affordable accessory dwelling units, ADUs, modify application requirements, and classify program procedures. So the Affordable Housing Redevelopment Loan Program provides funding through the loan projects, and these loan projects can include bridge loans, loan guarantees, low-interest or forgivable loans to affordable housing developments. We start with our single-family housing development. Here we have our land acquisition reimbursement. This is where a developer can receive a reimbursement of half its land acquisition cost up to a minimum of $40,000 if they are acquiring the land to construct or substantially renovate an affordable single-family home. Sell that home to a first-time qualified homebuyer or a household at or below 80% AMI, and their total investment, the cost of construction or that renovation can be no less than $100,000. Our developer and center program, this is where a developer can receive a $10,000 incentive payment if they are constructing or renovating an affordable single-family home, selling that home to a first-time qualified buyer with an income at or below 120% AMI, and once again, their cost has to be no less than $100,000. Along with that, we have an additional $5,000 incentive payment if the individual that they are selling the home to is a current resident renter within the South St. Petersburg CRA at the time of the home closing. Our next project would be the multifamily housing developments. Now, for these developments, the city is going to review completed applications. They are going to then recommend funding only once it has been reviewed and approved by the Citizen Advisory Council, and funding for these programs is going to be based on numerous different factors, which could include the number of units, the affordability period, what is the maintenance and security plan that is being arranged for that development, and any potential stimulus for the neighborhood that could be positively impacted. And next, finally, our favorite, we are adding new construction of affordable accessory dwelling units. This is for a property owner who could receive an incentive payment inkling up to 40% of project construction for new construction for building an affordable accessory dwelling unit or an ADU on their property. The property owner's portion, their cost of that construction can be no less than $10,000. There are no maximum awards for this. However, if it does go over $100,000, we would have to bring that back here to City Council for approval. Any property owner whose property has been approved to construct this, they must sign a funding agreement with the Housing Department, and that includes a requirement that the ADU be constructed remain affordable based on their funding amount, and there's our funding amount affordability periods. So anything less than $15,000 would be five years, $15,000 to $40,000 would be 10 years, anything over $40,000 is for a 15-year period. And the Housing Department will be monitoring that annually by reviewing the lease and the renter's income. And with that, the Community Redevelopment Agency recommends the City Council to approve this. Thank you. Council Member Fix Sanders. Thank you. Thank you, Avia, for the report. And as you know, one of the committees I sit on is the Homeless Leadership Alliance. And our number one focus is affordable housing. And for this, I thank you. I appreciate the fact that the amounts of the loan are based on the AMI. Anytime I say 120%, I still cringe. But I do understand that we have to remain equitable in the concept of affordable housing. And for that, I do appreciate it. I also appreciate the fact that we are considering ADUs because we're looking at how we can do some additional work for the ADUs and providing assistance for that. And every time I hear of ADUs, I always think about us taking care of our extended family and leaving it there. so the fact that we've made it a focus for us in this program, I really do appreciate that. And of course, you know, I'm forwarding this information on to others so that they can have it as well to see that the city of St. Petersburg is continuing to lead in the effort of affordable housing. So I just really want to say thank you. I mean, I didn't have a whole lot of questions. I looked at this and I was really impressed by what I saw. And like I said, having that conversation on a regular basis means so much to me to know that the city is taking in consideration of renters. You didn't say previous home buyers. You also said renters because it is so hard for our renters out there. And looking at the affordability of even getting an apartment and earning no equity at all. So we're focusing, looking at it. And for that, thank you so much. And I'll move approval. Second. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Council Member Harding. Thank you, Chair. Dr. Slyker, thank you very much. I really just want to focus on the ADU part. Everything else in here has a limit and is helpful. It seems like the ADU part opens the city to an unlimited number or an unlimited funding. And so I could build an ADU for $100,000 or I could build an ADU for $200,000 and the city's going to come in for what is a sizable portion comparatively to the rest of the program. How did we get there and the reasoning behind? And just to be clear, I agree with and support the thought and Council Member Fig Sanders is, as always, well-spoken. The goal is generational families on one property. That is an awesome thought. It's not going to always work out that way. Some of this is for-profit and that's okay. But how did we get to more of an unlimited funding level on this part of the program versus the other parts? We took a look at what are the average costs currently going into our rebate for rehabilitation program. We've had a surge of ADU pills over since January. So we've got a very nice group right now in there that are in permitting. So that's who we looked at were those projects. They are in permitting. They've got their costs down. And we're looking at an average right now of $250,000 for an ADU. And that's an ADU that can be anywhere from 800 to 1,200 square feet. Those are the average sizes there. So that rebate would be that $100,000. And that's where as administration when we were discussing this with economic development and the that's where we felt comfortable with that. But it was when we took this to the CAC we did ask ourselves should we put a limit on this? And we heard from some of the applicants. We already have three applicants. And they are building these for their family members. They are building this for their neighbors who they know are going to be struggling with housing. And so we thought they really want to spread this joy and spread the affordable housing. We don't want to put a limit out there yet. Let's see how this goes first. Thank you. I will and I greatly appreciate that. I intend to vote in the affirmative. I like the program in its entirety. I would like to talk about this again in X amount of time. Although I appreciate the sentiment that's a lot of city eggs to put in one basket. If we build 20 of these we're in you know we're million five two million for a limited number of families. So I would just like to look at this in the future and see how we're doing with the program. Thank you very much. Thank you Chair. Thank you. Council Member Driscoll. Thank you. Just staying on ADUs for first of all I like this and I'm really happy that we've made these updates and that we're working this working the CRA this funding and the plan in a way that's nimble that can really change and and and keep up with changing needs and changing circumstances both in the market and in our community so this was actually really fun to read because I was thinking about how many more people will be helped through this the ADUs we have to keep in mind sometimes people are surprised that the average cost of an ADU is $250,000 we just talked about a habitat townhouse development where what was it $300 yeah yeah yeah it ain't cheap out there and I also want everyone to keep in mind sometimes this is a garage apartment so we're not talking she shed here it is much more than that and so and the other thing and the reason that I'm supportive of the approach with this incentive and with this assistance is that the sorry the way that ADUs are constructed the technology that goes into that it's still newer it's new-ish as far as a concept and I imagine that those costs and what goes into it will fluctuate as we move forward right so I'm okay with that I think that's that's very reasonable and helps us to stay flexible the other thing is that this is we're talking about helping people with an investment in the property that they already own and this is within the South St. Pete CRA what does that mean it means that by doing something like this your property value is going to go up making your investment even that much stronger and then what does that do that in turn will contribute to more funding into the CRA which will then be used to help the next family and I love that whole circle of progress that we've developed through this so thank you for this one question about the additional incentive if a home is sold to a resident renter do we have a definition of that of what a renter is and this could be for the city attorney is it someone renting a bedroom from their mom in the house they grew up in or is it someone who has a lease in their hand to show that they pay rent and how much is there some kind of documentation that's required so that there is no question about whether or not this person is a resident renter yes we do we do require a lease or if it is a room and they don't have a lease we require notarized letters okay yeah that's all I needed to know thank you thank you chair thank you vice chair thank you and thank you for the presentation I'm going to go back to the consistency with the south st. Petersburg redevelopment plan I brought this up before we're amending this and we're in June of 2025 and when I look at the TIF program guidelines in this book we have data that's very old and I've mentioned that it needs to be updated in the past and I think it's going to be helpful but if we're trying to use we're saying here it's consistent with the south st. Petersburg redevelopment plan and I'll give you an example on page three we're using data that's backed from the American community survey of 12 12 from 1212 to 2016 we're almost going to be 10 years it just needs to be updated and I think it's important to have current data so that way whatever programs we have going forward show this is the data we're using the right data and our program fits within that data and I think that's just it's going to be helpful so I know I've mentioned it in the past I don't know specifically in which one of these meetings but in one meeting and so I'm mentioning it again and I think that's also going to help when you're trying to articulate to either council members or others well this is the goal of the plan obviously to you know improve the housing market through rehabilitation