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, Lisseth Kanowitz, District 5, Deborah Figg Sanders, District 6, Gina Driscoll, District 7, Cory Givens Jr. and District 8, Richie Floyd.
Good afternoon. We're going to call to order the May 8th, 2025 City Council Meeting. If we could please do a roll call, Clerk. Vic Sanders.
Here. Driscoll. Here. Givens. Floyd.
Here. Gerdes. Here. Gabbard.
Here.
Harding. Here. Hanowitz. Here. Okay, we will today have our invocation given by Bishop Manuel Sykes from Bethel Community Baptist Church. Then please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. If everybody would please stand.
Good afternoon, everyone. Let us pray. We are thankful to be here once again that you've allowed us to see another beautiful day in this city. We're thankful, Lord God, for the opportunity to gather together, to listen, to give opinions, to give thought to all the things pertaining to all of the people of this city. We ask now that you'll bless each and every elected official to have a mind of service, to listen to the voices of their constituency, that together they will knit together a fabric that will make this community one, and that every person, big, small, wealthy, and poor, will come together knowing that their voices are heard, their hearts are being felt. We pray that you'll bring the resources together that will allow us and that will allow our elected officials to capture and to cast a vision that will be one that will make everybody feel the shine of the sun. Bless us now as we come together. Let our deliberations be thoughtful, be just, caring, and compassionate. And where we need answers, we pray that your divine wisdom will provide us with the right answers at the right time, that when this session is dismissed, everyone present will know that your hand has been upon it. This is our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.
I pledge allegiance to 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. Bishop Sykes, thank you so much for the invocation, and thank you so much for everything you do in our community. It's greatly appreciated. Okay. Council members, we have an agenda in front of us. I'll entertain a motion for approval. Order for approval.
Second.
Seeing as we have a motion to second, 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, motion to approve. The agenda passes unanimously, with council member Gibbons being absent. Council members, we have a consent agenda in front of us. I'll entertain a motion for approval.
Move approval.
Second. We have a motion to 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, motion to approve. The consent agenda passes unanimously, with council member Gibbons being absent. Mr. Chair, just to place on the record, we had no cards.
Thank you. My apologies. Thank you, clerk. Okay, now 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 the clerk. Only the individual wishing to speak may sign the open forum sheet. Only city residents, owners of property, business owners in the city, or their employees may speak. All issues discussed under open forum must be limited to issues related to the city of St. Petersburg government. If you are speaking to an item on the agenda, you may only speak once during the open forum or when the item comes up on the agenda. In order to provide an opportunity for all citizens to address council, each individual will be given three minutes to speak, and after which, the microphone will be muted. If you wish to address city council through the Zoom meeting, you must use the raise hand feature button in the Zoom app or enter star 9 on your phone at the time the agenda item is addressed. When it is your turn to speak, you'll be unmuted and ask to state your name and address at the conclusion of your comments or when you reach your 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 the quorum. If live public comment is disrupted by violations of the rules of the quorum, the chair is authorized to accept public comment by alternate means, including by email only. And, Mr. Chair, we do not have any speakers. No Zoom. Okay.
Okay. Well, then we'll move on from open forum and move right into awards and presentations, and we're going to start with D1, Senior Hall of Fame inductees, and this is given by Mayor Kenneth T. Welch. I think we probably beat him to it. We're just that efficient, Mayor.
I was expecting an open forum. But actually, the chair and I have had quality time with our seniors, both at the Mahaffey and then earlier today. So, Lucinda is actually going to bring this forward. And to all of our seniors, thank you for everything you do for our city and what you continue to do. Y'all are a blessing for us. Lucinda. Lucinda, welcome.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to council and all of those within my voice. Joining me today is our newly appointed Recreation Supervisor 2, Ms. Marcy Neal, and Cara Ware, our Rec Center, Supervisor 1. Aging, it's not about how many years have passed, but how much life you've embraced. That's by Sophia Loren. I share this quote as we celebrate Older Americans Month this month and Senior Citizen Month in August. This year's theme is Flip the Script on Aging, which encourages a shift in how society views and talks about aging, highlighting the positive aspects of growing older and promoting engagement in various activities and opportunities. On April 16th, that is just what we did as we celebrated the 41st anniversary of the Senior Hall of Fame. We honored 40 senior nominees who have given over 975 years of volunteer service. These seniors represented various fields of education, faith, and civic engagement. They have all flipped the script of aging by giving new meaning to being a senior. That's me too. At the ceremony, we inducted 10 of these remarkable seniors into the Senior Hall of Fame. It was a great event full of fun, flavor, and loft. We thank the mayor, our administration, our department, Parks and Rec, and the community for the support you all provide so that we can do these things for the seniors of this community. Earlier today, as Mayor Welch mentioned, these 10 seniors that are here today with us were honored with keys to the city. Amen. If I'm going to ask that everybody holds their applause as I read out all of the 10 nominee names. And if you can stand, stand. Otherwise, and hold it up so everybody will know who you are. Two of the individuals could not be here with us at this service, but did join us earlier today. This is your group of inductees for 2025 to the Senior Hall of Fame. Will you join me? Mr. Mayor, we like to love on you, okay? So we have gathered some little goodies together just to be able to share with you how thankful we are that you are always willing, not that you aren't, okay, all right, not that you aren't, not that you aren't, always willing to help us with the Senior Hall of Fame and be there as a supporter for the seniors of our program. So we really appreciate you very much. So we just wanted to give you a small talk of appreciation.
Thank you, Mr. Dick.
Are we going to take a photo? I'm going to ask the Chair to come down and take this photo, and I'll accept this on behalf of our entire city team. We all support our seniors and know what a great treasure you are. So thank you so much.
Thank you. Mr. Chairman.
I guess Maria, tell us what to do. I'm going to grab that man. Boy, it's got to be in the picture. Okay.
Okay. Up next we have D2, EMS, oh, I'm sorry. I do, sorry. Deborah Fig Sanders, Council Member Deborah Fig Sanders. Sorry.
Don't leave, don't leave, don't leave. Don't leave. Don't leave yet. Don't go anywhere yet. Don't leave. Oh, they're gone.
Don't go anywhere yet.
They have volunteer work to do, Chair? Yeah. Yes.
They've got to be somewhere.
Well, since we see that our seniors have somewhere to go, well, first of all, let me say I am super jealous because when they called your names, you got up quickly. It took me a minute to think about getting up from the chair. So that's my first point I need to make. You all are staying young, staying active, but please know you are always going to be appreciated. You know that you're one of my favorite populations because God has given us, you to us, with the wisdom that you bring. And with that, we will not be able to find it anywhere else. And we're so thankful for the fact that you are our seniors and you've been honored with that and such. And where's Ms. Lucinda? Thank you for always putting on that class act for our seniors. We appreciate you and your staff for doing that. But, you know, when it comes down to, and don't let me insult you by saying elders, but for me and my household, our elders is a distinguished title. It's something that lets me know that you outrank any other in regards to care, concern, and the attention that we should play in your admiration and respect. And for that, thank you so much for being who you are, and I do congratulate you again.
Councilmember Gabbard.
