City Council - Regular Meeting

The broadcast is now starting. All attendees are in listen-only mode.

Good morning, everybody. It's the Full House at Tampa City Council. Welcome. I'd like to call this meeting to order and recognize Councilman Maniscalco for our invocation.

Thank you very much. It's my pleasure to welcome Father Zach Elliott, a Franciscan friar from our neighbors at the historic Sacred Heart Catholic Church right down the street. Father Zach has been a parochial vicar with Sacred Heart since July of 2011, approaching his 15 year anniversary and ministering to the downtown community. It is special, too, for us to have a Franciscan with us today, as they are in the midst of a jubilee year celebrating the 800th anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi's passing, the saint whose order embodies the pursuit of justice, peace, and integrity for creation. So if we would all please stand, and Father Zach, lead us in the invocation. Thank you.

Almighty and gracious God, we come before you with humble hearts and grateful spirits. We thank you for the many blessings you have bestowed upon our city and for the privilege of gathering here today to serve this people of Tampa. We give you thanks for this vibrant community, a city rich in history, diversity, opportunity, and fortune. We are grateful for the families who call Tampa home, the businesses and organizations that help our city thrive, and for the countless individuals who work each day to make this community stronger, safer, and more welcoming. Lord, we ask your blessing upon this council, the mayor, the city administrators, all public servants, and trusted with leadership. Grant them wisdom to discern what is right, and act with courage and integrity humility to listen with open minds and compassionate hearts. May their decisions be guided not by personal interest, but by sincere commitment to the common good and well-being of all residents. We pray for our police officers, firefighters, emergency medical personnel, and all first responders who place themselves in harm's way to protect others. Surround them with your protection and grant them peace and strength with their families. We also remember those in our community who are struggling, those facing illness, loneliness, financial hardship, uncertainty, and loss. Inspire us to be mindful of their needs and to seek solutions that uplift the most vulnerable among us. As this meeting begins, help us to conduct our work with respect, civility, and a spirit of cooperation. When opinions differ, may we listen carefully When challenges arrive, may we seek understanding, and in all that we do, may we pursue justice, fairness, and compassion for every person we serve. We ask you to bless the city of Tampa, its neighbors, its schools, its houses of worship, its businesses, and all who live and work in this area. May our community continue to grow in unity, prosperity, and hope. For we ask all of these things with gratitude and faith

Councilman Mascalco, would you lead us in the pledge? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much. Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Miranda, Maniscalco, Hurtad, Young, Vieira, Carlson, and Clendenin. We have a physical call.

Very good. Can I get a motion to adopt the minutes from sessions held on May 21st, 2026, and the workshop and evening sessions held on May 28th, 2026? I have a motion from Councilman Miranda. I have a second from Councilman Maniscalco. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Before we start, I would like to say we have a special announcement. We have a birthday, and actually we have a couple birthdays in the house. One. Councilwoman Nya Young, happy birthday. Can you think of a better place to celebrate your birthday than sitting up here with us? Well, let me announce another birthday in the House. Our Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephanie Poynter. Stephanie Poynter, happy birthday. What is it, 79? Love you. Ready? Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Nya and Stephanie. Happy birthday to you. Any other birthdays in the house? No? OK. Hearing none, we'll close that segment of our agenda. Thank you. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Okay, so we've got approval of the agenda. I know there's some changes we're going to make. Anybody want to start us off? Anybody on the consent agenda? We're good on the consent agenda? Okay. Let's see.

I want to pull 19 for a separate vote.

19 for a separate vote. Okay. okay we will pull 19 for a separate vote anything else on consent agenda councilwoman her tech i want to pull 20 for a separate vote 20 for a separate vote okay 19 and 20. okay under staff reports administrative update i'd like to get a motion to move administrative administrative updates after our uh commendation and presentations Okay, we have a motion from Councilman Maniscalco, a second from Councilwoman Hurtek. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? May I? Actually, I'm sorry, not after commendations, after public comment for that. Is that okay with everybody? Yes.

Yes, sir. Thank you. And for Chief Bennett, I don't believe we spoke about this, but if you can comment, if you're prepared to comment on the ATU issue for the worker of the quarter, if not, we can wait until next week. In other words, is that something that where something can be worked through personnel or whatnot to be honored. Let's hold off on that. And I don't mean for now. I'm saying if you can comment at the time. If you're not prepared, we can do next week. But just thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Okay. Item number 55, 56, and 57. I don't think we need staff. Is everybody good with receiving and following those? 55, 56, and 57? Yes. Okay, no, okay. Staff will be present for 58.

If I can, Mr. Chairman. With regard to 55, 56, and 57, no staff being necessary, if we could take those up at the end of the consent document.

Yes. Yes. Yeah. I'm just making sure that nobody wants to. Thank you. Okay. Staff will be present for 58.

Ma'am. Mr. Chair on 58. Thank you, sir. Just I see Chief Barbara trip here. If you ma'am or anybody in your staff or anybody's going to be here needs us at a specific time, please let us know in the meanwhile. So that's all. If I may. Thank you. Okay.

I'm suspecting that we do want staff for 59.

I just would like to have a discussion among us. I don't need staff there.

OK. 60-61 staff will be present. 62 is Marty Shelby, so he'll be the staff of that. We have a request to continue item number 63 to June 18, 2026. So moved. We have a motion from Councilman Carlson and a second from Councilman Brand. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Mr. Chairman. Mr. Shelby.

And that is as a written staff report? Yes. Thank you. Yes.

item number 64 request to continue to august 17 2026 so budget workshop at 501 we have a motion council carlson second councilman scott all those in favor say aye aye opposed eyes have it anything else to approve 65. okay that's the written i'm sorry um receiving file 65. okay we have a motion to receive a file item number 65 it was a written report uh from because of her check second councilman escalco all those in favor say aye aye aye opposed eyes have it thank you Anything else? I have a potion to approve from councilman Maniscalco. Second council Miranda. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Okay. That was relatively painless. Accommodations and presentations. We're going to start off with our favorite councilman Vera police and police at first.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to invite up. Come on up. Here you go. And so it is our great pleasure, Tampa City Council, to do our Officer of the Month for Officer Martin Ramirez, who I saw here, I believe, with his family. And so we're always proud to do this here on Tampa City Council, honor both our police and firefighters. Councilman Menescalco had mentioned St. Francis of Assisi, and there's a great saying I love from him, which is, preach always and speak if you have to. And I think that our first responders, whether our police officers or our firefighters or Always just preach, I guess, if you will, good virtue and good living by virtue of the things that they do every day. So come forward, sir, if you'd like to talk about our Officer of the Month.

Thank you, Councilman Vieira, Deputy Chief Pat Messmer, TPD. Good morning. Officer Ramirez, if you'd like to come on up. So I would like to introduce Officer Martin Ramirez. He's our Officer of the Month for June. Officer Ramirez has been with the Department for about eight years. He's been spending the past four years as a field training officer up in District 2. Field training officer is one of the most important jobs we have. When a new recruit comes out of the police academy, they go to field training to get that on-the-job training, and Officer Ramirez really exemplifies the standards that we expect of our field training officers. Due to his training ability, his knowledge, his work ethic, He's a lot of times tasked with training those recruits who need a little extra help. They're struggling a little bit because he's able to get them to the level they need to be to be solo Tampa police officers. So in addition to that, he's one of the most proactive officers on the squad. He takes some of the most calls for service of any officer on his squad and just does an all-around great job in the community. A couple instances in the past couple months, Officer Ramirez was on foot patrol in one of our parks. One of our parks where we have a lot of neighbors calling with concerns. He hears shots being fired in the park. He's able to see the individual firing a weapon, firing a firearm in the park. He's able to deescalate that situation, take that person into custody, recover the firearm. Shortly after that, a different call for service in his zone. He responds to a shots fired call. He's, again, out on foot in the community trying to discern what happened. He sees the individual, again, firing shots. He's able, once again, to deescalate, take that person into custody, recover a firearm and ammunition. Great work that Officer Ramirez does, both training our recruits, policing in the community, just does an excellent job with that. He also is one of our Spanish-speaking officers and always volunteers to help out our detective, whether or not it's our district detectives, homicides, special victims, with any kind of interviews that need to be conducted, again, due to his skill as an interviewer, just as an all-around great example for the Tampa Police Department, and that is why he is our Officer of the Month for June.

Thank you. So, Officer, before we formally honor you, we have some folks here from the community, starting with the PBA, who would like to just show you their gratitude. Good morning, Council.

Brandon Barclay, President of Tampa PBA. I'm here actually on behalf of a bunch of people today. So, first, I'd like to present this plaque to you for a job well done. Also, on behalf of Pete Brevi and Busch Gardens, they want to give you four complimentary tickets. I have not prepared an invocation on behalf of Steve Michelini, but I do have the Yummy House for you. I have Ciccio's Restaurant Group for you, Meat Market for you, and I also have Jackson's Bistro for you. So those are from Steve Michelini. Thank you. Thank you.

Good morning, Council. Good morning, Officer Ramirez. Thank you again for your service to the community. On behalf of Friends of the Tampa Riverwalk, I would like to present you with a personalized paver along the Tampa Riverwalk. I think it's going to be engraved on the 19th. We will let staff know so that they can notify you. In addition, some of our partners would also like to present you with some gifts. Manthe Hospitality is presenting you with yacht starship, lost pearl, and pirate water taxi tickets. Thank you. Splitsville would like to present you with a gift certificate, and Florida Avenue Brewing would also like to present you with a gift certificate. Thank you for your service.

Good morning, Council. Jill Witecki with Tampa Theatre. Thank you for what you do in promoting and protecting the future of our community through the training. And on behalf of Tampa Theatre, we wanted to present you and your family with an annual membership to come see us at this historic movie palace.

Thank you so much.

Good morning, Council. Good morning, Officer Ramirez. I'm Grace Gonzales. I'm here on behalf of the Gonsmart family and the 1905 family of restaurants. Thank you for your time and your commitment and for being here in Tampa. Thank you to your family for your sacrifice. We want to present you with this gift card to enjoy a night at the Columbia Flamenco Show or after you go see your paver, visit you lately or the Columbia Cafe. Enjoy. Thank you and congratulations.

Good morning, Council. I'm Mary Dillon, representing Strass Center for the Performing Arts. Officer, thank you so much for your service in our community. On behalf of STRAS, please accept some tickets to an upcoming performance. I think you could couple that with a lot of different items you're going to receive and have a really wonderful evening. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Good morning, Council. I'm Lori Osborn with the Florida Orchestra. Nice to meet you all. And thank you so much for your service and not only sacrificing yourself, but training the next generation of recruits and keeping our city safe. Thank you. And thank you to your family. On behalf of the Florida Orchestra, we'd like to invite you and your family to a performance. And we look forward to seeing you soon. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.

Good morning, Council, Mr. Chair. Brian Ford with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. First, I have to congratulate all the first responders. We hosted this year's Badge Bowl at our facility this past weekend, and very humbled and honored to do so. And the firemen came in on the win there, so congratulations. We're humbled and honored to host that, and I encourage us all, what a great event, and I hope to pack that place next year. Officer Ramirez, thank you. Your story is unbelievable, and I'd like to thank your family for their sacrifice and support that they give you to allow you to do what you do for our great city. But we have a little tradition at One Buck, and on behalf of the Glazer family and our entire organization, anybody that goes over and above gets their own game ball with your name. So hearing your story, you deserve that game ball. So thank you for all you do for us. Thank you very much.

Remind everybody that the microphone is in the podium.

Leo Gary with Bill Curry Ford. Congratulations. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you so much for what you do. And I say it, I say it every single time. I appreciate and respect each and every one of you guys that puts that uniform on every single day to make this city safe for us. So thank you so much. I'll be happy to go for it. I want to give you a handwritten letter from Jennifer Curry. Also, a gift card inside there. Very well. And then a full free maintenance on your personal vehicle. And there's also some court apparel in there as well. Awesome. Thank you so much. Appreciate you.

Thank you.

Good morning, Council. Mike McArthur, Steps Towing Service. Congratulations, Officer Ramirez on a job well done. Thank you for everything you do for our community. So on behalf of Tossed Up and Steps Towing, I'd like to present you with a $100 gift card. Have some dinner. Take your family out. Take some time off. You deserve it. Thank you very much. Thank you so much.

Good morning. My name is Mary Lou Bailey and I'm here on behalf of Zoo Tampa at Lowry Park. Thank you so much for your service. I have in honor of you an annual membership to the zoo that you and your family can go and enjoy all of the animals. And we always have a little plush here so your kids can fight, like maybe share it. I don't know. But it's an elephant today. And elephants are very versatile, like in your story. Did you know that their trunks could serve as a snorkel when they go underwater as well as to feed themselves and get things from hot? Anyway, so that's my little animal fact for the day. So thank you so much for your service. I really respect you and everyone who puts on the uniform. Thank you for taking care of us.

So, Officer Ramirez, on behalf of a very grateful city of Tampa, we're proud to honor you with this Officer of the Month plaque. We really thank you for all your work, and I know your family that's here, all including your kids and your wife and everybody so very, your parents, everybody, family, oh, sorry. All the family here is very proud of you, so God bless you, sir. Thank you, sir.

Well, first and foremost, I want to thank God for allowing me to be here today. I want to thank the city council. I want to thank the TPD staff, my supervisors, who always show support and guidance in my career. I'm grateful to receive this recognition, and I want to give special thanks to Squad 209. This job isn't done alone. It's a group effort, so they deserve this award just as much as I do. I really want to thank my wife, my kids, my family. My parents, they're not here today. They're at home. Hopefully they'll see this later. And yeah, I'm just grateful to be here and doing my job and serving the citizens of Tampa.

On behalf of Tampa City Council and the entire city of Tampa, thank you and thank you to your squad and everybody else that wears the badge for keeping Tampa safe. Part of why Tampa is such an amazing city and getting better every day is because of the work that you do. We're very much appreciative for you standing here and everybody that's standing behind you and everybody that's in the field right now helping us keep the city of Tampa safe. Oh, Councilwoman Hurtek would like to acknowledge your wife and kids. Would you like to join him at the podium just to say hello? Talk about putting kids on the spot. When my kids were that age, they would melt right now. Hi. Hola.

Hola.

Good morning. Good morning. Good morning, good morning, good morning. You must be very proud of your dad.

My wife Diana, my daughter Natalie, my son Nathan, and my son Martin.

Well, good morning, guys. Good morning. I think you must be very proud of your father for his accomplishments and what he does for the city of Tampa. Thank you for joining him this morning.

Thank you for having us.

I hope you're enjoying summer school. Very good. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Okay. Bye.

Okay, Councilman Vieira. I'll text you whatever you guys want. Okay, ready to go, sir? Yes, go ahead. Thank you very much, sir. So next we're going to be doing our Firefighter of the Quarter. Again, same principle applies. We're always very proud to honor all of our first responders, in this case our amazing firefighters. And to talk about Captain James McGregor, we have here our Chief, Chief Barbara Tripp. So come forward.

Good morning, Council. Barbara Tripp, Tampa Fire Rescue Fire Chief. Today, it is my honor to introduce Captain James McGregor as our firefighter of the quarter. Captain McGregor has served at Tampa Fire Rescue for over 19 years, but throughout his career with Tampa Fire Rescue, he has consistently demonstrated commitment to excellence, professionalism, and service. Whether he's leading his crew, mentoring new firefighters, teaching the classroom, or serving as an active district chief, he approaches every responsibility with the same level of dedication and purpose. He is constantly seeking opportunity to learn, to improve, and to bring knowledge back to his crew, as well as Semper Fi Rescue. Through additional education, training certificates, and attending training programs across the country, he has developed an impressive depth of knowledge. More importantly, he's willing to share that knowledge with others, helping develop the next generation of firefighters through recruit training, in-service instructions, and day-to-day mentorship. His commitment to service extends beyond the fire service. Before joining Temporary Fire Rescue, Captain McGregor served our nation with distinct pride in the United States Marine Corps for 20 years. This includes seven years active duty and 13 years of reserve. He was assigned to the HMX-1 Presidential Helicopter Squadron. Service Marine Corps that actually oversaw that, serving as a helicopter crew where he earned the Presidential Service badge. In addition, he served multiple deployments during his military career as a foreign security advisor in support of OIF, OEF, basically two major post-911 U.S. combat operations. The discipline, leadership, and selfless service that define his military career continues to be evident in everything he does today. One of his greatest strengths is his dependability. Where challenge is, he tackles and projects to complete a problem. Captain McGregor is always willing to assist. He leads by example, earns the respect of those he works alongside, and consistently demonstrates the values that define profession. Captain McGregor, dedication to personal and professional development and genuine desire to make those around him better have a tremendous impact on Temple Fire Rescue. His passion for service in our country and our community makes him deserving of this award. Please join me in congratulating Captain McGregor's firefighter corps.

