City Council - Jun 12, 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 Liseth Hanowitz, District 5, Debra Figg Sanders, District 6, Gina Driscoll, District 7, Cory Givens Jr. and District 8, Richie Floyd. Good afternoon. We will call to order the June 12, 2025 City Council Meeting. If we could do a roll call, please. Driscoll, here. Here. Lloyd. Here. Gerdes. Here. Gabbard, here. Harding. Here. Hanowitz. Here. Figg Sanders. Here. Okay. Today we will have our invocation given by our own Council Member Figg Sanders, followed by a moment of silence to honor Tampa City Council Member Gwendolyn Henderson and then please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. If everybody will please stand. Thank you. Please bow with me. Here we are once again gathered together to humbly ask that today and every day be filled with mercy, understanding, and grace. That we realize our work should be a reflection of justice, equality, and inclusion. We pray that you would guide us as leaders with your divine wisdom. May we lead with integrity, seeking your guidance in all of our decisions. Father, we trust you, and we yield to your spirit and to your wisdom, to your perfect will, and pray that we not grow weary. Because as we pray for our nation, our state, our constituents, and city, I am compelled to pray the joys and trials of everyone on this dais and within the sound of my voice. Let us define our commitment with a dedication to serve. Lord, we thank you for the gift of community and for the blessings we receive through our relationships with one another. Help us to cultivate a spirit of love, kindness, and compassion within our community, within our city, so that it may be a place where all are welcomed and valued. Bless our mayor, our administration, our city team, and all who proudly call St. Petersburg home. And we also send prayers and condolences to our Tampa colleagues with the sudden loss of Councilwoman Gwendolyn Henderson, a true community advocate. Lord, we thank you, and with all of these blessings we say and pray, amen. Amen. Please join me in a moment of silence, remembering Councilmember Gwendolyn Henderson. 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. Please be seated. Councilmember Fix Sanders, thank you for that invocation. Okay, Councilmembers, we have an agenda in front of us. I'll entertain a motion for approval. Move approval. Second. Seeing as we have a motion and a second, no other Councilmembers wishing to speak. Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Councilmembers, please enter your votes. Seeing as all present Councilmembers have voted, Clerk, could you please tally and announce the vote? Mr. Chair, the motion to pass the agenda unanimously. Okay, Councilmembers, we have a consent agenda with the addition of CA1. I'll entertain a motion for approval. Move approval. Second. We have a motion and a second, seeing as no other Councilmembers wishing to speak. Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Councilmembers, please enter your votes. Seeing as all present council members have voted, clerk, could you please tally and announce the vote? Mr. Chair, the motion to pass the consent agenda passes unanimously. Okay, we'll move 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 a 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 materials must be submitted in advance of the meeting and the rules of decorum. If live public comments is disrupted by violations of the rules of decorum, the Chair is authorized to accept public comments by alternate means, including by email only. And, Mr. Chair, we do have some speakers. Okay. Let's call two at a time, please. The first two speakers is Andy Oliver and Dylan Dames. Please go to either podium. State your name and address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address council. My name is Reverend Andy Oliver. I'm pastor of Allendale United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg. I'm here today because of the vitriol directed at our unhoused neighbors during last week's meeting regarding the proposed Clean and Safe Program. Last year at Allendale, we allowed unhoused people to sleep outside our church. Some neighbors immediately accused them without evidence of defecation, theft, and other stereotypes, none of which was true. But that's how deep these assumptions run and how dangerous they are. We know what works. One-on-one, relationship-based street outreach. I want to thank the council members and committee earlier today who lifted up the need for more outreach workers, for housing-first strategies, and for mental health resources, not more systems that criminalize poverty or just shuffle people around the city. Almost every week, I reach out to Helen Rimes, one of our city's hardest-working public servants. She builds trust with those who aren't just experiencing homeless, but who have had homelessness thrust upon them because of the policies and systems that we uphold. It was said that the Clean and Safe Plan isn't about unhoused people, but last week's outrage said the quiet part out loud. I agree with Jason Mathis on one thing. Downtown should belong to everyone. But last week, when he listed who everyone includes, he left some people out. So let me fix that. Downtown belongs to the veteran sleeping in a doorway who hasn't been able to access his benefits. It belongs to the trans teen who comes to the park to feel safe when home isn't. It belongs to the grandmother living in her car, still showing up for her part-time job. It belongs to the outreach worker offering water and dignity. It belongs to the man pacing and talking to himself because our mental health system has failed him. Downtown belongs to them, too. If we say this city is for everyone, then our policies, our dollars, our compassion, our vision must reflect that, not just in speeches, but in how we treat those with the least. Because if downtown doesn't belong to the most vulnerable among us, it doesn't truly belong to any of us. Just before this meeting, a reporter asked me, so what do we call the homeless person who's angry and causing chaos, the difficult ones? I said, we call them human. And we realize that the issue isn't their existence. The real issue is our deficit of compassion and empathy. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, council. My name is Dylan Dames. I live at 4546 Fifth Avenue North in Central Oak Park. I'm speaking on behalf of Faith in Florida today. So in 2023, some of you may remember that four or five dozen folks came in here opposing the construction of Palm Lake Urban Sanctuary because they didn't want drug addicts and high-risk people in their neighborhood. This council, including council members Floyd and Gabbard, called out the classism, ableism, and selfishness in those comments and unanimously voted that the comfort of one group was not worth the well-being of vulnerable residents. Later in 2024, neighbors of my church, Allendale United Methodist Church, overwhelmed us with threats and vile comments about an encampment of unhoused folks. And even though Faith in Florida and Allendale works tirelessly, who really turned the tides in housing those people was you. Amy Foster and a street outreach team prioritized the rehousing of these people over the petty comforts and the perceived safety concerns of the neighbors. This is the kind of St. Pete that I work, organize, play shows, and call dolphins in. I advocate for this city because I've seen y'all try. This is a city with decentralized cold night shelters and tenants' rights workshops and progressive housing experiments like Innover. Commenters from the past meeting may think that unhoused people are the problem, but I think y'all are better than that. You know that the problems are gaps in wraparound services, low staff, street outreach teams, and a stubborn housing affordability crisis. I hope you'll remember that public parks are for the public. Clean and safe programs represent displacement and wealth transfers to the private sector. It does not actually promise cleanliness or safety. If an unhoused person moves from the street to anywhere else but a house, no progress has been made. I hope you'll make the right choice and lead with justice. Thank you. Next to speak is James, Jay James and Chase Harrell. Go to either podiums. Please state your name and address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address counsel. Hi. My name is Jay James and I'm a third generation native of this here city. 2042, 27th Street South, St. Petersburg, Florida, 33712. And I give homage to my ancestors and elders who helped build this city. And, you know, there are several things St. Peter's known for, and one of them is our park system. We have one of the best public park systems of any medium-sized city in this country, particularly our waterfront parks, you know. Cities are spending millions and billions to try to get what we already have. And the park that sparked all of this is Williams Park. Named after one of our founders, established 137 years ago. Quite literally the oldest thing in the city, you know. Besides, hmm, let me not do that. And it was a place for all to gather. All that is except my ancestors and those of other black residents of this city. I am disheartened to hear that the city government is entertaining a plan to take us back to a day when residents, when all residents are not welcome in Williams Park. I find it concerning that some are using the tactics and strategies of oppressive governments to feel monger y'all into doing this. Scapegoating, you know. We talked about someone being harmed. That had nothing to do with the hostess people that are Williams Park. Dehumanization. We are all humans. And to talk about people as if they are not is wild, you know. And it's just, I just find it wild that we are considering privatizing the first public institution in the city. The first. As Dylan said, public parks are for the public, you know. And the thing is called clean and safety. You know when I feel safe is when I'm with the community. And this plan would not make me feel safe in this park. I go to Williams Park frequently and I have no issues. Maybe if folk have these issues, we'll actually go and, you know, commune and talk with the folk there. They get to see that these are humans and we should do what we can to provide the resources for folk who are houseless to have a home. Housing first. But to privatize a public park and to kick folk out is wild. Hi, counsel. My name is Chase Harrell. I live at 3242 19th Avenue South, and I would also like to speak on the Clean and Safe Act that is being proposed and the demonization of our unhoused. So I'd like to start by highlighting how far the city has come. Gulf Park used to be a sundown town. We have grown as a city. However, as Jay just highlighted, we still speak of certain groups of human beings as if they are less than. The city consistently demonizes the unhoused, yet makes legislative decisions that allow homelessness to persist en masse in our community. As leaders elected to represent us, including our unhoused population, who are also human beings with human needs, then it is your job to enact meaningful, compassionate legislation that rises above persecution of marginalized groups like the unhoused. 99% of us in America are closer to being unhoused than we are to being a millionaire. Has any policy besides housing for the homeless led to these folks getting back on their feet? Is that the city of St. Pete's goal, to help our most vulnerable? The city's policies around housing have certainly failed to curb homelessness or poverty. The time to change those policies is now. Without a change, our homeless population will continue to grow as our terrible capitalist economy offers no safety nets to prevent our poorest from falling through. In the words of Ms. Fig Sanders at the start of this meeting, our unhoused need mercy, understanding, and grace. Poverty is a policy choice. These folks need housing. They need jobs. They need compassion. Not pearl-clutching from the rest of us. Is liberty and justice for all a real value that we hold or empty words we as Americans say to make others think that we are virtuous? History will always remember the choices that we make. Thank you. The next two speakers is Rowan Finley and John Stewart. Please state your name and address for the record. You only have three minutes to address counsel. Thank you. Hello, I'm Rowan Finley, 4461 Crestwood Drive, Northeast. I've lived in a lot of different places, and I truly love living in St. Pete, but I really am sorry to say that I have never lived in a place that genuinely has such awful anti-homelessness measures. If y'all want a thriving downtown, we really need an accessible downtown. If you want families downtown providing economic prosperity, we need a paradigm shift, places to sit for the elderly, places to sit for families, and a shift towards accessibility for everyone. Pushing people into the shadows just results in shady behavior and creating places where the public wants to gather, where there can be a public eye, with public bathrooms and water fountains and places to sit. That's what discourages shady behavior. If we invest in real community outreach, not increased police presence to act like mall security guards, that's what will result in real safety for everyone. I've seen what it looks like when people, and governments push people into the darkness, and I've seen what it looks like when people are allowed to be in public. Why should our government pay to cycle people in and out of jail when we could be spending it on public housing? I find myself deeply upset at the lack of public affordable housing. I find myself upset at the lack of an accessible downtown, and I find myself upset at the idea that St. Pete is a place where I can't enjoy going downtown with my family because my grandmother and spouse need places to sit regularly, and they cannot because of the anti-homelessness measures, because of the way that things are set up. I've met too many people who have become houseless in this recent hurricane, and they're still struggling. We need a paradigm shift that results in us taking care of our unhoused people and will result in prosperity for everyone. Thank you so much for your time. Have a great afternoon. Good afternoon. John Stewart, 2130 Burlington Avenue North, St. Petersburg. During the comments on the Clean and Safe Program at last week's City Council meeting, we learned that homeless people can often be a source of fear and rumor. Several people claimed that a stabbing downtown last month involved a homeless person. After five minutes on the Internet, I discovered that no one involved in that tragic incident was homeless. In fact, one of them had a house in Bradenton. If we're going to help people off the street, we need sound data, not rumors. The far more important thing we learned at last week's meeting was that virtually every speaker emphasized the need for the city to help unhoused people found housing. Yesterday, ProPublica published an article about what not to do to get people off the street. Since late spring of 2021, Portland, Oregon spent $200,000 per homeless resident. And during that time, the homeless death rate quadrupled. Why? Because they took money from stable housing and poured it into shelter beds. Councilwoman Driscoll has said that this process of helping homeless people will be a series of steps. And today, the other blue man group, VAST, is offering you a way to take that significant step. Thank you. Coupled with plundering its stable housing money, Portland carried out 19,000 sweeps, a euphemism that means doing to homeless people what Hurricane Milton did to many people in St. Petersburg, destroying their personal space and their possessions. Cities should be in the business of housing, not hurricanes. I'll send a link with this ProPublica article to email boxes later today, along with some other articles with ideas about successful cities, what they're doing. Because, I mean, we have a lot of talent here in St. Pete, but new ideas are always welcome. One thing those successful cities have in common is networks involving everybody, homeless, police, business owners, social workers, and others. Last week, St. Petersburg College Downtown Center Provost Caron Jean-Baptiste said SPC is committed to being a partner in the solution. What if the city partnered with SPC and its students to assist those in Williams Park just across the street from the college? I taught at Osceola High School in Seminole for 33 years. During that time, I invited students to join in Christmas caroling at homeless shelters, which we called still No Room in the Inn, because there isn't. One of these students was so inspired by the caroling that today she is the co-coordinator at the Celebrate Outreach weekly Saturday morning breakfast. Last week, we served 95 meals in cooperation with Metropolitan Ministries. A partnership with SPC would change lives now and in the future, and that's just one possibility. I urge you to work toward a... The next two speakers is William Kilgore and Vicki Majors. Please go to either podium, state your name and address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address counsel. My name is Vicki Majors. I live in St. Petersburg. And I'm very concerned about bikes and scooters. And I think... Can you give us a cross street? I live on Beach Drive. So I'm very concerned. I've watched a lot of vehicles, electric vehicles, scooters, skateboards, one wheels. They usually are using one hand on the handlebar, the other hand vaping or looking at their phone. I know there's been more accidents than we're told about, because I know people that have told me that. I talk to the police all the time, and they say there's nothing they can do, because they're permitted on the sidewalk. So I brought my two pictures today, not for sidewalk riding, not for sidewalk riding. The companies that make these, who knows what commitment they've made to you to get permission to add 900 more. But what they do is, the concern now is they're dropped, and they're not returned to their stalls. So I've read that one of the revenue sources may be to fine the people who dropped them. Okay? What do you think the chances of that are to really generate revenue? I don't think very much. How you can generate revenue is to license the bikes, license the people that ride the scooters, fine them when they're in violation, and then if they repeat offenders, forbid them to rent. But the place to ride them is the street. We have bike lanes rarely used. I've rarely seen anyone on a bike lane, but I do see them flying at 40 miles an hour through Staub Park, and I'm not exaggerating. They are three times faster than the cars move, and there's very few bikes that have the courage, and they're good bikers, to ride with cars. These people are all over the place. They go against the lights. They run red lights. They don't ride with traffic. They ride any way they want. They don't stop at four-way stops. So two days ago, a friend of mine lives in Tampa and Paris. He sent me the article from Le Monde, and I translated it. The bicycle, a sign once of total coolness, has become a symbol of aggression, of every man for himself, and of urban chaos. Between pedestrians, acceleration at red lights, duels with cars, one hand on handlebars, the other used for mobile phones or vapes, riding as opposite directions to traffic, and it's an unsafe environment for most. And this is Paris. New York is trying to stop it. We're adding more, 900 more, I read. I don't think, once I called once, I almost saw a waitress killed on beach bringing food out, and they don't care. They just fly. Thank you. Done? Okay. Thank you. Hi. Thank you, Chair. William Kilgore, 2550 28th Avenue North. I'm with the St. Pete Tenants Union. I want to talk about the committee meeting this morning. There's a PS&I committee. Several folks spoke about the Clean and Safe Program. I want to go into the idea of the bid, the Business Improvement District. I just want to be clear about that because that wasn't discussed. What this is, is it authorizes the wealthy property owners in downtown to direct and administer the so-called services of their choosing in public spaces and on public property. You know, so this is publicly sanctioned, privately directed. You know, the primary motivation, you know, for the lobbying behind this, it's not the benefit of the residents. It's a way for downtown property owners, these rich developers, these corporate landlords, to maximize their bottom line, grow their investments, and have a greater governance and control over public spaces, public resources, public property, such as parks. I'll give you an example, Gaslight Park in Tampa. They worked there with the city, their Business Improvement District, to remove the benches, similar part to Williams Park. They removed all the benches, and then they lent them part of the park to put this patio furniture with all these different rules that are, you know, you have to be drinking a beverage or have some food from somewhere to utilize that patio furniture. And it was an anti-homeless measure. It was nuanced, it wasn't like we're going to go in and harass people, so we'll remove the benches, things like that. Those kind of decisions that are being made, you know, and a lot of these ones, too, have private security. We don't need private security people walking around policing public spaces like that. I think it's fundamentally anti-democratic. We already have public departments to deal with all that. If we have an issue with park maintenance, you know, let's increase funding for park staffing, the parks department, create good union jobs that we have through the city. Issues with litter or graffiti. We have a sanitation department. Increase funding and staffing for them to take care of that if that's a problem. And most of all, for the homeless services, we don't want policing or bid private security, whoever it is. We need more social workers. And more importantly, we need to fund the services themselves because the services themselves are inadequate. You can go out and say, hey, sign up on this waiting list. I'm already on the waiting list. This, you know, there's wait lists, eligibility requirements, limited capacity in all these programs. And that's what needs to be focused on, not giving corporations more control over the public spaces downtown. So I wanted to share that with you. I appreciate you all listening. Thank you so much. The last two speakers, Mr. Chair, is Matt Widener and I believe it's Vendale. Lori, please go to the podium. State your name and address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address council. Members, my name is Matt Widener at 1201 Eden Isle Drive. I'm here once again to complain and express outrage over what's happening with the water bills. This is about my sixth time being in front of you about this. And I remember looking each one of you in the eyes over many hearings and in the committee of the whole in which each one of you individually expressed a direct commitment to get to the bottom of what that problem was. At the last council meeting, you guys authorized up to $65,000 to Stantec in a resolution in which Stantec was directed to report back to you about what happened. What happened? Apparently, you're not getting that report because the response that comes back from administration is that what you approved was not a prospective report to, quote, get to the bottom of the problem, but that was the information that you had in your committee of the whole packet. That is not at all what I understood. When I listened to that committee of the whole, what I heard them telling you, each one of you, was that they were going to get to the bottom of this known billing issue. Mike, did you ever get to the bottom of your dad's $1,000 bill? Do you have any idea about what happened there? Probably not. Council Member Floyd, you had a member that had money swiped out of his account, a single father who couldn't feed his kids because that money got swiped out of there. Do any of you have any idea what happened with that billing? Remember the committee of the whole, what your staff told you was the best we can come up with was the water came in and it came out and turned off the water, right? Those free flow events. Mike, you came up with the best one. It was just a glitch in the matrix. No. The thousands of dollars that are coming out of people's accounts is not a glitch in a matrix. That's debilitating to people. I'm here today specifically because I got a demand, a request, a plea from one of the salt-of-the-earth people, Rob, that you talked about that you know are not lying. And this money coming out of her account that she absolutely knows they didn't use 20,000 gallons. And yet there's no relief for her. Mike, she's reached out to you. There's no relief. You guys know this is not right. You appropriated the money for Stantec to report back to you. And yet the June 1 memo from Candace is that we're just going to start turning off power again or water again. Remember that? You guys have not gotten what you were promised. You guys have not gotten what you promised your constituents was you were going to get to the bottom of it. Any one of you has the opportunity, and I say the obligation, to set an agenda item to bring this back before you and get real answers. 