Thank you, Chair, and thank you all for being with us this afternoon. You know, Lucinda knows all too well that the event, the Senior Hall of Fame event, is one of my absolute favorites every year. I leave there with my face hurting from smiling the entire time. But really, what I leave there with is such an inspiration to know that the rest of my life, I have all of you to look up to. You, combined with all the work that you all have done for our city, make us look like lightweights. Like, I feel so inspired by what you bring to the city. I went home that evening, and I shared with my 14-year-old son that we just celebrated 900-plus years of volunteering in our city, and his little mind was just blown, right? Like, I don't even know what that looks like. It looks like all of you. And so thank you for everything that you do, for making St. Pete truly the special place that it is, and keep on inspiring. Thank you.
I just had an amazing time at the Senior Hall of Fame, and one of the things, Councilmember, I'm glad you brought it up, because the view you have from the stage, right, you're smiling, you're listening to the stories, you get to interact and say hello and get two minutes of picture-taking while hearing a little bit of the background. And then you see everybody sitting, and you smile even more, because you hear the families, you hear the friends, you hear the organizations just celebrating these amazing people. And for me, it was just, it was a lot of fun. And I got to see my colleagues with massive grins on their face, too. And so it was just an absolute blessing. And I'll just repeat just a little bit of what I said that evening. I wanted to come back to this town because of people like you. And I hope that we are doing a good enough job to where my kids want to come back to this town like I wanted to come back. And thank you, because they get to experience it now like I did as a kid. And hopefully we are carrying that mantle, even though you're still carrying it, which is absolutely incredible. Hopefully we continue to do that work behind you so they feel the same way I do about this amazing, amazing place. So once again, thank you from the bottom of my heart, and congratulations. Okay, we're going to move into D2, EMS Week Proclamation given by Councilmember Fig Sanders. It's like me at the recess bell.
They're busy. Listen, I get it. I get it. So as they exit, I want to thank Mayor Welch for allowing me to present this particular proclamation. And I'm going to ask Chief if you would join me as I read this, please. I want to give a brief history of where we are with EMS Week. In 1974, President Gerald Ford authorized EMS Week to celebrate EMS professionals and the important work they do in our nation's communities. National Emergency Medical Services Week brings together local communities and medical personnel to honor the dedication of those who provide the day-to-day. Every morning they wake up, they're there for us. Services of Medicine's Frontline. EMS Week is presented by the American College of Emergency Physicians in partnership with the National Associations of Emergency Medical Technicians. Together, these organizations are working to ensure that the important contributions of EMS professionals in safeguarding the health, safety, and well-being of our community is fully celebrated and recognized. And I can't claim that, y'all. I got that from the EMSweek.org. But it was worth sharing as to why we are here to celebrate these phenomenal people. And as I have you all standing with me, I'm going to read this proclamation. Whereas, emergency medical services is a vital public service. And whereas, the members of the St. Petersburg Fire Rescue are ready to provide life-saving care to those in need 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And whereas, access to quality emergency care dramatically improves the survival and recovery rate of those who experience sudden illness or injury. And whereas, emergency medical services has grown to fill a gap by providing important out-of-hospital care, including preventative medicine, follow-up care, and access to telemedicine. And whereas, the emergency medical services system consists of first responders, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, emergency medical dispatchers, firefighters, police officers, educators, administrators, pre-hospital nurses, emergency nurses, emergency physicians, and others. And whereas, the members of the emergency medical services team engage in thousands of hours of specialized training and continuing education to enhance their life-saving skills. And whereas, it is appropriate to recognize the value and the accomplishments of emergency medical services providers by designating Emergency Medical Services Week. Now, therefore, I, Councilmember Deborah Fick Sanders, on behalf of Kenneth T. Welch, Mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida, in recognition of this event, do hereby proclaim the week of May 18th through the 24th, 2025, as Emergency Medical Services Week in St. Petersburg, and encourage the community to observe this week with the appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. And with that, I'm going to ask all of our EMS heroes, if you will please stand as we ask the chief to come and give a few words.
I'm here on behalf of Chief Watts, and I am the Rescue Chief. My name is Lindsay Judah. I serve at St. Petersburg Fire Rescue. As the Rescue Chief, I have the opportunity to be able to share a few words related to EMS Week. Dear Mayor, Council Chair, Vice Chair, Councilmembers, and the City of St. Petersburg community, we respectfully request the EMS Week proclamation be included by the City Council each year to recognize the significant contributions made by our fire rescue personnel every single day. May 18th through 24th is the 51st anniversary of National EMS Week. The theme is We Care for Everyone. The City of St. Petersburg and St. Petersburg Fire Rescue began providing EMS service over 50 years ago. It was 1974. EMS Week and this proclamation are to highlight our gratitude toward EMTs and paramedics who provide life-saving care throughout our community day and night through sunshine and hurricanes on holidays and anniversaries in many environments such as businesses, homes, roadways, and waterways. EMS Week offers time to educate the public about EMS and the essential services provided to our residents and visitors as well as reducing preventable injuries. St. Petersburg Fire Rescue offers CPR classes and connects with the community to provide safety-themed children's books, fall prevention materials, and smoke alarms just to list a few. The SPFR was dispatched to over 57,000 EMS incidents throughout 2024. Some EMS incidents require multiple fire rescue apparatus to respond and provide quality patient care to residents and visitors in our community. Our total apparatus response to EMS incidents throughout 2024 was over 78,000. Currently, we have over 370 sworn personnel serving our community as paramedics and EMTs, and we are grateful for their dedicated service and providing exceptional emergency services. And just to add one more, we have a retiree right here.
It's early. Okay, we good. No, you know I'll take a picture. So again, I don't think we've given our EMS heroes a proper acknowledgement. We want to thank you, and if you can come up for the photo, because you all missed our first photo, so they wanted to make sure you include it. So can you all come take a photo, please? Chair? Deborah, you go ahead.
I don't know how she's going to do it, but... Chair?
Literally.
Yeah, they missed the first photo.
What do you want?
I have them on my desk.
I don't know, but I have them. That's from Water Wise, and this is...
These are the ones that are...
Blurt it out. Thank you, Chair.
I just want to take a quick moment to say thank you to all our EMTs, paramedics, and first responders. I've been there when we have celebrated some of the lives that you have saved, and the difference between life and death is seconds, and people do not realize how it feels. And I've been in an accident, and you see that first responder get there, and how it makes you feel, and you feel safe, and that's what you are. You make us feel safe in our community, and you save lives every day. And there was a kid who had a motorcycle accident. It was District 4, and it was Station 4 that responded. And the doctors showed up. The nurses showed up. All the paramedics and EMTs were there, and the doctors said, it was the work of you all that saved his life. And it was just moments that would have changed from having... And he was a child. He was early 20s, and it was one in a hundred type case where they couldn't believe that he survived, and it was because of the fast response. And that's why whatever you need, whatever equipment you need, whatever you need from city council, and you know, because you've heard it from all of us, you heard it the other day, when we're talking budget, you'll hear it now. Well, we got you, and we have your back. Thank you.
