This regularly scheduled commission meeting
of the city of St Pete Beach.
It is Tuesday, January 23rd, 2024.
It is 6 PM.
Let's stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands.
One nation under god, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.
City clerk, if you will please do a roll call.
Vice mayor Lorenzen here.
Commissioner Marriott.
Here Commissioner Phillips here.
Commissioner Resnick.
Here mayor Petrica here.
We have a quorum.
Thank you.
All right.
First we have a presentation of the employee
of the first quarter.
By Candace Galloway.
Our administrator is going to make that presentation.
Afternoon evening, everyone.
We're here to talk for a minute about Ryan, who works in the IT
department diligently, and he's been here for about two years
now he came to us with many, many years of expertise
under his belt in the municipality format
and otherwise very strong in expertise in Microsoft voice
platforms and all things technology
that serve us here at the city.
About seven months after he joined with the city,
he became a team of one.
So his boss left and Ryan became the sole supporter
for the entire city.
And that includes everything that plugs into a wall that
has some technology component.
He's on call.
So hugely valuable to the city for us.
He services over 100 tickets a month
himself, running from location to location.
Very busy guy with a lot to do.
Some of you may have seen him or you may not,
but he's the person that runs all of these meetings
on our collective behalf.
All the public meetings are managed and run by Ryan.
So phenomenal resource for us over time and he's
been a great resource as I've onboarded since last January.
I came here and I was stopped regularly
to be, you know, people commending Ryan's experience,
his demeanor most often, his patience with their questions
and what they need from him.
Everyone has enjoyed working with him
and everybody appreciates the attitude and work ethic
that Ryan brings to the table.
So he's actually been nominated for this award many times.
So that should say something in and of itself that folks,
you know, he is a consistent producer and performer
for the city, but he's also just a solid asset
from a day to day perspective.
So as I mentioned, he's a strong expert in technology,
but he's also a dedicated individual.
He is consistent.
He's very focused on his work and the customer outcomes
and ensuring that he solves the problems that are at hand
in a very quick fashion.
If he can't figure it out immediately,
he keeps cool under pressure and he
goes back to his desk and sorts out a solution that may, may
or may not work and comes back to solve the problem for you
and pretty quick fashion.
So, you know, from my perspective,
I onboarded and he was very patient with me.
There were a lot of things about municipality work
that I had to get up to speed with,
and he's been a huge asset for that from my perspective
as well.
So just a huge resource for us.
Very happy to have him, glad that he's acknowledged
in this capacity, big contribution for the city
in an ongoing basis.
So we're proud of him.
Congratulations, Ryan, and we're just
happy to have him on the team.
And Ryan would come out if he wasn't stuck in a cubicle
running this meeting.
Thank you.
All right.
Do we have any amendments to the agenda, please?
Yes, mayor, I have one.
Um, I'd like to pull item five B. I have
some additional questions that I need
to meet with the company on that,
so I'd like to pull that item for tonight.
Bring it back at a later date.
Thank you, mayor.
Yes, I did receive one person that wanted to sign up.
John, since it's being pulled, did you still want to provide
comment or wait until.
OK I just wanted to make sure you knew.
OK Thank you, mayor.
The only other thing I would mention
is that we did get a request from the attorney for seven b,
which is a quasi judicial hearing
on a conditional use permit asking for a continuance.
Brandon that's right.
Right still correct?
Yeah and I don't know if you want to take care of that
up front in case people are here for that item,
we would re notice it and schedule it
for another meeting.
We can move that to right after audience comments.
OK, perfect.
Thank you.
So that's seven b?
Yes, sir.
Come here.
Yes I also wanted to add an item for discussion
about attendance for the commission.
For me.
Particular for time off day and meeting in Zoom.
So just a discussion, I would like to add.
So the attorney that we're going to have a discussion
about a date for the next.
Yes, we can put it as a discussion item
or I was going to bring it up during my report,
but we can make it a discussion item.
So I guess that would be C like eight C the executive session.
Thank you.
Any other amendments?
Mayor, I'd like to add a discussion item,
possible action item regarding accommodations
for the special city commission meeting on February 21.
I've received some concerns from residents
about having enough space and alternative options
potentially.
OK all right.
And the other amendments.
Do we have a motion to approve the agenda as amended?
I move to approve the agenda as amended.
I second.
City clerk do you feel pleased to a roll call?
Commissioner marriott?
Yes commissioner Felts.
Yes commissioner Reznik.
Yes vice mayor Lorenzo.
Yes mayor Petrica.
Yes motion carries.
Thank you.
Do we have any audience comments?
Tom Rask.
If you'll please state your name and address for the record.
Tom Rask unincorporated.
Tom Rask unincorporated Pinellas County.
You just had an executive session inside
of a open meeting and that did not adhere to the CLIA
requirements of the statute, which means that the meeting
was out of the sunshine and any meeting,
the cure for any Sunshine Law violation is clear.
You disclose the contents of the meeting, you will see here
and the material that's on the screen
is it says all meetings at which official action will be taken
are declared to be public meetings.
And you go down here, there's an exception
for executive session provided that the following conditions
are met.
Those conditions were not met.
And I gave the city attorney and the mayor
a folder laying this out after the executive session.
Let's look at the notice for your April 26th, 2022,
almost two years ago.
Executive session there.
The meeting, the special meeting and executive session were
noticed and I wish it would have said notice of, but it didn't.
But both were noticed.
Now look at the notice for today.
There's that word notice.
Thank you.
It appears.
But notice of executive session only.
So therefore, the meeting, the open meeting was not noticed.
The executive session was opened inside of the open meeting.
There's another problem that occurred during the meeting,
and that is that the city attorney did not follow what
the statute requires, which is that the city
attorney, the entity's attorney, shall advise
the entity at a public meeting that he or she desires advice
concerning the litigation.
That did not happen.
That also did not happen at your meeting two years ago.
Here are the minutes.
Nowhere does it say it again.
You get to keep the records exempt, provided
that the following conditions are met.
They were not met.
I talked to the city attorney briefly
here between the previous meeting and this meeting,
and I said, look it over.
Uh, I hope you'll see it my way.
So we can avoid a lawsuit.
Because if you just simply disclose in the sunshine,
preferably tonight what occurred at the executive session, then
we can avoid a lawsuit.
Public records lawsuits require five days notice.
Chapter 286 lawsuits do not.
So I hope the city attorney has looked it over.
I hope that at least some of the members of this commission
will now ask the tough questions.
And by the way, I have no idea whether the entity that
has sued you over the commission,
whether it's lawfully seated, whether they think this what
I'm doing now is a good idea.
I don't care.
I'm all about the process.
City did not follow the process.
Thank you.
Do we have any other audience comments?
John kurzman.
If you'll please state your name and address for the record.
John kurzman.
On the way South.
Good I just wanted to talk briefly about the flood
ordinance, because at the last meeting
it wasn't an action item, so there
was no comments, which means that we're still back
at what was decided at the prior meeting, which
was that eventually there will be some sort of open community
meeting where people can talk publicly and ask
questions and discuss it.
