City Council - Regular Meeting

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Welcome to Tampa City Council. I am filling in for Chair Clendenin this morning. So we're going to start with an invocation, which will be a moment of silence, and then we will turn to the Pledge of Allegiance. Please stand for the moment of silence. Okay, and the pledge. Thank you all so much. Roll call, please. Excellent. Can I have a motion to adopt the minutes of the regular session of July 16, 2026 and the evening session of July 23, 2026? I have a motion from Councilmember Miranda and a second from Councilmember Maniscalco. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, excellent. We're going to go ahead and approve, quickly go through the approval of the agenda. What I have so far today, staff is asking for item number 35 to be pulled for a separate vote. So please... Note that. Item number 55, there was a request for staff to remove this from the agenda. However, I believe that Council Member Vieira, you have, there's a time certain for this instead.

Yes, ma'am. So we're working on getting somebody from the contractor for this. Just given the critical importance, I want to make sure we keep our eye on the ball on this issue. So I don't anticipate it taking more than five minutes. I communicated with Chief Tripp that no need for Tampa Fire Rescue to be here on this, in my opinion. But other folks, yes. So we'll, yes.

So do you have a time certain?

no uh no no i'm i'm unaware at this time of any um okay but but yeah we'll get back with you on that great um and we have a request to continue item number 56 till august 27th

So I have a motion from, um, council member Maniscalco and a second from council member Vieira to, uh, move this agenda item to August 27th. All in favor. I any opposed. Okay. I have it. Uh, item number 58, the same request to continue this item to August 6th. I have a motion from, um, council member, uh, Miranda, a second from council member, um, young, all those in favor. I any opposed.

okay so we are going to go oh yes go right ahead um number number um let me make sure number 40 this is to transfer the the disposition of the land in the army navy spot and we have i forgot what the number is but we have certain minimums above which it goes to uh the regular agenda and um this property has got to be worth more than that minimum. And so I would just ask to move it to, um, just because it should have been put into discussion. Yeah.

Okay. So I have a motion from councilman Carlson, a second from councilman Vieira to move it to the items removed from consent agenda. So item number 40, all those in favor, I, any opposed. Okay.

The second one is item number four. Um, the mayor comes before city council once a year. Um, And I think the public likes seeing the mayor and city council together. My understanding is the mayor is in Key West or something like that and is going to present a video today. I would recommend that, I don't know why it was scheduled that way, but I recommend that we move this to a time when the mayor can be here in person.

You want to put your light on?

No, I'd rather we just, if it's already recorded and it's a video, we do it.

So if it's, I mean, my suggestion, because I think the public has the expectation to see city council and the mayor together at least once a year. If nobody else wants to do that, my suggestion is instead of sitting here watching a video, that we just add that onto the end of the video and we can move on with the rest of business and then we can all watch it later. Why waste the time here in the chambers to watch a video?

Um, so I will say that we have a workshop coming up on Monday about these very issues. So we kind of need to hear what the budget is. We need, we need, we need the budget.

So we can still watch it in later on. We can watch it at home or something. You don't need to watch it here.

Mr. Shelby, my understanding from a gender review. Oh, sorry. Martin Shelby city council attorney. Good morning city council. My understanding for a gender review is this the mayor's video is part of a full presentation that is going to follow that. Um, in preparation again for Monday's workshop and just a reminder to each council member and the member of the public, it is a special call workshop that is set for Monday. This coming the 3rd of August at 9 00 AM here for the first of three workshops on the FY 27 budget.

I just think last comment on, I think that the public has the expectation at least once a year, the mayor will be in the same room with council and present in person. And if she sent other staff, let the staff present, but I'd rather not watch a produced video by the communication department.

Council Member Miranda.

And I appreciate what Council Member Carlson is saying, but if we don't listen to this today, how can we get involved in the discussion?

So I think his comment is he doesn't want to watch the video. So that's really what's at stake here. So does anyone have opinion on the video?

I mean, I, we could watch it in person, but I mean, how long is the video 10 minutes?

I mean, we're probably going to spend 10 minutes talking about what exactly, but also could the chief of staff maybe explain why it was scheduled at a time when the mayor was on vacation.

It was scheduled because she asked for it to be last week. And we decided that during a CRA meeting, wasn't the appropriate time.

Good morning, John Bennett, chief of staff. Good morning council. Uh, chairwoman, you're correct. It was supposed to be on July 23rd. This is a regular annual thing for the mayor. And so that's why the video, and it is an introduction to the full presentation and it's not very long. And I do agree with the opportunity to blend that. And then the longer presentation from the CFO.

okay and if i made my damn chair yes so so please refresh my memory the mayor cast was supposed to be here in person and we changed the date correct yeah okay yeah so that and if i made mr shelby wait a second so yeah i mean obviously i'd rather her be here in person but it would appear that she was supposed to be here in person we changed the date there's a conflict let's just watch the damn she could have presented the video the week before too anyway i'll let this go

Okay, so we are moving on to staff reports. So if anyone, we're gonna go through the staff reports very quickly. Do we have an administrative update today?

No, ma'am.

No, okay. So moving on to item 54. Do we need anyone here for item 54? No.

Okay.

Do we have anyone here for 50 or do we need? Yes. Uh, we, we are going to, uh, talk about 57, um, briefly.

Did we make a motion to remove 55? No, 55 is going to stay.

Yeah. 55 is going to stay. Excuse me. That was what councilman VR was talking about. We don't have a specific time. Certain for that.

And by the way, I apologize. We actually knew that was my bad. As I used to say in high school, 10 30 AM.

oh okay so we do have a time certain so would you like to make a motion to that in fact um my only concern is that we may still be in the middle of a budget presentation so it might be as soon after 10 30 as possible no worries so um uh do we need to make a motion for that mr shelby sure okay so i have a motion from councilman vieira second for a time certain or as soon thereafter as possible and i have a second from councilman carlson all those in favor aye Any opposed? Okay, great. So we're moving on to 57. Yes, we've already moved. And then can I get someone to... Receive and file 59 and 60. Yes, thank you.

Motion to receive and file the written.

Okay, I have a motion from Council Member Maniscalco to receive and file items number 59 and 60. I have a second from Council Member Miranda. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay.

Motion to approve the agenda.

So I have a motion to approve the agenda from Council Member Maniscalco. I have a second from Council Member Young. All those in favor? Aye. Okay.

Madam Chair?

Yes.

I wanted to wish Junior a very happy birthday. It's tomorrow. He takes very good care of us. I wanted to acknowledge that. And today's my mom's birthday, so happy birthday. I love you, Mom. Happy birthday.

Happy birthday. We're happy to... okay so we are getting started with our very full day although short on the agenda we are heavy on on uh content today so first we are going to present a commendation to mr trent this is by council member miranda so we it's all about birthdays this morning

All right. It's my pleasure today to be here with a great Tampeno, great individual from the state of Florida, and a great citizen of the United States, Doug Trent. And Doug has done many things in life, and meeting up with him at Forest Hills. I don't know if the world knows, but this council has a singing group that sings once in a while at Forest Hills at Babes of Harris Golf Course on, what is it, the Friday, the first Friday of the month or the last Friday of the month? Which one is it? the first Friday of the month, and some of us sing good. Some of us just stay home, but the others sing pretty good. Hurtak is the lead singer. She sings real good, and I'm the worst singer. But anyway, Doug Trent was born on May 13, 1927. in North Carolina. Mr. Trent proudly enlisted in the US Navy in 1945, serving our country with honor in World War II. After his military service, Mr. Trent married his wife, Hilda, in 1947. In 1950, they settled where? In Forest Hills, where he made a home with his wife and son David and daughter Carol, where they still reside today. That's also a first. How many people do that and still there? Mr. Trent devoted his career to public service, working in the City of Tampa and Public Works Department from 1950 to 1966, or 16 years, working with the City of Tampa and Public Works. Then he transferred over to where? Hillsborough County, where he worked for an additional 23 years. And he did a fantastic job at both. As he celebrates his extraordinary milestone of 99 birthdays, Tampa city council is honored to present you with accommodation on the 30th day of July, 2026, a duck Trent with sincere appreciation for his military service, distinguished public career, and lasting contribution to the city of Tampa. Thank you very much for everything. And that's my honor to say congratulations. And by the way, I collect little things that people throw away and I found these glasses that says 100. Uh, so Doug, You don't have to wear them now, but this is for your birthday coming up real soon, and I know you're going to be at least 120. Thank you very much.

If I may say so, it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you, council. visitors. When I first came to work here in 1950, the public works department was on the fifth floor. And it wasn't air conditioned. You had to open the windows to get a breeze through. And in the wintertime, We had gas heat, which was sometimes good and sometimes not. In fact, one time it froze up and we had to go home because it was so cold. And another memory, I served with Mr. Hickson and Julian Lane and Nick Nuccio. and city councilman Lee Duncan and Doug West and I remember those times fondly. And this is great. The building has changed some. I haven't been in here in 60 years and we got new paint. In the elevator, we had an operator, Henry. You had to pull the rope. And it was a wonderful experience. And I thank you all very much. Thank you.

Yes, we've already agreed with there's a there's a quick little

Well, thank you. I'm Bev Keeney. I live in Forest Hills, and we have a treasurer in Mr. Trent there. Thank you for recognizing him today. And we have a treasurer in our city council here. Thank you for coming out and doing your relaxation and team building in our area. And Councilman Nya, I would like to present to you your beginnings of your trophy. I don't know if you can see it up there, but this is a CD of your experience. You can put it right up there.

Just turn it around. There you go.

There we are. And, of course, we start out with Allen Clinton, who was the most improved of the evening. Lynn was our winner last year. I thought she would be presenting you your trophy, Nya, but your rendition of My Girl and the little dance moves in there really brought us all together. Thank you very much. And if you wouldn't mind.

You want to go down and get your trophy?

I hope this will continue for years to come because this really brings us close. Here we have, this is the way it looks because it's the knife and fork award.

okay excellent well you don't have to go far you have our next okay our next commendation is going to be presented by council member young

Thank you all very much. So, you know, one thing I am always very proud of is celebrating our youth in Tampa. And so I have the honor this morning of presenting accommodation to the AXO team for NAACP for Hillsborough County. I don't know if you all wanted to kind of stand. SO THIS TAMPA CITY COUNCIL ACCOMMODATION IS PRESENTED TO THE AFRO ACADEMIC CULTURAL Technological and Scientific Olympics for Hillsborough County. Tampa City Council is pleased to present this commendation to the Afroacademic Cultural, Technological, and Scientific Olympics, AXO, for Hillsborough County. AXO is the NAACP's premier youth achievement program that provides high school students with opportunities to development and showcase their talents in STEM, business, the humanities, entrepreneurship, visual arts, and performing arts. Whereas, on behalf of the city of Tampa, it is with great honor to recognize the students who represented the Hillsborough County community during the 2026 National Axel Competition held in Chicago, Illinois, July 15th to the 19th. I would like to recognize Benjamin Sterling, Isaiah Miller, Amari Johnson, and Makai Gillette. These accomplishments reflect the students' hard work, perseverance, and commitment to excellence. It is with great pleasure that Tampa City Council present this commendation on the 30th day of July, 2026. And I would like to bring up one of our coaches, Mr. Otis Kitchen, to recognize. I know we had a long list of students that did some really amazing things in Chicago. And Mr. Kitchen, if you would like to recognize those students, please.

Just start with your name, please.

Good morning, everybody. My name's Otis Kitchen. I'm the proud principal of Twin Lakes Elementary School, but also I'm one of the co-chairs of AXO, along with Lynette Judge, she's our chair. Ms. Williams, she's our, Ms. Williams, she's one of our co-chairs. And I wanna start out because it takes a village. It takes a village for this to happen. And I first wanna recognize our wonderful president, President Lewis, for making this happen. She had the vision, she's provided the opportunities for the students, so very thankful to her. Thankful to Council Member Nya Young Maniscalco and all the council members, it truly takes a village. So I want to highlight the students that were a part of this wonderful experience. And I want to first start out with Sanaya Leavitt, Armwood High School, Hospitality Management. Tristan Leavitt, Armwood High School, Hospitality Management. Eric Rose Jr., Onwood High School, Contemporary Vocal. Jordan Bennett, Blake High School, Dramatics. Deani McPherson, Gaither High School, Hospitality Management. Ashanti G., Hillsboro High School, Hospitality. Journey Stanilis, Spoto High School, Painting. Aisha Onofrekin, Tampa Bay Technical High School, Architecture. Cambria Burton, Tampa Bay Tech High School, Medicine and Health. And last but not least, Brooklyn Kirksey, she actually came from Bartow High School over in Polk County because again, it's about community and we welcome supporting all students. So I wanted to recognize the students. Again, I wanted to thank all the stakeholders that made this happen, the families, the coaches, the principals of the schools, Hillsborough County Public Schools, and especially our wonderful president, Ms. Yvette Lewis. Thank you.

Also, we have some accommodations for the students that won the national awards and also for the coaches you all have.

Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And definitely want to give a shout out to my buddy over there, Councilman Lewis. There's my buddy right there. Amazing. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

City Council, this warms my heart to give these beautiful, beautiful kids recognition for all the hard work that they had done and poured into their talent that God has blessed them with. I just want you to know, as well as I told them all, they're all heroes and champions in the eyes of Hillsborough County. These beautiful kids, their talent that God has blessed them with. I am a proud, proud president to represent them. And even raising the funds, it makes it so easy when you see these beautiful smiles and the hard work that they poured into. every week coaching, coaching, coaching, and then to go there. Some of them have never traveled outside of Hillsborough County. Some of them have never been on a plane. These are some of the things that we are pouring into to our kids. This is one of the many programs that our children have at the NAACP. We are doing great work, but we couldn't do it without the support and the love of the community and the parents that every time we call and say, hey, he or she needs to come for coaching, they come, and they come with a smile. And I am just, my heart is so warm that this recognition, thank you, Councilwoman Nya Young, And thank you Frank Crumb and Darlene for that phone call. Truly shocked. Bless. Thank you.

Thank you all very much. That concludes our presentation.

Can we get a picture with all of y'all with my chair?

Sure. Come on up.

Thank you. Okay, let's make sure that we can see faces. Can you see all of our faces? Okay. You can't see Louis.

Can we have you on the other side, please? Right behind me, this is Madam Scalco, Councilman Madam Scalco, you stand right there. Now ladies, come up. Right here with Darlene, stand by. And three, two, go. OK, now right here. Right here. Right here. Thank you all.

Congratulations. Congratulations. Excellent.

Now, Councilman Vieira.

Thank you.

Can I ask real fast? Sure. Council Member Young, is there a website that folks can go to to learn more about that program?

Ms. Lewis, is there a website that people can go to to find more about this program? Yes. Just come on up to the microphone. State your name again just for fun.

Yvette Lewis, president of the NAACP Hillsborough County branch and proud president of the AXO competition. So you can go to our website and you will see all the categories. There are 33 categories that allows these kids to compete in it. and show their talent. And so, like I said, Hillsborough County Schools do a lot of recruitment for us, for we to show this. And these kids, when they win, they come back with prizes, monies, scholarships, everything. What is the website? The website is naacphillsborough.org. Thank you. Thank you. And click on AXO. Excellent. Thank you so much. Thank you. Okay. Oh, and we're always looking for donations.

Great. We'll wait 30 seconds if we may. Absolutely.

Well, you've got your folks getting in space, too.

Do you mind closing the doors just for, thank you, Junior? Okay.

Excellent. Y'all can filter in behind council member Vieira so we can get everybody excellent. Okay.

