[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] yeah [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] yeah [Music] [Music] n [Music] welcome back to Tampa city council at this time can we have roll call Carlson here herk here Clint denen Henderson Viera Miranda here maniso here you have a physical quum all right before we begin just a reminder we're going to have the five minute timer on for each council member as we do our discussions moving forward yes sir Mr raro item number 91 sir fin report on item number 91 the subject of City Council salaries uh we thought it would be it would be informative if we kind of laid out a chronology of how we came to this point and some of the various City uh Council salaries that were discussed you don't mind if I can go to the Elmo go ahead sir if we get the overhead I cannot see it yet yes please let me know when you see it thank you sir there we go and you have it right there again just uh a chronology this request was informally made at a special call session in October of 2021 suggesting comparable cities to Tampa uh Mrs uh pointer who uh who we discussed in creating this Elmo slide provided some information later or early in 2022 and you see over to the far right in yellow the external jurisdictional analysis of approximately $74,000 uh separate analys internal was done again arriving at a very very similar fig uh figure on almost $74,000 per council member in the recommended budget for fiscal year 23 uh we appropriated an amount necessary to raise City Council salaries to that number to 73,74 it was not acted upon and your salaries were not increased but we retained that funding and carried it over into the current year in uh Personnel reserves which I'll talk talk to or speak to in just a moment had that effect or had that pay increase gone into effect with City council's upcoming 3% cost of living raise on May 1st we we have calculated a similar figure of $75,100 pay increase we'd be at that number in yellow 75300 115 where we are today you see in the second to the last bullet uh generally city council members are making $555,000 in change the exception is councilman Miranda at $53,000 in change but again we have a little over $20,000 for each Council seat in our Personnel reserves and you see the total there of just over $142,000 so again wanted to level set as to the discussions that have taken place up to now and the funding uh the funding scenario that exists right now and we can answer additional questions or as Council discusses the item anybody want to kick it off Council now the only thing is U if I remember there was a study done between cities like Miami St Pete Orlando whatever it was and when you do the comparison to those cities it was very close am I correct uh now I it depends uh honestly I have seen three or four maybe even more studies so it would depend on which particular study refen Sal range from 53 to right at 60 within the range but what you're talking about a $20,000 a year raise or whatever uh when you run for office it's about public service when you work on the boards it's about public Service uh I have what I have because I worked two and three job my whole damn life and might oppos to doing that till the day I die may be tomorrow or I live another 30 or 40 years who knows so what I'm saying is when you go to a drastic increase in salary it should be voted upon by the citizens in the next election when you when you choose your elected officials let them debate not that they're going to vote on the salary of the citizens but let the people are running for office do that themselves I'm not opposed to a salary increase never happened when it's three and 4% just like who the general employees I can I I'm just speaking from my heart not my wallet uh it's just something that would rub the people now when you have so many people they don't have a place to live so many people are try to make it and they can't because of various things increase in insurance on the automobile increase double in the housing you can't buy a house now because you can't afford the insurance you can make the payment maybe but that insurance leats you alive and these are the things that worry me about the taxpayers and I have't spoken no one I spoke no one here excuse me and uh I haven't even spoken to the citizens I'm just saying from my heart and my salary is the same as theirs the only difference is I don't take that $200 something dollars a month to spend as I want and they're entitled to it don't get me wrong if I got to go somewhere I want to pay for it myself so does it make any difference for me who I am no I'm just one of seven that's how I look at it and I'm not opposed to anybody asking for whatever they want but let it be for the next election give us the same percent that this General employees got we are employees of the public not of employees of ourselves so the general public understands what is about and when you run for office you know what the salary is you know what the benefits are or you should know you know what the re if they going to help anybody it's going to help me because your your retirement is based on the last five years of salary times the number of years of service plus 1 and a half% wise a year so those are the things that I'm not bothered by it but these numbers in my mind are way screwed out of line just out of line you get a regular employment public and private Enterprise doesn't do this for instance some of the salaries were raised and some employees over here 30 years so they bring in somebody and going pay them the same salary and that's happened but now we bring it up I'm bringing it up I didn't want to bring this thing up but it it just not the right thing in anybody's mind you're worth the $75,000 but that's not what you run for office for you run for office because you want to serve the public and think that you could do a better job than the one that was there before you and that's how it is I'm not here to question you or anybody else what they do but I cannot support a salary of that kind of increase I can support a three and a half 4% rate like everybody else got and if we didn't get it two years give it away all of us that they didn't get it there's no problem with me just I'm just one I don't care what anybody says today Society was coming what happening in St Pete what they what they got to deal with now I don't think it should pass but just just me and I'm not going to mention anything thank you chairman thank you very much anybody else yes sir um I believe in good government and I think that um in good government you have to pay people a living wage and a fair wage um I'm lucky that I have another job not everybody who runs for office has that ability to um have some other way to supplement their income um we've had situations before where members of council um would ask for free tickets and other things that they shouldn't have to do because of how little city council has paid um it is I think it's disrespectful to the position that the position is paid so low um especially in proportion to what the mayor gets paid and what the mayor's staff get paid um what you're what you're doing is is setting up a value um as to as to what you think City council's worth and we know what at least one previous administration thought about Council that's probably why it's artificially low um I think that uh even looking at what other cities get paid is not the right Benchmark we have to look at good government there should be enough there that somebody could uh potentially work full-time or only work on this if they want um I philosophically believe in good government and believe in paying a fair wage that's why I voted for this the last time um it did not pass then uh but just so everybody knows the the mayor's Chief of Staff came and proposed it to us I should have been suspicious at that point but um it didn't pass and then in the campaign last year the mayor uh helped raise $100,000 to run in negative ads against me to um to tell everybody that that I had voted uh to give raise guess what it didn't work I still got 60% of the vote even though I was outs spent 7 to one by their people um and so to me it's not a political issue but I what I'm looking at is how do we protect City councils in the future in three years I'm not going to be on city council anymore and I want to make sure that City councils in the future are paid a fair wage I I'm not in favor of voting on just a raise for ourselves I want to I want to vote on a formula if we vote on a formula that also affects us if if there's enough votes I'm okay with that but I want to vote on a formula so that in the future um no city council has to vote on this again in the past I've recommended a um Charter Amendment which was shot down and the charter Amendment um was that a uh every three years a a committee would be pulled together that would set the mayor sour and then the city council would be % of that of course then the mayor's PR people pushed out that I thought we should get some kind of huge raise it's not about me or or this city council it's about uh making sure that city council is populated with people who can maintain strong ethics and um and we need a percentage if somebody doesn't believe that we're worth 60% of whatever the mayor I think 60% is a slight towards city council that we're only worth 60% of the mayor um but it should at least be 40% or 50% but if it is a percentage of what the mayor Mak uh then it will be a formula going forward it could be in a charter Amendment or it could be uh something that we we would put into ordinance but I think no city council should have to vote on this in the future and so we ought to vote on a formula rather than just a number thank you council member CL I wasn't going to speak because I've spoke about it in the past but just to State my position on it any any company does this an evaluation based on the the the job and creates a salary expect ation based on the job and and the market demand I believe the city did its due diligence I've spoken with Chief Bennett and and and Dennis about this what they did as far as their due diligence doing the research uh to find exactly what a comp an appropriate compensation level would be I'm about not just in this but in every action we take on Council it's not about um politics it's not about anything other than just doing the right thing for um the citizens of Tampa and the taxpayers of Tampa I think that if we don't if if folks that sit up here on the council by projecting with all due respect uh councilman Miranda by projecting said okay we're not going to take it here that get that it's it's politics it's either it's either the job is worth x amount of money or it's not it's worth that money today or it's worth that money tomorrow it's it's just it's it is what it is it's if and I'm and and I'm here I'm willing to go with everybody about let's determine what is an appropriate salary for this position and then move forward with that um I think we should need to take out all of the extra noise again I believe the administration this wasn't us the administration did an analysis and they came up with these figures and this determination based on looking at different jurisdictions and and doing these things and I I believe that Chief Bennett is is is kind of a subject matter expert on doing things like this he's done it in his past lives the things that he's done I trust his math um and I think I don't want to get into manipulating it I don't want to get into well maybe we should do this percentage or maybe we should do that percentage let's just stick with the facts let the facts take us to where we're going and I think that's what we've got in front of us thank you counc Vie thank you very much yes I I don't think there's any really dispute from what I've heard from Folks up here that this position should be paid more I don't think that is an issue that is in dispute for me the principle is that there should be an election before a legislative body such as us gets the benefit of a non-inflation adjusted uh uh salary increase that's it that for me is the central issue that here it is a principle it's not something that that is uh political and I appreciate everybody's comments on it Etc uh I I've made this very clear we have the obviously it's not binding on city council but we have the 27th Amendment to the United States Constitution that says for Congress they will not get the benefit of a pay increase until after they've had an election right it's good enough for congress I think that principle should be good enough for city council I am glad to vote in favor of a pay increase for the next Tampa City Council you will get me saying yes to that 110% but I cannot support something that is non inflation adjusted that benefits us before the people of this city have had a chance to speak on it through the uh political process that is my principle that I have on this again you push it to the next Council we vote Yes on it glad to do that 110% we do and and I would like that and and if this doesn't pass by the way you have my word that in whatever 2026 whatever it is that I'll bring it up uh for the next city council I will bring it up you have my word right now replay it that if it doesn't pass today I will because people who run for that next seat should have the benefit of that promise I think that's something that's very important you're going to get more diverse people running for city council you're going to get people from different walks of life Etc running for city council but I don't believe that we should get the benefit of that that is to me the central dispositive issue here that's the issue for me thank you that's what you said before the last stop yes ma'am go ahead thank you um I actually uh I was going to say that is exactly what you said before the last election but um I do have a question I don't know if um Chief Bennett is available to answer questions at this hour I do I do not know he may be on electronically or virtually well if he is on electronically that would be great if uh but in the meantime Miss pointer is also mentioned on this so I would like to call her up to answer a couple of questions who Stephanie Pointer Miss pointer and the reason I'm asking you up is because Mr Miranda asked about how we came up with these numbers and since Chief Bennett is not available to explain how he came up with his numbers I would just like you to explain very briefly how you came up with the ex external jurisdictional analysis that you have um good afternoon Stephanie poiner um I spent some time calling different cities talking to people on the phone sending emails it was very nice for the city councils that had their own um administrator because those people in answered me instantaneously where you guys don't have your own person who who takes over everybody but um I'm sorry if I can't this thing's smarter than I am today um and I know you guys already have a copy of this but I did not do that again because I have other things to do in life but and and I called a couple places like Cleveland Cleveland had actually went up significantly St Pete had went up significantly I'm thinking $155,000 a year since two years ago um I think Cleveland went up to like the $96,000 range so there were um quite a few cities but what I did was when I took all of this data together and and then these were the averages but what I actually actually did and the sheets I gave you this morning I gave these sheets to Olivia George um the pink ones that you have so what I did was I just updated the information and so the 2020 it was for fy22 that was the budget year that we were in and the bottom line is that since that fy22 when we looked at fy4 people's salaries have went up $20,000 a year these salaries here are for the top four or five people in each department the top with the biggest departments in the city okay and so what I did was I just took all those numbers and added them up and divided them by eight and then I said okay City council's a part-time position what is half of that so that number that that number was $73,000 two years ago I'm not I'm not basing my information on anything but the data from what everybody else in the city is getting paid nobody's getting a 3% raise in the city of Tampa anymore so this time we had a $220,000 increase for those those folks that are on that list so if you go from the white sheet to the pink sheet that I gave you this morning that's why I made them different colors it was $20,000 across you know that's the average and I just want you to do the math if that's $20,000 for them I don't understand why you have a $2,000 a year raise thank you that um answers my question about the um Council salaries for you and I apologize for the Outburst I just couldn't I couldn't stand it anymore and uh Mr oo is there is he available or texted okay okay thank you and and I and did you you can respond should I go Mr Mr Bennett's now available so to answer my question uh M uh Chief Bennett how are you today doing well good thank you um there was a question earlier about how you got got to the number you got to which I believe was 73,000 last year and so all I'm asking is for a an explanation of how you got to that number so after uh the informal request in October uh we saw Mrs Pointer's email in April and then as we were preparing the budget I had asked staff to uh do their own comparison analysis separate and apart from what Miss pointer did and they arrived at the the other number that Mr roero talked about the 73 713 which was very close to what Miss pointer came and and what it did is part of it looked at the city the internal City salaries and then made a calculation based on the workload of council which was essentially taking the median salary of city employees doing a a comparison to other cities in the state and making adjustments for population Tampa being one of the largest and then also putting a workload Factor on that and coincidentally or not it came out very close to what Miss pointer came up with which ended up being the budgeted amount in 2023 that was recommended and supported by the mayor at the time thank you so much thank you I'm going to go to council member Henderson because she hasn't spoken then I'll I'll go back around yes thank you chair good afternoon everyone um afternoon being the educator that I am I I was the person that actually brought this up um a couple of months ago um regarding the salaries um at one time um I did assume that this was a part-time job um and to some degree it is because you have the flexibility to decide on what it is that you can and cannot attend the part that actually surprised me is that um the community ask a lot of us in terms of events and um that was a big surprise to me sometimes these events are are at no charge to us sometimes they are asking for funds to cover the cost of the expenses also parking is U was another big surprise and that actually doesn't bother me when I really want to support something aside from that I believe that the salary is um dated for the position that currently exists um I want to ask Mr Herrera a question the current council members right now the starting salary is $55,000 approximately okay that's not true mine is about 3,00 less than that so I just think that that should also probably be something that's addressed so 55,000 even is a surprise to me the um when I when I when I bought this up of course my constituents reached out to me and they feel as though I should not give myself a raise um of this capacity and I actually do agree with that if it is for the next election cycle um I can understand that that is fair because it's not of a selfish nature in that way I can be supportive of it for the next election cycle at this higher number when I presented it it was a little bit less than that um at a 15% increase which took it around 60 a just a little bit over $60,000 it ranged between six and $7,000 a 40% increase is pretty significant I just don't want to constantly get the feedback and the hits from the community because I gave myself a 40% raise it is just a significant number number and um I think that that is unfair to our constituents because we did not make those decisions um at the beginning of the budget year so it is imperative that in this role um the if you Pro if we probably did a study of the possibility of who could work in this position it is people with very supportive companies or they work for themselves or very supportive um supervisors I just happen to have a very supportive supervisor um that allows me to work a flexible schedule but everybody is not going to be in that position and so it would tend to go towards someone who is from a two income family possibly or someone who works for themselves or they have a very high income level job and they have flexibility to come to council we should not pigeon hold a position to a certain type of person anyone should be able to run for office and that and it should be representative this body should be representative of you know the the what the community looks like and so um in other words in the boldness of saying it District 5 should not be the only time a black person should be able to be on councel or a woman you because we're appointed you know or things like that and then we run it