So, Captain, here you go, sir. Stand here if you don't mind. So, before we honor you, sir, we have folks who'd like to honor you from the community, starting with Mr. Stokoe with your union. And if you'd like, Dan, you can stand here.

Remember, microphone is in the podium. Please stand and speak towards us so people at home can hear you.

Good morning. Excuse me. Good morning, Council. Nick Stokoe, President, IFF Local 754. I am doing two other presentations, so please be mindful of the time. The first one is on behalf of Busch Gardens. and Kevin McGregor for you and your family on behalf of Busch Gardens. Here's for complimentary admission to Busch Gardens of Tampa Bay. And on behalf of Busch Gardens, congratulations and thank you for your service and your dedication. The second one, unfortunately, Mr. Michelini had an unfortunate death in his family, which resulted in him not being able to be here, but he did relay these on behalf of Steve Michelini. and I will try to do my best Steve Michelini impression. I want to thank you for your years of dedicated service to the Tampa Fire Department. I represent a couple of businesses in the South Tampa area. I want to give you some gift certificates. First is from the Chichios Restaurant Group. $50 there for a gift certificate to take your family out to. Second is $50 gift certificate to the Yummy House. And then for the Jackson's Bistro over in the Harbor Island area, it's $100 to the Jackson's group. And lastly, to the old Hyde Park Village and the meat market, take your family there for $100 at the meat market. So thank you on behalf of Steve Michelinie.

Well done. Well done, Sarah. Well done.

Uh, and lastly, on behalf of local seven, five, four, uh, and all of, uh, the firefighters here in the city of Tampa, we want to thank you for your years of dedicated service, not just to the city, but also to this great country and your family. Uh, recently, um, the Boston fire department, um, lost a firefighter and a line of duty death at a fire. And, um, firefighter Robert killed off BK killed off firefighter boat. Uh, BK was a 24 year veteran. of the Boston Fire Department and was the rank of firefighter. As Rep. Alvarez says, Captain McGregor is very familiar with being deployed as we heard his years of service to this country through his deployment and we want to thank you for that. As a firefighter, as Rep. Alvarez says, it is the daily deployed and Captain McGregor along with the men and women to my left from the fire chief on down, putting their lives on the line every day that they walk out of that door. and being the daily deployed to be able to come back and provide for their families. When Firefighter BK responded to the fire, as many of us know, you take your shoes off and your shoes are left on the side of the apparatus for the most part before you get on. Well, when Firefighter BK didn't return, they outlined his shoes in the apparatus bay and they're going to engrave too big to fill. And that is the risk that we take every day when we put on this uniform to serve this community and our brothers and sisters. So to all firefighters, specifically to Captain McGregor and his family, congratulations and thank you for your service.

Good morning again. Mary Beth Williams on behalf of Friends of the Riverwalk. That's a hard act to follow. Captain McGregor, thank you for your service. On behalf of Friends of the Tampa Riverwalk, I would like to present you with a personalized engraved paver along the Tampa Riverwalk. We will let you know when it has been engraved. In addition, some of our member organizations would also like to present you with some gifts. Manthe Hospitality has some tickets to Yacht Starship, Lost Pearl, and Pirate Water Taxi. This is Florida Avenue brewing a gift certificate to their establishment and splitsville has an adult night out for you So we hope that you enjoy and we thank you for your service

Good morning, Captain.

Good morning.

Counsel, once again, Jill Witecki with Tampa Theater, and we would be honored to show the movie of your story because it sounds like an incredible one. But in the meantime, we'd love to invite you and your family to come join us to see a movie or a show with an annual membership. Thank you so much for what you do.

Good morning, Captain McGregor. I'm Grace Gonzales. I'm here on behalf of the Gonsmart family and the 1905 family of restaurants. Thank you so much for everything you do, your time, and your commitment. Thank you for being here in Tampa. Please enjoy yourself and your family. Please enjoy a night off in Ybor City, Casa Santo Stefano, Columbia, wherever you'd like. Thank you and congratulations.

Hi Council, Lori Osborne with the Florida Orchestra. Congratulations, Captain McGregor. It is truly an honor to shake your hand. Thank you for your service, not only in the military, but now also serving our community. We're so happy and just, I guess, proud of the fact that you have continued to dedicate your life to being better and helping our community. Thank you for sacrificing and your support for him. On behalf of the Florida Orchestra, we would love to have you come and have your family come to listen to a performance.

Thank you.

Good morning. Good morning, Council. Mary Dillon, Straz Center. On behalf of the Great Falls Jazz Center, Captain, thank you so much for your service to our city and our country. Please accept tickets to an upcoming performance and enjoy with your family. Thank you so much.

Captain, congratulations. Thank you. Thank you so much for everything that you do. Listening to your resume is amazing, not only with the fire department, but also with the military. I respect, just like the Tampa Police Department, I respect you guys. It's a tough job, thankless job, so we appreciate you. On behalf of Bill Curry Ford, I want to present to you a handwritten letter from Jennifer Curry herself with a gift card inside as well. And then a full free label on that personal vehicle as well. And there's also some Ford apparel in there. Awesome. Yeah.

Morning, Council. Mike McArthur, Steps Towing. Congratulations, Captain, on a job well done. Thank you. You deserve it. Take this time. Enjoy all these gifts that you're given because you truly deserve it, and I've got a feeling we're going to see him at the end of the year at this Tampa Firemen's Banquet. It's a wonderful story that you have, and thank you for everything you do. On behalf of Todd Steps, Steps Towing, enjoy some dinner, Topgolf, whatever it is you like to do. Thank you for everything you do. Appreciate it.

Good morning, Mary Lou Bailey again. I'm here on behalf of Zoo Tampa. I serve on the board there. I wanted to congratulate you. It's such an honor to meet you. Thank you for your service in the military and for putting your life on the line again in this. We've got a family membership to the zoo for you. Enjoy it in good health. I have a macaw here. Macaw is a beautiful bird. But they have formed lifelong social bonds, and the teamwork that you obviously have embodied in both of your careers, I think, is mindful of that. When they are particularly close, they actually fly wing to wing with the birds that they like. So anyway, enjoy it in good health. Congratulations.

Good morning, Council. Brian Fortigan with the Buccaneers, and a very happy birthday, Councilwoman Young there. Captain McGregor, your story is unbelievable, and not only your service for our great city, but our great country as well. So thank you for your sacrifice, your family sacrifice. And again, on behalf of the Glazer family, we have a little tradition. Our entire organization, anybody that goes over and above gets their own game ball. So there's your game ball, and we appreciate all that you do. Thank you. Thank you, Chief.

Congratulations again to the firefighters. If you don't mind. So, sir, on behalf of a grateful city, as many have said, not only for your service in uniform, but like so many other firefighters, including Chief Tripp, serving in our United States military for so long, including on the upcoming 250th anniversary of our country's founding. So we're very appreciative for that. So for that and so much more, sir, it's our pleasure and honor to honor you. So thank you, sir. God bless you.

I'd just like to say thank you. It's kind of unexpected. I'm very appreciative of it. I just want to thank my district chief for putting me in for it. I'm very grateful. I'd like to thank my family, my wife and my kids, for putting up with me for so long doing this. And my crew. I'd say I have the best crew on the job, personally. And I wouldn't be doing this without them. Thank you.

On behalf of Tampa City Council and the entire city of Tampa, thank you so much for your dedication, your service to our country. I will. On behalf of the city of Tampa, and thank you for the service to our country. And thank you for the service to our city. Keeping us safe is a top priority for public service. And we always remember on Tampa City Council the dedication of Tampa Fire and what you bring to our community when people are in times of need. Thank you so much. And would you like to bring your family up to the podium? Are they here?

Yes, they are.

OK. Oh, look at that. They're loving this. Loving this.

My wife, Carrie, my oldest daughter, Bella, my youngest daughter, Mia, my son, Joey, my mom, Ann, and my brother, Shane. Very nice.

So these are the real heroes that tolerate everything you do.

Very much so.

Hey, I like that polo shirt back there. What is that? Tampa Bay, what is that?

Rays. Tampa Bay Rays. Okay, good.

Go Rays. Very good. Well, thank you so much. Enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we'll pause for a moment to let everybody shift. That's a bunch of firefighters right there.

Brian.

I tried to call you. Give me a call.

Unfortunately, we'll probably be sitting here.

Yeah, that's all right. Very good. Take care.

Can we get him to say that on the podium? Well, yeah.

We'll have him explain it when he comes to the ball. Mr. Shelby, tag, you're it.

What's that?

I'm going to do it after public comment. Molly? Where's Molly? Molly, hold on one second. Do you want to stay for public comment? You guys are going to stay for public comment, right? Okay, then we'll do it after public comment. Okay. Mr. Shelby.

Yes, Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. Good morning, members of the public. Martin Shelby, City Council Attorney. I'm here to speak briefly about the rules of decorum. Now, if you wish to speak during general public comment, you'll have a reasonable opportunity at the beginning of today's meeting to address any item on the agenda before the city council takes official action on an item. Now, per council's rules, preference is given to those speaking on agenda items first. A three-minute time limit applies to all speakers providing public comment. And if you do wish to speak, you should have filled out a speaker card and placed it in the box outside the council chambers. Cards are accepted until general public comment begins. Each person submitting a card will be recognized by name to approach and speak. And if you are here to speak at an item that is designated on your agenda as public hearing, those are items 39 to 51. The time to speak to those are when each of those items is called up during the meeting and when the public meeting is open, you'll have that opportunity. There is a sign-in sheet outside. We ask that you fill that out and put your name on there that you'd like to speak at public comment. Speakers and members of the public are also reminded to please refrain from disruptive behavior, including making vulgar or threatening remarks or making or causing disruptive noises or sounds or displaying signs or graphics. Please direct your comments to the entire city council rather than individual council members. The chair will rule out of order any person who speaks without being recognized or attempts to address the council from outside the speaker area at the podium. Persons failing to comply with the council's rules may also be ruled out of order and at the discretion of the chair may be removed from the chambers and Old City Hall for the remainder of today's meeting. Now, no public comment will be taken later during staff reports, so if you're here to speak on any item that's listed under staff reports, agenda, excuse me, general public comment is the time to speak. And finally, council members should refrain from engaging a speaker under public comment. And the public, please be aware that the city council does not take questions or have a dialogue during general public comment. This is your opportunity to express your position. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Okay. The first public comment speaker will be Pamela Cannella, followed by Brock Mangus. And these are all on agenda items, and then followed by Emily Hensdale. So Pam, Brock, and Emily. If I called your name, you can stand over here to your right or left. Good morning, Pam. Start with your name, and you'll have three minutes.

OK. My name is Pam Cannella. I'm here to speak on number 62. I believe this resolution is a violation of our right to free speech, both under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article 1, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution. The ultimate intention of this resolution appears to be to discourage public comment by placing public comment at the end of the meeting where the public will have no notice of the time form or time frame wherein they will finally be allowed to exercise their free speech rights to speak on vital topics for our community. This resolution would effectively have a chilling effect on speech, silencing the public's voice and diminishing their opportunity to speak. Contrary to what some elected public officials might think, they are just that, elected, which means they, You are here to serve the best interests of the public who elected you. The best solution, put public comment first after the approval of the agenda. Let us say what we come to say and we go with our business. Go out and do our business. Changing the process, signing cards, changing and moving time slots for public comments, Or will we be allowed to speak? Sometimes we don't even know that. Or for how long? Confuses people when they don't come weekly and have prepared their time according to your final agenda. It's disrespectful to the public. Thank you.

Thank you. Brock Mangus, followed by Emily Hinsdale, followed by Michelle Mastrocitaro.

Good morning. Start with your name and you'll have three minutes. Morning council. Brock Mangus live in West Tampa Heights near Tampa Bay elementary school. I'm speaking on number 53 and 59, primarily 53. Um, I support slowing down drivers in school zones, especially in the school zone closest to where I live. My concern is not that goal. It's the contract piggybacking HTSOs agreement with red speed that was approved in February by council. The safeguards that Chief Berkara promised in this February 17th memo to Council are meaningful, but they really don't capture the full risks in using this technology. The Chief's memo makes four promises. Cameras won't be used for remote surveillance, won't be monitored in real time, won't be turned into automated license plate readers, and won't share data with the company known as Flock Safety. While the city code and current state statutes support this, the agreement itself does not. My concern is not that the city or county law enforcement will misuse this data today or tomorrow. It's that once these polls are put in the ground, the infrastructure for this surveillance dragnet that's happening in other states is one piece of legislation away. The camera vendor industry has a proven track record of getting state legislatures to rewrite these statutes in their favor. And as an example, Red Speed donated $10,000 to friends of Chad Chronister Pack once the contract was signed. So a future legislative amendment secured through the same lobbying playbook that they've been running in North Carolina, in Georgia, and Red Speed in Florida could convert a network of school zone safety cameras into nodes of a mass surveillance system with no new polls required. So I have one ask. Amend the contract. Incorporating the restrictions promised by the chief expressly. Add a no ALPR sharing clause so red speed is contractually bound, not just statutorily bound. For the record also, by the way, Tampa Bay Elementary already has Motorola ALPRs on both MacDill and Tampa Bay Boulevard that have been there. Don't know if they've been turned on. but they've been there pre this contract being signed. I'll yield the rest of my time. Thank you.

Thank you.

Emily Hinsdale, followed by Michelle, followed by Montesno.

Good morning. Emily Hinsdale. I'm here to comment on agenda item number 59, referencing a memo from Tampa from city of Tampa mobility staff concerning adding larger flashing signs to school zone areas. I'm urging city council to use school zone camera penalty funds to create better road infrastructure around schools rather than adding larger signs. Um, if you haven't met me before, which I think you probably have, I am the president and founder of sidewalk stompers, a safe routes to school nonprofit in Hillsborough County. We design and advise on programs to support walking and biking to school. With no school buses provided for kids living less than two miles of schools in our state, walking and biking to school is a critical component of our community's transportation needs. We've consulted with over 40 elementary and K-8 schools throughout the county, and this includes understanding the major safety concerns at each school. The number one worry about student safety at every school we've talked to is speed. Cars go too fast around schools. In reference to this memo from the mobility staff, I wholeheartedly agree with their assessment that adding larger and more signs will not make a notable difference in children's safety and would in fact divert significant funding for more effective speed control measures. The school zone speed enforcement cameras are a critical component of speed control around schools. They're being placed in conjunction with existing flashing school zone signs that meet federal and state design requirements. This is great and I can't wait to see this program get started in Tampa. What we need to think about is what to do with the speed ticket penalty funds. Some of the funds accrued from speed camera penalties are allocated by state statute and by operational needs. I'm gonna ask the City Council to direct that remaining funds be used specifically for road infrastructure designed to reduce speeds. For example, speed reduction techniques like bulb outs, chicanes, narrower travel lanes and bike lanes, yes, bike lanes reduce speed. Raised crosswalks to make walkers, especially young walkers, more visible. All-way stops and flashing crossing beacons. Sidewalks and bike facilities to get children out of the road. All drivers make mistakes. Any sign can be missed if a driver isn't fully paying attention. And we're all human. It happens. However, if the road design forces drivers to go more slowly, our schools will be safer and children arriving by car, bus, bike, or on foot will be safer. Thank you.

Thank you, Emily. Michelle?

Good morning. Happy birthday. I'm here to talk about Agenda 10.

Start with your name.