and new construction and this is what the current data shows this is what we're doing and it's still there's still that gap so that's just my two cents thank you we will take that back thank you okay we have a motion and a second seeing as no other council members wishing to speak could we do a roll call please Riscoll yes Gibbons Floyd Gerdes yes Gabbard yes Harding yes Hanowitz yes Rick Sanders okay thank you Dr. Schleicher all right we're going to adjourn as CRA and reconvene as city council we are going to go to F4 move approval second we have a motion and a second seeing as no other council members wishing to speak could we please do a roll call please Riscoll yes Gibbons Floyd Gerdes yes Gabbard yes Harding yes Hanowitz yes Rick Sanders yes okay moving into F6 move approval second we have a motion and a second on F6 I'm sorry who seconded it there were two would it not matter oh yeah seeing as we have a motion and a second on F6 seeing as no other council members wishing to speak could we please do a roll call please Riscoll yes Gibbons Floyd yes Gerdes yes Gabbard yes Harding yes Hanowitz yes Rick Sanders yes all right let's move into F5 a resolution authorizing funding in support of the provision for affordable housing by the housing authority at the former Edward White Hospital site and we've got Mark Van Leeu joining us again hello again I bring to you now funding requests for support of St. Petersburg Housing Authority Edward White Hospital project I'll go back in time a bit for those of you who weren't here in the last couple of years and may not be as aware of the history of this back in October of 2022 City Council approved six projects under the American Rescue Plan Act funding which included the Ed White project and at that time the portion of the funding approved for Ed White was just under six million dollars at 5.938 million and also at the same time in October of 2022 Council approved Penny for Pinellas funding for an additional three million dollars total of 9.938 million dollars in support of the Ed White project last summer in June of 2024 due to concerns about delays in the project and the shovel readiness of the project staff came in and recommended that we remove the funding allocation to the Ed White project from the ARPA funds and and reallocate that to two other more shovel ready projects which was approved by council in June of 2024 and now the St. Petersburg Housing Authority is shovel ready and in need of replacement of the 5.9 million in ARPA funds that were reallocated as soon as possible in order to secure their other funding sources primarily their construction loan which is ready to go with approval of city funding assistance and they will be able to move the project forward not on my slide but just a bit of information again for those who aren't as familiar with this project this is a renovation of the former Ed White hospital it will contain the new headquarters for the St. Pete Housing Authority on the ground floor and then we'll have 71 units of affordable senior housing above that will be restricted to 60% AMI and below senior tenants and so that's the nature of the project the current schedule on the left is the where it says office office construction is already underway with other funding sources being utilized for that piece and they can started construction on the office portion back in December of 2024 and there I did get an update recently the construction completion of the offices will likely be towards spring of 2026 they are making really good progress however that deadline or that completion date has been pushed back a bit to account for some additional work that came I think out of the storms last fall there were some challenges and things that needed to be added to the scope of work on the right side you see the housing column and with funding approval from the city and closing of the construction loan that's imminent they anticipate being able to begin construction in July just in a month or so and complete the construction of the housing portion of the project in the fall of 2026 on the left is a before picture that's kind of how the building has existed for a while now and on the right is a rendering of the building post renovation once it's completed and with that administration recommends funding approval and I'm here for any questions we also have Mr. Michael Lundy from the St. Pete Housing Authority available Councilmember Vic Sanders Thank you first of all I appreciate this project and I will move approval on this especially as someone who has and thank you Mr. Lundy I don't know if you want to come to the podium especially for hearing and I'm going back a few years before we even had the conversation on this I want to thank you for hearing the community advocates when we talked about moving your location that was a huge huge ask for us as well as providing additional affordable housing for our seniors that was a huge huge ask for us and I know we weren't always polite but you were always cordial when we asked and I do appreciate the fact that you're moving forward just a quick question the money that we're providing is going toward housing only or is it going for the entire project housing units yeah the funding that I'm bringing to you today is to support the housing portion of the project just the housing portion okay okay well again I just wanted to say thank you for gracefully acknowledging our very strong and loud request on this and I've already moved approval for this and I'm looking forward to seeing what the next projects that we can assist you with especially for our seniors because when you talk about seniors you have my heart so with that being said thank you Mr. Lundy for being here thank you for your kind words I appreciate it I just wanted to take the opportunity to just thank this City Council thank the leadership the Mayor Mayor Welch for your continued support of the St. Petersburg Housing Authority mission to provide affordable housing we're very excited about this project it's been a long time coming but we we're under construction and we've been getting a lot of calls from potential tenants who are very interested in moving into that location we will it will be a mixed use building we will be there as administrators and we'll be able to provide direct management services to the residents we also have a lease agreement with ever our health is going to be providing health care services not only for those residents but for the residents of the community and so we're excited about what we're able to bring to the community it's not just affordable housing with some of those connecting services you know and thank you for saying that and I'm glad you brought that up that was one of our biggest complaints is that the residents you were untouchable to the residents I mean where you were located there was no one on site it was it was really a cumbersome chore for them to even speak to people before and now that you are foots on the ground you're going to be right there easily accessible to our seniors you know to me in itself was such a win-win for this because like you said this has been going on for a very very very long time and I'm glad that we're finally here at that point and I'm glad that you're here to hopefully witness us continue to support you in these endeavors so thank you Mr. Lundy thank you and Council Member Harding I know you had chimed in before Council Member Floyd so let's go there thank you chair Mr. Lundy thank you again I enjoyed our talk last time I appreciate the work you do so for you and Mark I would like to be and coming late to this game this project has been going on for quite a while I'd like to better understand that the and the same as the last project Mark that the ongoing with the rent level that we'll be charging that's not a big bucket and so those funds I'm sure will fund operations but how do we what is the plan for the bigger things that happen in five years or in ten years in terms of capital improvement or major R&M projects is there in this project right now is there a reserve fund to pay for what is I'm sure a multi-million dollar air conditioning system or what do we do when we get there in five years we do have a reserve fund and it's required anytime we do something under the HUD programs we're required to have reserve funds that we will have a reserve to take care of any capital improvements that we need I would just say to this council that the renovation that we're doing now which is a total renovation it's a big building a lot of moving parts we're going to be replacing all the major systems so we don't envision any major issues with roofing or HVAC for the near future but we do have a reserve fund that we'll build throughout the operations of the property so that in 20 years when we need to replace the roof we'll have the funds there to do that in 15 years when we need to update our heating and air condition we'll have the funds available to do that as well thank you sir if I could just add real quickly I wanted to add as a general note because you have had this question for a couple of projects when we evaluate a project and bring to you a funding opportunity and a housing opportunity we not only look at the development pro forma and analyze and evaluate to make sure everything is right there but we also require an operating pro forma and we look 15 20 years to the future we ensure that that all is correct because we don't want to we don't want a project that fails after 5 or 10 or 15 years we want to make sure that they do have a strong plan to support the future needs whether it be home ownership whether it be rental we do evaluate that and make sure that those numbers are in line with industry standards and HUD kind of sets the gold standard and they require it in any projects funded by HUD but even for non federal projects we kind of look to HUD guidelines and make sure that we're hitting those same marks and Mark short period of time I've developed a lot of confidence in you more of I would like to understand it than I wonder if we're doing this and thank thank you for clarifying the units themselves they're 71 units are they one bedroom two bedroom are they can you give us a sense of what those 71 units primarily one bedrooms we will have a couple of twos and some zeros we call the efficiency units okay and I assume in the reading it didn't say but this is just senior living there's no assisted living portion of it this is this is just senior living regular folks that are okay I wanted to understand we will have some preferences I know earlier today there were some comments about homelessness how do we handle it we will have a preference for people who are in critical housing needs who may be homeless and so we will be addressing some of those that issue to some extent we will give preference to persons who may be working who have a work preference as well and of course you know you have to be 62 years of age or older in order to live in the property so that's a requirement understood last question you mentioned retail space and there is a