Tampa City Council - 09/03/26

Welcome to Tampa City Council regular council meeting. I'd like to call this meeting to order and if we could all rise and join us in a moment of silence and then Councilman Miranda will lead us in the pledge. Thank you. Clerk, could you call the roll, please? Here. Thank you. Good morning. Can I get a motion to adopt the minutes from the regular session held on August 27th, 2026? I have a motion from Councilman Miranda, seconded from Councilman Maniscalco. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Agenda review, please. Okay. Councilwoman Hurtek. Yes. I ask that items 34, 41, and 42, and 43 to be heard together so staff can display the map on the wolf. I'd like a motion to move 41, 42, and 43 to be heard after 34. I have a motion from Councilwoman Hurtek, seconded from Councilman Miranda. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. I have a request to continue item number 5 to October 1st, 2026. I have a motion from Councilman Maniscalco, seconded from Councilman Miranda. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. I spoke with Director Feeley this morning. Her request to move item 47 to September 17, 2026. She'll have additional information at that point. Motion from Councilman to Scalco, second from Councilman Miranda. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Thank you. Item 48, request to move it to October 22, 2026. Motion from Councilman to Scalco, second from Councilman Miranda. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Anything else before we get to staff reports? Motion to approve the written staff reports? I have a motion to approve the, receive and file the written staff reports. 49 and 50. 49 and 50 from Councilman and Hertech, second from Councilman Vera. Hello, Councilman Vera. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Thank you. Okay. Let's look at staff reports and what we need for staff. Okay. 33, no staff. Okay. We're going to use staff for 34 through 43. How about 35? No? Okay. None for 35. 36? I think we might need to hear from 36 to 39, so we'll have staff for those. 40? Nope. Hearing none. No staff for item number 40. 44. 45? I thought they were coming for 44. 44. Okay. 45, yes. Let's have staff for 45. Okay. 46. Okay. Yes. 44, we do need staff. Okay. Sorry. 44, we do need staff. Thank you, Sam. 46. Yes. 44, 45, 46. 47, we've continued. 48, we've continued. Okay. Is there anything else before we have a motion to approve the agenda? I apologize. Did we do item four? Strike that. I'm sorry. Item five, continuing that to October 1st? Yes, we did. Sorry. Yeah. We've continued item five. We continued item 47 and 48. Okay. Okay. A motion to approve the agenda, please. Motion from Councilor Miranda. Second from Councilor Maniscalco. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. So for everybody's information, there's a lot of new faces here, so it won't be new to you, but it is new to you, but it's been new to you for the first time. Last meeting, we approved the new rules and procedures for Tampa City Council. Those rules are under effect today, except what we're going to do for public comment. Because we approved it on Thursday and they published the agenda on Friday, we're going to combine the public comments. So we'll have the, if you're here to speak for public comment on agenda items, those will be heard first, like we normally do. If you filled out a speaker card, one of the differences, I want to make sure that if you filled out a speaker card to speak to on agenda items, you need to specify on the speaker card, which item you want to speak to. Like all doesn't cut it. I need to have you actually specify which items you want to speak to. If you're here to speak to items that are city business, not on the agenda, we will do, and we'll do that after we do the agenda items. So that's what we're going to do this morning. And then next week or next city council meeting, we'll continue. The other big change today, for those of you wearing uniforms and blue and our first responders today, it's a little bit different. We're going to recognize you all today. And then the folks in the community that want to recognize you, we're going to do one single time so that the members of the fire department and the representative, the fire department, the representative, the police department will remain at the podium and the members of the community will recognize you together. So we have one single time for that recognition. Thank you so much. Did I miss anything, Mr. Shelby? No, sir. Okay. Very good. Okay. We're going to start with Councilman Nibira. Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is my great pleasure to do our officer of the month. And for this, we have our chief come forward, sir. We always do this to express our support for our police officers and firefighters and something that pretty much all folks in the city of Tampa do. And so we'll go for it. Good morning, Council Brett Owen, acting chief of police, Tampa police department. We are here this morning to recognize Detective Taylor Hart for our September officer of the month, 2026. Taylor has been with Tampa police department 15 years and has served six years as a detective. His exceptional investigative work targeting and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations responsible for distributing dangerous narcotics throughout the Tampa Bay area. He is assigned to the HIDA task force, the high intensity drug trafficking area, and serving as a task force officer with Homeland Security Investigations. Detective Hart handles complex long-term investigations focused on identifying drug traffickers, their distributors, and sources of supply. As the lead detective in a multi-state drug trafficking investigation, Detective Hart helped dismantle a major narcotics distribution network operating throughout Hillsborough and Pasco counties. The investigation resulted in six federal indictments, removal of large quantities of narcotics from our community. Those convicted received significant federal prison sentences, including one sentence of 20 years. In a separate investigation targeting a major fentanyl trafficking organization, Detective Hart worked alongside state and federal partners to identify key traffickers, distribute their, disrupt their service supply. The investigation resulted in seven search warrants, 12 arrest warrants, and the seizure of a significant amount of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine, along with firearms and $28,000 in currency. A related investigation also led to the prosecution of a major fentanyl supplier who received a 27-year prison sentence. Detective Hart's persistence and investigative work have helped take dangerous drug off the streets, held high-level traffickers accountable, and dismantled organizations supplying narcotics throughout the region. We'd like to congratulate Detective Hart on his well-deserved recognition as September Officer of the Month. And again, Mr. Chairman, we're doing the gifts at one time? Yes. Okay, great. So just, I'm a slow learner. So, Sir Detective, on behalf of a really grateful city of Tampa and Tampa City Council, it's our great pleasure to honor you for all of the work you've done protecting the community. Thank you so much. I appreciate it very much. Thank you. Thank you. I would like to say thank you to everybody. I appreciate it. Obviously, it's not a one-person adventure. So I couldn't do it without the support of our command staff, Chief. I appreciate it. My current Sergeant, Michael Lippold, he's absolutely been instrumental in this whole thing. So I appreciate that. Obviously, my family and everyone who's supported me along the way. So thank you very much. Thank you. On behalf of Tampa City Council, thank you for everything you do for the city and keeping us safe. And I appreciate the fact that you call out your colleagues because it's always a team effort. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, Councilman Vieira. Now we do fire. Okay. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. So, Chief Tripp, if you'd like to come forward. Ma'am, you may. So it's next time for our Firefighter of the Quarter, and it's for Lieutenant Barbaro Dominguez. And to speak on this wonderful firefighter, we have here Chief Tripp. Ma'am, go ahead. Thank you. Good morning. Good morning, Council. Happy, thankful Thursday. And Chief Barbaro Tripp here. I am proud to announce Lieutenant Barbaro Dominguez as our Firefighter of the Quarter. Lieutenant Dominguez is one of our B-shifters. He's a lieutenant assigned to Station 5, and he has been with Temple Fire Rescue for over four years. But during those four years, he has been very, very busy. So during that time, he has quickly established himself as an Inception Member of the Fire Department. Lieutenant Dominguez came to Temple Fire Rescue as a paramedic, and following his six months probation, he was the first employee to immediately go into the Rescue Division. He quickly became a standout member of the division. His advanced medical knowledge, field experience, and dedication to patients led him to becoming a paramedic field training officer with only a few short years on the job. Lieutenant Dominguez has embraced the role of an educator, a mentor, taking great pride in developing the members who are just beginning their careers, as well as those who are working towards the next level within Temple Fire Rescue. He has dedicated countless hours in assisting members of the paramedical record and acting lieutenant program, helping them identify their weakness, strength, and knowledge, and develop the confidence and skills necessary to succeed. He also served as a lead instructor for Hillsborough Community College, I'm sorry, Hillsborough College now, paramedic program. His commitment to education is standing well beyond simply checking the box on completing an assignment. He genuinely enjoys teaching and taking pride in seeing others improve. One of Lieutenant Dominguez' greatest strength is willingness to invest in people. If he encounters someone who is not ready for an evaluation or the next step in a career, he doesn't simply tell them that they're not ready. Instead, he takes the time to identify where they're lacking, build them up, and provide them with the tools they need, and work with them as they prepare to move forward. This is what we need for our community, to make sure that we have competent, trained individuals to respond to our community. Lieutenant Dominguez represents the type of member and future leader that every fire department needs. He is an educator, a mentor, a leader, and someone who is committed to making those around him better. Temple Fire Rescue is fortunate to have someone like Lieutenant Barberio Dominguez, and his dedication, passion, and commitment to developing others are deserving of recognizing him as Firefighter of the Quarter. Congratulations. So, sir, on behalf of a very grateful Tampa City Council and City of Tampa, we really thank you for all your service, and so we're honored to present this. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. And if you'd like to say anything, you may. Thank you for having me here today. I think it would be unfair if I take all their recognition without recognizing all those that are responsible for this. My parents that are here today, Linda Hurtado, my mom, Jorge Figueredo, they are responsible for today. When I came from Cuba, I was pretty nervous. I was pretty scared. Life was really challenging for me. They were there. They opened their heart. They opened their home to me. They guided me through the process. They gave me everything that I needed to be where I am today. My wife, Namir, Mateo, my son, they're also here today. They are my light in the days of darkness. This job is very difficult, as you all know, and there are days that we come home carrying everything with us, and they're there to support me. Tampa Fire Rescue, Chief Tripp, you guys gave me the platform to excel. You believed in me, and here I am making you proud. Thank you again for the opportunity. So I have to correct Chief Tripp. It's just not Tampa Fire Rescue is lucky to have you. The entire city of Tampa is lucky to have you. Thank you for your service, and obviously for both our officer and our firefighters and paramedic, you've got a great support structure behind you. I don't know if I've ever seen this many of you all in the room at the same time, so thank you guys for coming out for your brothers in uniform. Thank you very much. Councilman Vieira, would you like to welcome the community up? So, yes, so this is the first time, so I guess we first had police, so do we have everybody come? Everybody just line up one time and do both together. So for everybody, I'm a very stupid smart person, I guess, so go forward, members of the community, and we'll do it for police and fire. Good morning, Council. Brandon Barkland, half of Tampa PBA. I'm here to present this plaque to Detective Hart for a job well done. Thank you. On behalf of Pete Brevy and Busch Gardens, I have tickets for both the officer and the firefighter. They are in my car, so we'll catch up with the winner. Good morning, Council. Good morning, Chief. Good morning, Chief. Detective Hart and Lieutenant Dominguez. I'm Grace Gonzalez. I'm here on behalf of the Gonsmart family and the 1905 family of restaurants. We just want to say thank you so much for being here in Tampa. Thank you for your commitment to Tampa and your family's sacrifices that you make all the time. We want to thank you. With these gift cards, please enjoy a dinner at any of the Columbia restaurant locations, the oldest restaurant in Florida. We've got flamenco shows. Enjoy you lately, Taco San Josefano, and congratulations. Good morning. My name is Mary Lou Bailey, and I'm here on behalf of Zoo Tampa, where I serve on the board. And this is? I'm Mark Haney with Zoo Tampa. Thank you very much to both of you for your service. We're not used to doing this together, so it's kind of hard, but I want to shake your hand for taking drugs off the street, and I love the mentoring story and your appreciation for your family. You guys are exemplary citizens, and we appreciate you so much. We've prepared some tokens for you. In addition to the tchotchkeista, you've got an annual membership to the zoo. So we hope you go out and relax sometimes. It's a beautiful place to be, and we hope you love animals as much as you love protecting all of us citizens. And I want to say thank you to everybody. I'm supposed to look at you, Alan. I know, but I wanted to say thank you to all the guys and gals that are in service. We love you. Thank you for protecting our city. Thank you so much. What Mary Lou said. Thank you. Good morning, Council. Jill Witecki, Tampa Theater. Everything my colleagues just said, thank you so much for what you do for Tampa. Those are annual memberships to come see us at Tampa Theater as we celebrate our 100th birthday next month. Good morning, Council. I'm Lori Osborne with the Florida Orchestra. Good morning, Chiefs. Good morning, Detective and Lieutenant. Thank you so much for everything you do on behalf of the Florida Orchestra. We would love to invite you to one of our shows in the upcoming season. Please bring you a guest and your family. I want to shake your hands. Thank you for making our city safer and so much better. Thank you to all of you, and thank you to all of you. Good morning, Council. I'm Brian Ford with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and thank you for keeping this tradition going. Chief and Chief, thank you. Detective, Lieutenant, thank you very much, not only to you, but your family for their support of you so you can keep our great city safe. And on behalf of the Glazer family and our entire organization, we have a little tradition at one buck. Anybody that goes over and above, and I hope we give out a lot of game balls with this season starting up next week, but anybody that goes over and above gets a game ball. So I'm here very humbly to present you your very own game ball. So, Lieutenant. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for your service and sacrifice. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you. Chief. Chief. Thank you very much. Everybody have a great day. We should start a tradition. You should go long and throw. No fumbles. I didn't have a fumble. I had two balls. I hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend. Wishing you guys a good season. Stay safe. Thank you. Good morning, Counsel. Leo Gary with Bill Curry-Ford and Dennis Montero. Congratulations, Detective and Lieutenant. Thank you so much for everything that you guys do. Like every one of you guys that puts that uniform on every single day, I appreciate you guys. You guys do everything and sacrifice everything for us to keep the city of Tampa safe. So, we appreciate it. On behalf of Bill Curry, I want to present to you a handwritten letter from Jennifer Curry herself and then a gift certificate for a full free maintenance on your personal vehicle and then there's some other goodies in there as well. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Morning, Counsel. Mike MacArthur, Steps Towing Service. Congratulations, you guys, on a job well done. You guys are so important. Such an important part of our communities. And just without you guys, you know, we're in a much better place because of both of you. So, thank you for all your services. And on behalf of Todd's Steps, Steps Towing, I present you both with a $100 gift card. Take your family out to dinner. Enjoy some time off. You deserve it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Counsel, Bill Rolland from the Strada Center for Performing Arts. Thank you so much for keeping our streets safe. Thank you for teaching our youth and our future. We have two tickets to see Banksy, the art of Banksy that is at the Strada Center right now. Come and enjoy some arts and have the art heal. Thank you. Same to you. Enjoy. Thank you, everybody. Good morning, Counsel. I'm Gabby Palacetti from the Tampa River Walk. Thank you guys so much for the sacrifice that you do every day. We're so grateful to have you be a part of our community. So, we have personalized pavers located along the Tampa River Walk for all your accomplishments. And then a dinner for two on board the Yacht Star Show. So, thank you so much. Good morning, gents. Steve Michelini representing several different folks who'd like to recognize you. One of them is the Chicho Restaurant Group, and they're providing you with a gift certificate so you can enjoy yourself breakfast, lunch, or dinner. On behalf of Jackson's Bistro, which is on Harbor Island, they're providing you with a gift certificate. Enjoy yourself lunch or dinner. On behalf of Meat Market in Old Hyde Park, enjoy yourself over there. And the Yummy House China Bistro, enjoy yourself there. So, that's all I have for you. Thank you. Hey, if you're looking to exit stage right. Thank you very much, everybody. We're going to pause for a moment and let people clear out before we continue. And people clear in. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Thank you. we go down we go down to the next we go down to the next we go down to the next councilman Brandon hispanic to get an introduce him do it from here we are here Council, request for additional time on items 36, 37, 38, and 39. We had requested additional time. I understand a council member has to make that motion. Yeah, unfortunately, that would be not an appropriate order from the podium. I'm sorry. That would not be appropriate from the podium, but thank you so much. That would have had to come to an agenda review from a council person. So we're limited to the three minutes each? Yes, yes. Thank you. Okay, very good. Thank you. Darden, you had me panicked when I looked out and didn't see you out there. Okay. Hispanic Heritage Committee, representative from the Hispanic Heritage Committee. Good morning. Would you start with your name, please? And let us know why you're here. Good morning. My name is Naomi Candelaria. I am the current chair of the Hispanic Heritage Committee, and I'd like to make a personal invite to our 38th annual event. It will be held at the convention center this year. Normally, it's at the theater, but we know those renovations are happening at 11 o'clock on the 29th. So please save the date. We look forward to having you to celebrate our Hispanic culture within the city holistically as employees and as citizens. So thank you very much. Thank you. If you've never been, for those of you that have never been, they do a great show. I mean, it's a great presentation, excellent entertainment. Good times will be had by all. Thank you very much. I greatly appreciate it. Appreciate it. Okay. I saw Darden Rice enter the room. PSTA and Adam, come on forward. Start with your name, please. Good morning, council. Adam Purcell, Transportation Services Director. We've been coordinating with PSTA on the Cross Bay Ferry. And at your request, invited them in this morning to give us an update. With that, I'll turn it over to Darden. Thank you. Good morning, my good friend. Good morning, chair, members of city council. My name is Darden Rice. I'm the chief planning and community affairs officer for PSTA. Thank you for inviting us here to give a brief update on the Tampa Bay Ferry. I am also joined today by my planning director, Nicole Dufa. As I'm sure you guys have heard, a lot of people, including you, including me, are very excited about the Tampa Bay Ferry. And for those who aren't completely familiar with the whole service, the Tampa Bay Ferry service will connect downtown St. Petersburg and the North Venoy Basin to downtown Tampa right here by the convention center with reliable year-round service. It will reduce congestion on the cross bay bridges. It will help provide an alternative, family-friendly transportation option for both commuters and recreational travelers alike. This will help support our regional tourism, our economic activity, and expanded mobility. This will help reduce the cost to the cities over the previous cross bay ferry pilot while offering more service year-round. And this is because PSTA will actually own the boats, and Hubbard's Marina will be our operator. The operations piece is funded locally, $350,000 from the city of St. Pete, and the same amount, thank you, supported by this council and the city of Tampa. Thank you. Anything important that we do in our region, as you know, it's done with really strong partnerships, and we're so glad to work with you and to work with Adam Purcell, your transportation services director. Excitingly, the two vessels that we purchased with the grant money that was transferred from Hart, those boats are here. It's real. It's happening. So the 1994 Bay Breeze 250 passenger vessel is here. The 1990 Bay Clipper 150 passenger vessel is here as well. They're both in Tarpon Springs going through the process of being refurbished, fixed up. And when we're ready to reveal the new branding and the name of the service, of course, all of you will be invited to be there as part of it. We're looking forward to a launch of the service late fall, early 2027. We're really thrilled to hear that PSTA got a $16.5 million grant, and this will go towards buying a new boat, excuse me, having a new boat built to spec, and that will be part of continuing to expand the waterborne transit in Tampa Bay, which I think a lot of you may agree that this is something that's really overdue to our region for a long time. So I don't know if you have any questions, but just wanted to say thank you. We're excited about it. It's moving forward. We couldn't do this without your support. Thank you. Thank you for coming. You know, PTSA is a really important part, or PST, excuse me, is a really important partner with the city of Tampa and Hillsborough County in transit. And those of you that don't know, the leadership that they've shown in getting this ferry system established, and, you know, we've worked in cooperation. We transferred one grant over for them to take on the leadership of this. It's been remarkable, and the acquisition with Hubbard, with the boats that you're bringing over, again, this is going to be reliable, frequent transit between the two downtowns. It really is not just a small step forward. It's a giant leap forward in using our waterways for transit like great cities do. You know, around the world you see these examples of great cities using their waterways. I'm really excited, and I'm very much appreciative of you and your team over in Pinellas County for bringing this forward and assisting Hillsborough County and the city of Tampa in this type of transportation. I see Councilman Carlson, you want to say something? Yeah. Thank you to PSA for the leadership. But I don't think I said this last time, but thank you for your leadership. When you were at St. Pete City Council, you were one of the top leaders promoting transit, transportation solutions in the region. I'm so excited that you're at the finish line with this important solution and I look forward to seeing your leadership help us achieve many more like this. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Miranda. Can you tell us the distance time from one port to another one? About 45 minutes. And it's costing us $350,000 a year or just one time? Oh, it's yearly operational expenses that go towards, you know, ferryboat captains, fuel and maintenance, and St. Petersburg is matching the same amount. And what's the fee to ride the ferry? I'm sorry, sir? What's the fee to ride the ferry, the cost of the transportation? Oh, we're hoping to keep the price around $10 for a one-way ticket. However, we are looking at a possible price escalator because fuel prices have been up and down, so there may be like a $2 price escalator because the gas prices have really been impacting our budget. I'm sorry. One way, you said? Yes, sir. How do they get back? You got to pay another $10? Yes, sir. The Cross Bay Ferry was 12. And the frequency of travel? We're working on that. We're hoping to have this be something that runs year-round, and we're looking at everyday service. But again, that's something that we're costing out, and one of the biggest variables has been fuel. All right, thank you. Thank you so very much. Thank you for crossing the bay and challenging the traffic, and next time maybe you'll be riding a boat over here. Very good. Thank you so much. I hope so. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, very good. We have about 40 requests for public speakers. Obviously, if we do three minutes, is there any desire to reduce that to two? Okay. I just wanted to ask. Okay. Once again, if you are here for public comment, we'll be a little bit flexible because we're starting new stuff. If you're here for public comment, and you're going to speak to an on-agenda item, you should have filled out one of these cards. If you have not done that, you need to seek out staff and ask them to fill out a card. I need you to check out, for agenda items, you need to check yes, and you need to list the agenda item that you wish to speak to. We're going to call the people that filled out these cards and are speaking to agenda items first. Okay? First, if you're here to speak to city business that's not on the agenda, you'll, I think, believe today they filled out cards, you just push it up, click no on there, and then, but it's got to be city business. We're only talking about city business now. This has to be something that the city controls. Mr. Shelby, did you want to have any remarks about public comment or you could with just the rules? No, sir. The public comments, just for the public's information, the rules that had been adopted last week are available, and the link to it is on the city council's webpage at tampa.gov forward slash city hyphen council, and those will take effect in full next public meeting, excuse me, the next regular meeting, which is what, the 17th? Yes. Of September, and we will have signage about there, and we have prepared also a QR code that would take you directly to that link. Thank you. Okay, I'm going to call at least three names at a time to expedite this. The first speaker, when you come to the podium, again, I see a lot of new faces. When you come to the podium, there's a microphone embedded in the podium, so you need to speak towards us so that your voice is picked up. You always start with your name. That is for the record so that our clerks can record your name in the minutes. When I call your name, please come up probably at least three at a time. One person will come to the podium, start with their name, and when the light comes on, it's a green light, you'll have three minutes. When there's 30 seconds left, there'll be a yellow light. That means you have 30 seconds. When it turns red, you're done. You either stop yourself or I'll stop you. Okay, first we have Jamie Adair, item 28, Carolyn Bennett, item 44, and victim IO, items 36 through 39. Jamie Adair, item 28. Jamie Adair, the neighbor who cares. I am here to represent when you finally get to 28. It's going to be about an allowance and whatnot. I'm waiting on a phone call back from the department about where staffing is with that and a general explanation, but this is the no ditches left behind trust. As council has noticed, there are a few problems in the city that just seemingly won't go away. Through funding it directly through a trust, much like we did with the raise, we can control where funding is spent. The council would be the trustees. The contractor to do these ditches would be stormwater, and if the work's not done, it doesn't get paid for. You guys control those funds. I hope we can get it done in this funding cycle. This is a big deal. I chose today not to give you all of the data. It's bad. It's not great. It's not great at all. I am trying to work with the department to try to get some improvement before this happens, but this is my last ditch before we need to start calling for jobs. It's a big deal, guys. I think if we can get this done, it could be a model for other trouble spots. We had conversation about paving previously, where money was not spent where it was expected to. We really need to take part and do some very dramatic things. I know that legal will probably have a hissy fit, and we'll think this is not something that we traditionally do, but we just did it with the raise. We do it with CRAs. We can do this as well. These ditches are very, very far behind, at least 16 months. Thank you. Thank you, Jamie. Carol Ann Bennett, followed by Victor Mayo, and then Giat Conroy. Hi. My name is Carol Ann Bennett, lifelong resident of Tampa. I'm here to speak on item 44. I strongly recommend that you do not do this. It's a very bad idea. If you read the staff report, you can see why I actually have talked to the Planning Commission about this. I'm on the Land Development Code Advisory Committee, and one of the goals is to reduce the categories. This does the exact opposite. I think it'll be a big, big problem. I think it'll be extremely expensive to administrate. It'll cause a lot of cost to both the county and the city. It's a solution that is in search of a problem. I want to say also, as a lifelong, as a native Floridian, before I was born, Florida has always been known to be basically controlled by developers, going back to when we were nothing but swamp. Nothing about that has changed. My father-in-law owned a construction company in New York, and he bought a piece of land that was 0.93 acres. The zoning was one house per acre. There wasn't even a way for him to ask for two houses. They didn't even have the mechanism for that. Many municipalities, they achieve consistency. They can achieve predictability. They achieve stability by not having this constant, constant effort at rezoning, and I was speaking to some people recently that feel like they need to leave Tampa because they have no idea what to expect. They feel like they have to be vigilant every moment to keep on guard for third-rate, lousy projects. I think that this is just going to open the door for that. What happens is someone buys a piece of property. What it's worth is what they can build on it today. That's due diligence. What happens is either they pay too much because maybe they can get a rezoning, and now they're desperate because they're going to lose money, or they pay the correct price, and they're like, hey, you know what? If I get a rezoning, I can really get a windfall and make a killing on this deal, and it comes before you all the time. Item 44 is just going to suck resources and make things a lot worse. I strongly urge you to not go forward with this idea. Thank you very much. My partner in crime can't be here today because of emergency surgery, so I'm sorry I can't fill her shoes, but I got to go. Thank you, Ms. Bennett. Victor Mayo, Jeff Conroy, followed by Ashley Morrow, and Barbara Stearns, I think, or Stein. If you could see staff to fill out your card to identify which agenda item, please. Okay. Go ahead. Victor DeValle, 1205 North Franklin Street. I attended the open houses that, I guess you'd call them town halls at the Epicurean Hotel a couple days ago, and I was impressed with the experts that were there. I'm urging the council to reconsider approving this today. There was a proposal. If I told you, for example, that a guy came and asked you to build a house, and it was $100 million, and I said, I've got another gentleman that could do it for $80 million. I mean, the city could save over $20 million in this operation if you at least consider the option that we have. When I looked at the options that were considered by the city, nowhere did it mention anything about utilizing vaults to store the water and then convey it later. That's one of the options that we presented, and it's a lot cheaper. It can be done in 18 months versus four years. The people in Parkland Estates, Parkland, St. Fines, can get a lot of relief a lot quicker, a lot faster, a lot cheaper, and a lot easier. If you spend $100 million versus $80 million, that's irresponsible. I think you're going to encourage this Amendment 3 to go through, and then you're really going to be in a pickle. I think if you have an option to take a breath, this is only 60% approval. We've still got to go to 90% approval. The plans aren't even signed and sealed yet. There's no permits out there yet. You have an opportunity to look at an alternative and ask for time to look at the alternative that we are presenting. That's what I'm asking the council today. Please give that opportunity. We have three experts. David Deloach, he's got a 19-payee resume. He's been doing this type of work all over the country. I would put his resume amongst anyone the city has, or even hires. Hank Fishkind, one of the top economic development guys in the country did an economic impact statement that said that 1,200 jobs and $190 million of negative impact will be happening during this project. $190 million. Who's going to pay that bill when those people are laid off from work? Who's going to pay the 1,200 jobs that are going to be lost all up and down higher when they tear that street up for four years? I'm telling you, this is an opportunity to take a breath, look at an alternative plan, listen to what the experts have to say. And frankly, Ed Delaparte, who's also working with the group, is an amazing attorney. He's been doing this his whole life. He was the attorney for Swift Mudd for many years. He knows what he's talking about. Please listen to what they have to say, and please give us an opportunity to offer an alternative plan to what the city's being introduced to ask you to approve. Thank you. Thank you, Vic. And Ashley, I think there's actually a very similar name to you standing behind you. So we've got Jeff Conroy and then Ashley Moron. Is that right? Jeff Conroy. I'm Moron. And I'm Moran. Moran. So we've got Jeff and then Ashley Moran and then Pamela Cannella. So Jeff, go ahead and start with your name, please. You have three minutes. Good morning. My name is Jeff Conroy. I am the managing board member for the South Tampa Medical Center. I've actually been before you before previous meetings. I've partly come to talk about numbers, but after hearing the last speech, I think I'm going to carry on with a counter of that speech, if you don't mind, because all I hear by some of these people is delay, delay, delay. Let's look at another alternative. Let's look at another way to do this. I was also in my previous life a heavy structural engineer and worked on all kinds of projects. There's always another way to do it. But this one has been looked at in many, many, many different ways. We're up to, I think, over two dozen now different routes we've looked at. This one is set to go. It's mostly designed and it's ready to go. We really should be considering to let go now, because if you just look at our single building, we have 50,000 square foot medical building. We have the pleasure of using the car park, which is well known as the AB pond, which is going to be the initiation ground zero for this new draining system. When I look at the floods that have gone through that building over the last 20 years, we've already spent over $10 million just in the impact reconstruction of the building, in losses to the medical practice. That doesn't include all the patients that get dislodged for months at a time. That causes not only a problem in our facilities for the doctors to see those patients, and it affects all floors because of access to the building is difficult. That creates a backlog that also carries on to the hospitals, like HCA, and this creates a serious problem all the way down the line. But we're just one single building, and over the last 20 years we've already accounted for 10% of this budget. So one building, even though it is a 50,000 square foot medical building, but has an amazing impact on us when we get flooded. Two inches of water will shut down the first floor for over a month, maybe two months. And while we have great sympathy for all the businesses on South Howard, this is just a part of the cost of doing business when you live in a city, especially when a project has been neglected this long. And if you look at it, they can plan for what's going to happen to them. When we get these floods, not only do we not get the chance to plan, we get hit by all kinds of massive, outrageous construction costs. The first is the remediation company. They come in and charge us four or five times what it should cost to put the building up together. It goes all in a hurry. We don't want to have mold issues. We don't want to have more water damage. And then the next wave of contractors. So it just goes on and on. But please look at this. Do not delay. It's essential for the medical community and probably so many other communities I'm sure you can hear from. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. If you saw me pass a note, just for public disclosure, it was a speaker request form to speak about Councilman Vieira's awesome hair. It is subsequently found out that Councilman Vieira submitted that speaker request form. Not as nice as mine. Ashley, hello. Hi, I'm Ashley Moran. And, well, here we are again. And I sincerely hope this is the very last time we have to be here. During these past two years, I often find myself feeling sick to my stomach that we are having to fight for a project that the city knows and that you all know needs to happen. How do we invest in fixing our homes when without this project we're likely to flood again? I don't know what the answer is supposed to be for us if we don't do something about it. We deserve to live safely in our homes. The issue is not magically going to disappear. Just last week, two cars were stranded in floodwaters on Fountain during a regular rainstorm. The city acknowledges the problem and has spent over 10 years coming up with a solution. Please vote to move forward with this project. We pay our property taxes just like the businesses who are fighting this project. There is the talks of the millions of dollars the South Howard businesses may lose, but never any acknowledgement of the collective millions of dollars that those of us who have flooded have already lost and will lose again because it's likely to happen again. We deserve to live safely in our homes. Thank you. Thank you, Ashley. Pam Canella, followed by Michelle Mastro-Totaro, followed by Kevin Valdez, V-A-L-E-S-F. Yes, I have some flyers on there. I want to make sure this works today, okay? Because the last time I got, I didn't like what I got. How do I get this down? Start with your name. I'm not ready yet. This thing's not clear. Start with your name. I'm not ready yet. It'll clear up on its own. They'll clear it for you behind the scenes. I'm not ready yet. I'm ready. My name is Pam Canella. We do not need a South Howard project that has massive impacts, no flooding benefits, and a large price that doesn't allow for other stormwater projects. The massive culverts and extensive digging makes Bayshore Royal vulnerable to foundation cracks or collapsing. You can see in the picture, there's the wall, and it's right on the sidewalk. Blocking Howard makes it impossible for 18-wheelers to detour through neighborhoods. The solution, and here's another picture. This is what we have going through neighborhoods. The solution of flooding in Palmasia Pines and Parkland is cleaning and updating the Cleveland Drainage Basin, which includes a network of extensive storm drainage system. This system controlled flooding until 2015 when flooding first occurred. The permit conditions at the time of construction stated that the entity accept responsibility of operating and maintaining the system, yet decades of neglect of maintenance led to its failure in the prevention of flooding. Another condition was for future alterations of the system as needed. The Cleveland Storm Drainage Basin, due to the lack of funding, did not do the preferred upgrades for future development and was left to be done at a later date. So again, like the Manhattan Project, neighborhood was left to flood. Now is the time to clean and upgrade the Cleveland Street Basin Drainage Project. My concerns. The point for an extensive drainage system is to allow stormwater to be stored and directed and diffused through the system to prevent flooding in one area. The purpose of the Howard Project is to direct large volumes of stormwater to one area, Bayshore and Howard, make an already vulnerable area for flooding more vulnerable. Kennedy will no longer flood due to the replacement of collapsed inlets and pipes. Stormwater overflow will drain into Palmasilla Pines and create more flooding if Palmasilla is not addressed now. I just want to say, Mr. David Adams from Parkland Estates, I want to address him because he made a good point in an interview for Channel 10. I don't like to think Council understands that the needs of many, all the people who flooded, are more important than the needs of the few. Thank you. Geez, you didn't do that to that boy in front of me, the guy in front of me. Thank you, Pamela. Have a nice day. Michelle Mastro-Totaro, followed by Kevin Veldez, followed by Patrick Semino. Hi, Michelle. Good morning. Hi, everybody. I just wanted to say my name is Michelle Mastro-Totaro. I am not a paid spokesperson. I came here today on my own dime. I took off work because I'm very passionate about what's going on. I had the pleasure of going to the SoHo Alliance meeting, and it opened up my eyes to other alternatives with less than what we are asking for right now. So there was 13 reasons that they gave us, which was, you know, valid. My concerns is when you put a 10 by 10, all those infrastructures around it in the business, those are going to get weakened. So that right there we have to look at because we're responsible, right? Because it's the city. Well, they forget to say that they need this land to even get this project done, which you're not even talking about. So I don't know how it's funded already. So this is their project that they're projecting. It's going through the business. The one, the SoHo. So this is what they have to go. They have to go around. It's about a seven-minute drive for all those people that, all those businesses, which is not feasible. It's not fair for these people. This is their projected. This is just one of few that they have. It's going through residential. Now, I'm not too sure how residential people feel, but I think it's less invasive, and it's the same as going through the business area, and it's not causing the business people to lose their home, you know, their businesses, people to lose their jobs. When it comes to the funding, which this is about, they're saying it's projected, SoHo is projected, the project will about 1.30 at the end. This is only about 87, which is a lot fairer, and it will be fair for people like me, who, this is my front yard, still got the water, and everyone who knows I lost everything. My park is being destroyed, and, you know, we come back on the 17th for that. It needs to be addressed. The streets are all flooded. It's a river. But then when we look, all this money getting taken from us, you know, when the mayor in 2024 sat up here and talked about the CIT funds and how she wants to do all this stuff for everybody. What's going on? Now everything's getting taken friscally, and we're not even getting no help in South. Thank you, Michelle. South Tampa. Thank you. And East Tampa are suffering. Thank you so much. From getting defunded by it. Thank you. Okay, we've got Kevin Valdez, followed by Patrick Cimino, followed by Jose Lucino. Lucino. Good morning, Kevin. Start with your name, please. My name is Kevin Valdez. Good morning, members of the City Council. My wife, Brandon, our three-year-old daughter, our 15-month-old son, and I live at Havana and Horatio. I stood before you six months ago to tell you what Hurricane Milton did to our family. Today I'm back because you have the opportunity to do something about it. We chose a brand-new townhome in Flood Zone X. We did what responsible homeowners told to do. When Milton came, we evacuated. What we never expected was to return home to find two feet of rainwater inside. Our first home was destroyed. Rebuilding took months, cost us about $90,000 out of pocket, and completely drained our emergency savings. Six months ago, I told you that. Luck is not a strategy. Today, we are more than our stories. We have the engineering. The city analysis of Milton's rainfall found that, with phase one, 225 of the 333 ground floors that flooded would have stayed dry. Even among those that would still have flooded, peak water levels would have been 15 to 17 inches lower. I understand this project is expensive, and construction will be disrupted to businesses along South Howard. Those concerns are real. But there is also a cost to delay. I know that some will say delaying this project isn't doing nothing, it's considering alternatives. But 24 alternatives have already been evaluated, including five added by the Business Alliance. At some point, continuing to look at alternatives that is less disrupted does not make it the best engineering solution. It just delays the solution that's already in front of us. And the people who carry the risks that delay are families like mine. Another storm will come. We don't know when. I don't want another family standing here explaining that they lost their homes while we continue debating a flooding problem that we already know how to address. I respectfully ask you to vote yes on the South Howard Flood Relief Project. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Patrick, followed by Jose, followed by Megan Luca. Good morning, counselors. My name is Patrick Cimino, the HHPNA Historic Hyde Park Neighborhood Association Land Use Chair. Our neighborhood straddles the east side of Howard, and the board's concerns continue with this 40-plus-year-old proposal to build a culvert down Howard. The neighborhood leadership has worked with the Howard Alliance, and we appreciate their effort to hold the city accountable. The Alliance has funded a proposal as a serious alternative to the City-Howard project, and the city has not been very forthcoming with alternatives along the way. I've been involved the whole time in this project. Concerns include Tampa does not maintain the existing stormwater infrastructure. City Council is well aware of this. I've heard data presented here multiple times. The Alliance proposal emphasizes this low-hanging fruit. Tampa has no strategic plan for the multifaceted challenge of stormwater. The City and Alliance proposals address heavy seasonal rains, but not tropical inundations, particularly with storm surge like Colleen and Milton. The City tried deceptively to claim initially it did. It doesn't. You all have heard it here. We do not support the City project. The City does not have hydrologic experts. The City proposal would be extremely disruptive for years, threatening many businesses, neighborhoods, and structures without considering good alternatives. And Howard doesn't have significant flooding itself. Not that we're insensitive to the neighbors. The Business Alliance has provided an expert alternative that is much less disruptive and expands the benefits area like Palmasia Pines that the City project doesn't include in this current phase. It is much more cost effective. The City budget is extremely worrisome. The common refrain is, we don't have the money. You're right. It's been stated to Council and the City project will take more than five years of stormwater capital expenditure. We need to consider the serious negative impact on other areas that monopolizing so much stormwater funding will have. It is unfortunate that the City has been so obstructionist and opaque, driving the community to litigation rather than working to come upon a reasonable opportunity. It's been two years, 40 years, the whole project. Don't you want the best use of our precious resources? The Board of HHP&A appreciates the Alliance efforts to produce a much more reasonable alternative and recommends the Council reject the City's unreasonable request. Thank you. Thank you, Patrick. Jose, followed by Megan Luca, followed by Tina Adams. Good morning. Start with your name, please. You have three minutes. Good morning, Council. Jose Lucena, entrepreneur and candidate for City Council District 6. I am here to talk about the stormwater management project on South Howard. I attended a meeting on Tuesday evening hosted by the SoHo Business Alliance. In this meeting, they presented a reasonable argument to oppose this $100 million project. Most importantly, they presented a viable option that would not cause catastrophic economic impact on this very lucrative business district. The current proposal will drive off small businesses and have a very significant negative financial impact on the rest of the businesses in the SoHo district. Now, you may ask yourself, why do I care? Well, I care because as the district that I'm hoping to represent, District 6, this would be taking money away from projects for District 6. And I don't see myself ever voting in favor of something that would negatively impact my district. It would also take money away from projects in other districts. I urge you to fulfill your financial fiduciary responsibilities to each district that you represent. And not only hear out this proposal, this viable proposal to address the flooding, but also seriously consider other alternatives that would not have this financial impact. This extreme financial impact translates into tax dollars that we will not be receiving. And I don't think the city is in any position right now to have any kind of unnecessary tax dollar strain or revenue that we will not be getting, especially since we entered into such an important agreement to bring our Tampa Bay raise over to call Tampa home. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Jose. Megan Luca, Tina Adams, followed by David Adams. And FYI for staff or anybody else that's waiting for further business, we're going to have at least another hour and 15 plus minutes of public comment. So just for your planning purposes. Okay, Megan, start with your name, please. You have three minutes. Good morning. Megan Peek Luca. Burns' sister restaurant Haven was torn down months ago. It is an empty lot on South Howard. Fresh Kitchen, unfortunately, burned to the ground. It is an empty lot on South Howard. Our fish restaurant has been an empty lot on South Howard for years. Burns closed for three weeks in 2023 for innovations. That's approximately one week shorter than the length of time this project is expected to be in front of that building. It closed completely. It didn't go out of business. Burns and the surrounding businesses likewise survived the road closures when the Epicurean Hotel was under construction. There was no plan for the South Howard businesses when the Epicurean blocked roads and made them impassable for months, actually years. For this project, though, there is a plan. The city has financial supports in place to assist the businesses throughout the project. The plan is intentionally phased to ensure the least disruption possible. There is no advance warning when our homes and our businesses flood. There are no phases, and no one is offering us assistance when our homes are uninhabitable and our businesses are closed for months on end with no income at all. The economic impact of the floodwater is catastrophic. A church, a preschool, a hospital, the Jewish Towers retirement home, a storage facility, dozens of businesses, hundreds of homes, all of those are impacted each time the floodwaters come. South Tampa is on borrowed time. This is Florida. We all know the rain is coming. You've seen the photos of what can happen in a simple Sunday storm, which has happened the last two Sundays. The first time my property was rendered uninhabitable because of rain was 2015. It wasn't a hurricane. It was just a storm. It's 2026. My house is flooded again and nothing has changed. I asked the council, how many years have to pass? How many routes have to be evaluated and determined to be more expensive or less efficient or both? How many homes and businesses have to be destroyed before you will take action? The project will never be convenient. It will never please everyone. It will never be cheap, but it will always be necessary. So I ask you today to please vote to make our communities safe and habitable for everyone in it. Thank you, Megan. Thank you. Fayez Alamar. Fayez, are you in the room? If you would see staff here by the door to complete your card, I appreciate that. Tina Adams. Good morning. Somebody left their phone up there. Megan or Michelle. Thank you, Tina. Start with your name, please. You have three minutes. Good morning. My name is Tina Adams and my home flooded due to inadequate, outdated 75 to 100 year old infrastructure. No amount of maintenance can fix that. It needs to be reworked. Just like when you live in a home that's 75 to 100 years old, you have to replumb it, rewire it. We need replumbing. We need rewiring. You've heard me tell this story before, so I won't bore you with the details. I'd like to quote from one of my favorite poets, Maya Angelou. She says, do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better. This is your time to do better. The city hasn't helped us, hasn't helped the businesses, doctor's offices on Swan and Havana. Look at Skin Savvy. They couldn't recover. Most of us in our homes have recovered, at least partially. We're still working on it. The flooding has been studied for over 10 years. You have spent millions of dollars studying and designing the plan, the South Howard Flood Relief Project. I trust these engineers. They're trying their best. They're coming up with the best solutions. And the city, in all honesty, to my way of thinking, has worked with the South Howard businesses. They've tried to listen and look and evaluate the other plans. But unfortunately for them, the South Howard business and Swan Avenue route is the best route. All the engineers have said it. So now we know better. We've studied it. And it's time to do better and approve the plan and start digging. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Tina. David Adams, followed by Greg Campbell and then William Caliga. Good morning, counsel David Adams. Tampa's a wonderful place to live. And I've lived here for 35 years. But as you know, the last 11 years have been difficult and our neighborhood floods on a regular basis. Matter of fact, it rained hard last night and our neighborhood flooded. Our neighborhood's flooded four times in the last 34 days. And when I say flooded, I'm not talking about just a couple of inches on the road. I'm talking about one to two feet of water. We should be safe in our homes, but we're not. This is what we're dealing with during non-hurricane situations. There's been a lot of misinformation about the project, and I want to go over some undisputed facts. First of all, it's beyond dispute that the project will work. There are three signed and sealed engineering reports that come to the same conclusion. The last 3,700-page Atkins report recommends a 10-by-10 box culvert to move millions of gallons of water by gravity. No one can say with a straight face that that won't solve the flooding in the neighborhoods. A 10-by-10 box goes into Palmasia Pines at the AMI pond. No one can say that Palmasia Pines won't be benefited by that. And even in a hurricane, 70% of the effective structures, or about 210 homes and businesses, would have been saved from flooding. The project results are very impressive. Second, funding. The city has secured funding. $10 million from the Crosstown, $10 million from DEP, and the council has now spent $7.7 million on an engineering project. If the project scuttled, $27 million is going to go to waste. Third, other funding. The city believes it can find another $20 million from FDEP. The project takes 10 years, and they can apply for $10 million in the next two years. That's what the city did on the Lower 48 project, and it was awarded $20 million. This is not a pipe dream. Fourth, this high-capacity spine is going to benefit several other neighborhoods in addition to Parkland Estates and Palmasia Pines. This is a long-term project with long-term vision. Now let's talk about the opposition. The project will be inconvenient. All road work projects are inconvenient. Look at Kennedy Boulevard. However, with rare exception, every single business has side streets that provide access to the South Howard businesses. This is important. The project will only remove the roads in 400 to 600 feet segments at a time. So access to the roads will be restored before the next segment is started. The city's championed a new project called SoHo Open. That advertising campaign will encourage citizens to visit the businesses during the project. The businesses on Gandy Boulevard all said they would go out of business when the crosstown was elevated. Crosstown projects now complete, and those businesses continue to thrive. The nightmare scenarios never came true. This project's no different. Look, the abnormal flooding needs a solution. This problem's not going away, and delay will only make it more expensive. The city has investigated this for 11 years. We have a viable solution, and now is the time to act. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Greg Campbell, followed by William Caliga, followed by Julie McGill. Good morning, Greg. Start with your name, please. Good morning. I'm Greg Campbell, Parkland Estates. First, let me apologize for the informal appearance. I have driven from Orlando this morning in order to be here and to speak this final time. It's a family event over there that I thought I was leaving early enough to get home and put on a dress shirt and tie, but the traffic on I-4 had other ideas about that, so I had to come here. It is a nice heron, however, though. I'm here, of course, as you probably know, to speak for the South Howard Flood Relief Project. I think fundamentally and ask you to continue your support. You brought it this far. You don't want to abandon it now. First of all, I'd like to say that from the standpoint of the best interest of the large majority, this project needs to go forward. This is for the benefit of the many. Right now, we're using storm sewers that were built by others, previous generations, a hundred years ago. What is being done now proposed with this spine from the bay up to Palmycia Pines is on the order of building a new underground river in the city of Tampa. It's essentially what you're doing. Far greater capacity than we've ever had before. It can be used and developed in all kinds of ways by successive generations. This is a fundamental investment. It will bring very quick relief, not just later, to Palmycia Pines, as Mr. Adams just mentioned. The opposition is relatively small. We cannot find out, I've asked several times, who the members of the business alliance actually are. We have a good idea. It's the business of South, South Howard, principally some restaurants, but not only. But there are also other businesses, as I pointed out, on South Howard. At the intersection, there's Chase Bank, there's CVS, there's Panera Bread, there is a Starbucks close by, there's a IPS store. These people have not been speaking here against the project. So the idea of business alliance does not include all the businesses on South Howard. And it most certainly does not include the doctor's offices who got flooded in Hurricane Milton along Audubon and Swan, where the culverts will go by. Those are businesses too, but they are pretty important businesses, the doctor's offices. And finally, access to the emergency room. Thank you, Greg. Thank you so much. And I think we all join you in wishing we had a high-speed train on I-4. William Coliga, followed by Julie, followed by Yvonne Ferrelli. Good morning. Start with your name, please. Sure. Good morning, counsel. My name is Bill Coliga. My wife, Megan, our three-year-old, our four-month-old, and I live in Palmycia Pines. I'm back on another vacation day off work to ask you to vote yes on the South Howard Flood Relief Project. Sorry, it's kind of hard to see, but Zillow gives our townhome a flood factor of one out of ten. It showed this score when we purchased the home to start our family, and it still shows it today. We are 20 feet above sea level, FEMA zone X. This is the same house in October 2024. A foot of water through every room, toys, books, irreplaceable keepsakes. Repairs took over eight months. Undersized drainage systems and decades of kicking the can down the road have landed us here today. Milton flooded 333 homes and businesses in our neighborhoods. Apartments, condos, townhomes in it, family by family. I've talked with hundreds of my neighbors in Palmycia Pines, door by door, over the past month. They want it built. Most were surprised it might not happen. They trust you will protect them. Now, can we afford it? 92 million max, the contractor eats overages within scope. On the FDOT's cost index, this would have cost 45 million in 2016. Weighting has already more than doubled it. Inaction costs 21 million per year. The real question should be, can we afford not to do it? Tuesday's alliance briefing said this plan saves seven structures. The city's report says 96 ground floor homes and businesses flood in the five-year storm, and that phase one alone will eliminate all structure flooding in that storm. Not seven. 96. 225 saved in the Milton Lake storm. Now, why do those of us living in townhomes, condos, and apartments not deserve to be counted? Whatever this administration has earned from you this year, the families and business owners and employees behind that 333 number haven't. And they're the people in no vote hurts the most. Administrations change. The flooding won't stop unless you act. Whatever happens today, we will be back until the flooding stops. We will not go away. This is the only fix on the table with a contractor, a price, and a completion date. I really want to tell my sons that when answers were on paper, Tampa leaders chose their safety. Waiting or delaying is not the neutral or fiscally responsible vote. It's simply a yes vote for the next flood. Please vote yes on the South Howard Flood Relief Project. Thank you. Thank you, Wayne. Julie, followed by Yvonne, followed by Priyanka Garrish. Morning, Council. Good afternoon. Whatever it is. Julie McGill, I'm also a candidate for mayor of Tampa. I've been very critical of the South Howard Project. Today, I want to start by saying something positive. I was also at that South Howard meeting, and this plan appears to address the flooding without all the destruction on South Howard. And even though people here think that that South Howard Project is going to help them in Palma Sea of Pines, you have been told that it won't. Engineers have told you that it won't. My heart goes out to them, but we need to have a better solution. And I believe we found it. Does it need some tweaks? Of course it does. But that's what engineering and public discussion are supposed to be about. Why does the current South Howard flood control project have to dramatically redesign South Howard? 10-foot sidewalks, beautiful planting areas on the side, changes to the parking. What happens to those existing businesses, though? What happens when that parking disappears? What happens after years of construction? As a contractor and a real estate broker, I know what happens when you make a commercial property increasingly difficult to operate. The businesses struggle, properties change hands, and then redevelopment becomes more attractive. So I think Council should ask a very uncomfortable but legitimate question. Are we designing South Howard to solve a flooding problem for the businesses that are there today? Or are we inadvertently designing South Howard for the development we expect maybe tomorrow? Because there are two very different objectives. And before Tampa spends $100 million plus, and likely much more on the change orders, tears apart a major business corridor, why wouldn't we look at an alternative that makes sense, costs less amount of time, maybe two years instead of five or six years, whatever that one's going to take, and is less expensive? Why wouldn't we look at that? That's what responsible government looks like. That's what being a taxpayer watchdog means. Okay? Here's one of my statements. Keep reading that because I firmly believe that might be an objective here. Thank you very much. Thank you, Julie. Yvonne Ferrelli, followed by Priyanka Girish, followed by Steven Garnish. Good morning, Yvonne. Start with your name, please. Good morning, Yvonne Ferrelli. I am the president of Parkland Estates Civic Club, and I'm happy to be here today. Parkland Estates needs flood relief. They need a project like the one we have today. This is the project that will help Parkland Estates. I'm asking you to support the South Howard Flood Relief Project. I'm asking you to support it today, and I'm asking you to support it on the 17th. I want to thank you all for all of the efforts and support that you've given to Parkland Estates, even as far back as February of 2024. During that time, you've made your own work. You've done your own research, but you've never left us, and you've kept us in your hearts and in your minds. I would say that because of the work that you've done over the last two years, you've given the city pause, and you've given the city time to recreate this project. The project that we had before us in 2024 is not the same project that we have before us today. This project is better. This project can work. And I would ask you to look at it in that light that we are here today with a viable project, and we need to move forward. We have Kimmons Construction on this project. It's not the same as Norton. As Norton, they are respectable, they are local, and they are accountable. And they have the expertise to work through this project. The complications of it, the expanse of it, yes, all imposing, but Kimmons can do it. And so I'm asking you all for your support on behalf of the Parkland Estates Civic Club. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Yvonne. Priyanka, followed by Steve, followed by Christy Simon. My name is Priyanka Garrish, and I live in Parkland Estates. I'm here today to beg you, and I mean genuinely beg you, to move the South Howard Flood Relief Project forward. We've been asking the city of Tampa to fix this problem since 2015. It is now 2026. That has been 11 years by my math. 11 years of studies, 11 years of photographs, 11 years of videos, 11 years of flooded streets, flooded properties, public comments, meetings, proposed solutions, revised solutions, and residents coming back to this podium time and time again asking for something that should be one of the most basic functions of the city, which is storm drainage that works. Then Hurricane Milton came in in October of 2024, and we flooded. Our homes flooded, our streets became rivers, our neighborhood learned in the most devastating way possible what happens when inadequate stormwater system meets a major storm. But this isn't just about hurricanes. It happened again last Saturday, not during a hurricane or a tropical storm, but a simple Tampa rainstorm. Our streets flooded to the point that we could not get safely out of our homes. So if you think about it, if my child is hurt and it's raining, I can't access the roads to go to Memorial Hospital. If my neighbor has a heart attack, they can't get to the hospital. Ambulances cannot get to us. I've seen in the last probably five to six years at least five ambulances stalled out on Swan. So that's a problem. I consider us lucky that nobody has actually died because of this lack of access. We're exhausted. We have flood fatigue. We have spent enormous amounts of our own money trying to protect our homes. We pay extraordinarily high property taxes, and we pay a stormwater assessment. And yet residents are being told year after year to somehow coexist with the flooding that individual homeowners cannot possibly engineer their own way out of. And here's what makes this very, very frustrating. You already have found a solution. We're not standing here asking you for a new plan. We're not asking you to invent a plan. The city studied it. They evaluated alternatives. We've spent millions of dollars just to get to this point, and a solution was selected. Kimmons is ready. We're finally at the finish line. We've got grant funding that's associated. But after 11 years, South Howard's now trying to attempt to put another roadblock in front of the project. Please do not let that happen. We can't go back to starting at the starting line. Of course, construction is inconvenient. Kennedy Boulevard has construction. Bayshore has construction. Even Burns' beloved sister restaurant, Haven, has construction. Roads and businesses all over Tampa endure construction because the infrastructure has to be built. You mitigate the disruption. You maintain access. You support the businesses. But you do not abandon critical public infrastructure because building is inconvenient. Businesses matter, but so do your residents. Our homes matter. Safety matters. Our ability to get an ambulance matters. Our ability to get our children out of our neighborhood after it rains matters. Thank you very much. Thank you. Steve, followed by Christy Simon, followed by Martin Malone. Good morning, sir. Start with your name, please. Hi. Steve Garish. I'd like to start by saying to Councilwoman Hertak, we appreciate you being here. Our thoughts and prayers are with you as you're going through what you're going through. I'd also like to address Mr. Campbell's shirt. I think it's actually very appropriate because Parkland and Palma Sea Pines are rapidly turning into the Everglades. So that's quite an appropriate shirt to wear here today. Just really quickly, I know the SoHo Business Alliance had a meeting the other night to discuss their alternative plan and all of the potential problems that have come up that they've discovered with the current South Howard relief project, flood relief project. And to them, I'd like to say actually thank you because you have identified problems now so they can be planned for. We all know in a project that is the magnitude that it's going to take to give flood relief to these neighborhoods, there's always going to be surprises. There's always going to be unexpected issues. And you've actually identified some of those now so that Kimmons can plan ahead and mitigate these issues instead of having to do something on the fly. So thank you for that. As far as cost, $50 million was just given to a baseball stadium, which provides nothing for anyone, it's just entertainment. So not sure that that's an issue. As far as the businesses losing revenue, Haven is closed and will be closed for a year. Somehow that's not an issue. Daily Eats closed for three months. Somehow that's not an issue. But having reduced revenue for six weeks seems to be the end of the world. So that's all I have to say. Thank you, sir. Christy, followed by Martin, followed by Edward Delaporte. Good morning. Start with your name, please. Good morning. My name is Christy Simon and I live on Parkland Boulevard. You've heard all the reasons that this project needs to be done. You've heard all the reasons why they don't want it done. There will never be a plan everyone agrees on. This system is simply too small and the flooding gets worse every year. We could put storm vaults under every street and park other than Howard so that the SoHo businesses are not inconvenienced, but that plan is too small and will not handle enough water. The houses that flood are not in a flood zone and are at elevation 18 feet and higher. The flooding is entirely manmade. Over 10 years ago, there was a storm that flooded Parkland and my husband went to check in an elderly woman. He walked through water that was waist deep and was unable to bring her back. She was just too small and couldn't walk back herself. No ambulance would ever get to her and she was afraid. Swan, Audubon and Fountain flooded 11 times in 2024, which prevented traffic and emergency vehicles from getting through. So far this year, you heard Dave Adams say it's already flooded four times and we haven't had a storm. Just daily summer rains. In all these cases, flooded vehicles had to be towed. Eventually, if nothing changes, someone will drown or die. This cannot wait any longer. This needs to happen now. The residents are out of time. Please allow this project to continue. The city's job is to protect its residents through police, fire and stormwater. Our house does not flood, but our neighbor's job is to be a neighbor and should be to take care of the neighbors that are around us. Thank you. Thank you very much. Martin, followed by Edward, followed by Steven Michelini, and Dr. Huff is here. I saw you filled out a card. We're going to be doing the board appointments after public comment, so I'll call you to speak when it's just FYI. Okay, Martin, start with your name, please. You have three minutes. My name is Martin Milberg. I live at 2414 Watrous Avenue. I'm a professional engineer, geotechnical engineer. I've been practicing in the Tampa Bay area for 40 years. Wanted, you know, in order to prove this project, you've got to trust the engineering. And so I want to talk about the engineering features. This project includes 5,000 linear feet of street, excavations 15 to 19 feet deep, and is going to open up Howard Avenue for four years. We lose Howard Avenue for four years. I've been told that Howard Avenue needs to suck it up and every other neighborhood's dealt with this. That's not true. Typically, a stormwater project, you might have 10 foot deep excavations. This project is going to have an