If you're really going to move ahead,
I hope you don't move ahead on it.
But if you do, just some quick reasons why there's a concern.
And one of the big concerns was that the whole reason that FEMA
entices people to raise their houses or one of the ways
they entice them is they say, well, if you raise your house,
you won't have to follow the 50% rule anymore.
But the way this new ordinance was written,
it doesn't make it clear that that's the case.
So if you even look at our old checklist
for fema, substantial improvement package requiring
all structures built prior to 1971, because automatically,
if they were built prior to 71, they
would not have been compliant.
Or then you go through the process.
Also houses are already grandfathered.
So there was talk about in that first meeting that you could
this was to help save money on people's money,
on their insurance.
Well, according to the fema, once you're in
and you're compliant, even if the rules change,
the ratings change, you are still going to have
your insurance preserved.
So at least that's the way the current FEMA
documents appear to be written.
Next, there was a question about, well,
how much will we save if we go through all these hoops?
We change all these rules which could affect people
and cost them a lot of money.
What will it save us?
Well, I looked at the community status report for Florida.
There's 500 communities in Florida.
Only 250 of them are in FEMA.
We're a category six, as was discussed.
If you go to category five, we save 5%
If you go to category four, you save
another 5% That's your savings.
Secondly, if you look and I put a spreadsheet
together on a calculated how many there are, there's only.
Here's a spreadsheet.
If we were going to be if we get ourselves to category
four, which we were told was the goal, to go up two levels,
we would be in the top five communities
in the entire state.
There's only four communities in the entire state of Florida
that are category 4 or better.
Do we really think that our existing community could,
could really do that?
That's a lot of work.
So I just think that we need to start slowly
try to get to maybe category 5 and really
think about what the cost and the impact to the citizens are.
In trying to do this.
You need to understand what those costs are.
Also, there was talk about saying
that the floodplain administrator
could use any map.
That just sounds like anarchy.
We have to pick what map is used for each property.
And it mentioned the Pinellas map.
And the Pinellas map says 2040, 20, 72,100.
And, you know, you got to pick which
model you're going to use.
Thank you, sir.
Just stick to FEMA.
So thank you very much.
Thank you.
City clerk to any other audience comments.
Thank you.
All right.
Next, we have item 7 B. Quasi judicial hearing
and resolution 2020 324.
Hi Tim Driscoll Driscoll law firm 146
second street, North St Pete.
310 As the city attorney stated, we
are asking for a continuance of this matter
till March 26 at 6:00 PM.
A date certain, and we would request
that you make that continuance.
Thank you also.
So if you all don't know, he used to be the city
attorney for Saint Pete Beach.
Yes, I was for back in 2004 to 2007.
Worked worked with at the mayor at that time
was warden for chilowsky, who was on this commission
until recently.
So is there a reason for the continuance?
Well, Yes.
The pending lawsuit regarding the makeup of the commission,
I believe, will be resolved, at least
as it pertains to districts 1 and 3 by that date.
And so that's why we're asking for that.
And then hopefully between now and that date,
the remaining issues in that lawsuit will be resolved.
So we don't want to have any approval that
could be jeopardized by the makeup of the commission,
quite frankly.
So that's the basis for our request.
OK And you do understand that district
1 and 3 are not in contention?
I do.
OK I do.
Just because that's a recent development.
So yes, exactly.
No, I do know that.
And it doesn't change my opinion about the validity issues.
So sounds good.
Any questions or comments?
Do we have a motion?
I do have one public comment.
I have one person signed up to speak,
but I'd like to read the title into the record, please.
Certainly resolution 2324, a resolution of the city
commission of the city of St Pete beach, Florida,
approving a conditional use permit pursuant to Section 35.3
Perron B Perron three of the land development code to allow
the permanent establishment of a semi pervious commercial
parking lot at parcel number 063216081180000470
with an address of 5090 Gulf Boulevard.
Incorporating the conditions outlined herein
and providing for correction of scrivener's
error and an effective date.
And I do have Kim Peterson signed up to speak.
I do have a question.
Is on the issue of continuance or not?
No OK.
OK all right.
I just wanted to ask.
Great Thank you.
City clerk.
Thank you, commissioner.
My question is how I'm a little confused as to one
thing relating to the other and why you would
feel that it would be done.
One issue that doesn't relate to yours and that
would make it better in March.
Well, you have four seats that are in doubt
because of a pending lawsuit.
So in my opinion, after the election date, the scheduled
election date in march, two of those seats
are no longer in doubt.
So that means you have at least three seats that
are under no cloud whatsoever.
The remaining two seats still are under that cloud.
Unless that gets resolved, it's our hope
that you get that resolved by March 26th,
and we can be comfortable that we have a full, fully
seated five duly elected commissioners
or duly appointed in some cases.
Is it OK if we all have a discussion about this?
Sure sure.
I mean, the decision of 1 you're basing and I'm talking,
I guess, to the commission, I don't know if you all
have questions about this or not,
but I don't see how one relates to the other.
You know, currently is that location still running
a business as a parking?
So they're waiting for this approval?
Yeah, there's nothing going on currently right now.
They're willing to sacrifice that to get through this issue.
OK now, is there outstanding I want to say citations,
but I know that there was issues at that lot
that haven't been addressed.
So, I mean, I don't think it's a justice to the residents
to wait off on something when there's something that
may still be pending that, you know,
I really wanted to get into.
So I just want to have that discussion.
I can tell you that there are no current citations or anything
against the property.
I want to make sure I understand what's on the table.
So are we basically discussing whether we
approve or disapprove a continuation
in lieu of some other movement?
Correct Yes.
OK the request is to continue the item to March.
I think that as in this instance where, you know,
they're looking for approval for a use that
is currently not being used.
You know, there's nothing happening on that lot
that you would need permission for currently
that if their request is for the continuance,
regardless of any of our personal feelings
about the validity of the reason for the request,
I don't know that there's any real compelling reason to not
grant that if that's what the property owner is wishing
well based on what he said.
Sorry that's OK.
But what you said is.
The validity of and I'm assuming you're
waiting to March because that's when the election
would have taken place.
But we also have an election that's coming in August,
right, because there's two appointed positions here.
So why March and not august?
Well, August would probably be better, but march,
we don't want to push it out that far is really
the short answer to that.
We'd rather just it's already going to impede them somewhat,
not to be able to use the parking
lot in the beginning of March when the spring break begins.
So they're already going to sacrifice that.
I don't think that they can afford to sacrifice
all the way out to August.
So this is a compromise between before,
you know, between doing that and going in March.
And we still hope that this will get resolved.
And our hope is that in the next two months,
we'll get some resolution and this will no
longer be an issue for anyone.
And this is just my opinion.
You vote for this continuance, you're
not agreeing with anything that I'm saying with regard
to this other matter that has nothing to do with this matter,
as you correctly pointed out.