you have a medical based company that's coming in is there any other retail space and if so any plans for it yet the space on the bottom I might be using the wrong term but the space allocated to support businesses on the bottom is there the partnership with ever which is a healthcare provider here in the county we allocated 2000 square feet of rental space that they will be operating and have a long term lease is very affordable for them in their business model and as I said they'll be providing healthcare services screening and so forth for not only the residents of the 71 residents of the property but residents throughout the community of St. Petersburg they have communicated to us that they've always had a need as part of their part of the mission to provide services in this area of the city and so to have a location there was a good thing for them as well so it was a mutually benefit for the housing authority and EBRAR so they'll be occupying that space of course will be on the first floor and we have all of our offices there and we'll have administrative offices and we'll be able to provide direct services to those residents as it relates to property management and so instead of having to get on a bus and try to get to our location where we are now in Gandy Boulevard we'll be right there centrally located right there on the bus lines easy access close to downtown so we feel pretty the location and the spaces that we have and how we are going to be utilizing those spaces excellent congratulations on your project thank you for your time thank you very much thank you very much chair thank you thank you councilmember ford thank you excited about the project excited to have it you know in its location right across the street from a couple of other successful businesses in the neighborhood I just put myself on here to ask what's going to happen to your old offices I never got that information I just wondered what was that your offices that you currently have for the housing authority what's I don't know you just move out of there and what's going to happen there you're speaking about administrative offices when you moved to the new location right now we're on Gandy Boulevard we've been there for quite some time it was before my time but it's really disconnected from the community that we serve so we intend to move to the location at White next year okay and you're keeping are you keeping anything at the old location or is everything what we plan to do is to lease that out and that will create some non-federal funds for the housing authorities so we can be a lot more flexible nimble and do other things to assist the people we serve all right excellent thank you very much that's good information to know and I'm glad that y'all are thinking creatively like that thank you okay councilmember fix sanders were your comments a motion I did make a motion I did move approval okay so we have a motion do we have a second yes okay so we have a motion and a second seeing as no other councilmembers wishing to speak can we please do a roll call briscoll yes gibbons floyd yes gurdas yes gabbard yes harding yes canowitz yes xander yes okay thank you thank you very much okay now we're going to move into f1 are we going to do f1, 2, 3, and 8 all together Beth okay and we're welcomed by Beth Herondine and we're going to talk Tropicana Field good morning I believe still chair madam vice chair members of city council Beth Herondine city development administration and yes we've got four Tropicana Field items for you today just to bring the public up to speed since October since or even just prior to after the storm council to date has approved approximately 33.2 million dollars in repair and remediation costs the four items today total approximately 5.3 million dollars which would bring the total approved by council to about 38.5 million when we first brought this the estimate to you after the initial assessment was made that estimate for full repair was approximately 56 million dollars so so that's where we are today so we're going to start with if I do this properly our an extension of our BMS cat protective work so if you recall back on October 31st 2024 we brought to council an agreement with BMS cat a national remediation company an agreement in the amount of about 3.9 million dollars they've been in the building every day since then doing lots of things and we have a few pictures they've removed all the damaged materials damaged ceiling tiles carpet drywall they've built containment systems protection systems they've tarped tarp seating they monitor everything and then as we know it does rain here so they do they are there on a daily basis with a variety of crew members on a sunny day it may be 678 after a rainy day it may be 40 or 50 people to continue to remediate and protect the building for future use so what we are doing now because we did not at that time in October anticipate the duration that we would need BMS cat for we are extending or looking to extend the contract through December when the roof will be replaced and the building will be dried in so um let's see so and this is just uh these are some of the walls that we've added recently to separate the conditioned space from the non-conditioned space as it gets hotter and more humid we want to make sure that we're not creating condensation problems and things like that so again this is really just an extension of that uh in this contract they'll continue to do their daily maintenance of the facility um they'll continue to monitor all of the the water intrusion clean any of that up we do we are working with hunt hennessy on there's a drainage system on the floor now but we know uh that the the rain or we anticipate we may have more rain so they're um upping that drainage system to make sure we're moving water out of the facility um quickly and effectively and in addition to that this uh this extension will include um the addition of just under about 5 000 ceiling tiles as you can see in that picture above we've created the wall but we want to make sure we have the ceiling tiles and such in throughout the facility so that we can again keep the condition space conditioned um creating additional containment systems as needed and then also cleaning ceiling and um covering the lower level seats um so that's uh that is in essence what the extension is for and i'd be happy to answer any questions thank you approval thank you uh council member driscoll thank you oh i'm sorry we have some public comment i didn't see it council member driscoll excuse me mr chair we have one speaker lafayette leroy please state your name and address for the record sir yes sir my name is mr lafayette roy lewis jr i grew up here in st petersburg i was the first baby born in george park male baby who the females were i don't know pop megan and i we i was born november the 2nd 1941 i went to gibbs high i'm a gladiator i played in all sports i'm an athlete the things that are going on today i've been paying close attention to i took my time before i came before you because of the things that's been happening i've been in menace storm and storms living in st petersburg we never got a storm like we had as far as with milton i looked at the damage i didn't even know that roof was a cloth i worked in there i did the first show the kenny rogers he opened it up i knew all the mayors and i was i worked i ran the pier for years i saved two lives down there this is the first time i've been back to speak the city council since i've done those things money's being wasted and i mean big time the work on that stadium after the storm hit two days after that storm hit y'all should have called us in there to clean that stadium the workers as i hit i was here earlier hearing the things that's going on in this city with people who can't find jobs that that stadium employed me i got my uniform on if i put my hat on i'd be i'd be dressed i'm the dipping dot man get your dipping dots all your kids come in there i was at 147 you hear me in there making the noise i'm a vendor i'm over in tampa i go over there tomorrow to work for the rays selling lemonade i'm the lemonade guy we need to come to a conclusion i know people come in here from elsewhere new york with all this money making ideas we need to build a new stadium that stadium is there for light i don't know where you all were talking about putting a new stadium because we don't need that that stadium is built like a rock and the noise that i'm making is that we don't have no business playing over there in tampa we should have been playing here thank you sir thank you they gave me my three minutes thank you very much yeah and my kids visit you every home game we're at they sure do and y'all have a good day thank you you too council member driscoll thank you i miss dipping dots and all that they apply thank you sir you bet i'm coming i'm coming over to see i'm going to get that lemonade too um don't forget your walker sir but y'all have fun and y'all are doing a good job thank you thank you sir and beth thank you um for this report um for you know going through the numbers for us and giving us a real um a realistic view of what we have before us today you um have to manage so many different things and so many different people first this is a herculean task um but i also think about all of the different um characters that you interface with you know including um the folks that we have contracted to do the work and um with you know the folks on the race side of things and um the administration the city attorney's office bridge you know um and then city council and all the questions that we have whenever you bring something before us your work that you do is enviable by no one i mean like thank you for doing what very few people are sitting around saying man i wish i had that job thank you you're welcome um so we're at so we're at 35 if we approve these items today and um the original estimate was 55 and we know that was an estimate because you don't know until you get into it anyone who's ever bought an older house you don't know until you get into it exactly what you have to do um so and and in your in your memo you provided a sneak peek yes of the guaranteed maximum price packages that are yet to come over the next few months do we have any idea what total number we're talking about now i might defer to brujesh i don't know that we have an idea of the total number but but and i don't want to misspeak but i don't believe we've had anything come through to date that makes us believe it will be significantly over what was the original estimate but okay are you thanks i'm you know i'm i'm not an expert at how much things cost with this stuff but you know i look at what we have and what is to come and i i worry about that 55 number and i want to make sure that if it's going to be more please manage our expectations ahead of time yes so um just to uh reaffirm what um was mentioned and you are absolutely correct we are tracking everything that we've estimated so far we're tracking below what the costs have come in so far um so we are trending