Oh. Hi, my name is Michelle Mastro-Tatara. Good morning, everyone. I'm here to talk about Agenda 10, about getting $2,000 to help with parks. My park was destroyed by overdeveloping and uprooted wetlands. And it says it right here, the increased Wetlands and the habitat contributed to the increased flood in surrounding areas, which should never been. So this is my house right here. I should park too. No, it's this way. And that's my house. This was where it used to be. Now it's apartments. So you can see it's definitely wetlands and mangroves. This park is getting destroyed. This park used to be all green. Children playing nice and happy. now are you ready it looks like a desert destroyed by rerouting of water in 2020 to hush me up about what they did so this is exactly what they did this is my area and they have the water that goes along tapping park and goes out to the overflow, and then they have these trenches along Prescott, which still has not been cleaned. They ended up having a water main break, and this is the one George Cox made, just straight out to the bay. So ours has to need a lot of maintenance. And this is the illegal rerouting of the water with a very small pipe that can't even hold the amount of water that can get in there and go out. So what they did was they came out. They tried to fix it. ended up having a major water main break. Now this is what it used to look like and this is what they did. So if you could see how big that hole is and it's just left there neglected. They ended up making a trench that goes this way. Now 15 minutes of rain goes to the park where it never even went now because of all this. this is what it was projected to look like so this is my house so in in actuality this was all premeditated the water is gonna go to me so this is really sad the comprehensive plan so when i see my son i need a park for him i need somewhere for him to play And I think it's fair that child has suffered enough. And I think that we need help getting toxins, um, to test the land for lead poisoning and stuff because my son had cancer twice.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Montesna followed by Clarence towns. So after this is the off agenda items, Clarence followed by Ashley Morrow, Montesna start with your name. You have three minutes.

Montesna wants to say Uhuru. Uhuru means freedom in Swahili. And so that came way before 1214 the Magna Carta came way before 1776 or 1789 United States constitution. We African people had been free for millions of years, millions of years, but for the last thousand years, 1500 years, we have experienced no freedom. And you can see it. You can just see it the way it evolves. You can see the hatred for the African evolve. You can see it right in this building. You can see it right in the city council, where they try to circumvent people's ability to articulate, circumvent their ability, suppress their ability to have freedom of speech, something as simple as freedom of speech. Something as simple as someone taking time to come down here to have freedom of speech. But everything they've tried, they've tried it before. When they had Perry Harvey sitting up there, when they had the same man was sitting up there, the one in the end right here. I've been to jail numerous times right here from the city council, and I'm still here, still standing. The fact of the matter is now they want to do and rearrange something to do. They've tried all that nonsense before. but it's for government, private industry, and a ruling class suppressing the human voice. They don't want you to be a human being. They want you to be a tool, an instrument, an instrument of capitalism. You're in a building where you're talking politics and you don't ever hear anyone. We've never hear a representative from our district You've never heard the word reparations come out of a black person's mouth that have sat here in this nasty building. Never. You've got black politicians muzzled, muzzled. You've never heard the word reparations, free our prisoners for victimless crimes, poverty. You've never heard those words. come out the mouth of a black politician in Hillsborough County in the city of Tampa. It's a disgrace. What they need to do is just catch the people, put the microchip in them, and control them. It's the same thing they're doing with the red light cameras. You never hear our representatives say that they're disproportionately distributed inside the African community. And the same thing is going to happen with these school violations. It's disgraceful. It's disgraceful. Y'all don't like to hear people speak for three minutes. Three minutes, and y'all are supposed to be politicians. Thank you. Have a nice day.

Clarence Towns, followed by Ashley Morrow, followed by Carol Ann Bennett. Good morning, Clarence. Start with your name. How you doing?

My name is Clarence B towns and I'm here today to talk about the stolen alley part two back in, um, May 7th. I talked about the stolen alley and I pass around some literature and I have something for each one of y'all where it can go along with. It's eight, eight copies there. If you unfold the first one, you'll see the black box showing the alley, showing the alley with a sewer. And you'll see the manhole covers, you'll see the line, and you look to the right, everything that's city-owned property, right? Just unfold the first page, it just folds flat out. Just fold out and it folds completely out. That's it, right there. See black box up top? The address on that is 2704 North 32nd Street, Tampa, Florida, 33605. Shown with alley and sewer. If you go to the right, you'll see the green line means city-owned property. You'll see the manhole covers green. That means city-owned property. If you turn to page two of six, that's just the next page over, you'll see that property outlined in black without the alley. This don't show alley. Why not? Because it was stolen. You go to page three of six, You see that black area? You see the alley? That's how it showed with an alley when you don't steal it. Go to page four of six. You'll see the description of that property at that particular address at 2704 North 32nd Street. It doesn't mention an alley at all because it's stolen. You go to five of six. You'll see a description of the lady's property there. And it shows that that's at 2705 North 33rd Street. You will see when you don't have closed an alley, you will see that in the rear. Then on page six of six, if you want to read this with me, you can. Hillsborough County Commissioner Gwendolyn A. Myers, who is also a former Hillsborough County employee who lives at 2704 North 32nd Street, Tampa, Florida, 33605, shouldn't be given a pass to steal City of Tampa property because she is an AKA, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and the sorority sister of presidential hopeful Kamala Harris. In closing, the total truth is out there. Just follow the trail of what was changed and then to whom's favor it was changed. Organized stealing is wrong. I personally think that this needs to be an FBI investigation. Thank you very much, sir. All right. Thank you.

Thank you. Have a nice day. Ashley, followed by Carol Ann Bennett. Good morning, Ashley.

Good morning.

Good morning. My name is Ashley Morrow. My iPad is dead, but because I have little history lessons sitting in my car, we're going to do something that is relevant to the 1890s, and we're going to get into the Afro-Cuban sector of things just a little bit. Now, I just spoke to one of my stores, and she is actually Afro-Cuban. She never publicly identified as it. And she talked about there being somewhat of a shame of being labeled as Afro. You either weren't Cuban enough, you weren't black enough. So they just labeled themselves black because Afro Cubans had to assimilate into the black culture when they came here. Now black people did not need to learn Spanish. They didn't need to learn their culture, the food and all the things. And I know in Tampa we have definitely pushed the story of Afro-Cuban people always mending together. But there was definitely segregation amongst that culture with white and black Cubans. So I just want to preface it with that. What started me down a rabbit hole was this article here. A colored school at the corner of 13th and 8th Avenue has an enrollment of 137 pupils with an average attendance of 128. Christina A. Johnson, who ends up being Christina A. Meacham, is the principal. And Mamie Charles, who was the daughter of Cyrus Charles, we learned was the first black city councilman, is her assistant. It is surprising to note that the progress of the pupils in this school, they are under split government and their young minds are being led in the proper channels of mental and moral development. So they were very surprised that they were well-mannered children, unfortunately. This, according to Tony Pizzo, was the boarding house right here. But it must have also been the school because it is the corner of 13th and A. But what is currently at the corner of 13th and 8th? Anybody know?

Marti Park.

Marti Park. Okay, but we don't hear anything about the colored school that was in that location, which I find very interesting. There's a woman named Susan Baum who wrote a book, Summer Reading, anybody that's interested? More Than Black Afro Cubans in Tampa. Definitely check that out. She claims that... Paulina Pedroso and Ruperto Pedroso lived on 12th and 8th, not 13th and 8th, so I have to look into that. That was very interesting to me. Here's a Sanborn map showing 12th and 8th, and this is 13th and 8th, where the boarding house slash school was located. In 1886, this is a plat map that's showing the plot of land right here. They had different names. It was Georgia, I guess, Avenue and 7th Avenue on here, and this was 13th Avenue, and this was 12th. Here is the deed. And the Pedroso family identified as black. So I just wanted to share their names here.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. Very interesting. Have a beautiful day. Carol Ann Bennett and Jamie Adair and Gloria Sims. CAB.

Can James go first, please?

Sure.

I think we all have one good cause left in us. We're going to fix that squeaky door next week. It's going to be done. This is supposed to work. What if we like that squeaky door? It's going to be changed whether you like it or not. Online, it's the most annoying thing ever. James Adair, the neighbor who cares. I've been working on this little project for right at three months, and you guys get the benefit of it. Originally, it was on... Okay, this was originally on the schedule to talk about and that's why I hurried up and got the presentation done. We're talking about co-sponsored special events in the city of Tampa. What it is not, just for clarity's sake, it's not hockey games, it's not football games, this is events that the city contributes in-kind services for on the behalf of the city to non-profits. Same staff, different pool of money. First, there's an application that's submitted. By the way, all of this is in your email with all the supporting documentation. Obviously, we prefer nonprofits. There's a committee of five. The city administrators, which are responsible for the business units, are the ones who make the decision on who, what, and where get contributed. Functionally, the city absorbs all these costs and sometimes there's an actual real outlay of costs. So bike racks, for example, on certain events is an actual expense versus like just city labor. Here's the accounting behind the scenes. Departments have their own coding system for how they record this information. It's not necessarily their billing or their accounting. It's just their coding system. Stormwater, for example, has the best, I think, in the city. through City Works. You can see how their equipment's used, how their staff is used, who gets paid overtime, et cetera. It's a great resource. When I was finding the rest of the sources, I was able to just get blank ballpark numbers back without seeing the actual analytic data. But for the most part, it's a coding inside. After each event, parks and recs will gather the information and put it on their dashboard, which we'll see here in a second. There's no additional accounting for co-sponsored funds beyond this dashboard that I could find anywhere. I think part of the recommendations later will be that there is accounting. This is what the dashboard looks like. It's pretty small. By the way, if anybody in the public wants to see it, all you have to do is email me at teamadair813. Gmail and I'll send this out to you the way this is set up is that you've got the event name who the host organization is and Then there's a whole lot mess load of data here They had to condense to make it fit on one sheet for you over here in the bottom You guys won't see these numbers, but I highlight it bigger later It's basically the co-sponsored amount which is what the city contributes and then the total invoice which is what would have been paid by the nonprofit and Event stats, last year we had 46 total co-sponsored events. The city covered about 80% of those. Total on the books co-sponsored was only 1.5 million. So if you think about all those events, that's a really good number. I was completely surprised and impressed, and we get a good bang for the buck. The host contribution is only 307,000.

Thank you, Jamie. Oh, by the way, we did get the email, and I went through all of us. I'm a nerd. I read it all. Thank you. Thank you.

Carol Ann Bennett, I'm going to try to pick up where Jamie left off, but there's no way I'm going to do as good a job. As you can see, the host contribution is $307,100. The departments with the highest contribution, you can see, TPD, then mobility, parks and rec, EMS, and solid waste. The most expensive events are listed here, as you can see, MLK, Gasparilla, the night parade, the St. Patrick's parade, and Santa Fest. Off-book events, Gasparilla Children's and Adult Parade. There's no consolidated reporting happening anywhere in the city. No one wants to know the true number. And it's not that bad. Some departments like TPD restructure their work to avoid incurring more costs. So some numbers. cannot be accounted for, and I think that's very significant, because we need to account for all the numbers. Gasparilla Children's Parade, you can see here which department, how much each one of them is contributing. The Adult Parade, again, you can see, again, how much each department is contributing. I'm sure Jamie would be happy to delve further into this if you have more questions. So here you see the total for special events. the children's, the adult parade, the total off-book events is almost two and a half million. That's the combined. So here are the suggestions, and I heartily support these. Create an events line item budget. Each department should have similar recording. They should be required to budget for losses if they're not reimbursed. If city council approves a budget, they should direct administrators on fund, non-profits provide a P&L, and TCC stays out of event micromanagement but is provided transparent annual reporting for all code-sponsored events.

And the rest is just the supporting materials that you're getting.

Okay. All right, so this is all the supporting material. Anybody can have it by emailing Jamie at teamadair813, gmail.com. And let me just use the last few minutes to talk about the agenda. The problem with the agenda is not public comment. We've got a lot of problems with the agenda. If you put a good neighbor notice saying that your hearing is going to be heard at 2.30 in the morning, no one would send out a good neighbor notice saying that. Y'all would have a fit. The community would have a fit. Yet you scheduled the Marisol the same night as a bunch of other instead of putting the Marisol on its own night. So Carver City, all those people showed up and they had to go home at midnight because they can't stay up till 2.30 in the morning. And then they were told it would be time certain and they were not given the time certain. They were ignored and the agenda was followed immediately. And that's not right.

Thank you. Okay, Gloria Sims, followed by Stephanie Poynter, then Connie Burton, and our last speaker will be Robin Lockett. So, Gloria, is there Gloria Sims in the house? Going once, going twice, gone. Stephanie Poynter. Deputy Chief of Staff for the day for her birthday.

Because somebody gave away my seat.

Happy birthday, Stephanie.

Good morning, Stephanie Poynter. First of all, you already know that I have some big issues with the changes that are proposed for public comment. First of all, it is draining to sit here all day. And I guarantee you, nobody else sits here all day more than I do. And by the time you guys are at the end of the day, everybody's cooked. It's $4 an hour for the first hour to park down here. Then three additional dollars every hour after that. So we're talking big money to sit down here and wait to talk about your off-agenda items. I talk about off-agenda items, too. Because I come down here and I talk about what's important. And you guys wouldn't know anything about the Rome yard being on the back burner for years. You wouldn't know anything about other issues as well. So sometimes people talk about things that aren't on the agenda, but they are city business. I don't think this is effective. We have different procedures for every different kind of meeting. Carol Ann Bennett and I, at least once every month or two, have to call Mr. Shelby or email Mr. Shelby and say, when is public comment? Because it's confusing. If I don't know and Carol Ann doesn't know, who in the hell does? and you're gonna put another layer of complexity into the issue. I don't think that's appropriate in any way, shape or form. Number 19, this is not about the person, it's about the policy. I have great respect for Mr. Morris Massey. I like him a lot. I think he did excellent work for the city of Tampa, but for him to retire and turn around and get up to $200,000 contract, it says in the, in the charter that people can't lobby when they leave the city. I would argue that putting money in your own pocketbook is the ultimate lobbying. That is the ultimate lobbying. You're not getting somebody else something that's gonna benefit. You're putting it in your own pocketbook. And it's my understanding this has happened before, but it was slid under the radar. So if you're leaving the city, you don't do business with the city for two years, period. Lobbying or not lobbying, your pocket or somebody else's, it's inappropriate. Number 40, pass the sidewalks. Number 53, if you're changing the signs at speed zones, they need to say that it's all day long from the time the kids get there till they leave. And high schools need it more than any place else because no adults walk those goofballs to school. They will walk right straight out in front of you. I see it every single day and Robinson High School in front of the high school is not a school zone, which blows my mind. On Manhattan, it's a school zone. I don't get it, but those kids frontal lobes are still developing and we have no adults out there watching them and making sure they're safe. So let's let's make them all safe, not just little kids, everybody.

Just the kids, Stephanie, just the kids.

Well, no, mine's developed.

Connie Burton followed by Robin Lockett. Good morning, Connie.

Good morning, Connie Burton. We did not vote for the city attorney. And so for item number 62, I would like for somebody to step forward to see who made those recommendations. Because to come down here is not only expensive, it's emotionally challenging because we are going to take the same things over and over and over again without seeing very little results coming to our community. And so if you want to start moving this agenda around, I think you need to look at yourself because you're aligning yourself close to what we see in DC. don't want to hear from the public, don't care what the people say, but yet you want to talk about this being an open democracy. If you can't stand it for three minutes, then don't run for office. Number 52, no, number 53, in and around Young Middle School, Orange Grove Middle School, Middleton High School, we got more cameras than a little bit. More than a little bit. So the installation of those cameras when they're being presented as safety precautions, it becomes a economic stress for impoverished neighborhoods. Take that in consideration. We don't need any more. Last week, part of your workshop was item number one that we could not speak about, but I want to see how that $704 million from the community block grant money, how is it going to be shared inside of our community? Who's making all of the decisions about that? We keep waiting for the very simple things that the people ask for. Can't get it done. But come election time, we hear all the promises. You put it on the agenda. They gave a wonderful presentation with the overhead shots of what's going to be, how many houses is going to be built in the community, at what price point. How many millions is gonna be set aside for that? But when community block grant monies are coming down, people need to know just what's gonna happen. How many sidewalks gonna be built in our community? How will we be able to even have some simple input? And right now what you're doing is, to me, akin to people that want to, you know, build beautiful museums, change the names of buildings in D.C., build beautiful ponds, and you think it's okay. It is not okay. We deserve to know.

Thank you, Connie. Robin Lockett. Good morning, Robin.

Good morning, counsel. Robin Lockett.

Just a few things. My concern is in regards to the installation of cameras within the school zone. I'm just asking this question out loud. Where are they being installed? Are they just in one segmented area, inner city? I have a problem with that. In regards to having a consistent charge, in regards to school zones, why not put speed bumps? High speed bumps, where people don't want to damage their car. Try that versus first, right? Because the thing that makes the most sense to me is putting a speed bump out there, a large speed bump, because people value their car versus speeding through a speed zone. And all it takes is one time. What am I supposed to do? So is the installation, I had camera in lieu of cameras because again, regulations, people say that the cameras won't be on outside of a school zone or school hours. I'm not, I don't trust that. That's not true. So I think that's problematic if it hasn't, if there's still an option to change it. Public comment, I agree with most of what everybody has said this morning, but I think public comment if there's, in regards to parking, because the city of Tampa is not a friendly area for the community to come down and try to come and share something or to even just participate within the city, within city council. The parking fees are crazy. I come down here every week, you guys know, right? $12, $15 for the time that I'm here, and I normally stay until noon, because I have to go to my job. But in regards to parking fees, that's crazy for people that want to come and even participate. Finding a parking space is crazy. Right. Because this building is not friendly to the community. So the people that are coming down and spending time to come and state their case for the three minutes, I think that should, you know, that should be taken in consideration. So thank you.