Thank you very much. And, um, so it's a real pleasure to be here, guys. We're here for the 45th year anniversary mark of a terrible tragedy that happened here in our city of Tampa, uh, 45 years ago on August 4th of 1981, two Tampa firefighters gave all in a job and a tragedy that happened here at station one in downtown Tampa. Frank Warner Sr. and Isaac Royal would give all on that day. On this day, a former Tampa firefighter would walk into Tampa Fire Station One and these two men would tragically lose their lives. Franz Warner Sr. was 40 years old and a father. of two and a 15-year Tampa Fire Rescue veteran, he would die on the scene. Isaac Royal was only 26 years old and had been on the job with Tampa Fire Rescue for one year. He would pass on five days later at the hospital. Firefighter Richard Barrett was shot in the lower back and would survive. And in fact, the bullet hole, I believe, is still in the garage door from this incident at Tampa Fire Station 1. We have here numerous dignitaries that we'll be hearing from, including, obviously, Chief Barbara Tripp. Thank you for being here, ma'am. We have here representatives of Local 754, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention, even though he's not speaking, Hillsborough County Assistant Fire Chief Morris Lopez, who himself obviously has a family history and sacrifice for our great city of Tampa. Um, so for France Warner senior, we have here retired district chief Glenn Warner, who will be hearing from, who is the very proud son of France Warner. And, uh, on this date, he and his sister, Susan lost her father and Elaine, um, their mother would lose her husband, right? Chief Warner would go on to give 26 years of service and Tampa fire rescue. He would retire in 2021. and he was only 10 years old when his father was taken from us. He describes his late father as a great father who was a proud Vietnam-era veteran who always had time to fish, play baseball, and hang out with his family. In 1963, he would sign up for Tampa Police Department. In 1965, he would then transition to Tampa Fire Rescue. In 1967, he was drafted to the United States Army, and he would serve during the Vietnam era. Growing up, Chief Warner would hang out with his father a lot on the job at Tampa Fire Rescue, and he would join Tampa Fire Rescue and hear a lot of stories on his late father. We're also very proud to have here the proud grandson of Franz Warner Sr., and the proud son of District Chief Glenn Warner, Mr. Tyler Warner, who is a driver engineer for Tampa Fire Rescue. Three generations of amazing service here for Tampa Fire Rescue. For the family of Mr. Isaac Royal, we have here Mr. Bobby Royal, who was only 16 years old when his older brother was murdered and taken away from us. In the hospital room, Isaac would tell his family that he was going to be okay because he was a fighter, and he would ultimately pass on five days later. We have here Isaac's sister, Dolores Royal Lovett, as well as Isaac's nephew, Mr. Gregory Sheffield, who is also here. Isaac's parents, Isaac Sr. and Maddie Royal, who were so proud of their son's name, would lose their son. Isaac is no longer with us here today, but Maddie Royal is here and is, in fact, watching on TV, and we honor her and her service and sacrifice. Bobby describes his older brother Isaac as the second father who taught him how to swim, ride a bike, drive, would take him to sports practice. As a young 26-year-old man, he loved his family, loved his community, and had a very bright future ahead of him. Isaac was a graduate of King High School. He would go to Hillsborough Community College, he would serve in the Army Reserve, and he would graduate from USF, something I learned today which I never knew about, which is something remarkable. Mr. Royal's funeral would ultimately be held at St. Paul's African Methodist Episcopal Church here downtown. These families are intertwined, and they're really a part of our history. So we wanted to hear from folks on this terrible tragedy that would have happened 45 years ago in August on what it means to us today. So if I may, as our first speaker, I will welcome a wonderful woman who has given so many years of service to our city at Tampa and our community, Chief Barbara Tripp. Come forward, ma'am.

Good morning, Council. Barbara Tripp, Fire Chief for Temp Fire Rescue. And, of course, thank you, Councilman Vieira, for honoring, you know, 45 years of something that took place. You know, as being the first responder, we respond to tragedies, not expecting something like this to happen to our people. So I never got a chance to knew Chief Warner prior to this incident, but I've had the opportunity to work with his son who's actually if he's anything like his father he was a great guy you know so i greatly appreciate the opportunity of working with uh chief warner and of course as far as his retirement and of course having the opportunity to work with the grandson who i recently promoted to driver so the legacy still lives on so even though this tragedy took place 45 years ago we have history here that allow us to continue in honor of his father And as we talk about, um, Isaac rules, of course, not knowing the extended of the family, knowing the family that I actually grew up with some of the members in the neighborhood, but did not know that that was their cousins, you know? So of course the history is still a little boring. So once again, know thank you for sharing your brother with us for the short time and the bravery that he did the course to try to help out the other firefighters so uh once again we would never as long as i'm here we would never let this legacy you know die out so we'll do everything we can to continue with the tradition and let the family know that you're still part of the tampa fire rescue no matter what whether you're a firefighter or not a firefighter you know temp fire rescue is here for you so with that thank you thank you chief we appreciate

Good morning, Tampa City Council, members of the public, Nick Stocko, President, IFF, Local 754. I really want to thank Councilman Vieira for bringing this recommendation or this recognition forward, and members of Council for allowing us to do it here on the third floor. This is very meaningful when it is able to be presented here on the third floor in front of the Council and in front of members of the public. You know, the IFF, the Local 754, has been around for many years, and there's various parts of its history that I'm still learning, but one of the parts that we don't ever forget and that we continuously learn is those that pay the ultimate sacrifice, especially on the line of duty. On that day, 45 years ago, the two members of the fire department, when they left their homes, they did not plan on this event occurring. While we may want to plan and train for those emergencies that may occur, such as structural fires or medical emergencies, they were brutally murdered at line of duty. That's something that we never forget. Every time that we go to the Memorial in Tallahassee, we look at their names, both Brother Isaac and Brother Franz Warner. I try my best to send a text to the Warner family whenever I do see their name because we do pay our services and our forwards to them when we see them. To Isaac Royals as well as the Warners at the Gold Shield Foundation, they display their picture on the board every year so that we don't forget those that paid the ultimate sacrifice. Those that continue to pay the sacrifice are the families. And not knowing the extent of the family, the Reynolds family, uh, we appreciate you being here and to the extent of the Warren's family that continues on through the legacy of Tyler and chief Warner. Um, they're here to continue on that name that, that those members were able to provide for the fire department. So on behalf of IFF local seven, five, four, we want to thank city council as well as the Reynolds Isaac family and the Warner family. And that we'll never forget the names of those that fell. Thank you.

Thank you. And so now, um, we'd like to hear whoever wants to go first, please.

Chief Warner, you want to go? Good morning council. Um, thank you for taking time for this today. Special thanks to councilman Vieira for contacting me and spearheading this event after 45 years. It's it's very humbling and very, we're very grateful for the remembrance. Uh, you know, I stand here in kind of a unique position. a city that took so much from me and my family, provided me an opportunity. And I had the honor and privilege of doing nearly 27 years with Tampa Fire Rescue. I was able to achieve the same rank and walk out the door healthy. So that's a blessing. Based off of that unique experience that I'm a victim or a survivor, my family's made sacrifice, but I'm also one of them. I would like to thank council and the leadership for all of the support that you've given public service over the years. It means more than y'all would ever know. And with that being said, and this event being so much longer, I would just say that it's incumbent upon the leadership of the city, the leadership of the fire department, the leadership of the union, to collaborate and work collectively, as you generally do all of the time, to make sure that the new generation that comes on understands the sacrifices that came before them so that we don't lose sight of the goal and everybody is remembered and we don't make mistakes that we've made in the past. So with that, I thank you all very much.

Thank you. Hello. I never really, my name is Tyler Warner, driver engineer for Tampa Fire Rescue. Obviously I never got to meet my grandfather, but with that being said, I'm appreciative of the legacy that he did create. Like my father said, I appreciate everybody in the fire department as well. Always making it a point to not forget. My goal is to just continue to make them proud and polish the legacy that has been created, so.

First of all, I just wanted to thank you guys again, City of Tampa, Councilman Vieira. I'm not going to say it's been an easy road, but it's kind of easy now because every time I see Chief Tripp, I see family each and every time. I mean, she lets it be known every time she sees us that we're more than just people or a person that used to work for the city of Tampa. We're with her every time she comes through that door. And I appreciate that with her. Councilman Vieira, when you contacted me and we were talking, you showed an enthusiasm that I hadn't seen, you know, in a while. And I appreciate that about you. Of course, you know, my brother-in-arms back here, you know, we continuously text each other and talk. And it's been a journey. But the journey has been... been eased by a lot of people, Melvin Stone, Chief Ford. They never forget Captain Bill Wade. The list goes on and on. But once again, like I said, I just wanted to thank you guys for having us here, and we appreciate everything the city of Tampa has done for us.

Well, just just again, we have some plaques we'll be presenting outside to the families, but just did this just to remember this. This is Bob Martinez was our mayor and we never forget. So just so thank you, counsel. Thank you.

Thank you. OK, thank you so much. I believe that is Mr. O'Hara, are you presenting the... Yes, ma'am. Okay. Well, I believe it is your turn. I think we might be having some folks coming in, perhaps, but...

Ready? Yes. Good morning, City Council. Dennis Rejero, Chief Financial Officer. Thank you for having us here today to brief you on the fiscal year 27 mayor's recommended budget. As discussed, we'll begin with a video by the mayor, and then I'll come in after that and dive into more detail with my presentation. Okay. Can we have the video up, please?

Good morning, members of city council, city staff, and everyone joining us today from Old City Hall and from home. You know, every budget tells a story. This one is about ensuring our city and our momentum are built to last. It reflects our residents' priorities, the challenges we face, and the opportunities we choose to pursue. Today's proposed budget continues the work we've been doing together since... building a safer, stronger, and more resilient Tampa while preparing responsibly for the future. Before looking ahead, it's worth reflecting on how far we've come. Since 2019, the City of Tampa has made historic investments in the foundations of our community. We've rebuilt roads, expanded sidewalks, made our streets safer, and continued making meaningful steps in advancing transit options. We've modernized our water, wastewater, and stormwater systems and completed major upgrades to our waste to energy plant. We've invested in parks and recreation, strengthened neighborhood services, expanded youth programming, enhanced homelessness initiatives like Tampa Hope, and continued improving public safety. I'm excited to announce that since setting a goal of planting 30,000 trees by 2030, We've already planted more than 18,000 trees in neighborhoods, parks, and public facilities all across our city. Tampa's added 23,000 homes with more than 8,300 affordable units completed or underway. We've invested over $100 million in affordable housing, maximizing every available federal dollar and fighting for every unit. Projects like the Marquee, Rome Yard, West River, and North Downtown, which will have more than 2,300 workforce and affordable homes, provide workers with affordable, housing options closer to their jobs. Down payment assistance, housing rehabilitation, and renovation programs are helping residents remain in the homes they already have. Because housing stability isn't only about building new units, it's about helping people stay in the neighborhoods their families call home. These investments have helped make Tampa one of America's most desirable places to live, work, and raise a family. And none of this happened by accident. It happened because this council made responsible decisions. Our employees delivered exceptional work every day, and we remain committed to investing in both today's needs and tomorrow's opportunities. That discipline, innovation, and productivity have put Tampa on the strong financial footing that made this progress possible. Tampa isn't just growing, it's thriving. Our city continues to enjoy outstanding credit ratings reflecting years of responsible budgeting, disciplined financial management, and long-term planning. Those ratings reduce borrowing costs, saving taxpayers millions while allowing us to invest more in critical infrastructure. We balanced our budgets, maintained healthy reserves, met our long-term obligations, and kept our debt burden relatively low compared with many peer cities. Tampa's population has grown by more than 70,000 people since 2007. Yet we have fewer employees today than we did two decades ago, and fewer than comparable cities across Tampa Bay and Florida. Those aren't simply accounting achievements. They demonstrate that Tampa has managed growth responsibly while preserving the flexibility to respond to changing economic conditions. Strong finances aren't the goal themselves. They're what allow us to deliver excellent public services while protecting taxpayers. And although Tampa's economy remains strong, the cost of providing public services has changed dramatically since 2019. Our city is grappling with inflation, just like families and businesses throughout our community. An infrastructure project that cost $10 million to build in 2016 can cost more than $31 million today. The cost of asphalt has risen 50% since 2017. concrete as much as 70%, and stormwater pipes, 90%. At the same time, Tampa Bay has experienced one of the strongest periods of household income growth in our history. According to the American Community Survey, median household income in the city of Tampa increased 56% from 2019 to 2024, more than it did in the previous two decades combined. Simply put, everything costs more, and maintaining the same level of service is considerably more expensive than it was seven years ago. For much of the last decade, Tampa experienced record-setting growth, more than 23,000 new housing units and tremendous job creation. Today, the market has shifted from exceptionally hot to more normal, not declining, but stabilizing. As we prepare this budget, we're also facing significant economic uncertainty driven by inflation, and in particular, Amendment 3. which would fundamentally change how cities across Florida fund local government. If approved by 60% of voters, we estimate a revenue reduction of 35 to 40 million in the 2028 budget and 60 to 65 million the following year. Property taxes fund our police officers, firefighters, and paramedics, but don't even cover the full cost of those services. Amendment 3 would create a significant funding shortfall. Protecting public safety will always remain our highest priority. And I want to be clear, this amendment does not protect public safety. It threatens it. Without another long-term funding solution, the City would face difficult decisions regarding staffing and service levels, including public safety. The impact would extend well beyond emergency response. Street resurfacing, stormwater improvements, affordable house, parks, trees, litter removal, youth programming, homelessness initiatives like Tampa Hope, and investments that keep neighborhoods clean, safe, and vibrant all rely substantially on the same funding source. Good financial management isn't about waiting for uncertainty to become a crisis. It's about preparing before it does. Developing a city budget begins more than 15 months before it comes to City Council. While our fiscal year 2027 budget isn't directly affected by Amendment 3, it includes prudent steps to prepare for the possibility that it passes. For several years, we've invested general fund revenues in resurfacing neighborhood streets, building affordable housing, upgrading parks, and renovating fire stations. Because of the uncertainty created by the proposed amendment, this budget shifts those funds into reserves to provide a better financial buffer should it pass. It also places a hold on creating new positions. We want to continue moving forward with the important projects and quality of life investments our residents are asking for every day. But until voters decide the future of this amendment, we cannot responsibly commit those additional resources. The good news is that this decision can be revisited after November's election. If voters reject the amendment, we can put those important neighborhood project services back in the budget. Our theme is built to last because that's exactly what this budget is designed to do. Strengthen Tampa's foundation and ensure our city remains one of America's most exciting and livable places for generations to come. This budget continues investing in the services residents rely on every day while preserving the financial strength that has positioned Tampa for long-term success. It reflects careful stewardship of taxpayer dollars, continued investment in infrastructure and public safety, and responsible preparation for an uncertain fiscal environment. Tampa's overcome significant challenges before by planning ahead, making disciplined decisions, and staying focused on the people we serve. This budget follows that same approach. I want to thank the members of City Council, our department directors, and finance team, and every city employee. for their dedication to serving our residents and helping make Tampa one of the best cities in America. I look forward to working with Council over the coming weeks as we review this proposed budget together and continue building a stronger Tampa for generations to come. And now I'd like to introduce our Chief Financial Officer, Dennis Rojero, who will provide a detailed overview of the proposed budget.

Thank you, Council. Dennis Rejero, once again, Chief Financial Officer, if I can have my presentation up. And I want to ensure you all can see it from your... Yes. You got it up? We are good to go. All right.

Thank you.