in the right path we are keeping an eye on everything uh we are requesting as early as we can get on estimates on the numbers on the gmps before we fully accept it uh the teams meet two to three times a day reviewing different elements and uh we are focused on you know trying to keep this within the constraints that we have as best as possible yes thank you and um i i appreciate that and that the things that are being brought before us are considered to be um compatible with the the use agreement and that we are working to make the uh stadium suitable for home games um i think there was already a motion in a second on this is is and is that for all four items and is that okay you can if you want the motion can be for all of these related items if you want so do you need that to be received i just want to make sure we do if you're intending it to apply to all the tropical kind of field related items yes the motion should be restated or clarified motion to approve f1 f2 f3 and f8 that doesn't who was the second i don't think it was second oh yeah fix sanders you accept yeah i do i just i thought it was already determined it was thank you councilman all right i just wanted to make sure that we're like really good all right thank you and i wish i could say i look forward to seeing you again but boy this is expensive but thank you both for all that you're doing for this and thank you chair thank you councilmember floyd thank you uh i just real quick wanted to say i you know was not on board uh from the get-go with putting this together but i saw that the art my colleagues were and this is the path they wanted to go down so i'm just gonna say like i'm happy to uh support today and uh so we can get the project done um and i'll probably mention this going forward it wasn't my choice but i see that we're uh together as a city to do this so i'm there today uh thank you chair thank you councilmember floyd vice chair hanowitz thank you it looks like we're we didn't get to cover the security services agreement so i want to touch on that um and if you can first of all when you discuss it could you articulate why we are covering this cost yes absolutely so on the security item which is f8 for the agenda to date the rays have provided 24-hour security for tropicana field prior to and after hurricane milton but we are beginning to mobilize the actual construction project now so the city and the contractor are assuming control of the site much like we assume the control of any construction project that we do here in the city so with that assuming the control of the site we're also uh you know assuming control of the security of the site as far as uh contemporary services the contractor that we have they are the current security contractor and they've been working at tropicana field for many years they're a national crowd management firm and they're in major league stadiums and arenas across the country so they are a qualified company project team leaders from both the city team and the hunt hennessy team did talk about this and we agreed that retaining contemporary services was really the best from a continuity standpoint from for having some of the same staff they understand the nuances of the building the fire panels the alarm systems the camera the security camera systems all of those things um so we wanted to to maintain that continuity and then much like it is now and and with a little bit of change for the for the actual construction schedule um we'll have guards in the security office where the cameras are uh guards at the pedestrian entrance the um the roll-up door so for contractors and things bringing in materials and then also a roamer just to make sure that the uh the stadium is secured and access is only coming through that one point uh for us through the duration of the um construction project and that's why it is through um february of 2026 um through the duration of uh major construction okay so and to make clear legal the use agreement is silent as to who is responsible on this specific issue that's correct council member i mean this is driven by administration's decision and consultation with the contractors to control the site and because it's typical of a city construction project that's the driver of it not not the current use agreement okay i just want to make that clear i think it's important for the public and everyone to understand the reasoning why uh we're covering this cost um so thank you beth for that explanation it's helpful you know i obviously like a lot of council members you know we don't like to be in the position that we're in um we are required by agreement to do to repair um the trop based on the request of the raise and that's what we have been doing if there's anything that deviates from that like for instance the f8 item i do want to kind of cover those things to make sure why we're doing it why we're covering the cost um so it makes sense obviously that based on industry standard standard this is something that we would do thank you thank you okay we have a motion and a second on f1 two three and eight seeing as no other council members wishing to speak could we please do a roll call driscoll yes givens yes lord curtis yes gabbard yes harding yes hanowitz yes rick sanders yes okay thank you all right we are going to move into f7 a resolution resolution acknowledging the selection of wsp usa for consulting services in the development of a district 2 master plan the time i thought we'd be after lunch chair no i wanted to make sure we got this one in thank you thank you may i absolutely go ahead well thank you so much i'm very very excited that we are at this point today um of our meeting but also of a very long journey of work that cassidy and i have been on with brian's support and the supportive administration and the mayor so um district 2 as you're all aware we're a unique little place in the city one of the largest employment centers in the tampa bay region also an area of a lot of growth we had the second largest population increase in the city from the census that was recently done and a lot has changed in district 2 over the last few decades but specifically over the last year a district that lies 95 percent within the coastal high hazard area and a district that is ripe for redevelopment but one of the things that we really wanted to make sure with district 2 is that when this redevelopment comes our way because we know it certainly is coming that it is done with an idea that comes from the community with a guiding document that says what the community the long-standing generational communities the long-standing business community wants to see for district 2. so this is an exercise in place making this is an exercise and really allowing the residents to have a voice in the future of our district i've looked at some of the great work that council some of you have done on some master plans in your areas uh work that has been done by prior city council members in um the gate or the uh skyway marina district for instance and what a master plan can do to really revitalize and give direction as to the future and the vision of a district so i'm very excited that we are here today cassidy thank you for all of your hard work we know that today is just the beginning because there's a lot of work that will go into the final plan that will come to you all um probably in about a year or so um but cassidy will go over all the next steps and all the details and all of the intricacies of the agreement but i just wanted to take a moment not only to thank administration and cassidy for her work but to um kind of hope and precursor my um thanks to all of you for your support as we look to the future of district 2 in working with our residents to make it the great place that it always has been so with that i'll go ahead and turn it over to cassidy thank you so much council member and thank you all for receiving me today i really appreciate your time um as she mentioned my name is cassidy mutnansky i'm an economic development officer in our economic and workforce development department so i'm going to be covering kind of the intricacies of the agreement a broad overview but you have the scope of work before you in appendix a and all the details are in the report that i'm going to be covering in this powerpoint today so the action we're asking you today is to acknowledge the consultant selection to authorize the execution of an agreement with the consultant so that we may begin this work and then authorizing the city's attorney's office to make non-substantial changes to the ae agreement we had a selection process with our procurement department um two firms submitted those statements of qualifications both were invited for presentations and interviews and we selected wsp as the most qualified consultant the scope of services so these are the core tasks is project management public engagement ground setting district framework and recommendations and implementation i'll go into each of those in more detail on the following slides the timeline currently is 12 to 14 months with the goal of accomplishing this in 12 months but giving us a two-month leeway in case of knock on wood a hurricane or something else delaying our community engagement process the foundational principles of equity resiliency and sustainability and infrastructure will be woven throughout every element of this plan we didn't want to call them out as their own themes because they really should be integrated in across every single theme in the plan so we call the foundational principle that'll be integrated the budget is also four hundred thousand dollars as previously appropriated and azra and scope a currently cost roughly three hundred and fifty one thousand dollars and some change uh so that remaining forty nine thousand dollars and some change is uh for additional prior uh planning services with prior authorization of the city that's really for us to address any needs that are identified you know when we're doing community engagement and someone says let's dig deeper in this topic we have that flexibility to react within the scope of work and authorize those services to dig a little deeper into the topics as the community asks for them throughout the planning process so as i mentioned our scope of services i'll go through each of the aspects of the scope so the first part of the scope is project management that's going to include a kickoff meeting and tour it includes council member briefings to make sure we keep uh you aware of the process it includes city council or committee updates whichever is most appropriate given the topics that we will be bringing forward throughout the process and then we have our bi-weekly check-in meetings between the city and the project manager or his or her team um at the uh with the consultant for public engagement one of the most unique things about this plan and what i'm really excited about is the esri experience builder i think a lot of uh you are likely familiar with esri story maps experience builder is kind of that taken to a whole new level so the final