[1:19] Good morning everyone and welcome to the
Braden City Council meeting
[1:24] Wednesday September 9th
at 8:30 a.m. City Hall chambers. And I
[1:31] just want everybody to think about 25
years ago. what a beautiful day
[1:36] September 9th was and what our world
would change in two days and uh just to
[1:42] thank all of those we'll do it through
the meeting but the first responders and
[1:46] all the families and that that were
involved. So at this time I'll call the
[1:51] great Pastor Don Steriono with Kingdom
Life Christian Church to give us our
[1:55] prayers and then our um invocation.
Thank you.
[2:01] » Would you bow your heads please?
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your
[2:04] presence. We thank you for this
wonderful city, what you're doing here
[2:08] through these leaders, through our
citizens, and all that serve the city on
[2:12] every department. I just pray and for
their lives and every front of their
[2:17] life that you would bless them. You
would strengthen them. You would cause
[2:20] your face to shine upon them. And Lord,
as this meeting continues, I pray that
[2:25] you would just give the wisdom that only
you can bring. Open their hearts, touch
[2:29] their hearts, and bless them. keep them
safe and keep them strong. And now I
[2:33] pray your prayer. Father, our Father,
who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[2:38] » Your kingdom come, your will be done on
earth as it is in heaven. Give us this
[2:44] day our daily bread, and forgive us our
sins as we forgive those who sin against
[2:49] us, and lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from evil. For thine is the
[2:54] kingdom, and the power, and the glory
now and forever. Amen. will join all of
[3:00] our first responders and families in the
pledge of allegiance. I pledge
[3:04] » allegiance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the republic
[3:10] for which it stands. One nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty and
[3:17] justice for all.
>> Thank you, Pastor Don.
[3:22] Call the meeting to order. Madam clerk,
>> the first item on the agenda this
[3:27] morning is a proclamation for tribute to
Heroes Day.
[3:40] Morning,
Mayor and Council. I appreciate um the
[3:45] opportunity to read the proclamation.
>> Let's bring everyone down behind the
[3:49] chief. All
>> first responders, uh retired or
[3:53] currently on duty first responders, come
on up. Join us.
[4:08] Is some gonna buddy gonna tell Doug
Huffman?
[4:10] » Doug Huffman. That includes retirees.
>> Yep. [laughter]
[4:16] » He thought he could get away with it.
[4:21] So, we appreciate this opportunity this
year again on the 25th uh year uh
[4:26] anniversary of 911. And uh I'm going to
go ahead and take a minute to read the
[4:31] proclamation. On behalf of the mayor
uh city of Braden, officer office of the
[4:36] mayor proclamation. By virtue of the
authority vested in me as mayor of the
[4:40] city of Braden, I do hereby issue this
proclamation honoring tribute to heroes
[4:45] day, September 11th, 2026.
Whereas on September 11th, 2001, the
[4:51] United States suffered and endured one
of the most horrific acts in our
[4:55] history, the attack of our homeland by
terrorists who hijacked four jetliners
[5:00] in a carefully executed plan to fill
Americans with fear and insecurity. And
[5:06] whereas the American people refused to
be uh cowed and stood proud and honored
[5:13] their lost countrymen with strength and
dignity. And whereas 343 firefighters
[5:18] and 60 police police officers lost their
lives on that faithful day as they
[5:23] responded to the calls of the injured
and trapped. They did not hesitate. They
[5:27] did not falter. They went forward
regardless of the risk and our true
[5:31] heroes. [clears throat] And whereas
September 11th, 2001 proved to the world
[5:36] that heroes come in all shapes and
sizes, there are the many firefighters,
[5:41] emergency services, and law enforcement
personnel who responded on that day and
[5:46] are ready to respond again whenever and
wherever they are needed. And whereas
[5:50] the courageous and unselfish acts that
day proved again that our country is
[5:55] truly the land of the free and the home
of the brave. Now therefore, be it
[5:59] resolved that I, Gene Brown, as mayor of
the city of Brandon, Florida, do hereby
[6:04] proclaim September 11th, 2026 as tribute
to heroes day, and urge all citizens to
[6:10] reflect and remember those lost but
never forgotten, and thank those
[6:14] emergency response personnel who risk
their lives daily. Their spirit endures
[6:20] and the breeze that lifts the stars and
stripes each and every day. God bless
[6:24] America and all those that reside in her
land from sea to si shining sea. Sign
[6:29] Jean Brown, mayor, September 9th, 2026.
>> Thank you, Chief.
[6:34] » Thank you. [applause]
[6:40] » Thank you, mayor, and thank you,
council, for the proclamation. Um, every
[6:44] year this is solemn memory. I think we
all remember where we were, obviously,
[6:50] some more than others. Um, but it's
impacted everybody. You think about uh I
[6:56] I flew yesterday. Everything's different
than it was just before that. And it's
[7:01] become our way of life. Uh we stand
here, all of us stand here vigilant to
[7:06] make sure uh everyone's freedom stays
safe and secure. Uh that includes
[7:12] somebody protesting on the corner of for
15th and Manatee as I drove in today. um
[7:17] we protect their rights to be able to do
that every day and we will continue to
[7:21] do that every day. Thank you all.
>> Thank you, Chief. Um one of the things
[7:25] that I I look back on and really think
about over the years is I'm very proud
[7:30] of our
public safety, fire divisions here in
[7:34] Manatee County because we've celebrated
and you got to celebrate so we don't
[7:39] forget, but we celebrate every year.
other areas around us have stopped doing
[7:46] the memorial and the different type of
celebrations on September 11th. So kudos
[7:52] to especially the fire districts that in
the city of Bradenon that continue that
[7:56] and I know you're the president of that
organization in Manatee County this this
[8:00] year chief. So thank you for that. But
we also think that well it happened in
[8:04] New York and there but every one of you
especially the ones that were in command
[8:09] or in that day it was also happening in
Bradenton Florida where we didn't know
[8:13] if people were going to attack. We
didn't know what was going to happen
[8:16] because President Bush was at a
elementary school in Sarasota. So, you
[8:21] didn't know if all of a sudden, you
know, my my recollection was, you know,
[8:26] we were at the funeral home and having a
piece of equipment delivered and all of
[8:31] a sudden I saw hundreds of fighter jets
just going back and forth. You looked up
[8:37] and then all of a sudden you felt Air
Force One fly over top of us and it was
[8:42] almost like you could reach out and grab
it. It was so close to the ground. But
[8:46] then, you know, I look back on that and
we didn't know if there they didn't know
[8:50] if there was going to be surfaceto-air
missiles that they were going to do, how
[8:54] how detailed they were. And you know, I
just think of all those things that
[8:59] really this community stepped up as well
as every other community in the country.
[9:05] And um we all think of where we were,
who we were talking to at the time, and
[9:10] what relationships we had. Uh, and
because my cousin was isn't was in NYPD
[9:16] and he's retired, but he was actually in
one of the trade centers. So, my aunt
[9:21] was talking to my mom all day because
they didn't know for 24 hours if he was
[9:24] alive or dead because they couldn't get
a hold of anybody. And Willie actually
[9:29] ended up signing up. He was in the reser
army reserve and after that got out,
[9:34] spent two tours in Iraq, boots on the
ground fighting. So, you know, f every
[9:40] family was affected in some way. and
he's now retired NYPD after all the
[9:46] years and just living out his life in
New York. But um just everybody has a
[9:50] story and that's what we got to keep
talking about. And my 16-year-old
[9:54] grandson and my three-year-old
granddaughter knows the story. And you
[9:59] know, my granddaughter last night at
dinner said, "Papa G, are we doing
[10:03] something on 911?" So, we've got to keep
telling those stories. She doesn't
[10:08] understand it right now, but as she gets
older, I think it's important to
[10:12] continue to talk about it because not
only all the firefighters, and you can't
[10:17] say a few police officers, you know, an
ambulance and all the first responders,
[10:22] it was a team that did that, plus, you
know, 2,977
[10:28] people. You know, that's what you got to
think about. So, I appreciate what you
[10:31] do every day and what you do for our
city and our whole country. So we
[10:37] appreciate that and just thank you and
as long as we have all of us in this
[10:42] room have breaths in our lungs we got to
keep never forget keep celebrating this.
[10:47] So thank you councel
>> more.
[10:51] » Sure.
>> Miss Moore. Well, I was thinking while
[10:55] the proclamation was being read that um
if you'll indulge me, I am the daughter
[10:59] of immigrants and my grandfather
[clears throat] used to tell me this is
[11:03] the best country in the world and I feel
every day that it's an honor to be a
[11:07] part of it and the reason why I can do
that is because of what you all do. So,
[11:12] um eternally grateful for that privilege
and it's an honor to work with all of
[11:16] you all.
>> Thank you.
[11:19] Scotchia.
>> On 911, the United States of America
[11:25] became a big family. And of course,
every family has its ups and downs, but
[11:30] it's the best family on Earth, probably
in this whole galaxy. And I just say
[11:37] thank you because you right here are our
heroes
[11:43] every day. And I'm not going to get too
involved because I'll start. But just so
[11:49] appreciative and thank you for giving so
much just as those on 911. You're ready
[11:57] too and we just appreciate you. Love
you. [snorts]
[12:03] » Miss Barnaby.
No motions.
[12:09] I was vice mayor that year
and I have not forgotten a single thing.
[12:19] Our children weren't allowed to leave
their their classroom because we didn't
[12:23] know what was going on.
And my son was in American history and
[12:29] they asked the teacher, "What happens
when one country invades another
[12:32] country?"
And the teacher, not realizing Matthew
[12:36] was sitting in there, said, "Well, they
go and they get all of the elected
[12:39] officials, and they usually kill them."
And then they go after the newspapers
[12:43] and the intelligencia, the doctors, the
lawyers. What does my husband do? He's a
[12:49] lawyer. So my son sat there all day
thinking that
[12:53] we were gone.
[12:58] We have a brother-in-law that served at
the Pentagon.
[13:03] The plane stopped six feet before his
office.
[13:07] He was on the other side of the building
doing a physical assessment, stress test
[13:12] kind of thing.
And they sent all those people home. He
[13:17] had to borrow money to be able to get on
the subway because he couldn't go back
[13:22] to his office. He couldn't go anywhere
except out that way kind of thing. We
[13:26] didn't know where he was for about eight
hours.
[13:30] We were very blessed as a family that
day. There's a lot of families
[13:35] that were blessed to have family members
and sacrifice them.
[13:42] That's why we should never forget.
[13:46] » Vice Mayor Co.
>> Thank you. Thank you. Um, you know, of
[13:52] course, this is a very this is a great
day to honor all the service that you do
[13:56] for us. Of course, 9/11
brings it all uh very real. It was a
[14:02] very emotional time, especially if you
had small children. And I do worry now
[14:07] about some of the
effects of social media and rhetoric out
[14:12] there that are so anti-
um public servants. And um I am glad
[14:19] that we celebrate this and show what
heroes that you really are so that we
[14:23] can let our children grow up knowing
that. Um, I thank you so from the bottom
[14:30] of my heart for everything that you do
and when you see all the craziness that
[14:33] goes on in some of the other communities
and uh you you've kept us so safe here
[14:39] and kept it so peaceful and uh I'll be
grateful for that. Thank you.
[14:44] » Thank you, Councilman Shusler.
>> Yeah, I likewise just wanted to thank
[14:48] you for what you do every day. Um, Miss
Coachman mentioned family and uh from
[14:56] tragedy there also can be uh greatness
and um when I look at you all, I've
[15:03] heard it before, you're wearing the
badge, you're wearing the uniform.
[15:06] Please be mindful that everyone is
watching you. Um and uh thank you for
[15:11] your service. Thank you for all you do.
The silver lining is I like to believe
[15:17] that because of your service and the way
that you've acted, you know, daily down
[15:22] here, up north, uh with others, the
silver lining is hopefully we're a a a
[15:29] more caring um uh neighborhood and
community. Um and you know, your actions
[15:36] and the way that you behave in the
community also reflect on us. There was
[15:40] time last week that I saw a gal moving a
a small washing machine into her car and
[15:46] probably uh prior to 911 I I may have
rushed by because I was busy and I had
[15:51] to do stuff in the house and you know it
just causes us to stop, reach out a
[15:55] hand, say hello. We see it in the
community. I'm thankful for it. If
[15:58] there's any silver lining, it's just
that uh we are uh one one people, one
[16:03] community and and uh and and that's also
true.
[16:08] Thank you, Mr. Perry.
>> Yes, sir.
[16:11] » All right.
>> Appreciate it.
[16:13] » Thank you. All right. So, let's uh get a
picture. You guys all stand up front,
[16:17] turn sideways, face each other, and
we'll get behind you.
[16:23] » I'm not saying anything.
[16:26] » Oh, yeah.
>> I might need the box.
[16:32] » There's a crowd.
[clears throat]
[16:37] Everybody see
[16:42] [laughter]
>> She's still taller than you.
[16:56] » All right. Thank you. And we'll see most
of everybody Friday.
[17:03] » Thank you, Rob. I didn't think about
that.
[17:07] » But yeah,
[17:13] » take it personal. [snorts]
>> Yes,
[17:17] » madame clerk.
>> There are not any presentations
[17:20] scheduled this morning.
>> All right. At this time, we'll go to
[17:23] citizen comment. Citizen comment will be
accepted during the citizen comment
[17:27] portion of the meeting on any
non-aggenda item, agenda items, future
[17:32] agenda items, or topic of relevance to
the city. Comments will be accepted on
[17:36] the public hearings at the appropriate
time. As you remember, when you come
[17:40] forward, please state your name and city
of residents, and you'll have three
[17:44] minutes. Um, at this time, we'll call
Keith Green, Knights of Columbus.
[17:52] » [snorts]
[17:54] » Good morning.
>> Morning, Mr. Mayor, Council.
[17:58] [cough and clears throat]
On behalf of the Knights of Columbus,
[18:02] St. Cosmos and Damian Council 13341.
I am honored to formally invite the city
[18:08] of Bradenon, our first responders, and
members of the public to attend the 2026
[18:14] first responders mass at Arlay of the
Angels Catholic Church in Lakewood Ranch
[18:18] this evening at 6:30 p.m.
This mass
[18:23] is our opportunity to honor the
dedicated men and women who serve and
[18:28] protect our communities and express our
gratitude for their service, sacrifice,
[18:34] and commitment. It is also an
opportunity to come together in solemn
[18:38] remembrance of the tragic events of
September 11th, 2001.