All right, we'll begin. You see the agenda. Again, Referendum Amendment 3, the referendum in November. It's the elephant in the room. We might as well talk about it, so we're going to dive pretty deep into that. Then we'll roll into the fiscal year, 2027, recommended operating capital budget, as we always do. Go into detail on the capital improvement program. Again, that's the five-year plan for our capital projects. closely linked, we'll give you insight into our existing and future debt program, and then discuss some of the nuances that have now been added to adopting the millage rate. All right, Amendment 3. So what's it do? Well, as you heard the Mayor say, the bottom line up front, it reduces the money we're going to get and what we can do with that money. It's going to restrict us not only monetarily but in the flexibility that the Mayor and City Council have to use the funding. You see right here, first it triples the existing homestead exemption from $50,000 to $150,000 in fiscal year 2028. The very next year, for fiscal year 2029, it quintuples, quintuples that same exemption to a quarter of a million dollars, $250,000. That's a five-fold increase. Just to give you an example, you know, our Our current taxation is about $19 billion for homesteaded properties in the city. In fiscal year 2029, this will eliminate almost half of that. Almost half of our homesteaded properties will now be off the tax roll if this comes to pass. Obviously, that's a significant adverse impact to our future revenue. What else does it do? Well, it further restricts our use, as I said, of that property tax funding to what you see here, basically public safety, police, fire, roads, bridges, stormwater, natural resources, flood control, retirement benefits. But as you heard the Mayor say, what this doesn't mean is that it protects these services by any means. It simply says that the property taxes we get can only be spent on these services. And as you know, and we'll show in just a moment, even our current property tax revenues are insufficient to fund just our police and fire services. We will be put in a very difficult position, and we're part of a big club. Many, many localities in the state will be put in a very difficult position. Will we cut budgets? Will we cut positions? Will we cut services? I don't know. Time will tell. These will be future mayor and future city council decisions because there will be fiscal year 28 impacts. What it also doesn't mean, however, and I want to point this out, it also doesn't mean these services are going to be able to keep pace with inflation. Costs are going up. I don't need to tell anybody that. These services won't be able to keep pace with performance pay increases for outstanding functions of the job. They won't be able to keep pace with retirement benefit. We'll have to spend property tax funding on retirement benefits, but retirement benefits historically go up. The cost of those things go up. This will not guarantee that those keep pace. What does it leave out? Well, it turns out it leaves out quite a bit. Parks and Recreation, for one, as you heard the Mayor say, about $74 million next year. Community-related services, again, as the Mayor stated. I'll go out of my way to mention the behind-the-scenes services that make the 49th largest city in America and a $2 billion budget run as well as it does. My shop, for instance, purchasing human resources, technology and innovation, contract administration. We have billions and billions and billions of assets to look after, and this does not fund facilities management. So how will these be funded in the future if Amendment 3 passes? Well, in a perfect world, our other general fund revenue sources would pick up the weight. I think that's highly unlikely that our other revenue sources are going to be able to pick up this. State shared revenue, charges for services, local option sales tax, et cetera. So we'll have to come up with other revenue sources. Other localities have more than one millage. For example, municipal service taxing units, municipal service benefit units, assessments for services. Efficiencies can always be looked for, but in my opinion, this is a tight organization, and I can almost guarantee you that no efficiencies are going to make up for this revenue shortfall. So what will you do, or what will future administrations and city councils do? They will likely cut services. This is the final part of it. It simply provides funding for county officers and commissioners. I believe the initial draft left these out. But again, full disclosure, the county officers and commissioners are covered. This is a good segue into what our property taxes do and don't cover. We see this every year because every year it doesn't change. Again, property taxes don't even cover our entirety of public safety services. And those are on the left. You see that about three-quarters of that $430 million are covered by property taxes after we give our component, the $62-plus million, to the community redevelopment agencies. So right off the bat, if no changes happen on Amendment 3, we're $100 million short just funding police and fire. And as we add the next largest department near and dear to our hearts, Parks and Recreation, where we just dig ourselves further into the hole, about $170 million short. What's that look like on a year-to-year basis? The mayor mentioned the first couple of years. Well, for a five-year period, and that coincides nicely with the capital improvement plan, we lose anywhere from $300 to $320 million. Those are our estimates. As an example, to give you a sense of scale, that more more than wipes out all of the general fund capital improvement projects we had planned. And you'll recall over half of that was just fire, Tampa Fire Rescue. That's gone. So as the mayor introed, this is the world we prepared this budget in. sustaining operations, and we've done that, but with an eye toward pausing, reflecting, and if necessary, adapting to a much more hostile world from a local government revenue perspective, preparing for uncertainty. That's what we're doing. So in summary, we won't be able to do a great deal of what we planned on doing, whether it's capital improvement projects or operating expenses, service levels of the community. It's sobering, and I'm sure we'll talk much more about it in the days and weeks to come. Having said that, we'll move into the recommended fiscal year 27 budget. And here it is, the net fiscal year 2027 budget for all funds is just over $2 billion, about 2% more than the current year. increases primarily due to higher compensation and benefits, including health care costs, software licensing, again, an increase in what we are going to be compelled to give to the CRAs, the Community Redevelopment Areas, and, of course, inflation. You see here our breakout of the major funds, as we do every year, and the two largest components, as always, are the enterprise funds and the general fund, about three-quarters of our entire budget, and we'll get into those in more detail as we do. Then your special revenue funds, excuse me, those are construction services, housing, Your trust and agency funds, those are your CRAs and streetcar, for example. Our internal service funds, that's fleet maintenance and insurance. Our debt service funds, what we set aside every year to pay our debt obligations. And the capital project funds, those are transfers into special funds so we can execute our CIP projects. Diving deeper into the general fund and the enterprise fund. On the left, you got the general fund, as we stated. You got public safety at over 60%. That's police, fire, and we include code enforcement in that particular slice. Then central government, those are the functions I talked about before, the support agencies that you typically don't see on the front line, but they keep the wheels of government moving. I'll repeat them again. Why not? Technology and innovation, revenue and finance, human resources, neighborhood and community affairs, contract administration. Our parks and recreation department, again, a little over $74 million next year. Public works, or excuse me, that's facilities and contract administration in the public works and economic, pardon me, development. On the right, at a little over $866 million, those are our enterprise agencies. Again, those are the departments that run like a business. They're enterprising, right? They've got to turn what in the private sector would be a profit and reinvest those profits into their own operations. And every dollar we get for those services, we can only spend on those services. They run like a business. Got water, waste water, solid waste. Those are the big ones. Parking is doing very well, and it is being run like a business. Continuing with the general fund, here is our general fund balance history and future estimates. As the mayor stated, this plays a very, very large part in how we're preparing for Amendment 3 and the rough future that may lie ahead and its impact. First, once again, and as always, we have a very, very good history. You know, a picture tells a thousand words, and you see it right here. So I want to thank Council. I want to thank the Mayor for continuing to make this a very, very high priority. It's a cornerstone of our conservative financial management philosophy. You know that. And it's paying off. It continues to pay off. On the far right, you see, in case Amendment 3 passes in November, we are buttressing our fund balance to a level of 25% or about $190 million. You see, that's far more than our recent history of 23%. and taking out the federal aid associated with the COVID pandemic is far more than our 23 to 24%. That's how we are amassing the funding to deal with some very, very tough decisions that we may have to make. I think it goes without saying that if Amendment 3 passes, we are highly unlikely to maintain this consistency in our unassigned fund balance. We'll talk about debt and our credit ratings a little bit later, but significantly impacting in a very negative way our largest and most stable revenue source is also not likely to be viewed very well by the credit rating agencies. And again, we're a big club. Almost every locality in the state is and are going to have to deal with these issues. As we do every year, we break out the general fund further, and you see this slide here with the major changes associated with the revenues. First and foremost, of course, property taxes. They're going up a little under $17 million, and we'll take it. I've seen it not go up, but I do want to point out it's about half of what the increase was last year and significantly less than the increases of just a few years ago. This represents a 4% increase in taxable value. Last year, it was over 7%. So you've got this continuing downward trend of increases. And a downward trend of increases, I get it, it sounds odd, but again, these revenues have to keep pace with an upward trend of expenses associated largely with inflation. Sales tax down over $4 million reflects a moderate economic slowdown in some important sales tax categories. Just need to pick up the paper to see a slowdown in various sectors of the economy throughout the United States. Nice bright spot, getting back on a nice three percentage increase for our franchise fees and utility taxes associated with growth, so we'll take that. Miscellaneous revenues going down. We're expecting a little less FEMA funding than our initial estimates. Again, these are from the storms of two years ago. The FEMA wheel turns, and we're happy it turns, but it doesn't always turn fast. Pilot and PILAF, those are payments in lieu of taxes and payments in lieu of franchise fees. And what we do is we charge those departments who run like a business as if they were a business. for taxes and their use of our rights of way, the franchise fees. Those are going up almost $3 million. So we'll take that. And we've got a settlement associated with the Hobbs case bringing up the bottom at $2.5 million. So you see, I'll go back. I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, and just to reiterate, about $22.4 million revenue increases, and this is what I wanted to contrast it with, the $11 million at the bottom of major increases. Okay, so you see a good deal more revenue than what we're appropriating in the budget for expenditures, and again, that's by design. And we'll detail those major increases. increases right here. Salary and benefit increases at nearly $25 million. As we've said before, we continue to be in a very competitive environment for talent, so recruiting, retaining, and rewarding our employees remains very, very important. CRA contributions, we've mentioned. Decreases in operating costs. In the past, we've showed you increases in operating costs and what those increases are funding. This year, Not this year. A decrease in the TECO streetcar subsidy. A nice little increase in the Hart Route 1, but that's being funded by the parking department. Bottom line, what you've got is a very limited but a continuation of services budget. I'm going to hold the line, see what happens in Amendment 3. You see we are actually reducing our positions slightly overall, two down, one up in the water, one down in construction services, and two down in parking. For the first time in two decades, our total position count now exceeds the high water mark prior to the great financial crisis. It has taken us 20 years to get the number of positions we had in fiscal year 2007. Expanding on our position history, you see here our increases since fiscal year 2019, overwhelmingly in the public safety utilities and transportation areas. And continuing with the position theme, if you will, you see our ratio of employees to population continues to decline and remains the lowest in our comparison group of the cities at the bottom. We're the dark blue. And continuing with the comparison theme, the mayor's recommended millage remains the same, and you see that is also less than our comparative group of cities. Jump into the capital improvement now. Quite a change from the current year capital improvement program on the general fund part, and we'll get into detail on that. But starting from a 50,000 foot view, you see the fiscal year 27, about 46, I'm sorry, I gotta put my glasses on, 346.7 million dollars, and over that five year period, over 1.1 billion dollars. Overwhelmingly, you see in the wastewater and water department as we continue the pipes program. And here are the major projects in fiscal year 2027 that are getting additional appropriations. Again, pipes, and you see the list here, very successful program. We anticipate it's going to continue to be successful. But to be successful, we are going to have to continue issuing debt. Parks and Recreation, Technology and Innovation, very, very lean. Again, as we put general funding into our fund balance, awaiting Amendment 3. Mobility, UC, bless you. Funding sources there for fiscal year 2027. And jumping into the debt program because they are so closely aligned and many of our projects and our plans require financing in the future. I won't belabor this too much. It's very kind of the Mayor to mention our credit rating increases, and as always I want to thank Council also. Again, you have made it a very, very high priority. We appreciate that, and I think the proof is in the pudding. You see that here. I will state, as I always do, that these are very, very important. from a conservative financial management philosophy and a solid financial sustainability perspective. Every single year, as I've said before, we are monitored and questioned about these ratings. I've said it before, they don't just call it a review, they call it surveillance. All three credit rating agencies, they take this very, very seriously, as they should, because these ratings These ratings are a big part of decisions either retail investors make or industrial investors make when giving us money and funding our projects. They want to make sure we are on a very strong and solid financial foundation, and this proves that we are. I do want to highlight the issuer credit rating at the top. Again, as we've said before, and for the public's benefit, this is our equivalent of our FICO score. You know, your personal FICO score. It's good to great. This is absolutely outstanding. Triple A for Fitch and Standard & Poor's on the right are the highest you can get. Moody's is the second highest. We'll keep working on that. It will be quite a headwind if Amendment 3 passes. But again, our individual ratings are also very, very good. I'll highlight the water and sewer bonds. The best you can get across the board with all three credit rating agencies. Absolutely fantastic. I think we're only one of three in Florida, maybe one of seven nationwide. It's very, very thin air. Again, we always want city council entering into the debt discussion with eyes wide open. These are our potential future debt issuance plans. We'll start with non-ad valorem debt. This is debt that is pledged from the general fund, but not property taxes. That's why it's called non-ad valorem. So we've pledged general fund. We have no obligation to raise property taxes to pay it, but we have pledged the general fund. It is substantially less. than our previous plan, again, because of what may happen with Amendment 3, a little under $80 million with some federal grant funding in there. You're going to see throughout the timing to be determined based on project schedules and or spend down requirements. We always want to avoid borrowing money sooner than we need to because we don't want to pay interest on money that's not working for us. Water and wastewater debt, as I mentioned before, the continuation of the pipes program, almost $785 million. I believe council has been briefed on that third bullet point under water and wastewater, the extraterritorial rate adjustment. Speaking of headwinds, that's going to be a headwind. Quite simply, that was a 25% charge to non-municipality customers. That's going away. We're going to have to deal with that. Solid waste debt, as we discussed before, you know, solid waste department and the waste to energy facility have undergone a significant amount of work. Again, very successful, but we are going to roll up our existing short-term debt instruments into one large bond in 2028, and you see that there, about $250-odd million. Zeroing in on our non-Ad Valorem annual debt service, you can see that after fiscal year 2029, we have a substantial amount of debt that comes off the books. That's great news. We get over that hump and we've got a lot of savings, a lot, that's a technical term, a great deal of savings in our debt service and the opportunity to fund other things if future mayors and future city councils plan on it. And that's part of the plan if Amendment 3 does not pass. So that's a nice picture going from about 30-odd million to 13 million. And diving into a little more detail on that program, it is lean, as I said. We are confining the plan to only those projects that we have entered into a contract with. And you see them right there. Fire Station 24, the Police Department Howard Avenue Annex, the Fleet Maintenance Decentralization, Vita House Renovation, and the West River Walk. We have gone, again to reiterate, from a plan that was about a quarter of a billion dollars, 250-plus million dollars, to less than 82 million. I do want to explain a change in adopting the millage rate. And again, Council may already be aware of it. But again, full disclosure, they've amended the number of Council members that are going to have to vote for the budget. You know, in the past, A simple majority was enough to keep our millage the same. That is no longer the case. A simple majority, you see here, simply can vote for the rollback rate. Anything from the rollback rate up to 110% requires a supermajority, five votes. Our millage of 6.2076, something like that, Our millage is going to fall, as you see at the bottom there, about 2.3% higher than the rollback. We will require five votes to continue the millage at the same level. Any reduction in that millage, of course, would have associated reductions in the recommended budget. This is the budget calendar going forward, three workshops. the 3rd of August, the 10th of August, and the 17th of August, and our two public hearings, September 8th and September 22nd. I will point out for those listening, the workshops on August 3rd and August 10th are morning workshops. The Police Fire Parks Convention Center and Special Events Workshop on August 17th is in the evening, begins at 5.01. This is where everyone on the planet with an internet connection can find our budget. And finally, I do want to take just a moment to say thank you. Thank you, Council. Appreciate your interest and energy up to this point and what I'm sure will be continued interest and energy going forward. I also want to thank the mayor, of course, chief of staff, all of our departments, this fantastic communication, fantastic knowledge of their operations and what it's going to take to keep those operations going. My entire revenue and finance staff, whether it's budget, accounting, grants, et cetera, doing a fantastic job and they make me look good. Thank you, Mike Perry, and your leadership, absolutely vital to the organization. We appreciate the Citizens Advisory Committee and what will continue to be the discussions going forward, I'm absolutely sure. Last on the list, but first in our hearts, Ms. Kopeski, we appreciate all of your energy and input. We really do. Thank you. What a great addition. And I'll just thank Council again for what's to come. We've got some headwinds, as I've said, but we can do hard things, and we've done them before.

Thank you so much for that sobering presentation. I believe that's probably the right word there today. So we'll just have a couple of questions, and then we'll save others for later. But Councilmember Miranda is up first.