plan document is going to be an interactive web page built through the experience builder platform something that people can click on they can zoom into those maps they don't have to print it they can interact with it right away um we also included city think tank meetings that was intentional to make sure since this is a master plan that we involve all appropriate departments and agencies such as for pinellas or psta throughout the process at intentional meetings throughout we have our agency partner and stakeholder meetings attending existing community events because we like to meet people where they already are we have our in-person design workshop our virtual open house and then a meeting in a box approach which is another unique thing to this field where we essentially say that we want to support additional community engagement the consulting staff cannot be everywhere at all times so let's train our city staff to be able to get people engaged again meeting with them where they are throughout the process so they will have the resources they need to have those pop-up events or to immediately give a qr code and be trained on how to talk about this to meet people where they are we have the ground setting stage so this is essentially a historical review of plans we recognize there are a lot of plans already in this area so this is intended to weave together those plans we're not just starting over from scratch we're looking at those existing plans and we're going to be coordinating with other ongoing concurrent planning efforts then we get into our guiding themes assessment so we have people and places urban development economic development transportation infrastructure people in places uh there's all called out of scope a quality of life and recreation key destinations and local identity parks and open spaces healthy food access youth development child care urban development will cover our coastal hazards and urban vulnerability land use and zoning tree canopy and ecology and then our economic development will cover our small business environment target industry recruitment and our real estate market to look at supply and demand forecasts and then finally transportation infrastructure a lot of focus on land use support for those transportation investments and coordination with our complete streets implementation process and then the district framework is essentially taking those guiding themes and really fleshing out the interrelationship between those guiding things and how they align to promote the common goals and utilize very systematic approach to weave them together to create a very cohesive vision we'll look at some catalytic projects and sites and then we'll have a summary posted and then finally the recommendations and implementations this is our road map to implementation this is our key steps what funding opportunities are out there external to us internal to us and the time horizon of how do we want to accomplish what's in this planning document so finally uh we are here to ask council to please approve the resolution to acknowledge the wsp as our most qualified firm to provide planning services for the development of the district 2 master plan authorize us to execute that architecture engineering agreement the ae agreement with them to provide planning services for the project in an amount not to exceed 400 000 and authorize us to make non-substantial changes to that agreement and with that thank you all for your time we have a motion and a second for f7 seeing there's no other council members wishing to speak clerk could you please do a roll call driscoll yes gibbons yes lloyd yes curtis yes gabbert yes harding yes henowitz yes dick sanders yes okay congratulations thank you thank you okay at this time we are going to recess for lunch and we're going to see if we can also figure out some of these technology so for now city council will recess until 1 pm thank you everybody meeting of june 5th 2025 i'm by chair hanowitz and our chair um had to leave to take care of some matters so i will um be presiding with the meeting um we will start with f9 the sewer system resilience projects uh mr tankersley welcome thank you vice chair claude tankersley public works administrator i appreciate you guys um allowing us to do this this report this is just going to be a verbal report relatively quick but uh we felt that these items were important they're not part of our spar program but we we wanted to remind everyone that regardless of what we have in our spar program we still are and have been doing uh resilience related projects for a while and so these projects that we're bringing to you today have been projects that many of them come out of the saint pete water plan and so i'll just go ahead and go through them um and i would certainly appreciate the opportunity to perhaps have them all approved at the same time if that's available if that's opportunity so the first one is accepting a statement of qualifications from pcl constructions for lift station 85 site improvements and so what this project is about is at lift station 85 which serves our downtown area it's our primary lift station we have been using some of the existing facilities there from the leftover facilities from the old albert wooded treatment plant as emergency storage in case we need to have emergency storage of sewage during a wet weather event um that those facilities were not designed for that use but we've been using them that way this project will replace those older facilities with a brand new facility specifically designed for that use we currently have about 10 million gallons of storage in those old units when they are replaced we are shooting to have about 12 million gallons of emergency storage at that site so this uh this request that we're bringing to you today is to um approve the selection of the um the team that will do the design and construction of the facility it is pcl construction and the initial cost for their engineering and um pre-construction activities will be about 3.8 million dollars from this effort they will bring to us a guaranteed maximum price um contract for them to do the actual construction so that we will be bringing that forward to you at that time another project that's related to the um because it's at the same location at lift station 85 is a resolution for an addendum to an existing contract that we have for that facility where we are replacing the existing pumps at list station 85 these these pumps are are about 10 years old um and they they work constantly these pumps are always running always working and are are large pumps and over time they have become less efficient they've got some problems with with their seals and so we were feeling that it was time to go ahead and replace them for that added resiliency to make sure that the pumps were were able to work when we needed them um in addition to to to the everyday um activities so the the project is ongoing already this is an addendum that we're asking because uh of some work that we asked the contractor to do so since they're replacing existing pumps while they're doing that they have to bypass the flows to keep the flows going while they're replacing the existing pumps we asked them to increase that bypass capacity so that the bypass basically mimics the exact the existing lift station so that we are safe and in case anything worked were to happen that was a request that we asked and so therefore this contract uh amendment is for an additional amount of money to to cover that that additional bypass and then the final item is not related to either one of these but it is something that with the recent uh announcement that um the uh suncoast water keepers um has released us from our consent order obligations uh because we've we've completed all the work under our consent order uh i wanted to highlight this next work and this is the cured in place pipe lining work from sak um and this this is work that was done as part of the consent order but we're continuing it uh and i just wanted to to go on the record that just because the consent order is done doesn't mean we're going to stop doing the good work we did under the consent order we're going to continue to do that moving forward and this is an example of how we will continue to do that so i appreciate the opportunity to give you just a brief review of these projects and how to answer any questions you may have great thank you um council member gabbard thank you madam vice chair um so claude a couple questions uh first i'll start just a clarification i just want to make sure that the public is aware so um lift station 85 at the albert wooded um that is the same as we did the uh procurement of the aqua fence for correct yes ma'am okay so making that facility even more resilient okay great i just kind of wanted to connect the dots there because um that particular vote that we took has got a lot of fanfare people are very excited about it so i want people to understand kind of you know that it isn't just a one item improvement project that it has various different pieces to it and that we're continuing to try to look for all of those intricacies and nuances within our system yeah perfect okay and then um question just to clarify too you said that um this is uh we will actually have the gmp agreement come back later on yes ma'am so we'll have one more vote on this project at least one more yeah at least one more okay all right so i'll make a note to keep this held back and then my final question is specific to the consent order yes uh so you said consent order is done right yes um i kind of i'm going to ask you to elaborate a little bit on that because i understand that um things kind of wrapped up at the end of march i believe uh but we didn't really have too much conversation about it here uh being that myself and council member driscoll came to this dais in the middle of the consent order uh this is something that she and i uh were very uh kind of in the in the trenches with you all on so i would just kind of like if you could briefly give um what it means for the consent order to be over um if there are any final steps or anything like that that we still need to complete um could you give us just a quick update absolutely there is one final step we need to complete as as these things take a little while to kind of to wind down um under the consent order uh the the consent order had uh stipulations in there that if we had um sewer spills during the the time of the consent order then the dep would assess us fines or in lieu of the fines we could choose to do a project in lieu of those fines at one and a half times that fine amount so the very last one of those projects in lieu is the aqua fence at lift station 85 and and i believe it's going to be ready to be um erected and and tested at the end of june uh and so that will be the very final last thing that we have to do under the consent order um and um at that time we expect fdep to issue their final certification that everything's done okay and remind me the private lateral program the pilot for that was part of