Well, Chief, I'm not sure I can say it a whole lot better than Vice Chair Hanowitz just did. But, you know, unfortunately, I've taken a few ambulance rides in my life. And just this past weekend, the Gerdas took an ambulance ride. And Rescue 6 showed up, and I only live about 20 blocks away from where they were. They got there and had that Gerdas out of there before I could even get there. And so the work that this team does, it's miracles every day, period, end of story. It's heroes every day, and unsung heroes. And so, Mayor, thank you for bringing this proclamation forward. Chief Judah, I don't think you're going to have to have any worry about this proclamation being here on an annual basis. There might be a riot on our side of the building if there isn't. And so just very happy to celebrate all of you, and thank you for everything you do, second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, all day, every day. Thank you for doing it. It's very much appreciated, and thank you for being here to celebrate with us. Thanks, Chief. Thank you, Chief.
And next up, we have Day 3, Drowning Awareness Month. And our own Chair Gerdas is going to be presenting the proclamation.
Thank you, Vice Chair. Colleagues, if I could have Rick Craft, Andy Chee, Brandy Dorsen join me. It looks like we've got a couple already. And then, obviously, those we just celebrated, our EMS staff, also play a big role in this. And I certainly didn't mean to get serious in the EMS conversation and then go straight into this. But I'm sure you've heard from me before. This proclamation is near and dear to my heart. Just to give you a little bit of background for those that don't know, in my lifetime, I have swam thousands of miles in a pool, probably hundreds of miles in open water. I was a certified lifeguard. I was a certified lifeguard trainer. I was a certified lifeguard supervisor. I knew how to swim before I knew how to walk. And five years ago, when my wife was going through a medical condition, the night before her treatment, I would go to my best friend's house. And during those nights, it was a night to give my wife some time and some peace and quiet with an 18-month-old and a 2-year-old. And it was a time for me to download with my best friend. And that's what I was doing. I was downloading. Our kids were playing together. And I thought we were in a very secure house because my 2-year-old couldn't open the sliding door. My 18-month definitely couldn't. But my best friend's 2-year-old could. He knew how. And my son walked out the door and jumped into the pool. And I had no idea it happened. And so the young adult with thousands and thousands of miles of swimming, training, have done CPR, have made saves in pools, have made saves in open water, have made a save in a river. Had no idea his 18-month was in a pool who couldn't swim. Thank God my daughter is a better babysitter than I am. And she came running in and said, Daddy, Daddy, Cade, water. Daddy, Daddy, Cade, water. Let me tell you, I've never been more joyous that my 2-year-old daughter could speak. And so I went running out seeing my son struggle in a pool. Thank God he wasn't at the bottom of it because that certainly could have been the end of the story. So I say all of that to go, it can happen to anybody. It can happen anywhere to anybody. And so what our Parks and Recreation team does, and trust me, I am a byproduct of that, is God's work. The swim lessons, the time they spend, the advocacy they do, along with our fire and EMS departments. We were just at Water Safety Weekend last weekend at Walter Fuller, which I think you know I have a love-hate relationship with that place because that's where most of those 1,000 miles have been done. And so although this is, I hope it's one of those things we never have to do. It's one I'd love to throw in the trash. And so I just thank you for all of your work, for all of your advocacy. And for anybody that's listening, it's seconds, it's not minutes. It's seconds, it's not minutes. So it's my honor. It's my honor to bring this proclamation to celebrate Drowning Awareness Month. And so the proclamation reads, Whereas in Pinellas County, 70% of all submergence occurred at beaches or residential or community pools, and 68% of all submergence were children under 5. And whereas, according to the Florida Department of Health and Florida Department of Children and Families, in 2024, Pinellas County had 31 non-fatal submergence and 1 death. And whereas, with public education, constant adult supervision around all types of water, formal swimming lessons, installation of safety barriers, and learning CPR, Pinellas County is reducing, that's the highlight here, Pinellas County is reducing drowning statistics. And whereas, through this awareness, the City of St. Petersburg will continue to educate the public and eliminate the devastating effects of drowning. Now, therefore, I, Cobley Gerdes, Chair of the City Council, on behalf of Mayor Kenneth T. Welch, for the City of St. Petersburg, do hereby proclaim May 2025, as Drowning Awareness Month in St. Petersburg, and I urge all citizens to join me in actively protecting our children by promoting learn-to-swim programs and parental caregiver awareness. Thank you.
I'm standing here, and I'm almost in tears because I did not, I did not know your story. So, yes, every year, Florida tragically leads the nation in drowning deaths for children under the age of five. Drowning is the number one cause of injury death related to toddlers in the state, and it often happens, like Cobley said, in homes, in people's backyards, when no one expects it. So, drowning can happen in less than 30 seconds, and it's almost silent. So, to help protect our children and families, the St. Pete Parks and Recreation Aquatics Division and St. Pete Fire Rescue have partnered to bring water safety education directly to our community. So, thank you to Chief Watts and his team for all that they continue to do. Lana Stefanik and Alexis Lawrence, they are educators in the fire department for drowning prevention. They have worked tirelessly to work with the aquatics division to put on car washes, water safety days, pop-up events. We've also done some life jacket giveaways. We've given away lots and lots of equipment and education around drowning prevention. On May 3rd, we held a Water Safety Day event at Walter Fuller Pool, where families receive free life jackets, water safety packets, door alarms, swim lesson evaluations for their children, and food and fun. So, you know, we're thankful to be able to put on these types of events and partner with Fire Rescue and their team to provide valuable opportunities for our community and their families. So, again, thank you, Chief Watts and your team, for all that you have helped us do in our community to support and recognize drowning prevention.
Good afternoon, Council. I am fortunate to have a support staff, support senior staff, support staff, and members of the department who work extremely hard every single day. And I'm very proud of the fact that we are proactive in the community. So, in addition to running those EMS and fire calls, we're proactive and we are engaged in the community. So, I'd like to thank you all for your support. Thank you, Mayor, for your support. And, again, thank my staff for their support. The partnerships that she just described is our way to collaborate with other community partners. And, again, be proactive and engaged in the community because we know that prevention starts at home and it's our goal to continue to reduce the number of drowning deaths that we have and drowning emergencies in general. As she mentioned, this past Saturday we kicked off National Water Safety Month with our second annual Water Safety Day at Walter Fuller Pool. It was held in partnership with Parks and Rec, Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, and the Juvenile Welfare Board. Thanks to this collaboration, we were able to distribute 312 life jackets, 179 free swim lesson vouchers, 120 free CPR certification vouchers, and 105 door alarms. Again, our mission is to prevent drownings before they happen. Prevention begins in the home, as I mentioned, and we want to give parents and caregivers the tools and education needed to protect children in and around the water. We also strongly encourage everyone to become CPR certified. Statistics show that performing CPR immediately can double or even triple a child's chance of survival. St. Petersburg Fire Rescue offers CPR certification courses. To learn more, you can visit us at fire.stpete.org or call us at 727-893-7076. If we're busy out running calls, we'll get back to you. Please leave a message. And a special thank you to Pinellas County EMS for their ongoing support and generous donation of free life jackets for our community.
Good afternoon, Council Chair. Thank you so much for that proclamation. I just want to introduce the speaker, our speaker earlier. This is Brandy Dorsen. She's our new aquatics manager. She's been here about a year and a half, and we're excited about the work she's doing. And Andy Chee, who's our new aquatic supervisor of our neighborhood pools. Again, our partnerships are wonderful with FIRE and the community groups. The Juvenile Welfare Board supports swim lessons every year. The Tampa Bay Rays pay for free swim lessons. And so thank you for all your support and everything you do for us, Mayor. Thank you so much, and we appreciate you.