6,000 bills were adjusted. Do you have any idea why they were adjusted? Do you know what the dollar value was? The people paid money for a plumber. Maybe they got a credit for, you know, 30 bucks or whatever off their bill. But they got no real relief. That memo for winter says $1.7 million in relief was provided to your taxpayers. But if they just recredited money back on a false bill, that's not relief. Any one of you can call for an agenda item. Somebody do it, please. Thank you. My name is Zandell Florinoy. I used to live at 3475 32nd Avenue North in the distant plaza housing. In distant plaza, all of a sudden got mad with me. They were taking direct deposit out of my account. They stopped. I called to find out why. They would give me no explanation. And I was in Atlanta at the time when my aunt needed to get a defibrillator. I had to rush back home because she said it was going to tow my car and move all my stuff out. I had to get on a flight, come back home. And I only got part of my clothing. Fully furnished. Memorabilia. My mother's family Bible really kills me. My furniture, dinette set, bedroom set, all gone. I had two identity thefts. I had to shut down everything. And I feel there needed to be a resolution to them funding me back. And then they turned around. I was trying to get in 55 plus because I'm independent. I don't like a lot of noise sometimes. And they wouldn't give me a voucher. And I want them to give me a voucher so I can move on. I got the elderly agent on Kroger Boulevard. They're waiting to assist me if I get a voucher. And garbage, ridiculous. Take out the garbage, two cartman pumpers. One morning, raccoon, half my body stood up. They don't fix nothing. I did my doctor primary. He was wondering why I was having breathing problems so bad because the bedroom was molded. We couldn't figure it out. So they wouldn't fix that. I called code enforcement. They got mad about that. I had pictures. Just signed a new lease and everything. And they revoked it and wouldn't give me a voucher. And I just want some resolution to that. I had baseball cards from Cooperstown, everywhere. From high school basketball at Bogey, everything. Games in Philly, New York, everything. And I drove buses up there for 20 years and never had problems. But come here to where you're spending money and people living out on the streets. I gave some people a canvas yesterday, sleeping on 31st and 4th Avenue, storming. You got to take care. If we're a community, it's got to be for everybody. We're one nation, under God, indivisible, and justice for all. Let's stick to that. Thank you. No more speakers. And nobody on Zoom. Nobody on Zoom. Okay. We'll go ahead and close open forum. And we're going to move into awards and presentations. And we've got a distinguished citizen award given by Vice Chair Hanowitz. Thank you, Chair. This is one of the best things we do as city council members is to recognize outstanding citizens in our city. And I'm honored today to honor a wonderful young lady in our city. She's extraordinary, someone who has grown up in St. Petersburg and is now representing our city, not just nationally, but internationally. And that's Sonoma Casica. Sonoma began her journey in sports early. She's playing soccer since she was three years old. Over the years, she has trained, competed, and honed her skills, ultimately earning herself a place as a goalkeeper on multiple U.S. women's youth national soccer teams. She made her international debut with the under-17 women's national team, then helped Team USA bring home a bronze medal at the Pan American Games in Chile. And this March, she was called up again to the under-20 U.S. national team. To put that in perspective, the under-20 women's national team camp roster features just 22 college players and two professionals from throughout the United States. Only a small percentage of high school players make it to a college team, and even a smaller percentage progress further. So let's give her a round of applause for her. And that is so impressive. Sonoma Casica. That's just the tip of the iceberg, because throughout the years of training and dominating on the soccer field, Sonoma has been just as focused in her other pursuits. She graduated from Short Crest with honors, joined multiple national honor societies, and served all four years on student council, while ranking nationally in not one, but two sports. You see, not only is Sonoma a successful soccer goalie, she is also a four-time Florida state champion in the javelin, a state record holder, and an All-American who placed fourth in the nation at the 2023 Nike U.S. Outdoor Nationals. Wow. Now, coming off her freshman year at Notre Dame, Sonoma has, without a doubt, continued her streak of excellence. She started as goalkeeper in 17 matches, helping to lead her team to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament and earning a spot on the All-ACC academic team. Sonoma's blend of athletic, academic, and personal achievement doesn't happen by accident. It's the result of years of discipline, resilience, and heart. Sonoma is the kind of student athlete and the kind of person who sets a powerful example for our young people here in St. Petersburg, and none of this happens without support. So I want to take a moment to recognize the coaches, the mentors, the teachers, the friends, and especially her family. Her grandmother, Pat's here, her parents, Amy and Joe, her sister, Molly, who have walked, run, and trained alongside Sonoma on this journey. Two of her biggest supporters that I love to recognize are her Short Crest track and field coach and director of admissions coach, Mark Brown, as well as her goalkeeping coach, Kristen Russell, from Florida Premier Football Club. Your guidance and your belief in her potential have made a lasting impact, and we thank you for being part of the village that raised this remarkable young woman. Now, before we present the award, we'll show two short videos that offer a glimpse into Sonoma's journey. The first video aired back in February of 2023 when Sonoma was a junior and had just made the under-17 women's national team. The second video is a highlight clip featuring Sonoma in action during a September 2024 match in Notre Dame. It's just one of the many moments from an incredible freshman season, and with that, can you please play the videos? Sonoma Casica is back on Short Crest Prep's campus after spending nine days with the USA's under-17 youth soccer team in London. It was a golden opportunity to experience where the game was developed in the 12th century. It's something that someone could ever dream of doing, representing your country on an international stage like that, getting to where, you know, the USA crest, and getting to play and just having such a passion for the sport. It's a dream come true, and I can't wait to, you know, look into the future. It's a bright future for this high school junior who was just one of 20 players invited to play for the U.S. soccer team. It's a big step towards her ultimate goal of representing USA in women's soccer. Growing up, I've always, you know, watched Alex Morgan, Alyssa Nair, all my U.S. women's national team icons, and I've always thought, you know, I want to make it there one day. I want to be there. I want to inspire young girls like, you know, they've inspired me my entire life. As a 17-year-old junior, Sonoma has a lot of options. She's pretty good in soccer on the U.S. women's 17-and-under team, but she's also pretty good when it comes to track and field. In the javelin, she's won back-to-back state championships in her first two seasons. USA wasn't the first invitation for Sonoma. Last summer, her javelin skills as a two-time state champion got her a call-up to the Nike Invitational in Oregon. At first, it was a hobby. Freshman year, when I came out here, I didn't know what to expect, and then winning states and the end of my freshman year, it was an amazing honor. It's a very fun sport. It's almost an outlet away from soccer, too. Her goal is to go for the four-year high school sweep in the javelin. So, is there a conflict on which sport she'll play when she heads off to Notre Dame in two years? Right now, for college, I'm going to just focus on soccer. I love javelin. I love it so much, but soccer, you know, has been such a big part of my life. I've been playing it for 12 or 13 years. I can never let that go. Also, to focus on soccer after, hopefully going pro and focusing on that during college. In St. Petersburg, Kevin O'Donnell, Fox 13 Sports. We have one more video. So, Sonoma, your list of accomplishments in long, but what matters is most. Most is your heart, your humility, and your desire to grow. I'm so glad your sister, my daughter, and other little girls look up to you, who remind us that greatness comes not just from ability, but from perseverance and purpose in achieving our goals. On behalf of the City of St. Petersburg, I'm proud to present you with the Distinguished Citizen Award. You are an inspiration, and we can't wait to see what comes next. And now I will read the award. Whereas a great city is only as great as those persons who give exemplary service to their communities, whether through participation in voluntary programs, through unique personal achievement in their profession or other endeavors, or simply through a lifetime of good citizenry. And whereas such service that is truly the lifeblood of the community and the city so often goes unrecognized and unrewarded. Now, therefore, as a duly elected member of the St. Petersburg City Council, I hereby recognize that in Sonoma, Cassica, we have an outstanding citizen, one who is worthy of the esteem of both the community and the great city of St. Petersburg. Congratulations. Thank you so much. I'm incredibly honored to receive the Distinguished Citizen Award from the City of St. Pete, my hometown and the community that helped shape me who I am. Firstly, thank you so much to the St. Pete City Council for presenting me with this award. It is truly an honor to be recognized in such a positive light. Thank you to my coaches, teachers, teammates, and especially my family. Your belief in me has been my foundation through every challenge and success. To my family, especially my parents, you are my constant. Your sacrifices, encouragement, and endless love have guided me through every challenge and helped me stay grounded through every success. This award means more than recognition. It's a reminder to lead with purpose, give back, and represent the city with pride wherever I go. To the younger students out there, keep dreaming big and working hard. You never know where your dedication will take you. Thank you again for this amazing honor. I'm proud to be from St. Pete today and always. Thank you. Well, congratulations, Sonoma. Thank you for representing St. Petersburg so well. I very much hope that my daughter is watching right now so she has something to strive for. To your parents, first of all, awesome name. And for a lot of different reasons. But having a unique name, I love seeing other unique names. Then you add Sonoma to it. I have a son named Cade. And so, but just thank you for everything you've done to pour in. You know, being, I was not the athlete, not even in the same universe. But I just know what it's like to have parents that pour into you to give you that gift of being able to go and go after your dreams and to be able to go to the next level and to the next level and to the next level. And so, a big thank you to your parents and to your teams. But, Sonoma, thank you so much for all that you do, all the work that you put in. And know that we're cheering for you and we want to see you at the next national team and then your professional career. And we'll have you back when those things happen. How's that? Yep. All right. Congratulations. Okay. We're going to move into legal. And we've got I-1. And I think Joe Patner is joining us. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Afternoon counsel. Here on two matters. I'll take up the settlement first, which I think is the first one listed. It's a plaintiff, Kammer DePila versus City of St. Petersburg. This is an employment matter. The plaintiff was a technician with the city and filed a complaint based on, under Section 1983, a complaint based on harassment. She alleged due to race and ethnicity as well as retaliation. There were two counts that were dismissed by the federal judge. There were two that remained. And we took on balance trying to judge the defenses as well as what sort of evidence the plaintiff could bring forward. And we came to a resolution of $75,000, so I think it's fair under the circumstances. Like I said, everything's all about balance and risk. I'm not saying the department did anything wrong. I know the directors have denied that they did anything wrong. I have no reason to disbelieve them. However, when we kind of balance, you know, the risk of it, like I said, I personally feel it's a fair settlement. Move approval. We have a motion and a second. Seeing as no other council members wishing to speak, clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Council members, please enter your votes. Seeing as all present, council members have voted. Clerk, please tally and announce the vote. Mr. Chair, the motion to approve agenda item I-1 passes unanimously with Council Member Hanowitz being absent. Okay. Thank you. All right. And now we'll move on to I-2. Thank you. And thank you for the previous vote, Council. In a somewhat related matter, this is, I'm bringing forward a resolution to approve a $50,000 retainer to retain the, to re-retain the firm of Jones Hurley and Hand. They have done, um, have handled our employment work in the past, but currently handling our workers' compensation, um, when they've helped us out on, uh, employment in the past, uh, just using the same terms as we did a few years back, um, I'm hopeful or there, this could be temporary, maybe a little bit longer until we found the right employment person to, to fit in. But anyway, we think that we're, this will position us nicely, you know, for the near term. Second. We have a motion and a second. Seeing as no other council members wishing to speak, clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Council members, please send your votes. Seeing as all present, council members have voted. Clerk, please tally and announce the vote. Mr. Chair, the motion to approve agenda item I-2 passes unanimously with Council Member Hanowitz being absent. Thank you, Joe. Thank you. Thank you, council. Thank you, Chair. Okay. We're going to move into reports, and we're going to start with F-1, Saturday Shops Update, and we are joined by founder, and CEO, Renee AdWords. Yeah, go ahead. So first of all, thank you, Renee and team that are here. Um, this is an update of what it is that we are trying to do in the city of St. Petersburg. You know, we spoke earlier, um, in regards to those, um, communities, those needs of the city of St. Petersburg that, um, need additional help to get others where they're going. So I know Renee is going to go into the history of this, but what outlined this for me and encouraged me to continue to support this initiative is that it took small business owners that did not have the opportunity to share their wares, to sell their wares, um, and some of the, the stories that we've been able to have success for has blossomed. And I know she's not going to say it on, you know, herself, but small businesses need much support in the city of St. Petersburg. Our city is growing and to be able to provide the opportunities for them, um, to be able to grow, learn entrepreneurship, um, and how the opportunity to do so was the reason why I wanted for Renee Edwards and Saturday shops and the other ventures. And I'm going to see if she's going to tell all of her ventures, um, to be seen by council members today, because we are truly helping, um, a community in the city of St. Petersburg. And I'm proud to introduce the founder of Saturday shops, Ms. Renee Edwards. Hello. Hello everybody. I'm Renee Edwards from 2905 87th place North. So Saturday shops was born from a place where we had nowhere to sell our wares. We started Saturday shops at Bethel community on 54th Avenue South and Saturday shops began to expand from there. Uh, Saturday shops is also, uh, venture capitalists for academies. So we have the interactive vendor Academy and we also have the retail teaching Institute that takes place at Brandon mall in everyday shops. With the Institute currently we have had over 300 graduates and we also have had 104 vendors inside the store. Saturday shops also has a phase two of their vendor Academy, which is hosted at the chamber. We currently have five minority business owners inside the chamber store. Saturday shops has had 114 markets averaging 80 vendors per event. Saturday shops markets have generated over 1.14 million in small business revenue in four years. Additionally, 102 vendors participating in the everyday shops retail location have collectively earned more than 228,000 in sales since April of 2024. The difference, the difference is all of our courses are interactive. You get to learn in the classroom and you get to learn in the classroom and you're able to practice in the store and also at the markets. You're able to work with your skillset and better your best Saturday shops is also community to date. We have given away more than 5,500 hot meals and over 2000 turkeys to our families in St. Pete. Also, our backpack giveaway is the largest backpack giveaway in Pinellas County. Annually, we provide 2,500 loaded grade level backpacks with 1,000 uniforms to the community free of charge. For fundraising, we have hosted our second golf tournament. Our first year we raised $25,000. This year we raised $34,000. Our next steps, we're looking to partner with St. Pete Fire Department and Duke Energy to do an interactive food truck academy. The food truck academy should prevent some of the issues we've seen with food trucks catching on fire and stuff of that nature. So we're working to build that academy to start for 2026. Some of our milestones are having our first vendor in the Grand Prix and also creating our first interactive workbook academy. Finances. It typically takes $8,000 to $15,000 per event depending on size and location. We've seen from 3,000 to 7,000 customers that shop Saturday shops on any given Saturday. Thank you guys for taking the time. I have two vendors here with me that have been with me from the start. So the first one is Son of a Brisket. Good afternoon, everybody. Naja Campbell. As she said, Son of a Brisket. That's how she knows me. I go by Son of a Brisket. I'm from Tampa. Renee's helped me out. Not Tampa, Texas. I'm sorry. Renee's helped me out a lot just in our short time of knowing each other. I originally met her. I was laying in bed and I was just looking for events to go to when I first started my food truck. And she was one of the first ones to reach back out to me. She gave me the chance to jump into her vendor class when it was already full. She said that was because she liked my name. So she gave me a chance. So here we are four years later. As she said, you know, I was in the Grand Prix this year and I appreciate her for that. But the opportunity of that, she's also given me the opportunity to just help out with the golf tournament she was speaking of. And one thing that I told her, I said, I don't want anything for this. If you're helping out the city, I want to be there as well to help out too. Whenever the hurricanes came through last year, she was like, hey, we need food trucks. I said, let me know where I'm going. And I'm there. Renee Saturday Shops, they are all about helping out women and minority owned businesses as well as other businesses as well too. Just not specific to that. But just for me, it's a family. I really enjoy being a part of it. I really enjoy working with the city of St. Pete. As I tell everybody all the time, St. Pete shows us love, so we're going to show love back. I appreciate y'all. Thank y'all for your time. And Ruthenia's Place. I'm Ruthenia George. I'm the owner of Ruthenia's Place that I run with actually three of my 20-plus grandchildren. The three of them my husband and I have custody of, and the reason why I started Ruthenia's Place was to teach them that there is life after trauma and that they could live out their dreams. They didn't have to settle for statistics and the trauma that life was throwing at them. And so one of them who usually, as Renee will tell you, is my right-hand man. He's usually everywhere with me. We started four years ago. He was 10. He's now, whoo, he is now, will be 14 this month, and it has been a tremendous blessing. We started out with Renee at one of the first events at Bethel Community Church. I had no idea what I was doing, knew nothing about vending. All I knew is I prayed and asked the Lord what I could do for my family and to leave a legacy for my grandchildren, and he gave me Ruthenia's Place. And we went out there, set up three tables, didn't know what we were doing, didn't know how to set it up. And actually somebody came out there and gave us a $25 donation the first time we were out. So I've taken part in the first academy class that was given for Saturday Shops. We have advanced into everyday shops where we go out, and he travels with me. We go out, and we do bead demonstrations there at everyday shops. So it has been a great blessing, and we're looking for continued growth. The girls, they do the artwork, some of the artwork behind the scenes, so we're more than just beaded items. We also create sensory stimulation items for those that are neurodivergent. We create resin art and canvas art as well as hair accessories, and so the girls help out a lot. They're quiet and behind the scenes, whereas Mr. Darion, he is the director of customer relations because he loves doing all the talking. So that is what he does. He will talk to anybody, anywhere about everything. So the growth has been, as a matter of fact, when we did the first class, he was in it with me. When we did the first session of when they taught us the appropriate way to set up our vending tables and how to display our merchandise, he was a part of that also. So he has enjoyed, and he has learned from it as well. He even went so far as to take a business class at Hollins High School, where he is in Hollins, because of the inspiration that he has gotten from all of this. So thank you for the opportunity and the advancement. Thank you. Okay, let's go to Councilmember Gibbons. Thank you so much, and thank you so much, Ms. Edwards, for being here, and to each of you as vendors. I appreciate you for showing up as well. I tried Son of a Brisket at the Grand Prix, and I took some home, and it was delicious, even better the next day. So thank you very much. Again, Ms. Edwards, you are a silent force in this city, and I appreciate all that you do. For years, you have been behind the scenes, moving and shaking, and, you know, I was talking to Shelly the other day, and we were like, who was the person? I asked her, who was the person that got all those food trucks out during the hurricane? And she said it was Renee Edwards. So I can remember when we had folks who were in need who didn't have power and electricity. It was you who brought out your guns. You really did, and you made it happen, so I appreciate you for that. I do have a couple of questions. My first question is about the economic impact. Can you talk a little bit about the jobs that you've created through Saturday Shops, jobs that have been created by some of your vendors? How has it impacted you and the businesses that you're working with? So with the jobs that we've created, we've created 10 jobs for the Saturday Shops team. We also have five staff members inside Everyday Shops, and all of our vendors, especially my food trucks, they've expended their staff. Like, son of a brisket, how many you have now? Oh, he's added Monica, he's added more people. So basically each one of them, as long as they're creating revenue, they're able to create staff. So all of us have grown with at least four or five staff members on Saturday, every food truck. Awesome, and that shows, that's just a testament to the fact that not only are you eating, but you're helping other families eat as well. Absolutely. That's amazing. I do have an exciting point that I was just so happy to make mention of, and that's the Food Truck Academy. So thank you so much for doing that. I've talked to so many businesses that are looking for a place where they can get that development, that capital, the knowledge. And so I appreciate you pulling all your resources together and making that happen there. I do have a question. Are you connected to the greenhouse? And so what services do they provide? Yes, we're still in conversations about it because we're looking to actually buy the food truck, and the greenhouse actually hosts the academy part there on site. So we're still in negotiations discussing it. Awesome news. Wonderful. And what is your vendor selection process? If someone wanted to become a vendor for those who are listening or people in the audience who might have a food truck or they may have a product that they want to sell at Saturday Shops, how do they go about doing that? What they do is they go on the website, and they fill out the information section, and it comes directly to me, and then we set up a consult. Thank you. My last question, can you talk about Everyday Shops? Did you say that was located at the Branden Mall? Yes, Everyday Shops is in the Branden Mall. It's the retail store directly across from Charlotte Roots. So Everyday Shops also has the Retail Teaching Institute associated with it. So they're learning how to better their brands, how to expand their business while their products are on the shelf, and they also get real customer feedback. So that actually helps them. So Saturday Shops, you start there, and then going to Everyday Shops is like a promotion pretty much. Great. Is there a reason why you chose Branden instead of somewhere like Tyrone Mall? Tyrone Mall doesn't have the traffic. It doesn't have the crowd that we were looking for to sustain because mall rent is very expensive. So we currently pay $4,500 a month, and we couldn't do that at Tyrone. Appreciate that. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Our friends being here today, I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Councilmember Floyd. Thank you. I don't have any questions. I just wanted to take an opportunity to say thank you for the work that you're doing in the community. You know, I've participated with nonprofits that have signed up to come out to events that you put on, as well as I have a friend who comes out quite regularly, and I've referred other people. I don't know if those have panned out or not. But really, I think one of your points, Councilmember Gibbons, is the process to sign up with you all is very straightforward. And in a lot of other circumstances, it's not. It's quite onerous just to become a vendor at, like, a market-based thing. So I really appreciate that, and I think that, you know, every time I go to an event, it gets better. Some of the best events I've been to in the city have been ones that you've put on. So I just wanted to take a second and say thank you because we haven't spoken before. But I recommend you to people all around town. I really appreciate the work that you do. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Vice Chair Hanowitz. Thank you, Chair. And just like Councilmember Floyd, I just want to take the opportunity to thank you for what you do. And I thought it was a great presentation because it just showed all the elements that you're tackling, the educational component, and making sure that the vendors out there have all the resources that they need to succeed. And I love these two vendors that came here. And I have to say I agree with you. Son of a brisket is a fantastic name, and I smile every time I hear it. So thank you for being here. Councilmember Gabbard. Well, I'm just going to pour on and say thank you as well. But specifically, thank you, Renee, for the work that you did after the hurricanes and getting the food trucks out, getting food in people's bellies when times were dire. People were working hard. People were trying to save what they could from their properties. And just knowing that we as, you know, councilmembers and my legislative aide could bring a warm plate from a food truck to a family to help them made all the difference in the world in those moments. So thank you, thank you, thank you. And I hope you all heard that address that she gave for her residence. She is one of mine now. She lives in District 2. And we've got some good plans for what's coming up in Fossil Park later on this year. So stay tuned. Unity doesn't just happen on the west side, just so you know, Council Chair Gurdis. We're going to be having some unity on the north side, too. Absolutely. South side of the world. Yes. So Renee is spreading her love far and wide, and we are here for it. So thank you, thank you, thank you. And thank you for everything that you do. And congratulations. Councilmember Fitzsanders. Okay, well, you know, I still have a whole lot to say because we've been there since day one. And I hope everyone is hearing what is really happening. When you take a no, several no's, and you turn it into a yes, not only for yourself, but for hundreds of other vendors. Renee did not brag enough when it comes down to these ventures. When she started, she doesn't get a lot of funding. We don't give city funding much at all. She's not telling the fact that she went into her own 401k to fund it initially. She's not telling the fact that she has spread its Saturday shop from Chicago to Tallahassee, from Atlanta to Miami. Now you're going to, you're in Lakeland. And all of these people see you now. And then you've been, been invited to so many different events to host this, to host that, because your niche has been supporting small business owners and vendors. And again, I like to say there was, there was one of your vendors that was homeless. Absolutely. And you were able to help her. See, you don't tell all of these stories that you should tell of all the things that you've actually done. And I don't know if I can tell the other surprise. I'll let you save that one for that. But she, she's a straight, true, hard worker. And she never does it for Renee Edwards. She didn't tell anybody that while she was out delivering food, she lost everything after the storm as well and had to move. And you would never know that she was having that down spiral of her own life because she was out there trying to help other people uplift theirs. And so the main reason why I support you so strongly is because the people that you helped pull from a really bad place, you've allowed them to learn, grow, facilitate true entrepreneurship, which is so many people that, for whatever reason, cannot get a job in the workplace, could not get any type of employment anywhere else, could not vend anywhere else. I don't know if you've told anybody no, because I know you haven't told anybody no that I've referred. So I'm hoping that everyone is listening and learning and looking because our small businesses need that support. Everybody don't make $100,000 a year or they can come and get certain assistance. I hope people are listening. And as far as the store, y'all got to try it. Brenda Mall, right across from the Apple Store, just before you get to the food court, right next to Books a Million. When I tell you, she has a prime location, a prime location. And I just have to tell you how proud I am of you. Thank you. I really am. I am super, super proud of everything that you've done and all the people that you benefit and that you help and that you're supported. So please know, we're going to continue to not only brag, but we're getting ready to come in bed because we're going to need some further assistance. I'm so excited about the Food Truck Academy. Me too. So again, with that being said, thank you for coming so that the community can see. And I don't think they saw that picture of Magic Johnson, who you were standing next to. Yes, it was me. But thank you so much, Renee, for all that you've done for the community. A lot of our unsung heroes are not elevated or celebrated as they should. And so for that, I say thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Christina. Thank you, Mr. Sutter. Well, don't go anywhere yet. Bye. Renee, thank you so much for all the work that you do. And I know it's been said by multiple council members, but there's so much more work that it's not even in this. And so every time I see you outside of being in here, you're just working, constantly working. And so I'm just so proud of what you have created. And I've just been watching from the outside, and it's been fun to watch. And so I know, as you've heard, my colleagues feel the same, and I know the city does too. Now, Son of a Brisket got a lot of love up here. But listen, I'm a bead person, so you've got a future customer here. I've got a seven-year-old daughter. I've got to continue to make sure that I've got a rotation of things on this wrist. So we'll connect. I needed to make sure that both vendors got some love. But just, I'm so proud to continue to watch, and not only about what you've already created, but what you're going to create. I think that's what I'm really, really looking forward to, is over the next couple years, watching where it goes. Because it's been very exciting and just unbelievably impactful. So thank you so much for joining us today, and thank you for everything you're