the consent order is there anything outstanding as we get ready to launch that program um i think in the next 30 days or so is there anything outstanding on the consent order that has direct correlation to the actual program itself not that i recall i'm going to turn and look at my my co-workers here no uh our director of water resources in my one-on-one yesterday i just wasn't thinking about it i wasn't tying all the pieces together and i'm glad you're doing it today thank you so so no the the the the program we're moving forward with for the private laterals um that is not tied directly to the consent order so there is no a formal tie between the two of them okay very good well with that uh madam vice chair i'll move approval of f9 a b and c perfect is there a second second okay thank you uh council member gibbons thank you so much madam vice chair and thank you claude for all your hard work i appreciate this and everything that you're doing to make our city more resilient always for um more resiliency i do have a couple of questions you talked about um the con the contractors agreement and the construction manager's agreement there were some things i guess that you brought up can you clarify what it was um that the city was asking of them to include that wasn't in that original agreement sure so um brujesh prayman our director of engineering um actually helped uh negotiate those extra ask items and so to make sure that i don't get it wrong i mean i'm going to ask him if he can come up and give you that detail brujesh thank you good day council always a pleasure and um good question and to give some context uh when we are scoping projects we and i'll use a very simple example um if we are doing roadway construction we require contractors to provide temporary traffic control make sure traffic still flows in the same context we're doing the pump replacements at the pump station the contractor was required to provide bypass pumping but given um our sense of wanting to create and ensure our level of protection we requested additional capacity pumps and backups and that's where all of this equipment is coming in that additional cost so that was above and beyond um what was required under the contract you'll also see skater programming because we would like um to skater the programming and the interface previously that was done by operational staff now we're putting it on the contractor to do that cost um that integration into our um monitoring system for our pump stations so those are two of the main elements and of course the supplemental elements as far as the control panels associated with it thank you for just for putting that in the context for me i appreciate and i just wanted to make sure it was put out there um you talked about going above and beyond and i appreciate that because that's going to help us long term when it comes to resiliency right i think last year's hurricanes we learned a lot um so i appreciate us being proactive um so thank you so much for that um but i do have a question did we were we not like aware of this was this something that we didn't think hey we may want this prior to preparing that final agreement that was signed in advance and i just asked because i want to prevent the back and forth in the future with future developments that we may have for projects yeah so to give context the contractor was required by the agreement to provide bypass pumping which they did but given what we experienced with molten and other recent events we elected now to go above and beyond what the minimum bypass pumping would have been thank you for that and this may be a question for claude my next question was regarding the consent order um so we talked about satisfying i guess all the epa's requirements i'm happy to hear that's almost there minus the aqua fence um which i'm guessing is still stuck at port right no actually i believe it's been delivered it was supposed to be delivered last week i think awesome did it actually arrive not yet not yet but but it should arrive any day now fingers crossed we won't hold our breath though um but my last my last question is when was our last spiel claude and how much i don't recall um we we will often have very small spills throughout the year associated with grease and rags and those often will come in the form of maybe a spill of 50 gallons here 100 gallons there um and and i just don't recall when it was but we put all of that information on our website under the public notices on our website and you can go back and look you know for multiple years of when those are um so i i i don't want to guess but it's all right there and i'm just wondering so that the epa take any of those spills into consideration when they said that we have satisfied everything uh yes they did every every time we would have a spill of any kind whether it was wet weather related or from grease and rags uh we had to report the information to them they would evaluate it they would decide whether they would would find us for it or not they would also evaluate whether this was an indicator of whether we were doing what we had promised to do and so the fact that um both suncoast water keepers and dep have indicated that we have satisfied all the requirements and we're just waiting for that last final piece suggests to me that they believe that those spills were not an indicator that we were failing to do what we had promised to do and my last question is in that evaluation was our city uh was our city's hurricane response performance uh during last year's hurricane season was that evaluated at all was that considered i would assume it was yes yes thank you claude i appreciate it thank you madam vice chair thank you seeing that we have a motion and a second clerk can we have uh a roll call please and then announce the results driscoll yes givens yes lloyd yes curtis gabbard yes harding yes hannowitz yes mick sanders yes the motion passes with council member chair member uh gurus being absent thank you okay now we're moving along to our new ordinances these are all first readings uh from my understanding we have g1 and g2 that are uh the second readings are going to be held in on july 12th 2025 and then g3 that's going to be in june 12th right 2025 and then the g3 is going to be july 10th 2025 so with that being said we'll start off with g1 an ordinance designating the william e and margaret h emery house located at 1947 beach drive southeast as a local historic landmark can you please read absolutely ordinance number 137-hl and ordinance of the city of st petersburg florida designating the william e and margaret h emery house located at 1947 beach drive southeast as a local historic landmark and adding the property to the st petersburg register of historic places pursuant to section 16.30.070 city code and providing for an effective date and this item is a public hearing scheduled for june 12th and we do not have any cards great thank you is there a motion or a second or is move approval second seeing that there is a motion and a second clerk can you conduct a roll call and then announce the results briscoll yes givens yes lloyd yes curtis gabbard yes harding yes hannowitz yes dick sanders the motion the motion passes with council member her is being absent thank you and now we go to item g2 the private initiated application for three sites totaling 3.29 acres on the east side of 4th street north in the gateway area madam i'm sure you can read all of all three of those um consecutively if you would like and vote on them together that would be great ordinance number 763-l and orange amending the future land use map of the comprehensive plan for the city of st petersburg florida by changing the future land use map for three sites totaling 3.29 acres generally located on the east side of 4th street north north of gandy boulevard and south of 110th avenue north from preservation p and residential medium rm to preservation p residential medium rm and residential slash office general r slash og providing for repeal of conflicting ordinances and provisions thereof and providing for an effective date ordinance number 798-z and orange amending the official zoning map of the city of st petersburg florida by changing the zoning for three sites totaling 3.29 acres generally located on the east side of 4th street north north of gandy boulevard and south of 110th avenue north from preservation p and neighbor and neighborhood suburban multi-family dash one nsm dash one and corridor residential suburban dash one crs dash one providing for repeal of conflicting ordinances and provisions thereof and providing for an effective date ordinance number 610-h and orange approving a development agreement for three sites totaling 3.29 acres generally located on the east side of 4th street north north north of gandy boulevard and south of 110th avenue north recognizing that the subject agreement is by and between 4th street h q llc and gandy town townhomes st pete llc a florida limited liability company developer and city of st petersburg florida a florida municipal corporation authorizing the mayor or his designee to execute the agreement and providing for an effective date these three items the public hearing is scheduled for june the 12th thank you i'll entertain a motion for g2 a b and c moved approval second we have a motion and a second clerk if you can have a roll call and then announce the results thank you driscoll yes givens yes lloyd yes curtis gabbard yes harding yes hannowitz yes dick sanders yes madam vice chair the motion passes with uh council with chair member girders being absent this is all a different procedure we're following here so thank you now go to g3 which is an ordinance amending the city code land development regulations would you like to read ordinance number 611-h in ordinance of the city of st petersburg florida amending the st petersburg city code land development regulations clarifying uses in the nt-3 district amending provisions related to development potential building envelope including setbacks and building site building and site design in the nt ntm-1 ns and nsm districts amending provisions related to building design in the crt district amending use restrictions in the art enclave overlay district districts amending fence wall and hedge regulations amending landscaping and tree protection regulations amending parking and loading design standards amending sidewalk regulations to create a payment and lua option including procedures amending development standards for accessory dwelling units amending development standards for accessory structure and and ancillary equipment amending home occupation regulations including use restrictions amending provisions related to height measurement amending provisions related to allow allowable encroachments and building setbacks amending procedures related to re hearing requests amending procedures related to dock permits creating a new application and review process for reasonable accommodations and zoning requests providing for new and revised definitions revising existing graphics and and adding new graphics