excavation as wide as this room and probably seven to eight feet higher than the ceiling right here. And you don't do that with a trench box. Trench box is a conventional method for shoring up smaller excavations. Totally inadequate here. Trench box is about this wide, perhaps 10 to 20 feet long, and maybe about this high. It's not going to do the job, so that is absolutely not going to happen, won't do the job whatsoever. We looked at the geology of this. It's hard to see here, but this is the box culvert bottom right there. And right at the bottom of the box culvert, you have very hard rock. This is from soil borings that were done. You cannot drive any piles into that hard rock. What you're going to need to shore up this excavation is not a trench box. You're going to need, typically what you do is you do sheet piling, and you embed the sheet piling like one and a half to two times deeper than the excavation. So here's your sheet piling. You drive it down. It's embedded. And when the pressure pushes on it, it's strong enough to resist. In this case, you drive the sheet piling. It hits the rock. It can't go any deeper. When the 12,000 pounds per linear foot hits this, it just fails. So sheet piling is not going to work. The other alternative is you might want to do internal bracing. You can't do it. You've got to get a 10-foot culvert in there, and it's not going to fit. Another way would be to do tie backs. You're not going to get permission from the property owners because they do not like this project. So the other way that will certainly work would be what they call a combination wall. You do drilled shafts about every 10 feet. You put sheet piles between them. The cost of that is going to be about $100 million. And that $100 million is not included in the current budget of $92.5 million. That was excluded. They talked about the 60% plans. There was no shoring in the 60% plans. I looked at the line items. Did it get you up to $92.5 million? There's no shoring in that. So this guaranteed price that you're going to be given doesn't include probably doubling the cost. Now, I would welcome any of the engineering staff to challenge me. Have at it. I'd love to have more time, but I get it. Thank you, sir. Edward, followed by Steve Michelinie, followed by Suzanne Fernandez. Good morning, members of Council. My name is Edward Delaparte, and I'm a council representing the SoHo Business Alliance. If I had more time, I'd go into all of the defects regarding this project. I've sent letters to all of you identifying what we think are 13 fatal flaws. But I'm going to talk to you about a different issue. Let's assume for sake of argument that this is a good project. That it's well designed, and it's needed, and it's going to do the job. To quote a wise person, there are a lot of good projects, but sometimes even good projects become unaffordable. And I contend that this is the case with this project. If it is a good project, it's become unaffordable. The total price, the guaranteed maximum price, is $100.4 million. One of the things they're going to ask you to do today is to approve authorization to go out for a $26 million long-term bond. I went and priced what is the going rate for 30 years, municipal tax-free bonds. And if they were to go that route, that would add another $23 million to this project cost. This project is going to take up 23% of your total stormwater assessment funds. And I'm talking from 2016 to 2046. It's going to take up 23% of your unencumbered future stormwater assessment funds. And you just heard from the engineer, we believe that there are a number of items that are not covered by that guaranteed maximum price. I had our engineer look at those excluded items, and it could be as much as an additional $100 million to complete the project. Now, they're going to tell you, well, those change orders will have to come back to you for approval. But if you're already $50 or $60 million into this project, and someone comes back and says, we need a $20 million change order to deal with contamination that we didn't plan for and we didn't do our due diligence on, what are you going to do at that point? Are you going to approve the change order, or are you just going to walk away from a half-developed $50 million project? So, the last thing is this contract with Thea. If you read that contract, Thea has given you one year to get your ducks in a row, to get permits. If you don't have your permits, and if you don't have your funding, or if there's litigation pending, Thea can, at its discretion, and its sole discretion, can decide to withhold funding. And in fact, today, because we have a lawsuit against you for public records, Thea does not have the obligation to fund its $11 million. So, again, let me end by saying, though I don't agree that this is a good project that is well-designed, we think it has a lot of flaws, but even assuming it is a good project, it's become unaffordable. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Steven, followed by Suzanne, followed by Dana Jasper. Thank you, sir. Start with your name. Good morning, counsel. Steve Michelini. Let's start with the focus of the area. This project does not focus on Palmasia Pines, and I know that some of the neighbors think it does. It doesn't. It's specifically excluded. The engineers have told us that under deposition. The contractor has told us that under deposition. It will take $60 million to include Palmasia Pines. A stub out to a non-functioning vault at the Memorial Hospital AMI does not make it a solution for Palmasia Pines. Don't shift the funds. You're being asked to shift $11 million in funds from other projects around the city. That's inappropriate. I mean, if this project doesn't stand on its own, it shouldn't stand at all. You're asked to approve agreements. In the agreements, it specifically says that you have all of these things in line, that the permits are there, it's going to include water quality treatment. It doesn't. But one of the resolutions says all of those things are taken care of, and they're in there. Maintenance starts first. If you want an immediate impact, don't ignore the maintenance that's been ignored for 10 to 15 years. Fix the AMI pond. Fix the Zom pond. Fix the inlets all around Palmasia Pines and Parkland Estates. The water bypassed those ponds and went straight into Parkland Estates. Why? Because the grades aren't right. The trash and debris block the inlets. There are a number of reasons. But why would you do that? And then in the budget, you're taking a million dollars out of maintenance for this year's proposed budget. That makes no sense at all. You know, we have sworn testimony that backs up everything that I've told you here. We've sent you emails. This is not conjecture. This is not making it more comfortable for the South Howard businesses. These are facts. The timeline, do you want an immediate repair, an immediate solution? Don't go with the city plan. It makes no sense. Why would you wait four to five years before it even goes to Parkland and Palmasia Pines? It doesn't even go there. If you want the immediate effect, take on the maintenance as it was requested. The culverts, the justification, this was the big misrepresentation from the very beginning. We met with the city. They said, well, the reason we're going down Howard is because we have an existing culvert at the railroad tracks and an existing culvert going into the bay. Neither one of them function. This plan means that they have to go. You've got a proposal to close the railroad tracks for four to six weeks because they don't work. It's a big misrepresentation. If you really want to do this, don't go down this direction. $100 million. It was $50 million when they started. It was only closing one lane on Howard. Now it's taken the entire street. And they've added streetscape that none of us want. Thank you, Steven. Thank you. Suzanne Fernandez followed by Dana Jasper followed by Harry Coleman. With your name, please. Thank you for your time in considering this project. You know, it's been two years. You've had a lot of information thrown at you, a lot of misinformation thrown at you, information thrown at you at the last minute like this one that obfuscate the problem. Can you state your name, please? We do have a plan in place. The city has presented a plan. Suzanne, can you start? Presented how to flood it. Say your name for the record. Oh, I'm sorry. Suzanne Fernandez, Palmasia Pines. Thank you. I'm a small business owner in Palmasia Pines. As many times as I've been here, I'm sorry, I assumed you knew who I was. Hopefully this is the last time. So I'm here to ask you to support the guaranteed maximum price that you're going to vote on today. There's always going to be another project. We all know there's more than one way to skin a cat. So again, at the last minute, we have another proposal that looks viable from the South Howard Business Alliance. You all have voted, have vetted, the city's vetted over 20 different proposals. This one has the pricing, the engineering. They're ready to go. As a business owner, I have suffered over the past 11 years. I have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on fixing the same interior issues on my business time and time again because of flooding. I'm right there at the AMI pond at the hospital. The interesting thing is I don't think any of that's been properly represented because right now that is going into the Cleveland Basin. With what you plan on this project, it's going to take that water and divert it down to the South Howard flood project. So we're going to relieve pressure there. This project is expandable. There's problems in New Suburb Beautiful with flooding. There's problems with flooding north of Azeal. First, we need to have a place for this water to go. The project that the city's proposing gives a place for the water to go. It's more than just the neighborhoods in this, guys. It's the hospital. It's the fire. It's the church that gets flooded. It's the daycare. It's the Jewish Towers assisted living facility at the end of my street. I mean, time has come. As far as diverting the money from other neighborhoods, you don't hear us here every year saying, don't give them the stormwater money. If you do that, then we won't get funded. We've sat back for over 20 years you all have been addressing this, and we've never once said don't spend that money. That is not fair because you all have collected impact fees. You've allowed developers to come in and put cement all the way across lots and not upgrade the storm drains. So I encourage you to please vote yes. We have a plan in place and hopefully give us some relief. Thank you. Thank you, Suzanne. Dana, followed by Harry, followed by Romela Doss. Good morning. Start with your name, please. Can you guys see what's on there? We can, yes. Okay. Start with your name and it'll come up. All right. Good morning, Council Dana Jasper here to speak on agenda item 36. Specifically, I'm here to talk about the box culvert that's on Howard underneath the railroad here. The reason I wanted to identify that is because in the city's plans, they had actually stated this was a key benefit for selecting the Howard Avenue route. To quote, the existing 5 by 10 box culvert along South Howard Avenue beneath CSX Railroad and Selman Expressway is already in place and can be used. The existing culvert will be supplemented by a parallel 60 inch pipe to be installed via microtunnel for additional hydraulic capacity. However, if you look at today's GMP document for agenda item 36 on page 78, in quotes, Kimmons is proposing to CSX that we eliminate the microtunnel and associated work and close the existing crossing for four to six weeks. If approved, Kimmons will install new 10 by 10 box culvert and restore the track crossing. Atkins will design the crossing under a separate agreement. So separate agreement. That sounds a lot like additional costs. So how much more will that cost the city? This also raises questions about the city's position regarding CSX's right of way policy. On September 1st, the city posted an alert on its South Howard Stormwater Project website expressing concerns about the Soho Business Alliance's alternate route. One concern stated, quote, create significant railroad construction challenges. CSX has a strict right of way policy that prevents construction within its right of way or near the railroad. So how is the city's proposal down Howard Avenue any different as it pertains to working in the CSX right of way? Kimmons now proposes to eliminate the existing 5 by 10 culvert beneath the railroad and replace it with a 10 by 10 culvert, assuming CSX agrees to shut down the crossing for four to six weeks to allow work within the right of way. If CSX has such a strict right of way policy that the city states create significant construction challenges for the Soho Alliance alternate route, why wouldn't those same concerns apply to the city's plan to remove and replace the existing culvert within the CSX right of way on Howard? If the city intends to remove the existing culvert, when will the city have written insurance from CSX that it even has permission to do so? These are important questions because using the existing box culvert was presented by the city as an advantage for choosing the Howard Avenue route. If the city now plans to eliminate and replace that culvert, council and taxpayers deserve to know why the plan changed, what CSX has or has not approved for working in their right of way, and what additional costs would be incurred? Harry followed by Romella Dawes followed by Valerie Bullock. Good morning, Harry Coleman. I live in Parkland Estates and I'm speaking today on behalf of the support of items 36 to 39 of the South Howard Flood Relief Project. For those of us who live there, flooding is not theoretical. We've watched our homes flood. We've watched streets become impassable. We've experienced mornings when residents can't get out of their own neighborhood. The city's infrastructure has to work not just on an ordinary Sunday, but on a Tuesday afternoon when someone needs an ambulance, needs to get to work or simply needs to get home. I want to acknowledge something that's very important. The council was right to ask a lot of difficult questions about this project. You've asked about the process, about transparency, alternative routes, business disruption, opportunity cost, and those questions mattered. And they produced results. There have been additional public meetings and opportunities for input. The route was modified. Palmacy at Pines was incorporated. And considerable attention has been given to maintaining access to South Howard businesses during construction. The oversight worked. The project before you today is better because of the questions that you all asked. But oversight cannot become an endless demand for one more answer. Analysis of neighborhood flooding suggests this project could conservatively prevent millions of dollars of residential property damage. And that does not include Swan business losses, business interruption, emergency access problems, or broader economic effects of repeated flooding. And that last one, that cost is a lot harder to see. The property owner who never takes water can still lose wealth because buyers price them the resilience risk of the neighborhood and the city that surrounds that home. And that's the hidden externality of failing infrastructure. But resilience works in the opposite direction. Protecting property helps preserve and grow Tampa's tax base, creating the capacity to invest in the next resilience project. Parkland Estates itself demonstrated why this process mattered. Our civic association once voted unanimously against this project. And after years of questions, engineering, discussions, and changes, it ultimately voted unanimously to support it. We changed our minds because the evidence changed. Reasonable skepticism improved this project. But at some point, deliberation has to produce a decision. Tampa says it wants to become a more resilient city. Resilience cannot begin everywhere at once. It has to start somewhere. And for neighbors that have been repeatedly flooded, where homes have been damaged, and our streets have become unusable, So this is a very good place to start. Thank you. Thank you. Ramela Das, followed by Valerie Bullock. Followed by Dana Colberley. Hi, my name is Ramela Das. I'm a resident of Parkland Estates. And I'm here to say thank you to those of you who have supported us thus far. And I really appreciate it. And I hope you guys will take us to the finish line and get this project started because we desperately need it for our safety. Thank you. Thank you very much. Valerie Bullock, followed by Dana Colberley and Tara Bluma. Valerie Bullock, I'm in opposition of this project. I just don't think that all the money from stormwater should go over there to them. And when I went to the meeting at the church, I was talking to a guy, and he lived right over there. And he had said the same thing I said. He said, it's okay to fix that if the other parts of the city would not have to suffer. We forgot about Forest Hills. We forgot about 15th Street. And it's just like we are going to demand that all this money is going to be accounted to us. No, we got projects we need to work on. I was talking to somebody. They say the $1.5 million off of Broadway and 7th Avenue is going to the Howard Street project. So they're going to continue taking up all of the money out of stormwater and other areas suffer just for them. I think it's very selfish. And I agreed with the engineer when he was talking. We should do maintenance. Every time I'm here, we are talking about the shortage of people that we have in stormwater. And I always suggest the neighborhood enhancement program hire those guys for stormwater. Let's start with the maintenance because I believe if we could dig up the ditches, the ravines and all of that, the water would be able to flow. And I understand they say the infrastructure is 75 and 100 years old. Guess what? And my neighborhood is the same age too. Thank you. Thank you, Valerie. Dana Colbrey followed by Tara followed by Edward Kelly. Dana. Dana, C-O-B-E-R-L-Y. Go in once. She had to leave. Okay, very good. Tara followed by Edward Kelly. Good morning. Start with your name, please. Good morning. I'm Tara Bluma. The true cost benefit analysis of this project is not going to show that this is the highest and best use of our money. It barely justified the cost when the project was only $50 million. And now it is doubled. And we know that the guaranteed maximum price is not really a guarantee. Have any of you asked why, like picked up the phone and asked why the AMI pond has not been fixed? Ms. Cannella is here every week talking about this pond and still after 10 years the pump does not work. It's full of garbage and waste and crud. Is it possible that fixing that pond is going to help alleviate some flooding? I guess that it would help. Why hasn't that