doing, and know that you have our support. Thank you. Also, I don't know if I can say it, but Mike, you are my very first sponsor, and my continued sponsor. So thank you. Thank you so much. All right. Hey, write it on one of those cards and give it to me. I got a Netsy account. I didn't know what it was until seven years ago. All right. We are going to move on to F2, Hidden Voices Update, and I'm going to turn it back over to Councilmember Fig Sanders. Thank you so much. So today is my day of recognizing those that have made a major contribution to some of those voices that are not heard. We were having an Enough is Enough campaign because of the gun violence in the city of St. Petersburg and those that it strongly impacted. And so the idea of providing those services and resources was born out of the Hidden Voices project that I was so glad to be able to have the mayor's office fund. What Hidden Voices is, and I'm not going to take any thunder from Ms. Ether, but what Hidden Voices is, it takes our returning citizens, and it provided them with opportunities. It provided them with mental health counseling. It provided them with food. It was strong in the community, and it is going to continue to remain strong. So we're, what, four years in now? We're four years in now, and I am so excited to have Esther Sani. Yes. I got it right. Esther Sani here to present this project by request so that we can see other things that are good in St. Pete. While we're making something hard and difficult by providing resources, a good opportunity for some of our returning and homeless citizens as well. So with that, I want to introduce Ms. Esther Sani. All right. Thank you so much, Council Member and Chair, Vice Chair, and Council Members. As standing here today in a different role, standing here as the Director of Programs and Staff Development for PERC, what Council Member Fig Sanders did not mention is about four and a half years ago, there was a prayer circle. And I remember the prayer circle, and it was Council Member Fig Sanders, and it was, at the time, Council Member Lisa Willow Bowman, Pastor Lewis Murphy, and several other community leaders that came together. And the reason they came together is because there was a lot of gun violence taking place in the community. Hidden Voices was born from the gun violence that was taken over our community, but it also was born because there were individuals that was coming out of prison that had absolutely no resources. And the resources and the only organization that stood up as the champion for those individuals as it related to Second Chances was PERC. And so the conversation started with Council Member Fig Sanders and Michael Gelazo, who's here. Raise your hand, Mr. Gelazo. Greetings, sir. And really came together to say what needs to be done, and not only what needs to be done, but how can we do it? And so I went back to 2021 and pulled a quote from Council Member Fig Sanders, and that quote simply says, It's no secret that our city, our communities, and our nation has experienced an upsurge in gun violence, but who has that violence impacted the most? And then have we heard those voices? And that's how Hidden Voices was born. And so we initially focused on navigating administrative startup hurdles. The program, of course, has since transformed into a comprehensive model of healing, engagement, and empowerment. By 2025, Hidden Voices has reached over 3,000 individuals and families, with currently 50 active clients, and actually I think two or three more were enrolled this week, receiving consistent case management and wraparound services. Under the leadership, and I want to pause here because it says under the leadership of Esther Matthews, only because Ms. Deshaun Mims has transitioned to another powerful program, but I do need to pause and thank Deshaun Mims for all of the work that she did. When she came in and led and took the helm of this program, it was a haphazard, peace here, peace here. And she, with all of her skills and all of her gifts, built it into what it is. So I do the paperwork, but she has really built Hidden Voices into what it has become. And so thank you, Deshaun. And then it's a collaborative team, right? It's a collaborative team for the program that's expanded its focus to meet what has become very complex and changing needs within our community. And so we talk a little bit here about what it is, what this project is, and what it has grown into. And I won't verbatim go through it. I know you guys have it in front of you, so I promise you I'm not going to word by word read it. But I think it's important to know that it has evolved into a true trauma-informed, community-driven initiative that supports all individuals that walk in the door. When they walk in the door, it's not a turnaround. It's how can we serve you in a way that's very holistic, but also a bridge to ensure that you're connected to the community as a whole. While dealing with all of the stuff that they walk in the door with, systemic trauma, recent release from incarceration, violence, and just really providing meaningful support to them. We have here in UC where this is where we began. Clearly, we know that during the hurricanes, we experienced a serious intake and needs. That intake and needs led to us shutting down 16th Street, pulling resources from South Florida, pulling resources from North Florida, and coming together and really dropping, I think it was three semi-trailers of trucks and just dropping resources. And the individuals that walked in the doors just from the trauma that they experienced through the hurricanes shows in the increase in clients that we served. This here is a breakdown where you'll see clients enrolled, actively engaged, unduplicated, administrative, full-time staff, contract staff, and street team support. When we talk about, and listening earlier, and we were talking about the need to clean up our city and clean up our streets and beautify, we have a team that does that. And they're very intentional with what they're doing. I think it's important to know that when we're looking for resources citywide, the resources are here. We just need to tap into those resources. The data is here. I won't go over it verbatim. I know you guys like it sometimes and you don't, but I'm going to skip past it. I want to talk about a little bit about where we're going. And so as we talk about how this program has evolved, we are and have started the process of doing a trauma support and peer counseling component of Hidden Voices. We're looking to do groups that will be housed and staffed by PERC, but we're actually opening the doors right now at no charge to individuals that have experienced this. We're also being very intentional with our street outreach and our neighborhood clean up with a purpose. And so what does that look like? We have other organizations reaching out to our team saying, can you come and support? And so when we say that we're out doing it, they recognize what we're doing it. We're doing it with pride, and they are coming to us seeking the assistance from us. We are being very intentional with our community events. We have a men's empowerment event that's taken place. Many of you have heard about the She Can Brunch, but we have other events that are happening in collaboration with other organizations as well as what we're doing. And then our workforce development and second chance hiring. And we are ramping that up and being very intentional with collaborations across the city, ensuring that when individuals walk in the door, we're not just referring them, but we're making sure that they have what they need. And sometimes that need is job placement. And so we're being intentional with that as well, as well as the workforce readiness, and then partnering with employers that are not just saying they're doing it, but they're doing right now hiring. Interestingly enough, we had one such employer at the office today, and they were doing on-the-spot interviews and hiring those individuals that are in our Tiny Homes program. So as always, we want to talk about obstacles and challenges. You know, the obstacles and challenges of what they are. I don't think it's unique to our city, but housing, of course, is a challenge. What we're doing to ensure that the clients or the individuals that walk into the door, we're building and consistently massaging the relationships with the landlords that we have in place. Substance use and career readiness has been a challenge as well. What we're doing is partnering with, excuse me, our hub, but also expanding the access to the trauma-informed wraparound support services that we are providing and adding an addiction recovery piece component to that as well. And then our last challenge is fragmented access. Sometimes in our community, it's very fragmented. We'll hear something is happening or some services available, and then we will not send our clients, but we'll call to check on it ourselves, and we'll hear that that's no longer available. So what we're looking to do is just build up a space or even an in-house database where we have ourselves massaged it to ensure that what is being said is offered is, in fact, that. Opportunities for growth, right? We are excited about the hub St. Pete office on 16th Street. It is the former office that we were in. It is exciting, one, because the historical nature of it. It's Dr. David T. Welch's accounting office, and so there is so much history. You know, it's often that we hear that Dr. Welch wanted that space to be a hub for the community, and so it's exciting that it has become that and continues to be that. Cross-sector collaboration. We will continue to strengthen our partnerships across the board, housing, mental health, and workforce sectors, the peer-led engagement and counselings. Those are ramping up and moving forward, ensuring that we are not only offering that, but partnering with Life From Inside Out with Mr. John Bailey and others, gun violence, trauma support. We are moving that forward, as well as the workforce development and second chance hiring, and, of course, in collaboration with St. Pete Works, Career Source, and all administrative solutions. So I always like to round it up, not only with photos, but a success story, and this success story is one that I don't know if Deshaun wants to talk about. You want me to do it? Yep. Fantastic. Hey, everybody. Okay. All right. So these are some success stories from some of the clients that we've had for Hidden Voices. JJ first came to Hidden Voices. He was definitely feeling very overwhelmed, talked to me about self-harm, mental health, really feeling very defeated, not to mention, like, his financial strain would not allow him to pay for the mental health through his insurance. So I was able to connect him with the hub, which allowed him to get no-cost mental health resources, as well as case management support to ensure that his financial needs are being met. Recently, as well, I supported a self-employed veteran who also was dealing with some domestic violence issues in his home and decided to go into a shelter. He had three small children that were in grade school, as well as were preparing to get his kids for the summer from North Carolina. So we talked, and he told me that he didn't have housing, was really kind of confused as far as to where he was going to go, not to mention with the DCF custody case that he had. Getting his children during the summer was extremely important. So we talked, and I was able to get him housing. The Bayou Court recently had their release of, like, grand opening for housing. So he was able to get into that housing as low-income, and he was able to have his children. Thank you, Deshawn. So I wanted Deshawn to come up and really talk about the clients, because she's the first line. She has been the first line with these interactions, but it also is a lot of partnerships that are almost embedded in this community. When we talk about Bayou Court Yard, Deirdre, who is the property manager there, she's a part of the organization that I lead. And so when she knows that housing is coming up, she immediately is reaching out to Deshawn, immediately reaching out to me and saying, who do you have? And I think as we move forward, those are the partnerships that we need to massage. I feel like the property managers need to know us by name and reach out to us directly when openings are available. And that's the bridge that we're building and have been building now for the last four years. And so I really rounded it up by saying what began as a platform for marginalized individuals to be heard has evolved into a true trauma-informed, community-driven initiative that supports healing, resilience, and self-determination. I'll skip and just say today, Hidden Voices is more than a support program. It's a movement towards equity, restoration, and second chances by combining emotional healing with tangible opportunity where we are helping individuals not just survive, but truly thrive. I think it's a feather in our cap that Hub St. Pete, the city administration, and you guys saw the need for the hubs to be stood up. The resources that they are providing to individuals in our community is unsurpassed. And so when we begin to have conversations about the needs and sustainability and continuation, we need to know that those resources, those organizations, those services that are here, we need to ensure that we are working really hard to maintain them because the need is insurmountable. And then pictures. Yay! Always good to see pictures. And so some of these pictures is the She Can brunch this year. We started She Can brunch the first year with 25 people three years ago. And how many attended? 200 attended this event. And again, it's just powering and really pouring into single moms and business owners and youth. And oh my gosh, it's fantastic. And then you see this young lady to the right. That would be me looking cute, talking to the kids. I know y'all think I'm cute. It's cool. And then again, more photos. These photos were during our hurricane recovery. We were out there being very intentional. You'll see a young lady that says, enough is enough. Our council member, Fig Sanders, was out there with us. I know council member Gabbert was out there with us. Council member Gerdes was out there. Before he became council member, Givens was out there and so many others. I know that council member Driscoll was on the ground level. And I think I saw council member Hanowitz on Facebook doing some stuff and also Mr. Hardy. You know, it is important when the community sees those that are elected toe-to-toe, arm-to-arm, elbow-to-elbow with them in these circumstances and situations. So it made a difference and I wanted to make sure that I put this photo up and then to open it up for questions. Okay, council member Gabbert. Thank you, chair. And thank you, Esther and Deshawn, for the presentation today and for all your good work. Mike, I see you over there. Yes. Thank you for being here with us. And a special thank you to council member Deborah Figg-Sanders. I have watched you from the day you came to this dais, but many, many years before, do this work in the community and be an advocate for the community. And I think that we are starting to see some of the progress, but I know you must share in the sentiment that we have a long way to go. Yesterday, I had my one-on-one, one-on-two, or two-on-two, me and Kim and the two of you, about the RISE program as well. And so I'm just curious if you can maybe share a little bit about how those two programs can work together, because obviously we have the same institutional knowledge and talent leading both of those programs. But there must be overlaps that are critical. And from a council member, I want to understand where those overlaps are, but where the gaps are between the two. So can you kind of maybe thread that together a little bit? Absolutely. Oftentimes, I say it is truly a puzzle that's put on a table, and the puzzle pieces just begin to come together. Many of the youth that are a part of the RISE program were coming to us, not only because of the hurricane, but through the justice system. And we have been able to connect the parents of some of those youth to some of the programs that PERC has. One such program is the Tiny Homes program. But in particular, and it just so happened, it wasn't a community Tiny Homes program, but one of the youth's parents, dad, was coming out of prison and happened to be luckily accepted into the Tiny Homes program, but also in that same vein, a lot of the youth that we've been dealing with are dealing with heavy mental health challenges. And so when we talk about connectivity, we're talking about how PERC has stood as a emblem of mental health services, second chances, and then, and this is a family holistic look. And then, with the hub now being in place, being very intentional with those resources right on site, right, on 16th Street, to the point where we can walk individuals down there, walk our youth down there, call therapists on a Saturday and say, listen, what can we do to get this youth or this mom or this dad in? And oftentimes, the work doesn't, it does, it begins sometimes eight to five, but it doesn't end at five. And so there are Saturdays where we're navigating the space of PERC clients who are dealing with things and then their children, and then reaching out to the hub to say, how can we get this family into counseling? So it's almost a pattern of weaving everything together with everyone also having very individual needs. And I see it almost from the conversation we had yesterday of RISE being on the front end as it pertains to trying to stop gun violence, specifically as one issue that you're touching, and PERC on the other side of the back end. Okay, so maybe the violence has occurred, but then how do we restore? And how do we move individuals forward back into our community and make them successful going forward? Right. So it's a two-prong approach on both sides of a complex issue. I think so, for sure. You know, RISE is very, very, very centrally focused on our young people, ages 10 to 17. And PERC is very centrally focused on our adults. But also we know that in the homes of our adults are children. And so you're right when you say that it's two prongs working together. I think the benefit of all of it is that Michael Gelazo likes me. And so when we have these ideas, okay, I want to make sure because we're on record. When we have conversations and we talk about, right, how can we really serve the community, it's not just this is a service that I provide. We have holistic conversations. How can we holistically show up in St. Petersburg? And oftentimes it's all of those little gaps and all of those little puzzle pieces that come together as one. And you sure do. Sorry, I just wanted to say it. I almost would say it's more than two prongs. And I think back to when we started this and Council Member Fig Sanders and at that time, Council Member Wheeler Bowman with the Enough is Enough movement. And how could we intersect these things? Because we're trying, we have Deshaun, we have other members of our staff, because there's a lot of different pieces to this now who will actually go to Polk Correctional and the work camp to try to meet people pre-release so that we can do that. With the St. Pete Works program, with part of what we're doing and also our partner Florida Hires, we're working through Tallahassee statewide for people being returned specifically to the South St. Petersburg CRA and that they wind up going through either the Largo Road Prison or to the Community Release Center. And all of these things, even starting with cohort of champions, trying to go on the front, very front end. And one of the ongoing conversations I've had with the mayor is that this vision that Dr. Welch had of all of these different pieces fitting together. But I think back to the time with Council Member Fig Sanders on, God, we've, you know, it's not just about returning citizens. How do we help their families with the resources that they need? And to what Esther's point was, the family, the parents need things, but we're also able to offer solutions for the kids. And that's why I've been so excited. I mean, RISE is not a PERC program. It's its own program, but that we can intercede. Those kids are helping to build out the community garden that we have on 16th Street. So fitting all these pieces together has been a journey that I think I look at Council Member Driscoll and Council Member Givens and everyone, including yourself and some of the things that we've done, all these things sort of fit together in a kind of multi-pronged approach. But I look and I think of all the work we've done with George and with Rob and the last couple of administrations, we don't always see completely eye to eye, but we figure out fighting together on how to get these things moving forward, and we're excited to do that. But really, thank you all for supporting the vision of this, because all of this comes together that way. Absolutely. If there, and I'm going to say if, but when there are additional needs and gaps that you find within your workflow and where you're trying to point people to all of the wraparound services, please make sure that you continue to reach out, continue to advocate, and continue to make the ask. We've had a lot of big conversations today about the needs of our community, and I think that there are a lot of lessons that we can learn that we can take into other pieces of our community, but it's going to take all of us to get it done. And I think there's something that Chair Gerdes said, too, when he came and did a tour of the hub. The hub is a concept, a lot of sort of spokes to the wheel where we can reach to other parts of the community and do. It's not so much about one location or two locations as much as, how do we serve so many different aspects and needs in our community? I can tell you one of the things that PERC is looking at on the county level is some of these hurricane mitigation funds, and can we create something that we worked on together? If you guys remember back with the whole end team prior to COVID, can we expand and create those teams again? We're having those discussions that we've had with Anthony Chan and Brian Caper and some of the different components on, how can we then be ready for hurricane mitigation? Because unfortunately, while we like to think we're done with hurricanes, that's not the case. So can we kind of continue to weave these pieces together? But I thought when Chair Gerdes came by, you couldn't have said it any better. I mean, it's not about specifically this location. It's an important location. It's a historic location. And so much need is right in that community. But it goes throughout our entire city, and that we're able to respond is really powerful. Absolutely. Thank you all again. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Council Member Fick Sanders. Thank you. In lieu of time, I'm going to cut half of what I was going to say. But again, I want to thank Mike. Stand, please. When I reached out to you in regards of starting the Hidden Voices Project, and y'all do know I did the logo, but anyway, to start the Hidden Voices Project, you did not hesitate because you knew that one of the communities that you serve was one of the largest with the least amount of resources. And just to add to your cleanup project, when we started in certain areas of South St. Pete were just littered with trash. You took some of your clients that came in, and you all developed that street team. We've been trying to, you know, see how we can, you know, grow that program using clerked, uh, per clients. But I want to thank you for that because you spent your own money in cleaning up the city of St. Pete. You spent your own money. And so I'm going to never forget that, and I'm going to continue to give your accolades. Then I also need everyone to understand that the amount of money that we get is only a drop in the bucket to some of the other private matching dollars that you get to run Hidden Voices. That's benefiting the city of St. Petersburg and our returning citizens. So I don't want anybody to think that what we give you is all you get for that program because to service the community and to provide those resources takes a whole lot more than what we're giving you. So I want to thank you for continuing to support a city, a program, but more importantly, the residents that need it the most when they're returning and then the families that they actually support. So thank you for not telling me no. And I think that's pretty much all that I have. But, again, we have had a lot of conversation about the communities that need the most attention. And if we're going to find money for other things, we also need to be able to match or not do greater with the resources that we are offering in mental health and homelessness and all of those that you're not afraid to go into those communities. Everybody talk about it, but they won't go there. Well, you remember when we started this. Yeah. This was happening in front of our businesses. Yes. 16th Street Corridor. Yes. And the response was, hey, we've got to figure this out together. You were there too, Council Member Givens. I mean, we were all there. Yeah. And I think at that point that was still part of your district too, Council Member Driscoll. I mean, these are collective actions that will always continue. I love St. Petersburg. It's probably a blessing and a curse sometimes because we love our community and we want to make our community safer. I was at an event earlier and they talked about the why you do what you do. It's never been hard for me. I want to live in a safer community. I want my daughter, who's now going to be a sophomore at St. Petersburg High School, to live in a safer community. And the work we all do together makes our community safer. I mean, it's just as important as it could be. It is. Well, thank you so much for all that you do and all that you give. And thank you, Ms. Esther, for rescuing the program when I called you and said, can you please? So thank you so much. When Council Member Figg Sanders calls you, you better show up. So yes, ma'am. Thank you. Council Member Givens. Thank you so much, Esther. And thank you so much, Mike, for being here today. And thank you, D. I see you back there too. I appreciate all that each of you do. Your labor is not in vain. I appreciate it. This is what it's all about. As Council Members, I think most of us ran because we wanted to help. We wanted to give back. We wanted to serve, especially the most vulnerable amongst us. And you all are doing that, providing second chances to the people who need it most, our returning citizens. So thank you for that. I was thinking about the RISE program. And again, I know it's not a part of PERC, but we're talking about gun violence. And we've had this conversation, Ms. Esther. I would love to see our young people who you all are working with. And this, I was also looking at your client tracker and some of your high school students. I think a great opportunity for them would be to partner with the St. Pete Police Department. And so I hope you can talk a little bit about your connection and relationship and what those programs look like with SPPD. Are we using those youth to try to reach other youth who might not necessarily be reached, you know, those hard-to-reach populations? So I'm always mindful and respectful of not deviating from why I'm here. And so RISE is a separate program under a separate cover. I am more than, you know, I'm going to always take the call and can provide a presentation on it. Short answer, it is because of Chief Holloway and Lisa Willow Bowman that there is a RISE. And so they are in full support fiscally as well as standing up. But I don't want to, I don't want to deviate because I'm here. It looks like you have 28 high school youth or adult education. Looking at your Hidden Voices client tracker, how many of those are under 18 to 28? So I would have to, I would have to pull up, I would have to do a separate pull in our intra database to get who's under 18. But I will say in particular, the Hidden Voices program, if they are a client, if the parent comes to the program as a client, then the youth automatically comes to the program as a client. And so when we as a case managers have a sit down conversation with them and do an assessment of the needs, if the youth present with a need, then we serve them as well. So in direct response to your question, I wouldn't necessarily have the data on if they are involved with the police department. But I would anticipate that if they are, then we are, we're gauging and having those conversations and providing mentorship for them. We do have a relationship with Judge Patrice Moore for our girls and Judge Pierce for our young men. And also a direct connection to Aaron Savage, who is at Bayside, where we know oftentimes when our youth experience challenges, they shift them, you know, over there. And so the relationships are in place. So if they are under 18, oh, okay. Well, thank you, Deshaun. Deshaun reminded me that if the referral comes from cohort of champions into the Hidden Voices program, then we address and provide those services as well. And that's what I was getting to, Ms. Esther, is are we getting referrals from the police department, from the judicial system, people who are working with these kids who have offended and therefore need those assistance? And I was even thinking about like