shouldn't we should have a very diverse body of people that are representative of our city and the people who make decisions but I I I can't support U 40% in one lump sum for myself because there is some selfish selfishness to that however I can see that the the position the actual scope of the job and the salary is not in alignment with the pay it's just not and so when the analysis was done by someone outside of the people who sit up here that came from the actual staff I I didn't know if it was politicized or not I don't understand why this position of voting for it for the next cycle or the next election cycle would actually been the cycle where Alan clendenon and I were elected so this would have been the start of it so I don't know why that decision wasn't made then um to take the selfishness out it that that way I wasn't up here for that but I can support it for the next election cycle um because it is important to bring it in alignment with um um a a livable wage a livable wage and that's all I'm going to say about it but thank you for your time chair anybody else uh before I go to the second round all right uh council member Vier had his hand up first thank you very much yeah and and I did want to comment on some of the comments that were made and and and Miss pointer I appreciate your uh statements after that uh for regret or whatever but I I I do want to speak though to the emotions surrounding this issue it's easy for me to say to council members uh who had this issue used against them let's disconnect the emotion from this issue I appreciate that I I I I really do I didn't have ads run against against me on a vote on on raising your salary and and that's very emotional I get it 100% um so I I think it's important to stipulate to that I do want to make something very clear last Council we voted on a salary increase to go into effect immediately I voted no with the principle that we should vote for something for the next Council that was never presented it was presented to take effect immediately and that violated the principle but I stay stay here today so there's no inconsistency there I want to be very very clear in that um my principle then is the same thing as it is now which is if we vote on a non-inflation adjusted increase to our salary there ought to First be an election I said that last time and I continue to say that today again if this somehow doesn't pass I'll be glad to make a motion uh for the next Council I'll be the one to do it if it doesn't pass that's it thank you and I appreciate everybody councilman Miranda thank you I I've heard something like the average income of a population of a City well I can tell you that the those looking to go to kry North Carolina because University of Tampa 26 and two I said maybe they're going to make it to the World Series and win and I want to be there and as I'm looking through scrolling through the things I'm looking at the population that came up I wasn't looking for it they're about $88,000 an average increase in the salaries of the people live in car North Carolina and charotte North Carolina than in Tampa Florida so we can't look look at an increase in salary just on the population of a city we must look at the income of that population within that City and that's simple math that's number one number two I trained race horses for 10 years very few people know that I based in Cincinnati for six years six month six months of the year I went to Cleveland many times what I knew about Cleveland was that they had two AIDS and one council member maybe it's changed since then and they had an office at City Hall and an office in the district and if you look at the income of Cleveland it's going like this not like this I'm not saying that's the cause but salaries or one thing I say it again I'm not against salaries but to support a $220,000 raise as I'm sitting here on myself it's not whether you're deserve it or not is that the people that you serve not only in this city in the whole country in this United States of America is suffering immensely immensely from not able to buy a house immensely from can't afford the insurance on the house if they bought one or the car or the food increase has gone 23% the last year and a half and I'm going to give myself a raise for $20,000 that was not the way I was raising the Tampa Housing Authority projects and I'm not ashamed to say that so it's something that you take with you I'm not opposed anybody doing what they think is right that's that's why they got elected we have differences here all the time on any subject matters but that's just me that's the way I was raised there's nothing about the job I knew what the hell I was getting in when I got in it I don't want to hear no excuses you can call me anything you want but I knew what the salary was you know what I've had two and three jobs my whole damn life ass I've wiped toilet I've done everything in the war you can think of and I'm not ashamed to say it thank you very much Mr chairman yes ma'am council member herac and then Carlson so I uh so you're talking about how much people make in the city of Tampa and you don't think it's very high um Miss fely could you come and tell us what the area median income is currently for the City of Tampa I hope you're including Sports 2 million well I mean the only reason I bring this up is because we we had it at the housing workshop and it had increased significantly oh no it's like it's like 71 or 80 got Council me I don't have it off to Abby phy um Deputy Administrator if you give me a couple minutes I'll pull it up I I believe I remember it was 79,000 something but let me just get it a moment well the numbers just changed yeah while they're finding while they're finding it it's fine um I think Carlson was yeah I maybe you'll take motions at the end but what I would be willing to do is make a motion to um set the city council salary at 50% of the mayor's salary starting on May 1st 2027 so do you want me to make a motion later wait it's you guys a motion in a second um yes sir Justin vasy legal department before we complete this I just want to remind you that section section 6.06 of the charter um allows salaries of city council members to be increased or decreased by resolution or ordinance approved by a majority of the city council members and then approved in writing by the mayor so historically how we've done this is a resolution which had the mayor's signature on it that would set out the parameters of the increase we did this in 2008 where the increase happened at the next term of city council so we have precedent of doing something similar to this thank you so his his motion is an order correct would be have to would have sorry ordinance would have to be approved by the mayor anyway and we and if we but if we don't have the super majority then it wouldn't right and it would be a resolution but you would direct uh This legal staff to bring back a resolution with the increase the idea is to have something that would that would go on until somebody changed it so that no city council would have to vote on this again how much does the may make yeah 90 uh were you all able to find the number yes uh I was just provided by the economic development portfolio it's $71,900 not going to support anything other than the business model of following the analytics evaluate what the position's worth and take the vote any other manipulation by deferring by changing formulas by doing is nothing more than just shallow politics it's it's it we need to I you know stand up and say either support the study that was done by John Bennett in the administration and that's been presented here is facts or just say no I mean it's because when when if you run a business you set the salaries based on those analytics you don't it's not supposition it's not politics it's not deferral the position is either worth it if it's not I will stand shoulder Tosh shoulder with you all and I'm not pushing for because i' I've I've led a lucky life as well so this is is not something that that really is important to me personally I just I would support it because it's the right thing to do I'll stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you I'll take the political hits for taking the salary if that's what it takes but we need to make an analytical nonbiased black and white decision and screw the politics yes sir the mayor's salary is arbitrary as well the just because Bennett presented it doesn't mean it's fact um uh you know you can look at what other councils are making but um that what we have to do is look at how we promote good government and you have to look at the private sector and what people could do otherwise I'm trying to make sure that in three years when I'm not a counsel anymore that we have good people and probably some of you all will still be here but uh I want to make sure that everybody is fairly paid and I don't just because we're comparing um it's like the economic numbers if you don't compare to other cities you don't know that you're failing and and just because just because other City councils aren't paying enough doesn't mean that we should condemn the future Council not to get paid enough I originally had proposed a a charter amendment that would say that there would be a a um a a a salary Review Committee that would set the mayor's salary and then city council would be a percentage of that where did the mayor's salary come from I mean where's the analysis on that we're not publicly discussing this um what we need to do is make sure that we have good government going forward I don't care whether we approve this or not but I'm not willing to approve just a dollar amount I want to prove some kind of formula or some kind of process so that no city council has to decide this again thank you council member Vier you had a question yes sir I have a question for councilman Carlson if you were to make it at I see here the 73,000 and change uh Mark with inflation adjustments until then I'll second your motion if if if you want that he already has a second oh well then I'll I'll second second it um you know something on 50% of what the mayor I I don't want to support that but if it's something that the study found and we defer it till 2027 binding for that Council 110% in support of that just to let you know uh something a formula 50% of what the mayor support has I again that's not something I would support but if you put it at this number with inflation adjustments for the next Council you got my vote all right so we have a motion from council member Carlson second council member Henderson is the motion I would like to make a Amendment to the motion go ahead I'd amend theot motion to make the effective date May 5th for 73 713 and following up on that um task uh this Council to put together um to 2024 to task this Council to put together a work group to create a longer term solution to setting salaries for a council whether that be a charter Amendment or a a a group that you just referred to which I think is a brilliant idea idea again take the politics out of it for and that this will this will give us some short-term relief and then a longer term plan for having a more analytical way of setting salaries yes Mr no I just I just want to know there's been no second yet and I don't want to I I'm motion to men but no second yet okay so so the question that I have so the question I have for you is what happens to the main motion that deals with that that would cancel it replace it no the main motion that motion would still stay in a effect but this would give us a shortterm the short-term salary BMP to get us to the 2027 days so it would amend that motion and then You' have to take up that main motion is that what you're saying no it would just be add on it would be an additional it just be it would be it would be basically a big runon sentence so if you Bill Carlson's councilman Carlson's motion added on that effective May 5th 2024 addition correct so what you're saying is you're amending a motion you're amending his motion to add that had effective May 5th of 2024 correct and the creation of the process for correct thank you now is there a second to that as the question yes sir wait is there a second to that uh Amendment doesn't he have to accept it no what happens is if there's a second you vote on the amendment and if the amendment fails then it's not accepted Amendment passes counc becomes the main motion on the floor so I I know we'll vote in a second but yeah there's no second so far no I said we'll vote in a second in a minute we'll vote in a minute um but but I I would vote I'm just talking about my vote not the Motions I would vote to support doing something in the interim if we have a if we can vote at the same time on a formula going forward I no but you're saying that we would have that discussion sometime in the future no no no no no no so say your name okay State my name Allen Clinton Tampa City Council district one um so you're I I accepted your motion and then added on that we have this interterm Pro process effective May 5th 2024 but then you said something else about well but because you you would talked I said I think we in addition to all of that I think we should pursue your issue of a charter Amendment or something else you know on top of all that I just said that in discussion not part of my my my motion was to no my my motion was to to to um set on May 1st 2027 to set the city council salary at 50% of the mayor's salary okay and if and if you add to that that you think we should raise the salary in the interim I would May 5th 2024 I would vote to support that as long as the formula is there in the future so that city council doesn't have to vote on in the future if you think that we need to decide the formula later then I would suggest that we defer this and vote on another day so that we can create the formula I I'm I'm willing to that let's maybe restate the motion to exactly what you just described so except your motion added to the 733 713 May 5th 2024 just simplified to that can I just re restate my motion that second you you sir I I'll second or accept it as an am okay now we need to have a motion we need to have a vote on the amendment wait but but it's tied to this other motion so the other part of motion to amend your initial motion okay by adding a provision that takes into effect into account a salary adjustment on on May 5th of 2024 I just want to make sure that we're all clear thank you yes ma'am chair is there a possibility to separate motions out well he's did he got a second did you give him a second on that I gave him a second so you would draw your original second yes I I just want I want to vote on what you said I don't want it to be comp how you do that is vote against the I understand how to vote Mr Clinton and thank you okay anyways we have a motion and I understand but you are seconding what he said to bring it up to date where we do give ourselves a 40% increase starting with this in this current fiscal year so after we vote on the amendment if it if it doesn't pass then the original uh he never made a motion still STS yeah it's not may I do a point of order if I that's a suggestion I misuse point of order may I if I may that why don't may I yes thank you thank you sir uh why don't we just have all the subss and everything withdrawn in councilman Carlson you have the input of your colleague councilman clendenon maybe you restate the motion as the syn so we don't get lost in proced can we just do them as two separate motions then I actually asked you that Council M Carson it's it's really not that complicated what so what have on the floor is councilman Carlson has a motion on the floor I made one amendment I mean in Parliament CH you get 15 amendments to this thing I made one Amendment so I one amendment to that motion that was seconded so now the proper procedure is for this Council to vote on the amendment that Amendment will either pass or fail and then if that if it fails we revert back to the original Amendment and that's and that that's that's what original motion that's the way this just it's as simple as thatle enough now that all said done wait your microphone your microphone what they all are so they can understand so I can understand I know the amendment comes before the vote just restate it and we're going to go to a vote point of order can I say something before we do that because Mr Clinton insulted my intelligence in during women history month and he needs to address that right now by telling me apparently that I don't and I do not appreciate it and I can't let that go in the month of March I do know how to vote and there was clarification going on and I do understand that but do not insult my intelligence I expect that apology right now if you're not going to give it state it so state so publicly there's a motion on the floor all right we have a motion from council member Clint dennon second council member uh Carlson thank you roll call sendin yes Henderson no Viara no Miranda no Carlson yes herk yes Mino no motion failed with Henderson Vieira Miranda and menescal voting no all right now we go back to Carlson's orig council member Carlson's original motion so the or the original motion is that um as of May 1st 2027 the city council salary would be Set uh annually at 50% of the mayor's salary we have a motion from council member crosson does your second still stand council member Henderson um I did not know the mayor made $190,000 when I second that motion that's how much you Mak it's it's a Mr Roo do you know the exact number it's right around that isn't it it's approximately that I don't know the exact number okay for 2027 I I'll still stick with the second all right we have a motion from council member Carlson this is for 2027 May 1 2027 is the new Council yes sir so that's not yeah it's it's the next body council member Carlson with the motion second council member Henderson uh roll call may have a comment on 10 seconds if I make thank you yeah that again by the time the mayor's making 190 or something now by the time 27 rolls around we're going to have City Council Members making six figures I do not support that I I would support again going to that number which we've gotten through an OB Ive analysis and having it for the next Council you do that you got my vote thank you council member Moran just for the record uh 60% of 190 is $114,000 and by the time you get to that date you have another 3 or 4% or twice maybe of three times 12% more so the council members will be making somewhere excess of $120,000 that's what that means thank you very this motion was for 50% % it still will be up over 100 probably but yeah it would be at what 80 no never be more but I I mean we we haven't seen analysis as to how the mayor's salary was set either I think for good government and this won't affect me because I won't be here but I think for good government we need to pay people uh decent salaries the mayor's staff are P are going to be paid 50 60 $70,000 more than that yes councilman uh I have a question for councilman Vieira what do you think about just taking city council salary and doubling it and having that be the mayor's salary i i i respectfully question question the whole premise of your of of your if I may if I may uh of your position what the mayor makes is of no relevancy to what I think city council makes we have here an analysis that was done I'm willing to support that you will get a yes vote from me what the mayor makes is of no relevancy to my analysis on what city council should make so okay all right we have a motion from council member uh Carlson second council member Henderson let's get a roll call vote Henderson yes via Miranda no Carlson yes herk yes Clint Dennen no Manalo no motion failed with Vieira Miranda clendenon and mincol voting no yes then I will then true to my word I will make a motion then for the next city council uh I'll do what councilman Carlson's motion was to begin at what this analysis said which I guess would be $73,700 do I have a second is there a second we have a second from council member uh Henderson yes ma'am um I would support that only if there's an amendment for an updated analysis at that time because it won't be 73,000 in 3 years yes ma'am you have mind that that friendly amendment is accepted so we have a motion with that friendly Amendment uh from council member herac the motion is from council member VI second council member Henderson let's get a roll call vote I just say um yes sir yeah I know you just added in that Amendment but I don't want to vote for anything that doesn't have a specific formula so if the formula is not uh is not the one I propose I would I would want a specific formula because by three years from now the salaries are going to be up again and uh and and it'll be a different situation so I would like a formula and I don't want the chief of staff doing it um uh I don't want to go into details but a couple years ago the chief of staff did a did a analysis of our AIDS and and I discovered that one of our AIDS was getting paid about 40 50% less than the others and I said why is that and he gave me a long justification for why one Aid should earn less than the other and I thought that was Despicable and we we if if I'm getting information like that that means the chief of staff is using inaccurate information