Council Member Driscoll.
Thank you, and thank you for bringing this proclamation forward and to cheer, just for sharing your story and really bringing it home and reminding us that, yes, it can happen to anyone. This is – we were just talking about swim lessons in the budget workshop a couple of days ago, and, you know, I made a comment that I would love for us to be known as a city of swimmers. And the work that you are doing, the programs that you're putting out there, the gear that you're providing, all of that helps us work towards that goal. And I know that we can one day soon be able to say that everyone in our city, all children, have an opportunity to learn how to swim. And I was wondering how early, like how young would a – do swimming lessons start with the programs that you have?
So we do start with our parent-child swim lessons. And so at the age of six months, a parent can get in with their infant up to three years old for our parent-child lessons. And then at the age of four, children can start to do swim lessons on their own with our preschool lessons. So from ages four to five, those are preschool lessons. And then, of course, six and above, all the way to our adults. Adults need lessons, too. Right. Their swim lessons are available.
Right. Oh, that's great. So starting at six months. Six months. And it's not like a huge time commitment either. It's not. I mean, just really helping to learn the basics.
Absolutely. So with our parent-child classes, it's the lifeguards, the instructors, they are teaching our parents how to give water exploration skills to our children. As Copley stated, you have to – children have to be aware of water. They take baths, they get in the shower, even just a drizzle of water on top of their head, you know, to get them acclimated. And it's for us to have our parents, you know, get those skills as well to teach our kids to blow bubbles, to get your head in the water. What happens if a sister or a brother falls into the water, you know? Having the knowledge to be able to say, Mommy, Daddy, I need help. Mommy, Daddy, even, you know, their child's name, just water exploration and knowledge of water is where it all starts.
Yeah, that's such a great point. You mentioned the water safety packets that were handed out at Water Safety Day. What's in the packet?
So we have water watcher tags in there. So a water watcher tag is a tag that an adult can wear while they're watching kids at a pool. You might be at a house party with family and you have a pool available. And it's a tag that gives the – I'm the adult that is in charge. I'm the adult that is actually watching kids. We have vouchers for swim lessons in those bags. We have a Stewie the Duck book with information about swimming. So, again, we're educating our young kids on what swimming is, you know, and water exploration. We also have some educational material in those water safety bags and some goodies.
Yeah, that's great. That's great. Well, another thing I mentioned the other day was that we – I think the only thing that we could be doing that's more is getting the word out.
Getting the word out, absolutely. You know, with swimming, it comes from word of mouth. Yeah, it's word of mouth. You say, hey, I'm taking swim lessons, and someone's like, where are you taking swim lessons? And it's you grabbing a friend. Do you want to go take swim lessons? Yeah, let's go. We'll get a group of adults, you know, getting ready for a cruise, telling your friends, you know, let's go take adult swim lessons. Even, you know, at the daycares, getting the information out to the daycares. We have rack cards that we put out at our recreation centers. We take them to daycares. We take them to other partners, the fire rescue department. They help us distribute information through our car washes, through our pop-up events, you know, on our marquees, our Facebook pages, social media. It's all about sharing the word and word of mouth through us all, you know. We do, during the summertime, we don't realize that getting ready for swimming does not happen during the summertime. It actually happens in the wintertime. So we do have swim lesson registration coming up, May 24th. The great thing about this year is that you can actually register online. So we're doing online registration. We're doing in-person registration. So it's really just getting the word out to people and sharing with your friends and your families. Look around. As you drive past the parks, you will see, you know, on the marquees, you will see big signs out that says registration is getting ready to start. So it starts with us. Word of mouth.
That's great. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. May 24th is when registration starts.
Yes, May 24th.
For swim lessons for everyone.
For everyone, stpeteparksrec.org is the website if you're interested. Or you can go to any local pool. We have nine pools that you can go to and just walk up and say, I want to do swim lessons. Give me some information. The pools open up Memorial Day weekend. So at that time, just join us at a pool.
You guys have a great spokeswoman here. I mean, you can't beat Brandy for that. But I remember it was about a year ago that you and I got together and got our video.
If you want to do a little bit of marketing, I'm available. Okay.
I love it. I'll be in touch. Yeah, let's do it. Mike, we don't even have to ask Mike. We'll just go and do it. We'll just do it, yeah. Well, I just, so, and last year that video was just a pitch that we made to get more funding for swim lessons. And I hear everything that's going on now. And we've made some really great progress on that. And that makes me happy.
Absolutely. You know, one of the biggest things, what we would like to do when we're talking about making our city full of swimmers, right? So, we really wanted to win the mayor's initiative. He's so good. We really wanted to win, no, because, again, what we wanted to do, our vision, our vision, it was to partner with, you know, Pinellas County Schools and being able through their PE educational classes to partner with them and for them to come and do swim lessons. We're currently doing that now with some schools. But our vision is to partner with all schools and how do we get all of our kids through. We can start K through 2. We can start small, you know, to get them to come during their PE time and be able to have the opportunity to get some swim lessons or get acclimated with the water. Just, that's very important. It's just, it's all about education and information.
Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you for all that you do and for doing it with such enthusiasm and grace. You're just, we're so lucky to have you.
No, I thank you, and I thank you, Council, for supporting us and always having our back and looking at different ways that we can provide swim lessons to all in our community. So, I hope you have our back, too. Absolutely. Thank you.
Council Member Fig Sanders.
Thank you. I wasn't going to say anything because everything has been said about this phenomenal team, but I just have to say, Mayor, you've just been challenged.
I really do.
And so we, you've just been challenged, and I want to say that when your term is up and you can no longer run for mayor, I got my next candidate because she is definitely going to get it done. And I truly want to thank you for all that you do, Rich, and everybody for working with our children because, you know, I have grandchildren. You know, I have one that her dad was a firefighter. Her grandfather was a firefighter, a paramedic, so he taught my son at six months how to swim. So she loves water. I have another granddaughter that loses her mind when she gets a hair wash. So we have a diverse group of children and swimmers, but I appreciate the fact, and, again, you are such a ray of light in such a serious situation, in such a serious situation. And with that, that lets us know that our children are in good hands. You know, we always say it starts in parks, and they did an excellent job by bringing you on and helping to support such a vital, vital and very important initiative for the city of St. Petersburg.
Thank you.
For that, I thank you so much.
But I do want to say that I do have a wonderful team, so I do not want to leave out the aquatics division and the team.
You got my vote. Okay.
Thank you all. Thank you, Chief Parks and Rec and our Chair for his powerful words. Thank you so much. And now we have Item D4, National Public Works Week Proclamation, presented by Council Member Harding.
Thank you, Vice Chair. Mayor, in this, my fifth month in this position and being part of the St. Pete team, I have been taught, I have been reminded, and, quite frankly, I have been browbeaten with the idea that it all starts in parks. But I would challenge you that in order to get to that park, in order to water that park, in order to flush a toilet in that park, you're going to need public works. So, Mayor has graciously bestowed power upon me, and I'm going to use that power to declare that the next seven days, it all starts in public works. If anyone sees Mike Jeffries behind me, just let me know.
Yeah, second challenge of the day.