So we're just asking you to give us this reasonable continuance
to allow us to have more faith that the decision
will continue to be upheld.
Now, from my understanding, we don't
have to give the continuance.
And again, I'm basing this off of the reason
why you're requesting it.
From that reason, there are still
two seats then that were appointed that wouldn't
be addressed till August.
So I still don't see and the financial hardship
or whatever the reason why spring break is coming
is not the point.
You know, if that's the reason, then why not wait till august?
Well, we could.
But again, at that matter, because you're
six months out, you know, if you know, I'll leave it at that.
Mr mayor, if I could.
Certainly I see the validity of both your concerns
and Commissioner Marriott.
Personally, after listening to everybody,
I don't have any issues with continuing this.
That's my opinion.
Subject to a vote.
And just to be clear, I mean, I know he's attorney
Driscoll's mentioning a date, but it
would have to be re-advertised.
So, you know, we typically don't continue
things constantly to a date certain to avoid
advertisements.
So this one would have to be re-advertised.
And we understand that.
OK do we have a motion?
I'll make a motion to approve continuation of resolution.
What do we have here?
Conditional use permit 2369 and variance
23 068 59 de Gaulle Boulevard.
Do we have a second?
Second did you want to?
I don't know if you would just add that March 26th date.
That would be great.
He's seeking to be heard on March 26.
So if you want to amend your motion,
is that a committee meeting already scheduled?
That's a commission date.
That's a commission meeting date.
Yeah, I'll amend that motion to approve
what I've already said to continue
that until March 26th, 2024.
Do we have a second for the amendment?
Second So we're going to vote on just
the Amendment to the main motion on the floor
like Mayor had just said.
So the Amendment is to add the March 26th, 2024.
Commissioner Fultz.
Yes commissioner Reznik.
No vice mayor Lorenzen Yes.
Commissioner Marriott Yes.
Mayor Petrella.
Yes motion carries.
Thank you and roll call for the actual motion.
So the main motion, commissioner Reznik pardon?
I'm sorry.
I was now voting on the motion to approve
the continuation for the case number
and address to March 26th.
No vice mayor Lorenzen.
Yes commissioner Marriott.
Yes commissioner Fultz.
Yes mayor Petrella.
Yes motion carries.
Thank you all very much.
Next we have item five, a appointments
to outside agencies.
City clerk.
Thank you, mayor.
So as we discussed at the last meeting,
this is something that we bring up
typically after the election.
And I've listed out all of the different outside agencies
and leave it up to you all to discuss who can do what.
And and I will make that chart.
Well, I'll be the canary in the mine here.
I kind of looked at how the previous commission
did things, mostly with respect to the mayor
and the vice mayor.
So I would throw out on the table
that I could become the alternate for the mayor
on the big see, be the representative for the FLC
and be the alternate for the mic pc, if that makes sense.
Mayor, if I may.
Certainly I'd be interested in the Tampa
Bay regional Planning Council as far as the representative.
OK and I would be interested in the flood insurance.
And I would.
And second on the league if someone else takes primary.
So what is that?
That leaves the Suncoast league of cities spot for the primary,
I believe.
And I would be fine with that If if I'm
hearing everyone correctly.
I think that's.
Yep, Yep.
City clerk did you catch all that?
OK, so I have the mayor is the primary for big C
and mayors council obviously with the understanding
that for now, vice mayor you're going
to be attending the big c, but you will be
documented as the alternative.
Then I have you're also a vice mayor.
You're also, as the representative on Florida
league of cities and the alternate
for the mayors council.
Commissioner fields, you will be the primary for Tampa Bay
Regional and Commissioner Resnick
or the flood insurance rep and Commissioner Marriott.
You are on the Pinellas County.
No, sorry.
You're on the Southern Coast league of cities.
Yes so what do you guys want to do for alternates for the big C
is the only one that we have.
And mayors council for me was the Florida
league of cities for alternate.
Anybody for the Tampa Bay regional Planning Council.
Sure OK.
So that leaves Pinellas County Flood insurance.
I can be an alternate for that one.
Suncoast won league of cities.
Who wants to be the alternate for that?
Flood you don't want to have to.
OK which was the one that you needed.
Suncoast I can do that one too, if you want to put a name.
All right.
So then I just need a motion to approve the board appointments,
as discussed.
I move to approve the board appointments as discussed.
I second.
City clerk, if you'll please do a roll call.
Commissioner reznik?
Yes vice mayor Lorenzen.
Yes commissioner Marriott.
Yes Commissioner Phillips.
Yes mayor Petrica.
Yes motion carries.
Thank you.
Next, we have resolutions seven, a resolution 2023 23
public records requests policy.
City clerk.
Thank you, mayor.
Resolution 20 2323.
A resolution of the city commission
of the city of St Pete beach, Florida.
Finding the necessity to adopt a policy and fee schedule
concerning public records requests
consistent with Florida statutes.
Chapter 119 providing for definitions
of applicable public records, providing for a basic fee
schedule for production of copies,
providing for a reasonable special service charge when
applicable, providing for severability,
conflict, correction of scrivener's error
and an effective date.
Thank you.
So this public records policy is something that the city
has had since I came on board.
I wrote a policy, but I wanted it to be more formally adopted
and that's why I'm bringing it forward
in the form of a resolution.
I've prepared a training PowerPoint with a test
that, I will hand out to the employees if this gets adopted.
And then I would like to do that every year
with the current employees.
And then of course, when new hires are on board.
So it just follows the statute and our current practice
as well.
Questions or comments.
Yeah, if I can.
City clerk is there anything materially
that changes this from the resolution
that it's superseding?
So the prior resolution, the policy
did not include we did not use just FOIA platform then
and it didn't go into depth on the process for redactions
and the types of public records requests.
It was more of a records management policy
with some tie-in of the statute regarding the definition
of what a public record is, that ultimately the clerk's
office or myself is designated as the public records custodian
because we have to do that per statute.
However, this also articulates to the employees
that you are also custodian of your record.
Like I'm not everywhere, right?
So if someone were to come in to the permit office
and want a copy of their permit, I mean, they can essentially
do that and not have to contact me because they are
the custodian of that record.
So it kind of talks about that stuff.
The fees that was same as prior.
I did change the copy data for the USB flash drive
and the CD prior, you know, dated CDs were more of a thing.
And now you're not supposed to be charging to make money.
You're supposed to be the actual cost.
So it's $0.50 and $3 for a USB and that's very rare,
but everything else is per statute.
Also, this one is talks about special service charge.
So the prior policy was 15 minutes.
So anything over 15 minutes, we charged the hourly rate
of the lowest paid employee that's
competent enough to complete the public records request.
I don't particularly like that.
I think that public records fulfillment is part of your job
as a public officer, and it's what you
do when you're in government.
So I upped it to 30 minutes.
I feel like that's pretty reasonable.
Most records requests can occur within 30 minutes
and we don't charge anything 30 minutes or less.
So we also have identified that in here
and that is a change too.