BOLI, right? So you have youth who may have records. They can't get employment through the Youth BOLI program, BOLI Youth Employment Program, excuse me. But perhaps if they are referred to you, like we've been told they are being, are you connecting them to employment opportunities for youth who may have records? Absolutely. And if I, I don't want to, I don't want to speak out of turn, but I know that there has been conversations. MJ, I don't want to talk about the youth, summer youth program that you've kind of been trying to put together, or is this, I already talked about it. Why do I do that? Okay, so PERC has really been working now over the last two summers to put together a summer youth work program, similar to, we're actually Hidden Voices, which now is for adults, but to put a caveat in place for the youth. So we're literally providing them with employment, not just through the summer, but on a, a part-time scale year round. We did do a pilot with one youth last summer. It went fantastically. He is succeeding and has changed both behaviors and attitude, both at home and in school. And so the need was there. And so, yes. You're right. The need is there, and you think about our youth recidivism rate, you think about offenders. The reason they are committing these crimes is because they want money, right? And so I think if we can connect these young people to jobs, Hidden Voices, providing opportunities and opening pathways to people who may have had some doors shut in their face, right? I think you all are the best people to do it. And then my last comment that I want to make, you talked a little bit about the street team. I think it was Council Member Fig Sanders who brought this up, and Mike spent his own money to make the job happen. And thank you, Mike, for getting out there and cleaning up our streets and spending your money to do it. But that shouldn't be the case. I would love to see a position or positions, multiple positions created for these returning citizens who are looking to put their wits, their knowledge, their education to use. And I think a great position for them would be a community navigator or a community coach. That's the term they like to use these days. Maybe a position through the St. Pete Police Department or the City of St. Pete. But I think we should put our money where our mouth is and actually employ these people who are helping to clean up our streets and to get out there literally cleaning up our streets by combating crime. There are a lot of folks who won't go out there to the street corners or to the trap houses and talk to these people who we need to be reaching. But they will. And so I would love to see something like that if it's not ready in the works. We have been doing that almost from day one. And some of those people have transitioned into full-time employment with us. And to be honest, they're kind of – like I do a lot of events for Second Chance Month. And I'll do some speaking things both nationally, statewide, and locally. And I'll always bring someone like Jaques Monroe with us because Boss, as everyone in the community knows him, has so much more credibility in terms of where he was to what he's become. Those stories are just so wildly powerful. And I even think what some of the things that we did with youthful offenders through Cohort of Champions and getting them into programs where we had a guy talk about how he got his younger brother not to – this guy had been in and out of prison, jailed 21 times in 24 years, that it linked his younger brother. So we've been doing that with those street teams. That's what they're made up of. And we've been talking actually recently about how we can expand that in partnership with the city. So excited to hear. I want to just add in that we had a gentleman who actually started with our street team and actually transitioned into full-time employment with Foundation for Healthy St. Pete. Yeah. Where to? Yeah, actually. And so they're actually – his skill set was audiovisual. And so he's now working with – they are working with the audiovisual team with the Foundation for St. Pete. So it's real. It's awesome. It's happening. Awesome. And again, you know, as Council Member Gabbard said, we are here to meet the needs. So if there is a need for more, let us know, because I think that is one of those positions that is in a huge gap that they could help fill. It's a position that could be beneficial to not just South St. Pete, but the entire community as a whole. So thank you. We did bring that up with economic and workforce development recently with Anthony Chan and with George before he segued over into his newer position. But going up with – let's look back at that. Because we had put this in place right before COVID in terms of just let's do a contractual pilot so we can meet the needs of the end team. And can we turn that into almost like a job placement position? And then we're letting them get hands-on, on-a-job training. And I've actually recruited Kedrian Kunkel, who's our new CEO for CareerSource Tampa Bay. Had to think of what our name is now because we're both on the board. To not only with the Summer Pays Program, but let's look at how we can leverage those resources on OJT, PWE, and get these people employed in full-time, meaningful work. Listen, one of the coolest things of the Tiny House Program is in each of the last three classes, we have three guys who are still technically pre-release. We're making over $50,000 a year pre-release on their work release component of it because of the STAC certifications they're getting. And that's the kind of stuff that – this is why we're doing this, right? We want to make our community safer. We're working towards how can we revisit that to help the end team and be prepared. Like I said, with the hurricane mitigation, I think I'm going to be back here later to talk about the other program, the – my brain went just numb there for a second. But these are the kinds of things that we can expand upon and we're working towards. Thank you for making our community safer and stronger. If I could just end with one thing because I know y'all are getting ready to wrap us up. I want to say that it's – thank you, Council Member Gibbons, for saying that. Some years ago, the city did a band-a-box and the city looked to be very intentional with hiring individuals who had backgrounds who were trying to start over. And so I would love to see the city revisit that, but be very intentional when individuals present with those challenges, especially if they just may be in work release. But they have the skill set to do a job. We did have a gentleman who had the skill set to do the job. He had a slew of certifications, and he wasn't chosen. But what was very interesting is that he made it through three interviews. So there was something about him that stood out. And so I would love to see the opportunity to maybe be very intentional when we look to hire. What was neat about that process is that we actually convinced the Florida Department of Corrections to change their policy statewide because one of the issues was that the city of St. Petersburg has a requirement. You have to be back within 24 hours if there's a hurricane, if there's an emergency. We actually got the Department of Corrections to give us a waiver, and we have another guy that we're going to be recommending who's got more certifications than the first guy. And these are people that we can put into career pathways to give back to our city, and they've got the right certifications. I know, Rob, you and I have talked about this a few times, but we actually got the state to change policy on this one guy, and that when going forward, we're going to be able to have more of these guys who, look, they've paid their debt, they've gotten certifications, they can be an asset to our city. Let's do this collaboratively, and we're real excited about that. And that's Hidden Voices, y'all. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you, Chair. Well, thank you for all the work that you're doing. I really enjoyed my visit, and there will be many more to come. And just know I'm just so proud of the work that's being done over there, and thanks for giving me credit on the quote, Michael. But, you know, I continue to see the work being done throughout the city, not just at the hub, but that is the hub of the work. So, listen, the last three years, we've had some vicious chairs from Gabbard to Sanders to Gerdes and looking like Hannah was next. Come on, let's do some stuff, y'all. I've got nothing else. All right, on that, we're going to move to F3, a resolution designating the Planning and Development Services Department as the administrative authority to review, receive, review, and process plats and replats. And we've got Derek Kilbourne joining us. Good afternoon, Derek Kilbourne, director for the city's planning department. And today we are presenting to you a very brief item that extends from recent legislative action. During the 2025 legislative session, Senate Bill 784 was passed by the Florida legislature and is currently pending the governor's signature. That is effective July 1. And so, anticipating that that bill will be signed, the city attorney's office put together a resolution for your consideration so that we can be ready to go if and when that is signed. I want to thank Christina Boussius for doing the heavy work on this. I'm presenting to you because of my position, but she really put the time in to make sure that, one, we were following this bill, and, two, ready for action now. So, what does it do? Very specifically, it says that if a proposed plat or replat complies with the technical requirements in the Florida statute, then the plat and replat submittal must be administratively approved by designated authority without further action by municipality's governing body. To comply with the anticipated change, the municipalities must designate an administrative authority to receive review and process plats and replats, and it must identify an administrative official with the authority to approve with conditions or deny. And so, through the resolution and the recommendation, the administrative authority, because these plats flow through the planning department currently, would be the planning department, and the administrative official would be the director of the planning department, and that is what the resolution is stating here for your consideration today. Thank you. Move approval. We have a motion and a second. Seeing as no other council members wishing to speak, clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Council members, please enter your votes. Seeing as all present, council members have voted. Clerk, please tally and announce the vote. Mr. Chair, the motion to approve agenda item F3 passes unanimously. Okay. Thank you, Derek. All right, we're going to move on to F4. We've got Tom Green and Liz McCoskey to talk about pension. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, Madam Vice Chair, City Council. I think I had the opportunity over the last week or so to chat with each of you individually about this, and effectively what we're asking in this resolution is to use up to $2 million available in the unappropriated fund balance of the general fund and make a prepayment towards our police pension annual required contribution for FY26. So effectively, by making that payment, we will reduce the obligation in 26 by a similar amount and help us address the budget gap we forecast for the FY26 budget. Additionally, we did send to council the analysis performed by our actuary, Nihart. And if my memory serves correctly, it delivers about $62,000 additional more economic benefit, because if we make that payment on July 1, there'll be some interest earned, et cetera. But this is a strategy that we have deployed in the past to address budget gaps. So that's kind of the request today. And Liz and I can certainly answer any questions that council may have. Move approval. Excuse me. Vice Chair Hanowitz. Thank you, Chair. And just because we're having the conversation now, Tom, for those that are watching or listening, we have a forecast budget gap for next year. What's that budget gap and then what it's reduced to? Yes, ma'am. Currently, it's about $8.1 million. This $2 million prepayment obviously would address about 25 percent of that. Administrator Gerdes, Mayor Welch, and team, we're all working on presenting a balanced budget to you on July 15th, and we will have that balanced. But this will be an integral part of that plan. Okay. And we are required to have a balanced budget just for those that are watching. Okay. Thank you so much. Just quickly, Tom, I want to thank you and the team and administration obviously continuing to find unique ways to make sure that we get to the balanced budget. We don't have to worry about, for at least $2 million of it, going to services or programming or anything else. So I just wanted to, you know, this is a big deal. 25 percent of the gap and one just by one unique way of doing it by using 25 instead of 26. I just want to thank you for continuing to find unique ways for us to get there. Okay. We have a motion and a second. Seeing as no other council members wishing to speak, clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Council members, please enter your votes. Seeing as all present, council members have voted. Clerk, could you please tally and announce the vote? We have the motion to approve agenda item F4 passes unanimously. Okay. Thank you. All right. Now we're going to get on to what is a record-breaking new business section for the year. So we're going to start with G1. I had to get a laugh in there somewhere. We're going to start with G1. Council Member Gabbard. Chair, respectfully requesting a referral to the Legislative Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations Committee for a discussion on the implementation of Senate Bill 180. The discussion should include, but not limited to, requirements related to emergency response and preparedness, post-storm permitting plans and requirements, restrictions on land development regulations, comprehensive plan, or other procedures, and new regulations regarding crane safety. And I so move. Second. We have a motion and a second. Seeing as no council members wishing to speak, clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Council members, please enter your votes. Seeing as all present, council members have voted. Clerk, could you please tally and announce the vote? Mr. Chair, the motion to approve agenda item G1 passes unanimously, with Council Member Harding being absent. We'll move on to G2. Council Member Gabbard. Respectfully requesting a referral to the Health, Energy, Resilience, and Sustainability Committee for a discussion on the Storm Squad Initiative and the Initiative on Coastal Adaptation and Resilience. And I so move. Second. We have a motion and a second. Seeing as no other council members wishing to speak, clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Seeing as all present, council members have voted. Clerk, could you please tally and announce the vote? Mr. Chair, the motion to approve agenda item G2 passes unanimously. Okay, thank you. Let's move on to G3. Council Member Driscoll. Thank you. This is a staff request, respectfully requesting a referral to the Economic and Workforce Development Committee for an Arts, Culture, and Tourism presentation on the Cultural Action Plan. This will be presented in conjunction with my new business item regarding the establishment of an Artist Sustainability Fund on July 24th. And I'll move approval. Second. We have a motion and a second. Seeing as no council members wishing to speak, clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Council members, please enter your votes. Seeing as all present, council members have voted. Clerk, could you please tally and announce the vote? Mr. Chair, the motion to approve agenda item G3 passes unanimously. Okay. We're going to go to G4. Vice Chair Hanowitz. Thank you. Respectfully requesting a referral to the Housing, Land, Use, and Transportation Committee for a discussion on the impacts of Senate Bill 1730 and potential changes to City Code Chapter 17.5. This passed on May 1st. It becomes law July 1st. And there are items in there that are going to be changing our code. Staff is prepared to actually discuss this as early as July. I'm looking at the chair of HLUT, so you're aware of it. And so I so move. Second. We have a motion and a second for G4. Seeing as no other council members wishing to speak, clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Council members, please enter your votes. Seeing as all present, council members have voted. Clerk, please tie in and announce the vote. Mr. Chair, the motion to approve agenda item G4 passes unanimously. Okay. Thank you. Let's move on to G5. Back to Vice Chair Hanowitz. Thank you, Chair. This is a referral. It is a staff request. Respectfully requesting a referral to Public Services and Infrastructure Committee or other relevant committee for a discussion on necessary changes to City Code Chapter 2, Article 9, City Television, as well as potential policy changes. This is an item that arose during our conversation of the City Council manual, and it's a lot of cleanup that they would like to do. And so I so move. Second. We have a motion and a second for G5. Seeing as no other council members wishing to speak, clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Thank you. Council members, please enter your votes. Seeing as no other, or seeing as all present, council members have voted. Clerk, please tally and announce the vote. Mr. Chair, the motion to approve agenda item G5 passes unanimously. Okay. We're going to go to G6. Council member Fig Sanders. This is just upon G5, though respectfully requesting a referral to the Economic Committee or other relevant committee for a discussion regarding the City's progress toward equitable business development and review of the business on Enterprise Annual Report for fiscal year 2024 by OSD. Requesting that this discussion, if possible, occurred before September 1, 2025. Oh, I move approval. Second. Council member Driscoll. Thank you. So this is, I just wanted to get some clarification on this, because when you talk about the Office of Supplier Diversity, that's usually something that goes through BF&T. I'm okay with that, but I think we can get it through EWD first if BF&T is coming back. I do have a note here to see if we can get this in on August 28th. So that would be just under the wire to meet your request to have it done before September 1st. I just wanted to make sure that this wasn't something that the BF&T committee felt that they needed to take up, since there is a little bit of overlap there. The meeting on the 28th is currently scheduled for a return discussion on the legacy business program, so it actually goes nicely with this, as long as it doesn't make a mega meeting. We'll make sure that they're efficient, won't we? Council member Driscoll, thank you for bringing it up. When I saw OSD, I definitely thought BF&T, but I figured because of the timeline, that's why it was asked on EWD. But I'm happy to double up there on BF&T on August 28th. Do you want to amend your... Well, the only reason why I said EWD is because I know that Council Member Driscoll also has a workforce new business item. That's what I said about that last week. I thought you had something coming up that we talked about in regards to economic, but I don't care where it goes. EWD or BF&T... Oh, the discussion on the decline in jobs for the city, that's actually going to be discussed on July 24th. Okay. So I thought... The next available one that isn't packed is August 28th, which still meets your request as far as the timing. And I do believe it is a nice topic to go along with the other topic, which is the Legacy Business Program. Okay. Yeah. So that's why we chose EWD. So... Perfect. We've got a ride back on yours. Thank you. So the request still remains the same. You're going to keep it? Yes. Okay. All right. So we have a motion and a second for G6. Seeing as no other Council Members wishing to speak, Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Council Members, please enter your votes. Seeing as all present Council Members have voted, Clerk, please. I'm going to announce the vote. Mr. Chair, the motion to approve agenda item G6 passes unanimously. Okay. Let's move on to G7. Council Member Floyd. Thank you. I am respectfully requesting a referral to the Housing, Land, Use, and Transportation Committee to discuss a resolution setting a City Council goal of creating 500 units of housing at or below 80% AMI per year in the city. I sat down with administration and talked about this, and we were very close to just coming to an agreement, but I thought it was a good idea for us to have a conversation. Out in the open about it and hash out any disagreements we may have, although they were very minimal when we sat down and talked. In addition, we're very close to accomplishing this already. Some years we do. Some years we're just below. So, trying to keep it at a realistic level as well. With that, I'll move approval. Council Member, thank you for bringing this forward. Just one question while we're in the sunshine before you go back, and my guess is draft a resolution. Are you thinking about putting, like, a timeline for a period of time that should be the goal, or are you just going to, like, go – I'm just curious, to be honest with you. That was one of the questions I wanted to bring to the committee. So, like, we'll have something basic drafted, but that's something we'll clear up. Yeah, I'm in support. I was just curious to what you were thinking before it came in front of us. I think that was one of the things I was going back and forth with administration on. Awesome. Thank you very much. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Seeing as no other Council Members wishing to speak, Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Council Members, please enter your votes. Seeing as all present, Council Members have voted. Clerk, could you please tie and announce the vote? Mr. Chair, the motion to approve agenda item G7 passes unanimously. Okay, G8, Council Member Floyd. Thank you. Oh, my computer almost went to sleep. I'm respectfully requesting a referral to the Public Services and Infrastructure Committee, a discussion on the future of the in-town CRA, specifically unwinding the extension. Move approval. Second. We have a motion and a second on G8. Seeing as no other Council Members wishing to speak, Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Council Members, please enter your votes. Seeing as all present, Council Members have voted. Clerk, please tie and announce the vote. Mr. Chair, the motion to approve agenda item G8 passes unanimously. Okay. Just quickly, because this, could you put that, could you put the list back up for a second of Council Members? Of our names? Yes. Yeah. Do you not know them? No, the reason I balked and started laughing in between G1 and G2 is for the first time I realized that it's, there's two Fs, two Gs, three Gs, and two Hs all in a row, and all of our last names are within, like, four letters in the alphabet of each other. Like, I mean, what are the chances of that? So it's meant to be that we live this life together? Like, we're all in it together right now, okay? Amen. During, in between G1 and G8, it dawned on me for the first time. Oh, good Lord. Listen, this is why we're going on a three-week break after this, because this is where my mind has gone after six months. It's coming a personality test. Yes, it really, it is, it is. Okay, we have public hearings at 501 and no other business discussed before then. We are in recess until 501. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, Chair. Turn that mic off, be back. Okay, we'll call back to order June 12th, 2025, City Council Meeting, and we're going to move into our public hearing items. First up is J1. We've got Joe Wah with us. Move approval. Second. Got a motion and a second on J1. Seeing as no other Council Members wishing to speak, clerk, could you please open the machine for vote? Council Members, please enter your votes. Seeing as all present Council Members have voted, clerk, please tally and announce the vote. We have the motion to approve it. J1 passes unanimously. Okay, thanks, Joe. All right, we're going to move into J2, Sunrise St. Pete. Good afternoon, Council Members. Or, I guess, good evening at this point. Yeah, good evening. I'm just here to introduce some of the team members who have been hard at work on the Sunrise St. Pete plan. I really can't say enough how much of a team effort for more than 25 city employees this has been. But the effort has been led up by Ms. Aubrey Phillips. Jess Rydell has been very involved. Claude Tankersley, the Housing and Community Development Team, as well as Angela Miller, and quite a few others. So, we are here tonight for you to review the action plan, and we also hope to have some public hearing. So, with that, I'll turn it over to Aubrey Phillips. Good evening. Good evening. So, while I'm relatively new to the city, I've spent about 20 years working in local government here in the Tampa area, and disaster work has always been part of the job. But, for me, this is really personal. I grew up going through Hurricane Andrew and living in a trailer in our driveway for a year. So, I've been through recovery, and I know where our residents are at, and so being part of this work on how we recover is really important. So, we wanted to walk you through the proposed action plan, answer any questions that city council may have, and open it up for public hearing. As we go through the presentation, we will be covering the CDBGDR, the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery. We'll talk about what it's all about, an overview of what to expect from the action plan, including its purpose, and the requirements we have to meet per HUD. And then we'll review the outreach and engagement efforts we've undertaken to ensure that community input has been at the center of this process. After that, our partners from Horn will walk us through the unmet needs analysis that they conducted, which identified the biggest gaps in recovery that still need to be addressed. And they'll also present the programs that we're proposing to address those needs and support long-term recovery. And then we'll turn it over for public comment. So, first, I wanted to explain a little bit about the city's total funding amount. In mid-January, HUD announced how much funding the city would be getting from the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program. HUD decides these amount based on how much help is still needed after the disaster using federal data. And they then add an extra 15% for mitigation, which means taking those steps that we do to lower damage from future disasters. So, together, these two allocations add up to a total of $159.8 million that we have for our disaster recovery work here in the city. So, what is CDBGDR? It stands for Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery. This is money that Congress approves to help communities recover after disaster. HUD, which is a federal government agency, grants or allocates this money to communities that have been hit by disasters. The amount each community gets depends on how much help they still need to recover. And that money is used to rebuild damaged homes, businesses, and public places, and especially focuses on helping low-income families and people who need it most. Before we go into how the funding can be used, we want to walk through a few key rules that HUD has with this funding. Since this money comes from the federal government, there are specific requirements we have to follow to make sure it's used correctly and fairly. So, here are the basics. Most of the money has to go to help people with low-to-moderate incomes. That means those that at least 70% of the funding must go to individuals and families who make less than 80% of the area median income, and we'll have more on that in just a moment. Further, the projects we fund must be connected to Hurricanes Idalia and Helene. For St. Petersburg, only Hurricanes Idalia and Helene were officially designated by HUD for these grant funds. And then one exception to this tieback is the mitigation set-aside. So those projects don't have to be tied to a specific storm, but they still have to follow the other HUD rules. And, of course, we have to follow all federal guidelines and laws in the use of these funds. So to sum it up, we're working within these strict guidelines to make sure that the money is spent fairly, legally, and in a way that helps people hurt by Idalia and Helene. So now that we've gone over the basic rules, just want to orient everyone a little bit to what we mean when we say low-to-moderate income, or LMI. You'll see that term come up a few times as we talk about the individual programs. So this table shows income limits based on family size and how those numbers compare to the area's median income, or AMI for short. For example, as you can see, a family of four, which is earning up to 80% of the area median income, would make about $76,400 a year, and that family would qualify as low-to-moderate income under this program. To meet that federal rule that at least 70% of the funding go to LMI households, many of the programs that you'll see presented today either focus on or give priority to people earning at