Thank you, Robin. Okay. That concludes public comment. Mr. Bennett administrative update. Oh, I'm sorry. We have on some lines, the registered speaker, Michael Randolph. Sorry about that. I forgot about you, my friend, Michael, start with your name. You have three minutes.

My name is Chagret Dawson. I appreciate that. Chagret. I got Michael Randolph.

My name is Michael Randolph, and thanks for not forgetting me. Because you know I live to make these comments. So, members of city council, today's nonprofits are facing the most severe disruption in more than a decade. One in three lost government funding this year. More than 28,000 nonprofits were cut. That's a 409 percent increase from 2004. Thirty-seven percent are operating on a deficit, 42 percent rely on government dollars, and 86 percent report major inflation impact. Demand is rising while resources are shrinking. Funding is tightening at every level. On a federal level, federal DEI rolled back a changing eligibility, and scoring. Florida Senate Bill 1124 restricts DEI-related programming and increased compliance risks, especially for small black land nonprofits. Local budgets are tight. Today, over 3,300 nonprofits are competing in an increasing crowded market. A nonprofit can access more than government dollars, including local businesses, corporate, Funding foundations, faith-based funders, associations, giving circles, P.S. loans, and earned income strategies. In 2025, over $57 billion were awarded to nonprofits by over 15,000 funders worldwide. And giving nonprofits these tools that are needed. Our capacity building workshop is coming up on June the 25th online at 7 p.m. Teaches organizations to build five-year strategic planning, create theory of change, research funders, write competitive grants, design programs using mark, ecstasy, and intelligence standards, build evaluation tools, spend from boards, and develop earned income strategies. Today, the Center for Non-Property and Community Roaming has provided technical assistance to over 1,500 nonprofits in 35 states, delivering the elite training that big nonprofits receive and making it available for small nonprofits, making them more competitive and more sustainable. Last week, we met to give an update to the community on the Roaming Yard project, The West Tampa and the CDC is coming together to build a more powerful force in West Tampa. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Michael. Have a beautiful day. Sergant, I don't have a card. Mr. Doss, I don't have a card for you.

I came up when the doors were closed and I did. promise not to act up but the doors were closed so and there was some commotion and i didn't see or they weren't there actually weren't there when i got there i guess they took them up you see right before when the police left the area otherwise i'd have signed the card so okay let's start with your name you have three minutes i appreciate it could you fill out a card for me when you leave so i have it for the public i'll do that they give me one i'll sign it i'll fill it out thank you by the way my name is chagret dawson i appreciate the extension of courtesy for something that so many of us were willing to die for. And somebody sent me a message, and they wanted me to talk about the problems with the family court system, particularly not just in Hillsborough County, but this came from out of Orange County, about the fact that so many child support cases are taking so long to go through the system and the complications that they're having. I understand this is not a city council issue, but because we share money on YouTube for some reason, I use this on my platform as well.

I was actually encouraged to see so many young people there.

And I saw a message that came across, so I'm going to deviate from what this guy wanted me to talk about, and I'll talk about it on my other platform. Young people, this is your future. And I need more to participate with it, because I saw a comment come across my timeline saying we're not going to fire any more missiles into Iran unless American soldiers get killed. Well, that's a consequence of war. And so often young people come to me and ask me about my service time and I tell them, you know, the honor was mine. I looking back on it, I wouldn't, I don't regret anything. My family's a military. My grandfather was in world war two. My father was in the military. My mom's retired as well. But I tell the young people, those bullets are real bro. This ain't called the duty. There ain't no reset button on this thing. And the consequences of war, are forever lasting. You don't get over them. And even though I didn't agree with him on a lot of things, John McCain made a comment about there's nothing romantic at all about war. And he's correct. And too much sable rattling has gone on from people who never served. And there's some people who are now in high positions in our government who didn't serve. And there's other people who think that there's something that is redeeming in that. Young people take control because, you know, most movements, uh, through the fifties, sixties and what have you, the things that brought America, the progress was started by young people. Uh, people forget it. Dr. King was only 39. Malcolm was 39. You know, you got people who didn't even reach I'm 58. So I'm 19 years older than Dr. King was. And we're having people compare underqualified people to people who have demonstrated greatness. So, young people, we need more of you all to be active in your future. We're all, everybody up here for the most part, except for maybe one, is living in their future. That's the reality of it. Civics in high school, civics in elementary, I, Biloxi, Mississippi, civics in fifth grade. And it was every year, and if I'm correct, we had to pass some sort of civics-based classes to get out of high school. Sure. We have a country that has a 48% literacy rate, yet we want to pretend that we are a beacon of greatness around the world. That's crazy. Shout out to the greatest institution of higher learning in the city of Tampa, the University of Thomas Jefferson High School.

Thank you very much. OK, that concludes public comment. For our agenda, Chief of Staff John Bennett for the administrative update.

Good morning, Council, John Bennett, Chief of Staff, and good morning to our public. And I would just want to echo the appreciation for Council hosting our Youth Corps this morning as well. It's a great opportunity. I also appreciate Council moving this up in the agenda. First order of business is Council's pleasure. I would just like to recognize Ms. Jean Duncan for a second, if she could come up. Thank you. All right, so as you know, Gene Duncan's been our administrator over infrastructure and mobility. Gene served the city over 23 and a half years as a professional engineer. I worked closely with Gene throughout my career, especially when I was at the Tampa Police Department, working on mostly mobility projects at that point. But Jean is also recognized in 2020 as the Josephine Howard Stafford Memorial winner. And so that just tells a lot with only 28 other folks that were recognized since the inception. So we just want to recognize Jean for a moment before we move into the nomination from the administration on Brad Baird and just ask council to appreciate Jean's service for the city for over two decades. So thank you for that moment. Thank you.

Let me recognize Charlie Miranda for a second. I think he would like to say something.

Put your microphone on. Charlie, microphone. It has come to my attention that Ms. Jean Duncan, Administrator of Infrastructure and Mobility, is retiring from the City of Tampa after 23 years of dedicated service. This coming Friday, June 5th, 2026, I am requesting City Council to recognize her service to the community at a regular agenda meeting this Thursday. June the 4th, 2026. I would like to make this motion presented with accommodation.

We have a motion from Councilman Miranda. We have a second from Councilman Vieira to issue Gene Duncan a well-deserved accommodation on behalf of Tampa City Council. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Nay. Okay. Clerk?

Motion carried with Carson voting no.

Very good. I would like, instead of me making the presentation, I would like for Ms. Duncan to be up here and just receive it from up here, if I may do that. Okay.

Ms. Duncan, would you join Council of the Dias, please? Have you guys read the Scar Lopez case?

Duncan is our pleasure to present this combination to be on June the fourth for your extremely services to the city of Tampa for 23 and a half years. It's not easy working as a department head and multiple department heads in the city of Tampa or any city or our size, one that changing daily, one that was something much less than what it was today. And those credit goes not only to you, but other department heads and to all the city employees who do the work. And it's very difficult sometimes to do the work that you want to do because the time's changing all the time, day and night, and you have an enormous amount of responsibility. And sometimes those responsibilities overseen for the public, including myself, has not been the proper thing to do. But you've done it correctly. You've done the best you can with what you had. And this council recognizes you for an outstanding service for 23 and a half years. Congratulations. May God bless you and go out and have a lot of fun.

I've been waiting to sit in this chair and keep up this meeting. But very briefly, you've got a long day. I just want to thank the entire city organization, my wonderful, hardworking professional colleagues, your well-oiled machine here with the staff, all professional, come to work every day and do the best they can. And as much as wrangling as may occur sometimes, with different bodies of the organization. We get things done, and everyone up here cares about this city. Everyone that works behind the scenes cares about the city. Our citizens have no idea in what good hands they are and will continue to have. It's been an honor to work alongside everyone here, including the mayor, supporting our citizens. My dad was an engineer, and he always told me, pick a career where you can help people. And after three, four, five, times of changing my major in college, I finally landed on engineering. So I felt like that's the way that I could help people. And I hope I can continue to help people on the other side and will support anyone here who wants to continue to do that for our citizens. So thank you so much.

It's an obstacle course game.

23 years. Thank you. That would imply that we had child labor. So, okay.

Mr. Bennett, back to you, John Bennett, chief of staff, back to our regular schedule programming. Um, so first of all, I want to thank council for, um, understanding that we, uh, per the administration are nominating Brad Baird, who's been with the city for excess of 40 years. He's been the deputy administrator of infrastructure and mobility. I think we all know Brad's level of service is especially related to the utility space for the city and our CAD program, basically, for our development of city infrastructure. So with that said, Brad has been put forward to backfill Ms. Duncan, who's retiring this Friday. And if council approves this nomination, then Brad would take effect office on Sunday, June 7th.

OK. I have a motion from Councilman Maniscalco to affirm the appointment of Brad Barrett, a second from Councilman Miranda. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Congratulations, sir.

Well, thank you very much. I mean, it's an honor to serve the citizens of Tampa. Uh, I've done so for 43 and a half years. Um, I've lost count of how many city councils and, uh, but it was six mayors. Um, No, I have to give credit to Jean. She, uh, you know, we work together as a team. Um, and she made that clear from the beginning and we, we truly kind of split duties that way. And, um, that's going to make this transition a lot easier. And, um, again, it's my honor, my honor to serve the city. and I won't let you down. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Barrett. I'd like to recognize Councilwoman Hartag.

I just want to say congratulations. I look forward to working with you. I've always really enjoyed our relationship, and I look forward to continuing that.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and wish you well in your new job, and you're going to do a great job. We've always gotten along. You're a good person, and I had that solidified. I know you have a number of children, but when I had the great pleasure of meeting one of your children, your sons worked in IT. It was a terrible experience because it was during a public records request issue several years ago, but he's a fine gentleman and just spoke well of you, not just in word but in deed. So just looking forward. You're a good guy. Thank you.

Councilman Miranda? I just say thank you Brad and congratulations on your appointment and I know you taught me everything I know about water so for 28 years you've been picking me up once a month to go to Clearwater minus one month a year that we don't have the meeting so I want to make sure that continues

Oh, yeah.

Very good.

Councilman Carlson.

Congratulations. Please don't let them bring back toilet tap.

Very good. Congratulations, sir. I look forward to continued service and working with you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Very good. Chief Bennett, does that conclude your update?

Mr. Mr. Chair, I think it was very inappropriate We have a discussion later on about retaliation. And we had to pay a $300,000 lawsuit because one staff person made complaints. And I'm not going to go into the details of it. Other staff people in that department left and threatened to file lawsuits. and now the chief of staff just brought somebody forward to give them accommodation. I think that's incredibly disrespectful to the employees of the city to say that if multiple people in a city complain about a certain kind of behavior, that not only does the city not fire them, but they let them retire and then they ask us to give accommodation to them. That's so disrespectful and it is indicative the negative culture of this city we have to support our employees who have legitimate complaints especially when we just paid one three hundred thousand and that's not the only lawsuit I'll talk about more later but I think this this administration needs to fix this and respect our employees thank you okay now Molly

If those of you didn't know, all these younger people, normally we don't have young people in the audience. All the young people back there, the Mayor's Youth Corps, I'd like to recognize their fearless leader, Molly, to introduce everybody. You guys can start lining up against the wall because we're going to have you come up. All the blue shirts up against the wall.

Good morning, Council. Thank you so much for welcoming us. I am Molly Beeble. I am the coordinator of the Mayor's Youth Corps. a city of Tampa program for high school students focused on leadership development, civic engagement, and community service. So we're really happy to be here today. I have with me members of the class of 2026, and I'll step aside so that they can introduce themselves.

Very good. Name and your high school.

Good morning, everybody. My name is and I go to King High School. I just want to say this is my first time at the podium, so I'm very excited. I one day also hope to become a politician like yourselves and maybe the president of the United States. There you go. Yay. Good morning. My name is Nate Thomas. I go to Plant High School. I'm really excited to be here. Thank you. Very good. Thank you. Good morning. Good morning. I'm Thomas Dudas. I'm a senior at Tampa Catholic High School, and I'm really excited to be here and thank you for your time. Thank you.

Good morning. I'm Lila Munker. I'm a junior at Freedom High School. I'm really excited and grateful for this opportunity. Thank you.

Good morning. My name is Gavin Kuo, and I'm from Jesuit High School, and I'm really grateful to be here. Thank you. Good morning. My name is Carter Hamilton, and I go to Plant High School. Thank you.

Good morning. My name is Hatart Vyas, and I go to Jefferson High School. All right. There you go.

Good morning. My name is Siri Manthana, and I'm a sophomore at Middleton High School. Thank you for having us here.

Go Tigers.

Good morning. I'm Abdul Naveen. I also go to Middleton High School, and I'm so excited to be here. Thank you.

Good morning, everyone.

My name is Shimna Gujar. I'm a sophomore in Middleton High School. And public comment, this whole facility, I'm very impressed. I'll definitely be going back next time. Thank you so much.

We're on YouTube, y'all. You can watch. Good morning. My name is Shania Matthew. I'm a rising junior at Thomas Jefferson High School. Go, Dragons.

Good morning.

Good morning. I'm Sue Smith Chaluka. Thank you for having us here. I go to Middleton High School, and I just really appreciate the opportunity to come listen down here. Thank you. Good morning.

Good morning. My name is Katie Grissom. I go to Plant High School. Thank you all so much for being here today. Thank you.

Good morning. My name's Octavio Johnson. I'm a rising junior at Jesser High School. Thank you.

Good morning. My name is Colleen Caley. I'm a junior at the Academy of the Holy Names, and thank you for having us.

Good morning. Hello, my name is Kate Dinalam Shetty. I am a rising junior at Robinson High School, and I really enjoyed this experience. I thought this was amazing.

Good morning. My name is Ariana Goyanas, and I'm a rising senior at Tampa Catholic High School. Thank you. Good morning, my name is Sir Todd Sani, and I just wanna say thank you so much for this opportunity. Thank you, good morning.

Good morning, my name is Camden O'Hara. I'm a rising junior at Tampa Prep, and thank you for having us.

Good morning, my name is Phillip Hadley. I'm a rising junior at Jesuit High School, and thank you for having us today.

Good morning.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Bryce Demps, I go to Jesuit High School. Thank you for having me too.

Good morning.

Good morning, my name is Miguel Alonso and I'm a rising senior at Brooks to Bartlow.

Good morning, I'm Gabriel and I'm a senior at Robinson High School. Thank you for having us.

Good morning.

Good morning, I'm Julia Kershaldi. I'm a junior at Plant High School and thank you for having us.

Good morning.

Hello, my name is Madden Moore and I'm a rising senior at HB Plant High School and I'm honored to serve on the Tampa Mary Youth Corps. Good morning, Council. My name is Whitney Peterly, and I'm a rising junior at Robinson High School. Thank you for having us.

Good morning. My name is Angelina Garcil, and I'm a senior at Robinson High School. Thank you for having us.

I'm Aiden Ahmed. I'm a junior at Robinson High School. I think this is a great experience.

Thank you for having us. Good morning. Good morning. My name is Jacob Carlson. Thank you for having us. I think I recognize you.

You look like somebody I know.

Good morning. My name is Luke Watkins, and I am a sophomore at Plant High School.

Good morning. Thank you. Good morning. Well, thank you guys for being here this morning. It was a pleasure having you. You get to see sometimes how boring government is and sometimes how exciting it is. It's a little bit of everything, all wrapped into one little package. Councilman Maniscalco.

Was the young man, last name Carlson, is he the little guy? Is that him? He's the middle one.

He's the middle one. Okay, so he's not the youngest, okay. I suspect somebody was given the riot act about not embarrassing him, is that correct? Yeah, are you not supposed to embarrass him this morning?

He's been around me forever. A constant state of embarrassment, is that what you're saying? He knows I just stand up for what I believe in.