Thank you. Thank you so very much. I don't never drink in my life, but I feel like taking a drink right now. And you know, it's funny when you look at government and you say, let me tell somebody else what to do, but that's not good enough for me. I'm not saying the public, I'm talking about the governments. And this government, and the whole governments in the state of Florida are under the same demeanor that we have, that we've received, that the public is gonna vote in whichever way they vote. I appreciate them coming out and voting how they feel. However, when you look at governments, those that have supreme power over other governments, how come they didn't cut their own tax? Ever thought of that? Their own sales tax, they make billions and zillions of that. But they all right, they're immune from that. Their cost never went up, I guess. I guess where they live at, milk didn't cost any more. Buying a car for fire engine or buying equipment for the departments of public works never cost any more for them. Everything was cheaper, I guess, up there than it is here. Maybe we ought to buy from them and get a discount on our things that we have to buy. It's really ridiculous when you look around and you start looking. It's really an international war when you spend a million dollars a day in a jail that never worked between, and I'm not gonna mention anything, between Naples and Miami. It really is funny when you give 50 million or something that you want done in the city of Tampa without even knowing what the hell you're doing. It's really simple when you give away 560 million to the same people and you say you want us to swallow that and to swallow this. And I'm not against this. I'm not for it. The public votes on it and I go which way the public feels. That's the way it should be. That's what this country's based on. But in reviewing these things, to me it's really, something that you have to look and say, how come if you wanted that everybody else is doing so well, and let me go back to what you said earlier about your bonding issues. If we lose our bonding in some of these areas, which we probably will because the assets and the revenues to pay for them is a little less, if you lose anything, like the water department has only five water, departments in the United States of America have a AAA, 3A bond rating. Only five. And of all the bonding areas that are bonded out, there's only one city that does just a little wee better than the city of Tampa. That's Minneapolis, Minnesota. They're number one. And you can check everything I say. And Tampa, that we live in, proud of, is number two in the whole country. So what I'm saying is, and we're going to be criticized by someone, higher in office than we are, and punished, I guess. And I say that not because of the general public here, but the individuals who are doing this. without knowing what the ramifications really are. So it's going to be a test in history, I think. And the voter turnout, I hope there's a big turnout for that, and I hope there's a big turnout for that, and I hope they include the CIT tax money in that. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Okay. Yes, Council Member Maniscalco.

I just want to say thank you and to your team for all your hard work, and as always, your honesty and transparency.

That's it. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Council Member Carlson.

I'm looking for the page, but you said that the, I think it was the capital projects went from like 240 million down to 82 or something.

Yes, sir.

Did you list what the projects were that were taken out?

No, I have not in this presentation, but we can provide that.

Are there any of them that you could just write off on the top of your head?

under the general heading of fire assets, fire station, fire station, fire station. Again, the initial plan, over half of that $250-odd million was fire station assets, fleet, or fire fleet supply.

So then what happens, you know, we've been working really hard over the last eight years to replenish and increase the general fund reserve, which is one of the main reasons why the the bond ratings have gone up. So if what happens the day after the election if that amendment does not go through would the excess go into the general fund to be like a rainy day fund or would the administration come back right away and say okay we've got this list of projects we want to fund?

The latter. We will come back to city council with the apportionment that we're setting aside in fund balance and with whatever our fund balance this year end will be.

Is it possible, and we can make a motion on this later, but is it possible just to have you all, maybe your department, with the mayor's approval, send a memo to us to say if it doesn't pass, this is what we would fund? I think it would be helpful as folks in the community are asking us questions so we can say, yeah, we've held these projects back, but if you vote no, then here are the projects that we funded, and then the public can make their decision.

Would you like to make a motion to that effect? I'll second it.

How long would it take you to do that? Just the memo? I'd like to make a motion to ask the CFO's office, with the permission of the administration, to send a memo to City Council.

With the list of set-asides?

Yes, with the list of projects that would be funded if the amendment fails.

So I have a motion and a second. However, I would like to make a friendly amendment that includes just all the departments. What every department set aside would be, not just projects. If that's okay with the motion maker.

I'll second the second. Might I make a suggestion? There's going to be a couple of things that will be in play. First, of course, if the referendum doesn't pass, we'll have what's in the unassigned fund balance. And by the time the referendum does or does not pass, we'll be closing the books for the current year. So there will be an amount carried forward. Again, I recall the process this year. We came to city council, I think it was in January, with the itemization of not only what was available above the 23%, the 23%, that is always our goal, and then the mayor's recommendations for those particular allocations. Things like we will continue to be obligated for as we go into next year.

I don't think that's his question.

Oh, I'm sorry. Am I going off on a tangent?

I appreciate that transparency, but you don't have an objection to the motion, right?

I do not.

Did we get a second or not?

Yes, Councilman Vieira. So this was just a motion, and do you have a date with which you'd like that to be in our inbox? What are you referring to?

I think we can do it in a couple weeks. I guess if I may, I don't know that we'll have enough detail to identify Department A. This is what they'll get. Department B.

No, we're not asking what they'll get. We're asking what's been withheld.

I apologize. I misunderstand.

Yes. We're asking for what's been withheld from each department.

Understood.

um is it possible just to put it as so the motion is to to ask cfo's office with the with the permission of the administration to um i would ask for maybe a written report to be put to be added maybe to the august 27th agenda just so the public can see it also we can do that too to include a list of the projects across the departments, capital projects and across the departments that have been withheld to, that could be funded if the property tax amendment fails. MR.

Copy. MS. Could I make a friendly amendment that we do have three workshops coming up and maybe could you just bring those with each workshop?

MR. Can I commit to trying?

One of them is on Monday.

Well, that's the enterprise funds.

Okay, those, yeah, we have, yes, yes. Which probably won't happen. Probably be inapplicable to the enterprise.

Correct. So why don't we say that it will be a written report for the 27th of August, but if you have information earlier, you can send it out. But the only reason I put it on the 27th is so the public can read it if they missed it for some reason. It won't take up staff time.

Okay, so I have a motion from Council Member Carlson, a second from Council Member Vieira. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

Can I ask one more question? Mr. Vieira, you... Tonight's smoke. Mr. Vieira, you talked about the 23% just now. As I recall, it's your projection, even with the cutbacks, is now 25%. Yes. Is that because you're recommending... You know, we talked about last year that... The bond rating agencies originally wanted us to keep at least 20%, but now that we've been more aggressive and intentionally kept 23%, that that's more like the floor. It's becoming the floor. Did you put 25% because the 2% extra would be the rainy day fund because the bond ratings expect 23%, or is that in there for negotiating with council?

No, exactly as you described, the rainy day apportionment.

wait above the 23 waiting and see what happens with the amendment yeah i think keeping 25 is really healthy and especially as the budget has been going up and so it's good to thank you that's a that is an example of great partnership between the city council agreed thank you sir okay thank you um councilman vieira thank you uh madame chair thank you for that presentation mr rojero and

You know, we'd all be remiss if we didn't say this is the last budget presentation with the administration. So just for sentimental reasons, I guess, if you will. But, you know, and I'm glad that you're talking about the repercussions, obviously, of this proposed tax amendment, which I'll just be frank, how anybody could vote for it and think it's the right thing to do is beyond me. You have our United States Senator Rick Scott, who supports it, but has said he's worried about the effects on police and fire. You have folks like our governor saying, okay, we support it, but it's not quite what we wanted, and pretty much saying that it was kind of rushed. I don't want to put words in anybody's mouth, but clearly it was rushed. We have our police and fire unions coming out and opposing it all over the state of Florida for the reasons you just talked about, which is this cut is gonna be devastating to police and fire services here in the city of Tampa and here throughout our state of Florida, especially for those smaller counties, for a lot of rural counties. And it's going to be terrible. And as former State Senator Jeff Brandes says, a Republican, it's not as much a tax cut as it is a tax shift, because you're going to see a higher sales tax. You're going to see other fees generated, other things that can be generated to collect that revenue. So it's going to be a short-term cut to public safety. And then local governments are probably going to get higher sales taxes and different things like that, which are very regressive and hit working families a lot harder than I suggest then Then the property taxes, I've always taken an amended approach, which is to double the exemption over 3 to 5 years, which I think is warranted. I have no problem with that. And correct me if I'm wrong. Please correct me if I'm wrong. When it comes to this, doesn't it give the legislature the right if it passes to be able to essentially get rid of property taxes after that? Correct? It goes up to the.

I do not know that. I know it has been discussed. I don't know that this particular legislation has that.

Okay, thank you. But, yeah, no, to me it's a terrible, ideologically indulgent idea that has been questioned by or condemned by a lot of folks on the Republican side because you're entitled to your own opinions but not to your own facts. And the facts on this on public safety are that it's going to be devastating. But thank you, Madam Chair.

Yes.

Madam Chair, thank you. I just wanted to support Councilman Vieira's comments real quick. In 40 years of public safety service and law enforcement, the one thing that seems to be elusive a little bit, besides police and fire on the front lines, is our Parks and Rec program. Those are the preventative models that help. You saw what happens when police and fire engage with Parks and Rec in the community, and it's a big prevention model. the factors that aggregate in this are just exponential. So I just didn't want to leave them out either because that is really where it all begins in our prevention model. Thank you.

Thank you so much. um well kind of to echo some of the other council members um one thank you great presentation i remember when it first started uh mr o'hara you sat down with me and we met and went through you know everything um city budgets i appreciate that especially preparing for this time i think also while it may have been a little bit somber it's the truth and i think it's important for us you know to be really transparent with the public about what this could potentially mean and thank you chief bennett for bringing up parks and rec because as you know i'm a huge advocate for anything parks and rec you know the opportunity that it provides for our youth and so what can happen if we don't have the funds so that we can continue to fund our parks and recs i think is really important so bringing it to the public and really understanding what this could mean for us you know what it can mean for us you know on on this day is making decisions so just thank you it's great presentation

Thank you, ma'am. Very kind.

Sad, but it's the truth. So thank you.

Thank you so much. So I just have a couple of quick questions. I noticed under your major projects with the CIT renewal, the only park and rec one you mentioned was the Yellow Jackets improvements. And we do have a couple of other park improvements. But my question really is, are you looking then at reducing the planned CIT projects

We are not. One of the reasons the yellow jacket is on there is because we have a contract. And again, as we've discussed and I'm sure we'll discuss even more, the community investment tax renewal is tied up with the baseball and development discussions.

So it's basically leading to my other question, which is, do you have a set vision for what will be taken out of the CIT budget to fund the potential baseball stadium?

Not a set vision at this time. We have a number of scenarios. And if I can recap, the latest discussions mirror the nonbinding MOU, $80 million over the first four years of the community investment tax. In the first year, fiscal year 27, it's only a partial year. So, for example, we anticipate getting about $35 million. In the next year, a full year, maybe $40 to $43 million. Well, obviously, that's not going to be enough for our plan and $20 million, $20 million, $20 million, $20 million. In a nutshell, the commitment is accelerated from a 15-year time period to a four-year time period. And so now segue into your question. That will require deferring some projects in the initial plan or financing the capacity over that 15 years somehow, whether it's a line of credit, you know, an interdepartmental loan, because while we've got almost $800 million of capacity, it all doesn't come in at once. And it's subdivided with transportation, subdivided with public safety facilities, and of course subdivided with public facilities associated with sports teams. that particular amount is $165 million. So I guess that's a long-winded way of saying we're entertaining a number of scenarios how to accommodate that request.

But by and large, we would simply have to cut some of these CIT projects for this fiscal year.

Yes, in the short term, we'd have to...

So I'm just going to read just a few things. Jackson Heights security upgrades, playground resurfacing, Gadsden Park improvement, Burrell Park renovation, Yellow Jackets improvement, this MacDill Air Force access improvement, public safety communications, public safety vehicle replacement, and TPD headquarters upgrades. So that is what is on the list for possibly to be chopped by $10 million.

Or deferred, again.

Well, either way, deferring is moving for at least four years. Okay, thank you so much. I appreciate the answer.

Thank you again, John Bennett, Chief of Staff. I just wanted to augment when the word ballpark came up. From day one in May when I was in here, we talked about do no harm and be a good neighbor to our other venues. That's obviously strengthened under this discussion to a point that we really are still in just discussions and feasibility analysis. I wouldn't even call it negotiations at this point. So we're very, very guarded in what we're doing based on everything that the CFO has explained already. And there's still a lot of work to be done. But when it comes to this CIT and what it needs to do to help support whatever our changes are in our overall system of tax dollars is high on our list. So thank you.

Thank you so much. Again, thank you for your presentation. We really appreciate it. It's a great way to start out our Thursday, sobering or not. We are ready to and we look forward to seeing you on Monday. Again, we have our list of different workshops. The first one will be this Monday at 9 a.m. focusing on our excuse me our enterprise funds uh the next monday will also be at 9 00 a.m and that's going to be focusing on storm water and mobility and then the last one will be monday evening the 17th focused on general fund so that will be capital for both and and operating so again thank you so much look forward um you know public mark your calendars thank you thank you welcome show up we will have public comment so thank you so much okay will give a moment because i know a couple of folks need to leave uh thank you so much for our staff for for being here and now we are heading straight to public comment um we had that 10 30 which do you want to do that before after a couple of comments um so uh mr shelby

not going to ask for any action to be taken i don't believe so no i i just don't know if the contractor's waiting i i don't know um can you find out if the contractor's waiting and that would be great and we'll start public comment and then we'll we'll be able to go before you leave you know that when we delay the public always complains because they're paying for parking so if they if they can wait a little while yeah that would be wonderful not make the public paper i'll get my

That would be great. Thank you so much. So we are going to go ahead and start with our in-person folks today because they have been waiting for so long. So our first public commenters today, again, that are on agenda topics are Reva Inman, then Abby Ahern, and Michelle Mastratataro.

Good morning. Good morning. Nice to see you all again. I am Reva Eyman, and I am here to speak on the project of the Army-Navy Deliverment, which I'm in favor of. I had the opportunity to sit on a committee once some years back of some prominent deliverers that was going to do a project, and I did my very good research on every last one of those companies that was thinking about building, um, company choice right now. Um, who was also doing Ropers. It's something not just about building with this company. It's more about building what love with this company. You take a 445 unit and make it triple and to come and say, The RSP is 800 units to make it 1,150 units. It's awesome. Workforce development. Here we got police officers, firefighters, teachers, underpaid, most of them can't afford homes. So this is an opportunity for those individuals to have a prime area right down on Tampa Street where they can go to work and come to somewhere nice, comfortable, that will fit their budgets. Because the budgets they are under right now, it's hard for everyone. Even myself as an individual. The homes now coming up now, y'all throwing them everywhere, especially in East Tampa, 500, 600,000, 400,000. Really? What do you consider... The average person can pay for these. So these apartments would be great for the average person. Workforce, I have to stress it because, like I say, police officers, firefighters, teachers. For peanut celery, which needs to be increased for the work that they're doing in our community. Yet these apartments would be a great opportunity for them within their salary budget and everything else. And with this company, I found that I've not seen one level company that has chose to triple or double the units for affordable housing in the city of Tampa. Not one. That it's a win-win situation for everyone. So I wish you all take their consideration for the individuals that I'm speaking about and approve this. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next is Abby Ahern. No, I'm sorry, we don't do clapping here. Sorry, we can't do that. Michelle Mastratataro and then Stephanie Pointer.

Good morning. I've seen you all so many times and I still get the butterflies, so bear with me. I am Abby Ahern with Doering Ahern. My office building is located at 1110 North Florida. It's the corner of Franklin and Fortune. were directly adjacent to this site. So I've been watching it very closely over the years. We also started a neighborhood association for commercial property owners 20 years ago that focused on this part of downtown. So it's definitely been near and dear to my heart. As a small business owner and working in commercial real estate for 21 years or so, I'm here to support item number 40, the redevelopment of Army-Navy site. I've had the opportunity to hear directly from the development team and become familiar with the project. I believe this is the right project for the site and will bring much needed housing to downtown. Just what we've all been asking for for the last several years. So thank you for pushing this agenda item. I have confidence in both the team and their ability to deliver. I believe this project will be a positive addition for downtown and I respectfully encourage you to support it. I will say, unaffiliated to PMG, I was able to attend the voting process and sit in on those meetings. I scored them. I watched what the other judges scored them. And PMG did the best and were the most qualified out of the four groups. And I'm happy to answer any questions or whatever you need. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Michelle Mastro-Tataro followed by Stephanie Poynter followed by Valerie Bullock.