[18:43] September 11th holds a very deeply
personal place in my heart as I was 17
[18:48] years old, just two months away from my
18th birthday and was not far from the
[18:53] Pentagon when the when American Airlines
Flight 77 struck the building.
[18:59] In the days and months that followed, I
witnessed the extraordinary unity and
[19:04] resilience that emerged from that
tragedy.
[19:07] Americans from all walks of life came
together, first responders, countless
[19:11] others, worked through the rubble,
searched for survivors, supported
[19:16] grieving families, and began the
difficult process of recovery and
[19:19] rebuilding.
The damaged section of the Pentagon was
[19:24] rebuilt in just over a year, standing as
a powerful testament to the
[19:29] determination and resilience of our
nation.
[19:33] 25 years later, we must never forget.
We must never forget that nearly 3,000
[19:38] lives lost that day. We must never
forget the first responders who ran
[19:42] towards danger when others were trying
to escape it. And we must never forget
[19:47] the courage, sacrifice, unity, and
resilience that our nation demonstrated
[19:52] in the aftermath.
We must also continue to stand behind
[19:56] the men and women who answer the call to
serve every day, our police officers,
[20:01] sheriff's deputies, firefighters, EMS
personnel, and the men and women of the
[20:07] United States Armed Forces.
The mass is our opportunity as a
[20:11] community to say something very simple
but very important. Thank you. Thank you
[20:17] for answering the call to serve. Thank
you for the sacrifices you and your
[20:21] families make. And thank you for being
there for our communities when we need
[20:25] you the most.
I have brought with me official flyers
[20:29] for this evening for this evening's mass
which I would like to leave with you
[20:33] which I've already taken care of with
the clerk. I sincerely hope that members
[20:37] of the city of Bradenon, our first
responders, and our community will join
[20:40] us this evening as we pray for those who
serve, remember those we lost, and
[20:47] reaffirm promise that
endured for 25 years, we will never
[20:54] forget.
>> Thank you. Now, we have Patricia
[20:58] Simmons.
[21:02] Please state your name and your city of
residence. You have three minutes. Good
[21:07] morning.
[21:10] » Good morning. Pat Simmons Man County.
Um, I wanted [laughter] to
[21:18] I thought I had
paperwork for this, but unfortunately I
[21:26] must have given it all away to people up
the street. So,
[21:33] the first thing I wanted to tell you
about is Mesa, Arizona was named the
[21:41] world's first autism certified city in
2019.
[21:49] And Phoenix just recently became the
largest municipality
[21:56] in the US to gain that certification
and it's through bear with me
[22:05] international
board of credentiing
[22:10] and continuing education standards which
is IBCC
[22:18] ES
um which requires at least 80%
[22:25] of front facing city employees in public
services
[22:32] including police
um fire parks department staff to
[22:39] complete a specialized autism and
sensory training.
[22:46] Um
in Mesa
[22:51] this they're calling a frontfacing
employees.
[22:57] Nearly 60 local businesses, hotels,
attractions joined in
[23:04] and in Phoenix um which is the fifth
largest city, it's fully accessible and
[23:14] sensory friendly.
and they did it. And I'm not a Cubs fan.
[23:21] I'm a White Socks fan, but I'm was so
proud of the city of Chicago because
[23:28] Wrigley Field is now the first Major
League Baseball Stadium to be certified.
[23:37] So, I got to thinking about the camp
park and the um city park and maybe
[23:45] that's something you might want to look
into is being the first spring training
[23:54] park.
So, um those are just a [laughter] few
[23:58] ideas. And there's also um
I can part with this because I have a
[24:06] cup
[24:11] This is in Long [laughter] Beach,
California.
[24:15] There's actually adaptive um hot air
balloon rides, which I thought was
[24:23] pretty cool. But there's um camping in
Utah. There's all kinds of things in
[24:30] Colorado. So think about what kind of
niche you want to be and maybe we could
[24:37] be like an adaptive sports tourism city.
>> Thank you. M
[24:45] » Chief Kramer, can you give a little
update on some of the things we do with
[24:49] the autism and what we have that month
and with obviously that family that we
[24:53] deal with?
>> Yes. um every April, autism awareness
[24:58] month, and we uh partner with the Autism
Society of Florida who has come and
[25:03] received uh proclamations, I believe,
from the city in the past. Um we put our
[25:08] officers through the training uh if not
annually, then by annually, and um there
[25:14] is training that's required from FDLE
now. Um but also the fire department is
[25:21] part of that training as well. So,
>> so I appreciate that, Miss Simmons. And
[25:26] we'll bring, you know, I will talk with
the pirates and see if there's, you
[25:30] know, some of the things that they
actually can implement during spring
[25:34] training to help out because obviously,
you know, you always want to be ready
[25:39] for any situation, but if something
happens, you want to be prepared to to
[25:43] help somebody. And then also, I'll just
talk on for the the uh
[25:49] event tonight. Um we appreciate that all
that's been done through that through
[25:54] the the Knights of Columbus and over the
years and it's been at different
[25:58] churches and rotated around but but it's
a great event to celebrate in a kind of
[26:03] a mass that that happens and so we
appreciate all of that that's gone on
[26:08] over the years. So it's been a a great
event and uh look forward to it tonight.
[26:14] All right, any other council
hearing? None. Thank you, Madame Clerk.
[26:20] Item six is the consent agenda as staff
and requesting approval of items A
[26:26] through P.
>> Chair will entertain a motion.
[26:31] » Move to approve consent agenda as
presented. Items A through P. Sec.
[26:36] » All right. We have a motion by
Councilwoman Barnaby, seconded by
[26:40] Councilwoman Coachman. Any discussion?
Hearing none, we'll start the vote in
[26:46] ward five.
>> Yes.
[26:48] » One.
>> Yes. Two.
[26:50] » Yes.
>> Three.
[26:51] » Yes.
>> Four.
[26:52] » Yes.
>> Carries five to zero. Thank you very
[26:54] much, madame clerk.
>> Item 7A is the public hearing for the
[26:59] JAG grant submission.
>> All right. And we have Mr. Giddens
[27:05] coming forward.
>> Morning, Mayor Council.
[27:09] » Uh before you is our application
approval for submission to the 2026
[27:15] Edward Burn Justice Assistant Grant. Uh
our award allocation this year was
[27:19] $25,17
dollars. We would allocate that to
[27:23] purchase ballistic vests, uh rifle
lockers, and tactical training uniforms.
[27:29] Um this does require a public hearing
and we have advertised it publicly for
[27:34] 30 days in line with the requirements of
the funding source.
[27:38] » Any questions for Mr. Giddens before we
go to the public hearing? Hearing none,
[27:43] we'll open the public hearing. Anyone
wishing to speak? Anyone wishing to
[27:48] speak?
Anyone wishing to speak? Hearing none,
[27:52] we'll close the public hearing. Chair
will entertain a motion
[27:56] » for approval of the Edward Burn Memorial
Justice Assistant Grant.
[28:00] » Mr.
>> Yes. Uh my motion to approve the
[28:04] acceptance
>> to accept the FY2026
[28:08] Edward Burn Memorial Justice Assistance
Grant submission and authorization for
[28:12] the mayor to execute the final
agreement.
[28:14] » Second.
>> Second
[28:17] by Vice Mayor Coker, seconded by
Councilman Schustler. Any further
[28:20] discussion hearing? None. We'll start
the vote in Ward one.
[28:24] » Yes.
>> Two.
[28:25] » Yes.
>> Three.
[28:26] » Yes.
>> Four.
[28:27] » Yes.
>> Five.
[28:28] » Yes.
>> Carries five to zero. Thank you, Mr.
[28:30] Gib. Thank you, Mar.
Madame clerk,
[28:33] » item 7B is the first reading for
ordinance 4064,
[28:38] an ordinance of the city of Bradenton,
Florida, annexing into the city of
[28:43] Braden, Bradenton Certain Real Property
contiguous thereto, generally located
[28:50] approximately
1,200 ft east of the intersection of
[28:54] 59th Street West and 33rd Avenue Drive
West, identified as parcel A and a fee
[29:01] simple deed of the Manatee County
Official Records Book 1043,
[29:06] page 1 1914, and more particularly
described herein, containing 0.62 acres
[29:13] total and owned by the city of
Bradenton, providing for findings of
[29:18] fact, providing for amendment of the
city's boundaries, providing for
[29:22] severability, and providing for an
effective date. And the second reading
[29:26] and public hearing for ordinance 4074 is
scheduled for September 23rd.
[29:32] » All right. Thank you.
>> Item 7 C is the first reading for
[29:37] ordinance 4081.
An ordinance of the city of Bradenton,
[29:41] Florida, annexing into the city of
Bradenton certain real property
[29:46] contiguous thereto
generally located
[29:50] approximately 160 ft south of the
intersection of 59th Street West and
[29:55] 33rd Avenue Drive West identified as
parcel B in a fee simple deed of the
[30:01] Manatee County official records book
1043
[30:05] page 1914 and more particularly
described described herein containing
[30:11] 0.42 acres total and owned by the city
of Bradenton providing for findings of
[30:17] fact providing for amendment to the city
boundaries providing for severability
[30:22] and providing for an effective date and
that second reading on public hearing
[30:26] for ordinance 4081 is scheduled for
September 23rd.
[30:31] » Thank you [snorts]
madam clair. Item 8A is a deed from
[30:36] Manatee County for property located at
100009 4th Avenue West, the former GTE
[30:42] building.
>> Mr. Perry, mayor, council, um, as
[30:47] I [clears throat] believe you're all
aware, um, the county commission has
[30:51] agreed to convey the property, formerly
known as the GTE building, to the city.
[30:56] Uh, the purpose of that is for, uh, a
public purpose and it's within the CRA's
[31:02] program when the city is contemplating
um a an expansion and and satellite
[31:08] potential satellite campus of an
educational institution. And so that is
[31:13] what we're dealing with. Um this
basically would allow the city to
[31:17] receive that deed and uh to take take
title to the property. There's
[31:21] provisions in the deed for a five-year
um
[31:26] provision that it would revert back.
It's called the reverter provision if
[31:30] the property was not actively utilized
as a public purpose within the CRA plan.
[31:37] And that's basically the overview of it.
>> Yeah. And I think one of the things
[31:40] that's important that is if there's
misinformation out in the public right
[31:45] now that we would get this and then all
of a sudden turn around and sell it. We
[31:51] don't have that authority with the way
that it's written out to sell it unless
[31:55] we go back to the county and they
authorize it. So, I think, you know,
[31:59] some of the propaganda that might be out
and some of the media information needs
[32:04] to be corrected that if it's not used
for a public purpose, the county gets it
[32:08] back. So, there is stop gaps in it to
make sure we don't do anything right
[32:14] underhanded.
unfortunately that there's people out
[32:18] there that that don't get all of the
information and should.
[32:23] » So, u I just want one other comment on
it. The city staff is working with the
[32:27] CRA. Dr. Burton is here. He's taken a
lot of initiatives to um kind of move
[32:32] forward with the development of this
facility uh as it relates to consistency
[32:37] with the the CRA program plan and the
potential for an educational
[32:41] institution.
>> Right. And I think one of the most
[32:43] important things we you know had several
of us there the other day and Mr. Perry,
[32:49] myself and then also um Jannine Amik was
able to to answer some of the questions
[32:54] and the vote by the county commission
was six to zero to approve this. So I
[33:00] was glad that we were able to answer all
their questions um because three of them
[33:04] had specific questions. We were able to
satisfy their questions and we were able
[33:09] to get a unanimous vote. So, I think
that was important to for the public to
[33:14] understand that this is a collaboration
with the county and the city and our
[33:19] urban core. So, um we just need a vote
to accept the conveyance of this
[33:25] property. Mr. Rudicel, is there anything
specific?
[33:28] » No, it's just just an acceptance. Yes.
And then we have the uh the original
[33:33] deed in our office and it'll be recorded
once it's accepted.
[33:36] » Okay.
>> All right. So, chair will entertain a
[33:38] motion.
>> Um
[33:40] » well, would
and then we'll have discussion.
[33:43] » Mr. Mayor,
>> yes.
[33:44] » Motion to accept the deed from Manatee
County conveying the property at 1094th
[33:49] Avenue West to the city of Bradenton and
direct staff to advertise for
[33:53] disposition by lease specifically for
purposes of providing educational
[33:58] workforce development and community
training opportunities or other
[34:02] redevelopment purposes consistent with
the downtown district area community
[34:07] redevelopment plan.
>> Thank you. Second. I heard Miss Vice
[34:11] Mayor Coker. All right, Miss Moore.
>> Um I um as you all know, I had some
[34:17] questions about uh not the project
itself, but locations of properties and
[34:21] whatnot. And um and I just wanted to
reassure you all that I that I
[34:29] understand how our, you know, democratic
collaborative body works. And uh while
[34:37] my advocacy for an area within my ward
won't stop, I will though I you know I I
[34:43] am I'm appreciative of our community
partners and our their willingness to uh
[34:48] take time with me and answer a lot of my
questions. Um, Miss Amik was also aware
[34:55] that I had all, you know, some
reservations and some concerns and she
[34:59] reached out and took uh a couple of
hours of her day last week to go over
[35:03] some of my questions with me. And I
thought that for the benefit of you all,
[35:08] I would share what those questions were
and then if it was okay, if it was
[35:12] appropriate that she could maybe come
and answer some of them to give you all
[35:15] the same uh information that she
provided to me.
[35:19] So, I'll [clears throat] just run
through those questions real quick. Um,
[35:22] and they included things like why had we
not met with the university individually
[35:27] as council members? Um, what kind of
financial downtown investments were they
[35:32] committed to or proposing?
Keeping in mind that we are, you know,
[35:36] aware that and with our CRA hat in the
future, we're going to be discussing
[35:41] some some level of financial commitments
on our behalf. um what their plan was
[35:47] for future development, capital
campaigns that might support the Florida
[35:51] campus operations,
um their plans for future development of
[35:55] student populations and to what level
they had committed those student
[35:59] populations and planned and anticipated
for those and what kind of support
[36:03] systems they would offer or work with us
to uh provide for their students in
[36:09] their Braon campus. And then generally
speaking, I just wanted some reassurance
[36:14] as far as I understand that this the
university is engaging the services of
[36:18] their own consultant to provide an
economic uh study of the of the uh
[36:25] wisdom of them proceeding with their own
process. Um and I would love to see the
[36:30] results of that. My understanding is
that it's not available yet. and then
[36:33] also just our basis of what we hope to
see as economic redevelopment from this
[36:39] um from this endeavor
and um yeah and then that so that was
[36:45] actually it that's the list of questions
that I presented to Miss Amic and she
[36:49] was very thorough and um I think that
we're moving in the right direction and
[36:55] I appreciate her time.