been done? I've been hearing about it every week for two years. Surgeons, you know, don't just amputate your leg when you go in with a broken toe. They try the less invasive options first. We know we have a list of basic repairs a mile long that haven't been done. Let's do those and then evaluate where we're at. And I learned something when I went to the open houses a few weeks ago that I did not know. A hundred million dollars we're spending and they're not undergrounding the power lines, which is so egregious to me. So what we're going to a couple of years later rip up the street again so they can underground the power lines. If we're already doing this massive project and TECO is already spending millions of dollars a year undergrounding power lines. Why would they not do that at the same time? And I heard that that was what they originally wanted to do, but then TECO was going to charge each business owner a substantial amount of money in order to do that. Which doesn't make sense to me because TECO is already doing it all over town. Finally, I did get to look at the landscaping plans for the new South Howard redesign and it contains, you won't be surprised, a lot of crepe myrtles. So I really urge you to reconsider this project. The juice isn't worth the squeeze. Thank you. Thank you, Tara. Edward Kelly, followed by Fran Tate. And Fran Tate is our last agenda item speaker. My name is Edward Kelly. I am a 33-year resident of Parkland Estates. Formerly, I owned a business at the corner of Watrous and Dale Mabry that faces a very similar type of flooding problem that we have currently in our neighborhood. I imploring you guys to trust the system. The city has qualified engineers, hydrologists, and people that have researched this whole project, this whole problem for years. And this is the solution that they came up with. Going down Howard Avenue, that's a straight line. Everybody knows the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. That's the quickest way to get this water out of this area and to solve a problem that is causing backups on traffic, not allowing ambulances, fire engines. Business people are suffering. The hospital, you can't access the hospital. You can't access the medical arts buildings that are surrounding the hospital, as well as the small businesses there. This isn't just about the South Howard business people. This is about the people in the entire neighborhood that need to have some type of relief from this flooding problem. This has been a studied issue that the city has come up with a plan to... And there's been other proposals, including the proposal brought forth by these folks. They have a concept of a plan, okay? This has been a flooding problem for years. Why just now are they coming up with that? As far as guarantees, as far as money goes, there's no guarantee on any kind of thing like that. You're going to come up with problems in a project like this on this scope and this scale. What guarantees do we have on any kind of money kind of being spent? What is guaranteed is that if we don't do anything about this, these businesses, the medical arts buildings, the hospital, the inaccessibility of Swan Avenue, those are going to continue to persist. And to just continue to kick the can down the road and allow a delay on this project just doesn't seem like it makes any sense at all to me anymore. Is it perfect for the South Howard business people? Let me tell you, I had a business for 41 years. They solved... Kimmons came in at a project in coordination with the city, and Kimmons came up with a project to solve that Southdale-Mabry flooding, and it works. They put a very similar type of 10-foot box culvert in front of my business. They did exactly what they said they were going to do. For 60 days, they tore up the road in front of my business. I came to work on the 61st day. It was paved, it was striped, sidewalks, grass, everything. The area in front of your businesses, in front of Burns, in front of Bellas, in front of these businesses that will be affected, it's only going to be for a short period of time. Already people use those back roads to get there because they can't get there when it rains. So, the increased traffic is not going to be an issue here. Thanks. Thank you, sir. Fran Tate. Start with your name, please. Good morning. I am Fran Tate, neighborhood association founder and president of Jackson Heights. 21 years servant in East Tampa. Good morning, chair and council members once again. I know we're not supposed to call your names or anything, but I'm just going to say I'm wearing this fuchsia jacket, the fuchsia lipstick, and the breast cancer awareness pin in honor of Jackson Heights neighborhood association. We got you. Anything you need. I'm here to say 56th Street and Broadway Avenue had a flooding relief project scheduled, and it was canceled for some unknown reason. $1.5 million. I finally got a meeting with my councilwoman. I was finally able to come in with my secretary and have a meeting with her. In that meeting was Mr. Campbell and Ms. Lee. They're trying to take $1 million of our $1.5 million and repurpose it down there in South Howard. Why? We're one of the most underserved areas of Tampa, Florida. Broadway, it floods down there constantly. I know I drive that area trying to get to Falkenburg. I'm here to appeal to you to say, please put that project back on the to-do list. Don't take our money and make the project happen. I was down at 730 this morning meeting with the county. Someone, someone sent them a message that I'm complaining about some stormwater pipes on Broadway. The county has nothing to do with what we're talking about with this project. This is a city project. I have included the site plan for you. I'm sorry to tape it together, but I was rushing, rushing this morning. Okay. This is a site plan that Mr. Campbell provided for me at our meeting. Remember, Councilwoman? This is a site plan. Okay. Letting me know this is what the city is planning to do on Broadway. I don't even know if they spoke to the owner. I don't even believe they spoke to the owner to get an easement. I don't even believe that story. But that project needs to take, it needs to happen. The money does not need to be taken from us. I am going to activate the community if you take our money. This project needs to happen. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay. The next speakers have indicated they want to speak to non-agenda items. A reminder in accordance with the rules adopted on August 27th, 2026. Public comment is restricted information and items that just the city can control. Things that are just city business and things the city control. If it's not about the city business or things the city control, we're not doing that now. So our first speaker is Fayez Alamir followed by Tyler Rorer, R-O-R-R-E-R, followed by Clarence Towns. Fayez, good morning. Start with your name, please. Good morning. My name is Fayez Alamir. I'm a civil engineer by education or a recovering civil engineer right now and I'm a commercial asset developer. I'm actually here to support some of my friends who are part of the young professional and active community of Tampa. I don't know if you all know, but Tampa has been one of the most active city in fitness and health. And we have been struggling to find a safe place to practice, to do our, you know, running and workouts. And we really, I mean, Coach Tyler here would also speak more on the topic. We would like to propose that the city consider building a track for, a public track. We end up using mainly public school tracks that we, some days we are allowed, some days we're not. And we would like to kind of fix that. I see there's a lot of RFPs out there that are sent to developers to build either mixed use or multifamily projects to develop. And don't get me wrong, I really thank you for caring. And some of you all I saw less than 24 hours ago at the Vicente project. And I really, not asking, I know it's not a magic thing. I know I'm not going to wake up tomorrow morning and find a track built. But I just want to bring this to you all's attention. And just so you know, there's so much demand right now for facilities like this. And I understand it should be, it's more of a project that got to be put together and presented. And right now just, you know, this is just a moment for you to know that there's something coming. And hopefully we can all work together and ask you for your help on this. Thank you so much. Thank you, sir. So Tyler, start with your name, please. You have three minutes, followed by Clarence, followed by Gloria Sims. Good morning, Council. My name is Tyler Rohr. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I'm here representing a local running community in Tampa Bay area. Our running community has grown tremendously. Run clubs have become places where people get healthy, make friends and build community. Our club regularly brings together 150 to 250 people for a single run. Running is one of the most accessible forms of exercises. You need a pair of shoes and a safe place to run. That's where Tampa has a gap. Tampa does not currently have a dedicated municipal running track that residents can simply access as a public recreational amenity. We have parks, trails, pools and basketball courts. But if I want to do a structured running workout on a safe, flat, measured surface, there isn't a public track that I can simply use. And we're not asking for a track because we want to host track meets. I want to make sure that that's clear. A track is recreational infrastructure. It gives beginners a place to walk or jog. Kids a place to learn to run. Seniors a place to exercise. And athletes a place to train. For large run clubs, it's also a safer alternative than putting 158 to 200 people in the roadway. Raleigh, North Carolina operates a quarter mile track as part of its municipal athletic park system. And Nashville has incorporated a public track into its E.S. Rose Park athletic complex. We're not asking Tampa to invent something. We're asking Tampa to look at models other cities are already using. We see two opportunities here. First, Hillsborough County Public Schools already has tracks throughout our community. I researched the current rental costs for Jefferson High School's track. And a four hour minimum rental is $983.40. For a community running club that may only need the track for an hour, that isn't sustainable. We'd like to see the city work with HGPS to create a pilot program, allowing public access to select school tracks during non-school hours. Second, we'd like the city to explore whether a city owned public track could be incorporated into an existing or future park, particularly on property the city already owns. So today I'm asking council to identify potential city owned sites, begin conversations with HGPS about a public access pilot and bring together the city. HGPS and Tampa's running community to develop a sustainable model for public track access. Our running community is ready to help. We can demonstrate demand, gather community store and participate in a pilot program. Because this isn't really about runners asking for a track. It's about Tampa investing in another place where people can be healthy, active and connected. Tampa has built an incredible running community. We're just asking the city to build a place for it to run. Thank you guys. Thank you, Tyler. City Clerk, Shirley Fox Knowles. Just FYI, we probably got at least another 15 minutes. So just, you might want to make yourself comfortable. Clarence Towns, followed by Gloria Sims, followed by David Cornell. My name is Clarence Towns. My title today is Corruption at its Highest Level. You know, I'm still talking about an alley at 2704 North 32nd Street. A city and county that is the enemy of senior citizens and U.S. military veterans. That's wrong. Our enemies are your enemies. Lesbians and gays, FAMU students, FAMU alums, a.k.a. members of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the sorority of presidential hopeful Kamala Harris. We done already put a name on y'all. It's called Sambos. You understand? And some Democrats thank U.S. Representative Caster Caster for looking the other way because City Commissioner Gwen Myers and Mayor Jane Caster are her friends and possibly bad buddies. Code enforcement, you need to check out at 1905 and 1907 West Arch Street. Now it's a parking lot. It was family homes and the church bought it and made it a parking lot without the right zoning. And so when the residents around that area complained, the city of Tampa, the church went to the city of Tampa and they send code out there to threaten old people. If you don't shut up, we're going to code you out of your house. Code enforcement is being paid off to look the other way. Try at 2702 North 33rd Street and 2707 North 33rd Street. These homeowners brag about it, you know. And when is this okay to steal city property? Tell me that. Tell me that. This property of this alley disappeared and this person named doing Bob Martinez as he was the mayor. You know, I guarantee you he didn't approve it. Ask Hillsborough County Commissioner Gwendolyn A. Myers about her activities in Plant City with another county employee. See, things are nasty. You want to get nasty and threaten us with death? You better be clean, brother. You better be real clean. And those names I gave my associates, y'all want to know who was giving us trouble, who threatened us death? You know them now. These lesbians and gay throughout America. Sir. Okay, that's all right. You're out of order. I'm through. Good deal. Gloria followed by David Cornell. Someone out. My name is Gloria Sims and I am here again today to follow up on my concern about keeping our neighborhood RS 50, a single family residential area, which has been zoned RS 50, a single family residential area, legally and properly by the city council for over 30 years ago. However, RM 16 multifamily residential property was not now, but was being imposed on by our, um, was being imposed on in our neighborhood. But because we came to the city council and spoke out this resorting, a rezoning matter appears to have been resolved. Now, today we are back to address the matter of the stolen alley at two seven zero four North 32nd street owned by, uh, Hillsborough County commissioner Gwendolyn a Myers. So thank you council. We're hoping that you, uh, do your job again. Thank you. David followed by Robin Lockett followed by Ashley Morrow. Robin's waving. Okay. Good morning. My name is David Cornell. I am the president of the Highland Pines committee incorporated. Um, we are the voice of the unhoused. Um, so a brief def definition on what it means to be unhoused. Well, a derogatory term is to be homeless, but they need a voice. And in Highland Pines in particular, about 70% of our population is black and African American and about 30% is white and Hispanic. But a list of our accomplishments. Okay. Uh, we have recently achieved a 501c3 status. Next, we anticipate our, an office in Highland Pines in the Highland Pines community center. A storage facility in public storage, which is nearby Highland Pines for the unhoused to secure their belongings or to lock up important documents. We are passing out water and picking up trash throughout our community. On that note, our other advisory committee, um, President Raymond Johnson, who you've had the pleasure of meeting before, was largely responsible for organizing, picking up a lot of trash throughout our community. Um, we are responsible for a bus shelter throughout Highland Pines, whereas none existed before. In fact, two bus shelters. And, um, we provide housing and housing information, not housing, but housing information. And we facilitate that through the Florida Sentinel Bulletin. In other words, there's an ad in there. And people have called us, and it's all been women, but that's fine. Men need help, too. So these are a list of our accomplishments. I thank this, I thank y'all for your valuable time, and you have a good day. Thank you, David. Okay, Ashley, followed by Servant Doss. Good morning, Council. Hello, my name is, is the right Ashley? Yes. Okay. Okay. The Ashley. Hello, my name is Ashley Morrow, and I'll be sharing Tampa's black history. So I just learned that a new monument was erected or unveiled on Saturday about the Buffalo Soldiers. And that's who we were talking about a couple weeks ago. So I thought it was very relevant to city business, right? Okay. So we're going to zoom in on it. Here we are. And we talked about it last time. These soldiers came to Tampa along with thousands of other soldiers and deployed from here to Cuba during the Spanish-American War in 1898. All right. Let's get forward. And Tampa was designated as a space to hold the supplies and send over to Cuba, where the war was taking place by boat. Volunteers were called here. They stayed in Tampa Heights on that piece of land across the street from the church that is made of stones on Central. And then there was a lot of racial hostility. There was an incident where a black baby was held upside down by a white soldier allegedly from Ohio, an Ohio volunteer. And that infuriated the Buffalo Soldiers, and then they had a shootout in Ybor along 7th Avenue and in the Garrison area. There were other reports from other spaces, like Atlanta, talking about they need to get more black reporters there so they can figure out what's actually going on in the area. And then the war ends 1898 in August. The Treaty of Paris is signed not until December of 1898. Cuba becomes independent, and that's important because we have a lot of Afro Cubans here in Tampa. There is outrage. The Buffalo Soldiers stormed the city in county jail. They're trying to free their comrade. They end up going to the city jail. They're like, he's not here. They go to the county jail. They bust in there and get him out. And here is, okay, Sparksman Worf is named after Stefan Sparksman, but he, I guess, held a meeting for the people of Tampa because they were like, they cannot get away with this. We have to do something. Eventually nothing actually happens. They leave on the train, and the story ends there. This weekend we did the Traveling Black History exhibit at the Big Fest held by Camille Adrian. It was a success. We talked about the black history of Sulphur Springs. If you guys want to donate towards any other traveling exhibits, my cash app is BTH Fund. All right? There you go. You better get it. That's my website right there, and we are an official 501 nonprofit. My goal in the future is to do trips with the youth. We would take trips to Jacksonville. There is the Kingsley Plantation there. There is the EJI Museum in Alabama, in Montgomery, where we have a lynching marker there for Hillsborough County lynch victims and other spaces. So thank you all so much. Thank you, Ashley. You neglected to mention one other thing about black history, that somewhere in the future they're going to be talking about the famous black woman that chaired