that 80% mark or below. That said, some programs can help families earning up to 120% of area median income. It really just depends on the individual program and how it fits within HUD's guidelines. So understanding these income limits really helps us make sure that the funding is going to those people who need it most. And then as far as the components of the action plan, this is a HUD-required document before we can receive access to these funds and start helping people in our community who were impacted by these storms. The main goal of the action plan is to show HUD and the public what programs the city plans to offer with these funds. And the plan is required before we can spend any money, with a few exceptions for planning, and we'll talk about that when we get there. The plan also includes how we talk to the community to get their ideas and what data tell us about what needs are still not being met. And we'll explain each of these parts in more detail in the coming slides before getting into the specific proposed programs. So throughout the development of the action plan, we've really been trying to work hard to hear from lots of different groups and people in the community, and tonight's public hearing is just a continuation of that process. We started by meeting with city departments and local agencies that were already engaged in disaster recovery before, during, and after the storms. In March and April, we shared updates with city council and got your feedback. We also held a pop-up event at City Hall on Tour and sent out surveys to residents, small businesses, housing groups, nonprofits, and the tribal communities. And then recently, on May 23rd, we published the draft action plan and invited the public to review and provide feedback during a 30-day period, which we are currently in. Today is the second of two public hearings where the public can ask questions and share their thoughts on the plan. And then we also have the plan is currently posted on the city's website where individuals can add their comments. All of the comments that we receive will be addressed in the final action plan that is submitted to HUD. And during City Hall on Tour, in surveys and in meetings with different groups, we kept hearing the same thing, that affordable housing and public infrastructure were the top priorities for recovery. So when we say affordable housing, this included things like new affordable rental homes, repairing homes that were damaged in the disaster, and making homes more resilient to future damages. When we talk about public infrastructure, this was things like upgrading stormwater systems to prevent flooding and make sure important buildings and systems like water treatment plants are protected from future disasters. HUD really wants us to include community feedback like this in our plan, but also requires that we balance it with data about unmet needs. So next up, Ryan from Horn is going to walk us through that data so you can see how it all comes together. Thank you, Aubrey, and good evening, City Council. I have had the privilege of meeting many of you already. I'll briefly introduce myself for the public and for the record. Ryan Flannery, I'm Horn's Director of Policy and Compliance. I've been working with CDBGDR for over 16 years now, six years with Horn here, where I've been leading our subject matter expert team, working with grantees all across the country, from California to Florida to Puerto Rico and everywhere in between. Prior to my time with Horn, I spent 10 years with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. I was the Assistant Director of the Disaster Recovery Division, now the Office of Disaster Recovery, where I focused on $40 billion worth of grants across the southern part of the United States. I was based in D.C., so I did a lot of policy work and supported grantees, again, all across the country, getting their grants launched and then overseeing their grants once they did receive them. So again, it's a pleasure to be with you all again tonight and to talk through some of the important points of the plan. So we're going to get into unmet needs. So unmet needs are a very important part of the plan. If you notice, as you've reviewed the plan, it's over half of the document itself, and there's a reason for that. It's because every activity or project that you undertake with CDBGDR funding must meet one of two needs, either an unmet need or a mitigation need. So unmet needs, what are unmet needs? Unmet needs are all those needs that remain when we look at the total impact of the events, right? So we look at all the impacts, everything in terms of dollars, everything that's occurred, everything that we've had to pay for, everything that we've lost in terms of housing, infrastructure, businesses. Then we take a look at what has come in, what forms of assistance have come in. So FEMA, small business assistance, insurance, charitable donations, these are all sources that come in after an event. But we know that there is a gap that remains. It is that remaining gap where CDBGDR fits in, and that's where CDBGDR can be deployed to support the recovery in that space. So I like, and unmet needs is sort of looking backwards. We're looking at what happened with the events. There's something called tieback, meaning every activity has to be tied back to the hurricanes. Everything that you do has to be tied back to the hurricanes, and it has to meet an unmet need. Mitigation needs, on the other hand, are more forward-looking. So we're looking at what are current risks and what are future risks. We know hurricanes are a risk, obviously. We know flooding is a risk, rain flooding. We know tornadoes can be a risk, wildfires, excessive heat, and so on. So we look at all those factors, and we make determinations with respect to what could we mitigate, what types of activities could we undertake to mitigate future risks. It's very helpful, it's very useful, but it is limited to 15% of the total award, so we have to be very strategic with how we deploy that. With respect to all these needs assessments, we are looking at data sources such as FEMA public assistance, FEMA individual assistance for housing, PA being for infrastructure, IA individual assistance being for housing, SBA, and various census and many other documents, many other data sources, including federal, state, and local. So we conducted our needs assessment, and this is where we, this is the outcome of our assessment. Not surprisingly, housing was by far the largest unmet need at 73.1% of all unmet needs. Next up is infrastructure at 13.3%, the economy at 9.4%, and public services at 4.2%. I want to take a moment to kind of focus on infrastructure because I think many of us who live in the city and many of us who, as we've spoken to residents, would think there would be more unmet need related to infrastructure. The main reason why we see this number where it is is because the data we have to use, what HUD refers to as the best available data, and that data source really is FEMA public assistance. And the thing with FEMA public assistance is FEMA will pay for the majority of, three-quarters of, everything that it takes to repair that infrastructure back to its original state. So there is a match amount. Now, it's not the only thing we looked at. We also looked at SPAR, the St. Pete Agile Resilience Effort. We looked at other capital projects opportunities, and so we did find other areas where infrastructure could be included, but as I go back to the unmet need and tie-back concept, it is challenging to find projects that are impacted to be able to incorporate them in. So it is a bit, it may seem a bit low because a lot of our needs really do fall under mitigation more so than the unmet need. This slide is really just showing a different view of the same concept, right? So every column represents the entire impact, as I spoke about earlier. You know, $1.5 billion in total impact for housing, $189 million and so on for economy. But what we're seeing here is that the green, the dark green sections of these columns are showing how much assistance has come in to address those needs and then how much unmet need is remaining. So I think the key takeaway from this slide is there is a lot of unmet need remaining. Just $1.3 billion alone in housing, $167 million alone in the economy, $236 and so on in these various sectors that we have to analyze per HUD. So there's a lot of unmet need remaining so we have been strategic with our allocations of those resources which is represented in this slide. One of the most important requirements that HUD and one of the areas that HUD will be looking at closely as they review our plan is something called proportionality. So how do our programs, how do our budgets align with our unmet needs assessment from a percentage standpoint? So in terms of housing, we know that our unmet need is 73% and our proposed budget for housing, and this includes all the programs that we will speak about in just a moment. Tyler will join us here to speak through the programs. But our total housing budget is 70%, so it's close. It's what HUD considers to be proportionate. The same holds true for infrastructure at 17% of our budget going to infrastructure with 13% of the unmet needs being allocated towards infrastructure, associated with infrastructure, I should say. Public services at 13% of our budget, unmet needs at 4%. And I'll stop for a moment there and kind of highlight that. That does seem like a bit of a discrepancy between the two, deviation there. It's really not because what we're looking at is the 4% related to public services is what we analyzed was something where public services and unmet needs related to disaster relief reimbursement payments. So that's a program that we'll get into a bit, but it's really intended to serve people in a way to be able to put money in their pockets quickly to address the needs that they experience, some of the losses they experience as part of the hurricanes. But in addition to that program, we are also proposing a nonprofit community support services program, so this would be assistance directly to nonprofits. So we have 13% of our budget goes into public services, 4% are unmet needs. Much of the nonprofit unmet need actually falls under the economic development or economy section of our unmet needs assessment in the plan. So it is met, but it's just something that sort of stands out, so I wanted to highlight that. Okay. And with that, I'm going to hand it over to Tyler Bridges, who is a program manager with HUD, and he is going to walk us through the programs. I used to work for HUD. Tyler Bridges, senior program manager at Horn. I've been with Horn for the last five years. Prior to that, I also worked at HUD Office of Disaster Recovery for five years in Washington, D.C. And prior to that, I was working as a consultant for cities and counties such as yourself, primarily in California. So we're going to talk about the programs. First up is the Residential Recovery, Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, and Elevation program, which offers homeowners of single-family homes up to $100,000 to repair their storm-damaged property or for non-federal match to participate in the Elevate Florida program, for example, or, if necessary, up to $375,000 for reconstruction or replacement of their home. The program primarily targets households with incomes of up to 80% of the area median income, with urgent needs considered for households up to 120% of area median income. And with a budget of $35 million, the city anticipates assisting approximately 98 households under this program. Next up, just like the prior program, this program, the Residential Recovery and Elevation Reimbursement Program, offers reimbursement to homeowners of single-family homes up to $50,000 for eligible repairs that the homeowner has already completed and are not covered under other programs. Eligible repairs must have been completed before the date of application or January 21, 2027, whichever is earlier. Like the prior program, the program primarily targets households with incomes up to 80% of the area median income, with urgent needs considered for households up to 120% of the area median income. And with a budget of $12 million, the city anticipates assisting approximately 288 households under the program. Next, the Disaster Relief Reimbursement Program offers homeowners and renters up to $15,000 to reimburse expenses such as rent, mortgage, and utilities that were already incurred for up to a six-consecutive month period. The program is limited to households with incomes up to 80% of area median income. That's a HUD rule. And applicants must be able to demonstrate a hardship due to the disasters, such as job loss, displacement, or loss of income, for example. With a budget of $14 million, the city anticipates assisting approximately 784 households under the program. All right, next, the Home Buyer Assistance Program offers city residents with a household income up to 120% of the area median income that are first-time homebuyers, and they are able to receive up to $80,000 for a down payment or 0% interest rate and or closing costs to purchase a home within city limits. The program aims to provide new affordable homeownership opportunities while simultaneously freeing up affordable rental housing units. With a budget of $5 million, the city anticipates assisting approximately 70 households under the program. The Voluntary Buyout and Acquisition Program offers residential or commercial property owners up to $400,000 to purchase their storm-damaged property for the purpose of reducing future risk and mitigating harm to the community. Eligible properties will be based on the location, disaster impact, and role in reducing future risk and mitigating harm, and must be transferred to the city ownership for demolition and clearing. Relocation assistance will also be available, and with a budget of $5 million, the city anticipates assisting approximately 14 households under the program. All right, next is the Affordable Rental Housing Program, which offers up to $125,000 per affordable unit to either for-profit developers, non-profit developers, public housing authorities, and owners of HUD-assisted properties to rehabilitate or construct new affordable rental housing units. Eligible projects must have at least 10 rental housing units on the property, and they must agree to offer at least 51% of the total rental housing units to households with incomes up to 80% of the area median income. And with a budget of $48,000, excuse me, $48 million, $48 million, the city anticipates rehabilitating or constructing approximately 582 rental housing units under the program. All right, next up is the Nonprofit Community Support Services Program, which offers nonprofit organizations serving residents of the city of St. Petersburg up to $1.25 million for wraparound recovery services with a focus on mental health and trauma recovery counseling, housing navigation and emergency shelter support, and other tangible services for impacted LMI households, low- and moderate-income households. The city has budgeted $6 million to provide the assistance to nonprofits to either repair storm-damaged property and or for operational support for things like rent, payroll, etc. The Public Infrastructure Mitigation Program is designed to address unmet or mitigation needs, which include storm-related service disruptions and reduced performance, indirect operational impacts, for example, debris or power loss, and opportunities for design improvement and resilience. And with a budget of $25 million, the city anticipates funding projects that will have the greatest impact on mitigating the effects for future disasters. And the final program that we're talking, discussing today, the Post-Disaster Improvement and Planning Program will allow the city to be better prepared for future disaster impacts by funding the following two plans. The after-action report and improvement plan will take a look at what worked and what didn't work during prior disaster responses to improve future processes, coordination, and recovery management. And the long-term community recovery plan will outline community-driven vision for recovery and identifies key projects and funding strategies to support long-term rebuilding. The city has budgeted nearly $1.9 million for these two planning studies. And due to their importance and a special HUD rule that allows planning funds to be expended prior to the approval of the action plan, the city plans to initiate these plans in the next couple of months. That concludes our presentation for today. Just wanted to give you an opportunity if you had any closing remarks. That was it. Okay, let's go to public comment. The first speaker is Sandra Harris and Gloria Maxfield. Please go to either podium. State your name and address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address counsel. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Sandra Harris, and I live at 2432 Kingston Street South over near Twin Brooks. And I want to speak on that for a moment because we still have people who are displaced from their homes. I was blessed in some points of it, and then other points I was not. In other words, I had my garage flooded. My car flooded out. The water came just to the brink of my step, the porch. But I was blessed that it didn't flood the floors. But there were leaks in the back of my house, and part of it was messed up. But it wasn't that I couldn't live in it. After three weeks or so, I was able to get back in. And what I was so upset about was the work that was happening over there along 22nd Avenue. And I understand that they had to do something about it because the hurricane was coming. They had to stop working. I understand that. But what I did not understand was why that little canal or lake or whatever you want to call it that's behind that golf course, it wasn't able to contain what was left from the creek, canal, or whatever you want to call our ditches, that come from behind the restaurant over on 34th and then come along behind there. Well, that little lake was supposed to be the backup. But on a regular day, with the sun shining bright, the creeks are already full. So when we got the hurricane, we didn't have a choice. We got water coming from 26th Avenue and then through people's yard on 38th. It just came from this way and came from that way. So we didn't have a choice. My neighbors are still displaced, like I said, but we had trees on top of houses and stuff. We need a way because most of us are retired or disabled. We need some help with the trees that are falling on the houses. We are unable to hire arborists and such. And, you know, we just need to know what kind of help we're going to be able to get where it falls. And I understand I read all that stuff, but thank you. Thank you. You got my gist. My name is Gloria Francine Maxwell. You can lower that if you want. There's a little switch on the right-hand side kind of down near your waist. Yep. Make that a little easier for you. For short people. Okay. My name is Gloria Maxwell, and I live at 3602 Emerson. I'm just getting ready to get back on my property, but my contractor has gotten a permit, and we're going to start doing repairs. I have a double whammy because I've had fire damage plus the hurricanes, you know, losing animals and property and things like that. And I've been in my home a long time. So, you know, the city is my home now. And one of the questions that I'm thinking, listening to this, I did a Zoom meeting up in Clearwater because I've lived around the city after disaster. How did they come up with some of these numbers like 98 households or 288 or 784? And with the mitigation, if I'm understanding it correctly, how is it going to be allocated or that you can apply for post-disaster? Because some homes have never had storm damage, and because of climate change, they're having to have problems with their homes, even though they're supposedly on high ground. Like mine is high ground, but I still had damage, and that's what's unusual after years and years of living there. So how can you apply? Because I've received some emails and texts, but it's not enough information about how to apply or when can you apply. Like they said, it's going to be available in 26. You have to have these repairs or you have to have your receipts, which is understandable. But is there going to be clear directions on families who have no insurance or were underinsured to receive some of these monies, and that is they're not lost, you know, in the loop? That's my question. How do you apply for this? I mean, I understand in 26, but there needs to be better communications on how you can apply for some of these benefits, you know, and especially for senior citizens like myself who may be, you know, I used to be in accounting, but that's a long time ago. So there's a lot of things I don't understand with the answer that a little bit longer. So with paperwork, you know, I do pretty good. You know, my doctor said I don't act my age, but I told him I'm still a senior citizen. But I've lived long enough to claim it now. But so that's one of the questions. You know, what is in place with the paperwork that we can really get the monies allocated for what they call it, what is it, LMI? People that maybe only make $30,000 a year or $40,000 with their Social Security or retirement funds. Thank you. The next two speakers is Rebecca Hughes and Tanner Moody. Please go to either podium, state your name, address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address counsel. My name is Rebecca Hughes, Pinellas Community Foundation, 136 4th Street North. I'm the director of grants management with PCF, and we work closely with nonprofit organizations in St. Petersburg that support community well-being and resilience. I'm here today to thank the city for recognizing the critical role that nonprofits play in storm recovery and resilience through the nonprofit community support services program that's been presented in the Sunrise St. Pete plan. The 2023 Community Health Needs Assessment, CHNA, for Pinellas County, led by BayCare Health System, identified mental health and substance use as top health priorities. It recommended expanding access to behavioral health services and investing in cross-sector solutions. Directing the CDBGDR funds to mental health will help fulfill those goals and strengthen the city of St. Petersburg. Through the work of the Community Support Hubs program, which provides trauma-informed mental health care for residents, we've seen how a damaging storm creates layers of challenges for individuals. Immediate food and shelter needs when a home is damaged, the flexibility and resilience needed when navigating resources to repair and recover from damage, and longer-term challenges in re-establishing stability after a life has been turned topsy-turvy, all of this on top of the regular day-to-day challenges that people are faced with. After a storm, people may not seek or qualify for traditional mental health services, but they still need help. We encourage the city to support flexible trauma-informed models that do not require a formal diagnosis. These approaches are more accessible and meet people where they are, especially in high-stress, post-disaster situations. We also want to stress the importance of the roles of nonprofit professionals and community service providers in St. Petersburg. Through the Shared Services Organization program, which provides capacity-building for St. Pete nonprofits, we've been reminded that the people who are providing services in the community are themselves residents who are impacted by the storms. Their homes were also damaged, and they are also trying to figure out how to best recover while still working to support the community. These folks are often the first to respond, distributing supplies, offering shelter, and connecting people to resources. They are community-first responders in every sense of the word, and they need dedicated mental health support to continue doing their work without burning out. Their organizations also need support in recovering from disasters to continue providing services. We hope that the information we've shared will be valuable as the city finalizes its plans for the nonprofit community support services funds. As the city considers how to best support long-term recovery and community strength, PCF recommends aligning with the findings of the CHNA and local needs, prioritizing trauma-informed approaches that don't require a clinical diagnosis, and providing support to nonprofit and community-based responders. Thank you for the opportunity to share these comments and for your leadership on this important plan. Thank you. Good evening, Council. My name is Tanner Moody. I am a resident of District 3. I know Brandy very well. Her and I actually served on the board of the Pinellas Realtor Organization together. Mike and I know each other. I used to buy beer from them. I used to own poor taproom in downtown St. Pete. So I know a lot of you all, happy to be here, happy to be recovering. I am one of those that was deemed substantially damaged. I bought my house at the ripe age of 22 years old, have chosen to live here, don't have a house anymore. It is gone. But we're building new. We're building up. We're building 11 feet high. We're building concrete block. We're building. It's going to be great. But I did find out. We are submitting our new plans this week. I know you all are waiving permit fees until the end of the month. Found out that my permit fees are actually not going to be waived because I'm building new. That was pretty disappointing to hear. You know, I've taken on more debt, and it's just not an easy thing to be going through. And I went through the plan. I think this is amazing for our low-income community. I think this is great what you are doing. But I don't think this has been anything that's been brought to anybody's attention. So I wanted to bring it to your all's attention today. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. The next two speakers, last speakers, is Jerome King and Sophia Todor. Please go to either podium. State your name and address for the record. We'll have three minutes to address counsel. You can come over here, sir. It's all right. Good evening. My name is Sophia Isidor. I'm a longtime resident of St. Petersburg. Me coming today, hearing the programs that you have for low-income and medium-income families in St. Petersburg is great. My concern is, when it comes to St. Petersburg, the south end of St. Petersburg, to be more particular. The residents are not all informed on how, when, to apply for these programs, myself included. And this is why I came today. I have been affected by the storms, and it's still going on to this day. I tried to apply, and come to find out somebody else applied for my address while I was still living there. So I was not able to get that. But at the same time, it has just piled up on top of each other, one after one after one. So, well, now I am no longer able to tell you where I stay at because I don't have an address to tell you where I stay at. I've been evicted from my home because of the hardship that I've had throughout, since the storms. Excuse me. I'm very nervous. I've never done this before. I'm very, very nervous. But I just want to bring it to attention that South St. Pete would love to be involved in this program, and I just want to bring it to light on how we all can be involved in it. I found out about things at the last minute, and now I can't get any help. So it's just, okay, we need to bring this to light so that everybody is aware of it, everybody can qualify for it, everybody has the means to apply for these programs. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Hello. My name is Jerome King. I'm an organizer in Pinellas County, and I've done extensive canvassing in St. Pete for some of you guys and the mayor, et cetera. Long story short is we noticed that a lot of people in the south side of St. Pete were either not effectively getting the information about these awarded funds, nor were they aware of the existing programs that the city had set up to the folks that had been affected with some type of immediate relief. Through my canvassing and collecting surveys, I found out that a lot of people had been denied from FEMA, and other folks had been given vouchers that would allow them to seek some type of residence somewhere else. Long story short, FIBA cannot continue to renew those vouchers, and folks are going from being displaced to becoming homeless. And so we're on the horizon of finding a resolve for the action plan, and hopefully you guys will get approved. But in the meanwhile, people are being essentially becoming homeless every day. And it's extremely difficult and frustrating to balance that. So there is some acts that there be some type of consideration for communities that have been directly impacted, and that as a result, they're either homeless, they're living in their car, they're living with a family member, but the point is that they were displaced. There was funding here at the city, and not to place the blame, but we need a more effective way to get the information out to the entire community. I noticed through reading the action plan that there was focus on some areas, but I think it's important that we focus on all the areas that was impacted within the city, and that we allocate funds based on how they were affected, and to make sure that those folks are not left out. The medium is extremely high in comparison to the level of disimportation and what incomes are throughout St. Petersburg. So there may be a need for some type of inclusion that allows certain communities to have some type of special program that will make sure that they're not left out. And then thirdly, there's a lot of houses in St. Pete that still have trees in the property that's private, that's down. There needs to be something that those folks get that situated, and we need to figure out something to do about the people that are becoming homeless every day as a result of the storm. It's not you guys' fault, but you guys can definitely become a lantern for the rest of the country about how to handle these types of issues in the best ethical with the most inclusion so that the sun can shine on every citizen of St. Petersburg. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Chair, no other speakers. Okay. Before we go to council members, Amy Foster, did you want to make a couple comments? Sure. I just wanted, I think it was Ms. Maxwell who asked a couple questions that I wanted to provide a little clarifying information for her since she was in the room, but I also think her questions probably piqued council's interest as well. So the first question that I wrote down was how did we come up with the numbers of how many people would be served by each program, and so if you take the total amount allocated, let's say it was $14 million, and that $15,000 was an allowable amount, then that is how we came up with the possible number of residents that could be impacted. So we, you know, did kind of a worst-case scenario that people would get the cap amount. There was also some questions about how people will apply, and I think this is a really important part of the design of our program that I want to really shout out to Horn and Aubrey and the whole team, that there's been a very thoughtful approach to this, that if you're a single-family homeowner, you don't need to know all of the programs, and you don't need to know which one is going to benefit you the most. So think about a no-wrong-door approach where you come in, you tell us what's happened to you. We will have a vendor who runs this portion of our program, not the current housing department. They're going to focus on some of the other components that you heard about today. But this vendor will then case manage and hold people's hand all along the way, and so they'll determine, is the reimbursement program the best approach for you? Is the disaster relief payment the best approach for you based on the paperwork and the things that you have? Do you need your home rehabbed? Maybe you rehabbed your home right after the storm, but you didn't do it right because you were rushing to get back into it, and we need to start over and do an entire reconstruction of the home. So they will assess all of those things and hold the homeowner's hand all along the way. I also wanted to mention, because we do recognize how important outreach is, and that we have tons of programs as a city, but it's really hard for people to learn about all the things that we have. We've had conversations about outreach teams that will be a part of the program, and we're not talking about out-of-town outreach teams that come in. We're talking about subcontracting with local groups who already know our community, who know how to really reach them at the door, talking to our faith leaders and others. And so I just wanted to make sure that you were aware that those thoughts go into the program design process and kind of the next steps of this action plan, but we've already started having conversations. We will also make sure that everyone who spoke today will get their information from the yellow cards and reach out to them in case some of the funding we already have available through the We Are St. Pete program they could be eligible for. We also have a tree program. So we'll make sure to follow up with those that are here today and see if there's something we can do before the program's even open. Awesome. Thank you very much, Amy. Okay. Let's go to Councilmembers. Councilmember Gabbard. Thank you, Chair. A lot to unpack here, so I will try to keep it concise since I respect time for my fellow colleagues to speak. But first of all, I just want to start by saying thank you. Thank you to administration, to the team, Aubrey, what you have done on this, Amy, your entire teams. And thank you to Horn. Having Tyler and Ryan by our side throughout this, I think, has really been the key. And for the forward thinking to bring them on board so quickly, you know, I think that that was really the way to go. And Ryan, I think I might know you a little better than Tyler, unfortunately. You know, you are so well-respected in this space, but you live right here in our community. And you shared with me stories about going and mucking out people's houses and helping your friends and people that you love after the storm. And I think that's really important, right, is that we have a partner who gets it and who understands our community and cares about our community and looks at things through a different lens than someone coming from the outside who is not one of us. So thank you for that, and thank you for being our partner. You know, I think it's really important that as we have looked at this program, the unmet needs piece of it is critical because, you know, we've been doing these resiliency tours through the St. Pete Action Plan across the city over the last month or so. Councilmember Harding, I know that you were there in Shore Acres. I've been in numerous neighborhoods. And, you know, when you represent a coastal district and, you know, every home in a particular neighborhood is damaged, to an extent, you know, you kind of become a little bit, I don't want to say numb to seeing four-foot flood cuts, but you become very accustomed to it because this is the world that we live in, right? When you go into areas like Child's Park, Kingston Street, and you are seeing the same in areas where you're nowhere near water, quote-unquote. You might be near a canal, but you're not on the water. You're not in neighborhoods where you ever thought this could happen to you. It is devastating on a different level. And so thank you for coming out and advocating for your communities because I saw it myself, and I see unmet need everywhere across our city, but specifically in neighborhoods more inland, which I think really starts to tell the story about the vulnerabilities that our city faces. So I say all of that to kind of get to my questions, and Amy, thank you for this no-wrong-door approach. I think that is phenomenal. Creative and hopefully cuts down on some of the bureaucracy and the red tape that government is really good at putting against all of these programs. I just wanted to know, on that same thread, are we going to do, within the proactive approach, are we going to specifically reach out to residents? Because we have a list. We know whose homes were damaged. Are we going to specifically reach out to those residents first and really make sure that we're coming to them with the information versus waiting on them to come to us? Yeah, I think there's going to be a multi-tiered approach, right, council members. So we already have more than 100 applications from the We Are St. Pete fund that we have not been able to fund yet, right? So we have some idea of who needs some assistance. Almost all of those are under 80% AMI. Kind of surprisingly, some of the programs we set up with the We Are St. Pete fund, you wanted to catch those people between the 80 and 120, and we haven't found as many of those who we thought may need assistance. So we'll start there. We also have the damage assessment list. We know from the folks who have gotten permits and who haven't kind of where people are in their process, hopefully. We're communicating with those folks regularly. So I do think that is one approach. I think we'll also do advertising and other things, and then also that door-to-door outreach that we talked about, plus, you know, using faith leaders and others. Okay. And just from a process standpoint, as city council that approves the budget every year and controls the purse strings and has the oversight, I just want to understand, once this grant agreement is reached, we're going to get a bucket of money, correct? Much like the ARPA funds? Or how is that going to work? Are we going to get reimbursed, or are we going to get money up front? It is a reimbursement-based grant. Okay. So it is not like ARPA, where the money was transferred right away. The good news that I can tell you, as I know you're, you know, worried about FEMA reimbursements and other things, HUD has always been a very fast payer. So as soon as you put the information into the system, usually in, you know, 48 hours, you get paid. So we're not going to have a long lag time on some of that. It's not years like you're used to with the FEMA side of it. So just like any other grant we receive, you know, you'll accept those funds. That will be a council action. And then any time the plan changes, we will have to do another public hearing, and council will have to hear it, and the public will have an opportunity to speak as well. Okay. So we're looking at a program that's $158 million. Rob, where are we going to get that money to front for this programming? I know Mr. Green and his team are working on how we're going to process those payments. He may be listening. He may come out. Okay. But let us get back to you on that. Okay. All right. Yeah. I just want to kind of understand the intricacies behind the actual funding. The allocation for mitigation set aside, this $20 million.8, is that built within the budget that we have been presented, or is that separate? Because I'm very interested in that particular set aside of money. Because, you know, when you say mitigation to me, I'm thinking we're elevating homes. We're getting people up out of harm's way. How are we specifically designating that $20 million? So that is worked into all of the programs, and essentially those funds don't have to be tied back to an individual storm. We are making sure that they will most likely show up in the infrastructure program. However, where residential properties need mitigation, we can also use those funds to mitigate those properties. So it's baked into the overall budget, so that's why you don't see it as a standalone kind of line item. But you just said it's baked into the infrastructure piece. So we have to tell HUD where we expect that the mitigation is going to happen. We're anticipating that all of our infrastructure projects are going to be mitigation. So we're confident we're going to hit that minimum amount of the mitigation set aside, but we can also spend more than that on mitigation if there's a need in the residential programs. Well, there's a need in the residential programs. Absolutely. I mean, we have been talking so long about funding resources to help people mitigate. When I see this, and when I talk to residents about this specifically, the expectation is that this $20 million is not for us to fix our infrastructure. It is to help people mitigate their structures, because it is HUD funding that is directly related to disaster. Yes, so as those residential homeowners come in through that no front door and their properties are assessed and we see that there were damages and we identify, oh, there's opportunities for mitigation here, that can hit that mitigation line item. Okay, so I'm going to hope that, when do we have to use this by? We have six years. Six years. From the date of our grant agreement. So I'll be watching that $20 million even when I'm not sitting here anymore. And there will be public reporting on the city's website per HUD's requirements, so everyone can watch along with you. All right. So, yeah. Oh, hi, Mr. Green. Where are we going to find $158 million to front this money? Well, thankfully, we're not going to be spending $159 million all at once. So the programs will be set up to spend out over a period of six years. So it will be a cash flow management, a little bit of a challenge, but as Administrator Foster indicated, once we get the grant agreement, and the folks from Horn can correct me if I'm wrong, but basically it's set up as a line of credit. And so when we incur the expense, we will submit that to HUD for reimbursement. So the float would be, you know, three days. And what will be the reporting back to city council? Like, will we do like a quarterly update to be F&T? How is city council going to be kept apprised of where we're at? That's a very good question. And we certainly could add that to a quarterly report to, you know, be F&T if that's the will of the body. Fair. Yes. That would be my request, but I'd love to hear. I mean, I think probably the easiest thing to do would be to add it to the quarterly report we already do for the budget. That seems the simplest. Yeah. Like right now, Administrator Foster, we do ARPA report in there. We have BP report in there. BP funds. Yeah. I would just add it as a line item to that. Perfect. All right. Thank you. So moving on to my last couple of questions. So Tanner, thank you for coming this evening and elevating a issue that I have been asking about behind the scenes. You know, we can't ever speak to each other any other time other than here in the sunshine. So I'll share with you all that I have had a email chain communication with James Corbett, our community development administration administrator, and asked about this very thing. You know, the waiving of the permits for properties that have been deemed substantially damaged, and why are we not waiving those permits? The answers that I got in short are because of the permitting fee structure, because of the staff resource demand, and because of the equity and timing considerations. That's the short answer. And I have an entire email chain that I could share. So my question being is, we have here on the residential recovery elevation program reimbursement for rehabilitation that we're trying to hit 288 properties. Is this a place where we believe that potentially we could reimburse people for their permits for new construction due to being substantially damaged? I know we have some questions about permitting into HUD. Councilmember Gabbard, that wouldn't have any of the answers on yet, but Horn probably has a little one. Yeah. Have you ever seen that done before? So reimbursement strictly for the permitting that was done? Yeah. Have not. I mean, reimbursement for rehabilitation. Right. It, I mean, it's an eligible soft cost related to reconstruction or rehabilitation of your home. I have, so I have not seen it. I don't, I can't say that that is not eligible, but that's something that we would have to kind of, we'd have to look into a little bit further. Haven't seen it since usually tied to some, some re some repair work that's, that has been done. So hard construction. Well, I don't really know what, you know, any more repair means than having to completely tear down your home and rebuild it. Right. Yes. Understood. Yeah. We can certainly look into that. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. I would like that to be considered. And then on the disaster relief reimbursement, piece of seven hundred and eighty four, is this something, and it talks about homeowners and renters. Is this something that could be targeted to individuals who have been stuck in what I call like the, the cash drain, which is they're paying, they were paying a mortgage, but they're not in that property anymore. They still have to pay that mortgage to keep that property, but now they're paying rent as well. And that has become a huge degradation of the wealth that people have in the have compiled through homeownership in our community. And that is going to come to a head at a certain point in time. People cannot sustain that forever. So is that something that this program could help with for people who have had to do that? Absolutely. And that's, that's part of the program design considerations and what we've thought about as we've built out the plan. So reimbursing for costs related to if you have two, you know, two housing payments, we talked about a hardship. We, I believe in its policy has to be set, but it would, it would stand to reason that having two housing payments would be considered a hardship. That was a result of the storms. And therefore there could be, and it's up to six months. So it is, it is limited, but it's still a significant amount of money that could go into somebody's pocket. So we, I think it's a, there's an opportunity there. Okay. I'd like to see us explore that more. I'm on the voluntary buyout. So this is a pretty limited pool of money. Um, estimated number of households is only 14. So are we looking, and I don't know who would even answer this, but are we looking at places where maybe we could purchase contiguous properties where it makes sense? Um, and I don't know, give it back to the park system or use it as part of our stormwater, um, management property. Um, I'm just thinking if we do 14 all along the city, does that really get the same effectiveness as it would if we look for a specific targeted location where maybe those, there are properties contiguous or a couple? Yes, absolutely. So, um, I mean, I think that is the goal. We, we've been in touch with many property owners after the storms looking at potential acquisitions. Um, you know, one was next to Puryear Park where it was a perfect example of what you're talking about and something that's contiguous. It would be much better for us. Uh, we review all those with measure tankersly to see if there's a stormwater capacity element we can put in there. That would be the ideal situation. Absolutely. I completely agree. So, um, the last one that I have is just a question on this public infrastructure, the 25 million. Um, how are we going to choose? I mean, we've got so many projects. We've talked about it this morning, right? In our, um, stormwater master plan, for instance, I just had my one-on-one yesterday talking about a $25 million project just in my district. I'm sure every single district has a similar project. How are we going to pick where we're going to do the most good with this money? Claude. Excuse me. In the transition, I think I may have missed some of your question. Would you, um, I was just asking this $25 million that's specific for infrastructure. Um, you know, we just talked yesterday about coincidentally a $25 million project in my district. Um, I'm sure every district has one of those when you go through the stormwater master plan. So how are we going to pick? So we're going to be looking at fun, uh, sources of funding. So as, as we spoke earlier today in the, in the BF and T meeting, we're looking at a lot of different sources of funding to try to maximize how we use them all together. Obviously we'll have to make sure that we meet the, the, um, AMI requirements under this program and then just go through to see what, which one of our projects will, will allow us to do the biggest bang for the buck to get it, to get the best benefit from, from the work. Well, I'd be interested to see if some of the conversation we had with the residents on Kingston street, um, a couple of weeks ago, that particular need and the ask there around that canal. I think that may be perfect. It may align with some of the AMI requirements. And so just putting that out there, cause that's fresh in my mind from when we were kind of, you know, toe to toe with the residents that day. And I think that, you know, that's really where you're going to get the most good out of those dollars. I was thinking the same thing. Thank you very much. All right. Perfect. Thank you, chair. Thank you. Council member Givens. Thank you very much, chair. And thank you all for all your hard work and diligence on this. And thank you to everyone who showed up, uh, to make your voices heard. Um, I see you and I hear you and I appreciate you for, for showing up. You did not have to do that, uh, this evening at this hour. So I certainly appreciate you. Um, I want to talk for a moment. Um, I don't know if this will be you, uh, Administrator Foster or Aubrey, but about restrictions and what's not eligible. Um, so I do have a list of things and I'll kind of go down that list and we can maybe do it one by one. Uh, I'll be, uh, cognizant of our time. My first question. Um, well, the first thing I want to make mention of is I heard you say that this is specifically for those who were impacted by Idalia and Helene. Um, but my question is Milton. What about Milton? Those who were impacted by that. So we have to be able to show in our documentation that there was a storm related impact. As we all know, having experienced these storms, they were 10 days apart. We are not going to be really trying to distinguish. Was it storm a or storm B because that we would end up in a endless cycle of red tape if we didn't try to do that. So as long as we can document that storm related damage, um, that's going to be our primary criteria. That's good news. And I hope y'all remember that. Thank you very much. Um, and I want to talk again about things that aren't eligible. So reimbursements, um, it's been nine months. A lot of people have already paid for a lot of things like roof replacements and repairs windows. Um, how far back are we going? Um, so somebody got this work done in January of 2024. Are they eligible for a reimbursement? So the reimbursement can go back to the date of the event. Okay. I just wanted to be clear about that. Thank you. And then, uh, we're talking about reimbursement. So I want to be clear that equity is important here. Not everybody can afford to eat the costs up front. Right. Um, and especially in my district, there's a lot of people on fixed income. I think about a lot of seniors who live downtown. Um, and I want to be clear that if we're going to ask people to pay for something, we should consider their situation. A lot of these folks have, you know, council member Gabbard said it herself, you know, I've been going into debt because of this storm. So things like tree removal, um, to say, Hey, it costs almost a thousand dollars to, you know, take a tree down. Um, I got one leaning in my yard now that I got to pay for actually two. Um, so in order to pay for that, you have to have the funds to do it. Is it possible for the city to contract that work out? Um, and, and you all pay, um, and so that, that resident does not have to eat that costs. I'm just curious of what the, again, the restrictions are. So there was a lot packed into that. So I'm going to unpack a few components here. Um, one, the program model that we're envisioning, not only are we looking at a no wrong front door, but we're also looking at it to where there is case management for homeowners through the process. So we know that residents are not necessarily experts in hurricane disaster recovery or construction management. And so the idea is that the vendor that we hired to run that program is working alongside the homeowner and that that vendor is hiring those subcontractors who are doing the actual repairs and reimbursement, uh, repairs and rehabilitation on the home. So that the homeowner is not having to navigate that on the examples of trees, particularly this is where it's going to be important and why we're working so closely across all of the different administrations. Um, there are restrictions that HUD has on what these funds can be used for. Um, and so in some of our early conversations, we do have some questions about whether HUD considers trees down in the yard as part of the property. And so that'll have to be a case by case assessment of whether that will be eligible for HUD reimbursement. And then to your point about, you know, taking into account individual situations we have, and it's reflected in the draft action plan, um, prioritization criteria based on income and individual situation, because we do recognize everybody's coming to these programs with, from a different place. And I appreciate that. That was going to actually be my next question is how are we prioritizing these requests as they come in? Because you know, you're going to have maybe a high concentration in one zip code, a high concentration at some AMM AMI percentage, you know, and I just want to make sure that we are considering the fact that equity is important. Yes. And we have draft in the draft action plan, prioritization criteria laid out for each program. Um, we do welcome as part of this process, public comment from folks. So if there are other criteria that we should be considering, um, folks can absolutely share that feedback with us for consideration. Um, we also have in many cases left the opportunity to add additional criteria as we develop the individual program guidelines, uh, to help us make sure that that, that help is getting to where it's most needed. Thank you. And my other question about, uh, restrictions and what's not eligible utility bills. So we have people who have high utility bills. Could they, or is there a program that we could, you know, start, or can we help people who may be apply say, Hey, we'll supplement that cost so that disaster, those disaster relief payments, utility, uh, assistance is possible as part of that. Um, there are restrictions that HUD has in relation to those disaster relief payments. One of them being the individual has to have demonstrated financial hardship. Um, but utility assistance is something that those disaster relief payments can go to help substance. Awesome. What about, uh, private leaking laterals, the replacement of those private laterals that are leaking. I mean, potentially as part of a broader rehabilitation, you may be able to get into that, uh, standalone. I think that would be challenging from an eligibility standpoint. Appreciate that. Um, and my other question was, um, about those, you know, considering the fact that FEMA, let's just be honest, it's on its way out. Um, and you are going to have homeowners who will not be able to afford to pay those deductibles. Are those also eligible for reimbursement? They're asking our deductible insurance deductibles eligible for reimbursement. The short answer to that is no, that's not historically been the case. I, and I don't believe there's any eligible activity that would allow for deductibles to be paid as a form of reimbursement, but we really are trying to capture as many, um, as many, um, different opportunities for, um, to, to alleviate the burden through the disaster relief payments. So maybe if you free up funding, because maybe there was a cost that they had incurred for something that was eligible that may free up and kind of shift their budget around a bit, give them a little bit of a boost to their budget to be able to address some of those things. But Amy, Mr. Cross, you may have some thoughts. Yes. I was just going to mention, so the, um, um, I'm sorry, uh, the word has the deductibles are eligible through the, we are St. Pete program. They will not be a part of this particular program. Thank you for that clarification. And then lastly, the comment that I want to make, it was mentioned earlier about mental health services and the importance of making sure that these are funded. There are a lot of folks who are uninsured. I meet with these people daily being a social worker. They cannot afford to go and talk to a licensed mental health therapist. So understanding that is important that we be able to fund those services for these people who have gone through hell. Let's just be honest, been there and back and they need a place to go. Someone who they can talk to these FEMA denial letters, when they come in, that is life shaking. Um, if you've never gotten one, uh, you don't want one. So I think it's just important to know that people need somewhere to be able to go to talk to someone. And then lastly, food insecurity, the importance of that, you know, we have such a high concentration of food deserts in South St. Pete. Again, what can't we fund? Is it possible to use some of these funds for a city owned grocery market? I'll just talk about the public services program. How about I, um, talk about that council member given. So I, that is not in our plan. Um, but we do have $6 million set aside for nonprofit public services. What we're thinking about with that program right now is aligning programs kind of based on the pillars. So likely based on the feedback we've received from the public, there will be one under neighborhood health and safety, uh, um, RFP where nonprofits can apply. Those will be large awards. One will be for food and one will be for mental health at that 1.25 million, um, cap that's in the public services, um, criteria that you've read in the action plan. There will be one for housing opportunities for all. Um, those are things like housing navigation, um, eviction, diversion, um, things of that nature. Um, we are thinking of structuring that with one large award and then, um, many small awards, similar to how the county does their social action funding. And then our last pot will be some type of resilience pot, probably with about a million dollars in it. Um, and those will be small awards to help nonprofits plan for continuity and how to become more resilient so that they are strong in a storm to be able to help our residents when gray skies come. Appreciate that. And then my last comment, um, I, it was mentioned earlier about those people who are going to need that technical assistance with