City Council Meeting

>> Welcome everyone, to the February 4th, 2020, regular city council meeting. Invocation given by michael. >> we're going to do the pledge first because I have a lengthy letter. Pledge first, please. (Pledge of allegiance) Everybody have a seat and I'll read this letter. Letter from michael whiles who has spent a lot of time here. Steve robinson is the reason why I'm writing. Steve and I graduated in June of 1964. He was assigned to the u s s -- steve was on the bridge when at tack, occurred. Steve was mentioned in the book on several pages. Steve en remaining 81 crews spent time in a prison camp. Was subjected to beating, food deprivation. Steve survived. He died July 28. He is asking I've decided to I'm going to try to put together a memorial for all of the pows with gulfport connections. If you know anybody, please contact me so we can put together a project to honor all of these people who were P.O.W.S. He has also helped us to start a pledge. That's what I wanted to read. >> thank you. Roll call please. We have a couple presentations this evening before we get to public comment. Gentleman here from gulfport. He's come to us with a report and we're grateful for you attending and thank you so much for doing that. >> thank you. First I wanted to start with a little -- providing an opportunity for sharing solutions in the jurisdictions. The planning council of which the city of gulfport is a member established the coalition. And they were establish today determine a means of the municipalities to address sea level rise. 28 local governments signed on to a memorandum of understanding. The coalition was tasked by the regional planning council among other things developing sustained resiliency action plan and conducting an annual conference to share knowledge among all partners. The first conference was held on January 7th and 8th. I attended. The conference started by discussing this idea of resiliency. To prepare, plan, respond and recover. The conference quickly established that science should be the basis for sound policy decision regarding climate change. Considering the latest finding of the science panel. A group of local scientists. That is the predicted rate of sea level rise that this group of scientists has established. Assessing the risks is evolving as the science regarding climate change improves. And at this point you'll see there are two or three curves on it. As we gain more knowledge, sea melt May be occurring faster. That curve on the top May be the accurate one. It is something for us all to think about. At the conference the state of florida resiliency officers she was appoint that had position that was created by governor and stresses collaboration. It talked about collaboration among local governments onshore line protection. To obtain funding for projects and help the state obtain funding from the federal government. We're really at a make or break moment regarding climate change and the time to act is now. Some cities are working towards a goal of utilizing one hundred percent -- local governments in the region are working together to build more resiliency and the key to successful efforts is collaboration. Local governments did not receive funding for climate change and sea level under rick scott. However this is changing. The state May be providing to local governments for climate change. There is pending legislation calling for -- legislation change. There is a need to identify policies that could be put in place at the state level. Reducing carbon emissions and floor flr is behind many states and needs to make a commitment by 2050. Renewable energy continues to decline in cost. Scott is with the nation allen gee renewable lab in colorado. He noted that the cost of solar energy has dropped in the recent years. Throughout the country over 155 cities have committed. Leading the way towards this carbon reduction. A concept of using local power generation through the building of micro grids. These can create continual power. Creating local power supplies being funded through 3rd party ownership. The p s d a is moving towards a one hundred percent electric fleet. They have a few buses not many. Significantly lowers the counties carbon footprint. Then I had a number of final thoughts. Beginning with the thought that nonprofits, governments, businesses must be engaged in addressing climate change. There is a need to get elected officials talking about. Workshops and focus groups. Communication with stakeholders is essential. A key concept is the integration in the decision making for planning, housing, road ways. Green spaces. Communities and green infrastructure. All things related to climate change. The city of gulfport should collaborate in an effort to build a more resilient community. There is an issue with excess water. Right now gulfport has great sea grass beds. Sea grasses are extremely susceptible -- can put this at risk very fast. Gulfport could determine where excess water might be less harmful. Maybe a fresh look at that possibility with looking to do something else with that water. It looks at these and potential impacts and rising seas. That's what I learned at the conference. >> thank you. I appreciate it. >> I'm gulfports representative of the regional council. I asked doctor bauer to be engaged in this. This is why he has taken his time to go to this conference. Come back and I work with the council to help on these problems. >> it was my pleasure. I learned a lot. There are some very good people there. >> I have a question in the report that you provided. On page 2 it says there were 5,000 houses under water as a result of hurricane erma. >> I think it might have been 5,000 damaged. >> we had tie that was so low that we found a canoe in one of the rivers. The mayor indicated they have 30 electric powered vehicles. And then one other