>> So I don't know if anyone else would
[37:00] like to hear from her. Other questions
from council?
[37:04] » Oops. We're just getting into this. So,
yeah, I mean,
[37:09] » I just have a a comment if I may.
>> Yes.
[37:12] » Yeah. I mean, um
I appreciate what Miss Moore just said
[37:16] in terms of due diligence and uh the
process and looking through it. And I
[37:21] just wanted to say that uh Dr. Burton
talks about hierarchy of of of needs.
[37:28] Um, and I like to call it maybe the the
the halo effect of a university coming
[37:34] into our downtown uh core. Um, and the
potential economic impact that will be
[37:40] felt in every ward citywide. Um so I I
look forward to further exploration and
[37:46] as this moves forward and and uh you
know seeing the econ economic impact,
[37:52] the jobs created um the uh more uh
visitors um in our city and I think that
[38:00] as we talk about a walkable city tying
everything together um this is a a very
[38:06] big step in that direction.
>> Right. I'll just say a couple things
[38:10] that we've learned even from the last
meeting. There was some questions about
[38:15] parking. There was different
opportunities, but that building isn't
[38:20] going to need the traditional parking. A
downtown, as you grow, doesn't have
[38:26] traditional
30 spaces right in front of a building.
[38:31] We know that in a city in Florida, and I
won't say Bradenon only, but a lot of
[38:38] cities, people think that, well, I'm
gonna drive around the block until I
[38:42] find that spot right in front of the
restaurant. I'll drive for 15 minutes
[38:47] looking for that spot right up in front
of Walmart. I'll, you know, so we we're
[38:52] trying to create that. So, I think
that's an important issue. Um, a
[38:57] building's value is only what someone's
willing to pay for it. And when you have
[39:02] to spend considerable amounts of money,
we've seen our downtown buildings that
[39:06] people were willing to go into it and
possibly purchase it and remodel, but
[39:13] when they get what they have to do, fire
safety, life and safety, when they have
[39:17] to do electric because of the old
building, they can't afford to do that.
[39:22] And that's where in some area instances
CRA in a district has an opportunity to
[39:27] do that. So I think this building, you
know, probably two years ago was slated
[39:32] to be torn down for a parking garage. So
in reality, you know, we're looking at
[39:38] saving it. So, um, yeah, I I don't never
I'm trying to think of the best way
[39:45] because in a workshop we have people
come up and talk and we've already had a
[39:49] motion in a second to have somebody come
up and talk is a little unique and it's
[39:55] at my discretion if I'm not mistaken,
Mr. Rudesel, to let somebody come up and
[40:01] talk that questions have been gone. But
I'm going to allow Mrs. Amic to come up
[40:07] and and answer the few questions because
those questions have been answered to a
[40:11] lot of the council members and we do not
want to get into any proprietary stuff
[40:15] and that's one of the biggest things and
you cannot talk fourpoint park. You can
[40:20] answer some questions and so I'm trying
to think of logistically
[40:24] where we want to get to answer the
questions but also they are in their
[40:30] process of getting their accreditation
with their middle state and the state of
[40:34] Florida. So, we're not particularly
talking about anyone in general, but
[40:38] what can happen to best serve our
community if this goes forward.
[40:44] » So, uh for the record, Janine Aik, CEO,
Florida Cultural Group. Uh to the
[40:49] mayor's point, that was part of the
discussion that I had with councilwoman
[40:53] um Gonzalez Moore was in regards that it
was not that they could not meet
[40:58] collectively with everybody, but there
is a number of people on the team both
[41:03] from individual nonprofit organizations,
foundations in the city of Bradon as
[41:09] well as the city of Bradon and the
county. And so being mindful of the
[41:13] brand of Point Park University as well
as the individual organizations
[41:18] that are also contemplating their own
involvement.
[41:22] Um h you how do you do that? that
protects each organization as they go
[41:28] back to their individual boards of
directors to say what's going to be in
[41:32] our best interest as well as how can we
collectively make this happen because we
[41:37] see it as not just something that the
city is doing but more of a bigger plan
[41:43] that it is really our community
holistically and a lot of players at the
[41:49] table um bringing this to the community
for the benefit of everybody not just
[41:54] one organization. So, uh, one of the
things that Miss Moore was talking about
[41:59] is the need in specific the GTE
building. Um, and I can speak in regards
[42:05] to the comfort level for council people
as they move forward in taking this
[42:09] building and the cost that will be
involved in renovating it is that we're
[42:14] very excited at the performing arts
center and Sarah Studios to share that
[42:20] uh even when we added the fourth floor
to Sarah Studios um based off of the
[42:26] need of people who have already reached
out to us um were over capacity.
[42:32] And with Point Park coming it as we hope
and um secure some more space in our
[42:38] building, we're not going to be able to
meet the needs of everybody. And so to
[42:42] give the council comfort saying that if
it didn't work out with the university
[42:46] and they put this in, um that we do have
partners who would immediately want to
[42:53] have access and rent that space from
you. uh we won't share their names
[42:57] because we don't want them getting
kicked out of their current spaces um as
[43:01] they're looking for other spaces. But
the space that we hope that you guys are
[43:05] able to create u I can promise you would
definitely be used and we've been able
[43:10] to build a case that there is a need and
a usage in downtown Bradon. And I think
[43:15] that was some of what people were
hesitant about about spending these
[43:19] dollars and if it didn't work out what's
going to happen and what's the ROI on
[43:23] the investment. it's there's other
people who are lined up who would also
[43:28] be able to use that space.
[clears throat] I think that was the
[43:31] biggest of the questions.
>> No. And I think that that in any
[43:35] business and you know we cannot be full
business as I've been
[43:41] » um told in the past, but we can be
businesslike and you can always find a
[43:47] reason why not to do something. And
unfortunately, I think Bradenton has
[43:52] done that for a long time, you know, and
since uh this last six years with since
[43:59] I became mayor and we've got a great
council that we're trying to find out
[44:04] why we can do things. And when I came
into this job in 2013,
[44:09] uh I don't know if any of nobody was
sitting up here at that moment but me
[44:15] with others, but I ask a lot of why
questions the first six months. So, I
[44:19] don't I I love the why questions, but
unfortunately, some of them couldn't be
[44:23] answered. Exactly. And then they thought
I wanted to change things. And I had to
[44:27] explain, I've never been in a job like
this where you can't talk to your
[44:31] co-workers, you can't talk to others,
staff isn't sure all the time where
[44:36] you're going. And but I needed to know
why so then I could make an educated
[44:42] good decision. And I I appreciate that.
You know, those are the questions that
[44:46] we got. So that may play into why I
wanted a referendum on the this year
[44:53] about the mayor's voting power because
then we can talk a little bit more and
[44:58] give a little bit more information. So I
think there's opportunity there. Um, one
[45:03] of the things again the the EDC has
certain regulations because
[45:09] the businesses don't want to say, "Okay,
let me kick the tires here." And then
[45:15] all of a sudden people are saying,
"Well, if you're kicking the tires
[45:18] there, we're kicking you out of this
building." You know, so a lot of people
[45:22] have to go through that. And that's what
I think we've got to understand. And
[45:27] it's hard when you want to know
everything, but everything in this has
[45:31] been more than transparent as we've got
the information. And you know the field
[45:36] of dreams, well, we're going to call it
the friendly city of Bradenton field of
[45:40] dreams that we're going to bring as much
to we can. And if you will build it, if
[45:45] you build it, they will come. I'm very
confident in us building it and having
[45:50] the opportunity whether it's with this
or the next opportunity. But we don't
[45:56] want to continue sand piles. Mr. Perry's
probably tired of me saying the sand
[46:01] pile. Well, finally the sand pile is no
more. But the sand pile for 30 plus
[46:07] years was a draw on Breton because we as
count as city council and mayor's
[46:16] offices for 30 plus years found reasons
why not to do things. If that's not what
[46:23] people want, then that I'm not your guy.
But I'm going to continue to work on
[46:28] those strategies to make our city that
1922 friendly city when it became the
[46:34] friendly city and continue that over a
hundred years later when none of us were
[46:40] up here.
Miss Barnaby,
[46:43] » well, I I just wanted to add it hasn't
that sample hasn't been a, you know,
[46:51] » detriment [clears throat] to the city
for 30 years. My mother was in labor
[46:55] with me
>> when the afternoon paper came out and
[46:58] said they were going to dredge up the
river bottom and they were going to
[47:01] create the sand pile. I was born in
1957.
[47:06] How long did that just sit there and sit
there and sit there?
[47:11] So again,
from the benefit I've I've had, from the
[47:17] the privilege I've had of serving the
community for as long as I've had, I
[47:21] have seen different companies, different
businesses, different people coming in
[47:27] from out of town, you know, coming up
wanting to meet with the mayor. Um, I
[47:33] I'm thinking of moving my business here.
What can you do for me? Kind of thing.
[47:36] And and you realize what they're doing
is they're shopping. They're going to
[47:40] take whatever an incentive that we might
give them and they're going to go play
[47:45] us against
somebody else. And you may have 50
[47:50] different people come in with 50
different ideas and not a single one of
[47:56] them end up coming here because they got
something from us. They think and then
[48:02] they're going to go play us against
somebody else. It happens a lot. I've se
[48:06] I mean like in and out in and out. So, I
understand that there are times that
[48:11] that we may not know exactly what is
happening because if we talked about
[48:17] every single person that came in and
said they wanted to do something,
[48:23] it would look like, well, what's wrong
with the city? Because they they didn't
[48:26] reel the fish in.
And a lot of times, they're not really
[48:31] interested here. They just want to see
what they can get and go and use it to
[48:35] their advantage in another situation. I
don't think this is what's happening
[48:39] here.
>> If I could, mayor only because you said
[48:44] something about the sand pile. You know,
years ago, the the city and those who
[48:48] were sitting here took a risk and with
the performing arts center and
[48:53] relocating it from where Spring Hill
Suites [clears throat] is to and it was
[48:57] because community came together and I
believe that's the success to Mayor
[49:02] Brown's point. It was the community who
came together to realize a vision and I
[49:07] believe this is the same situation. It
is a community of different
[49:11] organizations coming together asking the
city as well as the county for help in
[49:17] making this happen because overall we
see it for the benefit of the community.
[49:21] » Right. And the collaboration
what we've seen so far outside of
[49:26] government has been unbelievable. than
inside of government. It it is um also
[49:32] great collaboration and sometimes the uh
toughest decisions to be made end up
[49:41] being the best decisions and sometimes
they're not always the most popular with
[49:46] depending on the groups and out there.
But people look back, Route 66 through
[49:51] Albuquerque, New Mexico, uh, many years
ago, but they look back now and that
[49:56] redevelopment, I think people would say,
is the best thing. But it did cost
[50:01] people their jobs in their elections
because of the turmoil at the moment of
[50:07] the traffic and all of that. And you
know, you can look at a million of those
[50:11] throughout government that and you can
also look at probably 10 million that
[50:16] government chickened out and didn't make
a decision and they should have. So I
[50:22] think and obviously I'm very confident
that we're in a process that's going to
[50:25] keep going. But, you know, I think the e
when it should be out in weeks, we think
[50:30] within some of the that information,
which will just solidify, I believe,
[50:34] from what everything we've heard and and
you know, they did interview me and talk
[50:38] with me about some things in a community
that Kennet support.
[50:43] Our biggest community support, I think,
is uh a school, little school off of
[50:49] 43rd Street and Manatee Avenue. And you
look at the another school over in
[50:54] Palmetto that is a a public school that
has an opportunity. You look at a high
[50:59] school that's building that is going to
be out east that is going to process
[51:05] through and help this. So it's not just,
oh, we're going to bring everybody in
[51:08] from everywhere else. There's people
that live here now that we might have
[51:12] heard on a a Zoom call yesterday that
are graduates that are so excited about
[51:18] it with Point Park. So, you know, I
think that and again, you don't have to
[51:23] know all you don't know all of that yet.
Some of it, it's hard to know it until
[51:28] it becomes more public. Um, but those
type of things. I've had two phone calls
[51:34] already, one from New York and one from
Michigan that have seen this and want to
[51:39] bring small business down here now
kicking the tires. So, those I've turned
[51:43] them over to the EDC to get that. So
when you talk about how hard and you
[51:48] hear a lot of people that I've heard the
whole time because you know I'm a rahrh
[51:52] person for city of Bradon heard so many
people talk about that our retail
[51:59] is um not rentable in downtown. We have
a as a when I sat on the CRA board, city
[52:07] council, we made a couple of decisions
at those moments and there's been a lot
[52:11] of them that we have forced people if
they wanted to take our money, they had
[52:18] to put retail in the base of them and
they can't rent them. And so what are we
[52:25] doing to try to get those properties
rentable? And I think this is one of
[52:31] those things that could be that
catalyst. What money they will put in
[52:37] it. All you got to do is look at what
they've done for capital campaigns in
[52:41] Pittsburgh the last seven years. I'm
very confident once this is successful.
[52:47] They're going to do the same type of
thing here. And that's part of it. So,
[52:51] Mrs. Moore.
>> Yeah. [clears throat] Um, I just wanted
[52:55] to clarify that I mean I see my decision
making up here is I need to lay a
[53:02] predicate uh for the public. Um, Miss
Ammit could have uh well, she could have
[53:08] not reached out at all knowing that I
had some questions and reservations. She
[53:11] chose not to do that. She spent time
with me. we could have left it there,
[53:14] but she offered to come here because I
expressed that I wanted the public to
[53:20] know that there's, you know, that people
are crossing tees and and dotting eyes.
[53:26] And it's not my personal opinion that
that we're not doing that due diligence,
[53:31] but I think it's important that the
public knows. And I think that uh if our
[53:35] meetings are too quiet because of the
sensitivities
[53:39] um then I uh what my main concern is
then that we don't have that public
[53:44] buyin that we're going to need
eventually. We're going to need the
[53:46] other merchants on Main Street to to
support it. I mean I think all these
[53:50] things are happening but we're going to
need community buyin. And so if we don't
[53:56] if we don't do this thing where we kind
of put out there what we can, I just
[54:02] want to make sure that the public is
trusting our decision-m and that is my
[54:05] goal in in basically asking her to to
come and and share what she can that she
[54:12] shared with me and also have us have
this conversation because I think
[54:16] ultimately the public will be reassured
that we're not just willy-nilly, you
[54:22] know, just like moving forward that
things are happening in their proper
[54:26] time and place.