and provide providing for severability and providing for effective date the public hearing for this item is july the 10th and we do not have any cards thank you i'll entertain the motion in the second i have a question council member fix angers thank you can someone explain to me um what the payment in lieu looks like what that option is so um it hasn't been finalized yet the fee so but the option will be that they can submit a request to us to request a vacation a payment in lieu because the sidewalk may lead to nowhere it may be out in certain areas where they don't want the sidewalk it could be grading issues tree issues utility issues um so they would uh we need to create an application that they would submit to us and we would evaluate it with our transportation engineering department um to a consensus to either approve the pavement in lieu or deny it if it is denied they do have an appeal right and that would go through the development review commission because right now we're supporting variances in certain areas and that's 350 that money is not used to build sidewalks elsewhere in the city we're waiting to get some quotes from our transportation department who is doing work those quotes hopefully will come in by the end of june beginning of july so we can actually establish what that fee would be per linear foot of construction for that sidewalk and so say if someone's doing like a 50-foot wide lot they're doing a sidewalk that's at least four feet to five feet in length you know that could turn out to be that they give us you know five to ten thousand dollars and then transportation would take that money to implement their sidewalk comprehensive plan okay so i did hear you say we can use those dollars to build sidewalks somewhere else because the sidewalks is a shortage yes i don't want us to use it as an option just not right we need we needed this mechanism to actually do the payment and lose similar to our downtown bonuses we just can't collect money without using it for something that relates to the fund um and so since transportation is working on this master plan it's a perfect time to do it and then once they actually get the plan implemented they will have funding to do it okay thank you for that explanation thank you guys share any other council members wishing to speak seeing that no other council members wishing to speak um clerk can you conduct a roll call and then oh no oh was there a motion second move approval oh i'm sorry i thought there was but thank you seeing that we have a motion and a second now clerk can you conduct a roll call and then announce the vote thank you briscoll yes gibbons yes lloyd yes curtis gabbard yes yes harding yes hanowitz yes dick sanders yes thank you okay now we go to new business um h1 requesting a report to council concerning the state of economy council member driscoll this is your item thank you thank you so much the state of the economy was presented a couple of weeks ago and um unfortunately i was traveling for a conference with psta at the time so i was unable to attend um however i did read through the slides that janie had shared with all of us for the presentation in advance and then i was able to watch the recording of the presentation um after i got back and one of the things that really stood out to me that brought me a lot of concern was this slide that um indicated the decline in job growth that we have been experiencing here and looking at how that relates to our efforts here um i feel this is worth taking a deeper dive having the administration present this to us perhaps with a little more detail because i was also surprised at how quickly we blew by by that slide during the presentation um with without a whole lot of explanation but i do understand that um you know in a in a forum like that maybe you do have to be a little bit quicker but i think we can all agree that it's important in our city that we continue to create jobs for um a sustainable future in our city and looking at how the state number has declined you know jobs have declined statewide by 0.04 but here in st petersburg it's three percent i think we have some work to do i think we can do it together but i'd like to know what the administration has already been doing about it because that was a part that was not that they did not go into detail um about during the presentation i will point out that although this is not good news and it it is troubling i am encouraged by seeing the work that has been done by the administration and by this council on creating good jobs infrastructure so things like affordable housing and workforce development and transit oriented development those are things that we talk about quite a bit and although none of it moves as fast as we want it to we can talk about the plans that are in place and in progress for that jobs infrastructure but if you don't have the jobs what are we doing it for you know i mean affordable housing is good but it only goes so far if the person living there has to spend that savings on commuting somewhere else to their job and workforce development is only going to do us so much good if the person then has to go outside of st petersburg to find a job and transit oriented development can only do so much it only takes you so far before you have to rely on another way to get to your job because it's outside of the city so there's work done on one end of this but i'm not seeing the job creation i'm seeing opportunities but i don't see that we have been taking those opportunities and turning it into jobs the way that we should and so i want to begin this conversation and because um giving a presentation in a public uh you know event like the state of the economy is very different from presenting something to city council i want us to be able to weigh in i want to hear from my colleagues and find out how we together want to move forward in reversing this trend so i have asked the administration to present on june 12th to city council a report on this i have not asked for a lot i am asking for what was presented there to be presented here with any additional detail that the administration would like to include and then let's see where the conversation goes from there now i could have asked for it today but i wanted to give some time for preparation and if you back up two weeks that was when i submitted the new business item and i'm asking for it next week week which gives three weeks to prepare something that mostly is already prepared by contrast city council members have to deal with more than just economic development we have dealt today with public works and land use um future land use and land development regulations and all kinds of things this is one of two binders that was put together for me for today's meeting covering many departments and we had two weeks to get ready so i believe asking the administration with a three-week notice to present on something as the start of a conversation with city council as partners to solve this problem is not too much to ask therefore i am requesting this report to be given in the june 12 2025 city council meeting with that i'll move approval administration would you like to provide a response to what's requested so council members can hear what your uh position is uh thank you chair good afternoon city council um we're happy to come on june 12th and present um you know essentially what we presented at the state of the economy we can add some more detail to that um you know if council wants to have a more detailed conversation about it and wants to go to committee um where we can sit and have a longer presentation and more discussion we're happy to do that too so whatever city council would like we're happy to oblige either way okay great thank you uh any council members wishing to speak council member fig sanders thank you quick question um would it be more thorough for us to go to committee first because i'm also going to do a new business item in regards to um some of the the discussion that we're having with economic and job creation based on the disparity study and some of the cba issues and i've been meeting with constituents on that if we can have a designated ewd meeting to talk specifically about that because all council members are invited to come to that committee meeting and then that way we can get really deep and a lot more thorough than to try to throw it all in june 12th because june 12th is going to be a long council meeting but if we can do a committee i mean i'm going to support either one because i want to get the information as well but i would really love to see it go to committee so we can have a detailed discussion on what it is and not high level like we got at the last one okay thank you council member fake sanders we'll take other council members and then that way council member driscoll could respond afterwards to the other comments which i think will probably be helpful council member gabbard so to the point of going to committee um and and i'm fine either way um but i think it's a good point i don't want this to be like a high level gloss over a report item just because we asked for it um and that is my concern um because i mean i've i wasn't able to be at the state of the economy either but i have gone back and watched and it was kind of you know oh here's the slide now move on um i would love this conversation to include the chamber of commerce to include the edc to include pinellas county edc because when you look at the difference between us and pinellas county even what's going on in the county as well um because those numbers are even worse um so i'm going to support it either way i would just want us to have a conversation about it because it is shocking and upsetting um but at the same time i feel like it's such a much bigger lift than we can do alone as the city and that's why i feel like having these other players at the table i think could really get us in a place where maybe we we can kind of start to see where the holes are and where we need to plug in a lot better um so i'm going to support it either way um thank you for bringing it forward i just wanted to kind of chime in about my thoughts if it could go to committee any other council members wishing to speak council member driscoll thank you and thank you for the input from my colleagues um it is encouraging to hear that i'm not the only one who was concerned by by um that figure and the the way that it was presented um i am perfectly open to um adding this to an agenda for an ewd meeting coming up in fact um i've already asked janie you know just thinking that this could be one of the suggestions that came up and um in our july 24th ewd meeting um we are working on expanding that to take a little bit more time because i do already have um an agenda item that is set for that day but we'll make room for both um but here's the thing for if this was going to be next week i wanted that high level with the potential for it to then go to committee for further discussion so just know that if we're giving this much more time i want this much more information and