He'll do the same. Exactly. 100%. Thank you guys for being here this morning. Molly, thank you for bringing everybody. This is a big group this morning. Very good. For those of you that are from Jefferson High School, every time one of you guys came up, this guy down here in the far end, back when he graduated from Jefferson High School, there was horses and carriages and dinosaurs. I graduated. And of course, it'd be back, you know, our late Councilwoman Gwen Henderson was a Jefferson dragon as well. And she used to be all giddy and excited every time somebody from Jefferson showed up at Council. But thank you and welcome to City Council. Hopefully you'll be back someday and we'll see you rise in different fields of success. And some of you may be politicians. Who knows? I knew that was kind of I knew that was coming when you said it was the first time at the dais that that was an indication. Councilwoman Hurtig.

uh and for those of you who do enjoy city council it is on youtube you can watch it live or recorded uh it's a thing people love it so uh that's tv yeah it is yeah councilman bureau we actually won a creative loafing award for most entertaining evening television so just gonna say

I don't know if that's good or bad. Councilman Vera. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to salute all the young folks who came out, including the young person from Freedom High School, where my son went. I have a real special place in my heart for freedom. And but just wanted to commend Molly for the great work that she does and everybody in the city of Tampa. And just also to make a note on how, you know, the mayor's youth core class looks like Tampa and it looks like America, which is people from all different parts of the city, different faiths, different backgrounds. and all, God willing, being future stakeholders in this great city and country. So God bless you guys.

Thank you, Councilwoman Young.

I just wanted to welcome you all. So there's some Middleton Tigers. So go Tigers. And any time I see young people or youth and just being involved, it really just does my heart good. So I'm happy that you all are here. I hope you come back.

Thank you. Very good. OK, are you guys going to stick around for a little bit longer? Okay, then we'll pause for a second to let you guys clear out if you want. Okay, go ahead. We'll just pause. Thank you, Molly. Thanks, guys. It's good seeing you. Take care. Bye. Have a nice day. See you again soon.

No, I think this is the end.

For some.

For some. It's like a year program, yeah.

Good to see you, Mr. Carlson.

We're going to pause for a moment just to let people regroup.

Give us another minute or so. You want some? Okay, let's get going. Okay, very good. We're going to move on to the consent agenda. Councilman Vieira, would you please move items 3 through 6?

So moved.

We have a motion from Councilman Vieira, a second from Councilman Miranda. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, ayes have it. Councilwoman Young, would you move 7 through 14?

I move item 7 through 14.

We have a motion from Councilwoman Young, second from Councilman Miranda. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, ayes have it. Councilman Miranda, would you please move item 15 through 18? We have a motion from Councilman Miranda, a second from? Vieira. Councilman Vieira. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Councilman Miranda, would you move items 21, 23? We have a motion from Councilman Miranda, a second from Councilman Vieira. All those in favor say aye. Aye.

I just wanted to mention for item number 20 because it did talk about license plate or reader services and I wanted to make sure that people knew this was not on public space or it's not on roadways these are for the garages and this is what helps pay for that's that's how they charge people now so this is not about this is not about license plate readers on streets. That's why I'm voting for this.

Very good. Okay.

Okay.

We have a motion to move item 20, a second from Council Miranda, second from Councilwoman Hurtek. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. And Councilman Carlson had asked to pull 19, so we're going to wait for him to be back to be able to do that one. So Councilwoman Young, would you please move items 24 through 32?

Okay, move items 24 through 32.

We have a motion from Councilwoman Young, second from Councilman Veer. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Councilwoman?

I move items 33 through 38.

We have a motion for Councilwoman Hurtek, a second from Councilman Vieira. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, ayes have it.

Can I get a motion? And 1030.

A motion from Councilwoman Miranda to open up the 10. And a motion from Councilwoman Hurtek to open up the 1030. Public hearings. A second from? Second. Councilman Miranda. I'm sorry, Madam Scalco. All those in favor say aye.

She's going to want two separate motions.

Yeah. Okay. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye to open public hearings. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it.

I move to approve items 55, 56, and 57.

We have a motion to approve items 55, 56, and 57. A second from Councilman Maniscalco. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Okay. Were there any others we had to do? No? Okay. Good.

i guess we'll wait for bill for that councilman yes sir i just wanted to say friday 58 we have chief trip here in the event i i know uh chief some of the folks were coming at 11 or they're here okay so at your um pleasure mr chair but just for people's time including our fire chief whenever you'd like to begin

Yeah, I think we'll, we'll, we'll do that after we get through these, uh, these hearings. Okay. Very good. Okay. So item number, what'd you say? Okay.

What'd you say?

Okay.

Yeah. Very good. Item number 39.

Ross Sammons Development Coordination, presenting file number VAC 25-10 for second reading and adoption. I'm available if you have any questions.

Thank you. Does council have any questions? No, hearing none. Okay, very good. Is there an applicant? No. Okay, anybody in the public wish to speak to this item? Hearing none. Motion to close. Motion to close. Councilman Miranda, seconded by Councilman Maniscalco. All those in favor say aye. Aye.

Opposed, ayes have it. Councilman Rivera. Yes, sir. Move ordinance being presented for second reading adoption ordinance of the city of Tampa, Florida vacating, closing, discontinuing, abandoning the alleyway located north of cordial history south of ivy street east of Lincoln Avenue and West of Matanzas Avenue within the plot of John H Drew's first extension in the city of Tampa Hillsborough County Florida as more particularly described in section 2 here of search subject to certain covenants conditions and restrictions as more particularly set forth here in providing for enforcement and penalties for violations providing for definitions interpretations are impeding conflicts providing for several providing an effective date.

A motion from Councilman Beard and Councilman Miranda. Please record your vote.

Motion carried unanimously.

Thank you. Item 40. Who's here to present item 40? Sidewalks. Anybody to present? Is anybody registered online?

Not necessary, Mr. Chairman. Not necessary. You could just ask if there's anybody here from the public.

Is there anybody here in the public who wishes to speak to item 40? Go ahead. Podium, start with your name. You have three minutes.

And also, Mr. Chairman, I believe there is a substitute for that.

That will be read. Thank you. Got it. Ms. Henshaw.

Emily Hinsdale sidewalk code who else just loves talking about the Tampa sidewalk ordinance Tampa City Council please vote yes on agenda item 40 the second reading of the newest version of the sidewalk ordinance that will finally close a loophole that blocks sidewalk construction in Tampa and then we can spend less time talking about sidewalks and more time building them Sidewalk Stompers has been working over the last few months on compiling a list of sidewalk gaps around schools. And I have to be honest, in the city of Tampa, it's very hard to find a school without major and dangerous sidewalk gaps. Sure, there may be a sidewalk on the school property, but there isn't one across the street from the school. So where exactly is a child leaving the school property supposed to walk? Whether you are in South Tampa, North Tampa, West Tampa, East Tampa, New Tampa, or any place without a direction in Tampa, you will struggle to find a way to walk even a couple of blocks away from a school. According to the National Coalition for Safe Routes to School, streets with paved sidewalks are 88.2 less likely to have fatal crashes with students. Installing sidewalks through the sidewalk ordinance is sporadic, but over time it accomplishes real change. I can point to many full city blocks of sidewalk near schools created solely through redevelopment. This ordinance makes a real and measurable difference. And with the elimination of this loophole has the potential to drive dynamic improvements. So let's get this done finally.

vote yes on agenda item 40 to amend the sidewalk ordinance thank you thank you emily carolyn carolyn bennett i obviously agree with everything emily hensdale said i just want to say that The city's record on sidewalks and their implementation of the sidewalk code is abysmal. I'm gonna give it an F minus. We have to have this closing of the loophole. And I wanna say that one of the most important things is that the fee gets paid if they don't build the sidewalk because we can take that money and we can build sidewalks around schools. And we should start with the schools that have the highest number of students that are walking to school, many because they don't have another option. So let's get our priorities straight. This loophole has been abused shamefully, and it has been allowed to go on for years. And my level of frustration over it is off the charts. Thank you.

Thank you, Carolyn. I appreciate your advocacy. Stephanie?

Ditto what both of those folks said. Stephanie Pointer, sorry. Ditto what my friend said about sidewalks. And I honestly think that we have to focus on the areas around schools. That's the most important. Um, and you know, I, when somebody builds a $32,000 sidewalk on Prescott street on a vacant lot in south Tampa, that's been vacant for 20 years, that is a piss poor use of our tax dollars because we all know that somebody's gonna build something on that vacant lot, but yet, and there was a sidewalk on the opposite side of the street, but, um, you know, we have to use. priorities and there should be absolutely a priority for our schools. Not just elementary schools, don't forget. When kids go to middle school and high school, they're goofier than ever. And there's not a grownup walking to school with them. That's very, very important to me. People don't think about it. When I go to Robinson, I guarantee you Councilman Carlson can tell you the same thing, because he was driving to Robinson for a year. Those goobers will walk right out in front of your car. They don't even look. They just walk out in front of you. Thank God they're big enough that you can see them first. But schools absolutely have to be a priority. And if there's a sidewalk on the other side of the street, yes, we want them on both sides, but let's prioritize where there's no sidewalk on the other side of the street. Because where they built those apartments next to Michelle Mastrotero, they built a sidewalk on the south side of the street, but the city came in and spent $32,000 just building a sidewalk on the north side of the street. I still don't understand that.

Thank you. Ms. McGregor, I saw you came in. Would you like to add anything for the record?

Yes, good morning. Emma Gregory, legal department, apologize for being a bit behind this morning. I just want to say that we came for first reading on May 7th. I also submitted a substitute memo fixing a minor typing error and updating the language very slightly. So you should have all received that. So we're here if you have any questions. Adam is also here. So that's it. Thanks.

Any questions? Hearing none. Just thanks again to staff for all the time over many years that you all and your predecessors have done to work on this to get us to this point.

Thank you. OK. We have a motion to close to Councilman Escalico. Second from Councilman Vieira. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Councilman Carlson, would you read the substitute, please?

Yeah. Move item number 40, file number E2026-8. CH 22, substitute ordinance being presented for a second reading adoption ordinance in the City of Tampa, Florida, amending the City of Tampa Code of Ordinances, Chapter 22, Article 1, Division 3, Subdivision 3, Section 22-103, when new sidewalk construction is required, contributions to sidewalk trust fund in lieu of constructing a sidewalk provided for saleability, providing effective date.

We have a motion from Councilman Carlson, a second from Councilman Maniscalco. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. I'm sorry. Please record your vote. Sorry about that.

Motion carried unanimously.

Thank you. Thank you, Sue. Okay, item number 41.

Good morning. Can we take this along with item number 51? That's the July cycle. It's done different places on the agenda.

I do have a presentation. Does council have any questions? No. Okay. Thank you.

If I just want to get clear, you want to take the two items, the one set for 1030, you want to take it now?

Yes, sir.

That's fine.

I have to swear it in for that one. No, it's not.

I believe that was because it was set for 10.30 instead of 10 o'clock. It should have been set for 10 o'clock, so it's appropriate to take them together.

Thank you. Which item? 51. 51.

I thought you said that.

Okay, very good. So this hearing, just for clarification for the public, we're hearing 41 and 51 at the same time. And does council have any questions over either one of these? No. No questions, okay, very good. Is there anybody in the public that wishes to speak to items 41 or 51? We have a motion to close from Councilman Miranda. We have a second from Councilman Maniscalco. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Aye. We're going to vote one at a time.

Mr. Chair, if I may, Dana Crosby, call your city attorney's office.

Do you have something to add?

Yes. I did distribute a memo. There was discussion.

Hold on a second. Can I get a motion to reopen? We have a motion to reopen from Councilman Miranda. Second from Councilman Maniscalco. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Okay, go ahead.

There was a discussion, thank you, Dana Crosby, call you legal, there was a discussion at first reading regarding the certified recovery residences and there was discussion but not a motion about adding some conditions to the reasonable accommodation that the city would extend to operator. I sent a memo that described in some detail how the whole certified recovery residences certified by an entity that's hired by the state. And in the memo on page 12, we included a sample ordinance that would include those conditions for revocation of the reasonable accommodation if certain standards are not met by the operator. And if you would like us to include these in the codified version of the ordinance, if you could adopt the ordinance as amended to include these conditions, that's what we'll submit to Munich Code.

Okay, just for the public, a clarification. This is about item 41, Councilwoman Hurtek.

Thank you this is the reason I voted no initially because I was very concerned about this because this is a state coming in and saying that you can have recovery residences anywhere in the city and that you know what we could do to to handle bad actors I was very concerned about this and so I really appreciate the specificity of these of of what we you added in and so I can vote for it now and I greatly appreciate your time and effort on this because this is having known some of these spaces within the city and how hard it has been to do code work around them. I really do appreciate this.

Okay, with this added information, is there anybody else in the public that wishes to speak to these items? Mr. Chair. Okay, hold on one second. Councilman Carlson.

Yeah, before we close, I just want to say I was absent there and then also for several of the land use hearings, I just want to say that I reviewed the file video and everything.

Noted for the file. Mr. Shelby.

And if I can ask of this cause the color with regard to these changes that you're adding is that is that a separate motion of Council and the other she said is amended well and the question that I have is for the purposes of what the clerk receives what gets uploaded will there be a an amended ordinance filed or clean ordinance or how will it get to in associated. With this item today.

Yes. So Dana Crosby call your city attorney's office We the title didn't change so there's no new title for the ordinance If you adopt the ordinance as amended and include these conditions I have I can submit this ordinance to the clerk So we're just gonna read the title and then as amended Yeah, as amended by the, with the 12-8 conditions.

Okay, very good. Okay, anybody else? Anybody in the public wish to speak to this? Hearing none, we have a motion to close by. Councilman Miranda, seconded by Councilman Maniscalco. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, ayes have it. Councilwoman Young. Yep.

Yep, long one. All right. File number E2026-8, Chapter 27, ordinance being presented for a second reading and adoption. An ordinance of the City of Tampa, Florida relating to publicly initiated text amendments making revisions to the City of Tampa Code of Ordinances amending Chapter 27 zoning and land development, amending Section 27-43 definitions, amending 27-146 official schedule of district regulations, Repealing section 27 dash 160 special street setbacks amending section 27 dash 177 historic district established amending 27 dash 184 official schedule of permitted principal accessory and special uses required off street parking ratios by use parking space equivalencies by transportation mode amending 27 dash 198 official schedule of permitted principal accessory and special uses required off street parking ratios by use parking space equivalencies by transportation mode, amending section 27-199, official schedule of dimensional regulations, amending section 27-211.8, schedule of permitted uses by district, amending section 212.4, schedule of allowable permitted and prohibited uses of district creating creating section 27-282.31 certified recovery residences amending section 27-283.12 off-street parking space standards providing for severability repealing all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict therewith providing an effective date As amended with the eight conditions. As amended with the eight conditions.

And just for clarification, I think the code was 27-156 for the one line. I may have heard it wrong, but I think you said 146. Okay, we have a motion from Councilwoman Young, a second from Councilman Maniscalco. Please record your vote.

Motion carried unanimously.

Thank you. Go ahead.

Item number 51, file number E2026-8, chapter 27, ordinance being presented for second reading and adoption, an ordinance of the city of Tampa, Florida relating to publicly initiated text amendments to consider comprehensive amendments to the city of Tampa code of ordinances, amending section 27-6, establishment of land development code, amending chapter 27, zoning and land development, article two, administrative and general procedures, division eight, subdivision procedures, providing for several ability repealing all ordinance forces or parts of ordinances in conflict therewith providing an effective date a motion councilwoman her tax second councilman maniscalco please record your vote motion carried unanimously

Thank you. Item number 42. We have a request to continue this public hearing to June 18th, 2026. And I get a motion motion from councilman Escalco. Second from councilman Miranda, Mr. Shelby date, time and place, please.

The June 18th, 2026 at 10 a.m. 315 East Kennedy Boulevard, Tampa, Florida. 336-0202, third floor. Second.

A motion from Councilman Maniscalco, second from Councilman Miranda to continue the public hearing. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Item number 43. Let's do that one more time. Councilman Maniscalco, can you make that motion? Yes.

I'd like to make a motion to continue item number 43, file E-2026-A, chapter 26.5. A continuance to 10 a.m. on June 18, 2026, 315 East Kennedy Boulevard, third floor, Tampa, Florida, 33602.

I have a motion from Councilman Maniscalco, second from Councilman Miranda. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Very good. We are now moving on to the 10 o'clock public hearings, which are quasi-judicial. They require people who want to speak to these items to be sworn in. If you are going to speak to these next items, stand, raise your right hand, and be sworn in by our clerk. That's 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50. Please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you are about to provide is the truth and nothing but the truth? Thank you. Thank you. Item number 44.