Good morning. My name is Michelle Mastro-Tataro. I came on Agenda 14 and 15 about grants. I really need help in regards to Tappan Track Park. It's becoming deplorable. I've been begging for a solution. I'm just gonna start off with this, if they can see that. I don't know if anybody can see the date on that. So that's my home. And if you see the circle, that's my house. There's only three. We were part of the railroad, if you guys know anything about Port Tampa. So it's very historical. The road is historical too. So when the overdevelopment happened, it took a real toll on the area. As you see, that was Tappan Track Park before apartments. That was before everything started happening. So this is my system. I work on a gravity. I can't get the water out. The water does not. So this is my house. The water has to go across Tappan Track Park and along the trenches. I begged George Cox to help clean this. George Cox told me yes, yes, yes. When I called Tallahassee, Tallahassee tells me he's not even put an application in to even help address the situation. So where are we standing with Tapping Track Park? It's getting neglected. And we're over here. This is his design on South Cheryl Street. It goes straight right out. Ours has to literally go across the park, which is ruining it, and along the trenches out to an outflow to out here. So that used to be... And I'm going to show you what it looks like now. So our water... Can't hold, it stays. So we have these huge mosquitoes. It looks disgusting. But George Cox's area, it's empty. If you can see how it's all empty. So half of the road, Lancaster, that way McCoy, all empty. Our system, filled. We can't get our water out. The water just stays stagnant. So we're at the point of sinkholes. I have a sinkhole right in front of my house. Our water just stays. This is a sinkhole right here. was an eight foot sinkhole my house it's going down it's dipping i have to get water out there again to refill the tapping track park if you see look at this we need can we get a grant can we make something happen for tapping track park it used to be beautiful look look at that that was yesterday That park was beautiful and green. It never, never, it's from all the erosion, from the hurricanes, the water got altered. Now it's coming right in front of my house, and I'm getting these whole pockets of puddles. And being, if you think about my home, it's over 100 and something years old. We need help. Can they figure something out? Thank you so much.

Thank you. Stephanie Poynter, followed by Valerie Bullock, followed by Tara Bluma.

Good morning. A long time. No. See, I didn't realize last time I was here was my birthday. Um, so, uh, let's start with, I don't have a problem with the army Navy, uh, development. But I do have a problem with it not coming to council if they need to push it back, because it should come to council every single time. And Rome Yard is the perfect example. This is 2025. They hadn't even started. It was approved the same time as Hannah Street, and yet it sat dormant for years. Council needs to be reviewing that, not staff. Here's another picture and another picture and another picture. Very impressed with the mayor giving you guys kudos. during her speech for making prudent decisions with money. I appreciate that a lot. I want to talk for just a minute about the elephant who's trampling over or trying damn hard to trample over the city of Tampa and the decision makers. This is where the money should be going that they want you to put in their pockets. They want us as citizens of the city of Tampa to delay sidewalks, bridge repairs, traffic signal replacement, intersection safety, police vehicles, fire vehicles, parks maintenance, and additional stormwater work. This is where the money should go that the Tampa Bay Rays think that they need. These are all essential services. So, I mean, I haven't been here to complain about them. And I told Mr. Babby this a month ago, two months ago, April, whenever. And I told him then, what are we supposed to do without in order to give you what you want? And I just don't see it. So in the budget presentation, since I have time, 8,300 units. of affordable housing, where are they? What percentage AMI? Where is the list? I don't want to hear 8,300 and we just sprinkle it wherever we want. I want to see where they're built, what AMI they are, how many, how long, are they all done? I mean, Rome Yard is not done. Is that included in the number or not? I also 23,000 homes since 2019. Guess what? 7800 of them are south of Gandy, west of Dale Mabry. That's almost a third of what this city has taken in. They've put in South Tampa with the knowing full good and well, we're in the coastal high hazard. We took on more flooding than any place else in the city during the hurricanes. The AMI increase. Oh, wait. I saw that 24.5 million in increases in salary. That's almost $5,000 a person. That's almost $5,000 per person in the city of Tampa. That's a lot of money. I'm sure some of them are more and less, but that's only, that's about half of what the mayor wanted when the millage increase was proposed. Just saying. That's my math. Thank you so much.

Valerie Bullock, followed by Tara Bluma, and then Kenneth Stewart.

Hi, Valerie Bullock. I'm going to hit on the budget first. I heard the man up here talking, and one thing that's not going to change, his pay not going to change. No matter if the budget, if the taxes get approved or not approved, his budget will not change. And we have so much frivolous spending in the city of Tampa. When a police officer can retire one day and get his pension and come back next week for a job that pays $200,000, we really shouldn't be worried about money if we're going to throw it away like that. Whether the tax, the homestead exemption pass or not, if the city of Tampa tighten up on their budget, we still would be able to have essential positions filled and we still would be able to have the parks open, the roads fixed, storm water and all of that. I hate when somebody come trying to push fear on me. It reminds me of a scam with the scare tactics. Oh, this is going to happen. That's going to happen. The police, nothing's going to happen to the police department. They get 60% of the budget. So nothing is going to happen to them. Now let me talk about what I come down here to talk about. Number 11, number three, that's Miss Hazel House, 2208 East 26th Avenue. And the back story is she was in the rehab and the city of Tampa quickly pushed, allegedly, push the paperwork through so that her house could be demolished. And right now, it's tied up before it goes into litigation. And I really don't think she should be paying this demolished fee, the fee for demolishing the house, because during when they demolished the house, someone was in the process of making the house livable again. So I definitely don't think she need to be paying for that. And I also want to talk about 37 and 38. I'm not a lawyer, but 37 and 38 for the infield lots, I was told that it's a lottery. They pull your name and you get an infield lot. Well, right here, Florida Mortgage Holding, LLC, they sure winning the lottery a lot. This look like for profit as they got. And the in-field houses was designed to be affordable and you sell them to the people. Now they're in the rent business. And it shouldn't be like that.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Next is Tara Bluma followed by Kenneth Stewart and Keith Greminger.

Good morning. I'm Tara Bluma. I'm here to talk about the Tremendous Tree Program. Last month, you all had a contract in front of you to approve the purchase of the trees for the next 12 months. You got hung up on where should we plant the trees? Should we ban type three trees? Should we limit the amount? The contract ultimately did not get approved, has not been approved yet. So they still need trees. What my suggestion is is that you approve the contract for the same price, but you only purchase type one and type two trees. This made some council members anxious because they didn't want to ban type three trees forever. I want to reiterate that this is a 12 month contract. Doing so would only make type three trees not available through one of many programs that the city has for 12 months. There's a wait list for this project, a very long wait list. Start at the top and go down all the people who want type one and type two trees And you will use all of the money and have planted all of the trees. And then next year, you can reevaluate the percentages. Because I hope that you saw the report that was submitted this week. Since its inception, 73% of the trees that have been planted through the Tremendous Tree Program have been type three trees. You all are okay with some type three trees, so am I. They're good. 73%, though, the arguments that they made are that there's overhead power lines or underground utilities or not enough space. However, I have been coming before you for almost one year trying to get 10 live oaks planted at West Shore Elementary School. It is a Title I school. There is no overhead power lines. There are no underground utilities. There is over plenty of space, yet there are no trees. So I have little sympathy for the argument that we cannot find places to plant trees. They do need the money. So please approve the contract and just say only type one and type two for this year.

Thank you. Thank you so very much. Next, Kenneth Stewart, followed by Keith Greminger. And then we are going to our off-agenda items with Kalia Ross.

Hello. My name is Kenneth Stewart. I'm the owner of Integrated Security Consultants here in Tampa. We do low-voltage security work. I'm also the pastor of Hope Church on Tampa Street near downtown. I'm here to speak on item number 40, which is the Army-Navy redevelopment. Two reasons I'm very passionate about this. Number one, they say you only get one chance to make a first impression and come into downtown Tampa. I love the redevelopment we've done in downtown Tampa. I'm tired of saying Tampa is the next great city. We just need to be the great city, not just a future, but an army Navy sites. One of the few sites, your first time coming to Tampa, still a blight downtown and the team that's behind this, I think will improve that. So people come into downtown, we'll have a better experience coming to Tampa from a personal point of view. For my company, the business is 2008. And Ducon Construction, who's one of the lead contractors on this project, has been a partner from day one. And it wasn't for Ducon, to be quite frank. I don't know if we'd still be in business. And secondly, PMG, we're partnering with them on other projects. I've seen that same commitment to local business and community. What it means to me personally, in 2023, we were looking for an 8,000 square foot building to purchase. I told my realtor one rule. It had to be in a disadvantaged part of town. We didn't look at any buildings outside of where we feel disadvantaged. We bought a building on 40th Street, 8406 North 40th, close to Bush Boulevard. I have employees that walk and bike to work. We did that very intentionally. We're very involved in the community. We're going to Charlotte Elementary this Sunday. We're giving away about 150 pair. of tennis shoes for the kids there, very disadvantaged school. So a project like this allows me to invest back in the community. So I'm passionate about it, number one, because Ducon has proven to me they're a great partner to the community. They give small businesses like me when I first started in 2008, one of our first major jobs at Love First Christian Church, No one else would have given us that chance. And over the years, they brought us in on multifamily housing. They brought us in on other projects. We went to City of Tampa projects that another contractor would not have done. I've seen the same thing with PMG. Even on projects that would expand or stretch our bonding and credit capabilities, they're committed to helping small businesses be a part of winning in the communities. I'm here to Propose you, first of all, I think looking at the proposal that there will be a positive for all the community to have the gateway to our city when the first time visitor comes to have a new development with housing, retail development. It would just make our city look better. And secondly, I'm asking you, I am not the only small business, minority business will benefit from this project. We'd appreciate your approval.

Thank you so very much. Keith Greminger, followed by Kalia Ross and Dominique Cobb.

Good morning, Council. Keith Grimminger, Grimminger Urban Design, 711 South Fielding Avenue here in Tampa. I'm here to speak on item 40, the Army-Navy site. I have a role with the team for urban design master planning, community development, placemaking. This is an important, critical project, especially as we coordinate with the Connecting Communities grant that was granted for the Ashley Street Boulevard and bringing that ramp down to grade at Harrison Street and then reconnecting Royal and Fortune and Laurel. Amazing project that has the opportunity to be a catalyst for the North End Vision Framework Plan that the Downtown Partnership has put together, working together with the city. This is a huge step forward to the North End redevelopment. And as the gentleman mentioned earlier, it is the visual entrance into the city. And what PMG and their team can bring to the table, I believe, is going to be catalytic for getting that North End started all the way through the North End over to Encore and actually bringing development like Gasworks and that connectivity over to the Riverwalk. So that east-west connection is gonna be a major aspect of the North End initiated by this project. Development of the public realm, great public streets, access to activity of retail on the ground floor. So I urge you to support that project's redevelopment. Thank you.

Thank you so very much. Kalila Ross? Kalia, sorry. Clear off, okay. Dominique Cobb, followed by Azika Harper and Connie Burton.

Greetings, council. Today, my name is Dominique Cobb. I am the project manager for the Tampa Junior Civic Association, and I am the facilitator for the Flowers Program. Since its inception, we have had the privilege of working with many different partners. In the last seven months since we have been in East Tampa, we have had the pleasure to work with the Hillsborough County School District, USF Anthropology, USF Health, also USF CROC, College Reach Out Program. The reason why we're here today is In my culture, we say that water has no enemies. Water is essential for life. A few of the things that we have heard since we have been patiently waiting is water is intricate in every part of our lives. FLOWER stands for Future Leaders of Water, Engineering, research and science. Over the summer months and also our second cohort, we have had the pleasure of working with different companies that reside not only in Tampa, but throughout the county and in Florida. And one of the big things that we have talked about is not only generational learning, but also career pathways. We have had the pleasure of working with the county. We have had the pleasures of working with Black and Marine Science, BIMS. This is the study of water. We know that everyday water is essential when we use the water to brush our teeth. City workers, making sure that we have Clean water, drinking water, wastewater. We have had the pleasure since March 28th, we had Career Day. This was located in East Tampa at Robert Cole Pond. This is the first of its many programs. We had the pleasure of working with City of Tampa Parks and Rec. Councilwoman Nya Young, and other important, intricate parts in the city of Tampa. I wanna briefly show you some of the projects that we have. Come on, Kalia. Hopefully we don't run out of time. But some of the projects that we've worked on, we know that in our culture, sometimes reading isn't always the best thing. We learn hands on. So through arts, through music, through, again, cultural events, we provide opportunities for our students. So next we are going to have Hezekiah Harper speak briefly. Yes, well, he'll get his own three minutes. He has a whole, yeah. Okay, so since I have a few more seconds, Maya, do you want to tell a bit about your project? No. Okay, Kalia. And you can say your name.

My name is Kalia Ross, and I'll be showing you a project that I did about the coral reef and... This is a rock coral. Rock coral is like a big coral, but like, it's like, it's not, it's also, it's another coral that's called brain coral, but they're kind of similar, but it's that brain coral has lines, and it looks like a brain, and rock coral is like a little bit spiky, and it's like rock shape.

Thank you so much. That is wonderful. I appreciate it. I think we can applaud for that. So Hezekiah, so all you need to do is start with your name and you can share yours as well.

Hi, my name is Hezekiah Harper and as one of the students of the Flowers, we've learned about water and how water can help us do many things and like how different pipes at the water facility means like purple is the polluted water. Blue is a good drinking water. And I want to recognize Ms. Cobb and Mr. Daniel, who is in here today, and Mr. Moore for helping us with the PLOS program.

Wonderful. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you all so much for sharing.

Okay. And just to conclude. Flowers was birthed out of community partnerships. Over the last seven months, we have had over 1,200 engagements, whether it ranges from media to our in-person. We have had over 11 collaborations from school, higher education, and I want to thank the community because this started as just a conversation. It started as a conversation. I'm sorry. It started over a conversation of water. Why is it that our community has to have to fight for clean water? So my response is start with the youth. With career paths, you don't understand how you can inspire someone. And remember, all of these seeds, They change, but one thing about it is the community stays the same when people leave and when they go. So when you make these budgets, I want you to not only think about salaries, I don't want you to think about buildings, I want you to think about bodies and how it's important for us to leave legacies afterwards. Thank you for the time, and I hope you all connect with flowers. Have a good day. Thank you very much.

Connie Burton, followed by Chagret Doss.

Good morning, Connie Burton. Listening to that budget, it sounded almost like being at a morgue. We headed to a disaster, to a funeral. And one thing that drew me to it is that there's not enough voter engagement that's going on. because some people don't even know what is really happening because they don't see after they're voting what is the benefit to their community or to their personal lives. All you got to do is look at your own past election and see how many people actually participate. And so if you're needing the people, the community to participate, then we need to say on the front end this time that if you get out and participate to vote, then maybe these are the things that could happen or should happen for your community. If not, then we should just buckle up and get ready. I'm very concerned about item 3738. If we have to start off our presentation talking about firefighters and other professionals needing affordable housing, then what happens to real working class people? People that's working in the factory. That woman that work at Burger King that would like to see an uplift for her and her family, but she can't get to the 80% AMI because she don't qualify. All of this stuff that you're building downtown is pretty. But when I come through here just to drive through, you know what this city is beginning to look like to me? A resegregation based on those who can afford to live here. People that can afford to live downtown is not normal working class people. It's almost being sanitized by those who can push their strollers, walk their dogs, and have the great comfort of living, walking together. Living, walking, working, however those little phrases go. You got to get creative. Here, with the new 21st Century Housing Act, get in front of it. Come up with some creative ideas. How different housing solutions can benefit inside of these infield lots that is being given away to these nonprofits. And you know what the nonprofits are beginning to look like? Century 21. You know why? Because then they come back with a price tag, and we're thinking that, damn, that's in our community. But you know what? We can't touch it because we can't afford it. This might be some of your last rodeo, hopefully, whatever your political ambitions are. I hope it don't be because you saw beautiful, shiny buildings, and that's what made Tampa great, instead of how it improved the quality of life. Let's start from the bottom, reaching up. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Chagret Doss. And that will be our last public in-person comment.