>> Well, Mrs. Moore, I'm going to agree
[54:28] with you when you say I because I think
that if you've heard me up here, we
[54:34] all believe that. So, and that's where
some of my frustration has come lately
[54:39] is we got to keep saying we and I
individual council members, individual
[54:44] votes, but I would hope that the public
would see that my family's seventh
[54:51] generation here in Mante County wouldn't
think we're trying to hoodwink
[54:56] something. But unfortunately, we have a
Facebook and some of the merchants on
[55:01] Main Street
articulate on that Facebook and say
[55:06] things that, you know, we should not
always um take personally, but when you
[55:13] post something on Facebook and you're a
merchant on Main Street, it's public
[55:18] knowledge then because it's on Facebook.
So, I would hope that our merchants on
[55:23] Main Street and others would be uh
cautious and con conscious of what
[55:30] they're posting.
>> And that was just an example, but I'm
[55:33] saying generally speaking that there's
some others that do it, too.
[55:36] » And I know we all care about that. I'm
not saying
[55:39] » we all we as a group about it. Yes.
>> And and there's been some emotion in the
[55:43] last couple of meetings that none of us
are against anybody. We're all for
[55:48] Bradon, the friendly city, and I hope
that you as well as everybody else with
[55:53] his staff and others,
you know, know that. But, you know, I'm
[56:00] going to keep in my position fighting
for our downtown urban core to finally
[56:07] develop.
And I say that finally, and I did say I
[56:12] because I'm only one, but I also am the
leader of this group and this city to
[56:18] say we are going to keep fighting for
the positive
[56:23] no matter what a few
are bashing.
[56:29] Vice Mayor Coker.
>> Yeah. Um, it's it's funny because I had
[56:35] this in my mind to discuss during uh my
council comments, but I think it's more
[56:42] it's even applies to this and it's not
even just this specific issue. It's been
[56:48] in a lot of the local community
decisions recently. Um leadership is
[56:54] about I mean this job is about not just
the decisions that we make here but it's
[57:00] about relationship building with other
organizations with other um parts of
[57:07] government. It's about um having that
networking and it's also about trust.
[57:15] And I think it is time for some of these
people that are getting on their phones,
[57:20] sitting in their cars and just opining
on things without facts and really
[57:26] misleading a lot of people. It's time
for them to put those down, go eyeball
[57:31] to eyeball, come to our meetings, talk
to us, and just stop this. it it's
[57:37] gotten out of control. And I and I'm not
directing that at you, but I think it
[57:42] somewhat applies here. We've got to have
some trust in our staff and in the um
[57:48] people that we are that they are working
with. It's kind of happening
[57:52] organically. And I think what we end up
with is going to be a better um a better
[57:59] uh product if we're not just constantly
kneejerking to this next door post or
[58:05] this Facebook post. Um everyone is
working for the best outcome for for our
[58:12] community. And so I I I I would
encourage people and I understand that
[58:17] that that you feel that that maybe you
feel more sensitive. I try to ignore
[58:22] them because there's so much
misinformation out there and they don't
[58:27] seem to want to believe facts. They only
want to believe what's that. So, um I I
[58:33] would I would like to encourage us all
to have a bit of trust in our in our
[58:40] team. So, that's all
>> and I think you know I agree with that
[58:45] vice mayor. Um and and we have tried
through our PIO to get as much
[58:51] information out and answer some of
[clears throat] the false information.
[58:58] And some people have different beliefs
in that that way you should just let it
[59:01] go because it's only on Facebook. But
sometimes you have to at least respond
[59:04] once and that's what we've been doing.
Put the facts out. One of our biggest
[59:09] things is the face it and fix it. The
facts. We've we've talked about that and
[59:14] I know that's off topic with this, but
it is something that people think we're
[59:18] not doing anything. Well, $200 million
is not doing anything, but it takes
[59:23] time. And those things that again, it
goes to this concept, too. I believe
[59:29] that if we would have maybe faced that a
little sooner, we wouldn't be facing as
[59:34] much of it right now. If we would have
faced a little things sooner and done
[59:39] some things, it wouldn't have been right
now as much. But no, there has to be
[59:43] some trust. There has to be some,
[clears throat]
[59:46] you know, privacy for the companies
because until they can actually put it
[59:51] out publicly,
we don't know. And I don't think
[59:54] government should just say no to
everything or we're never going to be
[59:57] anything. And I'm not criticizing one
over the other on Facebook, but when it
[1:00:02] becomes a permanent record,
>> people gota Yeah.
[1:00:06] » And I just want you all to know I'm not
responding to anything on on FA I don't
[1:00:09] I actually don't
>> really look at social
[1:00:12] » I'm not saying you
>> I'm not that's not what I'm doing. It is
[1:00:14] just my I guess we all bring a certain
flare
[1:00:17] » and like it or or not like it. This is
my this is this is the way I do the
[1:00:23] thing that I do. Um and so yeah, I just
I need you all to trust that this is the
[1:00:29] way I [clears throat] think that this is
the way I do this job. It is not a
[1:00:32] matter of not trusting. It is this is
what makes me feel better. [snorts]
[1:00:36] » And I think one of the things that and
this is not to any particular person up
[1:00:40] here, but our agenda traditionally comes
out. We try on Wednesday or Thursday the
[1:00:46] week before. So everybody gets the
agenda. If you
[1:00:53] careful what I wish for here, but
[1:00:59] there's nobody in the audience.
>> I know
[1:01:02] » there wasn't anybody two weeks ago.
There wasn't anybody two weeks ago. And
[1:01:07] we've got three,
well, I'd say two, maybe one citizen
[1:01:13] here that's not being paid somehow by
the city and and Janine. So, two um and
[1:01:22] the other uh there's four people in here
that are not city employees as of today,
[1:01:26] but two of them are tied to it in some
way. And so,
[1:01:32] come and talk to us. Listen, you do not
hear on TV what you hear in the meeting.
[1:01:40] I don't know how many of you love Zoom,
but I since co I love Zoom to not have
[1:01:47] to drive across town, but how many of us
are um dialed in on a Zoom call? 100%.
[1:01:53] You're doing 10 other things and there
is not a person up here that can say
[1:01:56] they're not because you can continue to
do other things
[1:02:00] Zoom [clears throat] or Teams or
whatever they call them now. So anyway,
[1:02:05] I think we've had a lot of discussion
and thank you Mrs. dynamic for all of
[1:02:09] your knowledge. Um to approve this
acceptance, we'll start the vote in ward
[1:02:14] two.
>> Yes.
[1:02:15] » Three.
>> Yes.
[1:02:16] » Four.
>> Yes.
[1:02:17] » Five.
>> Yes.
[1:02:18] » One.
>> Yes.
[1:02:19] » Carries unanimously. Thank you.
>> All right, Mr. Perry.
[1:02:27] » We go to lectern. Mayor, I think it
might be a little easier.
[1:03:03] » [cough]
[clears throat]
[1:03:13] » I think you can all read that and I
believe uh it's in your package under
[1:03:17] item 8B which is the census population
estimate and authorization letter for
[1:03:22] 2026.
[1:03:29] So I wanted to come down and talk about
this. I I present it pretty much every
[1:03:33] year and and the short version of our uh
of our population estimate deals with a
[1:03:40] letter that we get pretty much in August
of every year. And what it does, it
[1:03:44] takes the US census population for the
city of Bradenton that of course is done
[1:03:49] every 10 years. The last year it was
done was 2020.
[1:03:54] And then through uh through the uh
bureau of of business and and economic
[1:04:00] and business research at the University
of Florida, they're charged with taking
[1:04:05] into account what the annual population
growth is for an all the cities in the
[1:04:11] state of Florida, all all the
municipalities basically. And one of the
[1:04:15] reasons why they do that is that those
population numbers um impact how much in
[1:04:20] state revenue share we get from the
state of Florida as well as can impact
[1:04:26] how much we get on on different types of
federal um assistance as well as well.
[1:04:31] But un under section 186.0901
of the Florida uh revenue sharing act,
[1:04:38] it's specific. And so it's important
that we have accurate numbers because if
[1:04:41] we grow a lot, we want to make sure that
we're capturing additional revenue. Um,
[1:04:46] one of the interesting things is is that
since I've been here for the last five
[1:04:50] years, I've heard about the um the
prolific growth in the area and and and
[1:04:56] there certainly is in Manatee County,
but I I I've tried to analyze the growth
[1:05:01] in the city of Bradenton and [cough]
look at the statistics and data opposed
[1:05:06] to the Facebooks as you pointed out and
people's kind of um feeling about the
[1:05:12] growth. Again, we're 14.4 four square
miles in geographical area and we don't
[1:05:18] have a whole lot of undeveloped swaths
of property to develop for either
[1:05:23] residential subdivisions or commercial
development or the like. We're built out
[1:05:29] by and large. There's a few but but but
by and large we're built out. And so as
[1:05:34] you look at the growth of the city,
there's kind of a a a misunderstanding
[1:05:40] that that we're proliferating its
growth. And and and and the reason why I
[1:05:44] say that is that statistically when we
go back to the 2020 US estimate of
[1:05:51] population, we were at 55,698.
[1:05:56] And then as we move forward this year,
we're at 58,185.
[1:06:02] um it actually went down from the 2025
estimate by about I want to say 217
[1:06:09] uh folks. The difference there is we've
really grown by about 2,487
[1:06:16] uh people over the last five years. And
so you think about that 2,487
[1:06:25] it represents basically um a growth rate
of about 0.009
[1:06:35] of 1% so almost 1% annually that's so I
said well is that high because if you
[1:06:42] take 1% annually extrapolate it to 10
years it's 10%. And so I I I went to the
[1:06:48] US census data and looked at that to
say, well, what's what's the average?
[1:06:52] And the interesting thing is the US
census data does it um they average
[1:06:57] municipal city growth rates between 1
half of 1% and 1.1%. And remember, we're
[1:07:04] we're 0.9 of 1%. We're not even 1% on
average. But then as you get more
[1:07:11] granular and you look at cities that are
of a certain size, they they kind of
[1:07:16] look at different configurations. In
larger cities, which are designated as
[1:07:20] as 50,000 plus, they grow at 1%. And
again, we're growing at 0.9 of 1%
[1:07:27] slightly below it. And then when you
look at where growth occurs in the
[1:07:31] United States and you look at the
southeastern states and the western
[1:07:36] states, basically they're slightly
higher. and some of the Midwest and
[1:07:40] upper Northeast states are actually
declining. But I think the takeaway from
[1:07:44] this is that if you hear people saying
that there's outlandish overdevelopment,
[1:07:50] high levels of growth in the city of
Bradenton, the data doesn't flush that
[1:07:55] out.
>> Um there's measured growth and it's good
[1:07:58] growth in my opinion because you don't
want to be disgrowing. You know,
[1:08:03] obviously there's economic distress
related to that, but we all have to
[1:08:08] remember that as we do development, um
the term development in the city of
[1:08:13] Bradenton, that's probably a novice term
to use for a city the size of Bradon,
[1:08:17] the age of Bradenton, the more accurate
and precise term would be we do
[1:08:22] redevelopment.
We look at what we have and how we make
[1:08:26] it better. and and there is density
increases as well in the downtown urban
[1:08:31] core which isn't uncommon. You're going
to have that with multif family. If you
[1:08:36] look at basically our economic lay of
the city,
[1:08:41] health care is big as a as an employer.
Um tourism is is maybe one of the
[1:08:47] biggest and we don't have manufacturing
or e-commerce at the levels that they
[1:08:52] would in the eastern part of the county
and other areas um of the United States.
[1:08:57] And so our growth basically is urban
growth. That's where it comes from. and
[1:09:03] and and really frankly if you probably
put a
[1:09:06] put a box around here, we councilwoman
Coachman and I talk about the big blocks
[1:09:11] and the little blocks for a while. It's
probably it's probably about a two-m
[1:09:15] radius of downtown for for the most of
the growth, but this comes to us every
[1:09:21] year. We can contest it. I don't think
we have the data, the resources to
[1:09:25] contest it, frankly. And and we've
always accepted it as I believe probably
[1:09:29] 99% of other municipal governments do.
there is a process to contest it. So I
[1:09:34] want to just present this to you to kind
of flush out a little, you know,
[1:09:38] information on growth in Bradenton as it
relates to the census data that's
[1:09:43] provided by the both the the census
folks at the US Department of Census um
[1:09:48] as well as those that conduct the annual
update of census at uh at the University
[1:09:54] of Florida. And that's where we're at.
>> All right. I have one question. So it
[1:09:58] says inmate population 412026 45. Does
that include the six of us on this dis?
[1:10:04] » Uh that very I I think you're on
supervised release with with the public.
[1:10:09] [laughter] So I wouldn't consider you an
inmate. But it's interesting because I
[1:10:12] don't know of us having any
>> know where they are. Yeah. I I don't
[1:10:15] know of us having any detention
facility. Yeah.
[1:10:18] » They they probably are city residents in
the jail.
[1:10:21] » That's what I'm thinking. Yes, sir.
>> Very well.
[1:10:23] » But anyway, no, I was just looking at
that and so that's that's our
[1:10:28] right 581 185
>> right
[1:10:30] » and you know it people think that oh
we've grown we've grown well
[1:10:36] » it's the traffic that's grown but it's
going people live working in Bradenton
[1:10:40] and deciding to live in the bedroom
community
[1:10:42] » parish
>> of parish and visiton
[1:10:44] » and visit Bradenton and a lot of times
it's drive-thru and one of the things
[1:10:48] I've said for many many years now is
we've got to give them a reason to stop
[1:10:54] and I think we're there and I think that
starts
[1:10:57] from Leecom to Village of the Arts to
Old Main Street in downtown to the
[1:11:02] Riverwalk to Tarpon Point to Old Manatee
and you can say it one way or the other,
[1:11:08] but we're trying to work those and I
think that we have great opportunity for
[1:11:13] that um with the step we're going now.
So, you don't need a vote on that, do
[1:11:17] you?
>> No, sir.
[1:11:18] » No, I didn't.
>> Why do we have
[1:11:20] » I I did have a motion basically to adopt
it. Um we could probably do that if we
[1:11:24] could just get a motion. I don't need to
write, you know, anything more than
[1:11:27] that.