Good morning, Brad Dixon development coordination item. Number 44 is easy 2611. this item is a rezoning request for the properly located at 1500 West. South street request is to rezone from RS 50 residential, single family, 50 to 18 residential, multiple family available.

If you have any questions, any questions hearing none applicant. Is there anybody in the public who wishes to speak to this item? Move to close. We have motion to close from Councilman Menescalco. Second from? Second. Councilman Moran. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Councilman Menescalco.

Thank you. I have an ordinance being presented for second reading and adoption, RZ 26-11. An ordinance rezoning property in the general vicinity of 1500 West LaSalle Street in the city of Tampa, Florida, more particularly described in Section 1 from zoning district classification RS50, residential single family, to RM18, residential multifamily, providing an effective date.

I have a motion from Councilman Mattescalco, second from Councilman Miranda. Please record your vote. She's absent. Everybody vote.

Motion carried unanimously where her tech being absent at vote.

Thank you very much item.

Number 45. Good morning. Brad Dixon development coordination item. Number 45 is our easy 2616. This item is a request to be on the property located at 3206 North Tampa street. The request is to rezone. from residential single family 50 to plan development residential single family attached uses. Revisions have been completed and certified plans have been submitted to the clerk's office. This is before you today for second reading. I'm available if you have any questions.

Council, have any questions? Hearing none, applicant? Okay, would you like to add anything?

Sorry, I have not been sworn in yet.

Yeah, raise your right hand and be sworn in by our clerk, please.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you're about to provide is the truth and nothing but the truth? Yes. Thank you.

Would you like to add anything for the record?

No, sir. I was just going to say my name is Giselle Moda. I'm the authorized agent for the applicant. I'm here for any questions. Thank you.

Do you also have any questions? Hearing none, is anybody in the public here to wish to speak to this item? We have a motion to close with Councilman Miranda. Second from? Me. Councilwoman Hurtek. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Councilwoman Hurtek, would you like to read this one? I already read one. Okay, Councilman Miranda, go ahead.

16 or papers and for second reading adoption or in the region, a property Jennifer sent it to a 30 to a 6 or tapestry in the city of Tampa for him to describe the sexual one from joining district classification ours 50 residential single-family PD plan development residential single-family attached providing an effective date.

I motion councilman read a second councilman a scout go please record your vote.

Motion carry unanimously.

Thank you item number 46.

Good morning, Council. For the record, Christopher DeMond, Development Coordination. Agenda item number 46 is REZ 2637. This item is a rezoning request for property located at 1313 West Nassau Street. The request is a rezone from RS50 to plan development for residential single-family semi-detached uses. Revisions have been completed and certified plans have been submitted to the clerk's office. I'm available for any questions.

Okay.

Does Council have any questions? No. Hearing none. Applicant?

Good morning, City Council. My name is Giselle Mehta. Once again, I'm the authorized agent for the applicant. I'm here for any questions. Thank you.

Council, any questions? Hearing none. Anybody in the public wish to speak to this item? Hearing none. Can I get a motion to close? All right. Does anybody in the public here wish to speak to this item? No? None? Motion to close. Councilman Escalco, seconded by Councilman Miranda. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Aye. Councilman Carlson, would you read, first read the ordinance and then followed by the resolution?

46, right? Yeah. I move number 46, file number RUZ 26-37, ordinance being presented for second reading adoption, ordinance rezoning property in the general vicinity of 1313 West Nassau Street in the city of Tampa, Florida, more particularly ascribed in Section 1 from zoning district classification RS50, residential single-family to PD plan development, residential single-family semi-detached, providing an effective date.

We have a motion from Councilman Carlson and a second from Councilman Escalco. Please record your vote.

Motion carried unanimously.

Thank you. Can you move the resolution? Thank you. We have a motion from Councilman Carlson to move the associated resolution. Second from Councilman Miranda. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it unanimously. Thank you. Okay. Item number 47.

Good morning. Brea Dixon Development Coordination. Item number 47 is REZ 2652. This item is a rezoning request for the property located at 5200 South Manhattan Avenue. The request is to rezone from plan development for residential single family attached to plan development residential single family attached uses. Revisions have been completed and certified plans have been submitted to the clerk's office. This is for you today for a second reading. I'm available for any questions.

Does council have any questions? Hearing none. Applicant?

Good morning. Kimmy Gore with the award Henderson. Excuse me. I'm here to answer any questions should you have any.

Does council have any questions of the applicant? Hearing none. Anybody in the public wish to speak to this item? Can I get a motion? Oh, we have one. You're just not quick enough.

Stephanie Pointer, I hate this project, but this PD makes it a better PD. So I don't want any more density in South Tampa, but these amendments to the PD are a good thing. I would also like to point out that this applicant is having to come back before you guys to make changes, but the live local next door to me never came back to council when they reduced the setback by 60 feet. So I still have issues with the equity in that situation. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, uh, Caroline Bennett. Uh, I support these changes. I think they are an improvement on the original. Thank you.

Thank you anybody else. I get a motion close to a motion close Council must have a second Councilman Randall is a favor say aye. I suppose the eyes have a councilman beer.

Move ordinance presented for 2nd meeting and adoption ordinance rezoning proper general vicinity of 5200 South Manhattan Avenue. City of Tampa Florida more particularly described in section one from zoning district classification PD plan development to PD plan development residential single-family attached providing an effective date.

I motion from Councilman Rio, second from Councilman Maniscalco. Please record your vote.

Motion carried unanimously.

Thank you. Item number 48.

For the record, again, Christopher Demache, Development Coordination. Agenda item number 48 is REZ 25118. This is a rezoning request for property located at 4714 East Hillsborough Avenue. The request is to rezone from CI and RS 50 to plan development for business professional office, all CI uses, and open storage as an accessory use. Revisions have been completed and certified plans have been submitted to the clerk's office. I'm available for any questions.

Council, do I have any questions? Hearing none, applicant?

Some shake with global engineering associates. I'm here to answer any questions that you may have.

Does council have any questions? Hearing none. Anybody in the public wish to speak to this item? Motion to close. Motion to close. Councilor Miranda, second. Councilor Maniscalco, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, ayes have it. Councilwoman Young.

File number R E Z dash 25 dash one 18 ordinance being presented for a second reading and adoption and ordinance rezoning property in the general vicinity of 47 one for East Hillsboro Avenue in the city of Tampa Florida and more particularly described in section one from zoning district classification CI commercial intensive and RS 50 residential single family to PD plan development business professional office all CI uses and accessory open storage providing an effective date. Second.

I have a motion from Councilwoman Young, second from Councilman Maniscalco. Please record your vote.

Motion carried unanimously.

Thank you. Item number 49.

Redixon development coordination item number 49 is our easy 2616. this item is a rezoning request for the property located at 3206 North Tampa street. The request is a result from our as 50 residential, single family to plan development residential, single family attached uses divisions have been completed and certified plans have been submitted to the clerk's office. This is for you today for a 2nd reading. I'm available. If you have any questions.

Can you restate, because we have Euclid on here in the city, West Euclid Avenue, is that correct?

Oh, so sorry, guys. This is for REZ 2618, ISM rezoning for property located at 3602 West Euclid Avenue. The request is to rezone from RO residential office to CG commercial uses. Available for any questions.

Thank you. Does Council have any questions? Hearing none, applicant?

Nothing for the ad, just happy to answer any questions.

Okay. Have you been, well, you don't have anything to add? Okay, anybody in the audience wish to speak to this item? Move to close. Motion to close. Councilor Miranda, seconded by Councilor Maniscalco. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, aye. Councilwoman Herter.

Yes, file number REZ26-18, ordinance being presented for second reading and adoption. ordinance rezoning property in the general vicinity of 3602 West Euclid Avenue in the city of Tampa Florida and more particularly described in section 1 from zoning district classifications RO residential office to CG commercial general providing an effective date. Second.

I have a motion from Councilwoman Hurtek a second from Councilman Miranda. Please record your vote.

Motion carried unanimously.

Thank you. Item number 50.

Item number 50 or Chris to match for the record with the development coordination item number 50 is already 2626. this is a rezoning request for property located at 2602 and 2604 East Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard and 2603 East Ida Street request is to rezone from CI and RS 50 to plan development for residential multiple family.

provisions have been completed and certified plans have been submitted to the clerk's office i'm available for any questions council have any questions hearing none applicant good morning council catherine coyle boggs engineering 601 south alexander street i'm available for any questions we're just here to ask for your approval as a reminder this is the site where we're saving the three grand trees and this was the introduction of

the shipping container homes.

Does council have any questions? No. Anybody in the public wish to speak to this item? Motion to close. Wait, wait, wait, wait. No?

I'm sorry.

Speak for this. Did you?

No, I didn't.

No, you can be. You can be.

Yeah, you can be sworn in. I was looking at the address. It just was next to the Steve Black Andrews Library. Is that correct?

Yes, across the street. But you have to be sworn in first. Raise your right hand.

Ashley. yes okay would you like to speak to the site yeah i just um sorry start with your name ashley my name is ashley morrow thank you um i don't have a problem with it i just didn't realize that there was something being built right next to the um the Seed Life Andrews, the container homes, and I thought that was a very interesting project. I don't know where I would find more information about that or where I would have seen renderings or if there was a meeting or something like that. I just, not opposed or against or for it, I just didn't know that it was going to be there and I didn't know where to find that information, so I'll follow up with her. Thank you.

Very good. Okay, very good. Anybody else in the public wish to speak to this item? Council Member Rivera, can I get that motion?

Can I just make a quick comment? It was, Ms. Cole, it was funny when I was watching the video this morning catching up, um it was funny watching it where you had to say that tell everybody that there were there's actually going to be doors and windows on it yes yes it was just the artist rendering didn't it looks like a great project thank you

Very good. Motion to close. Councilman Rivera, second from Councilman Mascocca. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, ayes have it. Who did I leave off with?

Me.

Okay, Councilman Mascocca.

File number REZ2026. Ordinance being presented for second reading and adoption. Ordinance resigning properly in the general vicinity of 2602 and 2604 East Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and 2603 East Ida Street in the city of Tampa, Florida. and more particularly described in section one from zoning district classification rs50 residential single family and ci commercial intensive to pd plan development residential multi-family providing effective date motion councilman mescalco second council miranda please record your vote motion carry unanimously thank you item number 52 is the first reading please

Ross Sammons, Development for the Nation, presenting file number BAC 23-20. This is an ordinance correcting a scrivener's error from a previously approved vacating ordinance, 2024-35. And that ordinance abandoned all right-of-way and alleyways located north of Oak Avenue, south of Palm Avenue, east of Tampa Street, and west of Florida Avenue. Basically, this is to amend and correct the exhibit A, which is the illegal description of the ordinance, to add a small area that was omitted from the legal description. That area was approximately five feet by eight feet long. Um, in the previous, this was included in the previous notice for the approved vacating. And, um, I'm available if you have any questions on this council, have any questions, very none.

Is there made the public wish to speak to this item? I'm going to close a motion close. Councilman Miranda, second councilman, a scout call. Those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed the eyes have it. Councilman rent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. File number 52, file number VAC 23-20, orders being presented for first reading, second reading consideration. No, not first. First reading consideration, excuse me. An ordinance in the city of Tampa, Florida, correcting the Scribner's errors by amending orders number 2024-35, which vacated closed discontinue and abandoned all rights of ways and alleyways located north of Oak Avenue south of Palm Avenue east of Tampa Street west of Florida Avenue within the plat of Highland Park first edition subdivision in the city of Tampa Hillsborough County Florida by amending exhibit a to add a small area that was inadvertently omitted from the legal description repeating conflict providing for servability providing an effective date

I motion, Councilor Miranda, second for Councilman Maniscalco. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you.

Motion carried unanimously. Second reading and adoption will be held on July 16, 2026 at 10 AM in City Council Chambers, Old City Hall, 315 East Kennedy Boulevard, third floor, Tampa, Florida, 33602.

Thank you. Item number 53. And then we're going to hear from Barbara Tripp after this.

Well, it's next on the item number.

Yeah. I just want to make sure she knows what I'm talking about.

After Barbara.

Morning again, council. Deputy Chief Patrick Messmer, Tampa Police Department. We're here basically to make some minor amendments to the school zone speed camera enforcement ordinance that council's already passed. We've already passed the contract, the ordinance. We have one simple goal, and that's to protect students and to protect our folks who are walking to school, who are driving to school. And what we have done, I think council's pretty much familiar with this program. It was previously passed, we relied on a study from the Hillsborough County Transportation Planning Commission that was commissioned back in 2022. It actually used some data as old as 2018, and it relied on a lot of multimodal aspects of walking and biking to school, things like that. When we had some issues with the previous vendor, some operational issues, and we were basically severed the ties with the previous vendor. When we adopted the new contract and moved to Red Speed, Red Speed offered to actually do a true speed study. So we had them do the speed study at 31 school zones in the city of Tampa and they specifically were looking for the number of speeding vehicles that would be committing a violation under this statute during school hours. So we identified 18 specific school zones. These schools are actually a little bit more geographically spread out through the city than the original study showed. But there are 18 of these school zones that average between 200 and even up to 3,000 speeding violations per day. So what we're asking council to do is to amend the ordinance and again the only amendment is to just change the locations. Six of the previous locations that were already in the ordinance were also identified in this study, but there were some additional locations that had a lot of these serious speeding issues that were identified. So because our goal is making our school zone safer, making our students safer as they're coming to school, we do want to make sure that the locations that have the most speeding violations are the ones that we're actually putting our speed cameras at. So I know there's been some some concern about uh... the potential for you know sharing of any kind of data uh... license plate readers and so forth and just a reminder both the state statute and the city ordinance do not allow the sharing of any kind of data for surveillance purposes so there will be none of that uh... even if the state statute gets amended and allows that the city ordinance still prohibits the use of this kind of data for surveillance purposes so there can be no data sharing with any kind of license plate recognition systems that can be used for surveillance in the future. If the vendor were to do that, they would be in breach of the city ordinance, in breach of the contract. So we don't have any concern that's not gonna happen. We've spoken with them. They are not gonna be storing this data for any kind of license plate recognition purposes, any kind of surveillance purposes. As a reminder, with these violations, do not carry any points on a person's driver's license. Even if the violation turns into a, uniform traffic citation. It's not paid. It still does not generate points on somebody's driver's license. So we do know that these cameras make school zones safer, you know, depending on what study you look at anywhere from a 45% to an 80% reduction in speeding for when these cameras are installed. So we definitely know that they are valuable. They're a valuable public safety piece. And of course, before this Before this is implemented, we do hope that it's implemented here by the start of the school year. We do plan to have a robust public education campaign. This is an item. Some of the data on there is old because it's from the old system. You all see that? Yep, there we go. So that's just an example of one of the flyers that we post either on social media or we give out at community meetings. So some of those dates on there are obviously going to change. But we do also have a couple screenshots from the previous website. that we set up again on this the website's been archived right now because it's not active but we do have a website set up we have videos we have a lot of examples we have frequently asked questions we have location data that will be on these websites and again we plan on not only are we going to promote the website not only are we going to promote things via our social media we plan on going to community meetings to get with community groups make sure that You know, we notify them that the program is going to be starting. There is a 30-day warning period when each camera is set up before violations start being issued. So the warning period and the robust community outreach is very important to us. So, again, we're asking for council to just approve this amendment so we can put these cameras at our most you know, most important locations where speeding has been determined via this traffic study to be an issue. And we would ask council support on this. And I'm here to answer any questions along with Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Reiser.

Councilman Vieira, then followed by Hurtek.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for your presentation, sir. We appreciate that. I'm very, very supportive of these. I remember when State Representative Tracy Koster, I think it was, introduced this in the legislature. And it's very, very important to note. First off, I want to say, on and I'll talk about some of the schools that are being targeted here in school areas for improvements on safety. They're the ones I hear about the most as the district seven Tampa City Councilman. But it's important to know what this does and what this doesn't know. This is something that's and please correct me if I'm wrong in this regard. But from recollection, it's very narrowly tailored. It's $100 fine. It is time limited in terms of the hour before and after school And I believe it is, it doesn't, and please correct me if I'm wrong, it doesn't take effect unless if you're going in excess of 10 miles over the speed limit. Isn't that so?

That is all correct.