Good morning. I'm Chagret Doss. I have to use my notes today. I don't typically have to do that. But I hope this is my final request from the listening audience to talk about child support. And I'm going to blend my story in with it. I had a question as to what's the purpose of elected government officials beyond what the Constitution rules and laws articulate. And I ask because nothing is done to kind of halt the systemic abuses of guys suffering because of the child support system, especially in the state of Florida. And what you see on the screen is also what you all can see. You go to the last page, you're going to see an order. This is an order vacating void judgments and all derivative orders from a child support order I fought for 27 years, an improper order, by the way. And nothing became true on July 23rd that wasn't true for the 27 years that this thing was saddled on my back. But that's what happens when there's no government accountability. I know far too many men who have lost their licenses, their jobs, access to their children because of improper order. And most of them will never see an order like this. because they may lack the overall resources or what have you that I may have had at my disposal. And these guys talk to me, and some of them would love to come down here. They just don't have the time. What I would like to see is that everybody demand an audit of the Department of Revenue and the child support system. because these injustices have been going on for a long time. I know people think it's about guys obfuscating some sort of responsibility. It's not about that. We just want you to follow the rules. You know, another thing that a lot of guys don't have, and this might be a little surprising to people, they don't have a story of a Friday night down in Sarasota. We were playing Riverview when they were really good and they were really working our asses that night. And I was going to actually quit. I'd already joined the Army, so I was going to quit playing football that night. And when I was sitting on the sideline talking to a couple of my buddies, they said, man, I'm not going to do this. I'm going to go in the Army anyway. The winningest black football coach in Hillsborough County history, Darlene Nelson, was my head coach. But I was standing next to him, and Coach Hubb reached around him and said, Doss, get in the game. Something I hadn't been doing, and I do it now. I stay in the game. And he put me in the game, and I made plays. I actually won the Bay Area Sporting Good Player of the Week that night. And I stayed in this game for 27 years, and I know most guys just can't do it. But if I had an order that was void, not simply just set aside, avoid order for 27 years, how many other people have suffered injustices at the hands of the Department of Revenue because the people over there refuse to do what they are supposed to do as the law is written. They don't have what I have and what I stand on now and forever, a diploma from the greatest institution of higher learning in the city of Tampa, the University of Thomas Jefferson High School.

Thank you so very much. We're going to go to our online folks, and then I have a couple people who actually are filling out some cards. Michael Randolph? Are you still there?

Today's conversation.

Great. Can you start with your name, please?

Okay, thank you. My name is Michael Randolph, and I'm with the West Tampa CDC. Today's topic is what does Senate Bill 1134 mean for black businesses and non-profits in Hillsborough County? Senate Bill 1134 dramatically restructured how Temple certified in contact with minority owned businesses and community organizations. While it appears to modernize procurement, In practice, it's this symbol's system black-owned firms and non-profits have relied on for decades. This is not a technical update. It's a structural shift. The bill eliminates race-conscious contractor preference and former MBE firms into neutral SBE system where well-resourced companies can now compete for the same set of salaries The protection designed to address historical black inequalities are fastly erasing. Senate Bill 1134 also adds new reporting requirements and complaining audits that disproportionately burdens smaller organizations. Many black businesses and CDCs are losing contracts, not because of performance, but because of the paperwork that's overwhelming. We can combine with live act, live act, which redirect affordable housing funds towards market rate developers through statewide zoning presumption. The impact is awesome. Black CDC is a nonprofit that once relied on both contracting and access to community grants for housing faced the loss of two essential partners at the same time. The result is a shrinking economic landscape for the right organization that anchors Hillsborough County's most vulnerable community. In addition to that, the Romeo Project is proceeding accordingly. For those that's looking on the outside in, we're moving forward with one of the most important project for the West Tampa community. Now, if you want to resolve this issue related to Senate Bill 1134, vote, vote, vote. Thank you very much, and I appreciate you.

Thank you so much. We have Ernest Dubois, followed by Ernest Coney. Please start with your name. You have three minutes.

Thank you. My name is Ernest Dubois, Ernie, also known as Ernie Dubois. I am the humble servant CEO of both Ducon and Ducon Plumbing, Tampa, Ybor City-based businesses, corporate-based businesses. Mr. Stewart kind of messed up my opening. It was very humbling. I actually brought tears to my eyes in the back to hear a person, a grown man and someone that I respect say that I'm the reason for their business being not only in business but thriving. That is very humbling if you haven't started something and grown it from scratch and helped so many people. It is humbling to hear that. Not the first time I've heard it, but didn't ask him to speak today, but he chose to speak and say those words in favor of our project. First off, I come here, city of Tampa residents, they deserve an opportunity to have a quality improvement and development on the Army-Navy site, Royal Street site. 800 affordable units. I won't go into all the details of the RFP of our submission and awarding proposal. You all have that. But I will call out the highlight of 800 affordable units. Why is that important? We need to keep our talent here in Tampa, in Hillsborough County. I'm currently working with the University of South Florida on several initiatives to try to keep high school graduates here and then college graduates here. One of the best ways to do it is provide affordable housing. It also assists in transportation challenges, to allow people to afford to live in the city corridor obviously alleviates a lot of the transportation challenges that we have. The second reason I'm here is to speak for small and local businesses. We have in our commitment more than 16 SLBE, per the City of Tampa EBO SLBE. We shifted, we went to the current plan, we got rid of all the other stuff that we used to do, and we met the challenge of SL, small and local business enterprises, in our proposal to the tune of more than 16. I say more than 16 because 16 is the only ones that we've committed. We've since then, since we won the project, have signed up even more SLBEs to be on this project. Speaking of the dollars, that's over $90 million committed in writing to the city of Tampa by LOIs that we will complete. We will execute. It's not a bait and switch or any of that stuff. And so that's a commitment to small businesses. We can stimulate our own economy here based on this project in the city of Tampa. Is that time? You've got 30 seconds. All right. So let me try to be swift. I don't do this often. So we give back. Also, that's not just for us to grow, but those businesses give back. This project affects the families of those businesses also. And then third and lastly, I'm here selfishly. As selected as the prime general contractor for PMG on this project, it is an opportunity that I cannot I don't know anybody in the country that can really understand what that means. Not only that, we're also a development equity partner on this deal. That is unheard of on a half a billion dollar deal for a small local business enterprise based right here in Tampa to be an equity partner.

Thank you so much.

So I'll close. Thank you.

Yes. Our last speaker, Ernest Coney Jr.

Good morning, Ernest Coney, Jr., with the CDC of Tampa. I just want to speak on the Army-Navy project. Buona is a longtime resident of Tampa. I remember going to the site and buying stuff and all this stuff, but really to know what it can mean for the community now. When I think about the need, there was a recent article which talked about Tampa having the highest number of high-priced homes outpacing Miami, which means that there is a precedent happening And projects like this are greatly needed that bring affordable housing. I also sit on the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee. We understand the need. I've also sat on the Affordable Housing Committee that helped shape the Transforming Tampa's Tomorrow that came out with that 10,000 unit goal. This project will help the city of Tampa to achieve its goals. The second part is around the partnerships. You have the Housing Authority, you have PMG, you have Ducon. Each one of these groups is strong on their own, but coming together collectively is even more impressive. And the last thing I'll talk about are the benefits. I know personally when PMG was selected to do ROBLs, they went out into the community. They talked to partners. They had a lot of conversations. And we all know that that also had a lot of challenges with the graveyard being there. They stuck with the project they didn't run. They made sure that the public was really represented. And when you think about Ernie DuBose being a GC, I've also sat on the city's small business advisory committee. One of our greatest issues, we had no local primes born here, raised here. And I don't want to talk about anything else, because you understand what I'm saying. But he's a small business that was born here and raised here. This is unprecedented. And we also work with them on the workforce side, both the Housing Authority, PMG, and DUCON. So they do the right thing, the workforce side of it. He mentioned the small business. The reason why I talk about the workforce side is not everyone has a small business. Oftentimes we have residents who need jobs. This will provide opportunities for residents to get jobs. We had these young folks come up and talk about STEM. This opportunity will provide Um, summer internships, we partnered with USF. We have a vocational school. So collectively this group is the right group. The time is now the need is not to having this project completed and all of us celebrating at the end. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Um, that concludes public comment for the day for today. Now we have, um, I'm sorry. Uh, yes.

just um just based on public comment i would recommend that we pull items 11 37 and 38 just so staff can explain for separate votes yeah just and maybe maybe give staff because the concerns raised maybe give staff a chance to explain okay so i have item 11 pulled for discussion and what other items 37 and 38.

37 and 38 are part of our um infill lot they those um there was just a there was just a question about how how the company was chosen it would give the staff a chance to respond to it sure not a problem so i have a motion to add both 11 37 and 38 for to items moved from consent agenda all in favor aye any opposed okay may i say one more thing um

I think there are a bunch of people in the audience who are interested in affordable housing. If you Google Tampa CRA housing, we also sit as a CRA. There's millions of dollars stuck in various CRA buckets where the CRA staff and city staff have been unable to find developers to invest in. And so if you all are really passionate about Anybody here who's really passionate about housing, please look at our CRA website and try to help us find projects and give them to the CRA staff so we can move those monies forward and invest in the community. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Okay. So we have our sort of clerk here to Ms. Shirley Fox Knowles to talk about our board and administration appointments this morning.

And if I may be named after this, may we do that?

Okay. Thank you.

Good morning. Good morning. Honorable Chair Pro Tem Lynn Hurtak and council members. I'm before you, Shirley Fox knows city clerk. I am before you to present Monica Alesnik, a candidate for the public policy member position on the ARC. Hi.

Thank you so much. If you could just start with your name, you'll have three minutes.

Yes, ma'am. So good morning, everyone. My name is Dr. Monica Lesnick, and I'm a very proud resident of Seminole Heights. Thank you for the opportunity to be considered for the Architectural Review Commission, specifically the public policy seat. Tampa is my first home. Although my early career and my early life have taken me across the country, This city has always been where my heart is. A few years ago, I made the decision to return to this place to care for my parents in their final years. And that experience only strengthened my commitment to serving the community that has given me so much. I've dedicated my career to public service, higher education, nonprofit leadership, and community development. Today, I serve as the coordinator of leadership and competency development and adjunct faculty at the University of Tampa where I help prepare students to become engaged citizens, future leaders, and hopefully take on seats that you're all sitting in right now. Previously, I have led nonprofit organizations, worked in higher education administration, and partnered with local governments, businesses, and community organizations to strengthen neighborhoods, expand opportunity, and create meaningful community impact. As a first-generation college graduate who earned both my bachelor's and doctoral degrees, from the University of South Florida, I've always believed that leadership is about service. And throughout my career, I have brought a myriad of people together, built consensus, and made thoughtful, evidence-based decisions that balance today's needs with tomorrow's opportunities. What has drawn me to this opportunity and has drawn me to public service throughout my career is my deep love for the city of Tampa. I want to help ensure that our city continues to grow, but also grow thoughtfully. That we preserve the unique character of our neighborhoods while embracing opportunities that strengthen our future. Tampa's rich history, diverse cultures, and distinctive architecture are part of what makes this city so special, and I believe those decisions and qualities should continue to guide the decisions we make today. I am particularly interested in serving in the public policy seat because I enjoy evaluating issues from multiple perspectives, asking thoughtful questions, and helping develop broader solutions that serve the broader community. My doctoral dissertation focused on public policy analysis, And my experience in strategic planning, governance, research, and stakeholder engagement has prepared me to make and to contribute in a collaborative, fair, and forward-thinking way. I believe the decisions we make today will shape the Tampa that future generations will inherit. I want to help ensure that our city continues to grow, continues to thrive, and continues to represent all that is good and beautiful about our community, our people, our neighborhoods, our culture, and the architectural character that makes Tampa so special. So in closing, I want to sincerely thank each of you for your service to our city, for the time and care you take into these appointments. It would be an honor and a true privilege to serve the residents of Tampa on the Architectural Review Commission. Thank you for your consideration, and I hope I have the opportunity to contribute to a future that honors Tampa's past while thoughtfully shaping what comes next. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Yes, I have Council Member Maniscalco.

Move to appoint the applicant for Mr. Shelby to come back with the resolution.

Okay, I have a motion from... Well, let's do one at a time. So I have a motion from Council Member Maniscalco to approve... Yes, the petitioner. I'm sorry.

Monica. It's okay. Monica Lesnick. Thank you.

Monica Lesnick. And I have a second from Council Member Vieira. All in favor? Aye. And then so we have a resolution. So I have a second, I have a motion to move the resolution for Monica from, um, council member Maniscalco and a second from councilman Vieira, all those in favor. I congratulations. And we are very excited to have you and your passion and your experience serving on this very important board from one Seminole Heights resident to another. Thank you. Congratulations.

Thank you so much. Appreciate you all.

okay and then we have yet one more um uh resolution to approve for mr jerry hosey for the historic preservation yes this ratifies what has been previously done we voted on this two weeks ago okay so i have a motion from um council member i'm sorry i didn't was that Yeah, councilmember Maniscalco a second from councilman Vieira to move the resolution for item number six all those in favor aye Any opposed? Thank you so much Do we have a request by the any member of the public for a reconsideration of a legislative matter? Okay, thank you. Okay, it does not seem like we do so. So we are moving on to, yes.

Yes, ma'am, may I proceed? Yes, go right ahead. Do we have this gentleman here with the contractor ready to speak? It appears so.

Okay, wonderful. So this is item number 55, I believe? Yes, ma'am. Okay.

Okay, sir, are you appearing virtually or just? Okay, there he is.

Oh, there he is.

Good to see you, sir. How are you doing?

Please unmute yourself. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. So good to see you again, sir. So we have this set just for an update for council and for the public on the status of the cut through into K-Bar Ranch. You and your company have been so accessible and great to work with on this. So just briefly, and how long do you think you'll need, if I may ask? Two minutes, I assume it's not? No more than that. Okay, great. Go ahead.

We'll set four for fun. Thank you, ma'am.

Perfect. I'm here to provide a quick update on the K-Bar Ranch.

Please start with your name.

Thank you. I apologize. My name is Boyan Pargov with Height Design. I'm the engineer of record for the subject project. Quick update on the construction and connection of the K-Bar Ranch extension between the current dead end and Morris Bridge Road. This has been a project that has been in the works for a long time. The county is on the DOT. The city is on the right of way for a long time. And this project is finally approved for construction and began earlier this year. As I mentioned, it's been a critical project for access for residents as well as fire department. So it has been a big push to construct. we are in final stages of acceptance and certification through the city at this time with their cad department and are looking to have the project completed and opened here i believe september is a time frame august september was a time frame for opening so um That's it just as I said, I know it's a critical project for the city as well as for local residents. And I want to provide a brief update just for everybody's knowledge.

And if I may, thank you, ma'am. So question for you, because we're hearing now, August is September. Has there been any delay since we last spoke? And if so, what's the reasoning for it or the cause of it?

yeah so when we initially spoke the um acceptance time frame was uh end of august end of august there's not been any significant delays there has been incremental issues with material delivery most notably a pump station panel that was coming from israel and it was caught in uh on a ship that was delayed several months uh the contractor has been working with the city as i mentioned uh to perform inspection and certifications and it is no nothing specific that i could point my finger to it is at this point we are in testing and inspections so let me ask you if i may sir what is the latest do you think this is going to be open that you can commit to here today in terms of a date uh the latest contract schedule the latest that will commit to a date it i when we had spoken previously obviously i am the contractors with the land owner and the schedule and everything is controlled by those two parties i am the engineer of record who certifies the construction so i don't necessarily control the contractor schedule but Uh, I'm confident that the August September timeframe I mentioned now is the correct timeframe for this project being accepted.