thing. Representative diamond local governments did not receive funding under the state from former governor, I was curious I thought his final budget included for plan and go resilience. >> that May be. I'm just reporting what the mayor said. >> I know diamond and scout are foes. He maybe didn't do everything necessary or enough I just don't think that was an accurate statement. >> okay. >> I will say that the two ground zeros for climate change rises, water rises. >> anyone snails our next presentation our next presentation. Thank you for being harp tonight. >> so while she is getting set we have been working on sanitary sewer system for six and a half seven years. We appreciate these updates from time to time in terms of what remains, how priorities have changed. >> all right. Good evening. My name is kelly. We've been helping gulfport with the sanitary sewer improvements. I'm going to give you a quick update. The agenda, I'll go through the background of the program, the work that has been completed and where the program is going in the future and estimated costs of that. Phase one of your evaluation began in 2014. There was a c c t v inspection in the portion of the system. So a portion of your system was c c t v inspected and we made recommendations that were approved by d e p in 2016. Phase two began in 2017. Again we c c t v'd additional portion of your system and we completed open cut and -- repairs on your sewer system. We completed an evaluation of lift stations one and two. We inspected over -- of the system. So open cuts completed to date. 51 com tares with a cost of a little over one million dollars. Trench less repairs, a cured in place pipeliners. Or grout that gets installed in the pipeline. So today we've completed 218 repairs. The combination of the open cut and trench less was 269 repairs. $2.46 million. >> this might be a tough question. Do you have an estimate of how much that saved us. I know there was a significant savings. We can get that information later. >> this is a location map of the repairs throughout the city. The dots indicate the open cut repair locations and the highlighted lines where grout was injected in the pipelines. >> so today the city has invested over $4.3 million in your sewer system and com pleated the following items. Cleaning of the pipelines, root removals. Also manhole inspections. System evaluation of the lift station. Also implemented a lateral implementation program. As I mentioned we also performed the station evaluations. Reviewed historical flows from each station. We evaluated the force main pipelines to make sure they're sized appropriately for the flows. Lift station one we looked at the low flows, the high flows. After about two weeks of rain fell in the tampa bay area. Station one repumps. Through a 12 inches pipeline that connects to the city of saint peters berg. That pipeline is appropriately sized with velocities. You had a maximum flow of 1.9 gallons. The flows from two or pumped through a force main with velocity which is appropriately sized. Also during peak, wet whether events, pumps to the lift station one. When you have speak wet whether events there is potential. You have the red line, the force main. It connects to the gravity sewer here. Gets repumped by station one. This area is where the historical overflows have occurred. So based on that analysis we came up with recommendations for the station two. We would like to extend the -- from station two. To bypass the gravity sewer of lift station one. With those improvements each station can come to the saint pete connection point independently. Here is a map of the proposed course main where the green line was it gets replaced by a force main by lift station two over to lift station one. It will again discharge at the same connection point. So moving forward your program through 2022, you'll need to complete the priority one repairs which are required by your, d e p. Also smoke testing will need to occur. As I -- all of those items are approximately $2.99 million. So beyond 2022 these are the ions that need to be completed per the consent order. You'll start your smoke testing and refill monitor the system to see how these repairs have impacted your system. Then beyond 2027, you'll begin your c c t inspection over again. As time goes the system continue to see age. Also we'll continue the lateral rehab program beyond 2027. And with that just a summarize again, the cities in vested over $4.3 million. I'll try to answer any questions that you might have. >> questions? Comments? >> there is one more slide that we wanted to share with you. This is what we have gonna head and spent in the sewer lateral rebate program. The residents who have taken advantage of it. >> good deal. Thank you. Any questions or comments? >> I was wondering, we're replacing the green gravity sewer with red force sewer. >> it is not being replaced. Instead of flowing by gravity it will be pumped from the lift station over to lift station one. So in order to make that happen, are there things that we have to do to beef up lift station two. >> yes. You'll need new pumps. Electrical. At that station. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. >> if you wouldn't find explaining how replacing or converting that gravity line over to a force main how that helps us in terms of mitigating overflows. >> so I'm going to go back to that slide. So this is your system currently. Station two pumps over to this manhole. And so what happens during peak rain events the the gravity sewer begins to get surcharged. It will back up. So the overflows occur in this area. There is also a very low elevations in that area. So installing larger pumps and pumping past this flow entering the gravity sewer system will help alleviate those overflows. >> thank you. Questions or comments? Thank you for the update. We appreciate it. >> you're welcome. >> one thing if I can add to that. We do have a formal plan that will follow. The recommendations and that would be to complete the construction of the -- and perform the smoke testing. Take a pause and do the lift stations. And move back to completing the priority two repairs. But our next step will be to complete the (Inaudible) And start construction on the lift stations. I think that is the biggest bang for our buck. >> do we have a heads up about will our interest rate change by a significant amount? >> it will be pretty much at that funding expense. >> fantastic. Next item is public comment. I'm going to start with a particular gentleman. You should have been able to speak for three minutes. And you can have three for whatever else that you choose. I wanted to give you a shot. Anyone for open public comment. You have three minutes. Give us your name and address. >> hello. I live at the gulfport -- I have been made aware that the -- liver boards will be strictly enforced. So I'm not one hundred percent sure what to say right now. It would be good to have flexibility on how this is implemented. On saturday it was implemented and a lot of people who were at work, some of them who work in gulfport had their dinghies towed. I'm retired so I didn't have to work. I can understand your position and why you might want to do something about the boaters out there. I have been convinced to get a (Inaudible) And that would help contribute to the city. I want to work with the city and help make it a better place if possible. I guess the only thing that I can think of right now is that it is going on the mercy of the court. There is some ability that the council has to give mercy to help the folks out to implement these changes as they need to. So are there any questions that anybody has. >> we'll address after public comment if there is anything that we want to share that the time. Thank you. >> anyone else? >> I just wanted to say that this is a beautiful town. I have been to a lot of spots in florida. Florida, the gulfport is absolutely beautiful. I have been involved in local politics. You have been doing an amazing job. It is tough to be a mayor. You guys are doing a great job. My mother makes me go to the farmers market with her every tuesday. I'm a web developer by trade. Fred is a chemical engineer. I wanted to get up and talk because I wanted to introduce my self. I know a lot of people who cruise around here we seem kind of weird. I get that. I just wanted to introduce ourselves and let everybody know that we truly feel like we're part of the fabric of gulfport. I keep half the coffee shops alive. I spend thousands of dollars a month now in gulfport. But I wanted to really get up and let you guys know who we are. I know a lot of times things seem confrontational in the moment. We really do need help and we need help because you guys are our leaders. We're not really sure what we're supposed to be doing. Like fred said we want to contribute and be good neighbors. We love this city. Sailing has been a big part of tampa bay for such a long time. We want to be good community members and we want input from everybody. Citizens in the street walk up and say what you guys are doing is bananas, we want to make sure everybody feels that way so we're asking for your help because you're leaders and we just want to be connective. >> thank you. >> I'm karen I'd like to second the fact that I think gulfport is well run. I enjoy living here. I'd like to talk a little bit about permitting and getting a stamp so you want to do something to your house like put in a window. You have to have an engineer stamp. I don't know if our building official is an engineer. There is an issue of liability. To put a window into my house, a nonimpact window would be about 300 bucks. Cost of a -- about 128 bucks. The sills, the stack down, another couple hundred bucks. Double the cost of the window. My husband and I did this ourselves it would cost us at the absolute outside $2,000. Then you enter the cost of getting an engineer stamp. We've been renovating houses since 1995. This isn't my first go around. I've dealt with a lot of permitting. I thought I had seen it all. By the time I found my window and everything else. Talked to the city. My window that anywhere else would cost me below $2,000 will now cost me about 8,000. We know the dangers of unpermitted work. An 800 or $1,800 when doe costing two and a halftimes that is why a lot of people do unpermitted work. There has got to be a better way. So if there is something that we can do about getting an engineer. Something like that. It would probably cut down on the calls from people or guys from code enforcement about all of the unpermitted work. Thank you. >> thank you. I think you had your hand up. >> so I just recently moved here. I'm a live a board. Me and my soon to be fiance. She is actually a teacher. She is doing special ed. And we pick this had community. We want to live in this community and contribute and participate. We like it. This enforcement of the dingy -- we have no way to get this ship to shore. I got a ticket on saturday. I'm an electrical engineer and she is a teacher. She like this community. I would like to figure out a way, what do we need to do so that we can be part of this community even though we choose to live on the water and not on land. There are 12,000 miles of beaches in florida. This is a great area. Why not really help and participate in giving us -- some of these sailors a place to live and contribute. Thank you. >> there has been some confusion. If you go to the marina, you can get a sticker. You can keep your dingy there for four hours. >> I talk today dennis today and he said any vessel that, the minimum is 30-foot. I just have a small ten foot dingy. >> we'll follow up with folks after the fact. Thank you. >> hello. I'm