Whereas public works professionals focus on infrastructure, facilities, and services that are of vital importance to sustainable and resilient communities and the public health, high quality of life, and well-being of the City of St. Petersburg, and whereas these infrastructures, facilities, and services could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of public works professionals who are engineers, managers, and employees at all levels of government and the private sector who are responsible for rebuilding, improving, and protecting our nation's transportation, water supply, water treatment, and solid waste systems, public buildings, and other structures and facilities essential for our citizens, and whereas it's in the public interest for the citizens, civic leaders, and children in St. Petersburg to gain knowledge of and maintain an ongoing interest and understanding of the importance of public works and public works programs in their respective communities, and whereas the year 2025 marks the 65th annual National Public Works Week sponsored by the American Public Works Association, Canadian Public Works Association, with the theme, People, Purpose, Presence. Now, therefore, I, Council Member Mike Harding, on behalf of Mayor Kenneth T. Welch, to hereby proclaim May 18th through May 24th as National Public Works Week.
I want to start by recognizing my team that is here. So everybody who works for public works, if you'd please stand up.
Yay!
We're proud to have them here, and I thank you for allowing us to have things start in public works. We often tease that it actually often ends up in public works.
Oh, my goodness.
I'll leave that there. But as Council Member Harding mentioned, this year's theme is People, Purpose, and Presence. And this theme highlights the three cornerstone ideals that motivate the people that you saw standing here to serve their communities every day. It is meeting the needs of the people, and it's what gives us our sense of purpose. Many times, public works professionals will never meet the people whose lives that they touch and have been impacted, because when things are going right, no one knows that we're there, and that's the way it should be. Yet, with or without fanfare, public works is ever-present, working in the background to advance the quality of life for all. And I'm grateful for this proclamation. Thank you, Council Member, for giving it for us. And I'm grateful for the support that the Council has always shown, public works, and the team that we have here. And we just hope that we continue to do you proud. And thank you.
Thank you. Vice Chair Hanowitz.
Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Claude, and your team for everything that you do. You know, you said it right. When things are going right, right, people don't notice how much you all mean. And through these hurricanes, it was very clear how much you all mean to everyone. And I just want to commend everyone out there that's in public works for getting us through those hurricanes, because you all carried a heavy, heavy lift. And for the ones that were out there during the storm, almost up to the end, as far as they could, to make sure their sewer plants were open and making sure that we had the city running as long as we could until we had to shut things down because of emergencies and because of hurricanes. So not only up to the end, but before the daylight came, and as soon as the winds were dying down, you all were out there again. And God bless you for that. And I really mean it because it really does impact everyone's lives, and we sometimes take it for granted. You know, you open up your faucet, and water comes out. You flush your toilet, and it's supposed to flush, right? And you have your drinking water, and your streets, and everything else that we take for granted. It takes a lot of work. And so I thank you for doing that work, for making sure that we are on top of the things that we need to do. Every neighborhood meeting that I go to when there's a public works person there, the questions are unbelievable. And the amount of depth and knowledge on subjects that you all have blows my mind because I don't understand the system is so large, and people have no idea how many pipes and, you know, and the lay of the land and where water goes and what you do with it and how you plan for the future. It is, it's huge. It's such a huge system. And you have, I've said it before, I'll say it again, the most difficult job in the city, really, truly, you do. And people's passions run passionate when it comes up to this subject. They're either very mad at you or very happy when you show up and fix the problem, as you all know. So again, thank you for all you do for our city and for our residents. Thank you. Thank you.
Council Member Driscoll.
Thank you. Thank you for the proclamation. And thanks to everyone here and beyond in public works for all that you do. You are some of the biggest unsung heroes across the entire city. And you have such a great impact on our daily lives inside the home and as we, you know, go out and about around the city. During the storms, yes, as Vice Chair Hanowitz mentioned, you guys were there. Some of the hardest work was done by you before, during, and after, and even now today, trying to get things back to normal. I wanted to take this moment to pass something along to Marshall, if you don't mind. Last month, I just have a confession to make. Last month, I was recovering from surgery, and I had a couple weeks where I couldn't drive, and they encouraged me to walk so that I could, because that would lead to a faster recovery. So I was out walking, and I live in Coquina Key, and, I mean, it felt good, so I just kept going. I was like Forrest Gump out there, like, slogging the steps. You know, I just kept going. And I had my phone with me, so I would see, click, fix, you know, if there was a sign that was, a street sign still bent from the storm, and there were still a lot of them. And I totally understand, like, that's one neighborhood. The whole city has to be, you know, looked at. So I was putting them in, and I'd walk by the next day. Like, 24 hours later, most of them were fixed. The only ones that weren't were where a sign was actually missing, and it was a street sign that probably had to be made. Even that was done in just a few days. So I wanted to let you know that was me.
Yes, ma'am.
Understood.
And if any of you are in the room that had to go out there and keep doing the signs, thank you. But, yeah, I was like, man, if they find out it was me, they're going to be like, God, when is she going back to work?
Yes, ma'am.
But I was so impressed, and I was like, oh, my gosh, Marshall has just got it going on. I mean, you, you, all of you have amazing departments, and I could go on. I just want to use this as an example of, you know, I wasn't testing anyone. I wasn't on a rampage. I was just walking. And you all just responded in an amazing way. And my neighbors noticed, too. And so I wanted to thank you for doing that. And I'm sorry if it just caused a lot of extra trips out there. I'm glad you're feeling better, though. Yes, I am. I am. And I'll admit, I still have some that I'm going to put in, but I'm trying to space them out more. Yes, ma'am. So, it might still be me, but I'm trying not to do, like, five a day at this point. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. All right. Thanks. And then, finally, I wanted to mention that next week is National Infrastructure Week all week long. And I haven't asked, but I'm hoping that the administration, public works, and marketing have a plan to maybe highlight some of the projects and some of the real successes and the challenges that you've overcome that really help us to set an example during Infrastructure Week. So, I look forward to hearing more about that and helping to really broadcast how fantastic our public works department is and the great contributions that you have to our city. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. Council Member Driscoll, I'm pretty sure Marshall just said, tell me that you're not walking without telling me that you're not walking.
I know. Now they're going to get him, and they're going to be like, oh, God, Gina's out there again.
Gina must have went on a walk today.
I didn't think about that.