we need to make sure that we're basing sa on real information that's out there we need to get some third party to do an analysis on what is best practic with the best cities not not cities that just happen to be other there but the best cities that are run on on this and not have the administration uh do it then I'm going to withdraw my Amendment and go with his may I with what councilman Carlson said because I think he's right so I will remake my motion and and and uh let's see what happens again to go with this analysis which would be $75,100 which is a higher pay for city council it will be there for the next city council everything is there what's that saying don't let the perfect be the enemy pretty damn good so there and and do I have a second we have a second yes ma'am there thank you we have a motion from council member Vieira we have a second from council member Henderson roll call Vote Yes I'm confused does that include the uh percentage no the separate analysis so I'm going off with this analysis okay yes ma'am we have a motion and we have a second let's get a roll call vote via yes Miranda yes Carlson no herk no because it doesn't have AIS Clint nope take politics out of it Henderson yes Manis no motion failed with Carlson her clend and manal voting now all right let's just move on I mean at this point at this point let's just move on we can take up item number 62 all right item number 62 Mr Roo and This falls under council member Carlson's committee we'll get to that later on yes ma'am Miss Travis MH this is for item 62 yes sir good afternoon Council Nicole Travis administrator of development and Economic Opportunity um Council what's before item 62 is a proposed amendment to the timing and phasing plan for the Rome yard project that was previously approved in April of 2023 um the land disposition agreement requires that the timing and phasing plan um set out the proposed development schedule for that project the developer is requesting an amendment to that timing and phasing plan plan um we've been working with them um consistently over the last several weeks and the developer has requested to make a presentation to you uh today to update you on that timing and facing plan and to request um your approval on this change so if you may Albert Milo with Related Group thank you hello sir please state your name go ahead yeah good afternoon Albert Milo president of related Urban thank you for for the time to be able to present to to cancel um as Nicole said we I just want to you know uh update uh the Council on the project and and the progress that we've made today and what the request is uh for a a simple modification of the fa phasing and timing plan um How do I okay thank you okay so uh quickly as as you know many of you know this is a public private partnership uh between our company the city of Tampa and some of our local partners Tampa Housing Authority the West Tampa CDC uh Tampa CDC ducon construction who you heard from earlier and some of our other uh Partners here that are on the screen um the project Parcels you know on Rome yard is basically two Parcels what I would refer to as the North Parcel and the South parcel um and what we're at what we're here today to talk about is just inverting the the phasing plan um because in our due diligence and our work with that the the North Parcel actually has um some environmental challenges um and infrastructure challenges and so that's the reason why we want to invert the phasing plan from the southern parcel and actually start uh on the Northern parcel here's just the overall plan the plan hasn't changed 954 units of mixed income housing we have you know affordable units Workforce housing units market rate units and for sale units along with retail a cultural center a Workforce training center and live work units in the project um what we're proposing is and we kept the same numeration of the phases we didn't want to change that so we didn't have to you know confuse everyone so what we're saying is Phase 3A is still going to be you know referred to as phase 3A but it's going to be the first phase that we want to start the construction with um so you see the the location of the phase there of where it's at it's right between those dotted black lines are all of the major infrastructure uh components that run through that site um so we had to configure our building and our parking garage to make sure that we weren't in conflict with any of that infrastructure as you see full mixed income we have affordable Workforce market rate units the workforce Training Center which was always part of phase 3A um will remain in there so since phase 3A is going to get built first it's going to be uh built buil sooner in the project along with live work units I talked a little bit about some of the infrastructure and environmental challenges again just to keep it brief I know um in a nutshell that site since it was the previous public work site for the for the city for a long time it does have both uh groundwater contamination and um soil contamination and as I mentioned before it has a lot of the large infrastructure not just the typical infrastructure that you would use to service the development it's major infrastructure that Services other parts of the uh of the city so the environmental remediation and the infrastructure um it they're joined at the hip they got to be done together because you can't mess with the infrastructure underneath soil that's contaminated so we are already in our permitting for that infrastructure um we we expect our permit uh from the city in the next couple of weeks and we're already in for all of our environmental approvals we actually started the groundwater monitoring uh uh yesterday uh on the site so we will have those results shortly also um just some of the progress to date we've secured our $64 million in tax exempt financing from the Hillsboro County uh HFA I just talked about the environmental challenges earlier as I mentioned we have a that's our demo uh infrastructure permit with the city of Tampa um so that's already in the works um we have our lease agreement with the West Tampa CDC and Tampa CDC is going to run the workforce training program that will happen on the ground floor of that phase we have our agreement with ducon construction you heard from them earlier they're going to be working on the section three uh component to make sure that we have uh those right section 3 Subs but in in addition to that they are going to be the general contractor of record for a component of the site the home ownership component the first phase 3A is already in design development um level and we we've got our insurance approvals from the city of Tampa the proposed change and the in the request is to to do the financial closing by December of this year for phase three you see the numeration again we kept the numeration the same but it's just uh changing the the start and completion dates on that phase you will be uh we will be starting now in in may actually um all of the pre-work that we have to do to get the environmental clearance so we are able to close on our financing we need to get that environmental clean bill of health if you will um and that you're going to see that activity is going to start sometime in May as soon as we get our our final approvals here's just some renderings of the Town Homes those are the the portion of the site that faces it's on the west on Rome on Rome laav that you know along the the portion of the site that faces the single family homes here are some of the different amenities that are part of our you know the different developments that we do so give you a little bit of an idea of the different uh components that we're going to include in the uh in the Redevelopment here's actually a picture of you know as part of development you know we were in our agreement we're supposed to do and work with the city on the extension of the Riverwalk in that portion coming from the uh East going west all the way to Rome Avenue so the idea was to activate that uh that that Riverwalk extension there some of the community benefits you know was mentioned earlier that we we we do have a community benefits agreement again I talked about it earlier we have a an agreement to do the workforce training with the two cdc's of Tampa we actually have a 40% local hiring commitment and a 40% minority contracting commitment in our LDA so it's it's a little bit more robust than you know some of the dialogue that that was I heard earlier here in in in the in the chambers we are going to be creating micro retail um just to give a small uh businesses a a lot of opportunities to to start uh there and we also have in our community benefits agreement the the the requirement to set aside retail rates at a 10% discount all that all of that's in our agreement nothing is being changed on on that again some of the economic benefits of the deal as I mentioned 954 units in the West Tampa area 30,000 ft of retail 24,000 ft of community space um the total buildout will create an economic impact of over $400 million for $125 million and more importantly um there is a revenue share mechanism in our development agreement both for capitalized lease payments that happened to the city at Financial closing and a revenue share that happened to the life of the project for the whole 99 years so this is an opportunity not just to create housing and create economic development but more importantly also to create long-term revenues for the city to share in the upside of that and that's something that then city council can use to fund other priorities that that the council may may determine there and here's a actual rendering of phase 3A the first phase that we're going to build so that you see exactly what's being permited there and that so thank you for your time and take any questions though Council may have council member herk you had your microphone thank you uh this is not related to this but um sort of uh so you said that there's 40% of MBE participation how what's the percentage of black business-owned Enterprises well so we're going to make a big effort on that part but you know in a government contract you can't state it like that but obviously that's a big a big emphasis of ours that's why we're working with you know the cdcs and do Ukon construction to to emphasize as much black subcontractor participation as possible do you have a goal our goal is a 40% but we can't we can't we can't you know we can't stipulate it as such in in the contract okay so 40% MBE but not of FB Section 3 wmb you know so all so 40% all all told thank you yeah thank you council member Carlson yeah can I just ask a question of legal is there somebody from legal hero as you're coming up I would just like for the since there have been concerns about this project before I just wanted to ask for the record has has the mayor anybody on her staff um disclosed uh any kind of conflict of interest on this project or related to this project any kind of relationships related to this project not to my knowledge but again I just I have only been involved in this project for a couple of years okay yeah I would just ask anybody from legal who's watching it there's any kind of disclosure from somebody on the the city council has to disclose our conflicts every week um but if there's anybody on the administration side that has a conflict of interest it would be nice to disclose it publicly so that um the public can know and be aware of it thank you that's all I have appreciate you coming up um I just want to say also to the related folks um um I appreciate you all coming here um I think you all volunteer to give this presentation you gave me a briefing I think you're going to give my colleagues a briefing um you all are investing a lot in this community in lots of ways uh not all of it is popular but but you have made huge Investments you had a big imprint on this community so far and whatever the other chatter is out there um I appreciate you all trying to step forward and provide additional information and transparency on this because um uh we need more more transparency like this can I just ask you one question on the remediation um who pays for it um does the city pay for that or do you all pay for it and was that in your original agreement it's part of our development cost and plan that's why we're that's why we're starting it actually pre-closing because we have to get that clean BL was that something you all know knew of and anticipated in the deal or is that so we knew that that there was a a previous uh public workyard so there was there was the idea that there could be the city did do some other remediation on another portion of the of the north lot but as we contined to do the digging there was still some other remnants but you think it's however the deal is is written you think it's fair that that whatever part of it you all have to pay you think that's fair at this point or it's it's kind of how the agreement was yeah was was stipulated all right thank you council member Miranda I just want to say thank you for being straightforward to the point and uh let's get on with the show council member Henderson yes ma'am you want to say something Mr Milo I'm no thank you well I'm excited you know it just happens to be in District 5 and um I appreciate the conversations that we had about it I know that you are sincere in your approach especially when it comes to minority participation wouldn't you be considered a minority yourself I just wanted to point that out um I know you've come a long way but you started from the bottom now you're here so um just thank you for all the um thoughtfulness that you put um into this I can't wait for you know what's to come thank council member clendenon um kind of a little echoing in what my colleagues have said it's a transformational project and the I think you're modest with the economic impact that this project is going to have on not just West Tampa but the entire city of Tampa um it is you know what we see in other areas of the town this is an area that uh is was especially this spefic specific piece of property was underutilized and wasn't the best use of property uh this is going to change not just the City Tampa people's lives I think some of the uh the community uh amenities that you have um Workforce Development the other I was actually was news to me about your um subsidized business micr models I think that's amazing to be able to do that for residents and give people opportunities to be entrepreneurs you know this is you know part of a master plan of of of we transform and accommodate you know the growing uh needs of Tampa and I appreciate your your company's willingness to to work in cooperation with all the other interest groups that you have working with the West Tampa group and working with all the nonprofit and everybody that you partnered you partnered with I think this is a nice project um I'm looking forward to coming out of the ground and starting to go vertical and I look forward to the day that it's 100% complete and we've uh we've changed an important area of Tampa member thank you Mr chairman and and I wanted to Echo what everyone's saying that you all obviously do a great job and this something is transformational I do want to point out has no bearing or relevancy on you guys whatsoever but um with Tampa Fire Station 9 on on West Chestnut that um we appro we are um moving the fleet maintenance facility out of there and and putting it elsewhere so that we can potentially uh expand that fire station's reach I would hope so um for additional service because when we look at all of these additional units and all these folks moving into Tampa guess what they're going to need firefighters and they're going to need cops right just like we all do um so this is 100% wonderful but that's why I've been talking about for years a public safety master plan because as we build these uh uh uh big and and it's an advancement this is a wonderful thing for the City of Tampa we got to make sure that we have the corresponding infrastructure Public Safety infrastructure Transportation infrastructure uh etc for these folks who we're going to be coming into Tampa and are going to be moving here and that is especially relevant I I would think uh for station 9 so I hope that we uh continue to see movement on that but again just wanted to say this is a a wonderful thing and um and just great work that we all should be very proud of so thank you thank thank you very much council member Carlson would you like to um move this this is under your committee I we have motion counc all in favor thank you and just Sor Miss no no I think I'm good um so thank thank you all but also be looking out in in your in your emails we are going to be putting together an invite for for all the council to come for for the groundbreaking event there sometime in in May so be be on the lookout for that thank you if you take 275 to the airport you'll get there quick I'm good I'm good I'm good yeah just real fast thank you again for volunteering to do this and anytime you all have an update I think we would all love to have you on the calendar because this is a project that's very important in the community so maybe maybe what we could do is you know provide regular we come and maybe maybe quarterly type update or something and you know and kind of and come just as a regular thing and and update Council just so you're aware of that good luck your flight thank you thank you very much next up is item number 92 this is Pharaoh hello Mr M by the way let me start by saying thank you very much uh you were so responsive on Saturday when I bumped into you at V Brothers uh with some Community concerns I've never seen anybody move that quick and I just want to publicly acknowledge that thank thank you so much I mean just I've never seen anybody move like that so thank you thank you sir my pleasure while he was I was at home sick and while he was um emailing he talking to you he was emailing me and so it that was a very very quick response to community concern thank thank you very much sir go ahead good afternoon Council um Tony mki director of Parks and Recreation I am pleased to be here to present uh the East Tampa Fair Oaks Recreation Complex uh to both you and the community for second reading and consideration uh this project has evolved a lot since it was initially kind of visioned I found history of uh efforts out at this site from all the way back to 2009 and here we are 15 years later ready to have an action on this hopefully um the project evolved from the renovation of a small uh neighborhood uh Community Center into the expanded Hub that we're considering here today that's going to serve a wider swath of the community the the project has had a lot of feedback and I know everyone has heard um from the community and and everybody about about how this project will proceed and and we've heard the same feedback but one of the things that I I I really bump on When approaching a project like this is the history and the history of the residents who have uh grown up here who have developed who have uh had those social connections through that park space throughout the years uh whether it was them being coached by someone and then turning around and coaching the Youth of the community further down the road I think that this project is day one of a future generation doing that and continued Generations throughout the community so I'm pleased to present the uh the contract for construction for consideration if you have any questions the whole team is here to to address anything thank you very much I have uh questions and and comments uh first thank you very much uh it's a beautiful design uh it is a major historic investment in this community and they've deserve it a 100 times over because we have built beautiful Parks throughout the city Julian Lane Riverfront Park McFarland Park where my wife likes to go actually she she likes to go to V Brothers Park more we've been we've made improvements at McFarland Park in the playground V Brothers uh Julian Lane Curtis xxen either I was a part of that on counts or I was at the ribbon Curtis 6 was before my time but this part of the community has really it's it's really been ignored and forgotten and it's a dense residential Rich Community um this is a very expensive Park Julian Lane was $36 million and I supported that um Curtis 6on before that back in the day I think was 101 million I don't remember but it's it's completely different from what this is um I spoke briefly with Mr Roar uh I read what the Tampa Bay Times editorial board wrote I've spoken with members of the community I've called folks they've called me and there are some concerns first there's a lot of support number one uh the concerns that were brought to my attention and they were brought up earlier today by Toba and other groups is the minority participation if this is in a a community that is you could say predominantly African-American I want to see us invest as much we have a member of the audience today who discuss her business and the benefits of that and that's a beautiful perfect example but I want to increase that I think if we're investing and this is the the sticker price here 34.6 million That's not including the bonding the interest and everything else that we should invest as