Thanks city clerk.
I apologize.
I had a little trouble hearing all of that
because you're way over in the corner pocket there.
Sorry so other than adding a few items to the fee schedule,
are there any big price changes or.
OK Thank you.
No, nothing increased.
OK Nope.
Any further comments.
Discussions audience comments.
I have no cards.
Yes oh, I'm sorry, John.
You can fill this out while I was OK.
John kurzman, come to the floor.
Come on down.
I support this change.
And, you know, I think it's important.
Of course not.
Please state your name and address for the record.
John kurzman, 5810 Highlander way South.
Thank you, sir.
I'm not speaking on behalf of the beach stewards.
One thing I just want to mention,
though, is that there's public records
that you have to request via this FOA
that sometimes you wouldn't realize.
I mean, I've asked questions just about my home,
and I think it was the building department or someone said,
OK, well, I just have to put that in through the FOIA.
It's a public records request.
And then I've sent in letters, communications with people
due to the city commission and for instance,
things that were sent to the city commission
are in the public record, but they're not up on the website
where people can see it.
So I had sent in my presentation about flood
management for a prior meeting, but it's
nowhere on the website.
So for anyone who ever wanted to even know that it existed,
they would have to do a public records request.
And it seems like that would be extra work.
So it's my suggestion that maybe it would be less work
and it's just related to the spirit of this.
If there was some way that the things
that are sent to the city commission
or the various commissions for our public meetings
and also in the spirit of the Sunshine Act
that we're trying to know, if there's
a communication that's being made to everyone
who is on a commission.
Yes, it's in the public record if someone knows to ask for it.
But maybe it would be nice if this information
would get instead because we have a great website.
It's amazing.
I mean, it's better than any website
I've ever seen for a public community already, really.
But if there's some way we could also have the communications
because also, as an example, the most recent thing when I just
went into address foia, and this is fantastic too,
that you can go and do a search of what every other FOIA
request has been.
So before I went and did a request for freebie,
for instance, I went in and did a search on anybody else,
had done a freebie request.
Unfortunately, I didn't know freebie was
two words, so I didn't find it.
But but, you know, so people could do that too, to take
the load off of the staff.
Always they could search first.
But so what I'm getting at is that we have this great tool,
but when I look at Serrata, which we all were told to do
to get ready for the Serrata meeting,
the most recent Serrata just FOIA result,
I think, and I have it on my phone,
but it just locked up on me was the most recent one
was November 18th, 2023.
So if anyone had communicated after November 18th,
2023 with staff.
You weren't going to see that information if you went
to the justice-for-hire site, as everybody was told to do,
to get ready for the last public meeting.
So that's an issue we need to address that kind of thing,
too.
So if there's some way we can get that kind of thing
automated somehow, to not have to be a manual process where
when people are sending these communications
in for a public meeting or something like a key topic,
it can get into that place.
It might help make the system, you know,
a little smoother and easier.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir.
Any other public comments?
Tom rask, if you'll please state your name
and address for the record.
Tom Rask.
Tom Rask in Pinellas County.
I've been trying to download this resolution on my phone,
but it's apparently a large agenda
packet, so I haven't seen it.
But some of the language here is concerning.
It does say fee schedule concerning
public records requests consistent with Florida
statutes.
Chapter 119, which is the Florida public records law.
But then it has language after that
saying providing for definitions of applicable public records
you don't get this agency doesn't get to decide
what's a public record.
The statute does.
Case law does.
Et cetera.
Then it says for it's I'm looking for the language
at providing for reasonable special service
charge when applicable.
I from memory that's not authorized by statute.
So I again I haven't seen the resolution,
but I'd encourage you to ask for ask about this.
I see things like severability.
Is the person supposed to enter into some kind of agreement
with the city?
That's also that would not be lawful
because we have a constitutional Florida constitutional right
to public records.
We also have a statutory right.
You can't make people agree to any terms of service.
You can't even make them fill out a form
or tell you why they're asking for the public records.
So those are The concerns I have.
Thank you.
OK I'll make a motion to approve resolution 2023.
Dash 23.
Public records request policy.
A second.
City clerk, if you'll please do a roll call.
Vice mayor lorenzen?
Yes commissioner Marriott.
Yes commissioner Fultz.
Yes commissioner Reznik.
Yes mayor Petrella.
Yes motion carries.
Thank you.
Next we have item eight, a sovereign
submerged lands easement renewal discussion and possible action.
City manager.
Public service director Clark is here, I believe.
Mike Clark.
Mike Clark, public works director.
A sovereign, submerged land lease
is a very common and routine document that says,
essentially the Lessor US has something that's
in under or on top of the waters of the state of Florida,
the waters of the United States of America.
There is a survey that documents the boundaries
of where that object is.
And there's an agreement between the state and the individual,
in our case, the municipality, that we'll do our part
to make sure that, you know, the use is correct
and it doesn't change.
And the state will do their part to document it to make
sure that boats don't hit it.
Or if it's an interstate navigable waterway,
it's on the charts and things of that nature.
This is a renewal.
The original did expire.
So I called the state agency, the point of contact
that manages these things.
And she stated that happens from time
to time with municipalities because of meetings
and schedules and such.
It is not a problem on their part.
The state will backdate the date on their side.
Great Thank you.
Questions, comments, discussion.
I have one, Mr Mayor.
So this is zero cost to the taxpayer, right.
And it's already, I think, Florida DEP
land that owns this.
There's no.
Thank you.
City clerk in the audience comments.
I have no cards, mayor.
Do we have a motion?
I'll make a motion to accept the sovereignty submerged lands
easement renewal and authorize the mayor
to sign for submittal to the Florida Department
of Environmental Protection.
Do we have a second?
Second city clerk, if you'll please do a roll call.
Commissioner Marriott.
Yes Commissioner Purfeerst.
Yes commissioner Resnick.
Yes vice mayor Lorenzen.
Yes mayor Petrica.
Yes motion carries.
Thank you.
Next we have item 8 B. Commissioner Resnick.
Regarding commission meeting attendance.
Yes I wanted to bring this up, of course, because
of all the things that have been transpiring that I
wasn't privy to, obviously.
So I didn't know how it was going to conflict.
Two things that I already had on my schedule.
I will not be able to attend February.
And sorry, I'm bringing this because I know we already
have a set calendar and I wasn't a part of determining
a calendar for commission meetings
because I wasn't here obviously, back then.
But February 13th, I have it's my last day
as president of the property owners corporation.
It's our annual meeting, it's on our bylaws.
We have an election.
So, you know, the gavel is being passed over.
And so I cannot miss that.
So I will be missing this.
So I'm not going to be asking for Zoom
or anything crazy because it happens
to be at the same exact time, 6 PM
so I just wanted to bring that up.
But in that, you know, as in my employment,
I set my time off way in advance because we
have to plan it that way when the school year starts.
So I have a March 12th and a June 25 date
because our fiscal year goes to June, June 30th,
you know, the end of the month of June.