Claude, thank you so much. And to everybody that's here, thank you. You know, there was a couple of things that were talked about that I just want to kind of double click on real quick. And thank you to everybody that's here. My first thought when everybody stood up, Claude, when you acknowledged the team, was that I bet there are some people watching it on TV, or maybe they go back and watch this, and they go, the whole team's in the room. Except that, how many employees in public works, Claude? We're now just under 1,000. Yeah. Because I saw the number on Tuesday. And so 1,000 employees of a 3,500-person organization are in one administration. You're seeing a piece of it. And that's not to take away from the people that are here by any means. But the size of the organization, because of the size of the operation, is incredible. And so to each and every one of you, the responsibility that you have, thank you so much for continuing to do it on a daily basis. And for all the work that you put in on the size of the operation, we need you, we need you, we need you, and we thank you. The other thing I would say is I have a little bit of a different lens when it comes to, you know, not being seen. I think people are, people in public works are seen, but they're not noticed. And because I see them a lot, and I'm blessed to be able to notice that, oh, there's STPO doing a sign or a pothole, or there's water resources working on a main line, or, you know, fixing a stormwater drain, the whole nine yards, right? All of those things, I feel very blessed that I notice them. And here is my ask to the general public. One, start noticing, please. And two, do me a favor and say thank you. Go up to them. Because here's, we joke about Parks and Rec, and they get noticed, right? There's an interaction there. And I think a lot of times they're the forward-facing employees organization of St. Petersburg. Just as important, all jokes aside, and to Council Member Harding's point, maybe more, go up and say thank you to the people working in your front yard, on your road, in your stormwater drain, on your main line, on a stop sign, on a stop light. Just say thank you. Give them a wave, because they deserve it. Because I think they're seen, but I think sometimes they're not noticed, and we need to notice them more. And so, Claude, thank you, and I hope you feel seen today. And now it's my mission to make sure that you feel seen every day. And so thank you for all the work. It's been said about the storms and all those things. We are forever in your debt. I will say that. So thank you for all the hard work. Mayor, thank you for bringing this proclamation. Claude, thank you for leading this organization. And to the entire team, a heartfelt big, big, big thank you. Thank you, everybody. Okay, last but not least, we're going to go to D5, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month proclamation brought to us by Mayor Welch.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was going to ask Claude and John if there was something in the water today. As they're exiting, going back to work. Okay. As they're going back to work, just let me echo council's thanks to our public works department. As we move on, I'm pleased to welcome some familiar faces to city council today. A little over a year ago, I met with various members of the Asian American Pacific Islander community for a Word with Welch roundtable. Now, that conversation led to the planning and scheduling of the first ever HAPI Festival, H-A-A-P-I, which is scheduled for May 31st at Albert Whitted Park. The HAPI Festival stands for Honoring Asian American Pacific Islanders, and it will be a family-friendly event celebrating the diverse cultures, foods, and entertainment that represent the Asian diaspora right here in St. Pete and Tampa Bay. I'm joined by our Communications and Community Engagement Managing Director, Aliza Punzel and Randall, who I call AP, our staff and committee members and members of the public, to present this proclamation. And I'm honored to read it. And it reads, Whereas, during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we acknowledge Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who've lived and worked in the United States for more than 200 years and have made significant contributions to all facets of the United States, such as economy, health care, public service, arts, culture, education, military, literature, science, and technological developments. And whereas, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month was first designated in 1978 with the passage of a joint congressional resolution and highlights two significant historical milestones, the immigration of the first Japanese people to the United States in May of 1843 and the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in May of 1869, an achievement largely attributable to the Chinese immigrant workers who laid its tracks. And whereas, the city of St. Petersburg is proud to join in a national celebration of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and welcome the opportunity to celebrate their rich culture and heritage through events that invite people of all backgrounds to experience these cultures and develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of the role Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have played in our nation's history. And whereas, the city of St. Petersburg treasures its long-standing relationship with Takamatsu Japan, our sister city for more than 60 years, and our exchange program remains a special opportunity to embody the deep-rooted connection between our cities and St. Petersburg's commitment to cultural enrichment for young people and their families. And whereas, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are integral to our history, our culture, and respective communities locally and beyond. Now, therefore, I, Kenneth T. Welch, Mayor of the City of St. Petersburg, Florida, do hereby proclaim the month of May 2025 as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in St. Petersburg. And I also urge citizens, government agencies, institutions, businesses, and schools to celebrate the contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. So, that's the applause line. And we'll have some comments from two of our guests, May Jenny from USF St. P. And again, from Parks and Rec, Andy Chee.
Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Chair Gurdis, Vice Chair Hanoi, and Council Member for this proclamation and recognition of the diverse AAPI community. I am my Jenny. Like Mayor said, I'm from USF St. P., and I'm also co-chair for the committee. Last April, like Mayor said, that we had this meeting called the Word with Welch. And during this meeting, it was expressed that there's a desire for a gathering point to celebrate the communities. And then, since then, we have formed the committee made up of community members, city staff, resulting in the HAPI Festival, which is May 31st. So, please come out and support us. And it's from 3 to 10. So, it's after work hours. So, since the mayor already explained what the AAPI HAPI Festival is, so I won't go into any more detail about that. But I just want to highlight the reason for the festival is to highlight a different culture that we have in this city. And this is a very beautiful city that we have here. And what best way to show those culture and by, you know, through food, music, and art. So, we have here a few members from the committee. Dexter, who has to leave because he has another meeting. He's from I Love the Burt. Chris Lee from Mega Night. And then, Andy Chi. Susan Ajak. Eliza. Punla. I hope I pronounced it right. Punjalan Randall from the city. Ferdinand Japp. Peer's Events. So, those are some of the committee members on our team. And then, we just want to say we appreciate the city of St. Pete. In particular, Mayor Welch. For your support in this ongoing effort to engage in the AAPI community. We look forward to this exciting and continued meaningful work we can do together because we are St. Pete.
Mayor, Council, on behalf of the city employees, I appreciate this resolution that was given towards us today. It's a great honor. And we're a group that we have here. We've been working very hard to get this festival going. So, again, thank you very much. And we look forward to having a great event.
Mayor, thank you for bringing forward this proclamation. I'm glad you brought up food. I'll only speak for two of us that are serious foodies that will take any recommendation when it comes to a Hawaiian or Pacific Island foodie. We'll make sure we put that on the list fast. But just thank you so much for being here and celebrating with us. Mayor, thank you for bringing this proclamation. Thank you for continuing to have an open door to have discussions with community groups such as this. And just so proud to not only have you as a part of the fabric of St. Petersburg, but so proud to celebrate you today. So, thank you so much for being here. Okay. We are going to move into reports. And we're going to go to F1, Employee Recognition Committee Annual Update from HR, Chris Goella.
Thank you, Chair and Council. It's a pleasure to be here today to not ask for money, for one thing. We appreciate that, Chris. To be able to celebrate our employees and, of course, all the great work that the Employee Recognition Committee brings to the table. So, for those of you who have seen this presentation in years past, you know how enthusiastic and energetic Jennifer Jorn, who is the chair of the Employee Recognition Committee, is. So, for this year, I've decided I'm just going to step aside. I can't match that. I'm going to bring Jennifer up here, let her lead the presentation.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Welcome, Jennifer.