much as possible and increase those numbers and investing with local uh contractors local businesses and as somebody told me last night I talked to so many people and somebody said wouldn't it be wonderful if you have a young man or a father or a mother's say I helped build that my dad did that I mean the amount of pride that they would have in that I think that's very important um again this is a historic investment I think it's I think it's worthy I know um we Bond a lot of things and bonding is expensive and I have questions to Mr roara about how we can uh save money on on the interest why should we be bonding the entire amount what other options do we have I'm just trying to save the taxpayer money because the more you Bond the more interest you pay um and that's that's really it I had ideas that I've been throwing around for the last few days uh where could we get the money from I respectfully borrowed uh an idea from council member herch when she said months ago why doesn't the CRA different board why didn't the CRA buy the police station across the street the administration responded with um they're not interested in doing that at this time and I was looking at per the idea of council member herac how do we free up money in that downtown CRA that we can use to move out of Tampa police go somewhere else whatever the point is how can we free up that cash and put it in the general fund and I'm just trying to think outside the box and looking at where we can get other monies uh that we can apply to this I spoke with somebody else uh yesterday said you know you can Bond it and you can always pay it down early a question I have is if the CIT money is renewed if because the dis as of yesterday I talked to somebody down the street at County commission and they're they're in discussions could we use CIT money if it's renewed to pay these uh bonds down do we Bond everything all at once are we bonding 34 million plus dollars all at once typically no um again I'm just trying to get the best bank for our buck without cutting corners without delaying the project I want to see this come to fruition uh but I also want to be a good Steward of the taxpayer dollars and save the city money and not burden the next Council the next mayor because you know yes we Bond a lot what if we go into a recession what if the CIT doesn't get renewed uh last budget was proposing a millage increase um what about our reserves what about our credit rating so many questions that that I would like answers to um and I think that's about I could keep going but it's a worthy project it's a great project I just want to do good by the community and and get the maximum benefit possible uh you don't have to answer right now I'm going to go to the other council members but Council memb Carlson had his mic on first and then we'll continue yeah la last time we talked about this I showed the Articles um as to as to my involvement and um I had to show my involvement because there have been some uh operators on behalf of the administration out they're spreading misinformation and um the the bottom line is that um uh the mayor wanted to spend a couple hundred, to renovate a building city council as the C went out and we suggested uh building a new building because uh many of the folks that are in the audience today asked us to do that I didn't know about the situation at fa Oaks until you know Mr Robinson uh Bishop um Patty and many others came before us and said that we should do something so we held a uh a meeting there um which uh former council member cro mentioned and um and at the meeting the the me you guys can watch the video the members of the committee booed the mayor and and and asked us to build a new state a new building so we did I made motions to do that and sard suggesting it the the administration decided to one up city council and came back a few months later with1 million and then they decided I guess to one up themselves and and propose 41 million of which we're get getting 36 today the problem is not I say all that because the problem is not that I don't support far Oaks 100% support the community I think the community deserves it uh we need to have something there uh the problem is I don't support this contract um there was no RFP on this contract uh there was an RFQ that's not enough for the community on $108 million project it's ridiculous that we're not having RPS we should have had the pricing of this step out and I still have questions about how it's being handled it's going to be bonded which means it's going to have a huge amount of money there the public doesn't want us to bond things we were already at 41% bonding capacity a few months ago and now we're going to bond more and more and more things everything is going to be bonded there's only 10% blackowned businesses how can you be in the middle of East Tampa and only have 10% um uh also there's concerns in the community that this is about gentrification that that really just like with Julian Lane Park the the city just wants to build expensive highrises and expensive uh living quarters around it if not why didn't the city give the community choices and say we've got $108 million to spend would you rather spend on one park or spend on all the parks in East Hamp it's not a question about any other part of the City versus East Tampa despite what some of the mayor's people say it is about what is was the best choice for East Tampa should we rebuilt the building as the as the community wanted then we could have fixed all the other parks in East town but there are a lot of places where kids are Co and they want to have a great time but those buildings are falling apart and the roads are falling apart and people don't have housing and we're spending an extraordinary amount of money this this is this has turned into the next Hannah Avenue um and and what's happening is the administration wants to create a video in three years about all their accomplishments and they're trying to rush this and pressuring us to get this done and the and we shouldn't overspend The public's money and and and approve something that's Half Baked just because just because the administration wants to have a in 3 years um by the way um I i' as I said last week I don't understand why the administration changed the name also the public wants Fair Oaks the administration just come out and say we accept what the public wanted city council I think has always called it Fair Oaks even though the administration tried to call it something else I 100% support fa Oaks I 100% support the neighborhood uh despite whatever misinformation will be put out there in the next uh week or so but I don't support this contract um there's questions about how this contract was let and can I just ask legal one question if they're still here I same question uh has anybody in the administration in has the mayor anybody in in the administration side made any kind of uh public disclosure of conflict of interest on this contract just to vas legal department not that I'm aware of okay thank you council member Miranda was your microphone on no okay anybody else council member you know uh pretty much on the on the factual stuff maybe not the commentary stuff that councilman Carlson I say ditto but uh on the points that he tried to make I clearly again once just like the the West Riverwalk project this is transformational type of project I have concerned again about the minority participation I agree um this contract has to be tighter and we have to ensure that that that the folks that are building this these facilities uh reflect the amazing diversity of the city of Tampa and I I think that right now the contract is adequately uh or is not adequately uh taking care of of that element on the financing part I've made no secret I've made I've spoken with the mayor in a private meeting I've spoken with with you Dennis about my concern about the bonding you know we have a two oh well I don't know what next year it will be but last year we had a little over2 billion doll budget um and I know I shouldn't be negotiating from a from my from my line in the Sandpoint but my Line in the Sand is that I don't think we should be NE bonding more than half of this of the construction cost may say $20 million and the rest of it we should take it out of our our budget so I would expect that the the mayor would come forward with a budget um in in fiscal year 205 and maybe 26 with finding budg uh existing funds within the city budget there's that be able to pay for this this is a project that did have incredible price escalation uh emission creep and so now we just it can't just dump on our lap and then us burden the future taxpayers of the city of Tampa because of this this as crisis escalation um you know that being said the same thing and Mr Carl conman Carlson said you know we've got roads to PVE we've got other needs and infrastructure I'm I'm going to look for this next fisc year 25 budget to um you know hopefully have $35 million in road repavement and road rebuilding for City of Tampa roads so there's going to be a lot of plac in this budget hopefully when it comes from the administration that this will be built in part of our problem this last cycle is when we got the budget you know all the cake mix had already been put in the pan mixed with all the ingredients put in the cake pan and the oven was turned on before we you really start being able to slice into it so it was difficult we had to start moving things around from one thing to another as far as so again that was my first cycle this time hopefully I'll be more proactive and be able to get and bend y'all's ears about expectations and how we work through this but I hope that you are able to again if if if we get the minority participation element fixed in this contract and move forward just know that when it comes time to bond I'm not going to vote for bonding more I'll meet you halfway like 50% of that construction cost so say $20 million I'm not going to vote so got to figure out another way to pay for the rest of it council member Miranda it was on no all right council member Vie very much and Mr chairman when you had mentioned some issues that I also wanted to bring up on CRA uh couple of thoughts um number one obviously the name pH Oaks you know keep it we we've spoken about that before um I I think that's very very very important um this is going to be something that's a real big win for East Tampa that we can all be proud of and I would hate to see it undermined in any way or by the uh name Fair Oaks you know I I I think we're all on the same page in thinking that I think that we have dated this project we've gotten engaged to it and we're at the altar we're not going to be the Runaway Bride or groom right um but there are some small issues that I think should be addressed the the chairman brought up the issue of other funding sources if we can look at that CRA for example um uh we we've talked a lot about capping downtown Tampa I don't know if there's any funds available for that after the spending that we've done for something like this looking at that uh other avenues within that CRA or within the CRA in the area as well um the the issue of minority participation and um am I yeah that must be you that's for you sorry sorry okay I'll get i'll get closer thank you thank you the the issue of minority participation uh and and especially with African-Americans 10% um looking at a higher number um seeing if that's something that can come back you know another big project that we had uh before us was the fire station uh and uh and Mr rero provided along with Chief trip and others and Mr staco tremendous help on that we looked at it one time modified it had it come back to us right so maybe we could look at some of these issues particularly the African-American participation looking to amend that and then just having a report to Council on other funding sources to address some of those legitimate concerns right because I want to see this pass I want to see this past for the community this is a great win for East Tampa something that has been decades in the making and it's going to be transformational not just for the hardworking families of East Tampa those multi-generation families who help build this city for their kids it's going to provide those kids opportunity it's going to provide them Recreation it's going to give them a brighter future and and and folks in Tampa who fight hard for a brighter future their moms and their dads and their grandparents and everybody in their families fight hard for a brighter future and this Center is going to be a partner in that this Center goes to the idea of what government is here for um in terms of helping out marginalized communities helping to empower families to uh uh uh just progress so I support this but I want to deal with some of those narrowly tailored issues that I think a lot of council members have some legitimate concerns on can we look at other funding sources like CRA something that I think should be quickly quickly addressed before city council we can address those issues and by the way I should have asked this yesterday to Mr roero uh Mr Moy and I were talking about yesterday I said oh I'll call Dennis I I didn't so my bad uh and then number two is the African-American participation over that 10% threshold narrowly tailored issues ises that I think can be addressed quickly so we can move this thing forward thank you Council M her thank you uh and everyone has basically uh you know articulated what I believe about this too this is a great Park wonderful for the neighborhood it was people didn't get necessarily everything they wanted but they got a lot of it and basically when everybody's mostly happy then we're in a good spot when it comes to what this park is going to offer it will be transformation for the commun um allow the history of the park to stay um for people to be able to have that history and then to create new memories and new histories but the big issue is and I specifically asked um and that's why I asked the Related Group about the Rome yard project 40% MBE that's a lot and that's a lot more that's twice as much as we were told the MBE is going to be on this project and that's unacceptable so I would like somebody to tell me what um I believe I also heard the 30% number but uh if Mr beay or someone else um whoever needs can speak to that could explain what the percentage is currently and then it seems really clear to us that we aren't going to accept the low 10% black business Enterprise good afternoon Council Bertha Mitchell equal business opportunity manager and we set a combined goal for this project of 30% there is a 14% participation now for the blackowned businesses that is equivalent to 117 blackowned businesses who are ready willing and available to go to work we received direction from our leadership let's find the true status of these blackowned businesses yesterday and the day before we contacted every blackowned business to make sure that they were ready willing and available and most of them have responded positively yes we're super excited about that we want everyone to know that equal business opportunity works for the people we are here to ensure equality inclusion opportunity and fairness the processes that we have in place have done just that thank you can you remind us what the percentage of MBE was for the Hannah Avenue project I'm sorry I don't have that in front of me but I can Mr Barrett is getting up so I believe he can answer that Brad bear Deputy Administrator of infrastructure um it was 35% total 35% um and what was the total cost of Hannah Avenue yeah total cost was over 100 million okay over 100 million and the total black business Enterprise percentage of of that yeah the breakdown was um 15% BBE and 20% slbe okay uh thank Youk and I think the the point that I would like to make is that I think 35 if if 35 was the percentage for Hannah there's really no reason that that should be our floor from now on and I don't see why 30% is acceptable um I'm happy to hear that we were able to increase from 10% from my meeting on Tuesday to today at 14% I think that's wonderful uh and I believe that given one more week we could figure it out but I I'm telling you now though that we're we're we're struggling with this um to support this if it doesn't have more participation thank you yes ma'am counc thank you chair EO first of all I just want to say thank you for all of the work that you did contacting all of the businesses um I could start in a couple of different directions but I'll start here um let's go let's let's just go back to the design Bill the design bill for this particular project 70% of the participation was from um black business Enterprise starting with the architect 41 years experience Right Here Local Guy Howard and Associates he designed this project he is the architect of record the landscape engineer the electrical engineer I can call their names Drake Moss volt air artha engineering Campo engineering D cargo Wilson did the structural engineering plan environmental engineering came from Bridgewater the Consultants um Kim Jackson her consulting firm KVJ Inc was the consultant also on the project that pulled the community together and New Age re reper Graphics so um scans got out of the gate um involved um a lot of blackowned businesses it is so interesting to me that this council is saying that it's not black enough that is mindblowing to me if we're going to have that conversation please please let me keep my thoughts together if we're going to have that conversation everything needs to be more black come on now not just black projects in Black communities not just black projects in Black communities I want to be clear about that open your mouth and say it's not black enough when it's over in South Tampa open your mouth and say it's not black enough when it's in North Tampa every time you open your mouth you should be saying it's not black enough it's not black enough in every single project not just this one not only just that if we take the scope of Hannah Hannah had several buildings $74 million it was a larger task it provided for greater opportunity and it did exist but it wasn't there at the very beginning it wasn't there at the very beginning they had to work to get to that 35% skanska I believe and our city staff are making every effort to increase those numbers the last time our staff was here it was at 10% and now it's at 14 Milo from related just stood in front of you and used the word gold and you had no problem with it but now we're saying gold and now you have a problem with it that is unacceptable that is unacceptable there's nothing wrong with where we are right now it is not rushed it is not pressed it is not Half Baked we're ready to go right now and that's just the bottom line there doesn't need to be an additional week to go from 14 to 16 or from or from 14 to 20 this process is being worked on when she said that they called every single black owned business those who are excited and those who are ready to go they're ready to go but let's be realistic this is a government entity you know we don't pay people real fast it takes a lot of processes and loopholes for people to go through you heard d'vorah stand up and say that she even in the process of of of of of of going through uh mentoring and getting her business ready she had to go and take things back to improve it to improve those processes this project is ready to go today four votes today if you delay it anymore you will have taken the blow of all the city staff everything that has been done to work toward getting Fair Oaks here to today regardless of apprehensions in our community yes be concerned address those issues but we are not delaying for another minute that denial will cost us funding we will lose the momentum we are already here we are here today today today not next week not a month from now not another meeting right now right now that's just the bottom line remember and the last thing that I'm going to say if if we're going to talk about minority participation and being worried about that I promise you if I have to remind them every time we a project comes before us I will remind them about the Blackness of every project every time another project becomes before us and I'm talking about the ones that's outside of East Tampa and I want to hear them have the same language we deserve to be in all spaces working having people employed everywhere in the city of Tampa because that is who we are we are not just located in East Tampa I live in Tampa Heights I grew up in West Tampa black people are all over this city okay you know what I've raised my hands enough and I I I hope I don't go viral um thank you chair for your time yes ma'am thank you don't forget the Hispanics oh yes those two those are the brown people too good let me say this uh today thank you very much but I'm so glad that my right ear doesn't hear too well but anyway I'm only joking with you had liveing up a little bit but you know when I was growing up there old cascaden park that's all we had they had in a swimming pool it would bman Heights Jackson Heights in this location they had three little Fields I know Jackson had it belman high that and we would play Little League it wasn't Little League because it was before little league but each