And then we start off again in July.
So we always have to plan out.
So I have that marked as my time off from work.
I have not planned anything, so I don't know
if I'm going to be on a plane.
I don't know if I'm going to be doing anything.
I haven't gotten that far.
So my question was about whether I could partake.
I may be able to participate in Zoom.
I know there's been discussion here in the about Zoom
or teams, whichever platform it is that we use.
I know it doesn't count towards quorum, but we can vote.
I don't know if there's ever been a resolution as to there's
been some discussion, so I just wanted to bring it to the table
so that we could talk about it.
So maybe I'll remember.
Maybe the city clerk could remind us
of what the if what the commission has done in the past
and if there's any of that has been codified in any way,
or if it was just an agreement amongst the commission.
So nothing has been adopted by the commission.
I presented it in November of last year.
My research and my discussion with the city attorney and I
wrote a memorandum to the commission based on that.
Basically what's been happening is the mayor
announces when he's been the only one
to participate from on Zoom.
So what he has been doing is announcing it like Betty
or Commissioner Resnick just did.
And then it's notice that he would be attending via Zoom.
And that's just the way we've been doing it
until we have some other formal process adopted but not allowed
to vote.
Right if you're zooming mayor does vote.
He has voted and that does count.
Does this need to be codified?
Andrew?
it does not.
I mean, you can I think the clerk
did a nice job on the memo.
Ironically, there's actually a bill in Tallahassee
where they're actually considering
giving local governments the ability
to hold meetings virtually.
I think, two or three times per year.
I'm assuming it has to do with the summer
break or something like that.
But, you know, we can keep you posted to that.
But generally speaking, the law is
that you have to have an in-person quorum present
and that, you know, the reason for attending electronically
is warranted.
Obviously, we would have to know,
what I do is, depending on what's on the agenda,
like if there's a quasi judicial hearing that's on the agenda,
you know, we have to take extra steps
to make sure that, you know, disclosures are made that you
affirm that you have everything in front of you,
that, you know, the information is there.
So that whoever's voting is voting with full knowledge
of information.
So we really just kind of handled it on a case by case
basis because it's not illegal.
You know, the attorney general opinions kind of go back
in time and don't really keep up with technology,
to be honest with you, because I think when the first ones
were issued, it was about telephones
and attending by telephone.
So the technology is very different now.
So, you know, we can codify it.
I'm not sure if you want to or not.
I mean, I think so far we've been able to handle it
on a case by case basis, you know,
to make sure that and now the Zoom does work very good.
Maybe a year and a half ago, it was not working very good
and we were having trouble with it.
So it hasn't been a problem doing that.
This brings up actually another point that we discussed
at the end of last year, and we said we were going to revisit
it earlier this year.
We had a conversation about looking at July, August.
And putting the meetings at the front end and the back end.
So we're required to have two meetings per month.
So I think one of that would actually
fix your third meeting, right, potentially.
So I think what we talked about was scheduling two meetings,
either back to back two days in a row or maybe a week apart
in the first week, early July, and then
having the next commission meeting seven or eight weeks
later.
We'll still have to have the 27th of August meeting
because that's going to be right after the election.
And then there'll be the swearing in
and everything else.
So looking at the calendar, I mean,
we could depending on what the commission wanted to do,
we could do July 2nd and we have a ninth scheduled.
For example, we could do July 1st and second,
eighth and ninth, and then we could
do the same thing in August.
I mean, those are some options that
would give some people, especially
those with kids in school and.
Some time.
Do you take time off?
And if I remember Commissioner lorenzen,
you're going to be out as well.
So that'll solve some of those times off as well.
So I'm not sure if that's the conversation we want to have.
Now as part of this conversation.
Well, at least I'm putting it out there,
so at least we all could individually, personally
go look at our calendars and if there is something before we
start playing again with the calendar
because we can change the date.
Right so as long so maybe we could do that
at the next commission meeting, maybe come prepared to if we,
if I'm not asking to have to move it, but because, you know,
we really haven't been able to talk about this,
maybe we can come prepared to if we need it, to move somewhere.
That's that's a good point.
City clerk if you different one is February 13.
Let me just say Yeah Yeah Yeah we can add it for discussion
for next commission meeting and then everyone
can look at their calendars between now and then
and see come prepared with some dates that are available
or not available.
Do you want me to put it?
Since commissioner Reznik will be
out for the February 13 meeting, do you want me to put
it onto the February 27th?
No, we should have it without her.
Here, make the decisions.
Then I'll come to that meeting and say, that's fine.
OK mayor.
Excuse me.
Just one thing.
As you're looking at your calendars,
if specific times that you need to be out
or would like to be out, if you could give that information
either to the clerk's office to me
prior to that meeting, because there are certain meetings
that we need to have and certain staff requirements
we need to have.
So if we could have some idea ahead of time,
ahead of that next discussion, then
we could make sure that it meets all of our other requirements.
Thank you.
Yeah, I've got a general question on that.
How far in advance do we need in order to change
a commission meeting date?
I would prefer seven days.
OK you can do 72 hours.
OK Thanks.
OK Any other discussion on this?
OK, next we have item 8 c, the executive session.
Thank you, mayor.
Pursuant to section 286 .011, subparagraph eight,
when the city attorney wants to have
your advice in an executive session,
I need to announce that at a public meeting.
This is a public meeting, so I'm announcing it specifically.
It says the entity's attorney and the city
would be the entity shall advise the entity at a public meeting
that he or she desires.
Advice concerning the litigation.
The litigation that I'm referring to
actually is two of them.
One would be Saint Pete Beach advocacy
group, et Al versus the City of Saint Pete Beach.
They have sent me today this afternoon a letter
with a settlement offer and I need
to circulate that to you all.
But in order for us to discuss it in an executive session,
we need to schedule that.
And as I said, I need to request that meeting
here at a public meeting.
The other development is red, white and blues versus
City of Saint Pete Beach.
That's relating to a cup conditional use permit.
Defense counsel who is working on that with me
has had some verbal discussions, I believe, with opposing
counsel, and I'm hoping that maybe we can get something
in writing officially from them by the time
that we meet so that we can discuss
both potential settlements and in an executive session.
So I have spoken to defense counsel
that the city is using for protect Saint Pete Beach
advocacy group versus St Pete beach,
and they have indicated to me that the best time would
be the earliest would be on.
I think it was February 6 that next week would be too quick.
One of them was not available.
And then on top of that, we need to also
prepare for our own answer to that complaint.
I will remind you or let you know that I had informed
opposing counsel for that case a while ago when we scheduled
this, the executive session that we had
today, that we were having an executive session just
so for the very reason that perhaps
we could get her proposal earlier
rather than this afternoon.
So I'm suggesting that we have that executive session
on the sixth.
Definitely to talk about the protect Saint Pete Beach
advocacy group case and hopefully
the red, white and blues case as well.
There's no way to make this sound good,
but I would like to have it sooner.
And the reason for this is because, you know, no offense
to all the attorneys out there, but I've seen how they operate.