>> All right. Just to adopt the
[1:11:28] information.
>> Yes. Yes. And we we actually there's a
[1:11:31] fairly tight timeline on it. We receive
it. It's dated August 18th typically. I
[1:11:35] don't know if this one is August 18th,
but it's there.
[1:11:38] » Yeah.
>> And we you have to actually do it by
[1:11:40] September 4th, and we didn't have a
meeting that would accommodate that,
[1:11:43] unfortunately.
>> Councilman Shusler has a question.
[1:11:46] » Yes, sir.
>> Yeah. So, I I just uh just to rehash
[1:11:48] over the six-year period, we've added
approximately
[1:11:53] 2500 residents or 4 and a half% total.
And if you look at that on an annualized
[1:11:58] basis, as you said, it's less than 1%.
Um, so we've heard a a great deal of uh
[1:12:04] rapid about rapid growth in Manatee
County and I think from what you're
[1:12:10] saying is that there is not
[clears throat] it it you can't really
[1:12:13] characterize that as an inordinate
amount of growth within the city of
[1:12:17] Bradenton.
>> That that that's absolutely the
[1:12:20] characterization and conclusion I'd
reach based on the data. I don't think
[1:12:23] you have to be a high level statistician
to be able to reach that conclusion. Um
[1:12:29] and and then secondly, you know, I
thought it was worthwhile to bring to
[1:12:32] your attention because we are in an
election cycles and I try to stay out of
[1:12:36] that, but the reality is it's it's
obvious to me that growth is a large
[1:12:39] issue, particularly the comedy probably
even more so. And I thought it was
[1:12:44] important to let the public have data on
the city of Braden and of course our
[1:12:47] elected officials and boards more
important
[1:12:51] um on that because I hear people try to
uh kind of
[1:12:57] they they convolute, you know, the
county with the city and, you know, the
[1:13:01] Facebooks, as you say, and other things.
There's no data to support that.
[1:13:07] » I I do have uh one question along those
lines, one final question for you. So,
[1:13:14] um is is population growth the same as
development activity? Um what I'm
[1:13:21] getting to, in other words, can we have
redevelopment and new investment within
[1:13:26] the city? uh without necessarily
experiencing rapid uh population growth.
[1:13:38] I think it's I think that the type of
development is going to impact
[1:13:45] population growth and I keep hearing
that people want affordable housing and
[1:13:50] understandably so and when I look at the
numbers that the CRA as you in your
[1:13:55] positions in CRA and the city have
contributed to affordable housing
[1:13:59] initiatives um they're roughly about 850
units that the city's put in place thus
[1:14:04] far We're looking at probably upwards of
what? Probably about another 500 units
[1:14:08] with something.
>> That 850 has only been over the last
[1:14:10] couple years. Absolutely. A lot more
before that.
[1:14:13] » Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So, you know, they
kind of go hand inand to to a certain
[1:14:17] extent. Um, but when you look at other
types of development, whether it's
[1:14:22] infrastructure development, quality of
life development, public safety facility
[1:14:26] development, I we've built two fire
stations, a police station, emergency
[1:14:29] operations station. We're doing city
park. That's development, too. It's just
[1:14:34] a different type of development.
>> Understood. Thank you,
[1:14:37] » Councilwoman Coachman.
You
[1:14:41] » know, earlier we said
trust how much you have to trust. We
[1:14:47] also have to trust that the when they
were gathering the data, okay, you go to
[1:14:53] a household, they say, "Oh, there's two
of us in here, but there actually six."
[1:14:56] I mean, you know,
>> you know, I don't know if there's a
[1:15:00] range of error
uh in in any consideration, but of
[1:15:04] course, you have to accept one number
and work with that. Um my
[1:15:08] [clears throat] question is where did
those 2500 people go? Was it urban? Was
[1:15:17] it, you know, more the outer sides of
the city? And I've often
[1:15:23] um mentioned that I feel like maybe we
should look at the boundaries of the
[1:15:29] wards. I know that's that's scary talk,
but initially I assumed that the idea
[1:15:36] was to split the city into five equal
parts so that no particular person had
[1:15:43] to be the go-to for twice as many as the
other, I'm guessing. Um, so if that was
[1:15:49] the case, are we still
that way? That's I just wanted I'm I'm
[1:15:56] curious. That's all really not
necessarily saying let's go and change
[1:16:00] things, but just thoughts on that.
>> Yeah. And that's something we've looked
[1:16:04] at over the years, even before I was a
mayor,
[1:16:07] » is um
I think the growth has been in some of
[1:16:12] our workforce affordable housing because
you've looked at if we've added 850
[1:16:18] units
in the 920, Riverview 6, the story on
[1:16:23] 9inth, some more Lincoln Village, you
know, some of those were replacing
[1:16:28] things that were may have been there,
but they were replacing them at a larger
[1:16:32] number. You look at where the Braden and
Herald used to be. That's a facility
[1:16:38] that's got more people. You look at
where um the out in Ward 4 Old Manatee
[1:16:46] where all those apartments came into
effect. We're not doing big
[1:16:50] subdivisions,
>> right,
[1:16:52] » of home ownership like the county is. Um
you look at where Westminster
[1:16:58] » Church used to be. You know there's a
presbyterian there's a number of homes.
[1:17:02] Now you think 20 30 40 won't make a
difference but it's 80 people. So if you
[1:17:08] look at 920 is 137. So you know that
would add up to some of our numbers over
[1:17:15] the last six years because those have
rolled in. So that's what I'm guessing,
[1:17:20] you know, because that's what it would
be about 2000. If you look at those
[1:17:25] units when somebody sold a house on
anywhere in Northwest Bradon, it's
[1:17:31] basically just replacing the same
people. Two people live there, maybe a
[1:17:35] family moved in and now there's five.
>> But in that household, there probably
[1:17:39] was five at one point till they kids
moved out. Um, one of the things that I
[1:17:44] think we really have to think about, a
lot of our urban development, urban core
[1:17:49] development,
not every single person that's going to
[1:17:52] be down here is going to live in the
city. They're going to live in the
[1:17:57] outskirts of the city or some of the,
you know, complexes that we're building,
[1:18:04] apartment complexes. So, that's how I
look at it. And that's, you know, just
[1:18:08] kind of guessing. And that would match
right up with our numbers. If you really
[1:18:12] think about it, if we've added 800
units,
[1:18:15] 2.3 pier people to a unit
is about that.
[1:18:22] Not the best math major, right, Mr.
Williams?
[1:18:25] » Well, in no in no time, we'll be 60,000,
>> right? Mrs. Moore,
[1:18:31] » um to Councilwoman Shusler's question,
um I think that's why uh census data is
[1:18:36] obviously important and relevant. I'm
sure correlates to things like HUD and
[1:18:40] FEMA responses and and grant
applications and whatnot. Um, but to the
[1:18:45] question of redevelopment, um, it it
doesn't really give us a very robust
[1:18:50] picture. Uh, I think you have to look at
the demographic of those 58,000 people
[1:18:54] and and ask yourselves what is lacking
that we can control in um within those
[1:19:01] 58,000 people. So, to Mr. To Perry's
point, the construction of new fire
[1:19:06] stations and new police headquarters are
wonderful investments. It makes people
[1:19:10] feel safe. People will bring their
business here. They will spend money
[1:19:12] here. They will move here. City Park is
a great example of an amenity. We're
[1:19:16] competing with Lakewood Ranch. And now
we're trying to offer some competing
[1:19:20] amenities. Uh we still have to work on
in my opinion if we really want to have
[1:19:24] a robust redevelopment um especially
economic redevelopment um our
[1:19:29] demographic by and specifically income
levels and higher education levels. I
[1:19:34] think those things are going to be
continue to be relevant and so our our
[1:19:38] focus on how we encourage to change
those demographics so that they're
[1:19:42] favorable to private investment is maybe
I think to what Mr. Shusler was getting
[1:19:48] to. I think it's all relevant and the
58,000 is kind of an overhead view, but
[1:19:53] then we have to boil down into the
specifics just in I mean just to the
[1:19:58] question of how that correlates to
economic development,
[1:20:01] » right? And I think you you mentioned
City Park. That is a great opportunity
[1:20:06] to bring in a demographic that may not
live here, but it's going to bring in a
[1:20:12] demographic that's going to spend money
here. And that's where those businesses
[1:20:16] will come. Point Park is a demographic
that is totally different. And again, I
[1:20:21] mentioned when I talked to the the
company that was doing the economic
[1:20:25] study,
you got St. Stevens right on Manatee
[1:20:29] Avenue. It's $30,000 to go there, I
believe, in high school. It's 20,000 to
[1:20:34] go to middle school and it's 15 or 18 or
higher. You 20,000 for elementary
[1:20:40] school. And that's our demographic. may
not be in the city of Bradenton as much
[1:20:45] because of the way the that is in the
city but the students that from around
[1:20:49] here go [clears throat] there. So that
demographic
[1:20:54] I believe we have in Manatee County.
>> Oh sure
[1:20:56] » in the city of Bradon. But what are we
doing? And what have we collectively
[1:21:04] that sit up here before us have done to
make them want to come down
[1:21:09] [clears throat]
to
[1:21:11] the boundaries that I talked about from
old manatee all the way around? And
[1:21:16] that's where probably one of the best
things I learned going to the um retail
[1:21:21] strategies with the EDC is
there's a plan that these businesses
[1:21:30] have. If they put their pin and it
doesn't fit that plan, then they're not
[1:21:35] coming. They're not even looking.
They're not even kicking the tire. We
[1:21:38] can beg them. We can give them all the
incentives, but if we don't have a plan
[1:21:44] or an opportunity, which sometimes is
the plan before the opportunity, a
[1:21:50] chicken in the egg, and it's hard to
come up with the best plan. And I think
[1:21:55] we've come up with a couple of plans,
strategic planning that,
[1:22:00] you know, you look back over all the
years and they sit on the shelves
[1:22:04] because it's pie in the sky and there's
no way to reach that. But how do we get
[1:22:10] to that? So sometimes the chicken or the
egg has to come first and you have to
[1:22:16] have a little trust and hope. And I
think when something falls in your lap,
[1:22:21] you got to try to work it through. Now
nothing's guaranteed even up till today.
[1:22:27] But we have set us up, classes half
full, and we're setting us up to
[1:22:32] succeed. And that's what I'm excited
about. Miss Barnaby,
[1:22:36] » I think it's also important to realize
that the city cannot just have
[1:22:42] affordable or lowincome housing. We have
to expand the market. We have to have
[1:22:47] offerings at every level because you
have people and I'm going to pick on the
[1:22:52] mayor. You have people that at one time
lived in a in a neighborhood and raised
[1:22:57] their children and their children are
now pro functioning adults contributing
[1:23:02] to society and they're not living in
that neighborhood. They're living in in
[1:23:07] a a building that's that better suits
their needs at this point in their life.
[1:23:13] And that's we have to have
every part of that market to be able to
[1:23:20] continue to redevelop and revitalize and
re-energize our downtown. So now that
[1:23:27] I've said that, I'm going to make a
motion to give authorization to Mr.
[1:23:30] Perry to execute the official population
estimate from that school in
[1:23:35] Gainesville.
>> Second. [laughter]
[1:23:39] » Wait a minute. Say the lights just
blinking here. Have we paid our electric
[1:23:44] bill?
>> Just make sure that's verbatim.
[1:23:49] » All right, we have a motion and a second
to authorize Mr. Perry to just move
[1:23:55] forward on what he's we talked about.
Um, start the vote in W three.
[1:24:00] » Yes.
>> Four,
[1:24:00] » yes.
>> Five,
[1:24:02] » yes.
>> One,
[1:24:02] » yes.
>> Two,
[1:24:04] » yes.
>> Approved. Five to zero.
[1:24:06] » Thank you, mayor. I know it's closed
business, but I I just want to take a
[1:24:09] moment to kind of comment a little bit
on on on Councilwoman Gonzalez Moore's
[1:24:15] comments and and I appreciate your
comments. I do. You know, it's
[1:24:18] interesting if you look at some place
like Lakewood Ranch, right, that's
[1:24:20] really developed over the course of the
last what probably 40 years. Uh and you
[1:24:25] know, it's probably more monolithic,
frankly, that than the city of Bradon,
[1:24:31] which is 120 plus years old. And so
we're an age city and we're a fullervice
[1:24:37] city. And there's certainly like
underserved communities there of lower
[1:24:41] incomes. I don't, you know, the the
demographics, the demography of the city
[1:24:46] um are interesting because they're
historical. They're very historical. And
[1:24:52] although I I absolutely agree that you
want to raise, you know, everybody's
[1:24:56] income level, everybody's quality of
life and the like, but sometimes when
[1:25:00] you do that in places that have um a
variety of different demographies to
[1:25:06] them, you do what's called gentrifying
the community, right? You make it
[1:25:10] unaffordable. Somerville, Mass, where I
grew up, right outside of Boston, it was
[1:25:16] low middle class neighborhood. It's
yepyville now kind of. And uh that's a
[1:25:23] good example of it. You know that most
of the people of those income levels
[1:25:27] couldn't really live in Somerville
anymore. And so it's a tricky it's a
[1:25:31] sticky wicket to do what we're talking
about. And I think we all try to improve
[1:25:35] the quality of life for everybody. And I
think some of the projects we're doing
[1:25:38] are reflective of that.
>> Um we always want to do more, you know,
[1:25:42] frankly. And I do agree that education,
income levels, all of that are
[1:25:47] incredibly important and everything. And
I think everybody agrees with that that
[1:25:51] I've worked with over the last five
years. But uh you know we we face the
[1:25:55] challenges that are that we face.
>> I think one thing that that if you
[1:25:59] really looked at talking to that point,
Mr. Perry, if everyone in this room had
[1:26:04] an opportunity to say, how would I plan
the city of Bradenton differently?
[1:26:10] » Right? Because Lakewood Ranch, Wateride,
you know, their group at the time, no
[1:26:15] matter who it was, planned how Main
Street would be, you know, Wateride is
[1:26:21] very interesting the way they planned
where people could live right there, do
[1:26:25] it. And it's a more probably higher rent
if I don't know if there's any home
[1:26:29] ownership in those places, but most of
them are probably rentals and they plan
[1:26:33] to get that. Well, I'm just gonna say my
number one plan if I was planning
[1:26:37] something would be to have Lecom on the
water because you look at most ballparks
[1:26:44] that are in the right area on the water
have development around it that really
[1:26:50] does what you're saying as you go to it.