Park was different than now each Park had a director from the city and they ran the park and now we don't have that so each Park had a director and that director had a teach her basketball football baseball soccer tennis badminton bowling whatever it was that person had to do it and they had two really and cuz Kon had two one for the boys one for the young girls and there was Harmony and you learn a lot more than Sports you learn how to communicate with people one of the problem we have today in society no one talks to anyone cuz you got the what the cell phone the computer whatever you have in your house you don't have to leave your house for anything you don't even know who your neighbor is kids don't talk to each other nobody likes anybody because they don't know who they are so we traveled we played against African-Americans Hispanic team white team great teams whoever it wasn't that we were better we just practice longer right Joe yes sir and you you practice not to win you practice not to lose because you will lose but you practice never to lose and it's like money is very important when you build something and how you spend it and how you make it however what's more important is one of those young boys and girls there what are they going to learn what is the recreation department going to put in there so that they understand that after you get a certain age you got to go work and how you're going to get a job if you don't have an education and it's things that go around around that we all forget it ain't about just playing playing is just a part of growing up and playing you learn how to do what communicate with your team that's great and try to beat the hell out of the other team without hurting anybody that's how it is so it it's a a big investment but it has a lot of big rewards because the residual that one has and going to jail and coming back when you're in jail where do you go to when you come out I'll tell you where you go to you go right back where you came from and your chances of going in are much greater if you went somewhere else so we don't have that somewhere else somewhere and I I see this more than just a 34 $35 million investment plus interest I see this as an opportunity to have have individuals that come out that have a much wider scope of life and what it's about it ain't about just playing basketball and soccer and baseball and whatever else it's about communication it's about understanding somebody else's feelings about how you look how you feel you can tell somebody look they look at you one way who get away from that one but these are the things that you learn that right now no one knows you know why you live in a vacuum called an apartment or a house with no porch air condition all the amenities and the next door neighbor the one to your right left doing the same thing so nobody speaks to each other and I'm not a psychiatrist but I know I can tell five minutes are up but these are the things that create an entity for somebody to give somebody hope that there something else behind that can come in and multiply and multiply we have the lifting of a neighborhood without further investment from government and that's what it's all about it's about young people going out and doing things that's expected of them without them knowing about it thank you very much Mr chairman all right before I go to second round anybody else wish to say anything if not I'll go to council member Henderson I appreciate it Mr Mo can you come back to the podium please because I do need to also address U the editorial that was in the Tampa Bay Times regarding um the exaggeration of the hundred million dollar that it was going to cost in terms of operational cost um can you address the fact that that that is um over the the long term of um it really being just 2% and the exaggeration of that number can you just explain that for the public a little bit sure Council Tony Maly Parks and Recreation director um just to uh address that that topic there uh that that was a um wrap in of all operating costs the yearly budget for Staffing supplies maintenance things like that over a 30-year term so so that was added in to get to that $100 million number on that um the the actual increase that we're looking at represents less than a 2% increase in the total Parks and Recreation budget thank you appreciate it so before I ask council member Mr chair yes that's a you said 2% of the overall Parks and Recreation budget so it yes the the problem with this city is that the administration only wants to look at Capital costs instead of total cost and the public expects us to look at total costs and so we had the same look at Hannah Avenue we're going to have the same look at the west river walk walk which is going to be in downtown uh and uh and we have the same look at all these projects and so um 41 million plus how much in interest plus how much over 30 years increase in in O and cost it's 108 million isn't it um I'll let the numbers guy kind of do a little bit I mean I remember when we were talking about toilet to tap and the and the the mayor had someone send me an email uh saying that I was lying to the public because I talked about the total cost instead of just the capital cost and the public expects the total cost they deserve to know the truth about the numbers and if it's not 108 million if it's 90 or 100 that's fine but the public deserves to know that the truth on the numbers today we're only approving 36 but you said something like five or six has already been spent I don't want to put words in your mouth but you want to good afternoon Council Dennis reera Chief Financial Officer uh if I may go to the Elmo again just again so we're all on the same page and talking about the same numbers this this is a summarization of what's in the approved Capital Improvements program right now you see the future debt proceeds that's that is more or less what we're talking about today even though we're not issuing any debt today we are uh asking for approval of a contract approximate approximating that amount and we anticipate we'll pay for that contract with Debt Service not withstanding some comments that have been made this evening you can see also and again this is in the Capital Improvements program 1.7 million from the American Rescue plan uh Federal stimulus $1 million I've heard the community redevelopment agency for East Tampa can we just talk about just to talk about cost though sorry and I'm getting there if you can just indulge me for for just a second here's the revenues and here's the expenditures further to uh to your uh comment councilman Carlson Construction improved project management again nice and balanced so what's the interest on the 36 million and here's the next sorry to make you go fast before they no no no thank you I appreciate the Indulgence here you have the expenses or use as replic at there's the 41.3 million to answer your question sir 28 a little over $28 million in interest associated with the anticipated debt and then your total project expenses which I think is the nearly $70 million so then on operating on omm and this is a standard question we should be asking for all projects it's not just this project what's the difference you all said it last night the difference between what we're paying now for o andm and what will be paying um in the future what's the difference what's the the future omm has the operating overtime figure so Tony M Parks and Recreation director uh the difference is approximately $1.3 million annually a year so over 30 years that would be about 40 million plus or minus so we're targeting somewhere over a 100 million for the whole Pro and that's not a we can we a project is what it is but that we need to make sure we're transparent with the public on the numbers the other thing I should say to my colleague is that um this Council before uh before council member Henderson um I think was the first Council maybe in history to reject um multi-million dollar projects because they didn't hit MBE guidelines and also U black own business um guidelines as a result the administration started communicating with us more effectively on that and they brief us on it privately if there's one we miss let us know um there aren't any big projects in South Tampa by the way uh except for the infrastructure projects um because the money is being held in downtown in Channel District um the parks in South Tampa are falling apart the uh roads are falling apart and uh and the um the the community in South Tampa has been very patient making uh making sure that we spend money throughout the city and I think most people are in favor of spending money on Fair Oaks the problem is that uh they don't want an outlandish amount of money to be spent uh five or $18 million was a huge amount of money to spend on a park 108 million is is an excessive amount especially when there's no bid it's another no bid contract and it's not acceptable because we don't know whether we should be paying 30 six or or or or 25 um and and the public is just not willing to accept bonding things out because it's going to cost in this case 20 at least $28 million more and they're not willing to um not have bids on it um it if we accepted this plan as it is and said we're going to payo over 10 years I think the public would be okay with it but bonding it all out because because somebody wants it to be in a video in three years is not acceptable thank council member Clinton you had signal first and then council member her and then council member VI this the second round I keep echoing what councilman Carlson said because if y'all listen to what he said and the business the business I way of looking at this so um when when you're looking at this interest rate sir um as I previously said if we were to only Bond $20 million of this and find the other uh 21.3 million in our in our uh existing budget through Cuts or what or or this is what the cost of we already know what the cost of land acquisition because we've already done that we've we know what the cost of that we're looking at this contract so we already know that we kind of know what the interest rates are and we you can extrapolate what the operating costs are going to be for the next 30 years so that's not opinion that's just facts um I think it behooves us again you know as long as the administration is comfortable finding that extra money in in the budget in 25 and 26 that we can restrict the bonding but just understand that again I I don't think this Council should bond that entire amount we should we should we need to cut that down to like meet it halfway cut it down to $20 million of of bonding and everything else come out of our own hide and I I think that's a reasonable compromise I think it's a win for East East Tampa and and the phro complex and the people that are fighting for this probably and deserve it and I I think it's uh you know it's it's a way to move forward and I think that probably maybe you could get more support on Council if you come forward with that type of a financing plan could I add some cl ification to those statements again I I always want city council to have their eyes wide open as to the decisions they're making approving this contract today and I believe you said it earlier sir is not committing city council to debt but it is committing city council to an expense right and and again our our presumptions for the past four years have been that the overwhelming majority of funding for this project will be Debt Service I'm not saying you have to issue that I I I I say my request is to get out that presumption understood understood and and and I'll take and I'll take that back to the administration of course we'll uh and I think there's going to be some more questions I'll answer but of course we'll look at various scenarios I just want to make sure everybody's aware that they're committing themselves to to an expense associated with this contract that will be have to be funded from someplace council member her T thank you Mr Ransom would you mind coming up here for a moment thank you um you have talked to all of us we've gotten information we've heard from other members of the community but I don't see them here today so I'm coming or now so I'm coming to you are you concerned at all about how do you feel about this 14% And how do you feel like we could do more do you feel we're on the right track do you feel that approving the contract today would be enough to go forward or are you still concerned so let me just just just say your name again for the rec James Ransom on the board of Toba and chair of the economic development committee for Toba so just to remind the board after the city signed a contract with DPR the community has some concerns that the people who contact us are contractors when they contact us we try to go and get data and facts we we are a group that depends on data and facts to be well informed before we come to you so we came to you and told you that we were concerned but we didn't have enough information to speak to it so we did our research and went back to find out what was happening so in that particular situation the concern was that there was no plan to reach a goal there was a great goal of 35% but there was no plan that we could see that could reach the goal so we ended up meeting with the mayor the mayor's team was great meetings the mayor staff did a great job but the contract was signed already so an only way to fix that issue of the lack of participation was to talk to the contractor who had the contract so we met with people in out of Atlanta Georgia North Carolina Orlando and Tampa from DPR in their offices to we took a team in our analyst and everybody and we asked them to relinquish 20% of their work self-performing work and CM work on that project to make sure black owned companies got some work because the promise had been e Tamp was going to benefit the black community was going to benefit from the economics of that particular project um so we didn't we didn't go in with the intent to stop the project we went in with intent to make sure black owned companies were able to participate and actually get paid so DPR to their credit and to the city staff and their credit there was a negotiation where they did go and they committed unlike the gentleman said earlier from uh from related they actually committed 20% of direct spend with blackowned companies and they they exceeded that amount okay so the concern about this contract is not about stopping the project it's about making sure that the conditions in the contract which talks about 30% MBE and now 10% spend with blackowned companies in the same geographic area where the project at Hannah Avenue was built and we're not going to rely on questioning staff uh in a public meeting but we asked them to send us a list of all the companies they contacted we're on the phone with the contractors who tell us that they have people who want to work on that project that's still that worked on hand Avenue project so we're concerned that if you sign a contract right now without getting that number changed we've got to go meet with scans on on April the 8th on uh I'm is it April yeah April the 8th we're going to meet with scans on april8 which is going to be after you make a decision if you did that today to get them to relink with something or do something different as opposed to you setting setting the bar here so um I don't want the mayor and anyone to be confused about whether or the community to be confused about toba's position on on Fair Oaks we support the community we support Fair Oaks we want the park to be built we want the community to have a park what what is promised to the community but we want this $34 million in these Tampa to be spent intentionally spent with more of a percentage for blackowned companies just just like Hannah Avenue so the concern would be how do we get there without slowing the project down what can staff do to sharpen their pencils on finding that 20% because if you did it at Hannah Avenue it's it's I told staff earlier 100% of a bigger number and 100% of a smaller number the percentage could still be the same of participation you still still talking about construction materials so instead of questioning that in this audience we're going to look back at what they did how they did it who they were talking with with and find out if we can pretty much verify what they're talking about right now we don't believe that because Hannah Avenue Hannah Avenue is real that was real money so we do have a concern it's your decision we do not want to stop this project we don't want to stop the project we want more black participation on the project thank you and I some have a question till the me please if we can't hear up here thank you very much yes uh I was going to say if um while Mr Ransom is up if Mr Vier would like to ask a question I will I thank you U councilwoman herch no I I I was going to ask you to come up Sir so let me ask you is there anything because I I I heard uh councilwoman Henderson I'm hearing you there's a lot of agreement there right I think there's 100% agreement there essentially I I I I want to find a way to support the councilwoman from this area move this thing forward and address the concerns that I think we is there any way that this can be done today I think it's a legal question how in the world could the council vote to do what what council member Henderson wants and we want and still address this curiosity around house staff on a construction project that was $108 million and one is $ 34 million and you got percentages go from 20% to 10% whatever they say about that we don't buy that right now we have to get our data on that and research on that to figure out how' they do that they found 4% somehow that's fine but we have a concern about that it's East Tampa it should be more than that technically so 10% 14% is really low the city did something transformative historic we we we support the mayor and the staff and DPR this Council for doing something that was unprecedented and historic and hand Avenue in terms of spending money it was amazing so this particular phro project is a great design people like it Community wants it we want that we don't want the name change but the participation is a mystery and we trying to figure out how to solve the mystery we good yes counc I have a question wait council do you have more um no so I'm going to put this out there Council which is maybe we can let Mr Ransom speak with staff and we come back to this and take up some items because we can we can reach if I may we can reach a yes today cuz I think we all want to get there today well let me ask you let me ask you a question if you you know because I know people don't want the project stopped we don't want it stopped we don't want it stopped we don't want the project stopped okay that's not what to is talking about at all we want more black participation in this project if you sign this contract if you look at 92 on the on the agenda right now you're authorizing the mayor to to to execute a contract now if you had to go back and amend the contract to deal with these numbers that's the issue how do you do that how is that going to happen so if you all are comfortable at 14% we've done our job to bring it to your attention if the community is okay with 14% instead of 20% the black communi is okay with that then hey we've done our part all we can do is bring it to your attention and we can walk away and say we did our part is that what you want all right we're good Mr Ransom Mr Ransom we're done we're done all right council member Henderson well I do appreciate Mr Ransom um looking out for the African-American Community particularly in East Tampa the Tampa organization of black Affairs is representative of all of the city of Tampa so this particular in this particular incident um those concerns should have been at the top of this plan we've been talking about this for a very long time we are here the staff has made the effort they're continuing to increase the effort and there's nothing wrong with that Toba does not need to come in and rescue this project that's not what they need to do they have expressed their concerns we have heard your concerns staff has heard your concerns but it's not necessary to delay another week for you to talk to them and then get the okay we can do the okay today and move forward because you did not have those numbers on the Hannah Street project at the very beginning they got there in the end we can go today and I feel that the audience um and those who have been in this from the very beginning make that very clear today we don't need to delay it to appease or politicize this issue any further the community has waited long enough than 10 seconds Mr chair yes please gok you sir I um yeah I just wanted to clarify my request for speaking was to do this today not for next week so just to clarify that thank you Mr chairman council member Henderson can I ask you a question yes would you like to go ahead and move item number 902 I appre chair would you do the honors yes I would happily do that you make make the motion yes I will I move I want to read the whole thing go ahead do it file number P rc24 d352 I move resolution approving the design Bill Services agreement with a guarantee minimum minimum price gmp1 for