The second you hand them something,
they're like a dog with a bone and they go out
and it's billable hours going forward.
And I'm not saying that they're going
to go out and spend hundreds hours in the next two weeks.
I just they're going to go 100 miles an hour
to prepare for this, prepare for that, do all this other stuff.
We're going to spend a ton of money
in the next two weeks versus if we try to do this concurrently
and say, you know, what we talked about earlier was having
a meeting much sooner, maybe within the next week, 10 days
or so, so that we're not burning all
of this capital on the defense if we come
to some kind of resolution.
And then again, I have no way of making that sound good.
It's just I. I've seen it enough times where the second you hand
an attorney something, they put every associate
on it, every paralegal on it.
Again, I don't that's what I would do because you're
going to have to prepare.
But you know, if we give them two weeks,
we're going to get two weeks worth of billing.
If we're going to give them a week,
we're going to get the week's worth of billing.
Well, I mean, I know that's your assumption.
It's not necessarily the truth, but I'm just
saying that what with conferring with them,
I was told that the primary attorney assigned to this
was not available starting the 31.
And I believe that Commissioner was not available on the 30th.
So the primary attorney that was assigned
is not available from the 31 through the second.
And quite frankly, that is a fairly quick turnaround.
But if you want to have that executive session on the 30
with me, happy to do it.
I'll spend time and money preparing for it.
Mayor, please go ahead.
I kind of get what Adrian's saying,
but I also know that I mean, they got a when they invoice,
they're going to be saying what they're invoicing for.
So with that, you can limit what I want to say limit.
But if the hours for preparing for a meeting
is going to be viewable.
Right, we're going to see an invoice that
says we're billing five hours to prepare for this meeting
or review whatever.
You know, I think we could kind of
contain anything going crazy.
know, we're not going to see the bill or the invoice
until after we can give after the fact.
Correct?
maybe.
I mean, if they know that we're going
to have a meeting on the sixth.
I mean, but we still understand that once a lawsuit is served,
the mayor has been served.
So the clock started.
We have a certain amount of time to file something in court
and that needs to be done and they need to do it.
They're not going to schedule depositions.
They're not going to schedule discovery.
They're not going to schedule all the pre-trial things
within a week.
I think they're going to be focused
on making sure that we timely file,
what we're supposed to file.
Starting from the time that the mayor
was served with the lawsuit.
And again, I'll remind you, I mean, they I specifically made
it clear to opposing counsel that we're having
this executive session so that we would get something
in a timely manner if they were going to come up
with something.
You know, they chose to provide it to me this afternoon.
And frankly, I don't feel comfortable.
I mean, I, I gave you the synopsis of it,
but I don't feel comfortable giving you legal advice on it
right now.
But I'll know, like I said, it's your will.
I highly doubt that you're going to have an entire law
firm working on this particular case between now
and the sixth and billing, you know,
an enormous amount of money.
And remember, the half of it's almost half of it's
covered by your insurance carrier
anyway, maybe an in between.
I mean, I'm looking at the calendar
and I think we were first looking at the 31 and now
maybe the sixth.
The difference between those two things is 3 working days.
So I don't know.
When I look at that, I'm kind of the six
seems to be a better compromise in my mind.
It's not really a compromise.
We're just agreeing on a date.
But would you like to call it?
It just seems like a good go between.
Well, go between would be halfway,
which would be like the 31 that would be accomplished.
So again, I think as we had discussed earlier,
I think it's prudent of us to move forward
faster rather than slow.
Two weeks seems slow to me.
So what were you proposing?
I must have missed it.
I proposed as early as the 30th.
Well, we already said that's a no go for a couple of us.
Or for at least one of us.
Yep and then apparently the other attorney is not
available after the 31st, so.
Is that correct?
He's not available on the 31 and going forward
until the sixth the second.
I think that's what he said.
And meeting with him, 31 to the second.
He's not available.
He's not available?
No he's not available on the second
or could he be available on the second?
Oh, my God.
I'm seriously.
Why don't we just do it on the 30th and I'll advise you.
You know, like, if.
Yeah, if I. If I may be coming.
A little frustrating to me, I think represent you
as an attorney and, and to be pushed back
on constantly to have a meeting on a serious issue
and to rush it.
So let's do it on the 30th and I'll
give you the advice, Matthew.
Yeah I was just going to say, the way the statute is laid out
is this is a meeting that we are calling
to talk to you about that we need to feel prepared for.
And I can understand the urgency to do this,
but this isn't a special meeting that we're setting to discuss
a development or an ordinance.
This is something that we are advising you we need to do.
And I just think it's prudent that we're prepared.
And we've just disclosed the fact
that the attorneys that we just appointed are not available.
So the 31 the first the second are not feasible dates.
We can do it the week of the sixth or we can do it.
Like we did today at 4:30 before the 13 meeting.
But now miss Resnick is not available, then.
But I just wanted to mention that because we
need to be prepared as well.
There's no point of having a meeting
and not discussing anything.
If I may, I think that I, as somebody who has worked
for myself my whole life, I certainly understand the desire
to once you decide to do something, to do it
as quickly as possible and, you know, make a decision
and move forward.
I also think that once we've agreed to hire someone
to act as our counsel, there has to be some amount of trust
involved in that relationship.
And if we're going to assume that they are.
Just billing us for the most money they can to no good end.
Then we probably shouldn't have hired them in the first place.
And so I'm.
Did you hear anyone say that they're going to be billing
for no apparent reason at all, especially after they lecture
this for 20 minutes on how time is of the essence
and we need to move fast.
And then the same people that told us they
can move fast cannot move fast.
I'd like to remind you that what we discussed
in the executive session this was
before the executive session started, just
a friendly reminder.
What was discussed in the executive session
is not a public record and it was outside of the public.
Thank you.
So anyway, it's as the city attorney said,
we're not going anywhere.
So fifth, sixth, seventh, let's pick a date.
Mayor, if I may, I mean, we're talking
about a week difference.
What I was trying to get at, Andrew,
I was just trying to understand if the second was available
or not.
I think the sixth is a reasonable amount of time.
I'm good with the sixth.
I'm good with the sixth, too.
Did he give a time?
No, it's open.
OK so do you all prefer mornings?
Afternoon?
4:00, I think, is the earliest.
Yeah, I'm good with that.
All right.
4:00 on the sixth.
Do we need a motion or do we just schedule it?
You could just schedule it, but.
All right.
So we're going to schedule an executive session
for February 6 at 4:00 PM.
And the two items, I guess, will update the agenda
once we figure out whether red, white
and blues is going to be ready or not to have a conversation.
Yep.
OK.
Hopefully we can do both, but we'll see.
OK, easy enough.
All right.
Next we have action item 8 D. Sorry
discussion item 8 D the February 22 meeting for the Cerrado.
I think there's a discussion about the location.
I think it's I believe it's February 21.
21st February 21.
Yeah I've received some emails and just general
concerns about having enough.