It's great to be here. Before I forget, Happy Mother's Day to all of those moms who are still in here. So, thank you for bringing up the slides. So, Chair Gerdes, thank you for being our champion. Vice Chair Hanowitz is gone. Chair and Administrators in the room. Thank you for being here. So, if you could go to the next slide, please. Oh, I get to do it? Awesome. Yay! Because I have fly-ins and stuff. So, this is great. Okay. So, this is our committee. We are comprised of 14 people. All of you, I know, can read. So, what am I going to call out here? Two really important people. Our emcee and my right-hand guy, Sean Druin, effective this month, has been on the committee for seven years. Oh, my boy, Sean. I know, yeah. And then, my right-hand gal couldn't do it without her, Belinda Ross, representing HR. So, you have all this. So, thank you for everything. All right. Okay, next. So, for the, actually, Council Member Hardy, you've never seen this presentation. You've never seen this presentation before. So, you guys, all of you else have. So, I'm going to kind of fly through this a little bit. But, feel free to ask questions at the end. So, composition, we moved to an administrative-based composition a couple years ago. Which, what does that do? A cast or net wider as opposed to departmentally based. And we've got, as you could see, we have a really, really great crew. We meet monthly at different city departments, different city locations. So, then, we all get to see, like, what's happening over in Water Resources with the new building that's going on. Because that's where we're meeting this month. And then, of course, Lanier, who's in golf courses, we get to meet up at Mangrove Bay. See what's happening up there in the golf courses. I know many of you were there in January. January was a very atypical ceremony. So, I'll get to May's ceremony. Don't worry. You will not be there until noon. You will probably be out of there before 10. But we are celebrating. We are recognizing 35 employees. Usually, our list is about 75, 76. It's only 35 for the May list. So, please, I strongly recommend, encourage you to attend. Our mission, this is the only thing I'm really going to read, acknowledge city employees for efforts that go above and beyond their job descriptions and to recognize them for extended years of service. So, we really do two things. The ERC does two things. We meet on a monthly basis with the exception of July where we will get nominations for all intents and purposes for kudos. And then what we, for a job well done, and then what we do as a committee is we decide do we need to elevate that up to a Ben Shirley, which you'll see award descriptions here in a second, or servant leadership or innovation. Kudos on steroids is the Sunshine Award. So, any employee who has been recognized twice in at least, or at least twice in six months will be recognized with the Sunshine Award. And that's regardless of whether it's a citizen recognition or peer recognition. All right. So, here are our different categories. Again, you guys can all read this, but I want to give you a couple examples. So, and some of this was intentional with regards to Water Safety Month. So, our last, I'm actually going to go right to servant leadership award. Our last servant leadership award was by the aquatic staff at Walter Fuller. They didn't save anyone on the water, but they saved somebody on the pickleball courts. And then they called in people. But it was to their astuteness in helping this gentleman is why he's still alive. And that was back in 2023, and that was our most recent servant leadership award. We, our most recent Ben Shirley, who will be recognized at our May ceremony, it actually happened in my neighborhood, was a sanitation employee. Who saw a young child, three or four years old, wandering, you guys on 38th Avenue, over by Distant Plaza, right near over there, by himself. And called 911. Police was there immediately, waited until the young boy was reunited with his parents. So, that was an above and beyond. He was on his regular sanitation route. So, that is a Ben Shirley, named after the former director of sanitation. We are excited that we may potentially have an innovation recognition this year. And the key there is there is a monetary reward that goes along with that. And the process is we have somebody, it's a pretty involved process. There is an application. It's about 10 pages. The director of the department will recommend this staff member. The employee recognition committee will review it. We will make our recommendations to Chris Gwela. And then from there, we determine whether or not the individual is recognized with innovation. So, hopefully, fingers crossed, we will see that in September. Okay. So, employee recognition year-over-year review. This is my favorite stuff. So, last year, we recognized 330 people. Again, with kudos, Sunshine, Ben Shirley, et cetera. Our self-imposed goal was 350. So, we hit 94% of our goal, which is fantastic. We absolutely would have exceeded that goal, but we tanked, quite candidly, in September and October. And we all know why, right? So, this year, year to date, this was through April. I just put our May agenda together, because the May agenda includes all of the nominees. I'm going to put it in perspective for you guys. In 2023, we recognized 163 people. In 2022, for the year, that's for the year, we recognized 62 people. On May 14th, at our next ERC meeting, we are reviewing 62 nominations. Okay? Yeah. So, it's very exciting. Exactly. So, we will... So, that'll bring that up to 121, if I can do math. There's math, and then there's jet math. So, maybe 121, 129. So, will we get over that 300? We might. But, again, this is just a self-imposed goal. So, not quite 50 nominations. It's 62 nominations for the month of May. Oh, and this is kind of cool. So, stormwater, sanitation, parks and rec. Ironic that it is stormwater stewardship month. So, there's been a little juggling since we got the May nominations in. Stormwater is still at the top. So, I just want to let you know. All right. Stormwater is still at the top. Sanitation, water resources, parks and rec and building, and collections rounds out the top five. All right. So, all my fly-in slides. So, we worked very hard. I think we worked hard, and I think we worked smart, meaning the ERC team. This is, by far, not my decision, not Chris's decision. But, we wanted to make a change to our awards. We wanted to modernize them. We wanted them to really not be the 1970s high school kind of award. Yeah. So, all of our years of service plaques now include our flag. This was very intentional with regards to the lettering. So, as you can see, 10 years of service, the recipient's name is in black. 15 years of service, the recipient's name is in red. 20 years of service, the recipient's name is in orange. So, we're following the colors of the flag. We realized, we had some feedback. I don't know what this means. So, Belinda had the great idea, why don't we include a description of what that is? So, anyone who receives a years of service plaque, or you'll see the other awards, has a description of what that award means. So, they can have, and then we're also including that information in our program. So, Mr. Sun, 35, we all love our Mr. Sun. 35 years. This is the Pelican Award. Although not local, we're still in the Tampa Bay area. The provider is out of loots. And then, a Red Pelican after the Pelican's on the pier for 50 years. So, what do I love best about this? As we celebrate Small Business Week, we are working with two local women-owned vendors here in town to provide the bases and Mr. Sun, as well as Mr. Pelican, or the Red Pelican. And that is through 3D printing, which is really super cool, and Mr. Sun. So, these are who we are using. What else helps? They saved us a ton of money. So, we are being fiscally prudent with regards to how we are spending our money and recognizing our employees. We continue to work with Cowlwil Coffee. They've been a very generous partner of ours, and will be partnering with us this year and hopefully again next year. And back to the middle one, new ERC members. We continue to have genuine interest for people wanting to join the ERC. And I think part of the reason we are growing our nominations is the grid is a lot easier to use. So, marketing, so a shout-out to marketing for launching the grid. Mr. Gerdes here, Mr. Robert Gerdes, has nominated six times. So, thank you for using the grid to do that. I have to call that out. Which, by the way, I need your RSVP because you're going to be recognized in May, so I need that by the 14th. So, the grid has been a real help with that. So, please take a look at who you will be because everything goes up. And then within a day after I get it up in the grid, you'll see everyone posted on it, which is awesome. So, here it is. The grid, all you have to do when you go on St. Pete, what is it? The grid, St. Pete, the little thumbs up, click that, and it will take you to the kudos page, and you can submit a nomination. This is internal. As a reminder, the grid is an internal tool. There's a JOT form on the city website, or people can email kudos at stpete.org. Okay? All right. In addition to streamlining, modernizing our awards, Nadia, who is, I'm going to say, my left-hand gal over in Department of Technology Services, took it on herself, jumped in immediately when one of our members went out on maternity, and has revamped our programs. So, I love the idea that we're doing a different color for each ceremony. So, you can see in September it was teal, January it was dark blue, and maybe we go with orange or something in May. But she's done that, and she's done a fantastic job. So, it goes without saying, we have our committee members, and we are visible, we are at our ceremonies, but there is one gal who is behind the scenes and does a fantastic job, and I'm calling her out in public, she knows I'm doing this, is Ginny Anstasi, who is our technology support person. I would not be where I am on the grid without her support. And one thing that you'll see on here answers all my questions and then answers all my same questions, because I had a lot of same questions that I just kept answering. It was a big transition going from kudos intranet to the grid site. So, she has been absolutely tremendous. And actually, I submitted a kudos for her this month. So, again, behind the scenes, you mentioned, I think it was Vice Chair Hanowitz, you're behind the scenes, or Chair Gerdes, behind the scenes with Spitto. Ginny is the same way. She is behind the scenes, but she is an engine and a spine for us. Before I pass it off to Kristen, I want to let you know that the ERC committee works. We have volunteers that worked with Kristen, who, again, did a fantastic job with the employee appreciation events, with Party on the Pitch, and with the employee recognition day or employee appreciation day at the Rowdies. It was great to see those who were there. And we hope to see it maybe in June. I'll be there, I guess, sweating a lot because it's going to be hot. Go Rowdies. But I'd like to pass this off to Kristen to talk about the new workplace culture team.