contract 22c 0028 East Tampa recreational complex design Bill between the city of Tampa and skanska USA building Incorporated in the amount of 34 m686 3537 authorizing the mayor to execute said agreement on behalf of the city of Tampa providing an effective day and you said guaranteed maximum price guaranteed maximum price I'm sorry I I thank you for the correction I appreciate it so noted do we have a second second from council member Vieira roll call vote Miranda yes Carlson no herk yes Fint Denon with the caveat about the financing yes Henderson absolutely Viara yes minoko yes motion carried with Carson voting no all right thank you very [Applause] much got it [Music] got all right next up Mr Moi I believe you have item number 93 and uh just to say the reason I wanted this to uh come forward and Mr Moi he wants to tell us about some Mr Moi was going to talk about some of the activities that they were able to to add to Spring Break um some of the stay andplay activities they were able to add and ways we can move this forward so that we have more of this coming afternoon afternoon again Council Tony Mali director of Parks and Recreation um pleas y'all keep it down in jait because the meeting's still going on y'all just keep it down just a little bit for us I appreciate it go ahead sir uh pleased to be in front of you to discuss a update to the memo that I provided in January regarding evening activities for teens at that time we were uh discussing potential curfews and other uh um elements that we could try and keep our our youth safe uh and off the streets uh with that tpd uh was able to step forward and help support our stay and play program while also expanding the program to the Police Athletic League uh during our spring break that we recently recently had and this this programming uh was expanded we had over 500 visits during the week of teens that that were were in our centers getting coaching participating in activities having fun and and getting some positive mentorship instead of being on the streets and and potentially subject to to negative uh impacts of of behaviors or crime um one of the things I really wanted to point out was something that we've reinstituted since uh the pandemic we we we were able to Charter a bus and take kids from throughout the city uh from the different stay andplay places in our TLC program along with the Police Athletic League over to Orlando to visit UCF for a college uh visit it's uh part of a broader strategy to to get uh our youth into different scenarios where they can see what opportunities are present this isn't going to just be a college push it's going to be trades it's going to be Workforce Development uh so it's part of the strategy to try and expose our youth to opportunities to see what's out there to kind of create that spark for that moment where they can say I can do this I can go here or or take them out of their usual element and just kind of see a new experience than than what they might have every day or the resources that they might not have to to be able to experience these um things that we we all might take for granted as as being adults I think uh remembering back when I was a kid and and there's that moment that kind of said oh I can do something more than than just what I do around my neighborhood I can I can explore the world and see different things so um part of this we also included some culinary programs and we had uh a Top Chef type of uh uh challenge between all the different centers one night we also had a field day out at uh Riverfront Park downtown so we we brought kids from different neighborhoods together uh which is very important the the police uh Athletic League facilitated some Daytime programming on Saturday going to a boxing gym in ebore uh it's this coordin ated effort to one have law enforcement interact with our youth to have youth interact with each other from different neighborhoods and to see more of the world and and get that experience so it's part of implementing a broader strategy to support not only the the teens but the the younger Generations uh and the families that's what we hope to do is create um our centers to be the Catalyst the incubator for uh Workforce Development support for the Family Nutrition physical and uh mental healthy well-being so this is this is something that we're really passionate about we're throwing more resources towards it with the support of tpd the expansion with pal and uh we plan on uh implementing more and more of those steps that are outlined in that memo uh I just wanted to say thank you so much this went above and beyond what I was expecting to that we were going to be able to do on such a short notice it's just amazing so I am hoping that from this I either you can take bring back more of those programs that we used to have or think about what it's going to take to expand them because I would love to see in the budget for next year um or or from you a a an estimate for how much it will cost to expand these programs to St to have our stay in play be open later um I think it's a great place to start for for throughout the year and so if we could do that I would really appreciate it uh just as as we are starting to think about next year's budget like what would that take what's the cost um you know reaching out to the community a little bit maybe doing a couple probably uh I think four is a really um good number we were talking about uh for the garbage rate increase about doing um Community meetings in all four parts of the city think that might be beneficial here to hear from the community both the youth and the parents about what other types of things we could we could do to create a really robust program and of course I don't expect it to be perfect and fully done out by October but but what can we do going forward what's the next step and how can we build upon it and what would it take from us financially to do that so uh I would just really love to hear that um from you in the future and I just want to say thank you for all the work that you're doing on this well thank you and I think um our staff is to credit for this our programmers they're they're very creative they have a lot of resources uh you mentioned the budget and one of the things I want to highlight is I want to lean on Community Partnerships I want to lean on that in kind Services because we have financial institutions that want to come in and teach financial literacy uh we have those Chef's you know culinary programs that we can engage with there's there's a a wealth of resources in Tampa and I would love to engage with all of them councilwoman Henderson thank you protim I really Mr Moi appreciate this presentation so much um great things happen in parks and wck uh you get great leaders and um that become wonderful citizens out of parks and so to expose them on college tours is just another element that we're not required to do but clearly your programmers have gone above and beyond um because of it the I'm so glad that you talked about public private Partnerships because even that extension really that's the muscle that we need to build as a city we the public should not rely on us to be the resolution for everything the public private partnership is a key element especially when it comes to our youth and I know a lot of companies can get behind that so the impact can be even greater but this is a wonderful St I appreciate your report thank you council member Miranda thank you Mr chairman uh Mr Moy since you're here had to put any pressure you but the good people at the um basketball courts at inter Bay YMCA on heims they've been down for some period of time and the parent tell me they got to put on the lights tonight so they can play basketball if you could appreciate if you can any way prite that a little sooner than later I appreciate it very much sure thing and we've been engaged with them on the renewal of their permit and uh uh spoke with Mr melini regarding this and uh we have it in the pipeline it's just going through the purchasing thank you very much I appreciate it very much if you can do so thank you very much all right thank you very much sir thank you all right next is item number 94 94 we have a a memo from Miss W uh she is here and Mr Brody yes ma'am yes good afternoon Council of s wi administrative of neighborhood and Community Affairs on February 6th we asked for a continuous to come back to discuss with you because we wanted the opportunity to meet with the NAACP about contract and I'm going to let and that did occur we had several meetings and I'll let um a legal team uh Carl Brody talk a little bit more about what that in afternoon Carl Brody legal department yes um we had the opportunity Miss wi and I had the opportunity to go over to the indis CP building and meet with Miss Lewis we pulled out a draft contract and line through it and made changes that she was uh interested in we updated the agreement so it would be more consistent with the same exact agreement that she has with Hillsboro County uh the benefit to that is that then to comply with performance measures you just have to do it once instead of having two sets of um performance measures have to satisfy the cities and the counties now the way the contract is written compliant with one complies with both so we um left that with her uh she currently has it with her attorneys to review uh they'll get back with us and then we should be able to have a a a final binding contract for this current year for uh dwcp to sign off on and to comply with so that we can follow through and uh complete the agreement thank you very much any questions or comments yes man' council member her does this include uh the 2023 as well this would not include 2223 fiscal year and the reason it doesn't is because at least right now what we have is a Services agreement and a Services agreement means that you provide us a service in return for payment so we'd have to we have to do that as it is current so for 20 this year 23 24 they can provide the services to be able to receive the payment um 2022 23 we can't do a Services agreement to provide payment for that there might be other options but for what we have right now and what's consistent with what they've already signed off on with other jurisdictions we can only do it for this current uh fiscal year now that money was sitting there and probably still sitting there what will happen to it that's a uh revenue and finance question actually I I don't know how they designate those funds but we do know that we had the funds to cover this year that's why we want to get this agreement done uh in time for them to be able to provide the service that required to get the payment Council let me get back with you about what happens to that money if it's not used I don't know that but I'll can get back with you on an answer with that and if I remember correctly it was $100,000 yes ma'am okay thank you council member Clint dunan so the contract would be basically run from uh 10123 to 10124 is that correct that's correct so this will this will fulfill that obligation for that fiscal year correct okay and then we'll start fresh again on 10 12425 okay thank you council member Carlson um one of the concerns was that there they were worried that that their contract had reporting or auditing requirements in it that were not present in the contracts of other similar nonprofits can you address that please yeah absolutely um we did look and there are some inconsistencies but that's something that we're working on and we're going to have consistent agreements for the 2425 fiscal year we have um made these changes because first they're required by state law there are certain state law requirements we had to put in the agreements and we've been cycling those in uh there's some of the older agreements might not have those same Provisions those same requirements so that's how you kind of run into to those type of problems because you know agreements change over time to change depending on the specific service that's being um provided and that's how you get some of the the distinctions but we are looking to standardize all agreements uh at least agreements in this similar uh space yeah I would just ask that you all treat them equitably um there uh there were um there have been some uh political attacks against them uh that that are defamatory and are somewhat related to that and so I just want to make sure that politics is not entering into any kind of um contractual agreements with any nonprofit thank you yes ma'am uh Mr roero was up if yes he popped up briefly I don't know what happened to him oh there he is again was just a vision so I think he's going to be able to answer that question go ahead Sir Mr R yes thank you Council Dennis rero Chief Financial Officer there was a question about the uh IND ACP funding of $100,000 yes for 2023 that fiscal year what happens to that money now that will roll to uh carry forward to fund balance we'll carry that that carry that funding forward into the current so then that basically means we have $100,000 to do something with uh it it does it does again it it goes uh the professional phrasing here goes into the big pot but yes it was unspent last year and it carry for carries forward into the current okay thank you council member Clen yes ma'am I I don't know if this is in order but I would like to make a motion because again with this inequity that we've heard about in these contracts and so obviously there was a problem in that fisc year 23 I'd like to make a motion motion to um pay the NAACP the $100,000 that we were contracted for in fiscal year 23 do we have a second second second council member Carlson any discussion all in favor I I any opposed thank you very much yes ma'am and I'm sorry I had one more question you all were talking about the change of contracts or how your agreements some of them are old so they are not updated every year it depends on um the the term of the agreement every agreement isn't just for one year there it depends on just what's uh the nature of the agreement what's negotiated there's several factors to come in to determine how long the term is going to be and is that something that you're working on standardizing by any chance yes ma'am we are to get everyone on the same left same playing field okay so that where there may be some there are some that have been dated and we're getting them in fact the NAACP agreement was one of the first ones that we' started standardizing so that all of them will look and feel and sound alike will they be annual then all of them or will you have a limit to the number of years before you need to renew that agreement now I don't know about theual because some of that depends on what the current terms are in those agreements I want to say they very well may be but I don't want to speak out of turn for all of those agreement I would love to know about that going forward because I think is it a 5ye or a threee or one year maybe we can standardize the five years maybe we can standardize the three years and the one years so that everybody who has a five-year agreement they basically have similar terms uh just again equity and then as we move forward just you know updating and improving so thanks thank you very much uh for items 9 95 96 and 97 we requested staff not be here so can I can I just get a motion to rece Theo motion from council member Clint second from council member Miranda all in favor next up is item number 98 Mr chairman just for the purposes of the record I believe 97 continued to May 16 oh okay uh I move toing file on 95 and 96 and continue already Contin and we've already contined 16 so all right all in favor I I all right Mr Brody you're up this is regarding the pending Cemetery issues yes sir yes thank you again Carl bro legal department um this is an update from I believe last April when we discussed the same issue involving um The Italian Club and the potential for there to be um lost cemetery on that property um we've had discussions with the Italian Club um regarding whether they've done it ground radar scan we um don't have specific proof that one has been done actually um so we're working with them um along the way to make a determination of if it's been done and if it's been done if they could provide us the results of it so that's kind of where we are now uh I think we've already talked enough times about the legalities of being able to require any kind of further action uh by The Italian Club BAS and the fact that they are private property and we don't have authority to to control their uh use of the property so um I'm here really if you have any questions um about moving forward or where we're at uh otherwise so before I go to council member Vieira I'll I may have mentioned this before but about five years ago I spoke with a gentleman who was the architect for the maum that is right there on the Italian Club uh Cemetery property and it's facing that empty uh that that grassy area that has been used for parking and what he told me and he passed away four years ago was that when they broke ground for that Mum that they didn't find any uh remains now that is this man's opinion who has since passed away and all the documents that he has uh his wife has since P passed away and I don't know where it's at May it may have been thrown out I don't know that was the one cont that I had uh there he was a longtime family friend I trust him and I believe him but there's a question of I believe the number was 1,200 uh individuals people of this community that were buried there I don't know if they're there I don't know if they've been relocated there's a retention Pond just to uh the north of that um I know that uh the Armwood family blanch Armwood is buried there uh which the high school of course I mean legendary educator that passed away 1940 I believe um there's there's a lot of African-American history there there's a lot of Italian History there of the first wave of Italian and Si Sicilian immigrants that came you know to eor and everything they're in that cemeter you can go back to burial from the 1800s so there are a lot of questions again I uh I only got the opinion of one gentleman yes he was the architect yes there's there's pictures of him with a hard hat on they're breaking ground to build that mum but from what he told me they did not find any uh remains but that masoleum is uh just to the west of this area and that area in question um has been used for parking they used to have events called picnic with the past and it would be you know they would it would raise money for the Italian Club or for the Italian Club cemetery and people would be invited to uh enjoy a meal and you I you know I don't know if they knew or they question questioned or but again it's it's privately owned it is um you know I don't know if we would have the authority as a council to say you know please share that with us I mean at the very least uh please don't use that as parking please you know I mean there is a historic marker and this was brought about from uh council member Riviera and is her name Angela who was here this yes she was very integral in that um I don't know but we I I think it's our duty to you know protect and preserve the memory of these individuals that you know may be buried there may have been buried there and if so where were they relocated to that's that's a question council member Vieira thank you Mr chair um yes so um and I wanted to acknowledge I see Miss Copeland Miller and Miss Henderson here from the um Cemetery society and we appreciate all their all their work obviously so and Mr Brody thank you we we've spoken on this a lot of times and and with Miss alderman who chairman Maniscalco mentioned and you've done a lot of hard work on this and we appreciate it so I had actually invited uh The Italian Club uh leadership representative to come to today's meeting to get updates on this they were unfortunately unable to make it to this particular meeting um uh unfortunately but they have requested to present at the May 2nd meeting on their findings because even though we lack the uh legal ability to compel someone on private property to do something we can work as as um as a government entity uh that has moral duties right uh with the appropriate parties so I was going to whenever all the discussion on this is finished I was actually going to uh motion uh that the Italian Club present at the May 2nd meeting at a time certain after lunch on their findings uh so that we can you know get this issue out into the open again we may lack uh the power to compel um but we can have a dialogue and see what has been done so that we can you know work with our uh Community Partners on making sure that that things are good we have a motion from council member Vier do we have a second second second from council member clendenon any discussion I think that's I think that's great you know the the we'd like to know I understand it's private but these are these are people's family members and it's very important all in yes sir if I may and I wanted to make sure part of the motion is that a Time certain after lunch okay still second all right all in favor any oppos all right next up um council member Henderson you wish to recuse yourself and you have the form to file correct I do um I am recusing myself from item number 99 99 um um to