Is it reasonable? Do you say that there's, there's. That by September, let's just say September 15th of this year, uh, that with all information that you have, it's reasonable to say that this should be open to the public and to 1st responders by September 15th with the information you have here today.

Yes.

Okay. And, and I have a question for you. I was going to talk about this at motion time, um, that when it, oh yes, ma'am. Uh, that is there any way that this could just be open starting now for first responders? I mean, they don't need a yellow brick road there or anything.

Uh, the there's one short answer. No long answer. There is one area where. the roadway connection cannot occur through because there is a water main connection that is bypassing through the road. So the roadway will be blocked for that seven day period or so that the bypass is needed to construct the piece in the middle. You're talking about today versus maybe the, I think there is a possibility to look at Opening that for emergency vehicles prior to be accessible. To the public.

Yeah, because that's all I care about right now. So so if I may, Madam chair come motion time, I am going to be motioning on that. Um, because, uh, that's something that's very important, but, um, thank you. And may I. I mean, we're may I speak some more on this or, um, sure.

Okay.

Thank you, ma'am. Yep. And so, sir, and any council members have any questions or. okay well thank you sir i i we appreciate your time and efforts and so again we are going to be following up on that uh because that is something that's very very important but again council members this is something that will reduce response time significantly into k bar ranch uh in an area new tampa where four out of the five stations with the longest response times are at so this is this is big freaking deal uh it is for new tampa thank you so much thank you very much i appreciate that

okay um we are i'm so i'm so very sorry yes council member um

so if it's not so for me uh councilman miranda and i appreciate your your interest in this topic the the um the operative issue is that it's open for first responders so if this gentleman's we believe and i'm prepared to accept his word on this if we can open it beforehand just for first responders that's the win so we will be inquiring on that because this is of critical importance so thank you sir

Okay, thank you so much. We are moving to committee reports. Councilman Vieira, please move items seven through eight.

I hereby move items seven through eight.

Okay, I have a motion from Councilman Vieira, a second from Councilmember Maniscalco. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Councilwoman Young, I'm going to ask you to move 9 and 10, and then 12 through 15.

I move items 9 through 10, and then 12 through 15.

Okay, I have a motion from Councilwoman Young, a second from Councilman Maniscalco. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? okay um uh councilman maniscalco i move item 16 through 22. they have a motion for item 6 through 16 through 22 by councilman maniscalco seconded by councilman miranda all those in favor aye any opposed council member carlson is absent for that vote um yes uh councilman miranda i move item number 22. Okay, I have a motion from Councilman Miranda and a second from Councilman Maniscalco to approve item number 23. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Councilman Carlson absent at that vote. I have Councilwoman Young. Can you please move items 23 through 34. 24. I'm sorry, 24 through 34. and then 36 and 41. And 39, sorry.

Move items 24 to 39.

34 and items 36 39 and 41. second okay i have a motion from councilwoman young and a second from councilman maniscalco all those in favor aye any opposed and again councilman um carlson absent vote and then councilman maniscalco

I will move items 42 through 48. We didn't pull anything from this, right? No, we did not. Okay. I'm moving them all.

So I have a motion from Councilman Maniscalco moving items 42 through 48 with a second by Councilman Miranda. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. All approved with Councilman Carlson absent at vote. Can I get a motion to move item 54? That was on our staff docket. We did not need staff for. So I have a motion to move item 54 from Councilman Maniscalco. Second. Second from Councilman Miranda. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Passed with Carlson absent vote. Can we please set items 49 through 41 for public hearing?

Wait, item 49 set for a public hearing August 6, 1030 a.m. and August 27, 2026. I'll just move it. Okay. I'm going to find 49.

yes thank you for moving item 49 i have a motion from councilman maniscalco a second from councilman miranda all those in favor aye aye okay and then how um so then we also have something special to be read for items 15 and 51 i i i got it um yes councilman maniscalco

All right. For item 50, a public hearing will be held regarding a proposed brownfield area designation for the rehabilitation and redevelopment of three parcels, approximately 30.5 acres in size, located in the vicinity of 3601 North Central Avenue, 3814 North Central Avenue, and 501 east lake avenue tampa florida 33603 this public hearing will be held at the tampa heights junior civic association located at 2005 north lamar avenue tampa florida 33602 on august 18 20 26 at 5 30 p.m until not later than 6 30. okay okay i have a motion from council member maniscalco a second from councilman miranda all those in favor aye aye okay And I'll read item 51. A public hearing will be held regarding a proposed brownfield area designation for the rehabilitation and redevelopment of one parcel, approximately 62 acres in size, located northeast of the intersection of North 46th Street and East Fletcher Avenue, Tampa, Florida, 33613. This public hearing will be held in classroom 138 slash 139. of the Patel Center for Global Solutions located at 42202 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa, Florida, 33620 on August 12th, 2026 at 6 p.m. until not later than 7 p.m.

Okay, thank you so much. There is no motion needed. Do you need me to rescind them?

Motion to rescind the one for 50 because we didn't need a motion.

Okay, so I have a motion to rescind the motion for item 50 from Council Member Maniscalco. Second from Councilman Miranda. All those in favor? Aye. And so then both the public hearings have been read. So we are moving on to petitions to vacate and public hearings on legislative matters. So we have a vacating request this morning.

So I'll say Ms. Villamon-Cronation. Presenting file number BAC 26-08. Motion to open, please.

Can I get a motion to open the 10.30 a.m. public hearing on 52? Second. Council Member Youngstown, Council Member Miranda, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, go ahead, sir. I'm sorry.

Ron Sammons, Development for the Nation, presenting file number BAC 26-08. The applicant is the School Board of Hillsborough County. Representative's name is Nikki Day. Property address is 5020 North 47th Street. This is a proposed vacating request to vacate a portion of 43rd Street lying north of Ellicott Street, south of Shadow Lawn Avenue, east of 40th Street, and west of 44th Street. This application was filed February 3rd, 2026. The right-of-way is partially improved. This right-of-way was created by Subdivision Platte. The existing right-of-way is approximately 16,850 square feet. The reason for the request is to streamline public school operations, reduce existing dead end, and approve turnaround with potential cooperation from the city and curtail dumping activity on school property. This is an aerial view of the proposed vacating request in yellow. The applicant's properties in red. Subdivision plat in which the street was created. This is a view, sorry for the quality of that, but this is a view looking south from 43rd Street. This is an image looking north on 43rd Street. Staff has no objections of vacating request. Easement reservations are required by spectrum and Tico special conditions or natural resources must comply with chapter 27 as regards to tree preservation and site design for any improvements placed adjacent to trees in a vacated area. Also, I'd like to mention. that between first and second reading, there will be a substitute ordinance for, um, to add a condition in for a turnaround that the city and the county, the Hillsborough county school board has agreed to, to add that condition.

Okay. Thank you so much. Any questions? Um, petitioner.

Good morning, City Council. I don't have anything further to add. I'm Nikki Day.

Just a second. We just need to, we don't need to see. Okay, never mind. Go ahead. Go ahead. Can you start with your name, please?

yes nikki day with the law firm gray robinson i represent the petitioner the hillsborough county school district in this matter and i don't have anything to add to staff's presentation just wanted to thank staff for working together with the district as fellow governments um on this petition for vacation thank you okay thank you so much um does anyone have any questions is there any one in the public that would like to speak on this item

Okay, I have a motion to close by Councilman Maniscalco second from Councilman Miranda all those in favor aye any opposed, okay Who would like to Yeah, Council Member Carlson, would you like to read that?

Move file number BAC 26-08, ordinance being presented for first reading consideration ordinance of the city of Tampa, Florida, vacating, closing, discontinuing, and banning a portion of 43rd Street right of way located north of Ellicott Street. and James Elementary School south of Shadow Lawn Avenue east of 40th Street and Gary Adult High School and west of 47th Street as dedicated by the plot of revised map of Rubenstein subdivision in Tampa Hillsborough County Florida and as more particularly Sorry, as more fully described in Section 2 hereof, subject to certain covenants, conditions, and restrictions, as more particularly set forth herein, providing for enforcement and penalties for violations, providing for definitions, interpretations, and repealing conflicts, providing for severability of fighting.

Including the revision sheet. Including the revision sheet. Okay, I have a motion from Councilmember Carlson, a second from Councilman Vieira. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Opposed? Okay, thank you so much. Yeah, I'll let the clerk.

Second reading adoption will be held on August 27th, 2026 at 10 a.m. at Old City Hall, located at 315 East Kennedy Boulevard, third floor, Tampa, Florida, 33602.

Okay, thank you so very much. Okay. Um, we have 13 minutes, but we still have these items that we've pulled and we have one other item on the trees. So, um, with permission, we're just gonna truck on through. Do we have, um, do we have anyone here? Uh, item 40 was the first one that was pulled. Um, council member Carlson, you pulled this for a separate vote or because you wanted to talk about it. Um, this is the army Navy, the item 40.

Um, I just thought that I only pulled it because I thought it was of sufficient value that it should have been on the pulled agenda. So, okay.

Yeah. So, so you just wanted a separate vote or to pull it? Um, does anyone have any questions about this? Okay. So, um, let's see whose it is. Um, council member Carlson, it is your, uh, committee. Do you like. Okay, so I have a motion to move the resolution by councilmember Carlson I have a second from councilman Maniscalco all those in favor aye any opposed Excellent. Okay now on to item 11 If anyone is here from staff to talk about the determination of demolishing and removal of certain buildings or structures,

that's on the resolution. I can look that up.

Okay, while looking it up, we can move and talk about items 37 and 38. Excellent.

Good afternoon, or not afternoon yet. Good still morning. Rebecca Johns, Legal Department. What was the question?

The question brought up in public comment was how these... how these organizations won, I guess, the RFP? And do individuals have a fair chance to get them? And is there a preference of rental versus owning?

So I can answer the question about the RFP process. So there was an RFP that was put out. There was about 17 lots. There were qualifications in the RFP. It can be individuals. It can be companies. They just have to meet certain qualifications like they had development experience. Then you can submit based on state the lot that you want. If you meet the qualifications in the RFP, then if you were the only one that submitted for that lot, then you were awarded the lot. If there were multiple people that were submitted for the lot, they were put into a random lottery software system, and that software system would just randomly select an entry, and that's how the developer got selected.

So what about if an individual didn't want to develop it, they just wanted to build their own house?

No, it had to be used for the info program, which would be the developer would build it, and then the developer would have to either sell it or rent it to a qualified user, which would be an eligible beneficiary with AMI requirements. So they could not use it for their own house.

OK. have another discussion. I just want to make sure we answer the question and we should have another discussion about this.

OK, I have a quick question. So I know that this this is the RFP that was put out for the 17 lot. So have all of the lots been filled now?

All of the lots have been awarded through the lottery. There were a few lots that had some zoning issues and some infrastructure issues, so I think there's three that we're still working through, but all of the others are ready to come to you or have come to you. I believe there's three left, but I wasn't prepared to answer that question, so I don't have the exact number off the top of my head.

And I'll add to it, because I sit on the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee. This is the third time we've done this. This is phase three. So for the first two times, they were basically single family. But the challenge from both AHAC and this board was to do as many multifamily on properties as possible. And I believe with the total, there are only one or two lots that are single family.

Yeah, there were few. I don't have the exact number in front of me, but there were few. There are some duplexes. There are some seven, eight unit townhomes that are going.

So we've worked really hard to take these infill lots and try to maximize the amount of housing we can put on them. So if that answers questions, then...

Thank you for answering.

So for both items 37 and 38 we move the resolution Okay, I have a second. I have a motion from council member Anna Scalco second from consumen Miranda all those in favor aye They're also Yes, but for whatever reasons I have here that item 35 was also a separate vote and

37, I believe, has to be a supermajority, if I recall correctly. No, 35. Oh, 35.

Yeah, 37, we did... Yeah, 37, we just did 37 and 38. Yeah, but for whatever reason, it says 35 was pulled for a separate vote. Who wanted a separate vote on that?

Yes, this was a memorandum from Martin Shelby, city council attorney. Michelle Van Loon, real estate, had informed council via memo that... there is a sep the law requires that um a super majority vote be on this so it should be recorded as a separate vote for purposes of the record so um council member carlson

Yeah. So Councilman Carson, this is your committee. Do we have any questions for Ms. Van Loon?

I think we have to explain it, what it is.

Yes, Councilman Miranda, go right ahead.

It's my understanding that this lot was bought at a little higher than the appraised amount because the city really needed it for some drainage problem in the area. I'm not sure it was exactly worded that way. But it has to do with the stormwater purposes, why they bought the house.

Michelle Van Loon, Real Estate. We bought this property back in 2020 because we needed a pipe in that exact location. The property owner at the time would not give us an easement, or they would not let us buy an easement, and so we had to buy the entire lot. Since then, we had interest in this lot, and we were able to sell the lot at more, I'm sorry, This is the Higgins, right? For Higgins, this is the very low spot of the neighborhood, and the stormwater department came to us and asked us if we could check to see if we could get, there were only a handful of parcels for sale. That neighborhood does not have a lot of turnaround. We reached out to all of the appropriate property owners, and this one was the only one that reached out to us. They are agreeing to relocate out of their house, and it will help that neighborhood where all the water drains We are paying 3% above appraisal, and as such, we need a super majority. If we went to a cheaper lot outside of this area, we would be spending a lot more in stormwater infrastructure to get the water out of the low spot over to a different location. So as a project in whole, this acquisition actually saves us money because of the exact location.

okay so um great explanation i move file number uh deo 26-25743 so i have a motion from council member carlson a second from councilman maniscalco all those in favor aye any opposed do you need um the clerk to read that vote why not have it in the record yes go right ahead so we can have it in the record motion passes unanimously with one enemy and absent okay thank you so much um we are moving right along i think the last one we have is item 11. if i can yes i'm sorry mr shelby looking at the background material this went through a process for a demolition

and it was pursuant to section 19-5A2A, and it was a demolition review committee, and there's several signatories to it. And the attorney who prepared the resolution was Kamaria Pettis-Mackle. I don't know as to the background. There are people, for instance, the code enforcement director, historic preservation manager, the building official. So I don't know the time constraints to do this, but if you want to have it continue to the next regular meeting, that would probably be appropriate because I believe this dates back a ways.

So if we can't get an answer today, which it sounds like we cannot next week is also a regular meeting week. So would anyone continue this item to next week?

That's item 11. File number. NCA 26-25637 for the purpose of having staff explain to the public. So that would be under staff reports?

That would be under staff reports.

And unfinished business?

Yeah, let's go ahead and put that under unfinished business. I think that would probably, it's next week, it's the 6th of August. Actually, we can put it under staff reports because we only have four staff reports, so that works. So I have a motion from Council Member Carlson. I had a second from Councilman Menescalco to move item 11 to August 6th under staff reports. Although.

If I could just ask, inquire of the clerk, is it too late to put it on for next week's motion?

No, so it's not too...

Okay, just want to make sure we have enough turnaround time. Okay, thank you.

okay great so I have a motion all those in favor aye any opposed okay well we keep hitting records here but we are going to actually no we are not we still have I'm sorry we have one left we have 50 we have the trees and we actually do you have miss sharp do we have anyone online for that okay Great, okay, so we have 57 very quickly the Staff to report on this where the specified trees have been planted. So first of all, Ms. Sharp has the paperwork from that was in OnBase. If anyone hasn't had a chance to see it, well, she'll show it briefly. some of the highlights. I'm so sorry, Mr. Miyuki, if you would like to share the information while she's sharing it, that would be wonderful. We saw your face pop up. So just start with your name.