And so, you know, that's what we're
[1:26:56] trying to create being off of the water
a little bit because we don't have that
[1:27:00] choice to plan it. We've got to plan
with what we've got. I think with every
[1:27:07] situation
with a business closing on Ninth Street
[1:27:11] had nothing to do with the economy per
se. Some of its management, some of it's
[1:27:16] family dynamics, but that is a great
opportunity with City Park coming in,
[1:27:24] you know, because location, location,
location. Unfortunately, we know the
[1:27:28] brewery that you liked. I didn't mean it
that way, but
[1:27:32] » [laughter]
>> A pizza place just went under, too. Just
[1:27:35] for the record, I also like pizza.
>> The place, the food [laughter] place,
[1:27:38] the the neighborhood connection that you
liked really was in a tough location. If
[1:27:46] they'd have been downtown or somewhere
closer, I think that might have been a a
[1:27:53] family-owned business could have
sustained more. But that was kind of,
[1:27:57] you know, it's we've seen that over the
years with the location. It's a tough
[1:28:02] location because of number of people. So
the opportunity to get more people in an
[1:28:06] area helps that.
>> So those are the things that that if to
[1:28:11] your point about that that's um I I
really think the Second Avenue to that
[1:28:15] exact location I think what we're doing
with the Second Avenue streetscape will
[1:28:18] actually help that. Um, so it's those
little things that we do that I think
[1:28:22] can, you know, try to move the needle
because I think that we want to retain,
[1:28:26] that's what I think helps us retain our
character is having the mom and pops and
[1:28:30] the things, but how do we make it so
that they can really thrive,
[1:28:33] » but also putting
opportunity of certain type of
[1:28:39] residences that will go that have the
means to go spend it at a place like
[1:28:46] that because you can put a lot of
housing, but they're they're not going
[1:28:51] to leave their house to go because they
don't have the means. And that's not
[1:28:54] right or wrong. It's just what's there.
And I think Second Avenue, one of the
[1:28:59] best things, and we'll dialogue all day
on stuff, but and and I guess that's the
[1:29:04] benefit I have by being in this chair. I
can dialogue.
[1:29:08] » Just keep going.
>> So, um, but my point is because people
[1:29:12] people say they [laughter] don't get
what we talk about. Well, there's no
[1:29:15] place we can talk. The one of the best
things we did with our sanitation is
[1:29:20] change the rules because Mr. Perry and I
have talked about this and we drive
[1:29:25] around.
When he first got here, Second Avenue
[1:29:28] was a dump site
>> because of the ownership of the
[1:29:32] properties. We changed how we were going
to manage that and now drive down Second
[1:29:39] Avenue. So hopefully some of the people
that live on the outskirts of Second
[1:29:44] Avenue that own their homes will
encourage others now to buy those homes
[1:29:49] on Second Avenue instead of them being
rentals or other things. So you know I
[1:29:57] think that is a positive in a way that
maybe we didn't even think about. We
[1:30:02] were just thinking about trying to get
our so people just didn't from their
[1:30:06] duplex in in Samoset bring their trash
and put it out in front of their duplex
[1:30:11] they owned in Bradenton because we'd
pick everything up. So that was one of
[1:30:14] those things I was talking about
earlier. That was a tough decision to
[1:30:18] make but from the city standpoint it was
the right decision to make and those are
[1:30:23] some of the things we have to continue
to do.
[1:30:26] » So if I if I can just one historical
>> footnote
[1:30:31] 20s.
>> In 1998,
[1:30:36] we'd been talking a lot about
revitalization and redevelopment of
[1:30:40] downtown.
Two restaurants closed within three
[1:30:44] weeks of each other. And the Braden
Herald called me and said, "What could
[1:30:48] the city have done to stop that from
happening?" Well, one restaurant closed
[1:30:53] because the owner was called Glory. And
the other restaurant closed because the
[1:30:58] husband and wife that owned it got a
divorce.
[1:31:02] And I actually said to the reporter,
"Well, seeing as we're not in charge of
[1:31:06] when people get called to heaven, and
seeing as we're not marriage counselors,
[1:31:10] I'm not sure what we could have done in
that situation." Because that's some of
[1:31:14] the things that happen that we have
absolutely no impact on,
[1:31:19] » right? And I think that's another thing
from retail strategies that I learned is
[1:31:23] if you look at almost every one of our
bigger businesses around our urban core
[1:31:31] are familyowned a little bit more, which
it's good. We love it. But when they
[1:31:37] have a situation, they close easier
where if it was a chain, which a lot of
[1:31:42] people don't like chains as much as you
know in a downtown core, but we've got
[1:31:47] to give both. We got to get a mix of
them. The only way to get a mix is get
[1:31:50] more people.
>> Yeah.
[1:31:52] » And you know, or not necessarily get
more people in our boundaries is give
[1:31:57] more people a reason to stop
>> and be aware
[1:32:00] » and and be aware of it. So, you know,
again, we're going through city
[1:32:05] » history
>> history 101 and try. But again,
[1:32:09] [clears throat] I think that's
important. Plus, we got a shorter
[1:32:11] meeting, so we're right.
>> You know, we can do that. All right. M
[1:32:14] » and just to close out, you got a great
tool and a great Greg team with Jeff.
[1:32:19] » Oh yeah.
>> Burton and the CRA. I mean we that's a
[1:32:22] pretty powerful tool for redevelopment
and strategic redevelopment. Yeah.
[1:32:27] » We have a motion on the floor.
>> I think it passed.
[1:32:29] » It passed. Did it pass? Okay. Sorry, Mr.
Perry.
[1:32:32] » Yes, sir. Item number 8 C, which is um a
proposal a proposed purchase and sales
[1:32:37] agreement for 1706 9th Street East um as
surplus property. Uh I want to go over
[1:32:44] the motion itself to start. basically
what I'm requesting within the motion,
[1:32:48] which is an authorization for the city
administration to enter into further
[1:32:53] negotiations with 6C's LLC and authorize
the mayor or the city administrator to
[1:32:59] execute a purchase and sales agreement
that is subject to final approval by
[1:33:03] city council. And the reason why I say
that is that you may remember that this
[1:33:07] particular property was part of the
Tropicana purchase. It's the property
[1:33:11] that uh uh that abuts um 9inth Street
basically. um and and it's on the north
[1:33:17] side of of Ninth Street. We basically
have also um surplused off uh the part
[1:33:24] the parcel that's on the south side. Um
this particular matter, the way it was
[1:33:29] done is we put it out for surplus on uh
I think it was July 26th and August 2nd.
[1:33:36] The city advertised the notice for
property for sale invitation offer
[1:33:40] proposals uh in the newspaper as
required by the disposition of surplus
[1:33:44] property. Um it had been previously
declared surplus and then uh the city
[1:33:50] received a proposal and the only
proposal we received was from 6C's to
[1:33:54] purchase the 3.89 acre parcel. Um that
was a solicited uh parcel offer to the
[1:34:01] public. No other responses to the
invitational offer were received and I
[1:34:06] believe a copy of that proposed purchase
and sales agreement is in your package.
[1:34:11] Um it was within range of what we
thought u market value was and there's a
[1:34:17] couple of issues that we have to
negotiate on it. The major issues that I
[1:34:21] see is environmental responsibility. the
site itself did have some designation
[1:34:26] for brownfield designation that we're
dealing with D on and again how uh the
[1:34:32] owner or the city is the the current
owner of the city and the potential
[1:34:36] purchaser would share responsibility
financial responsibility for any type of
[1:34:40] environmental re remediation that's
required will be part of our
[1:34:43] negotiations. Second part of our
negotiations will deal with um
[1:34:47] connectivity of utility service and we
of course are trying to bring utility
[1:34:52] service into that lot to service our
public works um uh build out and
[1:34:58] currently currently um we'd have to run
it up a certain way to the public works
[1:35:03] facility and then continue it on and so
I'm work I would negotiate with those
[1:35:08] folks some share of of cost related to
that utility connection and then
[1:35:13] ultimately ely their access easement off
of 9inth Street itself, 9inth Street
[1:35:18] East. um that is the major point into
the into that parcel currently and we
[1:35:24] would share that easement um and and
responsibility for that road would be
[1:35:29] the city's with us as the owner of the
road with probably maintenance and
[1:35:33] operations responsibility and uh try to
at this point and it was included within
[1:35:38] the purchase and sales agreement a lump
sum contribution to reinforce the road
[1:35:43] this particular road that portion of it
isn't going to be you
[1:35:48] a a class a a class B type road for
transportation because we're going to
[1:35:52] have heavy equipment on it. We have to
reinforce it and it's going to cost a
[1:35:56] little bit more money to do that because
you're going to have 60,000lb trash
[1:35:59] trucks that go through other types of
heavy equipment and everything. And so a
[1:36:03] portion of it again abuts that property
will be the major ingress and eress to
[1:36:07] the proposed new owner of the property
and the purchaser. And so that's what we
[1:36:12] have to negotiate. That will all come
back to city council after we we we
[1:36:17] basically uh negotiate final terms to
the contract. That's what we're um you
[1:36:22] and your staff have done a great job at
looking throughout the city, all
[1:36:29] departments of how we can
um what's the word I'm looking for? how
[1:36:34] we can maximize opportunity
to
[1:36:40] do a great job financially
of using outside government entities
[1:36:48] and saving us money. So, this will be an
opportunity, I believe, to do that in
[1:36:55] building a $60 million facility that
might go down to hopefully 35 million by
[1:37:02] having a good partner right next to us.
>> Absolutely. There's different
[1:37:06] mechanisms. We're trying to deal with
both the uh buildout financing as well
[1:37:11] as the continuing financial obligations
and operating cost associated with it.
[1:37:15] And, you know, we have done a good job
that the staff's done a done a great
[1:37:18] job, frankly. And uh we've been
fortunate as well as a city to access
[1:37:23] that funding and to use different types
of financing sources. This is an good
[1:37:27] example where we paid basically 4.875
for the property itself and it was
[1:37:33] approximately 32 acres between the two
parcels involved. And if we're able to
[1:37:37] close at this what we believe within the
purchase and sales agreement as well as
[1:37:42] the other property, we're recovering
about 75% of the cost of the property
[1:37:47] and at the same time getting about 75%
of the acreage of the property. So it's
[1:37:53] a pretty pretty good deal.
>> Yeah. And that was not the plan.
[1:37:56] » No, it was never the plan.
>> But when an opportunity arose Yeah. with
[1:37:59] that other property that we ended up not
needing with what we're doing, you know,
[1:38:03] and obviously the biggest catalyst to
our public works and sanitation moving
[1:38:09] is City Park. So the economic impact of
city park, you know, even though
[1:38:15] financial wise is difficult daytoday now
will, I believe, come back to the city
[1:38:22] over the next 10 to 15 years in a
positive light while still trying to
[1:38:29] financially be responsible right now.
>> Right? I think the interesting thing too
[1:38:34] is if you look at the kind of whole
portfolio of public projects that we've
[1:38:38] done uh for infrastructure whether they
be police stations and fire stations and
[1:38:43] and you know some of our parks um
improvements and the like and and you
[1:38:50] know obviously city hall uh we have to
resolve that but public works itself
[1:38:54] city park um that's a pretty impressive
impressive portfolio of work that's been
[1:38:58] done in a short period of time and
really the better part part of the story
[1:39:02] is that It sets the city up for the next
probably 40 or 50 years where they don't
[1:39:06] have to make those investments
>> and generationally,
[1:39:09] » right? You set entirely generational. I
think that, you know, we can thank our
[1:39:13] entire council from relationships as
well as the staff
[1:39:17] » for relationships we've built with our
legislators and everybody because the
[1:39:23] county all of and and city of Palmetto,
>> you know, I mean, you look at and what
[1:39:29] what we've set up to work aggressively
to get the additional monies that we
[1:39:34] could have never taxed our way out of
it. And that's what people don't
[1:39:38] realize. And that's one thing that I
think people, you know, might watch this
[1:39:42] a little bit more than others is when
you look at what our budget line item is
[1:39:46] this year, it's really not what our
budget line item is, right?
[1:39:50] » It's just because we've we've been so
aggressive and successful.
[1:39:56] It makes it look like our budget has
doubled,
[1:39:58] » right?
>> In reality, by the numbers, it might
[1:40:01] have doubled, but it's other people's
money. And our budget this year has
[1:40:05] actually gone down from the line item
that we had last year.
[1:40:10] » That's correct. I mean, that's a really
good point. We have our obviously 501
[1:40:13] meeting, you know, coming up and uh what
the increases in the budget because
[1:40:18] because ex revenues have to equal
expenses. And so if we bring in a
[1:40:22] hypothetically a hundred million from
the federal government, they just say
[1:40:26] here's a hund00 million that's got to go
into your budget. But the taxpayer
[1:40:31] hasn't been taxed more for it. the
rateayer has been charged more for it.
[1:40:35] That's basically coming in through that
the and and then you have certain
[1:40:39] accounting issues that take place
particularly the uh the local provider
[1:40:44] tax over at the hospital that deals with
Medicare and reimbursement rate. I think
[1:40:48] almost $75 million is related to that
and that's entirely pass through money
[1:40:54] that the federal government pays through
a Medicare reimbursement and makes up a
[1:40:58] small gap that ends up basically funding
both Blake and U Manatee Memorial for
[1:41:05] their their expenses unfortunately
reflects on our budget but it really has
[1:41:09] almost zero impact on our budget
>> and that was the benefit working with
[1:41:12] the governor's office you know and
through the federal government to get
[1:41:17] that money which if We didn't do that by
resolution.
[1:41:20] » Yeah.
>> Those two hospitals wouldn't have had
[1:41:23] that money to help the people that
probably with the CDBG part of things is
[1:41:29] more related to the city of Bradenton
than the whole rest of the county.
[1:41:33] » Absolutely.
>> Because we have the majority of that in
[1:41:36] that the CBDG area. You're right.
>> That that those are the things that the
[1:41:39] public
>> doesn't pick up on.
[1:41:42] » And I don't know if and I agree with
you, Mrs. Moore. I want to say, you
[1:41:46] know, me, I'm more I want to say more.
But how do we get that out when until
[1:41:54] they want to bash us?
And it's just it's frustrating. And I
[1:41:58] don't it doesn't run how I govern, but
you like to you want to say sometimes,
[1:42:04] listen, come get the facts because but
the facts don't matter to them because
[1:42:09] then they don't have a message.