obstain to avoid the appearance of a potential conflict of interest where my relative is associated with this case right we get a motion we have a motion from council member clinten and second from council member Vier all in favor all right any oppose yes ma'am yes ma'am go ahead uh I'm here for item number 99 on your agenda and just for the public edification my name is Ursula Richardson I'm the chief assistant City attorney in the legal department and I basically have uh been with your litigation Practice Group for the last 19 years I've been a lawyer for the last 29 years um but I've spent the last 19 years of my career defending the city and sometimes City employees in any number of litigation situations so just just a a background what we have is a a first request um because as you recall there was a um ordinance that you passed back in December Mr Shelby sent you a copy of that ordinance on on Monday to just refresh a recollection about what that ordinance does and this would be a first request now I've spoken with Mr um Shelby about kind of the fact that this is for first um means that this won't be the last time you're going to have to have this discussion presumably there may be other litigation and employees may come to seek reimbursement so it's important as you go through this process today to think about any future requests just essentially this is new so you should think about how you want this process to look uh the memorandum that I drafted for you and that was put into the system essentially is just some guidance um I'm also here to provide that guidance for you to answer any unless um and so that's one of the considerations that you have before you today it's uh it goes on to say that basically if a person is um if the unless is met that you're not authorized to use government funds for these particular purposes so you can either upfront find on the front end that these particular parameters are met and then you use government funds uh for these purposes or you deny it on the front end and if the person prevails on the back in they come back and they seek reimbursement that's essentially what 11.07 says um in the questions that you're being asked today and those are the things that I've set out in the memorandum the first question would be whether Mr Goose is entitled to reimbursement excuse me I'm sorry forgive me for interrupting Marty Shelby city council attorney they have the memo in front of them I believe they've read that and I believe that um this presentation I don't want to have to get into a debate with you you and I spoke about it and we both agreed that we would not debate it so I prefer that we don't and let I'm I'm not debating I'm just doing my presentation if you don't want I we should just go to the vote we've seen um I've gotten my own legal counsel on this and my own legal council disagrees with the city attorney's view that common law applies here it's the the state statute and and our code and so uh I think for the sake of the claim it um I would rather that we keep this conversation as short as possible so that we can uh move forward with this difficult situation well just just just to make it clear the request is actually made under 11.07 if you look at Mr barack's letter he's saying he's making this request under 11.07 and the statute says what it says I'm not I'm here to just provide guidance I I we understand thank you very much yes sir council member Carlson I I would like to based on the based on the judges um ruling that that Mr Goods was acting in his role as City Council um as a city council member um and pursuant to ordinance number 223-6729 um motion I I motion to um to reimburse uh Mr goods for his uh legal fees um you may read motion that city council finds the litigation in court case number 22- ca- 451 rose out of or in connection with the performance of official duties of former council member uh Orlando Goods finds it serves a public purpose and finds reimbursement of his legal expenses as a prevailing party reasonable in the amount as submitted there's evidence that's fully submitted in the in the in the judge's rulings that uh back up these points so I'm basing my recommendation on what the judge has ruled do we have a second we have a second council member Clint Denon council member Clint was going to speak first and then council member yes um for those of you that don't know I spent nearly 32 years as an air traffic controller working for the Federal Aviation Administration which is the federal government Department of Transportation FAA and I will tell you that if I didn't have the full faith and protection of the US government standing behind me every time I opened my mouth to gave control instructions I'd be paralyzed in fear to do my job and I think it's it's it's it's really in this in the best interest of the citizens of Tampa that the city of Tampa stand behind as elected officials in issues like this on the front end not the back end but on the front end because otherwise you've paralyzed your elected officials to take action and as as outrageous as some of the allegations are I want to key key in here that this was this went into the judicial process outside of City hands into a judge's hands and they found that it didn't rise to a level um that would um provide those those payments to the the complaintant about this and again nobody's contesting that some of the alleged statements and I think that was key because they were all alleged nothing's been proven the alleged statements that were were made you know yeah they're all outrageous and it's it's it's shock value when you read those things but what we're dealing with is again we're dealing with an elected official that in his work um per uh I think that there is an issue about whether you're weighing things or you're acting as a judge and jury that's not what the function is today essentially you could use some of the comment or language that's actually in the order um is what I was going to suggest to use those things because what M uh what judge Mo had to do was assume that the facts are true that's what happens when you file a lawsuit and then somebody files a motion to dismiss when the judge is looking at it she doesn't look at whether or not who's right or wrong she doesn't look at who's credible or not she has to assume what those things are that they are true and then make a decision about whether or not those things that she has assumed to be true whether or not they meet the test to move forward beyond that motion to dismiss and so some of the things I was going to point out to you when you're looking at um what she said uh page 10 of her order she summed up uh certain things that way uh page 12 of ORD you all also summed up essentially um that the comments were offensive inappropriate hurtful Etc assuming them to be true they might be objectionable and offensive she didn't find that they met the test for going forward on an intentional infliction of emotional distress but what I what I believe the statute clearly lays out is that you have to look at the unless um and so basically using just her words without you all having to debate it or anything using her words is that enough to decide that it meets that test of bad faith malicious purpose wanting and willful disregard because that's what the statute says that you're only authorized you as a government are only authorized if it meets that hurdle if if you can get past that hurdle and you don't need to you know debate or anything just use uh judge Mo's order and her words to determine whether or not it meets that test I'm sorry go ahead yeah and and and may I was it pertin to the remarks about to make or I want to make sure well it depends what you say I mean I I have a response to that that I think is warranted in this case I think we should hear his legal opinion I guess my I guess my question and I I'm going to make inquiry of uh of of Miss Richardson is the thornberg case the Florida Supreme Court case from 1990 still valid law the thornberg case acknowledges that there is a there's room for looking at things under the common law and there's room for looking at things under the statute the statute applies in one particular circumstance and common law applies in another circumstance however all I'm saying is we don't even need to debate that look at what the judge has already said see if it meets that thing and if you think it meets that thing then you move on to determine whether or not the fees were reasonable doesn't the doesn't the thornberg case say that the common law is and it uses these words exactly independent of Statute yeah it is it is so one so so it's not a hybrid and to my knowledge and you and I had this discussion there is no case that says that common law has to be a hybrid with the Florida statute what it says is that under that particular Circumstance the the statute did not basically get rid of the common law it actually takes into some concepts of the common law but the legislature just like in instances of sovereign immunity has specifically set forth a process for determining whether or not it's appropriate to use government money for instance when I represent a an employee and they're sued in their individual capacity that employee is entitled to some type of Defense unless unless so this isn't a new test um this 11.07 incorporates the exact same language as the sovereign immunity statute saying that it's the employer not the employee unless so essentially and I'm saying that you do have to look at the unless and it's not just the job function um thornber is one of the cases that specifically says they look to the factual allegations to determine whether or not either Theory applied common law or the statute and you can seek reimbursement under both theories however Mr barack's letter specifically says he is seeking reimbursement under the statute is is is Council bound to Mr Bar's letter that's what he's asking for it under and it's not a a court he's saying he's asking for it and we gave you the test under both however what I will say is you can consider the the common law but you cannot ignore the statute you cannot ignore what's been written down thank you very much council member Vier thank you and and I just wanted to have the attorneys just have their time to say State their peace Etc so I want to talk about my vote and my rationale for my vote um there there's I always tell people that this especially in mediation I go there are things in life that are black and white and then there's things that are gray and this is an issue I think where we have a lot of gray I will be voting for this and I wouldn't explain this to why I will including a lot of misconceptions that exist on the litigation history of this case um that I think are very important the reason and I'll get to this why I'm voting yes and I'll try to be as succinct and quick as I can is the defamation count uh there was a defamation count and and judge Mo said in relevant part in her order uh the oh dear Lord my my handwriting the oh gosh the a lawyer that can't read his I know the okay well in other words that the comments oh there you go the city of Tampa charter gives councilman Goods an official purpose for making the statements about an employes performance uh that that was found there in the order there's a number of allegations that are in the intentional Affliction emotional distress count then you have I believe I believe it was defamation if if I recall correctly all you need need to have as I interpret this is one connection to that that purpose however you want to Define it right that will will trigger the fees given the amount I think it's good for I think it's good to go forward there are a couple of things that I want to State councilman clinten talked about the the the conduct that was alleged and it being egregious etc etc by voting forward for this nobody affirms my opinion affirms or supports that conduct I've made statements on it other council members have made statements on it Etc this is a legal analysis that is a narrowly tailored issue very narrowly tailored especially on the defamation count as far as I see it I I what I said before and I'm going to say again which is the individual who brought the original accusations forward and God knows there was a political Firestorm that went out there right we should all salute her for her standing up when other people tell her to sit down right I always maintain that I will continue to do so something that's very very important too is that when the city settled the $100,000 uh claim that was brought forward a pruit claim without a lawsuit and I'll talk about that briefly as well you know it would have been great to have councilman Goods um released in that things happen behind closed doors and mediation we don't know what happened right but that that would have been Perfection because we're here today but again there's numerous reasons as to why things happen I do want to State and and Miss Richardson and I I I do not practice an employment law or sexual harassment law but when you have a sexual harassment cause of action the cause of action is is against the employer not the employee therefore please correct me if I'm wrong when this employee settled with the city of Tampa for the traditional sexual harassment causes of action she relinquished those traditional causes of action and then was left with intentional Affliction emotional distress which I'll get into in just a little bit and defamation which have a very very high standard the cause of action was not against the employee but rather against the employer I say that because I read a lot people going well the city settled the case was dismissed totally different cases so totally different cases I think that's very important for everyone to talk about intentional Affliction of emotional distress that which was pursued in this lawsuit was dismissed uh the the standard for an intentional Affliction emotional distress typically involves touching and it is something that has got to be Beyond I don't want to recite case law because I don't know what it is the element top of my head but it's essentially Beyond outrageous right and there's a very very high standard for that um an investigation was done before this by the Trum ker Law Firm a law firm that I don't think anyone's going to question their character their reputation their professionalism Etc um this case was resolved without a trial uh the the $200,000 case 90 I think it's like 98 99% of cases resolved without a trial this case was resolved without a lawsuit I do a lot of pruit cases as an attorney that are resolved without a lawsuit the judge's ruling as far as I read it again indicates that the charter G gave former councilman Goods an official purpose in making the statements um there are issues with the lawsuit that I've long had a lot of trouble with on an individual basis this is not the time to talk about them I will not get into it because that's going to open up Hornet Tess but I've had a lot of challenges with this lawsuit that's my personal opinion um but so with the 30 seconds that I have again I I wanted to make these statements because it is important that we Define why we're voting for something because on a legal BAS basis we have to make sure that we Define it to a a particular conduct that could be related to the purpose regardless of how you interpret it I think that's important for purposes of future president uh especially on a case like this so I will be voting yes for the aforementioned reasons thank you council member Miranda I can only say I read something and I don't have it in front of me about another former council member back in the 70s or 80s I forget which it was and it was and I'm not going to mention that name because she's no longer whether she passed away some time back and I don't want to do that and uh and I think the uh they they said no for the reason what you said about the judge and so forth and so on so in this case nothing against the city council member the past Mr Goods not personally to him or anybody else but I'm going to hold to what happened the city that they said to that council member no also we have a more discussion yeah just clarification that just with that issue was I remember that issue and it was because they actually took an official City Council vote and voted in their self-interest so it was a really it was a very different case and and I just want to re reader with what council member uh Vieira said also it's not our role today to to judge whether whether no no talking talking about him not you but it's it's not our uh position today to judge whether certain things were said or not said all we are doing is deciding um whether whether he was acting in his position as a city council member the Jud Jud has already ruled that so following the judges um ruling uh I think we're obligated to pay and so um I made the motion council member Carlson with the motion second council member clenon all in favor I any oppos I motion carried with Henderson absent at vote no re uh abstaining from voting oh she abstained sorry the form um motion carried with Henderson abstaining from vote in mirand voting no that is correct all right remember item 101 councilman you have that big PowerPoint and the public hearing I'm kidding item number 100 Mr Shelby you want me to start yes please I I just want uh to state that I did prepare the memo regarding that and uh I turned I turned to council member Carlson I I have a a motion that I worked on with with Marty um the what we what we did is we asked the charter um uh says that there's a residency requirement and whether any of you are in favor or against the residen requirement it's it's the current law that was reaffirmed by uh citizens when they amended it a couple years ago and so with the law the way it is the question is how do how did we codify it into the into the law of the city and Marty checked it's not it doesn't exist anywhere so in order to create some rules around how this is codified um I I'll just throw out this motion um a motion to ask all I'm going to do is ask the City attorney to come back I motion to ask the City attorney and city council attorney to return on May 2nd with a draft ordinance to codify section 6.01 and 6.03 of the charter of the city Charter that will a define proof of residency as homesteaded property voter registration Andor affidavit test testifying the individual primarily lives in the city of Tampa at the city of Tampa address B requiring notice within 30 days of any address changes C establishing a penalty for making false statements resulting in immediate termination and prohibition from returning to the city of Tampa as an employer consultant for a period of one year following termination so the the idea here is just to Define what it means um give some notice um there's there's no definition right now by the charter what it means it seems to me reasonable that if somebody has a homesteaded property and they have a voter registration that that's where they live and if they happen to rent another place or live part-time in another place that's different from where their Homestead of property is and then C just says if they if somebody lies and I think we're all against somebody not telling the truth we presume everybody's telling the truth but if somebody lies uh after after signing that sworn affidavit then they would be terminated automatically would you have a second to the motion second this is for the legal department to come back just come and if you all have edits or whatever let them know no no I think it's I think you bring up very good points um no I'll be supporting it council member Vieira with the second and then any other discussion if not all in favor I I and what was the date I'm going to vote I now but I don't know if support it I I like to have the best and the brightest no matter where you live at yeah I'm I'm kind of I'm kind of with councilman Miranda I I'll vote in favor of this now but I I I also want to I understand this has been dealt with they tried to get like Charter change but it failed or there was some discussion about this and I mean you know the city of Tampa is such a weird geographical area you know you're in and you're out and you're in and you're out and it's uh the only thing this is saying is if we have it it applies rules yeah you can make a separate motion to get rid of it but that's a charter Amendment that's a charter Amendment right okay so this is for May 2nd you said yeah all right all in favor I any oppos all right councilman viea I I didn't do anything with this I know it's just a calendar but you weren't here this morning and I just want to wait for you this is uh the memorandum that you had sent out requesting the changes pertaining to firefight of the quar recomendations yes sir so if there's any no if there's no discussion just reile yes sir move to receive the file thank you yes sir I do believe I do believe this requires Council to adopt thetive uh calendar okay so let's let's do two votes move to receive and file the memo sent by council member VI which is made the motion council member VI do we have a second second second from council member Clinton all in favor I and then uh for Council to adopt the tenative 2024 2025 uh city council calendar for the period March 7 2024 to