i want to plan because for years since we're seeing and i included this slide just so that everyone could could look starting in uh since 2022 how we've been in this downward spiral and yet during this whole even for longer than that i've been banging the drum about doing something with the 800 block of first avenue south after the mayor rejected moffitt i said we have to get some mixed use in there we've got to this is a way to get some more office space in i've been banging the drum about expanding the maritime and defense technology hub on land that we already own again two parcels now i'm mentioning that we have complete control over to expand the hub which has had a waiting list from day one and i did find it ironic that one of the speakers at the state of the economy was sail drone one of the companies that is housed at the hub and it happens to be one of the companies that we are going to lose because we do not have enough space for them now and if they're going to grow they're going to go and i don't want that to happen we have identified parts of our economy that are working and we've done nothing to try to grow that like i said the jobs infrastructure yes but you gotta have the jobs too i absolutely do not want us to become a bedroom community for tampa and other cities that are creating jobs we're not wesley chapel we're saint pete we're the fifth we are the fifth largest city in the state of florida and our local economy needs to reflect that so i'm i'm expecting some really great ideas and the announcement of some really good plans to turn this around when we meet and discuss it on july 24th having said that i will amend my motion to request the report from the administration to take place at the economic and workforce development committee meeting on july 24th 2025. second given the fact we have an amended motion that has been seconded clerk can you please have a roll call and then announce the results thank you friscoll yes gibbons yes lloyd yes curtis absent gabbard yes harding yes hanowitz yes rick sanders yes madam vice chair the motion passes with uh with chair girders being absent thank you next item is h2 which is a referral to psi this is my item so i'll read it respectfully requesting referral to public services and infrastructure committee or any other relevant committee for a discussion on restricting the hours during which peddling soliciting or canvassing at a private residence is permitted this has resulted because people have complained that people knock on their door late at night and we have no restrictions as to time so it's a conversation of having like what do we do what is normally done and that sort sort of question so council member driscoll yes thank you and it may seem silly to ask given your background yes um my first thought was what's legal is that going to be part of the conversation yes absolutely i i'd like it to be the first part of the conversation just so that we can first talk about what we can do oh yeah and then decide what we're going to do because i i see some real validity in that especially given your the example that was just given um but i was a little concerned about um i mean um i i don't know i mean i thought that was why no soliciting signs are available at like walmart to go put on your door if you want so i didn't i never knew that we could do more than that we'll be prepared to give you an update on the current case on what the options are okay council member driscoll to ease your concerns i have had communications as to what we can do we can set hours and we can have those conversations in depth i love having attorneys at my my uh committee meetings i wouldn't have expected anything less yes and i will move approval second i'm concerned there's a motion and a second clerk can you please uh oh i'm sorry that's all right council member floyd yes i was just gonna say thank you for adding the context uh you when you see this right off the bat of course you're like uh but i literally my assumption was it's probably something about people knocking on doors late at night so same thing and then yeah my first thought as well was uh i i knew that you would have done your diligence as to what was legal but yeah that was my first thought was like you know what just finding out what the context of the conversation was so i appreciate you giving that um because yeah i had like a gut reaction to like i don't know and so that's where i was coming from at first uh so i look forward to the conversation that's why i explained it council member floyd this this language actually came from attorneys okay that's why i felt the need to explain it to everyone else so uh council member given thank you so much for bringing this forward madam vice chair um i i just wanted to add and thank you for the context i have seen in my own neighborhood as of recently the solar panel solicitors um out late knocking on doors and it is very sketchy you know they don't you know identify themselves properly and it can be a little disconcerting especially for seniors who live alone and single families so i just i appreciate this yeah that's those are the complaints we've been getting okay thank you everyone so um can we have a roll call please and then announce driscoll yes gibbons yes boyd girdus gabbard yes harding yes henowitz yes rick sanders yes matter vice chair the motion passes with uh chair girdus being absent thank you so now we move on to council committed reports i will take the first two given um chair girdus is not with us and i'm the vice actually i'm taking the the last two the first one is taken by council member gibbons who's the vice chair of um youth and family services sure thank you madam vice chair i appreciate it respectfully requesting city council's approval of a motion to remove the following item from the youth and family services committee referral lists a discussion regarding the 2022 census data including a report from administration on the city's effort to alleviate child poverty and with that i move for approval okay given we have a motion and a second clerk and seeing that no council members wishing to speak clerk can you please um take a roll call and then announce the results thank you driscoll yes gibbons yes boyd curtis gabbard yes harding yes hanowitz yes dick sanders yes madam vice chair the motion passes with um chair girders being absent thank you item i2 i respectfully request city council approval of the budget finance and taxation committee's recommendation to add the woodland parks courts re redesign project to the wikiwashi project list move approval second i have a motion and a second clerk clerk if you can do a roll call please and announce the vote driscoll yes gibbons yes boyd yes curtis gabbard yes harding yes hanowitz yes sanders yes madam vice chair the motion passes with with chair girders being absent thank you now we move on to item i3 um which is an action another action item from bfnt respectfully requesting city council approval of a resolution amending one the city's investment policy municipal funds to provide that investment decisions will be based solely on pecuniary factors to update the author authorized investments and make non-substantive changes and two the city's alternate investment policy to change the authorized investments at the seagrass mitigation fund incorporate certain provision from the investment policy municipal funds and make non-substantive changes and i'll entertain a motion approval second seeing that there is a motion and a second clerk can you please conduct a roll call and then announce the votes fiscal yes givens yes lloyd yes curtis gabbard yes harding yes henowitz yes dick sanders yes the motion passes with uh chair girders being absent thank you okay everyone we have now re reached open forum we do not have any speakers we have no speakers for open forum women we'll close open forum and go to announcements and anyone have anything to announce council member gibbons thank you very much madam vice chair i just wanted to put on notice we celebrated earlier the proclamation of juneteenth well the community will have the juneteenth uh celebration sponsored by the the city's park and rec uh that's going to be hosted at enoch davis center this saturday uh from 10 to 2 p.m so they'll have the flag raising and lots of fun activities for the family so please come out and support that and then lastly um many of us know already thank you so much um administrator girdus for keeping us abreast of what's happening in the community uh job corps uh is facing lots of uncertainty right now and uh you know i spent a number of years working there and so that is near and dear to my heart that center and and they're rallying and they're calling coming together calling together for help um they're asking to save the center unfortunately department of labor doesn't think it's worth the investment of our tax dollars um to provide job training uh for our young people our future workforce so uh that's going to be hosted next tuesday uh on the 10th at the warehouse arts district association at 515 22nd street south um councilman hardin i know you've employed some of those young people a lot of other businesses in st pete has so i appreciate you all giving them opportunity but now over 200 young people are going to be homeless um a great majority of them are going to be homeless because they don't have housing they came to job corps looking for a second chance there's over 100 employees there who live here in st pete uh that are going to be without jobs um so it's important that we really pay attention so thank you i appreciate that thank you councilmember gibbons for making sure that everyone is aware of that and for administrator girdus to actually keep us informed as soon as they found out what was going on uh councilmember gabbard and then councilmember fig sanders well very quickly i would be remiss because our normal birthday announcer is not with us however it is his birthday oh on june 10th so shall we all sing happy birthday to chair girdus yes all right happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday chair girdus happy birthday to you and many more thank you councilmember gabbard i was just going to announce to everybody i do not have the list that was the only one i had so i hope i didn't miss anyone else that was gonna be my announcement councilmember fig sanders okay so i have two announcements one playing off of what um councilmember gibbon spoke and i'm not sure if you saw the temporary stay against the closure of job corps did you see that okay so that is something that hopefully will be discussed on tuesday and um thank you to chair girdus for giving a moment of silence for vince cox who has been a friend to so many of us his service is this saturday at 11 a.m at the historic bethel ame church for those that would like to support robin and mr cox's family thank you for that councilmember fig sanders anyone else have any announcements seeing that no one else has any announcements thank you everyone for being here um and this meeting is adjourned thank you thank you