Yeah, yeah. So this isn't some sort of a cash grab by local government. This isn't something that's onerous or punitive at all. It's very narrowly tailored and it's narrowly tailored to protect the lives of children. that's why i strongly support this um i know that previously sulfur springs elementary i believe it was have been in this and now i'm glad to see we have shaw in copeland park area that's here and i'm also very thrilled to see that we have i think it is three new tampa schools benito near hunters green and arbor green that's a that's a wonderful choice i hear a lot about speeding over there on cross creek and we also see child's elementary where my son went when he was he was a kid and i and i've experienced a lot there years ago when i used to drop them off and pick them up over at child's elementary that issue um and then liberty which is right next to freedom so again i hear a lot from my constituents especially on those three schools on benito liberty as well as child so i'm thrilled to see this happen and um and it's also important to note i've always had big challenges with the state of floor in our present law whenever it comes to fees and fines and how we institutionalize poverty taking away uh folks's ability to drive because of unpaid fees and fines for me that is totally separate from this issue i'm not going to not enforce the law or not implement provisions that put penalties on people who go 15 miles in excess of the speed limit in the school zone because of implementation on fees and fines. I want to change on that in Florida law, and I think a lot of people do. But for me, those are totally separate issues. So I'm proud to support this. My constituents strongly support this. And so I thank you for your work. And again, I'm glad that local governments can do this. This is the right thing to do. Thank you.

Sue Lynn, can you make sure the timer is set on council? Councilwoman Hurtado.

So my first question to follow what Councilman Vieira said, so they won't get a fine until 10 miles over the speed limit?

Yes, ma'am, that is correct. So the statute actually describes when the citation can be issued. So you can't issue a citation for or a violation. They're not even citations. You can't issue a violation for five or six or seven. It's 10, correct?

Correct.

Anything over 10 miles an hour, the state will allow us to issue those citations specifically under this automated enforcement. Now, if there's a police officer who happens to be running radar, running laser in a school zone, they don't have that specific requirement. But just for the cameras, that is correct.

But generally speaking, school zones are 15 miles an hour?

15 to 20 miles an hour usually?

So you're talking about 25 to 30 miles an hour before you can do a ticket? To me, I just think that 10 miles an hour is a huge difference in a school zone. I will just say that. And I understand. Thank you for explaining that if it's an actual officer, they don't have to wait that 10 miles an hour. But wow, then, that 10 miles an hour is a lot. So we had a public commenter this morning that asked if there was a way we could take our ordinance and make sure that language gets into this ordinance and not just referencing the ordinance that council had passed previously about not using the camera technology for flock or other surveillance, is there a way that we could actually write that into this contract to give people more assurity? Because the commenter this morning said, and it made a lot of sense, and this is exactly what I've been hearing from the community after my last vote was, just because there's an ordinance doesn't mean that ordinance is going to stay even city council because we're gone in may of next year the new council could completely change that so what they're asking is can we put that stronger language that's in our current overall ordinance into this contract to make it more ironclad so unfortunately there's not a way to amend the contract because the contract with this company was done through the

provisions of the government purchasing council we is essentially a piggyback contract so we can't change a contract that we piggybacked on in order to do that we would potentially have to go back to rfp um it would be months and months and months and months to do that there'd be no way that we could get these cameras implemented by the start of the school year if we you know went back to rfp did this all over again we would be looking at another year to two years to even implement this program so unfortunately because we piggybacked on the contract we can't change the contract. But again, no matter what the contract says, as long as this council or a future council doesn't change the ordinance and the legislature doesn't change the law, both of those things would have to happen. Even if the legislature changes the law, our ordinance would still be stricter than the law. So our ordinance would still apply. So you would have to have a legislature change the law and a future council change the ordinance to specifically allow surveillance with these cameras As far as the police department goes, we don't have any reason to want that.

People are not concerned about the police department using it. They're concerned about the federal government and ICE using it. That's the issue. It's not our local law enforcement at all. I think the bigger concern is that the Florida legislature just completely preempts our ability to regulate them because that's what they've been doing in Tallahassee for many, many things. And so that is a concern. So thank you.

Councilman Carlson, then you just follow that. Can I ask legal a question, please? So if so, if the Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice subpoenas these files to do we or the vendor have to give it to them?

Uh, Mike Schmidt, um, assistant city attorney. Uh, if I understand your question, right, you're asking whether or not if department of justice subpoenaed the records from the care red speed, would red speed be required to comply with the subpoena? Um, I mean, I think there's a deeper level of knowing what red speed would have. So first off, the data has to be deleted within 90 days from the disposition of the violation. And I think any other data is deleted within 30 days. So I don't know that they're capturing the data the Department of Justice you're concerned about is even going to exist. But in theory, I can't advise that Redspeed would have to honor a subpoena from the Department of Justice.

The state and federal government legal law enforcement couldn't.

I would imagine they would, but again, I don't think they're going to have the data that some of us are stating that they might have concerns with.

The thing I wanted to say on top of that, though, is that for anybody watching, today we're not approving the contract. All we're doing is revising the ordinance that was passed already. And you kind of said this earlier, but I think one of the benefits of this is that the locations primarily or all were in East Tampa. that was one of the concerns was brought up in in in public comment also and now you distributed it throughout the city and you're doing it based on data not just geography but i think in terms of equity um you know the the east tampa folks are concerned about biking while black and renting while black and other policies in the past And now we can say to them, this is being distributed throughout the city. One of them is Robinson High, which is the one my youngest son goes to. And I see people speeding through there all the time. And they're going way more than 10 miles an hour of a speed limit. So I think a lot of people will be happy of it. One thing that happens is that when you... When you slow down to go through a school zone, people start honking behind you. And so on the later item, I think we need to talk about other issues there. You talked about effectiveness. I took a deep dive on this and the legislation and everything. What I found is that the industry says it's 65% sometimes more effective, but the peer-reviewed research shows it's about 45% or 46%. And so that's still a deterrent, but there's 55% more. And the education campaign you're doing, the research shows that that's about 10% or 15% effective. That's let's say you take the 45% put 15 on board. What I want to talk about in the next item later is what else we can do in particular with the $10 million that is going to be left over as Emily was talking about earlier. As to the hours, just to confirm, it's going to be during the whole school day, right? So in the morning, if you go 26 miles an hour, you'll get a ticket. But let's say that between drop-off and pickup time, the speed limit is 35, you'd have to go 46 to get a ticket, right? But you could get a ticket during school day, but on weekends and after hours, before hours, it's not going to be going, right?

That's correct.

Does it collect data during those times?

it's only capturing speed violations, if that answers your question.

And then in terms of the argument about a cash grab or not cash grab, I think that's going to be the next discussion. It depends on what we do with the $10 million. So it says we can use it for school safety or public safety. And so if we use it for anything other than school safety, then it's going to look to the public like a cash grab. So that's the discussion I want to have. As Emily Hinsdale mentioned earlier, there's a whole bunch of scientifically proven things. And if this is 45% effective, which is very good, people are still speeding through. I think our goal should be to have nobody pay tickets. Because if you're speeding through and getting a ticket, you're still putting lives at risk. So what are the other things we can do? And bigger signs, which we'll talk about later, are only like 20% effective. But there are other things that we can do as well. That's it. Thank you. Councilwoman Young.

Um, so I definitely, you know, anything that, you know, supporting our students, especially when they're going to, um, making sure that our students are safe when they're going to school, um, I think is very important. Um, with that being said, can you please, um, just, you know, for myself and for the public, what exactly is it that we are voting on today?

So I'm sorry. Yeah. If I, if I wasn't clear again, All we're voting on today is amending the ordinance that council's already passed. It doesn't have anything to do with the contract the council's also already passed. To amend the ordinance to, because the ordinance has specific schools in it. So the previous ordinance had the 12 schools that were identified via the old study. Now that we have a newer study that is specifically a speed study, we've done more research and we've identified these 18 schools. So it's replacing those 12 schools with these 18 schools. And six of those schools are the same. The other six were not identified as having actual issues with speeding. So all we're doing is clarifying the locations where the cameras can be put.

And those 18 schools are spread throughout the city now.

They are spread throughout the city. I do have, although the map's a little bit hard to read, I do have a map with the locations on there as well. Zoom in a little bit. Yeah, it is more spread out. Like Councilman Vieira says, we do have some schools up in New Tampa. We have some more down in South Tampa. And then it is a little bit more spread out. Several of those schools in East Tampa were the ones that were removed. based upon this new study now earlier when we were talking about changing the language in the contract did I hear you say that it would take a year just to put that amendment into the contract I think that's probably a conservative estimate I mean and there's no because we can we piggybacked on the contract so in order to have this these cameras operational by the school year Um, we have to, we have to get this passed today. So if we delay the process, go back to RFP and try to get the contract rewritten, then, you know, we're talking about neck at least next school year before we get, we get to have all this stuff done. So it would, with the, the process of the procurement process, the RFP process, and then. You know, the fact that nothing can start as far as the educational campaigns, the construction, all of those things. That's what takes the time is going onto the roadway and putting the cameras up. So it takes a lot of time to get the permits in place, to get the infrastructure put in. So that would delay everything. And again, you know, the ordinance doesn't allow what the concern is.

So here's my issue with that. We change contracts all the time and we amend and change things and it doesn't take a year. So I hear you and I understand, but I've seen us do it for other things and I've seen contracts be amended all the time. So I'm curious as to why just putting a language in there that make sure that we are protecting people's data, why that would take so long to do.

Because it's not specifically our contract. This is a contract we piggybacked on via the provisions of the purchasing council. So essentially we're taking the contract that I believe the county is using and we're just adopting that same contract. So my understanding with those rules is we don't have the ability to specifically change a contract that we're piggybacking off of.

Can I have one of the lawyers explain to me, please?

Hello, Mike Schmidt, city attorney. Yeah, I concur with what Chief Messmer just said. That's correct. We can't change the provisions of the county contract. And so for reasons he's previously stated, that is our concerns.

Mr. Shelby. And I would also concur. And basically what... you're being told is because this contract comes as a package, we're able to streamline the process and get the same negotiated rates that all the other municipalities or government entities are using for that contract. If you want to do something different, there's a whole process that we have to go through for RFPs, which was discussed, and then the process would be that it would have to be renegotiated with that company And you've heard what the problem would be with that in terms of time. The other thing is normally counsel generally under the charter does not have the ability to negotiate or renegotiate contracts from the dais. you can either vote them up or you can vote them down and state the reason why. But when you hear about contracts being renegotiated, they could be suggested by the city council, but under the administrative duties of the mayor, under the duties of mayor, she gets to negotiate contracts and council's presented to them with the binary choice of yes or no.

And if I may real quick, there is a cancellation provision in the contract. So if they violate the city ordinance and anybody determines that they're violating the city ordinance, that would be a breach of the contract and the contract could be immediately canceled at that point.

Two more questions. You said there's going to be an educational campaign. How long will we be doing this educational campaign?

So our plan is to start the educational campaign as soon as the ordinance passes and everything is approved by council. And then that educational campaign will go up until the point that the system goes live before the school year starts. So that's several months is the educational campaign.

And then with this new camera installations, will there be signs that say cameras are slowed down? There are going to be cameras?

Yes.

At all of the locations?

Correct. That's part of the requirement is any time. that a school zone has a camera on their enforcing speed, that has to be posted that it is, there is speed enforced, essentially. So there is a specific sign that says that it's photo enforced and the hours that the photo enforcement is taking place is also on the same sign.

Okay, thank you. Councilman Miranda, did you wish to speak? Microphone.

Mic, microphone.

That's basically what we do sometimes and what we do bidding for buying a car or something for the fleet. You bid a contract that the sheriff has and we don't have to go through that process. We just piggyback from the sheriff and buy the cars at the same price that the sheriff did, which would have got anyway, but it would have taken another six or eight months and the price might have escalated upwards.

That's correct. We wanted to get this project done. We wanted it done by the school year last year. We had issues with the last vendor. We didn't want to have to wait longer and longer and redo the whole process.

Okay, so I'll do the end of the first round, then we'll move on to the second round. It would be my intention to vote against this. I regret my vote on the first round. So just FYI, I'll leave it at that. Councilman Vieira, then Councilman Hurtado on the second round.

But could legal just tell us the effect of voting no?

The effective but it knows that with this the existing ordinance would stand with it with the existing locations, but they have modifications and so do you have a I'm sorry? Yeah, so yes, I concur. Okay. Councilman beer.

Thank you very much. Mr. Chairman, and I do want to point something out, which is there have been references on this potential to being used or even misused, I guess if you will, ICE was mentioned. What I would say is there's a couple of things, which is number one, we shouldn't let the potential misuse of this law preclude us from the proper use of it by us, which I think will be a tremendous benefit to our communities. In my estimation, I would be open if there's a motion for an annual written report or something of that nature so that we keep an eye on this. I say that because obviously I have a level of regard and deference for the issues which were mentioned with regards to sharing of data. And I have strong, strong, strong moral disapproval of what the federal government is doing now by and large on that issue. And so you know something like that would certainly be open to but again, I wouldn't let the potential misuse of this preclude us from the proper use of it which philosophically I'm in support of when it comes to our schools myself and I and I respect our chairman's position. I know councilman can then his position on public safety is second to none, but that's my position. Thank you. Councilman her check.

So what is the length of this contract.

I believe there's, uh, options for extension, but I, my recollection is, uh, approximately March of 2027 is the county's contract, uh, ends. Um, so because we're piggybacking, we are currently with, with them right now.

So March of 27th, it's approximately around that. Um, okay. And then my other question is, how are we going to know? if they're breaking the contract? How are we going to know if the data is asked for and taken by the federal government? Because from my understanding, they wouldn't go to you. They would go straight to Red Speed. So how would you know if the cameras are not used correctly?

I understand the question. And it is hard to answer hypotheticals that don't exist. right now, but I would say that understanding that this camera is not integrated with flock. So this is literally just a camera right now that is trying to capture speed data and the information in order to process the violation that's necessary. Other data winds up getting deleted and destroyed. And then the data needed for processing those ones that are determined violations can be kept by the law for 90 days. and you can't use it for surveillance. So, I mean, they would be violating both the state and our law. How would we know? I mean, I can't answer that.

Yeah, so we don't. But the problem is we've seen the federal government continuously not following the laws that they have. We're hearing other cities that have stopped working with these companies and the cameras keep going. There was one article, I believe it was in Wisconsin. They're having problems with it right now that they're having to put trash bags over the cameras so that they're not continuing to record data. So that is the issue that we are constantly getting asked about after this vote. I've had constant communication with community members saying, I am worried about that happening here. And when I ask and you say we can't guarantee it, that is what my that is. I mean, you I understand your position, but you have to understand the position that we're in and that the public is not trustworthy. It's not trusting the federal government that is not following its own rules right now. So how can we guarantee that these rules are supposed to be followed or that they are followed? And the answer is we can't.

Okay. And Councilman Carlson?

Yeah, just the ordinance was passed a year or so ago. The contract was passed a few months ago. The effect of voting no today is that is not gonna change the contract and not change the ordinance because they exist. I voted against the contract, but I voted for the ordinance just to create the possibility of it. And so the only effect today is that the list that's primarily in East Tampa is still gonna exist. And so, correct? Do you have the list of the map of the before and after? You showed the after, but do you have the before? I mean, my concern is if we do nothing today, then there's going to be an over concentration in East Tampa. And I don't want that either.

I do not have that map, but but you're is it correct that most or all of them are in East Tampa? A majority. Yes, sir.

And so and so that, you know, we heard a little bit from the community this morning, but we've heard separately about that. And so I don't if the ordinance came before us again, I might vote no. But now the ordinance is passed. The contract is passed. Now all we're doing is we're spreading them throughout the city. And some of them are going to go to South Tampa. And I think some folks in South Tampa are OK with it. There is concern about having too many in East Tampa for a lot of reasons. And so I don't want to vote no just because of that. The other thing is in item 59, what I'm going to propose based on conversations with Emily Hinsdale and others is that we direct the $10 million or whatever the surplus is net of what the school district and everybody gets, that we allocate it only for school safety. And then if we'll see if the administration fights back, then we know that it was a cash grab. But if, as Emily said this morning, there's a whole bunch of things that we can do for school safety other than just these and that places that we're not putting these, we can put narrow roads, raised crosswalks, flashing signs and other things, because what we ultimately ultimately this is should not be about collecting money it should be about stopping people from speeding through these areas because we don't want kids and families to get hit so that'll be item 59 but i'm i'm concerned now um because i don't i don't want an over concentration east tampa councilwoman young yeah i would um i agree with you on councilman carson you know

I think having it spread across the city is much better, but I'm having a very hard time with not being able to guarantee in terms of the cameras, and then we can't go back and change anything. It's gonna take a year, we did this, we can't, we can't, we can't. I hear both of you, but I'm concerned about that. i'm i'm concerned about that i definitely i think that we absolutely have to protect our children as they're going to from school elementary middle and high school there that there's no question about that um i'm just i'm having a hard i'm having a hard time just not being able to guarantee that you know this company is not going to be you know still capturing data or sharing information

Well, again, if they are doing something that is in breach of the contract or in breach of the law, then...