July 31st 2025 is there a motion move or second motion from council member VI second council member Miranda all in favor I yes sir Mr Shelby now Council councilman VI can I just ask the the memo that was was received and filed did that make a specific request relative to the calendar I believe it did then I think maybe you should ask or you should make that as a motion to add address the calendar you know you could just be specific and just reference the motion but just so it's an action item that you're actually changing the calendar yes sir and thank you for that and thank you for Brandon for putting this in my folder uh I do motion that the March 26 2024 uh member that I sent out regarding Tampa Fire Rescue be adopted in terms of the uh the accommodation commendation request second we have a motion councilman VI counc Miranda all in favor I any oppos it's time for new business council member Miranda thank you chairman I'd like to make a motion to present accommodation to Emily Peak a student at Cambridge Christian Elementary and Lilian herd studed at the Academy holding names for the medal winners of the 2023 2024 USS Tampa post five American Legion oratorical contest the medals that they have received reflect a keen interest in the appreciation of principles and values outlin in the Constitution of the United States and their awareness of the responsibilities incumbent to each citizen to exercise the proper these rights in conjunction with this I would like to present combination of two American Heritage young lady girls Abby kosi and Charlotte luur who have earned their citizenship government badges to their knowledge and understanding of civic responsibility I would like to present these combinations at the beginning of the evening of April the 18th at 501 we done this many times before we have a motion from council member Miranda second council member Vier all in favor I I any opposed at the April 8 you said April 18th evening yes sir I don't see it on this calendar I see Mr Shelby no I April 18th is a regular session the um the workshop is on the 25th as an evening session and earlier than that the second April 25th is going to be canel correct Mr Shelby oh yes that's right I have that motion so April 11th is your only option maybe it's a maybe a is April 11th well they put here the 18th I'll make it April the 11th all right motion from council member moranda second Council V all in favor I any oppos anything else one more I've had couple of requests uh the last week or so what's happening is that Court enforcement doing an excellent job in doing what they can however they're citing at least one of these two that I know for a modeling job on a house that she bought that she never touched the seller is the one that did the remodeling as I understand it and I wanted to see if that we asked the legal department to draw something to the fact that we we ought to go after the seller not the buyer the buyer didn't do anything the buyer just bought the house and how they going through the the through the system where nothing is recorded and the when you have something that goes on to recorded in Cindy Stewart's uh record in the county so it's records there when they do the attorneys do a study of when they're making the closing that that comes up it's not coming up and when they find that they're going after the the buyer the buyer didn't do it the seller did so that's where we're at so I I'm just pressing it to the legal department see if they could come up with an answer are you asking for a formal report or you put just a formal report when would you like it sir well give it a month no let's let's let me look here and May um how I'm just want to clear it up I don't want somebody to get charged with something they never done how about May 16th that's fine that's good great all right we have May 16th staff reports motion from council member Miranda council member Vier all in favor I anything else sir that's right sure cier yes sir um I was going I was speaking with Carl Brody I seem to be taking up a lot of his time uh and he always does a great job on a a code of conduct for certified contractors with the city of Tampa um I I before I make that and I'm speaking about this publicly because I promised somebody I'd make it today I I want to speak to some of our city attorneys about that before I make the motion because I uh want to make sure I have all of the requisite knowledge for a proper motion so I just say that publicly because of somebody I spoke to so it should be made next week once I speak to the attorneys um on that the the only motions I have here is for a commendation for I've been requested by Ultimate Medical Academy uh to do a commendation on June 20th before Tampa City Council we have Mo from council member Vier we have a second from council member mirand all in favor I anything else sir um yes you know what this one involves um councilwoman uh Henderson's District uh so I'll wait until she's here um for that thank you okay coun council member Clon yes I'd like to make a motion for the planning staff to provide a report with final language for the January 20124 Land Development code Amendment cycle at the April 5th 2024 regular Council session second we have a motion from council member from second Council Miranda all in favor I I anything else yeah I I want to um just April 5th the day before my birthday just in case you guys are planning on buying presents oh you're an area oh they well then we have another typo then so let's say April 4th and if there's a problem we'll fix it yeah can you push it further yeah sorry as a general rule yeah at this point in time April 18th is the next regular session Mr heberline are if you're listening would you please report to council chambers all right can we come back to you then um I actually want to say something else um you know we're as I'm really excited that we're moving forward on the budget analyst position as we all know we're going to do the interviews we're going to have bring them on board you know budget budget season is going to be here before you know it pause pause for dramatic effect can you fix this date on the motion please this is not the right dat just scratch it out right well we don't know what what what did they want dateest opil from okay okay very um so budget season is here before you know it as we've insinuated several times in this meeting today I think it behooves us what last last year was my first uh bite at this apple budget and I've learned a lot about that and again I I as I said earlier in the day you know how we got the budget the cake the cake was already already mixed and put in the cake pan and the oven was turned on before you get it so you don't have an opportunity really to to to do stuff with it I think we should start really bantering about what our budget priorities are as I threw out today I want to see the the the paving and repaving budget um increase significantly to $35 million um I want to see you know those type of infrastructure programs in the city of Tampa to reflect the the needs of the people that are currently living in the city of Tampa um I would encourage all of us now to start putting that our that hat on start thinking of like as we move forward towards this budget so we're not caught like we were last year kind of like you know on on on on our heels and uh and have a better product this this year for the City of Tampa thank you very much okay and that so that's I'm going to make that motion for planning staff to provide a report with final language for the Janu we can't do April 4th it's too early it's too late it's got to be April 18th could they do a walk- on for what well this is the Planning Commission is the Planning Commission the Planning Commission should give you enough time to be able to put it on the agenda that's right they would planed Land Development code Amendment cycle I mean is you know something is there an objection to put it on the 4th yes I have an objection and the clerk has an objection all right let's do April 18th because they're they're right down the street motion for planning staff to provide a report with final language for the January 2024 Land Development code Amendment cycle on at the April 18th regular Council session under staff reports under staff reports we have a motion from council member denn council member mirand all in favor I before I go to uh council member herch Council VI you had a motion you were waiting for council member hon I was going to say that so councilwoman Henderson I um through wearing my CRA hat um were working on um the restoration of this um World War I African-American soldiers Memorial Memorial Park and it came up in discussions on having a historical marker there uh to kind of make the community aware of what is there and I didn't want to make that man because that's in your District without you being here just making sure thank you ma'am uh so I do um make a motion for that for a historical marker uh over at Memorial Cemetery uh for the the I guess the city staff would begin working with historical marker committee and we can have that come back let's have it come back I mean because that that takes a while um the July the first week of July just after July you're looking at July 18th there there you go we have a motion from councilman Vier I council member Henderson all in favor I any oppos council member herch thank you and this actually came from Miss FY uh I move to have Deputy Administrator fely appear the first week of each month starting May 2nd 2024 to provide a brief update on the Land Development code reform process we have a great motion from council member she loves us she really loves us second from council member Henderson all in favor hi any oppose and she just I mean it's going to be going fast so I that was that was her idea so uh and then I don't know if um Mr Shelby if you're going to talk about this if not I have something to say what that it's coming up next week oh it okay then mind I want to look at it well what it's coming up next week okay well what what I wanted to say about this and and this is the um yeah the staff report regarding the Improvement to the efficiency of meetings uh and that will be posted by the way yes yes but on base it will be on in on base but at this point there are a lot of this is basically a grouping of of the ideas that every council member had yes so I would highly recommend well and more than that and the clerk and others but some of the ideas are contradictory to one another so I think it would be great if we all went through uh well tomorrow's a little soon especially we don't have anything but but if we could get that um if if you could get your changes or your cross you know I don't like this idea I like this idea let's add this if you have any comments any cross offs anything if we could get that to Mr Shelby by Monday maybe we could have a much more uh a quicker forg I don't forgive me but I don't think so oh okay never mind and and let let me tell you why why and I I want you to know I I want to read the first paragraph of the memo because I think it explains to you it says the following are suggestions for improvement to the efficiency of Tampa City Council meetings this is a listing of various proposals to be considered individually some might contradict others as many are based on the suggestions that have been received it is my recommendation it is recommended that each is Con that as each is cons considered a motion is made by a council member who supports incorporating into the rules of procedure I have tried for a long time to build consensus and uh unanimous consent of this Council it is not doable I will Point say it so well I will point to you just under let's say for instance just to point illustration under public count and by the way I want to just take and I'll say this next week I want to thank each of you for who took the time to meet with me and your staff and the city staff and the legal department and the clerk's office um particularly uh um the chair for his leadership Lisa Edwards sat down with me and um um suling Lucas for two hours to begin this so for public comment let me read number five and number six number five keep phone in option for general public comment item number six remove phone an option for general public comments I agree why because because strongly agree because that those are two different viewpoints that have been made to you know brought to this list this is going to be just as your rules of procedure they're your rules but they're elect they they are put into place by a majority vote of city council so if a vote of four puts it on a resolution that resolution has to be read and passed twice for it to take effect and then it becomes the rules of council so in that context what I'm going to say is you are not going to get unanimous consent from city council because there are contradictory things that actually came out of my conversations with city council with legislative aids with the city clerk with the city attorney's office and City staff interested so though what I'm am going to say is that this is a five page document with bullet points for each item 71 70 items and just letting you all know that we have 13 staff reports and unfinished business I I I just don't know how long this is going to take but I just wanted to ask everyone to really be prepared and the other thing that I do ask and we continued it to next week because I ask for a full Council to be present because this is going to require a vote of four and ultimately when it comes back as a resolution all compiled however you choose or not choose what you want to have in your rules is going to have to come back as a resolution for two um uh uh re meetings so depending on how soon you act it could it could take effect as soon as the first meeting in May otherwise it would take place after that can can I make a suggestion and and maybe I'm just being optimistic it seems like the the folks that really because you take this the opinion people of the seven politicians up here out of the equation and you get to the subject matter experts we've got a legal legal person we have the clerk's office and then maybe a couple of our legislative aids to work together to par down a proposal no I don't think it's doable these are not their rules these are your rules but and the worst and the worst part is or the best part is you're going to have to self- police well that's the thing yeah I me it's the thing I don't write the rules that make me go 65 miles an hour but I but I still comp well maybe sometimes I comply uh you know I don't know I guess I'm just not if somebody tells me these are the rules I'm just going to say okay those are the rules thing is I will tell you that that they can come back and you still might not get four votes for it that's true okay okay disregard never mind um can I uh to take the privilege back for that motion because I see Steven Benson walked into the room reference that Planning Commission motion Stephen is that what you're here for yes uh step Benson City Planning uh the uh text Amendment package is currently being routed for the fourth um my understanding is that we would be able to request it as an addendum um I did want to point out though that since the Planning Commission only meets once a month um we won't just get bumped to their next meeting won't it won't get bumped a week it'll get bumped a month if it misses the fourth so may I ask why it hasn't been well let me ask you this will it be uploaded tomorrow for on base I cannot speak to that but I understand that to be the intent and and does anybody know whether Council will authorize a walk on after the agenda is prepared I am not aware of that this is sing Lucas Deputy City clerk um just to let you all know the draft agenda has already gone out because the city is closed tomorrow so that's right tomorrow is a holiday yeah so for and this is this is a very significant matter and for sake of transparency and fairness and notice to the public I and by the way there's something in here with regard to it's a motion as a matter of fact is it on next week's agenda give me a second Martin Shelby city council attorney to present a resolution I'm going to address this for council's consideration that will require agenda items to be automatically continued for a week if the full presentation and backup materials are not placed in the rine public database as of 5:00 pm the Friday before scheduled meeting that's a motion that is made by Council that's put on the agenda to discuss that is actually in there's a there's there's a there's a reference to that in this document so the question is a walk-on and this by the way is probably one of the more significant things that this city council is going to be voting on in the course of its uh uh duties so I will just say uh Council I'm very concerned that somebody made an executive decision to walk on something of this magnitude at this point in time without City council's knowledge at the last minute the day before a legal holiday this is true I mean 18th and unless unless you've got some other thing compelling the 18th is what they would be it's it's the pleasure of council this uh this these are the actual text amendments that run with but we presented to you already in February so it's not new content it's just the actual language I understand but let's just go it'll be the 18th 18th it is all right we have a just to clarify motion from council member Clint Denon for the Planning Commission to present on April 18th under staff reports as said corre we have a second I think we already voted on that yeah but okay just just since he's here second anybody second second second from council member all in favor all right I just wanted to be Crystal Clear any anybody oppose anything else council member herch if not I'll go to council member Carlson uh yeah um this morning Andy skyon talked about this loophole which you all probably heard a lot of complaints about over the years which is that people in there applying um for permits will will site a a parking lease but then we're told that multiple organizations are using the same place for a lease because they can easily cancel them and so I I just have this motion to ask the City attorney to report on January sorry motion to ask the City attorney to report on January on H on June 20th to modify section 27- 2836 to require that terms of any parking leases to be considered by the legal department shall be no less than 5 years in duration and contain no early termination clause in addition that the obligation must be assigned to any successor such agreement shall be annexed to the approved site plan and a listing of all approved leases shall be maintained failure to comply with this section shall be a violation of this chapter we have a motion from council member Carlson do we have a second she second Council M Henderson you said yes okay yes Mr Shelby yes question this is the kind of thing that would normally go through Land Development it is a code change and I'm wondering why you would uh asking the legal department to do this who do you want me to ask I I think I think I think what it sounds like what you want to do is you want to have do you want to have a report prior them to come back with language because what they're going to come back is it would have to make probably the next cycle so it's it's not something and and they have to go through the process it's so you want me to what do you want me to change I think I think it would be land develop I think it would be land devel so I'm just changing City attorney to Land Development we have a motion and did you pick a date for that to come back June 20th June 20th thank you we have a motion for June 20th from Council M Carlson with second council member Henderson all in favor any oppos can I ask one more thing sure um sorry to bring this up but um council member Henderson you mentioned earlier that you're that you think you're getting paid less than the rest of us and um yeah um resources called Darlene and um the amount that um Dennis Herrero had on the screen was I'm high it was not correct okay I just want to make sure so we all make the same thing I just want to make sure you're paid fairly okay thank you y make the same thing except for one person right yep that person makes less why do you make L because he chooses to oh yeah yeah it's a I don't take the uh 200 300 out the month whatever what we get $200 a month for it's part of the office account for certain expenses that's s that's not view that's put historically no anyways maybe maybe Council might want to inquire offline as to what that is why that is council member Henderson I don't have anything sir well I guess I don't have anything do you have anything Mr Shelby yes I do uh it was brought to my attention that the evening of April 25th has no alcoholic beverage cases and no uh comprehensive plan amendments therefore um it's being requested that the city council remove the evening meeting scheduled for April 25th from your calendar oh we have Mo from council member Miranda do we have a second we have a second from council member clenon all in favor I can I get a motion to receive B motion from council member Miranda council member Henderson all in favor I we are [Music] adjourned [Music] yeah