Good afternoon, council members and city leaders. I am here to just give you a very brief overview of our new division in HR, which is really exciting. And I have the privilege of being the manager of that division. So when I asked to do this, I thought, well, let me just give you an acronym because we live in acronyms in HR, so why not start a new one? So our new kind of approach is Grow With Us. And what that stands for is to gain appreciation of each other, of our city employees, resiliency and building strength through adversity, opportunities for training and promotion, and working towards a brighter future. So to just give you a couple of examples of what might fall under these categories, with gaining appreciation, our employee appreciation events, and really just opportunities to get together outside of our traditional workday to say hello. A lot of our employees move around to different departments, so to get to see sort of old friends from other departments is really nice. And we have more events to come, like individual department pop-ups, too, to just share information, share information and resources with employees on a daily basis, really. Resiliency in building strength through adversity, we have more informal mediation programs, if you will, to assist our employees with working through tough situations, conflict in an informal way versus, you know, the traditional grievance, formal complaint avenues. So giving more opportunities to sit down and have really meaningful conversations, which has proven to be very, very helpful and valuable. We also have developed a care team to provide and reach out to city employees in times of even crisis, like with our hurricanes. Our employees were, you know, the backbone really helping our citizens through a lot of hard times, and those employees, as you know, were also going through their own hard times. So having a support team in HR to reach out and provide help to our city employees directly. And we'll continue to do that, even when it's not in times of crisis, but just to have another support mechanism. We also have quickly grown our training opportunities for employees. So all the way from a brand-new Servant Leadership Academy, which is going very well, includes formal training, but also a mentor, a new leadership mentor program that we have, as well as we have resume writing, interview skills, classes, and everything in between. So we've really ramped up our opportunities for training and setting out clear career pathways. That's another area that we're really working on now is to make sure that employees who do want other opportunities in the city understand what skills they need to build, and we provide those opportunities to build those skills. So that's also going very well, and we are hopeful to launch some new opportunities come the next fiscal year. Finally, working towards a brighter future, we all want to do that. And so we have seven inclusivity councils that are operating with our administrations doing amazing work with some really cool new projects that are going to make really wonderful impacts and really just promoting quality of life and supporting one another through programming, but also just kindness and support every day. So that is our kind of outline of what we're working from, and I hope to see you at more events, and also you'll be seeing some invitations to us because our city employees love to see you there as well and love to interact. That's one thing that we have found is they really embrace just learning more about, you know, what we're doing on a bigger scale, too. So we appreciate your time, and I'll turn it over to Jen.
One more comment, as you say, future. So at our April ERC meeting, one of the gentlemen who was from SPIDO, I use acronyms all the time, too, Stormwater Pavement Traffic Operations, just went through the Mayor's Future Ready Academy, and he was recognized with a kudos. So I wanted to call that out because it's working. He was a team of 14, and it was fantastic. So that's all I have. Thank you very much for your time, and thank you. This is really important. Thank you for your continued support. Showing up at the ceremonies is really important. Staff and employees really like that, and again, I promise you, it's 35 RCPs. You usually have a 50% hit, so it might be 17. If you're not out of there by 10, I'll buy coffee. All right? So that's it.
Chris? That's the coffee's free.
Thank you, Jen and Kristen. That's really all we wanted to present, so we appreciate your support over the years, and if you have any questions, certainly we're here to answer.
Well, thank you so much for the presentation, Chris, Jen, Kristen. I always appreciate it. Really, really enjoy it. It's not quite there, but I would put the employee recognition ceremonies up there with the Senior Hall of Fame. It's a bunch of smiles, great stories, great award stories. It's just the same type of thing. I walk out with my face hurting from smiling so much. I think part of that is the pictures, too, but also the stories and just seeing, again, the same thing, seeing the family, seeing the friends from their organization be there to support them. It's all amazing and love being there, and certainly you're going to continue to have our support. Vice Chair Hanowans.
I just want to add and echo what the Chair is saying. The coolest thing about the ceremony is seeing the interaction between administrators, directors, everybody from above down and that camaraderie that we don't get to see here in chambers, but we get to see it there and see individuals and people loosen up and see the personalities come out and the funny stories that happen both ways, right? And so that is really appreciated, and that's why I love going there, and I'm sure that's the reason why other council members really also love to be, not just to celebrate them, but to actually get to know them as human beings and individuals. So I really appreciate all the work that you do. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you for the update. Okay. We're going to go from reports to our second open forum. Do we have any speakers for open forum? Okay. We'll close open forum. Any announcements, council members? Council Member Gabbard.
Thank you, Chair, and first of all, happy Mother's Day this weekend to everyone out there. I always say it doesn't really matter if you are a natural mother or just someone who cares for someone else. However you show up, you deserve to be celebrated. So happy Mother's Day to all the caregivers in our community. And then secondly, Chair, I unfortunately will not be with you all next week because it is the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council's Resiliency Coalition. It is the fifth annual Resiliency Coalition, so we are very excited. We have a large two-day event that has a lot of speakers. We're bringing in people from all over the country, experts in the resiliency space, talking about topics, everything from permitting to infrastructure to mental health after a storm to heat to tree canopies. You name it, if it is in resiliency, recovery, or rebuilding, we will be talking about it next week. So I will miss all of you, but I will be with the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, and we'll look forward to bringing you back some good information from that summit. So thank you.
Thank you. Yeah, thank you for representing not only this dais, Councilmember Gabbard, but our city at the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council. We know that work is near and dear to your heart, and we also know that, frankly, you've become an expert in the field as well. Unfortunately. Thank you. Thank you for it. Well, unfortunately, fortunately. So thank you for all the work, and I'll just repeat it. Actually, one quick thing. I want to thank my colleagues for the work this week. I know we had a long day on Tuesday. You know, it's a relatively long day of committee meetings and council meetings, although today's council meeting was a lot of celebrating. I just appreciate all the work and the dedication from all of you. I thought Tuesday was just a really, really good meeting with all the feedback, and then committee meetings this morning, same thing, and just very – I'm walking away this evening very appreciative of all of you. And then I would be remiss if I didn't echo Councilmember Gabbard to just happy Mother's Day to all those moms, the stand-in moms, the dads that have to be moms, all of the above, and certainly specifically to my mom, my mother-in-law, and to my wife for being the mom she is to our children. I just want to say I love you, and happy Mother's Day. Okay. If there's nothing else for the good of the order, city council is adjourned. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you, everybody.