Public viewing area seating available.
Maybe city manager could comment on that.
Sure just, you know, I being in February with the weather,
we might not be able to have a TV set up outside,
whether it be rain cold.
So sure.
Be glad to.
Actually, we discussed this internally a couple of days
ago back on the December 5 meeting.
We had 57 seats available in here.
Of course, we had other seats.
You know, we have a maximum number of seats,
but we had a certain number of seats for the applicant,
certain the commission, but we did have
57 available seats in here.
But then we also opened up the upstairs lobby as well as
the upstairs large conference room,
which gave us another 44 seats.
So it gives us a total of 122 seats.
And then of course, we had the outside area that we set up.
And February is probably not going
to be a good time to do that.
But I was informed by the people who were actually working
that area that the majority of those people, almost all
of those people left after the first hour.
They either migrated inside or left.
We did go ahead and look at the other option
that has been discussed in the past,
which is the community center.
And, you know, as we've discussed before,
there's a lot of challenges to that.
It's not set up for a public meeting
as far as amplification, microphones,
Zoom acoustics are a problem.
But we did we did look to see what we would need
to do if that was a decision or the direction
we wanted to go in.
We did find a company that could do
all of the technical things that need to be done over there,
which is pretty significant.
But in order to really conduct a public meeting,
the way it needs to be conducted, provide
for the zoom, provide for the recording,
everything we would need to the cost is around $8,000
to do that for that one meeting.
So we followed that up with our staff going
over looking at the maximum capacity of that room,
did the same thing.
We did in here, looked at how much room would be taken up
for that equipment that would have to come in,
how much room would be taken up to some kind of a portable dais
as well as podium.
And where we ended up with that was we
would have approximately 120 seats
available in that facility.
So we really don't gain any seats by moving over there.
And the other problem with that is it
would really be two days of disruption
for that facility, which is that's the time of year.
It's used a lot.
But, you know, they would have to have one day for the company
to come in to Setup everything up the following day.
They would have to be demobilizing.
So there's really not a big there's not
any benefit of actually trying to move over
there and spend that $8,000.
And so, you know, my recommendation
is we do exactly what we did with the last meeting
except for the outside.
And we could at the last minute, if we
see that it's going to be good weather, we could, you know,
put something out there for any type of overflow.
But that's my recommendation.
Well, it kind of makes sense to me.
I don't see the bang from the buck
they're spending $8,000 for.
And I can kind of see a lot of technical glitches occurring
and it just being kind of a strange setup.
And if we also do that, we're kind
of setting the marker for every time there's a large action
item, we got to go spend another 8,000
to move everybody over there each time.
So I'm not saying it's worth all that extra money and effort.
I tend to agree with that.
I'd say I'd certainly be prepared
to put a TV outside in the event the weather may be great.
So I'd certainly do that.
We can do that.
We are.
We already figured out how to do it.
So we could move quickly if the weather was OK for that.
Can I ask also, since we did do this already before, we've
already looked at any of the glitches
that might have happened before and are able to address it.
So it doesn't happen in the future.
So are there any processes in place
to make it more efficient for public comment or.
You know, there is a delay.
I know because I've been in the lobby,
there's a delay in what's being said here.
But it's like, what, maybe two minutes?
Three minutes?
I'm not sure what the delay is, but there is a delay
when you're in the lobby.
I don't know if it's more so out in the parking lot.
But yeah, there is a slight delay, you know, from that.
But it didn't seem to cause a problem with,
with conducting the business.
So unless there's any other ideas or discussion on it,
you know, I would just suggest we move forward with that plan.
Thank you.
All right, next, we have item 9 C. City clerk.
Yes Thank you, mayor.
So I have a couple of things.
The first thing is, so I and my staff
do a telecommuting from time to time based on scheduling
and 1 to two days a week.
And there is a form to authorize that.
And because you guys are all my supervisor,
I was going to ask if there's consensus to allow the mayor
to sign the authorization for my telecommuting 1 to two days
a week as schedule allows.
And to sign Jenny, deputy city clerk Jenny Botkin
and administrative assistant Ariana Wilson
to do the same as schedule allows.
And of course, if there's any other issue that may arise,
but it's always communicated to you,
if there's a long term issue, a week or two, that might occur.
So if I have no objection, I'll just
take that as a consensus to allow
the mayor to sign those forms.
If I could piggyback onto that, if you don't mind.
So I'd also, in addition to that, so the prior commission
well, first of all, I report to the commission, the manager
reports to the commission and the clerk reports
to the commission.
So in order to get these types of things approved,
we have to do it this way.
But you know, what I would ask in addition
to the telecommuting, is to authorize the mayor to work
with the clerk as needed.
You know, she obviously works late
into the night on a lot of different things
and has flex time, has, you know, different things.
And so she has.
And in order to accommodate the time off that she needs coming
up when she has a personal medical issue that,
you know, instead of having to raise it here
every time at the commission that you authorize the mayor
just to work directly with her to accommodate that, you know,
so that she's got the appropriate and necessary
amount of time to deal with the things
that she has to deal with.
Yeah Thank you.
Thank you, Andrew.
Yep the only other thing I wanted to mention was I
updated the city's general website to discuss
the August special election.
So that is uploaded onto the city clerk's page
and there will be an advertisement in the newspaper
in April 2nd as required by statute to announce
the same and one qualification books are ready
and as required by our code.
That is something that must be purchased
prior to running for office.
And I also updated that there will
be no city municipal election.
I understand that there is still a primary presidential primary,
but that is not a city.
So I've had a few questions about that.
The polling locations will be open, both Warren
Webster and community center.
But again, that has nothing to do with me or you.
All that is solely based on the supervisor of elections
and based on whatever party someone's affiliated with.
So that's been updated as well.
Amber, just to note, I think the Warren Webster is still closed.
It's we are opening it for the they're going to do
it for the primary in March.
And we have a contract with the supervisor of elections.
So yes, seven a to 0.07 pounds and that's all I have.
Thank you.
You included a fourth, did you?
Yeah Thank you.
So for all the new commissioners,
we do lobbyist reporting and you've seen the emails
with the registrations for 2024 copy of the fillable log
to keep track of that report is due by these individuals listed
minus the ex commissioners every quarter
at the end of every quarter.
And a reminder, email goes out with another blank attachment,
a reminder of who is registered and a due date of the tenth
of the following month.
So these were the fourth quarter.
End of the quarter was December 31.
Filers were requested to turn in a report or an email
stating none by January 10th.
And so I prepare my office, prepares
a report for your reviews at a commission meeting
soon thereafter.
And I only send one reminder.
I don't I don't keep going.
So you see what you see.
Do you mind if I can just piggyback on that real quick?
To all the lobbyists who registered that are watching
this at the first of the year, you're
required to reregister, pay a new fee,
fill in a new application.
I have told as many attorneys as I can as a kind reminder,
but if you were a lobbyist last year,
you're required to file another application as of January 1st
this year.