But it's not in their contract. That's what we're talking about.

It is in their contract that they have to follow our ordinances and our laws. So as long as our ordinance says that they cannot use any of the data for surveillance purposes, any kind of data sharing, then they cannot do that. So if they do that, they would be in violation of the law. They would be in violation of our ordinance, which would be a breach of contract, and it would be immediately canceled so again and as Councilman Vieira mentioned there is a reporting requirement an annual reporting requirement that goes along with this to Council so we will be you know making an annual report to Council about the program and as Councilman Carlson said again this is this is just changing the locations this has nothing to do with the contract or with the ordinance I mean if we we obviously want this to pass because these are the 18 locations that are the most important but You know, if this doesn't pass, we will just put the cameras in the 12 locations that the ordinance already allows us to. So we don't want to do that. We want to put them the places where we've determined through a better study that they're more necessary. But regardless of whether or not they're at the 12 locations in the existing ordinance or they're in the 18 locations that's in the proposed ordinance, we're still going to make sure that the vendor doesn't do anything that they're not supposed to based upon our laws.

But, and I hear you, but also, I mean, we're having to change our EBO and other things because the laws in Tallahassee are changing. So, not trying to, you know, foreshadow that we're going to have to change again, but that's where the uncomfortability comes from, is you're saying, like, unless, the laws change, but they are changing. So...

i yes we need to make sure that our kids are safe that's number one priority there's no question about that but um it's just it's really uneasy so what happens in march of 20 oh hold on let me know march of 27 what happens with the contract is it can they up without our permission or do we have to both concur mr chairman uh i don't know whether mr schmidt has the contract in front of him but i will say

that if there is an opportunity for a renewal, that is normally administratively, it could be administratively done in council.

Well, that's just what I want to use for public.

But that requires, I guess, a discussion of the contract itself.

Generally, contracts have to come to us for renewal.

It depends on what's in the contract. Well, why don't you take an IOU, and when you find that information, let me know. Because the only thing, I'm going to, a couple of things. One, the study that was done was done by a private vendor that benefits by increased fines. So that's... I mean, if it was done by public, I mean, there was some self-deal and self-interest here that a public vendor who supplies these cameras financially benefits from expanding these areas. So that causes me pause and some concern. Again, I said from the beginning that I have issues with these to begin with. I think there's other ways that we can provide for public safety without infringing on folks' civil rights and constitutional rights. I mean, again, I regret my first vote on this. It's my intention to vote against this this time around because of that. And there we go.

Councilwoman Hartag. So I would like to make a motion irrespective of this ordinance Since this is going to end in March of 27, I think what we can do as a council, or at least those of us who tend to be concerned about this can signal now that we don't intend to continue after March 27 and instead ask staff two things. One, I'm going to ask legal staff to look at the contract and see what what the ramifications are for early termination. That's my first motion. And my second motion is to ask the administration to go out now and get an RFQ, RFP, whatever. I can never remember the difference. I don't know. And to find a vendor that does not partner with Flock. that's that is what we're hearing in the community that is what they don't want and so i'm going to listen to the community on that i would like to make those two motions if anybody has any suggestions about that but it sounds kind of like what we're hearing so if anybody has some suggestions i'd be willing to take them i mean i'd like to hold on a second right now for procedural wise we're hearing this motion for consideration But this is about this contract going forward.

I understand, but do we need to... Mr. Chair. Somebody give me some advice.

No, but we can ask for a continuance of this with the modifications that were just suggested.

Yeah, I think we have to have some kind of action on this.

But frankly, this is also first reading consideration. So council has several options. You can vote it up. and move it to second reading in public hearing, or you can vote it down, or you can continue it.

Can I explain my rationale?

I think I understand your motion. I just want to understand procedurally how we get past this to get to you.

But no, no, the issue is they've made it clear we've already passed this ordinance, but what I'm saying is we're only obligated through March 27, so why don't we start now figuring out what's going to happen after that?

No, I understand. Councilman Hertrick, here's the issue. Right now, we're considering item 53. That's what's on the agenda right now. That's what's on the agenda. Right. What you've just described is sort of like new business of this motion.

So what you're asking, Mr. Chairman, is how do you dispose of this agenda item that you have in front of you right now to be able to address that motion? Correct. But, Mr. Chair...

Mr. Chair, she can make a motion to ask them to modify the ordinance to have it end or whatever at the end of March, right?

Well, except for that would not be germane to this because this is strictly limited to the locations. So I agree with Mr. Shelby's advice. I think we deal with this up or down and then we adjust to the second business.

I haven't spoken for the second time.

Councilman Miranda, please.

What we're doing here is looking from 12 to 18, am I correct, locations? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes. Yeah. Secondly, we're talking about civil rights. I understand all that, but what about the children's rights and the parents' rights if some kid gets killed because we don't do anything other than the 12 that we have now and something happens in the 6 that we're avoiding? Where do we stand there? You know, traffic is one thing. Traffic in a cool zone is another. Way back, very few got killed. Now traffic is the main cause, more likely, of death in a lot of areas. We are speeding, whether we know it or not. It used to be in the old days you could feel the wind because you didn't have air conditioning. You knew how fast you were going without looking at the speedometer. Now you've got air conditioning. Everything is foam inside. You don't hear your grandmother yelling at you when she's next to you. So where are we talking about civil rights? What about children's rights or parents' rights that somebody's going to get killed? Thank you very much.

Mr. Shelby, am I correct in your advice that this is an up or down vote? No. No?

Or continuance? You have multiple options.

Tell me my multiple options, please.

in order to address some of these concerns, one of your options is to move it on first reading because the purpose of first reading is to comply with chapter 166 of Florida statutes. Then it gets set for a set, and you could put off the date of second reading. it depends what date you want to set it to then what happens is when you have it on second reading it's also set for a public hearing so the public can also then come out and speak specifically to it and during which time you can have those issues addressed by staff reports so you can have the contract in front of you you can have the options in front of you with regard to the process the other option is to add to to vote this down at first reading consideration. But then you heard the ramifications of the fact that this particular item also requires council make a finding of fact that this is done for the purpose of data that supports each school zone is being chosen for heightened safety. So what you're acknowledging by passing this ordinance is that the 12 that you do have may or may not comply, but when the ordinance is amended, then the reason these are being chosen, and that's going to have to be a requirement, it's in the whereas clauses, but it should also be stated that the purpose of this particular ordinance is for the purpose of heightened safety. And in the meantime, If you don't do that, then as Mr. Miranda just said or as just was stated, the status quo remains and the ordinance remains in effect and the contract remains in effect until you address it.

And just to be clear, this is not just a change of locations. This is an increase by 50% the number of cameras from 12 to 18. So we're not just changing locations. We're increasing the number of cameras.

So to try to answer your question there, The previous ordinance listed the schools and not the school zones and some of those there was one school that had Two streets that were identified as potential that had the flashers. So I think the prior number of cameras was actually closer to 24 because one of the schools closed so it was 24 cameras last time and now we're looking at An increase yes, but just just so you know it was an increase to how many cameras. I think 18 times 2, so 36, so 24 to 36.

But it's a 50% increase in the number of schools and then whatever the number of cameras. Okay, Mr. Shelby.

And Mr. Chairman, it's very appropriate, this being something that could also be raised at public hearing, is what is the data that supports that? Is there data that supports heightened safety that supports it? Done by a private vendor. An increase.

But it's done by a private vendor. Well, that has financial benefits from that study.

And that very well may be true, but that is a public policy discussion that you certainly could have. But the question is, my understanding is, and I may be mistaken, but I had a conversation with Mike.

Mr. Shelby, let me defer to Councilman Vera, please. If I may.

Yes.

If I may, since the issues that we're discussing now are issues

as opposed to whether or not it is a private vendor that does it, et cetera. I wanna deal with, if there's legal issues at play here, but I wanna deal with the policy issues, okay? Number one, There's one person y'all hear from from New Tampa every week, and it's me. If this thing doesn't pass, you're going to have a lot of folks, because I promise you, I promise you, I hear all the time about Liberty, about the Freedom Area, about Childs, about Benito. And what this does is expand this program, as I've been pushing for, into the New Tampa area. This isn't some radical thing we're doing. This is, again, if you support it philosophically like I do, and again, some folks don't. I respect that. This is a good thing. Again, I stress we shouldn't let the potential misuse of this program preclude the reasonable and normal use of this program, which benefits public safety, in my opinion. I want to stress that. We got to know what we're doing today. As I believe it was, Councilman Carlson said, we're changing the schools. That's it. if there's other issues uh that again i'm very sympathetic to that we want to take a look at let's do that but i think we ought to pass this thing on first reading and again if we want to have i know there's any reviews if we want to put it as a matter of council policy to have something in writing on this very sympathetic to that very sympathetic to that um i'm glad to support that but but again we should move this forward i i'm prepared again to vote for 53 as is and then if there's any additional policy issues we want to deal with in the future today we can discuss that thank you just to correct your statement though it's not just not just doing it's also expanding the schools and expanding cameras it's not just changing locations we're expanding the number of cameras and expanding the number of schools councilwoman her tech

So I do have a question about the study. It wasn't in the backup documents. Where is the study? The study's in the backup documents. The full study itself?

Yeah, it was placed in the backup documents. Okay, so I can give you a copy.

I want to go through that over lunch and take a look. Do you want to?

And if I could just address something real quick with the study, it was performed by the vendor, but it was validated. And the study basically was they put radars in these school zones and counted the numbers of cars going through the school zones each day during the hours that would receive citations. So it's not really like it's something that was open to any kind of interpretation. It was all empirical data that was captured by radar.

Council, I just want to bring to this discussion just something generally so you know this and don't conflate this public policy discussion with a quasi-judicial matter. Normally when I say when you vote for something on first reading, you better have a darn good reason to change your vote on a quasi judicial matter competent substantial evidence this is a public policy matter this is a legislative matter this is fairly debatable what you're in fact doing is procedurally under florida law setting this for if you do approve it and i'm not taking a position please don't assume that i am But what you're doing is you're just moving this forward to set it for public hearing and a second reading. Fairly debatable is a very loose standard. You can vote this down as long as it's just not arbitrary and capricious, as long as you can articulate any reason. So you're not married to this. from a policy standpoint just from moving it forward if it gives you the time to be able to get the questions you answer or what you do is if you have any concern then you continue this item and then get your questions.

Or we could vote it down.

Or you could vote it down.

Yes. Absolutely.

Chief, did you want to say something? Just three points why Council's deliberating on this. One is that from the John Bennett Chief of Staff, from the purchasing point of view, typically our contracts have a for cause, not for cause, and then the Councilwoman, her tax point. The RFP process, so between the votes, we could talk about all three of those. The second thing is what Councilman Carlson brought up about the geo-equity consideration. I think that's valid. I was a Special Operations Commander over traffic years ago and geo-equity was my number one thing citywide. The third thing that also Councilman Carlson mentioned was typically in this space, it's education, engineering, then enforcement. So whatever proceeds work their way back into improve education and engineering by default will lower enforcement over time. So those, I just wanted to bring up those three elements from the purchasing equity and the use of the funds for the future for council to think through. Thank you.

Did you want to say something? We were talking about the study that was done by the vendor and I looked at whatever was in the file and my recollection of the methodology is that the the vendor has an incentive to find the spots that have the biggest number of violations because they're going to they have an economic incentive to pick the the the school zones that the most people are speeding through and so i think that's an okay um incentive because it aligns with ours that we want to reduce the maximum amount of speeding we we don't want people speeding in school zones that's the thing keep people safe In looking at the other kinds of studies about the overall effectiveness, that's where I think it's important to have peer-reviewed data, and the industry will say 65% plus, but the peer reviews say 45, and 45 is still great, but that's why in 59 I want to talk about other measures as well, as we kind of alluded to a minute ago. But I don't know what you all want to do. We're stuck here. We can either continue or we can approve it. And then we have to address the overall issues either with a different ordinance or some other mechanism. Councilwoman Young.

So when I think of there's a woman in East Tampa that I've visited a few times. And as I'm standing outside talking to her, one, you can visibly see how Scared she is because of how fast the cars go in front of the school And so I've said it a couple times, you know, our children are definitely number one Priority and I you know want to be sure whether the elementary middle or high school that our children are safe going to school I don't think there's any question about that on the council I think for me, again, it goes back to the capturing of the data. We're getting questions in the community about that, about the surveillance. We're seeing laws changing every other day, and we're having to adjust here on council. So having something that's more concrete, I think, in the contract, is something that you know I would like to see it I know you know this contract ends in March 2027 and um you know Councilman her tech talking about you know maybe putting something out right now that says you know we're going to find someone else that doesn't you know use this this um system or whoever to capture the data. I think that that's something that we can I think that's something that we should explore. But what I would also like to see is we are in 2026 and there are so many different ways that we can really pretty much do everything. We heard earlier about maybe having raised crosswalks, having speed bumps. I would love for our city to be a little bit more innovative and figure out what else can we do. How can we be innovative to where we are still protecting our children? Some of these cameras are probably going in neighborhoods that don't even have sidewalks. So we're having conversation about that as well. But I would really love for our city Council, but also administrative. We need to be more innovative in thinking of other things. It's easy to go to cameras because that's what we've all been doing. But let's be a little bit more innovative and think, OK, what else can we do so we can protect our children still and that we are making sure again at the end of the day it's about our children and that's that for me is the most important thing but we also have to protect our constituents as well and we're seeing what's happening at a micro level and how it's affecting us so let's start to think a little bit better and you know with this ends in 2027 i would love to see us move forward and maybe find another company to work with or something and again thinking of other ways that we can protect our children

That's a well said. Thank you. Councilman young. Anybody else? Okay.

This will be a chair, uh, just to, to address those concerns. Um, the, uh, contract, Mike Schmidt again was city attorney's office. Uh, the contract again, uh, I, I said, approximately March, I had time to look it up. It's August just to clarify that it's August. So I wanted to let you guys know that, uh, the second thing is the contract also says that it can be terminated with 30 days notice for any cause. so if for some reason let's just say hypothetically the legislature uh changed the law and started saying that we could use these cameras for surveillance and you guys found out that that legislation happens one you're going to have plenty of notice because laws don't become effective typically until july 1st or october and you guys saw that that legislation next session was coming down the pipe and you saw that law was coming you could absolutely bring this item back up and tell us we could have a discussion about terminating the contract at that point. We can do it with or without cause, which means if such legislation passed and you wished us to address the termination of the contract in the future, we could absolutely come and talk about it. As far as going back out for a different vendor, this vendor is the same one the county uses. This vendor is the predominant vendor used in the state of Florida. We are not wanting to go seek another vendor. the amount of time and effort that has already been put into this through a successful RFP, we do not think just because we have concerns about the laws in Tallahassee that the correct way to respond is to go search for another vendor. We think we can already terminate the contract with or without cause should there be a concern in the future based on legislation. So we're asking you again to please support this amendment and that's all we're doing today is just trying to amend the locations.

You just said two different things, though. You said with or without cause. Can we terminate with or without cause or just with cause?

With cause or without cause.

So we can just say tomorrow we no longer want to be in this contract and give them third date notice?

That is correct.

Is that factual?

It says terminated for any reason. I believe is, so usually it's with or without causes, the language they use. For any reason.

And in August of 27, do they have the right to extend without our permission? Can they exercise the right for extension?

In August of 27, I will tell you that there is extension periods in there, and I assume the county would probably extend it. I assume the city would probably elect to extend it. I would want purchasing to answer that. that hypothetical question, I mean, that question that's...

So until those questions are answered, I think we should continue this till we get those questions answered.

I'm not asking for a continuation. But, I mean, we can get the answer before second read. I just don't want to

I would like to talk to folks about this over lunch given that it's 1222 and I already saw that she tripped left because probably also oh she's still here okay sorry because a I'd like to hear from the public and B I'd like to hold this till after lunch so I have a chance to relook at the contract to really reconsider because When you say the time and effort to go to the RFP, you went through the time and effort to go to the initial RFP, but then you just piggybacked. on counties that that wasn't a lot of time and effort. That was just piggybacking. So I.