applying. Also the assist, the, the effort of getting the information out there, outreach and engagement. Um, how are we going to select the vendor that we're going to use to do that work? So we have, uh, earlier in this process, we did a comprehensive disaster recovery RFP, uh, where we've pre-qualified vendors under a suite of services that we anticipated. We might need this hurricane season and included in that as one of those services, uh, CDBGDR implementation services. So these are vendors that have experience with this funding, source and meeting HUD's compliance requirements. Our intent is that as part of the scope of work, when we issue task orders for that, those vendors is that we would include a requirement that they're subcontracting with local entities who have those direct connections to neighborhoods to do that direct outreach. It's very important making sure that there is that local connection. So thank you for clarifying that Aubrey and thank you chair. Thank you council member Driscoll. Thank you. And thanks to everyone for all the work that you've done on this. Um, I will start by thinking council member Gabbard for her efforts in, um, the reasonable request to waive permit fees for those who are rebuilding due to substantial damage. My, I have not had these conversations, but my first thought is it's a no brainer. And it, um, it takes me back to, um, the time that I first brought up to the administration. Um, why are people getting thousand dollar water bills? And I was given this excuse and that excuse and that reason. And then I brought it up here and look what we uncovered and looked at the good that was done since then. So I'm feeling a little bit of deja vu here. And sometimes it takes us working together and in the public space to make change that really matters to people. And so I would like to be marked down as a supporter of waiving those fees. Cause it's the least we can do right now, especially when you hear a story like we did tonight. And the other option could be, well, it should be with, but the question that came up on, could this be included as an eligible, um, request? I, I, I don't see why not. I mean, in the residential recovery and elevation program, it literally says rehab rehabilitation. Reconstruction and elevation. So I think we can find a way. Um, and maybe it's a combination of reimbursement for those who already paid those fees. So council member, no one has paid permitting fees that has had, um, rehabilitation or, or they, they shouldn't have right. Permit fees are waived until the end of the month. What I can tell you is I think what you're asking for makes logical sense, but we are not the federal government and we don't make their rules. We have met with HUD and asked for this kind of answer. We are still awaiting that answer. Certainly if we can do it, we absolutely will, um, waive those fees. Okay. Yeah. And I just, I just would like to add from a broader perspective. I mean, the mayor was very clear for us that this portion of CDBDR was important. And we tried to be really aggressive in the funding on this component. And we agree with city council that money has people have spent money, right? And they're hurting. And that's why we're so aggressive on this component. Um, whether a new permit fee would be part of this or not, we will certainly follow up with the federal government and see, but you know, the intent is to make people whole as much as possible through this funding source. Thank you. I just don't think that, I mean, I know that we have to, we need money in order to operate the city, but just like with what happened with the water bills and the late fees, there are times when you have to really take a more human approach to things. Um, my next question was regarding the affordable rental housing program without when the estimated budget is 48 million. And it says here that it would cover up to $125,000 per affordable unit. And, um, Administrator Foster, you had said in it states in the, in the, um, or one of you said, I, I forget who said it. Um, it's been a long day. Um, the estimated number would be 582, but you know, quick math shows that 48 million at 125 per unit, um, was 382. And that's a pretty big difference. So I know this says up to, but that almost guarantees that we're going to end up spending 125,000 per affordable unit. So, um, I'm, I'm looking for what's really very realistic here. And I don't know that that gap is, um, is really acceptable. Well, I think council member, um, as you know, the subsidy that we typically provide is nowhere near 125,000 per unit. Right. I think, um, the last time we did an average for you, as you were debating the historic gas plant, it was much closer to 50, um, actually much under that. So, uh, in this instance, we went higher knowing that there might be some resiliency needs. Also knowing that if people have to comply with Davis bacon act and other federal requirements that increases the cost, um, of building. Um, but so I think, you know, we included an average there, but you know, I, I think the important thing to remember is the way we approach our affordable housing program. Is that people can't just ask for some pie in the sky number, right? They have to prove to us that there is an actual gap and we only fund the gap. So they can't come to us and say they need $125,000 per unit when they haven't also tapped other sources. Um, and we don't typically see gaps that large. Okay. There was another project we were just talking about where it was like 90 per unit. So when I see up to 125, I can expect that the offers that we will get would be to build affordable housing. If we will put in 125. Good evening. Counsel, Mark Vanloo, uh, assistant director, housing, community development. Um, yeah, the recent project that was coming in at that, uh, around that 90,000 per unit number was, uh, an affordable home ownership project and home ownership opportunities do carry a higher cost to, uh, create. Um, you know, as, uh, minister Foster said, we evaluate every proposed funding proposal. We analyze both the, uh, development pro forma and the operating pro forma. We make sure that everything is within industry standards. We make sure that they have tapped all of the debt that they're capable of tapping based on the industry norms, um, that they have sought investment from equity investors, that they have some of their own skin in the game. Uh, so they really do have to prove the gap and we're not going to just go to a high number, uh, because they asked for it. They have to prove that there is a need and that, uh, it's legitimate. And the reason we went to 125,000 as a cap is because it is just that it's a cap. And one of the things I was concerned about is we may get, uh, an amazing proposal two, three, four years from now. Remember, this is a six year funding cycle that, you know, in that timeframe costs may have continued to rise. There may be an amazing project, um, that brings a lot of benefit and needs a higher level of subsidy. I just didn't want our hands to be tied, um, at a lower level, uh, that would prevent us from being able to support a project like that. So we will only give the amount of funding that's required to make the project pencil. Um, but we wanted the ability to support projects, uh, you know, that could be well worth supporting. Yeah. And, um, at 582, you'd be looking at an average of $82,474 per unit. Yeah. And that's a little bit under. So I see where you're going with this. And when you look at how prices for construction costs, for construction costs, um, you know, it's not going down. Right. So there's that, and we never know what, um, opportunity might present itself to us. That's true. Thank you very much for that explanation. I appreciate it. Um, one of the categories that could be getting assistance and, um, has been surveyed and has a section in this backup material is for our businesses. Um, and, um, there was a lot to read on that, but I don't see that we've allocated funding from this opportunity to help our business owners. Yeah, that's true. It's, you know, there's difficult decisions that, that need to be made here. Um, and we felt that our highest priorities were on the housing side, uh, the infrastructure side, and then on the reimbursement side that we discussed for homeowners that have been hurt. We've tried to do some things through, we are saying Pete fund for businesses. We know that businesses have been hurt severely, uh, but it is difficult to make these decisions. And we felt we had to lean in on what we thought were the most significant priorities at this time. And, and so that, that was our position on it. I think the other thing I would say council member, um, uh, Mr. Curtis is absolutely right. That, um, you, we use the feedback from the public as well as, um, from the individual meetings with you, uh, to make some of those determinations. The money does not go as far as we'd like it to. However, we did serve a number of businesses through the, we are St. Pete fund. We currently do not have, um, very many applications for the employee portion of the, we are St. Pete fund that you authorize. And so we are, um, in conversations with economic development right now about, um, what they have in hand that they were unable to fund that we would be able to move some money. Um, and help some of those businesses that already applied. Uh, so that is something we're in conversation about and we'll report back to you. Once we know, um, the ability of that Pinellas community foundation has approved us moving those funds if we're able to do so. Um, so we certainly haven't forgotten our businesses and continue to look for other ways to support them. Isn't that we are St. Pete fund being used for assistance for residents and property owners as well. Right. So you, you authorize four different categories. Right. You authorize 200,000 for employees. We've only had one application from employees. Um, you authorize 200,000 for businesses. That's fully spent. You are authorized a hundred thousand for rapid resolution. About 45,000 of that has been spent. And then you authorized 400,000 in housing and about a hundred thousand of that's been spent right now. So we're looking at the 200,000 that was authorized for employees, whether some of that can be moved to the business line item. Um, to support businesses that applied, but we didn't have enough funds for in that category. Do you know what that does that, um, close the gap then? We don't know. That's what I said a few minutes ago that we have asked economic development for what that gap is. We're awaiting that information. We just asked that question today when we received our accounting for each of those four categories this week. Okay. If I could council member, just to be clear for the record employees that live within the city limits are helped under the housing portion. We are helping a number of those. This was the bucket that was set up for employees who were damaged, but lived outside the city limits where we only have one application. So I just don't want there to be any confusion. Got it. Thank you. So in the consultations with the, with the business community, they, um, expressed that their unmet needs included funding for wages and workforce retention jobs, replacing lost inventory and equipment, repairing and rebuilding damaged structures. We have, I think probably everyone here knows those business owners and what they, what they have had to go through and how they struggled to finally reopen those who have so far. Many businesses indicated that they require between 50 and $250,000, 50,000 and 250 or more to fully recover. And we put all of this together and we, and we have, and we're going to offer them zero. And I hope you understand that that's, that's hard for me to handle right now. Um, I think one piece of the puzzle that may be helpful, um, to understand in terms of the decision making around the CDBGDR and what informed that and what we're looking at. So we, we definitely hear those unmet needs when we looked at what the HUD requirements are for economic development. investments. There are a lot of, uh, what can be very onerous, uh, requirements that are put on businesses with this particular funding source. That can also create not only a burden on businesses, but create real compliance and administration, uh, increase administrative overhead for these funds. And so instead of, uh, directing these limited funds to businesses, we just this week, um, the economic development agency released their disaster supplemental notice of funding opportunity. And so we're continuing to look at other funding sources and existing city programs that can support businesses that are maybe a better match. So that we're not putting an undue burden on, on businesses that are already struggling to recover. We definitely heard those unmet needs and we're still looking for ways to meet them. Okay. I would love for you all to, to follow up with more information on that as it becomes available. And when we're looking at over $31 million in unmet, um, or in, um, sorry, I'm looking at the wrong page. Um, the, um, for the disaster impact, the total verified business loss was 189,000, 189 million, 152,325 dollars from this pot of money. We're offering zero. So I hope you understand why I'm asking questions and why I want, um, to see the other robust plan that we have to help our business community. Because then I look on another page of the presentation and I see that $7.9 million has been put aside for administration. And I'd like that to be explained. The, um, amount that's allowed by the grant. Um, you may remember that a hundred percent of the housing department is funded by HUD grants, right? So the general fund does not cover the staff that it requires to implement these programs. And so somebody's gotta be the outreach team. Somebody's gotta process the checks. Somebody's gotta do all of the work to keep us in compliance with the federal government. And that is the allowable amount by the grant. Is it the allowable amount? Is it also the necessary amount? Uh, we are working through those programs right now. Um, again, we can always go back to HUD and make adjustments, but the first step is the action plan. After that you do staffing capacity analysis, you write your program guidelines, all of those things. We're not all the way through with those, um, pieces yet. Okay. We can certainly stay in touch with council on this, on this issue. I mean, we are expecting some, you know, significant operational costs here. It's not just the frontline staff. It's back of house staff. Uh, it's accounting, it's finance. Um, it is gonna be pretty significant. I do understand your concern and I think it's a very legitimate question. And it's something we have to monitor and we can continue the discussion with you. Um, but we are expecting some significant, um, admin costs. Okay. And then for the post disaster improvement in planning, um, it's one point, almost 1.9 million. Um, and there was a note regarding that, that said that that could include planning post disaster improvement in planning that has already been done. So I'd like to know how much has been spent on that so far already. So we are currently underway on an after action report and improvement plan. Uh, I don't have that figure right in front of me, but it was, uh, right around 72,000, uh, for that, uh, after action report that's covering all of 2024, uh, hurricane season. Um, and that's, uh, the only work that's happening prior to us receiving the grant. Okay. All right. That's all I have for now. Thank you, chair. Thank you. Vice chair Hanowitz. Thank you. Well, first of all, thank you all for the heavy lift. It's a huge document. Um, bureaucracies recover, require that. It costs money to actually spend money, which is obvious. I mean, we have $160 million that we're going to get, and it still costs us a ton of money to spend. And here's the sad part. The sad part is there's a possibility FEMA may not, might not exist after this. That's the sad part. The sad part is we got this money this year. It's what? June 12th hurricane season started June 1st. So, you know, come next year, we, we may have storms or whatever, and we may not be seeing any money. Um, we received from FEMA, the state of Florida, probably $2.1 billion because of Debbie Milton and Helene. And we weren't the only state that suffered storms, North Carolina, um, California with their fires. And it's, it's, it's sad because no matter what the natural disaster, the impact is the same, right? You have people trying to rebuild their homes and their lives. At the end of the day, I've lived in Florida my whole life. I went through hurricane Andrew true. Just like Aubrey here. We go again with storms. I know another one will come in my lifetime. That's the risk. And so when I see these programs, what I do want to see, I'm just going to focus on one thing is I want to make sure when we are spending money on things like voluntary buyouts and acquisitions. And council member Gabbert hit on this, we are making sure that that is very targeted strategic. There's a great article on NPR talking about recovery failure, why we struggle to rebuild from storms, talking specifically about all these cities that did buyouts. And it was one house here, one house here, one house here, and then you can't do anything. And so that's the only thing I'm going to say. I know you all know this and I have faith that we're going to do something right. But the voluntary buyout and acquisition program, by the way, it's only 14 households. And so when we talk about spending money in our stormwater master plan in our system, if we can get properties outside of the flooding, that would be great. And this is one way to do it where we don't have to put money into that. And we're saving money in other ways because it's fungible. I mean, you're either spending it here. You're spending it there, but we're all spending it. And we're, guess what? It's not enough. It just isn't for. So, so that's all I wanted to say. Thank you for all your work. That's it. Thanks. Thank you. Council member Fitzsanders. Thank you. Well, you guys have been thanked. It's been a long day. And it's cold to hear y'all not coming. All right. Quick question. I have two quick questions on the voluntary buyout. I thought we had already started a similar program like that after this last hurricane. Yes. No. So we have reached out to multiple property owners to see, you know, if they had an interest, if we thought that it was an area that would benefit us. So, you know, the per your park example is an example of that. It was, it was flooded. The house was flooded and the owner wanted to sell. So we've been open to this. You know, council member Hanowitz makes a really good point. You know, you want to make sure that it's going to be effective and HUD's going to require that it be maintained as green space. I mean, you can't buy it and then build another house there. So there's provisions that are, that are required. But this would give us more funding to try and do more of what we might have been trying to do and kind of more of a one off situation. Okay. Thank you for that. And I was also questioning the numbers because up to 400,000 for 14 homes is 5.6 million instead of 5 million. So I don't know how the math handled. I don't know if it's the same logic as what was previously presented. Going to the nonprofit community support services program, when I look at what it will cover and the requirements of the team, is this going to be an RFP process? Yes, ma'am. Okay. I've asked before and have no luck. One of the things that I get is organizations saying they don't know when the process, and I don't go and hunt for RFPs and when we launch them. Is there any way we can help our constituents by us getting notified when these RFP and opportunities are going out? As a council member, you want notification? Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you. So I told you I was going to be quick. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Well, just quickly, thank you for all the work and the, and the continued work, cause it's, this is just the beginning. And so, um, a big thank you to horn and, um, Amy, all the whole team, you guys continue to shine. Um, I, I'm very much looking forward to getting, getting this money out in the streets and, and that's where I'll end it. I know, I know all of you are too. So, okay. At this point I'll entertain a motion for approval. Move approval. Thank you. All right. We have a motion and a second. Seeing as no other council members wishing to speak. Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Council members, enter your votes. Seeing as all present council members have voted. Clerk, please tally and announce the vote. Mr. Chair, the motion to approve agenda item J2 passes unanimously. Thank you team. Very much appreciated. Okay. We are going to move into J3, uh, which is quasi judicial. Uh, and we're going to talk about the Emory house. And so, um, you want to swear in the speakers, please. And then if we could please read the ordinance. Ordinance note. Ordinance number 137-HL, an ordinance of the city of St. Petersburg, Florida, designating the W.E. and Margaret H. Emory 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 Mr. Chair, we do not have any cards on this. Okay. Thank you. Actually, we do just have one. We have one? Oh. Manny snuck in there. Go ahead. All right. Good evening, uh, chair and council members. Cindy Kohanik, historic preservationist with the city of St. Pete. Uh, this project is for the review of a local landmark designation for the William E. and Margaret H. Emory house located at 1947 Beach Drive Southeast. The landmark designation application was owner initiated with support from Preserve the Berg and recommended for approval by the Community Planning and Preservation Commission at their May 13th meeting. 1947 Beach Drive Southeast is located in the Old Southeast neighborhood and is part of the Old Southeast local hex block sidewalk district as well as an artist enclave district. The house was built for William and Margaret Emory in the Rousland section of Old Southeast. The Emory's were originally from Massachusetts where William worked in textile manufacturing. Like many early St. Pete residents, the Emory's were winter residents, uh, prior to establishing a more permanent residence here. They continued spending significant time outside of the state during the summer months after the house was built. After William Emory passed away in 1937, Margaret continued to live at the house until her passing in 1963. The building permit for the house and the garage were issued in August 1922. At the time of construction, the house was addressed as 1747 Beach Drive South. This was prior to the citywide street renaming in 1928 when 18th Avenue just south of the house was renamed to 20th Avenue. This 1923 Sanborn map depicts the house and surrounding area prior to the street renaming and shows that this section of the neighborhood was only partially built out at that time. The Emory house is a single-story masonry bungalow. The main structure forms an age plan. It is constructed atop a raised grade behind a retaining wall. The house is constructed in a mix of styles including Mediterranean Revival, Prairie, and Craftsmen or Arts and Crafts, all styles which were popular at that time. Also on site is a single-story masonry garage on the west side of the property. Details on the bungalow are representative of an architect-designed house. Some of the highlights include tapered hexagonal columns framing an original door on the 20th Avenue side, gloss-finished terracotta roof tiles with lion's head hip starters, exposed beams supporting wide-eve overhangs, elaborate vertical vents in the gable ends, and brick planter boxes. There's a mix of windows on the house and some of those window configurations are somewhat unusual. The garage has a simpler design, but some of the details from the main house were carried over to that structure. Alterations over the years have been minimal, especially to the main house. The most significant being the enclosure of the porch on the beach drive side, as well as the addition to the garage. The house was designed by Henry H. DuPont and built by Franklin J. Mason. Henry DuPont came to St. Pete in 1914 after working as an architect in Indianapolis. Prior to his arrival in St. Pete, DuPont collaborated with Carl Prinsler on the first panic exit bar device, which allowed someone to easily exit a locked door from the inside. DuPont's local designs include structures like the Don Cesar and the Pennsylvania hotels. Franklin Mason came to St. Pete in 1920, where his contracting business grew quickly. Mason's company worked on many buildings in the area, some of the more notable being the Princess Martha, which was originally the Mason Hotel, and the Pennsylvania Hotel, as well as the St. Pete Central High School. Evaluation criteria yields that the Emory House meets four of the criteria for eligibility, including cultural heritage, association with an architect and builder contributing to the development of the city, the quality of architecture, and its representation of an architectural style or multiple styles. The areas of significance for the Emory House are listed here. The subject property is an example of how substantial portions of the residential areas in St. Pete and throughout Florida developed, which is as homes for winter residents. The buildings are architect designed, with the main structure being a mix of architectural styles. The property is also associated with architect Henry DuPont, who was not only locally significant for his residential and commercial designs, but beyond that due to his collaboration on the Panic Exit Bar device, which is still in use today. In addition to significance, a resource must demonstrate at least one factor of historic integrity to be considered for listing. This property meets all seven. And the staff report includes a list of character-defining features, some of which were highlighted here, as well as in the previous slides. And while this did not make it into the list of character-defining features for the building, the Beach Drive side of the Emory House offers an excellent view of Lassing Park and the Tampa Bay beyond that. That concludes staff presentation. The owner and applicant are here. Thank you for your time. Okay, thank you. Afflin, do you have a presentation? I know I do not. I'm Joanne Manwaring, one of the owners, my husband Jack. I do not have a presentation, but I just wanted to say thank you very much for your consideration and thank Preserve the Berg for everything they've done to make this come to fruition. Okay, thank you. Is there an opponent? Is there a registered opponent? Okay. All right, so now we'll do public comment. Manny Leto, please go to the podium. State your name and address for the record. We'll have three minutes to address counsel. Excuse me. Good evening. Thank you for your time. I'm actually very excited. Manny Leto, Executive Director of Preserve the Berg. I'm very excited to share our new address, 2219 6th Avenue South in the Warehouse Arts District. So you'll be hearing more about that soon. I just wanted to mention and thank both the homeowners, but also our board member, Emily Elwin, who could not be here this evening. She helped prepare the application and Preserve the Berg paid the application fee, which is a service that we provide homeowners and property owners as part of our mission. We're also really excited to shine a light on Old Southeast, which we don't hear a lot about when we talk about, you know, historic properties in downtown or other places. So we're really excited to shine that light on Old Southeast. And there's a lot of interest there. In 2024, we launched a new walking tour of the neighborhood that has sold out pretty much every time we have offered it. So there is quite a bit of interest. And I also want to mention in your application, you'll note that this area was surveyed by the State of Florida in the 1970s. And there are quite a few contributing historic properties in this neighborhood. So definitely something that we should be focused on from a historic preservation standpoint and historic resources standpoint. You know, our tour is called or at least part of it is called the speakeasies and kind of outlaws tour. So there's some maybe nefarious doings down there back in the 20s. And I also just want to remind you while I've got my minute and a half left and I'm in front of all of you. You know, I have spoken individually with many of you about our place economics studies. So I just wanted to take Oh, ominous. I just wanted to take a moment to to mention some of the results of our place economics study. And that is that, you know, historic designation actually adds value to homes and neighborhoods does not take away value or detract. The survey that was conducted in the place economics study reports that members of this community place a high value on our historic resources. And that part of affordable housing is maintaining the housing that you have and historic preservation helps keep a lot of that housing in place. So again, congratulations to the homeowners, and I hope you'll vote to create St. Pete's latest local landmark. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, now we'll go into cross examination staff. Do you have any cross the applicant have any cross any closing remarks? No staff waves. No staff waves. Okay. All right. And now we'll go into executive session. Councilmember Driscoll. Thank you. I just wanted to thank Joanne and Jack for all the work that you did. It does take some effort to get this done. Thank you for taking care of this home. It is really just so special when you find a case like this where the home is almost the same. It really hasn't changed that much since the day that it was built. And I have to tell you, this is truly one of my favorite houses in Old Southeast. It just makes you smile when you go by it, and maybe you're bringing some of that great spirit into it. I love reading the stories. That's always one of my favorite parts of a historic designation is learning more about what's behind the homes that we see and admire. And Manny, I think you're right. This is one, but we have many more to go. And I hope that we've started a trend here for Old Southeast to take a look at these jewels that we have. And hopefully we'll see more of these types of designations coming our way soon. So here's to starting a new trend. All right. With that, I'll move approval. Second. Okay. Just quickly, it's a beautiful home and a beautiful neighborhood. So excited to vote on this. All right. We've got a motion and a second. Seeing as no other council members wishing to speak, clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Council members, please enter your votes. Seeing as all present council members have voted, clerk, could you please tally and announce the vote? Mr. Chair, the motion to approve agenda item J3 passes unanimously. Okay. Thank you. All right. We are going to move into J4. We're going to talk about private initiated application on three sites, amending the future land use map, amending the official zoning map, and approving a development agreement. And this is also quasi judicial. And council members, at the end of this, we can take A, B, and C all at once. And so if you'd swear on the speakers, please. Okay. Okay. And we all are, we're going to welcome Britton Wilson, and- Mr. Chair, do you have the ordinance? Oh, yes. Thank you. All together, all three? Please. Ordinance number 763-L, an ordinance amending the future land use map of the comprehensive plan for the city of St. Petersburg, Florida, by changing the future land use map designations for three sites totaling 3.29 acres, generally located on the east side of 4 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-OG, providing for repeal of conflicting ordinances and provisions thereof, and providing for an effective date. Ordinance number 798-Z, an ordinance 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 neighborhood suburban multifamily-1, NSM-1, to preservation P, neighborhood suburban multifamily-1, NSM-1, and corridor residential suburban-1, CRS-1, providing for repeal of conflicting ordinances and provisions thereof, and providing for an effective date. Ordinance number 610-H, an ordinance approving a development agreement 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, recognizing that the subject agreement is by and between 4th Street HQ LLC and Gandy Townhomes St. Pete LLC, Florida Limited Liability Company's developer, and city of St. Petersburg, Florida, a Florida municipal corporation, authorizing the mayor or his designee to execute the agreement and provide him for an effective date. And, Mr. Chair, we do not have any speakers. Okay. All right. Staff. Good evening. Britton Wilson, city planner, presenting amendments to the future land use map and official zoning atlas with an associated development agreement for three sites located in the Gateway area. And this application was initiated by Lima Construction. The application consists of these three different properties, all located on the east side of 4th Street North and north of Gandy Boulevard. Site 1 is unimproved and located east of 110th Avenue North and is 1.23 acres. Site 2 is partially improved with a wireless communications tower and is located on the north side of 108th Avenue North and is 0.71 acres. Site 3 is located at the northeast corner of 3rd Street North and Gandy Boulevard and is 1.35 acres. And altogether, the sites total 3.29 acres. Here are the surrounding uses. Starting in the top right, we have site 1, which is vacant. Site 2 is vacant except for the communications tower. Then we have the Gateway Mobile Home Park, Siena Bay Apartments, and the new construction townhomes, which are located directly east of Site 3, which is also vacant. Then to the west of Site 3 is a law office, followed by Aventura Bay Assisted Living, more apartments. And then up to the northwest, just out of view, is the Bayview Commercial Plaza that has a Winn-Dixie anchor tenant. And these are all low-lying areas located in flood zones and the Coastal High Hazard Area, or the CHHA. This is a future land use map, showing all three sites as split between residential medium and preservation land use. Here is a side-by-side of both the existing and the proposed future land use map with the hatched area representing the CHHA. Site 1 is a 1.23-acre site with 0.38-acres designated preservation and 0.85-acres designated residential medium that is proposed to be entirely preservation. Site 2 is a 0.71-acre site where 0.51-acres are designated preservation and 0.2-acres are residential medium that is proposed to be entirely residential office general. Site 3 is a 1.35-acre site where 0.3-acres are currently designated preservation and 0.62-acres are residential medium that is proposed to be mostly residential medium with a thin 0.13-acre strip of preservation on the east side that is not noticeable underneath the dashed line. This is the zoning map, again, showing all three sites with split zoning of preservation and neighborhood suburban multifamily, or NSM-1. And here is a side-by-side of both the existing and the proposed zoning, where Site 1 is proposed to be entirely as maintained preservation. Site 2 is to be entirely corridor residential suburban, or CRS-1, to allow for office space. And Site 3 is proposed for neighborhood suburban multifamily to develop 20 townhomes with a strip of preservation on the eastern border. So this slide addresses the change in development potential that would result from the MAP amendments and the development agreement. The total overall existing density allotment on all three sites is 25 dwelling units. The total overall existing intensity allotment is 3,500 square feet, which is derived from the preservation designation, to as much as almost 40,000 square feet derived from the residential medium designation. So it's a sliding scale. If they do not build to the maximum allowed density, the remaining density can be converted to intensity and would be available for development. The proposed changes would allow up to 29 dwelling units, and again, a range of intensity up to 45,000 square feet would be permitted. However, the development agreement restricts the overall density to 20 units and intensity to 10,000 square feet, which is less than the existing entitlements, and the detailed math is itemized in the staff report. Also noted in the staff report, the proposed amendments are consistent with many policies of the comprehensive plan, and to highlight a few, the proposal furthers these policies and objectives, as it is decreasing the overall allowed number of dwelling units, thereby directing population concentrations away from the coastal high hazard areas, and the proposed amendments are consistent with the surrounding area that is predominantly multifamily and located on a major roadway. This slide lists the terms of the 15-year development agreement. It limits the overall density to 20 dwelling units to be located on Site 3, limits the overall intensity to 10,000 square feet to be located on Site 2, requires Site 1 and an eastern portion of Site 3 to be maintained as preservation land, requires regular maintenance and reporting of these areas, provides a financial guarantee necessary for maintaining the preservation areas, and lastly, it requires restoration of the preservation area on Site 1 to commence prior to releasing building permits for Sites 2 and 3. And with that, staff recommends a finding of consistency with a comprehensive plan and recommends approval of the proposed future land use and zoning changes, along with the associated DA, because the proposal directs population concentrations away from the coastal high hazard area, is consistent with the surrounding neighborhood's land use and zoning pattern, and it provides a financial guarantee for maintenance of the preservation areas. And that concludes my presentation, and the applicant, I believe, has a presentation to give next. Okay. Applicant. Good evening. Craig Turaski for the applicant. I have been sworn. I'll try not to be redundant. I think we're all tired. It's been a long day. So I'll do this as efficiently as possible. As Britton explained, we have three sites spread across 4th Street North corridor, east of 4th Street North, north of Gandy. As part of the process, and we've been working on this for a couple years, we had to go to DRC to get a variance to the mitigation requirements in your code for the change in the preservation districts. We received two variances, one on the overall mitigation and one on the wetland mitigation, so the wetland areas within the preservation areas. I think it's important to point out that we're increasing the wetlands within the preservation district by a half an acre. So Site 1 will be mitigated, a rehabbed, and enhanced preservation area of constructed wetlands. So not only does that create higher value preservation, it also, you know, this is CHHA, so now we're adding to the kind of the flood mitigation capacity as well by creating low-lying wetland areas. And the whole point of this exercise was it's an infill project, three sites, non-contiguous. These are little specks of preservation area that are remnants of, you know, mapping, and some of it corresponds with some wetlands, some others doesn't. It's all been unmanaged, and the applicant is a new owner, so it's been unmanaged over years. It's mostly invasive species. There's dumping. There's homeless encampments on these sites. So we're going to create a net benefit by reallocating the preservation to the northernmost site, one we're calling it, over an acre, constructed wetlands. So you're going to have one large contiguous preservation area instead of these smaller non-contiguous. The smaller areas are not as high value. They have the fringe areas that are impacted by development and activity around it. The flora and fauna are impacted by that surrounding activity. So we're creating a net benefit by pushing that larger area to the north on site one. You've already seen these zoning maps. There's also some history on site two. That's the middle lot that we're proposing office and some storage area for the applicant's headquarters. So he's reinvesting on the site. In 2009, that site received a special exception in site plan and some variances to build a cell tower and an office. The office was never constructed on the site, but it was approved. Originally, back in 2009, there was 0.71 acres of preservation on that site. The process back then was slightly different. They went to DRC to get a variance for the wetland mitigation. As a special condition of that approval, the owner was required to replat that lot and create a 0.17-acre preservation on the west side of that parcel. And if you've ever been up to that parcel, that west side is dominated by a drainage ditch. The owner at that time followed through with the replat. There's a picture of the replat with the highlighted 0.17 preservation area. But as part of that, I highlighted at the bottom, there were no zoning or future land use amendments that corresponded with that approval. So you've now had kind of a disconnect between a preservation established by a development order and the preservation districts reflected on the city's maps. So part of this exercise is also to clean up that illogical zoning and land use boundaries. As part of this application, this is to facilitate the redevelopment of Site 2 with an office on the west side of the parcel parking and some storage on the northeast side. And this is the existing cell tower to remain. This is a picture of the current conditions. You can see that the site's been mostly disturbed through the center of the site where the existing preservation zoning and future land use is currently designated. That area's already disturbed. And it's mostly invasive Brazilian peppers and whatnot. Some trash. There's actually a homeless encampment in there. There's some clothes, a torn up tent. And then Site 3, we're proposing a townhome development. As Britton explained, it's going to be limited to 20 units. As part of that, here's the site plan. The highlighted green is the preservation area that we're going to reestablish. And there is a platted alley. It's unimproved. And as you can see by this aerial, this is, it's, construction's actually further along. The site to the east is another townhome development. That development did not utilize the alley. The applicant's proposal for his townhome development also doesn't use that alley. So maybe there's an opportunity for the city to establish a formal preservation in that alley. There's preservation on the adjacent site to the east. This is unimproved. And then we're going to reestablish this preservation area. So there is a, even though on the site it's relatively small, it is contiguous with some green space and some other potential preservation areas. So, and it'll create a natural buffer between the two developments. We are including the development agreement with this application. And that is to create a net decrease of development potential, both on the residential and non-residential side, to create on top of the code requirement to maintain the preservation area. And now we're going to have additional requirements for inspections and reporting that are built into the development agreement. Some funds that will be sitting in escrow that could be drawn upon the city should the applicant or the owner fail to maintain. We've got use restrictions on site two. That's the office and cell phone site. So no residential uses on that site. And the non-residential uses are capped at 10,000 square feet. And the site three, the townhome, not to exceed 20 dwelling units. And this is just the math showing the net decrease of dwelling units and floor area potential. With that, if you have any questions, happy to answer them. I also have the applicant here to answer any questions you may have. And just ask them for your approval today. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Is there a registered? Okay. So any public comment? No, sir. Staff, any cross-examination? Any closing remarks? Applicant waves. Okay. All right. We'll move into executive session. Councilmembers? Move approval. Thank you. Councilmember Driscoll. Thank you. For the city attorney, I believe the motion has to include all. Yes. Yes. A, B, C. Great. I'm thinking sure. One of those it can be, yeah. Yes. Thank you for the work that you've done on this. Thank you, Jonathan. LEMEC is known for thoughtful developments. And this one is no different. I love how this is working out. It's a win all around. And I'm really looking forward to seeing how the newly shaped preservation area looks once all the work is done. I know that's not easy. And being able to add townhomes in an area that makes sense to do so is a big plus for everybody. So just wanted to say thank you for everything, Craig. It's always nice to see you. And happy to support this. Okay. Thank you. Vice Chair Hanowitz. Just a quick thank you to the attorneys for working on good development agreements. Good job. I'm happy to see Lima have a standalone. That's nice, man. And office. Yes. Yeah. Okay. We have a motion and second on the floor. Seeing as no other council members wishing to speak, clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Council members, please enter your vote. Seeing as all present council members have voted, clerk, please tally and announce the vote. Mr. Chair, the move agenda items J-4A, J-4B, and J-4C passes unanimously. Mr. Two, getting another business. Jealous. More housing. Yeah. Jonathan. Okay. Council members. Oh, excuse me. Open forum. We have anybody for open forum? Yes, we do. Angela Herring and Sandra Harris. Ms. Herring is not here. Okay. Sandra Harris and Gloria Maxwell. Please go to either podium, state your name for address, and your address, you'll have three minutes to address council. Three minutes still apply? Yes, ma'am. Okay. I'm Sandra Harris. As I stated earlier, I live at 2432 Kingston Street, South St. Petersburg, 33711. And I've been in this same house since November the 5th, 1979. I raised my children there, and I finished out my career there at the former GTE slash Frontier, whatever it is now. And then I also worked at Bowley Centers with Council Member Deborah Figg Sanders. And I believe I worked with her mom when I was at GTE. But anyway, I also know council and give it. And I just wanted to say, you know, of all those years that I've been in Florida since March 1958, I've pretty much weathered every storm that has been through St. Petersburg, if you want to call them storms from the early days. And then on Kingston Street and the streets adjacent, the water never really came up like it has been in the last two to three years. But this last storm is what took us out. And I don't even know where my neighbors are. I really don't. It's about eight houses or so still vacant there. And that's like on each street, the street 38th right by the golf course. It's still, you know, it's like a ghost town, so to speak. And I'm grateful that you all did that walkthrough. I didn't know about it until at the last moment. So I had a prior engagement that I couldn't miss with my doctor. But I understand that you all have other meetings that may be planned to revisit not just our street, but there are so many homes in that area. I would say from Bethel Metropolitan Church all the way down to at least 44th Street, maybe even Quincy. But they're affected by this high water situation that happened last year. And we are in the tree cuts. Again, my name is Gloria Maxwell at 3602 Emerson Avenue South. That's where I'm trying to repair. I've been in my home. It's been paid for for years. It's the thing my dad said, pay off your house. You know, pay your light and water. Somebody will feed you. So I used to volunteer at Food Bank, so I know about that, and fed people and cooked and everything. So tutored and all kind of stuff with the city of St. Petersburg. That's why it's been important for me to rebuild my home. You know, it's a lot of damage in it, but it is billable because my dad added on to it so I could take care of him and my mom and my sick husband. So it's got history, that house. And, you know, I've been working at trying to get it. It took a while for my permit. I'm like Tana. I got denied for the reimbursement because it took longer. You know, you have two different storms. And so my contractor, Mr. Pruitt, didn't want to do a second permit. He's like, let's just stick with the original one. But what I was going to say, I appreciate all you guys. I spent a lot of time taking care of parents for 12 years, so I didn't come to a lot of things even though I watched them. And one thing I want to address, I listen to the people with HUD. I have a problem because a lot of the buyouts are happening on the south side of town or in the poor neighborhoods, even on the north side where there are poor neighborhoods. I think more should be addressed with trying to help people stay in their homes who want to stay in their homes. Like you have the Nurse Next Door program to help people seniors stay in and, you know, without going to a nursing center. That's because when I was told to go to a sister living, I said, why should I do that? I'm capable of staying in my home. But I also, and I've watched this over a while, and I've looked at other places like up in Atlanta and Orlando and out west. How come the city has not addressed tiny home villages? That's something to really think about. Like they just did this here with the Lima. Those townhomes could be made into triple tiny homes. For a senior or even a small family, like I've heard about one in Orlando, they're for single moms or people that are, what do you call them, nurses and teachers that don't make a lot of money. And up in Atlanta, there's two developments up there. This one young black guy, he bought a bunch of land, and that's what he's doing for people to still have home ownership, build up some credit. But that's something I thought the city one time had thought about, you know, using some of the land we had before it became so overgrown with humongous apartment complexes, is to start maybe some tiny home villages. And that might address some of the homeless problems, you know, maybe not give them, you know, little sheds or something like that. But something that they could live in and have a little bit of something to think about. Thank you. Mr. Chair, the last speaker is Jerome King. Hello, everybody. So, first of all, I know that every decision that you guys make, we need your name and your address. My name is Jerome King, and I live at 4546 10th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, Florida. So, I know every decision that you guys make isn't as easy, and you need a certain number of people to actually agree to things. However, some decisions have already been made. So, the idea would be to reinforce those decisions moving forward. So, I just want to bring to light that, based on the CBG, and we have a Legacy Department. We have Land Lakes Apartment that's on 54th Avenue. And those two apartments, I've canvassed Land Lakes, and I have family members that live at Legacy. A lot of people do. Long story short is, that power went out. Those folks were affected dramatically. A lot of those people get $23 a month for SNAP benefits. And the point is, is that for them, when they lost their food, it was a compounded issue for them. And for a lot of them, they're still dealing with that issue now. Now, you guys got them, along with HUD, a hybrid work, they have a very nice place to stay. But along with having that would be some reinforcement, like a backup generator. And so, it would be really good to get some additional industrial-sized generators for these areas that were highly affected. They're large communities, and if you add up all the food, they lost its thousands, tens and thousands of dollars. So, it could be prevented. So, that's one thing. And then the other thing is that you guys have a lot of systems that are already in place. And you could, if possible, allocate funding to expand those systems, the tree work, the program that you have that allows the city to go on to private property. And just add a couple tweaks that would give the homeowner a little bit more protection so that they wouldn't have to sign those waivers. And then, as far as the issues with the homeless people, there has to be some kind of way that you can deal with the fact that the people who were displaced and now are homeless, they don't have anywhere to go. And it is extremely difficult to find somewhere to stay once you get an eviction. So, between those two things, somehow, someway, there needs to be some incorporation into the CBG funding. A lot of these people are at 30% AMI, okay? They're not at 60%. So, the point is, is that by extending these money to the point that you have, a lot of people that would not be able to be able to take advantage of these programs will. But it also decreases the availability of these programs. So, just think about it and figure out a way to allocate the funds appropriately. Thank you. Thank you. No more speakers. Okay. Okay, council members, announcements. Council member Driscoll. Thank you. It is exciting to be taking a little break. So, I first want to wish everyone a good summer break. I do hope during the break someone can fix my mic because it is very tinny. Yeah, three weeks. So, I wanted to, so I wish everyone a good summer break. But I do want to bring something up that I hope can be addressed while we're out. And that's the fact that today, for instance, for today's meeting, we received six different backup items, presentations, things like that, after ads and deletes. Two of those were received yesterday, and one was received this morning, some of us have been here for almost 11 hours, it's a lot that we have to prepare for, and getting those presentations at the last minute, it's not that great. You know, this is not the only thing that any of us does. So, this is an example. It's not the first time it's happened. That's why I'm bringing it up. So, receiving that many items after ads and deletes goes out, because that's like your second chance, that's your mulligan right there, and that should be it. So, I just wanted to very respectfully request that the administration take a look at guidelines, policies, perhaps, for staff to be a little bit more considerate of city council's time and our need to understand the materials before the meeting. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Gabbert. Thank you, Chair. So, I just wanted to let everyone know on Saturday, this Saturday, June 14th at 9.30 in Riviera Bay Park, we are going to be having a tree planting ceremony. If any of you ever knew former Riviera Bay Civic Association President Dave Hoover, they called him King Dave. He was president of Riviera Bay for about 20 years, and this council had, you know, awarded him. A proclamation at one point when my predecessor, Jim Kennedy, was here, and he has since passed away. He passed away last year, thankfully, before the storm, so he didn't have to see what happened to Riviera Bay, but his widow, Donna, has asked us to do a remembrance of him. So, we will be planting a tree in his honor in Riviera Bay Park on Saturday morning at 9.30. So, if anybody's out and about and you want to come and give your, you know, condolences to his widow and thanks for his years of service to our city, we would love to see you there. So, 9.30, Saturday morning. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Council Member Gibbons. Thank you very much, Chair. Well, I'd like to wish everyone a happy and safe summer break. I know we all probably have plans, and so whatever those plans are, I hope everyone enjoys themselves. I'd also like to wish all the fathers and father figures a happy Father's Day. We'll be observing that this weekend. So, to my daddy, if you're listening, happy Father's Day. I'd also like to make mention that on Friday at 5.30 tomorrow at the Southside City Hall, Enoch Davis Center, we will be celebrating men. So, I invite all of the men, if you're a father or if you're just an uncle, come on out. We're going to be celebrating you. So, that's going to be at 5.30 tomorrow at Enoch Davis Center. We welcome you to come. And then at 10 a.m. on Saturday, we will be having the Keyshawn's Corner Youth Mental Health Awareness and Suicide Prevention Resource Fair over in District 5 at Lake Vista. So, we invite you to come out. Thank you very much, Chair. Thank you. Council Member Fick Sanders. Thank you. Okay, I like that. Southside City Hall. All right. First of all, I want to agree with everyone that, you know, I want you to have a safe, safe, safe break. I wouldn't say summer break, but a safe break. But more importantly, I want to thank you all for allowing me to pray today. I want to ensure the fact that our hearts are lightened, and as we are on this break, that we continue to do that thing that's called self-check, you know, to make sure that we are touching all of the points that we need to have some rest and relaxation, and especially in regards to rest in our minds and our hearts and spending time with our families. So, with that being said, because I can only imagine what our Tampa colleagues are going through. Know that I love you and there's nothing you can do about it. But continue to take care of yourself and get some rest these three weeks. So, I'm going to leave it at that. Thank you so much, Chair. Thank you. So, just quickly, I would echo Councilmember Givens. I want to say a happy Father's Day to everybody in the room and listening. I hope Sunday treats you well and you get some nice relaxation and a little bit of recognition. Not too much, though. It'll go to our heads. I also want to wish everybody a happy 4th of July. We'll be back the week after. And so, just want to say happy 4th of July, happy birthday, America, and please be safe during that weekend. Be safe the whole break, but especially then, because I'm sure our city will be packed and so will the beaches. It's a great weekend and just everybody, please be safe. Lastly, thank you for singing happy birthday last week. I very much appreciate it. And thanks for the grace of not being here in the afternoon. So, just know I appreciate you all very much, not just because of singing happy birthday, but as we go into this break, I am appreciative of all of you for more than I'll be able to explain on this dais. And, and to staff, I hope you enjoy the break from us. So, okay, last but not least, we do have a birthday. It's Patty, our assistant city clerk's birthday. June 19th. So, we're going to sing happy birthday to Patty. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Patty. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday. Everyone, please have a great break. Thank you for your all. We're adjourned. Thank you.