the charter review commission for the city of Tampa, Ashley Morrow. My appointee, by the way, did a fantastic job. Thank y'all so much. Thank y'all. I never come up here and talk. Thank y'all so much, and I appreciate the appointment and all the work that you guys are doing. Thank you. Sergret, you're going to close out the in-person public speaking. Bring it home. All right. I appreciate it. I forgot about the rules, so I had to take some notes. All right. I was going to say, well, it's pretty obvious I'm a on the discharge service connected veteran, and I wanted to say that Tampa, like the rest of the state of Florida, has a serious public records problem. And to the apathetic, when the government controls the records, but the citizens have to fight to get the complete story, there's something wrong with the process. And public records requests should not turn into an investigation for the people who are looking for those records. The records should be complete, accurate, and they should be timely. And the agency should not selectively produce or manipulate those records. They should be as they are. And that matters more when those records involve police, prosecutors, criminal allegations, and court proceedings, even child support proceedings. And I know exactly how serious that can become because in 2017, an energy application in the Hillsborough County court system allowed a Tampa police officer to use this city's authority to falsely accuse me of perjuring an official proceeding. And that case has now made Tampa defendant in my Supreme Court case that's set to be heard on September 28th by the nine justices. When I'm talking about records, I'm not talking about just simple paperwork sitting in a filing cabinet. And Tampa's problems aren't isolated. Now in March of 2024, a certified court transcripts told me that this guy, Mr. Arenas was dead. But on September 2nd, I got this email from the dead guy again. And it typically messes with me in my mental. So this is two years after a child support hearing officer told me this guy was dead. I'm still getting emails from this guy. Now, I don't know who sent it. Sir, you got to pivot back to city business. Well, the city has the ability to create an inquiry or demand an inquiry into how a state agency treats its residents. And I'm a resident of the city of Tampa. So you all can demand an inquiry as to how is Chagret Doss continuing to get an email from a dead guy? Are you just messing with them because Chagret Doss is a uniquely experienced pro se litigant? Are you doing it because Chagret Doss has the city of Tampa involved in a case that's made its way all the way to the Supreme Court? But whatever the reason is, I think I'm asking the city and I'm actually demanding. I know you're going to say screw you to look into it. You know, somebody told me it takes a lot of balls for somebody to go up there and talk to these people the way you do. And I say, well, I think you have to lack them to not say something when you know injustices are going on. And I can't just sit by and pretend I don't see anything. I understand what caused the civil rights movement to gain its momentum is because Mamie Till's showed her son's body. I can't say nothing because I attended the greatest institution of high learning in the city of Tampa, the University of Thomas Jefferson High School. Thank you, Mr. Doss. I appreciate it. Thank you for bringing it home. Okay, we had three speakers registered online. I believe only one is on Michael Randolph. Good morning. My name is Michael Randolph. I'm a former resident of the Rose Park Village. I want to start with where this neighborhood has been because I lived in it. Rose Park Village was one of the oldest public housing development in Tampa. There was no air conditioning. Summer felt like it was over 100 degrees inside these units. But the heat wasn't the hardest part. Rose Park was one of the most violent communities, not just in the city, but the nation. I witnessed two people killed on two separate occasions. Over the years that I lived there, I saw young people and old people killed alike. One night, a Buddhist dunk my bedroom window. This is not a joke. This is a history. This is a memory. I share that because I want the city council to understand exactly what we are building from. The new Rose Park is one principle. People over building. At the center is a smart community hub. 30,000 square foot facility funded by roughly $5.2 million in federal grant funding, plus $2 million in matching funds by the Tampa House. It would offer help services, access to financial literacy, educational support, and job placement assistance, serving not just the 18 to 1900 households, but more than 20,000 residents in the surrounding earth. This model, this model, this model on the household building success is built on the Encore downtown project where I live, where similar hubs connect residential pharmacy service, find kids and the like, and the possible AI and able tools on a high zone. I'm the AI kid. This hub has the chance to be truly one of its kind. A model like no other city in the nation, like the Romeo Project. I stood at the window when the bullet hit. I stand here this morning believing Rose Park can be defined not by what is survived, but by what is possible. And ending. I know there's been a lot of conversation about what is city business. To help people understand what it is doing public comments, we're going to put together a plain name on what is city business. So public comment. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Randolph. Thank you for closing us out on public comment. That concludes public comment for the day. We are moving on to board administration appointments. Madam Clerk, are you going to introduce six or you just want us to move the resolution? And did you want to introduce six or just want us to move the resolution? Resolution. Okay. I have a motion to move the resolution from Councilman Maniscalco appointing Yasmin Newman. Yasmin, are you in the audience by any chance? Seeing none. Okay, very good. I have a second from Councilman Miranda. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Madam Clerk, you're recognized. Good morning. Start with your name. Shirley Fox-Knowles, city clerk. I'm here to present the applicants for the Civil Service Board. And some of them are in person and a couple of them are remote. The first person is Edward Leonardo. Good morning, Edward. Would you like to speak to Council? Okay. Come to the podium. Start with your name, please. You'll have three minutes. Good morning, Chair and members of City Council. My name is Edward Leonardo, and thank you for considering me for the Civil Service Board. Throughout my professional life and my involvement in the community, I've learned an important lesson, one that has been reinforced, especially through owning businesses and coaching youth sports. A fair decision is not always a decision that makes everyone happy, but people deserve to know that they were heard, the rules were followed, and the decision was made honestly. For more than 10 years, I have owned and operated businesses and managed employees. I've hired and trained people, established expectations, addressed performance concerns, resolved disagreements, and made difficult decisions that affected both the families and the employee. That experience has taught me that fairness and accountability are not opposites. Good leadership requires both. It means listening before reaching a conclusion, understanding the facts, applying standards constantly, and treating people with dignity throughout the process. That business experience would be the foundation of my service on the Civil Service Board. My involvement in the community adds another important dimension to the perspective I would bring. My connection to Tampa extends beyond my businesses. I'm raising my family here, working directly with residents, businesses, property owners, and organizations throughout the community, and coaching youth sports. But coaching has taught me to remain calm, listen respectfully, apply the same rules to everyone, and make decisions based on what is right for the entire team, not what is most popular at the particular moment. It has also allowed me to build relationships with Tampa children and families from different backgrounds and better understand the people who make up our community. I believe effective boards benefit from more than one type of experience. Technical and professional expertise is extremely valuable, but so are practical judgment, real-world leadership, and a direct connection to the community. Those strengths do not compete with one another. The strongest boards draw upon all of them. I would bring the perspective of a business owner who understands the responsibility of managing people, a community member who understands the human impact of employment decisions, and a father who is personally invested in Tampa's future. If appointed, I would not approach matters as an advocate for management or employees. I would approach each appeal independently, listen carefully to both sides, review the evidence and applicable rules, and make a fair and impartial decision. It would be an honor to bring my business experience, practical judgment, and community perspective to the Civil Service Board. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you very much. Thank you. The next applicant is Lauren Huff. And Dr. Huff. Good morning. I am Dr. Lauren Huff, City of Tampa resident in District 6. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today regarding my application to serve on the Civil Service Board. I provided a document that shows my relevant experience. I am not asking you to appoint me simply because I have extensive background in human resources. I am asking you to consider how that experience has prepared me for the actual work of this board. The Civil Service Board is responsible for hearing and reviewing employee appeals and making decisions based on facts, evidence, policies, and applicable civil service rules. This is where my experience becomes relevant. Throughout my career I have worked extensively in employee relations, workplace investigations, policy interpretation, disciplinary matters, conflict resolution, and regulatory compliance. I have investigated employee concerns, advised both employees and management, and participated in EEOC and unemployment hearings. I have also worked within state government. The experience taught me that personnel decisions don't happen in isolation. They operate within policies, procedures, regulation, and public accountability. I also hold a Ph.D. in public policy and administration, which gives me an additional perspective on governance, policy, and accountability. But I believe the most important thing I would bring to the board is impartiality. I would not come to the board automatically advocating for an employee, and I would not come automatically advocating for management. I would come as an impartial decision maker. When an employee comes before the board, I understand there is a person behind the case. I also understand that the board's responsibility is to examine the facts, review evidence, understand the applicable rules, procedures, and make fair and consistent decisions. My career has taught me to ask, what are the facts? What does the policy say? What evidence supports the decision? And what was the process applied fairly? This is the mindset I would bring to the board. So, I am not asking you to select me because I am a HR professional. I am asking you to select me because I bring employee relations experience, investigative experience, public sector knowledge, policy expertise, and the ability to evaluate difficult situations objectively. I believe I'm prepared to contribute to the integrity of the Tampa Civil Service System. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you, Doctor. Clerk, it's my understanding that we only have one applicant online. That's Kim Farmer. We have Pamela Morrow Ginyard. I'll start with your name, please. Good morning. I had to check my time. I've been here a little while. My name is Pamela Morrow Ginyard. I'd first like to say I'm a 44-year resident of the city of Tampa, came in 82 to go to USF, and now I have the time to serve. I want to serve on the Civil Service Board because I believe in serving my community and making sure people are treated fairly and respectfully. I understand the board has an important responsibility to listen to both sides, consider the facts, follow the rules, and make impartial decisions. I would like to bring my experience, integrity, and the ability to listen, work with others to ensure that the civil service process is fair and consistent. For me, this is an opportunity to give back to the city of Tampa in a meaningful way. I believe I'm a good fit because of years of working in the Tampa Bay area, managing individuals, and now owning my own business has given me the – I'm sorry, I got lost. I am someone who takes responsibility seriously, listens before making decisions, and believe in treating people with dignity and fairness. I don't believe in making decisions based on assumptions or personal feelings. I believe in hearing the facts, understanding the situation, following the established rules, and doing what is right. I would take this responsibility of serving on the board very seriously. I just want to sum it up with one sentence. I want to serve because I believe in fairness, accountability, and treating people with dignity, and I would like to use those values to serve the city of Tampa. Thank you. Thank you, panel. Of two people remote that will apply remotely, Dayola Odessa and Kim Farmer. Dayola is not online. We only have Kim Farmer. Okay. Kim Farmer, can you hear me? I can. Thank you. Thank you. Start with your name, please. My name is Kim Farmer. Thank you so much for listening to me this morning. I'm sorry I couldn't be in person, but I'm out of town. But I'm very excited about the possibility of continuing my community involvement here in Tampa. I moved here from Colorado running from the snow. I love it here in Tampa. I don't plan to go anywhere else. And I'm interested in serving on the board because I believe that fairness, accountability, and treating people with respect are essential to a strong community. Throughout my career and community involvement, I have had the opportunity to work with people from many different backgrounds and perspectives. I've done a lot of volunteer work. My background is in wellness. So I've done a lot of volunteer work with organizations like American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association. I have a business where I manage people and I have to listen to my staff members and treat them with respect and dignity and make decisions based on established policies and principles. My experience in human resources has given me a strong understanding of workplace policies, employee relations, performance issues, and the importance of having fair and consistent processes when addressing workplace concerns. I've had to be involved in audits in the past, working with the Department of Labor, listening to the employees' appeals when it comes to unemployment matters. I've had the opportunity to listen to community members and just homeowners as I worked on HOA boards and listening to their appeals when it comes to them violating particular HOA rules and regulations. So I have a lot of experience of listening to the other side. I gained experience hearing, you know, appeals and concerns from homeowners. And I learned how important it is to give people an opportunity to be heard. As a business owner, I have experienced the other side of decision making because business ownership requires accountability, sound judgment, consistency, and the ability to make difficult decisions, while understanding how those decisions affect employees, customers, and the community as a whole. Across these experiences, one thing has remained consistent. I believe people deserve to be heard. I don't believe fairness means automatically agreeing with someone. It means listening to all sides, examining the facts, and applying the rules consistently. My volunteer work in the town community has also strengthened my commitment to public service. I value the opportunity to give back to the community I am a part of, and I see serving on the Civil Service Board as another meaningful way to contribute. I understand that serving on the Civil Service Board carries an important responsibility, and the decisions made by the Board can have a meaningful impact on employees, the city, and the publicly served. I would take that responsibility seriously. My goal would be to listen respectfully, evaluate objectively, follow the applicable rules, and ensure that every person who comes before the Board receives a fair and thoughtful process. So thank you so much for your consideration, and I look forward to the opportunity to working with you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you. For those of you in the public, we do these ballots. They are public ballots. Individual councilpersons fill them out and submit them, and then the Clerk tabulates them. May I say something, Mr. Chair? Sure. Thank you. No, just everybody that applied. I served on the Civil Service Board for about eight years, and just everybody's application. That was a hard pick. So just everybody was great, and I just thank you all for your willingness to serve. And again, just a lot of good folks. Yeah, I served on it as well. And it's one of those, we have a lot of committees that are very technical in nature, and this is one of those technical type of committees that require some subject matter expertise. You deal with very serious issues and employment issues, and that's something to always consider when we're making this election. Shirley Foxenow, City Clerk. Edward Leonardo received no votes. Kim Farmer received two votes. And Lauren Huff received five votes. Congratulations, Lauren. Thank you. Motion invokes. Okay. I have a motion from Councilman Maniscalco to approve the appointment of Lauren Huff to the Civil Service Board Committee, and a second from Councilwoman Naya Young. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed. Ayes have it. Congratulations. Thank you, and a motion directing me to come back with a resolution. Motion from Councilman Maniscalco, second from Councilman Vieira, directing the City Attorney to come back with a resolution. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed. Ayes have it. Councilwoman Maniscalco, 14 and 13. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, Clerk. As always, great work by our Clerk and her staff. Okay. We are now moving to the... Does anybody have a request for public reconsideration of legislative matters? Hearing none, we are now going to the consent agenda. Councilwoman Naya Young, items 8 through 13. I move items 8 through 13. I have a motion from Councilwoman Young, a second from Councilman Maniscalco. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed. Ayes have it. Councilman Maniscalco, 14 and 15. I'm very happy to approve 14. So a motion to approve 14 and 15. We have a motion from Councilwoman Maniscalco, second from Councilman Miranda, Councilwoman Hurtick. Yes. This resolution is a long time in coming, so I'm glad this is done. And hopefully next year we can get this done earlier. Thank you. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed. Ayes have it. Councilman Miranda, item 16 through 20. I have a motion from Councilman Miranda, second from Councilman Maniscalco. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed. Thank you. Councilman Carlson, 21 through 27. So moved. I have a motion for Councilman Carlson, a second for Councilman Mascocco. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Thank you. Councilwoman Hertek, 28 through 29. 28, we had some public comment on, and so if it is not too much, I think it would be very interesting to have, since we have stormwater here, if we could hear from them during... So you're requesting to pull item 28? Yeah, I would like to pull 28 from the consent. I mean, it's only like two more things from now. Okay, I have a motion. Just to kind of hear a little bit about why we're moving $500,000. Okay, I have a motion from Councilwoman Hertek to pull item 28. Is there a second from Councilman Vieira? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? As have it. I move item number 29. I have a motion from Councilwoman Hertek to move 29. A second from Councilman Vieira. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. What did we see? We haven't got a point. Oh, yeah, we opened all the hearings. I have a motion from Councilwoman Hertek to open all public hearings. A second from Councilwoman Young. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Mr. Chair. Councilman Vieira. Yes, sir. Thank you very much. May I take 45 seconds to recognize her new intern, if I may, sir? Yes, go ahead. Thank you very much. So, Caden, come forward if you'd like to, buddy. So, I'd like to introduce you all to Caden DeBoer, who goes to University of South Florida. He's at the USF Honors College, which I was just telling him that whenever I visit there, I'm always so impressed by all the young people there. He is a political science and business major, correct? Yes, sir. Okay. And he's thinking about going to law school, and we were talking about that. So, just welcome, and we all look forward to working with you. You seem like a wonderful young man. So, do you want to say anything for a couple seconds? Yeah, thank you so much. I'm really happy to be here representing USF. I know so many amazing people in this community have come from our local university here. So, yeah, I'm very honored to be here, especially interning under you, Councilman Vieira. Thank you so much. So, welcome to Tampa City Council. Anytime you approach that podium, you have to start with your name. Yes, Caden DeBoer. Caden, nice to have you here, and it's a pleasure to have you out the back with your smile. Thank you so much. Absolutely. Thank you. Can we get a motion to approve the staff reports? Celene, do you have the ones that we did not see in staff form? 33, 35, 40. I move 33, 35, and 40. Okay. We have a motion to Councilwoman Hurtek, a second to Councilman Vieira. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed, the ayes have it. Okay. Let's move to item number 30, Brownfields. Good morning. My name is Beth Lee with the City Attorney's Office. This is the first of two scheduled public hearings for a proposed Brownfield area designation of properties consisting of three adjoining parcels that are generally located at 3601 North Central Avenue, 3814 North Central Avenue, and 501 East Lake Avenue. Robles Park LLC and Open Space Acquisition LLC are requesting this designation of these properties as a Brownfield area to assist in the assessment and remediation of environmental impacts that may exist on the property. Details of the designation have been outlined in a document entitled Staff Report on Robles Park Brownfield Area Designation, which is available for public review at the City Clerk's Office and online in OnBase. The on-site public meeting was properly noticed in a newspaper of general circulation and an ethnic newspaper. The on-site public meeting was held on August 18, 2026 at Tampa Heights Junior Civic Association. At the conclusion of the second public hearing, which is scheduled for September 24, 2026, the Council will have an opportunity to pass a resolution designating Robles Park as a Brownfield area. A representative for the applicant and developer are available during this public hearing for any questions that might arise. Thank you. Does the Council have any questions of staff? Is there anybody in the public that wishes to speak to this item? Can I get a motion to close? Motion to close. Motion to close from Councilor Miranda, second from Councilor Maniscalco. Thank you very much. Second public reading will be scheduled for September 24 at 5.01 p.m. At? At? Somebody say it. East Kennedy Boulevard, third floor, Tampa, Florida, 33602. Very good. Also, for staff, I understand from Councilor Miranda that you no longer need staff for item 46. Can I get a motion to move item 46? I have a motion from Councilor Miranda, second from Councilman Beer. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Aye. Seven. Okay, item number 31. And for staff's purposes, we're going to break at 12 for lunch, FYI. Receiving file. Sorry, receiving file. Yes, receiving file. Item number 31. Good morning, Michelle Van Lund, Real Estate. This is the first reading for the honorary naming for Councilman Frank A. Reddick. We posted it on July 30th through August 14th per the, sorry, our honorary naming ordinance. We did not receive any public comment. Just what you have all received, both here and through your personal emails. And I'm available for any questions. Does Council have any questions? No, just a quick comment. As I mentioned last time you presented this, I just wanted to, again, thank Councilmember Reddick. I know he's looking down from above. He was always very supportive of me from the beginning, you know, as I first got here. So I'm very happy to see this moving forward. That's it. And I'd like Councilwoman Young, would you like to move this? I'm very happy to move this resolution for the ordinance being presented for first reading consideration, an ordinance of the City of Tampa, Florida approving the naming of the activity center at Williams Park located at 4362 East Osborne Avenue in Tampa, Florida to honor Frank A. Reddick, providing an effective date. I have a motion from Councilwoman Young, second Councilman Miranda. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed. I have it. Thank you so much. Motion carried unanimously with Hurtick being absent at vote. Second reading and adoption will be held on October 1st, 2026 at 10 o'clock a.m. And City Council Chambers 315 East Kennedy Boulevard, third floor, Tampa, Florida, 33602. Okay, let's move on to item number 28. Councilwoman Hurtick, would you like to lead us off? Yes. So I was hoping that someone from Stormwater could talk to us about the moving the money from the assessment fund for motor pool expenses. Is anybody here? Yes. Brandon. Yes. That's what I'm saying. Brandon's cowering in the corner over there. Not hiding. I promise. What I'm saying is that, you know, we've heard from the public how, you know, we're putting more money toward maintenance of stormwater and how we would really love that money to continue to go to maintenance and not necessarily to motor pool. Absolutely. Good morning, Council. Brandon Campbell, mobility director. This item is a transfer of funds to the motor pool to cover expenses for our stormwater equipment out of available funds that were freed up by vacancies within the staff. Do you have any further questions? Does Council have any further questions on this item? No, but again, I think it would be better used actually doing the work. But that's just, I'll just request that in the future we, you know, put that toward actual labor because they are labor expenses instead of changing those and making those vehicle expenses. Okay. Thank you. Councilman Carlson. Yeah. Thank you, my colleague, for asking questions. One more question. Do you have any idea if that equipment has or will be used for parades? I don't know what the breakdown of that equipment is. Um, we can certainly talk about the parade, uh, issue at, at, at length. If we, if we need to, it might be a, it might be a good thing to have a briefing on if you'd like, or if you'd like us to put together a staff report, we can do that as well. Any further questions? Not right now. Thank you. Councilman Hurtick, can you move item 28, please? I'm not going to vote for it. So. Councilman Maniscalco, motion. Councilman Maniscalco, move on item 28. A second from Councilman Miranda. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carried. We're Hurtick and Carlson voting no. Thank you very much. Okay. Um, it is 11 47. I'm assuming that cause we are going to move on. There's no administrative update. No, nobody's going to represent the administration for an update. Correct. Very good. Okay. Um, I think everything else. We can do 34, 41, 42. You think so? They're just maps. Okay. I just want people to understand my, my goal with this was so that people could understand that this is not part of the South Howard project, that it is completely different, but I wanted to ensue the public's possible concern. Okay. Let's do it. Item 34, 41, 42, and 43. Rory Jones with the water department. And thank you for the opportunity to clarify those projects. And sorry for the crude, uh, markup here, but really this is what comes before you in these different, uh, line items here. Item 31 is that, uh, Kimmons project, the $9.8 million. It is not associated with the South Howard in, in any way here. And it's really laying the, the groundwork and framework for future investments. Um, the, the, uh, item number 41 with the Dallas one is shown here on the Hampton, Hampton Terrace and the Rickman projects here between are split between North Ebor and Oakford Park. And this represents about $36.2 million of, uh, pipeline replacements between two and 12 inched in diameter, uh, replacing anywhere from 60 to nearly a hundred year old pipelines. Okay. Does council have any questions on these items? Councilman Carlson. I see you. Do you want us to move them? Well, yeah, if we have no, if there's no questions, I need to move, uh, somebody in motion to move 34, 41, 42, and 43. I'll move them. I'll have a motion for councilman Carlson. I heard councilman Vera second for a second. A motion for councilman Carlson second for councilman Vera. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed. I said, well, you were right. That was not controversial at all. Thank you. Very good. Thank you so much. 45. What time is it? Okay. Let's do it. 45. Good morning again to council. Brandon Campbell, mobility director. Uh, item 45 is a staff report, uh, related to the, um, opportunities that we have for, uh, a citywide alleyway action plan. Um, within that staff memo, uh, we talked about the groundwork that has been done in West Tampa, uh, uh, between the CRA and, uh, the, the development and growth management team. Um, the good news is that that process has sort of set a framework and a, and a template that we can use, uh, across the city. Should we wish to pursue something citywide? Uh, it also shows that it can be done in bite-sized pieces. If we would like to face, uh, uh, a similar project on a citywide basis, uh, staff estimated that a full citywide alleyway study would cost somewhere around two to two and a half million dollars, uh, and would likely take around 18 months. Of course, if we want to scale that, uh, to available resources, that's something we could consider as well. Councilman Miranda. I can only say it, it, it, it seems simple, but it's not, and I'll give you an example. West Tampa has many, many alleys, and most of them are all different sizes. I stopped and saw one the other day that had a fence between the backyard of a, one house facing one street and the backyard of another street facing each other. There was a, a fence there about three feet long, wide, I mean high. And further investigation, when the gentleman who brought the two locks behind built two houses, there was another fence put up. So I started looking at that and guess what? That fence that was there was never supposed to be there, supposed to be an alley. But the gentleman must've known it because he moved his fence back. So now there's four trees that are in the middle of the alley that are hanging over a house. But I can only say what I saw there. That's it. Yeah. I think that was the, uh, the gist of this is that what, one having a comprehensive look at alleys of what, you know, basically trying to identify which alleys are retainable, what alleys we want to protect and, and, you know, kind of to go forward, obviously the cost of this, uh, and I, I think I'm Brandon made a good point about taking it one bite at a time, maybe with the future. Also, I want to throw out a thought and this, I'm not, this is not solidified. This is just a thought, not well thought through, but what about, uh, considering a special assessment for homes on alleys that would help fund this along with future maintenance and improvement of those alleys sometime in the future? Councilwoman Hurtay. Um, I, I actually think that's a great idea. Um, uh, I think we should probably study that because that's, that's one of the areas that, that people talk about all the time. I mean, personally, um, I know two and a half million dollars is a lot of money. But I really believe that with the, the growth that this city is seeing that, that, that study is more important than ever. Um, so I'm curious and you're not going to be able to answer this right now, but I'd be curious for, um, our meeting next Tuesday night, uh, to talk about the first, uh, budget vote. If there is money or if there's the ability to at least have a plan, we may not allocate all two and a half million because we don't have the resources to complete the study. So what I would love to see is, um, maybe some back of the math, uh, back of the napkin math, just really quick little, uh, you know, what could we, what do you think we could actually accomplish per year? You know, hopefully to not last more than three years. Um, we really need to get a plan done. I will ask staff to put together whatever they can come up with on a more granular basis, uh, between now and next Tuesday and hopefully we'll have something that is manageable. Yeah. I mean, again, I'm just curious and just what that cost would be yearly. Do you think that makes sense? Um, and then if you wanted to make a motion about, uh, you know, thinking about, uh, uh, and a possible alley assessment, um, that would be a lot of things to look at, but I think it's not a bad idea. Yeah, I, I think it would be a good idea to have to, to start a plan. Um, a lot of people, to a lot of people in the city, alleys are very, very important and I think for urban planning in the future, they're important. What happens is they get taken away on an ad hoc basis and we need a strategy for them. Um, especially in South Tampa, a place like Hyde Park, uh, folks will really harshly defend the, uh, the alleys. If we could have a phase in, or I don't know if it's possible to have a multi-year deal where we can phase in the budget over years and I don't know exactly how you would do it, um, to make it equitable. But if it's two and a half million and there's a half million a year for four, for five years or whatever, that would be something that we could at least give hope to the communities that are not hit, um, not studied immediately. Sure. Noted. Thank you. And I, I think everybody understands that our alleys also used or how we get water out of neighborhoods as well. It's very applicable to the conversation we've had today in so many of our neighborhoods. Our alleys are critical to our water shedding and neighborhoods. Councilman Ray, you had something else? I just want to recommend something. If you just look from Columbus drive and, uh, Columbus drive and McGill Avenue, if you just drive from there to MLK on both sides, you're going to find alleys that are eight foot, 10 foot that have, you see people have put a fence on the outside and there's trees the size of a big oak tree in the middle of it. So you're going to find a lot more than what you're looking for. And those alleys belong to the city. I would imagine because there's no fence in the middle of them. And then you're going to find some alleys that have a fence between them. What I just said is a fact. Again, you're going to find that those trees belong to the city. So the tree city may be possibly, I said again, possibly responsible in case there's an accident of those trees falls over the houses because there was no alley and now there's an alley. Okay. Um, chair, you wish to make a motion. Yes. I'd like to make a motion for staff to return on February 24th, 2027 on the, uh, opportunities or possibilities of a special assessment on houses that currently back up onto an alley, uh, and to help fund the, uh, two to two and a half million study that is needed for alleys and also to, uh, help pay for, uh, maintenance and improvements. I have a motion from chair Clendenin. I have a second from councilman Vieira. All in favor. Oh, okay. I'm so sorry. Just put your light on. Those alleys that you're going to find on both sides that have an outside, you know, extension to it between one, one and the other. And there is an alley behind it that people don't even know there's an alley. It's been there for that long, but just drive through and look at it before you go and do anything else, because you're going to find more than what you're going to be able to handle. And I think that's kind of the intent of this because as, as Mr. Campbell, you know, Mr. Campbell was talking about how expensive these, we have to study these things and understand what we actually have, what assets we have, what assets are, assets we have that are savable and usable and are in the better public interest. And then we can move forward with something. Councilman Carlson. Yeah. What it, what it's going to force with the study and then this proposal is if folks have a chance to opt in, it's going to push really fast. The idea of whether the people around the alley want to keep it or vacate it. And so we'll, we'll hear that feedback really quickly. I think there has to be a chance, an opportunity for the majority of the people to opt in, um, so that it's not something imposed. Okay. So I have a motion, uh, from chair Clendenin, a second from councilman Vieira, all in favor. Aye. Any opposed. Okay. It is 11 58. We're going to adjourn for lunch. Uh, let's return here at one 30.