I think we need to add a discussion
to the next commission meeting about this
because I'm looking at the city clerk sent
me a copy at my request of the Q3 report as well.
And this is extremely.
Distressing that we have at the moment.
Two board members on the planning board.
Now, these are the individuals who
hear all the cup applications.
We did not fill out Q3 report still,
and they still haven't filled out Q4 report.
Now, these are individuals who are hearing,
you know, at hearings directly from lobbyists in their.
And we have no idea who you're talking
to because you're not filling out a simple report that
takes two seconds.
And I think the commissioners need to look I'll
look at my appointees as well.
And especially the repeat offenders.
I mean, that's.
Six months.
You can fill out the report.
Come on.
These these are grounds for removal.
I think.
And this is a discussion I think we need to have
about those individuals.
Because you're now actively violating a city ordinance.
OK, that's fine.
I can add that.
And then I'll go ahead and add all
of the supporting documentation for 2023,
all reports quarter one through quarter four.
So you can see consistency.
Thank you, city clerk.
City manager.
Wayne anything?
No, Thank you.
All right.
She's looking at my notes.
Make sure you just.
You just shocked by the time that we have on the clock.
City attorney?
No, sir.
Enough for one night.
Done enough damage for one night.
All right.
District four.
Yes Thank you, mayor.
A couple of things.
First of all, there's a planning board vacancy.
Melinda Pletcher resigned about a week or so ago,
so we're actively recruiting for a replacement on that.
So I guess the way it works is let
me know when the other commissioners
know if you're interested.
So we hope we can get that filled with the consent
of my fellow commissioners.
The trash pickup issue for pass-a-grille that you're all
very familiar with by now is just getting hotter
and hotter from the residents.
So what I'd like to do is on the 13th,
add that to the agenda to have another presentation
by either the city manager or Mike Clark
to give us an update on where we're at with that.
And I'm hoping there's some kind of partial interim solution
wrapped into that so we can get that at least partially
solved along the way here.
The other thing is dog park, for those listening at Hurley park
has been torn apart.
They're putting in irrigation and they're
going to give grass a try.
So we'll see how that all goes.
But that's actively happening right now.
They should be done with that within a week.
I'd say kudos to Jennifer and Mandy.
I hope I got the right department.
Parks and rec, the sand that's been overflowing
the seawall between first and 4th Avenue and pass-a-grille
said dog park.
It's gotten really bad.
I mean, it looks like winter out there.
It's just blowing in drifts across the street.
And I think the folks from parks and recs
have already started putting up 4 by 4s with wooden planks
to keep that sand at Bay until they can
come up with a better solution.
So my compliments to them for listening to our problems
with that and the residents down in pass-a-grille with that.
Lastly, I am going to hold on 7th February, kind of a meet
and greet for district four residents at Hurley park,
so that'll be between 5 and 6 PM I'm going to try and do it
the first and third Wednesday of each month.
But for February 21st, we all know
we're here, so that won't be happening that date,
but that'll be at Hurley park between 5 and 6 PM
and we'll put that out on some kind
of announcement with the city clerk's assistance.
That's all I have.
Thank you, mayor.
Thank you.
District three.
Yes so a couple of meetings from my district
that are up and coming, one being the annual meeting
for the neighborhood, which is February 13 at 6:00
PM the Lido association also reached out to do
very similar meet and greets.
So I've had different neighborhoods reaching out.
Maybe I should have done one and do everybody.
But so I do have that one for and it's not
confirmed most definitely, because I know they're
going to get back to me.
But they did give me the February 15 date just for those
who are listening, maybe you could
reach out to your Association President to verify the date.
I haven't spoken with anyone from Belle vista yet,
but I know I've had some residents
asking me the same thing.
So for now, I think that would be the best way is probably
to coordinate it with the meetings
that the neighborhoods are holding.
So I can meet you all.
I just wanted to put out this for Because I know there's
several neighborhoods, including Belle vista and residents,
not to mention in Lido, because I've met with a couple who have
a lot of concern about flooding, especially
with the last storms.
And me, myself, as a resident, I'm
concerned about flooding in less than 12 months,
many neighborhoods flooded significantly
impacting infrastructure.
I know so in the Don Cesar haven't had any response yet
back but just know that I am aware of it
and that I am going to try to help in that situation.
For for those of you who are experiencing that, because it
is pretty significant what's been
happening as far as infrastructure falling apart.
And then I just wanted to give a kudos out to the save the dunes
group because I did participate at their meeting that was held
in Don vista, and I know they already went out to district 4
and worked on the beaches.
But I think it's really nice that another city, treasure
island, was able to work with a group
here in our city to pass along the idea of helping the city
and helping the dunes, which is the removal of exotic or
invasive species in our dune system.
And it was a great presentation.
And I know if we reach out maybe to Jennifer,
I'm just putting you out there, Jennifer, in the city
that you could pass along that information.
I don't know if it's posted right now on the website,
but they meet on Fridays for one hour.
And what you can get in one hour and then move on, right.
And then meet again in the next Friday.
So it's a slow process.
If you've ever been weeding and gardening, it is slow,
but it will be really nice, you know,
to get some of that saved.
So they did a lot of work in pass a grille not too long
ago removing fountain grass.
So I put it out there because education and information
is important because a lot of these invasives
are because we love how some of these plants
look like in our home, not realizing
how much it's spreading seeds all over the place.
And it's not supposed to be there.
So get involved because it's out there.
So thank you.
Thank you.
District two.
Yes just wanted to remind everyone,
there's a town Hall for district two
this Thursday at 5:30 and commission chambers.
The agenda is posted online.
There also will be a link to view it
digitally if you can't make it.
City manager qu and public works director
will be there to comment on some of the items on the agenda.
And also I wanted to comment on the event
Friday that the fire department put on for the pushing
of their new truck.
The mayor was there as well, did a really nice job with that.
And I know mark, our communications manager,
did a good job advertising and putting
up some pictures of that.
And I encourage our residents to attend
those events in the future.
That's it.
Thank you.
District one.
Yeah Thank you.
So I'd like to officially welcome
my appointee to the beach stewardship committee.
Brad Panek is a local guy who's both a resident in district
one, and he also has a business in district one and a small kid
and really invested in the community.
And so I think he's going to be a great asset to the city,
and I'm proud to have him be my appointee to the beach
stewardship committee.
I also wanted to mention that I've had several residents
reach out to me as well in district one about flooding,
because in our neighborhood, even though sometimes we think
we're the high spot on the beach,
we still have, you know, some blocks from 73rd to 80th or so
where people have had water in their houses
a couple times this year.
And I've had a couple residents ask if we wanted if we would
consider or if there was some thought to creating a citizen
flood advisory board to look at those issues
and to, you know, a group of citizens who can help us
keep track of those things and, you know,
help come up with solutions and that sort of thing.
So I don't know if that might be something that we might
want to address in the future.
And that's all I've got.
Thanks great.
Thank you.
Thank you, everyone, for coming tonight.
We are adjourned.