Eric Miyuki, I'm the urban forestry manager. I put this report together briefly. We turned on the tree Potter software suite back in 2020. So every tremendous tree that we planted is mapped. I've got all the GPS, I've got all the addresses and all that stuff. It's just maps. Make the story shorter. Uh, we have planted 2,160 tremendous trees at the cost of $735,461 and 50 cents. All of the tremendous plantings thus far have been out of the old funds. We have not dipped into any of the buckets yet. We do have one tremendous tree coordinator who oversees this program, providing five street trees to residents that were providing up to five street trees to residents that request them and agree to water them for one year. The trust fund is funded by developers, builders, homeowners that would like to remove a tree. And that is all protected trees. So that is anything over five inches in diameter, which is about the size of a coaster, a little bit bigger, or any palm that is up to six foot clear trunk. So we do capture a lot of trees in that. On the next page, we do have the graph displaying exactly what type of species we are planting. Yes, we are heavy on crape myrtle. That's the one that really sticks out. 27% of our plantings are type ones and twos. 73% are the type threes. Why do we use so many type threes? And it's been brought up before overhead utilities, underground utilities, narrow planting widths, that sort of thing. When you look at those numbers combined, we've got about 61% of the planting locations that we have planted have been restricted to the smaller ornamental tree due to potential utility conflicts, due to infrastructure conflicts, due to the narrowness of the planting strip. And looking at some recommendations, if we would like, we can just say that if you're going to use the tremendous planting program, we would prefer that if you have the room for a type one or two tree, that's going to limit your selection. where we're not gonna offer the ornamental type threes where we should and can fit the type ones and twos. The other thing that we were looking at is that if crape myrtle stays on our planting list, as it is the most popular tree chosen by people, that we were going to come up with either a handout or we're looking into whether or not as a person applies for the program, they have to click a box that says that they will water it for one year We're looking at maybe an educational video on there to show them proper pruning of crape myrtles so that we avoid that crape murder incident that we run into. And then that way we would have documentation that they are aware of proper pruning. The final page on there is the economic environmental and social benefits of these trees. And you'll see just quick and dirty math on it. 581 type one and two accounting for about $1,200 for about $2 per tree annually in the economic and environmental benefits. And it works out the same for the type three or ornamentals. It's about $2 per tree. That's because they're all coming in in that 30 gallon, two and a half inch caliper size. So there's really not much difference there. It's really when we get to that 15 year mark and beyond that we really start to see greater environmental and economic benefits from the larger species.

okay thank you so very much i'm here for any questions thank you okay i'm councilman maniscalco no questions i appreciate the information and i just want to say thank you for joining me the other day uh we we went out and uh you know off-site with a constituent who was who had a lot of concerns and the gentleman spent more than an hour with all of us and he just does a great job so i just wanted to acknowledge it thank you sir for the information for your help

so does anyone have any um comment on this and what we want to do with the uh we we still have not passed the motion to approve this monies now with this information do we have anything that we want to do with it do we want to we had a public commenter today talked about type 1 and type 2 only We had information today showing, and the recommendations from Mr. Miyuki of requiring type one and type two if space exists, and the crape myrtle planting will receive the pruning guides. So what is the, if we shift to requiring type one and two trees for pruning, if you have the space, it will only ship the percentages 11 to 12%. Ms. Sharpe, if you wanna put that back up, the Tremendous Trees by Species, I believe page two of three, has the recommendation. So right now, type one and two trees are only 27%. So at most, that would go up to, it looks like 39%. Is that enough for us? Do we wanna focus on type one and two trees for this year only? How are we feeling?

Can we, I'd like to reach out to some constituents that had, you know, overall concerns since next Thursday is a regular meeting. Can we bring it back up during new business possibly? And just, you know, so we can discuss it and think of different ideas now that we have this information and how we want to move forward.

Yes, I have Ms. Sharfus actually planning a, I'll be meeting with folks from the TTAG group next week, but definitely encourage other council members to reach out as well. Council Member Carlson.

My preference is type 1 and type 2 trees. My charter doesn't allow us to edit documents, so I don't know if we should make a motion to have an edited document come back. But I think we can't just edit the document ourselves, right?

No, we'd have to ask for that. Plus, I don't believe it's prepared for a vote today. So we have a request for type 1 and 2 trees. Councilwoman Young.

yes um i also wanted to bring up it was brought up in public comment and i did you know during my briefing because i did ask the question um about planting at schools um i recently i think i was at young and we were walking i was like it is so hot out here but they have a huge amount of space and i know the question with the type one and type two is the right you know right space so if we have all these spaces is that something that we can consider with this or maybe you know is it a conversation that we need to have with you know the school board but i think that that's a great place to consider okay so it sounds like we would have like to have a little more conversation about this uh we do have room on um on next week's agenda

Councilmember Miranda.

Thank you, Madam Chair. You know, it's fine to say one and two, but the problem is if you have a spot that one and two do not fit and that's all you're going to plan, you're actually working against yourself. Even if the times three takes 5% less or 20% or 30% less water or 50% less water, it's still something that is value to the society. That's all I'm going to say.

Okay. So what is the preference of council? So can we tweak?

We have to continue this until next Thursday or just bring it up during new business and have just a quick discussion of how we want to move forward. Yes, sir.

Councilman. Yes, I'm sorry.

Mr. Shelby City Council attorney, just if you can refresh my recollection, in what form does it have to come back as a contract?

Yes, so what we're doing, we postponed the approval of the contract because we wanted more data. Now we have that data. We just, we didn't, yes, it just fell off. So we need to figure out what we want to do next with this, where it goes.

My suggestion would be to not do it the next week's meeting. That is not a sufficient amount of time to let staff know about this through the motion practice to have sufficient time for them to be able to come back and do a written report or a staff report.

I think honestly, it's not, we don't, I think we all just need to decide as a group, what we want to do. So I think that's, what's being asked is that, uh, council member ran a scalpel asked for another week to talk to community members. I still have to do that myself. So, um, we could put this in old business next week. I'm sorry. Yes.

And then we take official.

Yeah. Mr. Muki. I'm sorry. Go right ahead.

Thank you. Uh, Eric Muki, urban forestry manager. This contract and what we're talking about here is the tremendous program. So it is for, you know, street trees for residents who are willing to water them. I love the idea of planting on school properties. I love the idea of planting around stormwater ponds and making them an environmental benefit to the neighborhood. Those are some areas that we could capture some significant numbers of type two trees. They're just not part of this program so much. And that would be a secondary program. That would be a project, you know, that's definitely something that we as a city should definitely be looking at and encouraging. But again, that's really not part of what the 30 plus years of the tremendous program is about. Tremendous program is about street trees for residents. Thank you.

Okay, also to let folks know, I am working with legal on the ordinance that approves tremendous trees to be planted in front yards and side yards for a house on a corner. So we are working on that right now. So these tremendous trees would not just be in the right of way, they would be allowed in both front yards and side yards of a corner property. So that is also going on in the mix of this. Yes, Mr. Shelby.

Would it be appropriate then to put this under unfinished business on August 27th to allow you to work with staff and to also be able to talk with members of the community so you'll at least have some direction to come back if it's going to be the change to a contract?

So that is why I'm hoping to do it next week so that we can have a contract ready for us on the 27th. Right now, this program has no funding. So we're in a bit of a rush on this.

Will staff be able to come back with a staff doesn't need to.

We need we're asking for the contract to come back on the 27th after we as a board talk about what we want who's going to draft the contract that will come after next week. We have a contract already drafted. We just need to either accept it as it is or modify it.

The question normally is council cannot modify a contract. Council can request it to the administration, which then has to go through the process with the vendor and then go through the contract process. You could come back next week to talk about it, but I don't know whether.

Well, we can request that staff come next week. Because we're not asking them to recreate a wheel. We're just asking them to be there for a conversation.

Yes, but one-week motions have been requested to not be done because the deadline to be able to do that and work through the administration was last week for next week's motion.

But we're not looking for any changes. We're just looking for a discussion.

So you're asking a specific member of the staff to come back? To just be here. And which person is that?

We generally just say staff and let the administration figure that out.

But normally it takes more than a week to be able to get that process for them to determine that. It doesn't really happen that quickly. If you wish to do it, let's see what happens. Let's just see.

I mean, they brought us a contract already. It's already there. We're just trying to do whatever we can to fund this program as quickly as possible. Understood.

Okay. I've just been in conversations. Let me just get this out so I can say it. I've been asked by both the clerk and the administration to avoid one week motions, especially when you're going back to back with two regular meetings in a row.

Well, then we simply won't do that and we'll just bring it up so we can make a motion to discuss it at old business. So if somebody would like to make that motion, that would be great. okay so we are going to discuss item number 57 during old business on august 6th i have a motion from councilman miranda i have a second from council member maniscalco please make sure that you have all your thoughts aligned so that we have a quick conversation all those in favor aye any opposed Okay, so that concludes our official business for the day. I am going to remind the general public of our first special call workshop that has to do with the budget that we just heard today. That's going to be in these chambers at 9 a.m. on Monday morning, talking about the enterprise funds, which is our water, wastewater, garbage, parking, and golf courses. So it should be a very interesting discussion. So we'll go down the line. Council Member Miranda, do you have any?

I have one motion to make. I'd like to make a motion to have a time certain for 11 o'clock for the Visit Tampa Bay at Tampa Convention Center presentation at the September 24th workshop due to Santiago Corada having a previous commitment. Second. We will not be able to be here until that time.

Okay, so we have a motion to, and is that moving from another presentation day?

I think we had, I don't believe it was moving it from that day. I think it's a time certain for that day.

Okay. So, yeah. Okay. So we'll, uh, oh, I see it's on here. He just wants to, okay. So we have a motion to take this, uh, presentation that's already on the agenda and give it a time certain of 11 o'clock. I have a motion from council member Miranda, second from council member Maniscalco, all those in favor. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Anything else? Okay. Council Member Maniscalco.

All right. I'd like to make a motion to present a commendation on October 15th in chambers that is open to the Tampa Fencing Academy. That's fencing like sword fighting. Recognizing them for their extraordinary athletic achievement, international representation, youth mentorship, and longstanding contribution to the Tampa community.

Okay. Wonderful. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, I don't think there's enough room in here for that, but we'll see. Motion from Council Member Maniscalco, second from Councilman Vieira. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Anything else?

Just be careful out there. We have what looks like bad storms until at least 2 p.m., so... Yeah, yeah, stay safe out there.

Okay, Councilwoman Young. I have two motions. One, I must make a motion to present a combination on October 15th, 2026, to LaShawn Tim, CEO of 813 Stop the Violence Incorporated for her commitment to making a difference in the lives of the youth in the Tampa Bay community. And she's also been involved with, if you all remember, when we had the team take over at Curtis-Hickson, she's actually been working with those students. They've been going through a program and they just graduated from their program, so she's been working with those students as well. How wonderful.

We have a motion from Councilwoman Young and a second from Councilman Vieira. All those in favor? Aye. Yes, there is room.

Yes, there is room. We checked. Yep. Okay. And then my second, let me know what you all think about this. I moved to make a motion for staff to provide a written report and list of the developers that were chosen from the lottery for the Info 3 program and how many lots each developer was awarded.

And the reason I just thought of that was just because... Do you want a written report? Yeah, a written report is fine. Okay.

let's see uh august 27th should be enough time that should be enough time august 27th uh if yeah yeah they should okay so for august 27th so i have a motion from councilwoman young i have a second from councilman carlson uh for a written report on august 27th all those in favor aye any opposed Anything else? That's all. Okay. Councilman Vieira.

Thank you, ma'am. And I wanted to salute you. We are at Parris Island, and this is boot camp, so you are going with vigor.

Well, it was a short agenda. We were prepared.

No, but still, I'm just saying. And it's just funny. No, two quick motions, if I may. So my first one is this is for October 15th. I want Mr. Shelby or whoever the person would be to brief this. I'm obviously resigning at midnight on November 2nd. And I would like a briefing on the following points, which is for my appointment on replacing, which is how long the process will take after my resignation and the process that will occur on this for Tampa City Council. I do this because we i just want to make sure while i'm still here that i'm briefed on this publicly and for the community for the public for district 7 because district 7 needs somebody here and i just want to make sure that we mitigate that time as much as possible

Council member, what is the effective date of your resignation?

November 2nd.

November 2nd.

If it's anything similar to mine, it was a two week process. And then we had a special call the Tuesday of the third week. Now it may be that, but that's actually a really good point because that's been a question we've heard a lot. So would you like the clerk to come forward or would you like that?

Whoever, like before, as a matter of fact, I prepared something for council. And I have it in front of me for the March 14th, 2022 district three vacancy. And it has a summary of the applicable provisions of the charter and a timeline. Okay.

Would you like to just brief us very quickly and then we can actually, yeah. Why don't we have Mr. Shelby update it?

Yeah. And bring it to you. October 15th. Yeah.

Oh, you want it that late? But when do you want it? When do you want it to come back?

So this is for a briefing on the substance of what will occur, correct?

This is a briefing on the process of what happens. And there are time constraints. The appointment must be made, the vacancies must be filled by appointment. within 30 days from the time the vacancy exists. So it's a very compressed timeline. And of course, the sooner you know about it.

Okay, so October 15th it is. I'll second that. Yes, Council Member Carlson.

Could you... include that i think it's important to try to figure out how to fill that seat quickly even two weeks we might lose a bunch of votes so there's a question i have a question since this time we know for sure when he's leaving is it possible to do the vote before so we can fill up you can't you can't you cannot no you cannot fill up you cannot fill a vacancy that doesn't exist

Yeah, two weeks was what was given to make sure people had the time to apply.

Good luck. Could we do October 1st, just make it a couple of weeks earlier?

Yeah, I think earlier is probably better, to be honest.

Let's do the budget, and that's when.

Yeah, we could do September 17th. That is also open. Just for the record, you better say what year. so we have a motion um to have that come forward on october 1st from councilman vieira um that was second from councilman maniscalco all those in favor aye any opposed anything else yes ma'am really quick if i may this is something that i think is applicable for the administration update for next week's it's probably three minutes which is we heard from the gentleman today on the k-bar cut through that there is a

possibility that they can open it like really soon for Tampa Fire Rescue, just all that I really care about. So I'd like whether it's Chief Bennett or whoever during the administration update, And by the way, while I was here, I typed out a memo that's already gone out to them on this. But just to brief us on the feasibility of that, because this will save response times a lot.

Okay, so we have a motion from Councilman Vieira to add the conversation about K-Bar Ranch cut through to the administrative update for next week on August 6th, 2026. We have a second from Councilman Maniscalco. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, Councilmember Carlson.

Just a quick trivia thing. You mentioned Parris Island. Do you know the significance of Parris Island in Florida history? No. Do you know? No, you're out Guido-ing me. On Parris Island, inside the military facility is the remnants and dig site of a Spanish settlement. The Spanish settlement was called Santa Elena and it was the first capital of Florida because the Spanish were trying to move up to prevent the French. And outside the gates is a museum that Michael Francis from USF wrote the narrative for the museum. So anybody going near Parris Island, go to the museum and you'll learn about Florida history.

Excellent, excellent. Any no motions? Okay, I don't have anything. Mr. Shelby, anything?

and i'm not saying this thing to start a conversation but i have read with interest your negotiations with arrays including on the east tampa cra in downtown and just looking forward to hearing more on that because i think those are prospectively good ideas aside from the race not to open up a conversation i know right

i have a motion to receive can i just say one one quick thing yeah sure this real quick thing i i um i was talking i was talking to uh i think it was bonnie wise this morning and i said i don't want to be in the center of this issue i want to be like guido i don't want to be mentioned in the story so if somebody else would like to step up and engage in the conversation but they have offered to meet with each of us to ask what our constituents concerns are

I have a motion to receive and file from Councilman Maniscalco. I have a second from Councilman Miranda. All those in favor? Aye. We are adjourned. Yeah, for the day.