Unfortunately,
[1:42:12] » and you know what's interesting about
that just to close out because because I
[1:42:15] think you make an excellent point is
that you all get put into these rock and
[1:42:19] hard place positions, right? Because for
years, Manatee Memorial was dealing with
[1:42:25] deficit basically reimbursement
particularly in indigent care
[1:42:29] underserved populations. They had come
to us and asked for help and we said we
[1:42:32] can't tax our way out of that. They went
to the county kind of the same thing and
[1:42:37] they basically found a way where they
bought equity under prevailing federal
[1:42:42] reimbursement criteria. Now do you think
the public understands that? I don't
[1:42:46] understand it. And so I'm here every day
and you know have other types of
[1:42:49] background and it becomes difficult. But
the the the policy decision you have to
[1:42:53] make is if you accept this you're
avoiding a healthc care crisis because
[1:42:58] if manatee memorial goes away or Blake
you know and their trauma center goes
[1:43:03] away we got a problem here with
healthcare and everything. And so I
[1:43:07] applaud you for that because it doesn't
cost the taxpayers any money. They're
[1:43:11] paying for it anyway through their
federal through their federal taxes.
[1:43:14] » We've already given it. Yeah. So if we
weren't willing to take that and it was
[1:43:18] a yo men's job
>> to get one of them that doesn't accept
[1:43:24] it anywhere else
>> because both hospitals had to accept
[1:43:27] that and if one of them wouldn't have
accepted it was just out the water.
[1:43:31] » So you're trying to give them $7 million
this year and they say no. Well, we've
[1:43:37] we did that. when I say we as staff and
and administratively through all that to
[1:43:43] to convince them to take it because of
our relationships.
[1:43:49] » So, uh we have a motion or we're looking
for a motion to give Mr. Perry through
[1:43:56] the mayor's
>> move to authorize city administration to
[1:43:59] enter into further negotiations with
6C's LLC and authorize the mayor or
[1:44:05] county or sorry city administrator to
execute a purchase and sale agreement
[1:44:10] that is subject to final approval by
this city council.
[1:44:14] » Second.
>> All right. So we have a motion by Miss
[1:44:16] Barnaby, second by Miss Coker. Any
further discussion? Hearing none, we'll
[1:44:20] start the vote in ward four.
Yes.
[1:44:25] » Five.
>> Yes.
[1:44:26] » One.
>> Yes.
[1:44:27] » Two.
>> Yes.
[1:44:28] » Three.
>> Yes.
[1:44:29] » Approved. Five to zero. Thank you.
>> Thank you, mayor.
[1:44:32] » Thank you, Mr. Perry. Anything else?
>> Don't have You don't have any uh big
[1:44:37] pipe breaks or anything this week.
>> No emergency repairs. Let's not
[1:44:42] » Why did you just do that?
>> Hey, I don't believe in that.
[1:44:47] » What's going to happen is going to
happen. My back hurts right now. It's
[1:44:50] going to hurt. I I just want to point
out that I have here u this our our
[1:44:55] mid-season hurricane update and that we
met everybody since we're talking about
[1:45:00] uh contingencies. We had everybody um PD
public works fire um thank you for
[1:45:08] lending us Scott McDonald. Thank you for
lending us your folks chief and uh you
[1:45:13] know we're on top of this. uh just
because we had a good year last year and
[1:45:16] haven't had any problems this year
doesn't mean that we're not ready for
[1:45:20] what might come down the pike. And so we
thought it was important to continuously
[1:45:24] update our emergency response to weather
conditions particularly coming into the
[1:45:29] September and [snorts] you know this
month where the probability of storm
[1:45:33] strike is probably the highest.
>> Thank you Mr. Perry.
[1:45:38] » All right. No unfinished business.
[1:45:43] » All right. We'll go to council reports
and we'll start in W five.
[1:45:48] [clears throat]
>> Wow. Um, most of what I was considering
[1:45:53] talking about today, I think we kind of
talked about it in discussion. Um, as
[1:45:59] I've said many meetings before, there is
so much going on in War Five that I I
[1:46:06] mean, you know, I don't want to sound
like a broken record saying it over and
[1:46:10] over, but um,
just real happy that W five is not only
[1:46:16] alive, but it's going to be kicking for
a long time and doing a lot for the
[1:46:21] city. Uh [sighs]
and of course we do have um important
[1:46:29] day coming up and we've already
discussed about how we celebrate our
[1:46:33] heroes and we don't want to forget
all that was lost on 911 because not
[1:46:43] only did we lose lives, we lost the way
we live and just so grateful for all
[1:46:52] that everyone did at that time pulling
together and how we still to this day
[1:47:00] vow that we won't forget that it
actually happened and pray that never
[1:47:06] again.
Um
[1:47:12] uh back in school I guess you guys know
that already because I'm tired.
[1:47:16] [laughter]
War five is alive. Thank you,
[1:47:20] » Vice Mayor Cooker.
>> Well, this may sound a little redundant
[1:47:25] because most of my comments that um I
made talking about um what I believe
[1:47:32] leadership is about and what I believe
about trusting each other and about
[1:47:38] these people that are getting in sitting
in their cars doing talks
[1:47:42] [clears throat] and putting out
misinformation and is really um
[1:47:47] disturbing. But I made those comments
and uh and then also I am unable to
[1:47:53] attend the 9/11 ceremony because of my
obligation on the Sarasota Bay estuary
[1:47:58] program. So that they're meeting and I
can't we only meet quarterly and so I
[1:48:03] can't miss that. Um but um I do hope
that we will honor the the innocent
[1:48:10] lives and the heroes that ran toward the
danger and the families who are still
[1:48:15] having to carry that loss still today
and hope that we never forget the
[1:48:21] courage, the sacrifice and the unity
that brought us together as Americans.
[1:48:28] That's
>> it.
[1:48:28] » Thank you, Councilwoman Barnaby.
>> Thank you. you and if I it's a
[1:48:33] reoccurring theme here. Um my challenge
to everyone would be if you could think
[1:48:41] back and remember how you felt on
September the 12th as an American and
[1:48:45] maybe the way that we show our our
appreciation for the sacrifice of so
[1:48:51] many is to continue to try to operate as
one nation indivisible.
[1:48:58] I think that would be important. I also
want to give condolences to the family
[1:49:03] of Butch Powell. He was a former
Hernando Dodto. Um did a lot in this
[1:49:09] community and uh we want to
send
[1:49:14] condolences and may God give his family
strength and comfort at this time.
[1:49:20] » Thank you, Councilman.
>> Good morning. Um just one quick note.
[1:49:26] I've had the opportunity recently to
spend a lot of time in our
[1:49:29] neighborhoods, uh, talking with
residents and listening to what's on
[1:49:32] their minds. Um, those conversations are
always a a good reminder of how
[1:49:36] important it is for us to stay connected
to the people we serve and I am grateful
[1:49:42] for everyone who takes the time uh to
share their thoughts and concerns with
[1:49:46] me.
>> Right. Thank you, Miss Moore.
[1:49:51] » Um, I um Mr. Mr. Perry and I have been
working on um just to give you guys some
[1:49:59] I feel like this is maybe you already
know what I'm about to say. Uh but as
[1:50:06] you know in Mineral Springs Park that
was the site of an archae archaeological
[1:50:11] dig. Um, there's an organization there
that I that I believe that I've gotten
[1:50:16] to know a little bit better since being
on council and they really just they
[1:50:21] feel like they're stewards of the site
and and um of the history regarding the
[1:50:26] site and they have been working with Mr.
Perry and uh Dr. for Burton staff to
[1:50:32] place uh educational signs uh that
reflect the history of the Englean
[1:50:38] settlement and how the um the really
really remarkable uh way that it was
[1:50:46] instrumental in the Underground
Railroad. And I just wanted to bring
[1:50:51] that before you all so that maybe I
could move the needle a little bit on
[1:50:55] just wrapping that up. They have the
signs. they they were came before us
[1:50:59] years ago. Um, and I think they've been
tweaking on it and working with staff
[1:51:03] and so I'd love to just wrap it up and
and put the signs out there. Um,
[1:51:11] I think it's a great interesting part of
our history uh that we have something
[1:51:16] like that in within our city limits. Uh,
and so I just thought I would ask you
[1:51:22] all if you would be comfortable with Mr.
Perry kind of just like bringing it
[1:51:25] home, landing the plane. That's maybe a
bad preference um given today, but
[1:51:33] » Yes, ma'am.
>> I just would ask a question about that
[1:51:36] because I remember I mean it's been a
while since I've been over there, but
[1:51:40] » weren't there some signs that were put
up? were when we did originally opened
[1:51:45] and they were educ I don't remember what
they were but
[1:51:49] » so they were contained when we did
riverw walk um and and mineral springs
[1:51:53] park there was a budget basically for
public art and realized Bradenton used
[1:51:58] postcards from Bradenton yeah
>> and some things out of their um coloring
[1:52:02] book they're on the north side of the
park but what councilwoman Gonzalez Mo
[1:52:06] is talking about is reflections itself
and of course reflections is a separate
[1:52:11] nonprofit that's out in front on the
north side, sorry, the south side of the
[1:52:15] park. What they're proposing to do is to
place somewhere between eight and 10
[1:52:20] historical preservation signs. Really
starting at Reflections itself and then
[1:52:26] kind of moving a little bit to where the
pergola is um and and probably maybe two
[1:52:32] to four within the park itself towards
where the pergola is. And so it's kind
[1:52:37] of a little bit of a walking trail to
the Mineral Springs itself. Um the the
[1:52:42] signs themselves as it relates to
historical preservation are designed to
[1:52:46] showcase the uh movement basically of of
of free men basically and the Angola
[1:52:53] settlement itself and and the Marauders
you know as it relates to the history
[1:52:58] and it's obviously tremendous historical
significance there that the postcards
[1:53:03] themselves don't really explain any of
that and so they're going to stay away
[1:53:07] from the north side of the park. the
signs themselves, what me and John Totty
[1:53:10] and Lance told them was, "Give us a site
plan that shows us kind of the size of
[1:53:14] the the the signs themselves." And
really what they are is they're not
[1:53:19] particularly obtrusive. They're somewhat
elevated and probably on order of
[1:53:24] somewhere between, I don't know, 30 in
and and probably 36 in. and they just
[1:53:31] would have basically a designation as it
relates to the historical events on the
[1:53:37] site. Um I I want to work with the mayor
to basically try to hone this down and
[1:53:45] ultimately bring it back to council for
approval. Um, I'm I'm in favor of it
[1:53:49] because I think it tremendously worthy
of historical support because of the
[1:53:55] role of that area and you know the area
goes back to indigenous people well
[1:53:59] before African-American free slaves but
that's also depicted in the park itself
[1:54:04] currently. It's a special
very special area of you know the south
[1:54:11] south Tampa Bay and and Manatee County
and and that history of Angola and uh
[1:54:17] the the the the movement of free men
there is something that to be celebrated
[1:54:22] um and also recognize um as it relates
to Angola itself was was basically taken
[1:54:29] over by federal troops and people were
told you have to leave because
[1:54:33] » Washington has to take action and it
wasn't Good.
[1:54:36] » No, I think something that, you know,
I've always been supportive of them, not
[1:54:40] only by my votes, but also by my wallet,
probably more than most, um, in the
[1:54:47] community. But
one of the things is is they did sue us.
[1:54:52] » There was a lawsuit, so I want to make
sure that that all of that stuff is is
[1:54:57] in the right spot. One of the things
I'll say, and I've said this to them,
[1:55:02] um, that I'm disappointed that they
haven't tried to tie in with the
[1:55:06] historic
part of Manatee County with Angel
[1:55:10] Coloniso because there is funding for
them to get through that. But we can't
[1:55:16] live in a silo from that. And I've said
that to them over not haven't talked to
[1:55:21] them now in a while, but you know, it's
they've got to try to work
[1:55:26] collaboratively with right across the
street because I think that can draw
[1:55:30] more people to them. But that is them
giving up a little bit of control but
[1:55:36] not losing the concept of it. Because we
know what happens in any business.
[1:55:44] If you lose a principle
or somebody gets divorced or something
[1:55:49] happens, we want it to be sustainable.
So that would be important to me to see
[1:55:55] that there is some sort of collaboration
other because I'd love the plaques. I
[1:56:00] mean, that's a huge thing, but you also
have to set it up to succeed, not just
[1:56:04] be one-sided. And I've said that to
them. And I have dug the ditches with
[1:56:10] them. I made the motion to allow them to
do the big dig with Dr. Brain at the
[1:56:17] time
>> when
[1:56:19] we probably didn't have the votes to do
that because we wanted to get the park
[1:56:23] going. Um, and if you look back at
history, the city allowed them to do a
[1:56:29] lot of things longer than most would
have done. And I agreed with letting
[1:56:32] them do it, you know. So, you know,
again, we've got to figure out though
[1:56:38] long term what happens.
>> And that's globally looking in the city
[1:56:44] » because what if
that group, you know, and does somehow
[1:56:51] fall to the wayside?
They've got to somehow in my opinion
[1:56:56] collaborate with Angel Coloniso right
now in that group because it gives them
[1:57:02] a way then to get more visitors which if
you get more visitors what does that
[1:57:06] mean? You might fall into a donation
that's going to help with still having
[1:57:11] autonomy from it. So that's that's just
my only thoughts because you know like I
[1:57:16] said I've been supportive from day one
not only with my votes also with my
[1:57:20] pocket.
>> Yeah. Um, I can talk to them about that.
[1:57:23] That's I hadn't heard anything about um
collaborating with uh Miss Colonizo's
[1:57:27] office, but I can follow up. Yeah,
>> I I think definitely the story needs to
[1:57:34] be told for sure. I I'm a little
concerned if we're getting too many
[1:57:38] signs in a park.
>> I know. I thought that
[1:57:40] » and I don't know what the condition of
the realized brain in signs are or and
[1:57:48] so and I don't know that I'm the person
that needs to be saying that. Maybe it
[1:57:51] goes through public art.
>> It might
[1:57:54] » uh the public art board. I just I don't
want it to look bad over there. I did
[1:57:58] actually talk I I thought that might be
a concern and um I don't want to speak
[1:58:02] for her because this conversation was
literally like months ago but I did ask
[1:58:07] Karen Corbin you know if they would have
any objection to you know somehow this
[1:58:12] sign you know was this going to create
friction between the two nonprofits and
[1:58:16] she said absolutely I mean and of course
again we should check with her you know
[1:58:20] like I I don't want to speak for her
because that was months ago but at that
[1:58:23] time she said no absolutely not she's
not married to those signs I think the
[1:58:26] signs were my understanding ing because
since I wasn't on council at that time
[1:58:30] was that those signs were in conjunction
with the coloring book and trying to get
[1:58:34] the word out about the park and and
realize Braton's work and I feel like
[1:58:38] Realize Braon has also evolved.
>> It was geared toward towards the little
[1:58:42] kids.
>> It it is they're pretty they're pretty
[1:58:45] simplistic because it was based on the
coloring book
[1:58:46] » and that's one of the reasons we did the
park because it's a neighborhood park.
[1:58:50] » You don't want to the neighborhood
didn't want to all of a sudden trying to
[1:58:53] be in traffic thousands of people.
That's why we don't allow events except
[1:58:57] for the one. And with that group that
does that event, I hope they would be
[1:59:01] involved in kind of being part of it
because the history
[1:59:05] » Oh, yeah.
>> with with them. And um I'm working right
[1:59:09] now with them and I got to finish it up.
It's been a little while, but we believe
[1:59:14] we found a college that will give two
full scholarships.
[1:59:17] » Oh wow.
>> People from the Bahamas to come over
[1:59:21] here and study in this area. But I've
got a
[1:59:24] » That would be wonderful.
>> I was told yes. Now we got to follow up
[1:59:27] with it.
>> She would be really excited to hear.
[1:59:30] » Stephanie will be Yeah.
>> And of course the
[1:59:33] » secretary of I forget what her title is,
but she just
[1:59:38] » I forget what their branch of
legislative government. I know. I
[1:59:42] » know. She made that statement. I made a
phone call and
[1:59:46] it was hopefully will work out.
>> Excellent. Thank you.
[1:59:51] » That's all I've got for word for
>> All right. Oh, actually, if I may just
[1:59:54] really quickly, um, this is just by way
of education. Uh, some of you already
[1:59:59] may know this,
>> but, um, I spoke I touched on it a
[2:00:02] little bit a couple of meetings ago, but
with the heavy rains, um, this is just
[2:00:07] again my rah rah. We did it on consent
with the storm water master plan. Um,
[2:00:13] but with the rains, the system in the
older parts are just being inundated and
[2:00:18] the, um, yesterday was a I was like,
what is going on? Uh because two both
[2:00:24] temp 13 and lift station 2's alarm
started to go off. Not no one was you
[2:00:28] know like there wasn't roses [laughter]
or anything. Uh they're doing what they
[2:00:31] need to be doing but the elevation of
water within those lift stations just
[2:00:35] gets inundated when we have those kind
of rains. And I sent several pictures to
[2:00:38] Mr. Williams as I do and I put it in the
app. Um [laughter]
[2:00:44] um but I just want to keep that on
y'all's radar that you know again like
[2:00:48] as we kind of you know prioritize as we
have to do storm water I think is really
[2:00:53] next on our horizon to be something that
we're going to want to because of the
[2:00:56] way those systems are all related to
each other.
[2:00:58] » Yeah. And one of the biggest things is
it's going to take time. Yes. And I
[2:01:02] don't think the people
>> unfortunately we're getting we're trying
[2:01:05] to get more resources and we've got them
but it's still three to five to
[2:01:09] sevenyear plan that a lot of that's
going to take and then it's just volume
[2:01:14] in and volume out and unfortunately some
of that we don't control and um so thank
[2:01:22] you. So anyway, obviously the 911
memorial, there's an 8 o'clock event
[2:01:26] over at the Palmeta Marriott being done
by the Boys and Girls Club, Manatee
[2:01:31] County, clubs of Manatee County. So if
you want to run over there at 8 o'clock,
[2:01:34] it'll be only 20 25 minutes. Then we'll
be able to get back over here for the
[2:01:38] 9:30 at Rossy Park. Um, so just got to,
you know, like I said, if if we forget
[2:01:44] now, the generations to come will won't
do it. So we got to keep that. And I'm
[2:01:49] very proud of our community that has
kept doing the memorial where other
[2:01:55] communities have stopped around us. And
I know it's a lot of work, but again,
[2:01:59] chiefs, thank you. And
>> well, let me let me chime in real quick,
[2:02:02] Mayor. And I I you know, y I got to say
kudos to all of you because it's so
[2:02:07] noticed in our group that all of you
attend when you can. All of you show up.
[2:02:13] All of you show support. And uh Miss
Coker, that's not anything to do about
[2:02:19] Friday, but [laughter]
>> but no, I mean um it was, you know, all
[2:02:24] the way to Julius House. And if y'all
know Chief How and going back many
[2:02:28] years, a friend to us, the state, you
know, and just he was so impressed that
[2:02:33] y'all made every event over the last
couple weeks, that's hard to do. And not
[2:02:39] only that, but the city administrator
and the COO and and so it's very
[2:02:43] noticed. we appreciate it and um you
know and and everybody else notice
[2:02:49] notices too and pays attention to that.
So um I appreciate y'all being there to
[2:02:53] show support and makes the city of
Braden look look good. The Braden Fire
[2:02:57] Department and uh I just can't thank you
enough.
[2:03:01] » Thank you, Chief. All right. And then
we've had a lot of good conversation up
[2:03:05] here today. I think a lot of good things
and again it was could have been a very
[2:03:09] short meeting but I think information is
king and that's what we need to do. Um
[2:03:14] my last comment is I was fortunate
enough on Saturday night to at the
[2:03:19] Marauders game which we're lucky we know
when COVID hit that 400 plus minor
[2:03:25] league teams were eliminated. Even
though the Marauders don't always draw
[2:03:30] the biggest crowds, the Pittsburgh
Pirates worked hard to keep the
[2:03:34] Marauders because that stadium would
have just been shuttered other than
[2:03:38] spring training and now city parks
happening. But I was proud along with my
[2:03:43] wife and Chief Kramer showed up um for
the game because he's the concessor of
[2:03:49] baseball and loves that more than a lot.
But but it's a great thing that we were
[2:03:54] able to give Marty the Marauder a key to
the city. And and I've just got to say
[2:04:00] it because it's so funny that there's
people on social media that were
[2:04:07] criticizing us for giving Marty a key to
the city. Well, I'm going to say shame
[2:04:12] on them. Marty the Marauder goes to over
150 events in the last year. Now, not
[2:04:20] all city events
>> in the county.
[2:04:24] » He goes to He's at Christmas in July.
He's at Christmas at the market. He
[2:04:30] comes to a lot of events. He's been at
at the performing arts. He's been at
[2:04:34] anywhere that that's opportunity for him
to go to these events and it's promoting
[2:04:41] Bradford. It's promoting Manatee County.
So, if you don't know what Marty does
[2:04:47] 150 times a year, then you need to get
educated.
[2:04:52] And it's just comical that somebody felt
like they had to go on and say something
[2:04:59] negative about me giving a key to the
city to Marty for his great stewardship
[2:05:04] of the city of Bradon and Manatee
County. And he's at schools and anywhere
[2:05:09] that they are. So you wonder what the
Pirates and the Marauders do for our
[2:05:13] community. They are good stewards of our
community all day long, every day, 365.
[2:05:21] So that is the good things that I get
fortunate enough to do and share that.
[2:05:27] So I just want to say congratulations
Marty and it's through the pirates
[2:05:31] organization and Marauders that thank
you for doing all you do year round for
[2:05:36] our community
and everything else today was I think a
[2:05:41] great conversation and we appreciate it
and we do as Miss Coachman said couple
[2:05:46] our last meeting that we get along and
we got a great team. Let's keep working.
[2:05:51] There's no marriage, there's no business
relationship that doesn't have times
[2:05:55] where you want to word Smith through
stuff, but you still are a team at the
[2:05:59] end. And that's what's important and
that's what I see our city
[2:06:03] administrators see
all the way down through the staff and
[2:06:07] that's not always the case in all all um
governments around us.
[2:06:13] » So, thank you. Department heads,
anything?
[2:06:17] » Mr. Lee, let me let me go ahead of you
if I could.
[2:06:20] » Mr. Williams and then Colonel Lee.
>> Mayor and Council, um, I'd like to call
[2:06:24] Mr. Toth up to the podium if Oh, yeah.
It's happening. [laughter]
[2:06:31] » So, um, I'm doing this on behalf of, uh,
Miss Warn. She's actually in a training
[2:06:36] session right now, so she couldn't do
this, but uh, Mr. Toth, um, has been
[2:06:41] with the city for approximately six
years. Uh we had our procurement manager
[2:06:46] uh go elsewhere.
Mr. Toth uh you know he's worked
[2:06:50] diligently started in the warehouse um
and has worked uh very hard to get to
[2:06:55] where he's at now. Um we went through
several interviews uh Mr. Perry myself
[2:07:00] and Miss Warren Monday and and a couple
other folks that um that we had included
[2:07:07] and um we were we were rather impressed
with with Mr. dedication to the city,
[2:07:13] his knowledge, his expertise, his
involvement. Um, and then we uh recently
[2:07:18] promoted him to our new procurement
manager.
[2:07:21] » Congratulations.
>> So, I wanted to give him a chance to
[2:07:24] just, you know, share a little bit of
his background. He does have his uh
[2:07:28] certified public purchasing buyer.
>> Thank you. Procurement buyer
[2:07:33] certification. Um, and he's actively
seeking additional certifications. Um,
[2:07:39] he's impressed quite a few people. um
staff in within the city, not just Mr.
[2:07:44] Perry and myself and Miss Ward Monday,
but um others especially over public
[2:07:47] works and and working with them
individually. So, Mr. To one,
[2:07:51] congratulations.
>> I want to kind of chime in the same and
[2:07:54] and Lance did a really good job covered
his background.
[2:07:58] Th
>> this is a really important job. Um and
[2:08:01] particularly as it relates to face it,
fix it. You know, us, as I always say,
[2:08:05] the game speed has increased and it's
increased over there as much as it's
[2:08:09] increased anywhere. And so Vance and I
were really concerned um about getting a
[2:08:13] good candidate. And so we put out
advertisements and got a couple of
[2:08:18] pretty good candidates that had worked
in other venues and the like. But we
[2:08:23] kept getting the we interviewed several
times with Nick and he had awesome
[2:08:29] interviews and gave us great insights.
We interviewed, we we talked with people
[2:08:35] within the organization itself and every
each and every one of them said, "Nick
[2:08:40] is your guy. He's been doing this. We
work with them. He's responsive. He
[2:08:45] understands it technically. He gets all
the work done. We feel comfortable." And
[2:08:50] when you get that kind of vibe about
somebody um and and he came, you know,
[2:08:54] from the ground up. He started at the
warehouse. It's the first place I met
[2:08:57] him literally. I said, "I'm Rob." He
goes, "I'm Nick." and there was no air
[2:09:02] conditioning in there or anything else
and he was working hard then and he and
[2:09:05] he's a college graduate. You go to you
went to USF, didn't you?
[2:09:08] » Yeah. A great story about that too. Um
Nick works out works out a lot. He kind
[2:09:13] of went from exercise physiology and
that kind of thing. Um to I think
[2:09:18] government's a good direction to go in
and everything. But he's he brings a lot
[2:09:22] to the table and he's the future in my
opinion of what we're trying to build
[2:09:26] for succession. And so I'm glad we could
give him an opportunity to show uh us
[2:09:32] his what he's got and what he's about
and re reach what we expect him to do to
[2:09:38] support the organization and ultimately
your policy decisions. So I
[2:09:42] fullheartedly support [clears throat]
Nick.
[2:09:46] » So Nick, go ahead and share a little bit
about yourself that we have.
[2:09:49] » Well, thank you Lance
words.
[2:09:52] » My name is Nicholas Toth. Obviously they
gave you guys a little bit of a
[2:09:55] background about me, but I did start
here at the warehouse five years ago,
[2:09:58] about the time when Rob started, too.
So, and I uh kind of just fell in love
[2:10:03] with procurement. I didn't really know
what procurement was when I first
[2:10:06] started, but I knew this is kind of what
I felt I saw myself doing for the
[2:10:10] future. And like Lance said, I took a
opportunity that I was given to me and
[2:10:16] got my education, got my certified
procurement uh public procurement buyer
[2:10:20] license. And I'm still taking more
classes to just continue to educate
[2:10:24] myself and I'm just excited to continue
to contribute to the city's mission and
[2:10:29] goals and contribute with you guys and
on on the missions. I mean, there's a
[2:10:32] lot of exciting things coming to the
city. So, I'm just excited to be a part
[2:10:35] of it. So, again, thank you guys as
well.
[2:10:37] » Congratulations. Congratulations.
>> Thank you.
[2:10:40] » Thank you.
>> Well deserved.
[2:10:41] » Thank you.
>> Thanks for coming in.
[2:10:43] » Thank you. All right, Mr. Lee.
>> Colonel,
[2:10:46] » thank you for indulging. Very quick just
uh mayor council Lee director of public
[2:10:52] works utilities just reminding everyone
one week from today one week from today
[2:10:57] pro projects open house will start it
promptly at 6 please come out and you
[2:11:02] can see more of what your public works
and utilities department is doing.
[2:11:07] » Thank you very much.
>> Anything else?
[2:11:14] » Uh Mr. Mayor.
>> Yes, sir. Uh I want to thank you guys
[2:11:18] again for the uh proclamation today.
Thank you very much for that. Um but
[2:11:23] also for your approval of the state
forfeite fund grant program. Um
[2:11:29] not that you have a lot of choice. Uh we
have to as part of state law we have to
[2:11:34] give back at least 25% of what we take
in in state forfeite funds which are
[2:11:40] basically state cases. Um
we are years ago we went way beyond that
[2:11:46] and it's tough to not have that number
at least maintain what it is or grow. Um
[2:11:53] just depends on how much we take in uh
this year. We didn't take in as much.
[2:11:57] We've gotten a lot in the last recent
past. But um anyway, I just want to
[2:12:02] thank you for that. Uh it was I was
asked like how come we're approving this
[2:12:06] today but we're not doing the
presentations
[2:12:09] procedural. you have to approve it and
then we do the presentations at the next
[2:12:12] meeting. So look forward to that. Uh
I'll try to keep it under 30 minutes. So
[2:12:18] but uh thank you again.
>> Right. Anything else?
[2:12:24] Hearing nothing will be 10:41.