coming up here to introduce my self. I'm an immigrant from venezuela. I also stay on a vessel. We had a death in the -- some people live on the boats because they like living. Some people don't have the income to rent an apartment. The issue that I'm seeing here with this enforcement is that when they started to take everybody's vessel from the dock. So when the officers came and started impounding the boats there were people that were working, people trying to make a living and they had to pay $400 to get their vessel back. Some people had to borrow money. We would want to work with you guys if there is anything that we can do out here. To make sure that we can find a solution to this. There are people who are struggling right now. The man that was killed, that power boaters that ran him over had been reported numerous times to the police department. We want to make sure that we're communicating with you guys so that we can have a safe environment for the people that stay out here on the water. We are part it here too. We spend money here. We want to open that line of communication with you to find solutions. Another thing that I would like to say is that the word live a board. No -- the word live a board in the florida statute, I will read it out. The definition here. So it actually means the vessel that is a live a board it is not for navigational purpose. That has to be taken into account. Thank you. >> thank you. >> all right. I'm rob. They call me captain stagger. Up until saturday I considered gulfport my home. I cared about gulfport. You remember what happened on sunday. A friend of ours was murdered in the bay by an irresponsible boater. It is the same boat that flies through there. We have been hurt by him before. The in actions of your police department murdered my friend. And his blood is on your hands, all of you. >> anyone else care to speak? I've only got six. If you want -- I'd like you to look at the pictures. There are two things. So obviously I have a friend here. Because we go to the dog park all of the time. Gulfport loves dogs. They seem to be everywhere. There is not really anyplace for them to legally play outdoors except for at the dog park. I had no intention of getting a dog when I moved here. But this is gulfport and dogs show up even when you're trying not to get one. By law I can't let her out in my yard. I can't let her run in the park or beaches. I have to walk her two or three times a day even when my bad knees make that an unpleasant experience. For me and other citizens chase dog park is the only place where my dog with run free. This is also makes us daily visitors to the dog park. I included pictures. Last time you resodded. I'm thankful that it is being resodded now. I would like a better solution. I have outlined several solutions in this packet. The main problem is that it's a muddy mess. You can see how bad it is. One of the main problems is the grass surface. We need to change it. Something has to happen. I've included a packet of difference surfaces off the internet. I've seen decomposed granite. Those big dogs are rough and they tear up that system. More scheduling on maintenance out there. And maybe have some sort of signal so that we can steer our dogs away from the sprinkler heads. Maybe some drains in the park. There are too many dogs and not enough space. And there is a will the of solutions to that. And it's not particularly an interesting problem for the city to fix. So with that said I'd like you to consider it seriously. I've do not a lot of research on this suggest. So thank you. >> anyone else? >> I also live on a boat part-time. We have boats. They cost us a lot of money. Going a mile away to get to a marina to get around a dingy dock to put your boat onto go to work. We spend thousands here. Not just during the season. All year around. The whole reason I came here was because I have family that lives here. Fathers in his 70s I try to help him out too. I'm not going to just have an apartment. I stay with friends, and family some times. But to give us a four hour minimum. That's wrong. Thank you. >> good evening. I wanted to say something briefly about the presentation. Would you just let me say something? When you start talking about the lift stations one and two. I would like to ask you to prioritize the one at the marina. We talked a bit about the overflow in heavy rain situations. But one aspect of it wasn't addressed. It is gag worthy, it wreaks and smells when it is backed up. When you start prioritizing where your money might be targeted as far as your new phase I'd like to really ask you to think about the marina facility. Especially when we have visitors who are temporary docked. On those slip areas. I have had people come up to me and ask, what is that? It is the -- so if you can please spread the money towards that lift station too. As a priority over lift station one. A lot of people would appreciate it. >> that area from lift one to two, that is on our priorities list. >> that would be addressed on March 3rdrd. >> anyone else? >> first of all I want to thank you for all of the hard work that you do. I was born and raised in florida. Went to florida state. Me and my fiance chose to live on a boat while we can. There are really high emotions going on right now. A lot of us work and spend money in gulfport. We enjoy living in the water. That's why I do it now. I just to wake up and see the dolphins out -- the motor boat that is that they say May have run over this gentleman. Damaged our dingy. We did contact the police department and we weren't able to catch the guy. We live on a 60 feet sport fisher. We're kind of in that situation that as far as using the (Inaudible) We're not allowed because we have a power boat. Our boat is not a speed boat. It is a big 60-foot troller type boat. Today I had to work, I had to run back go back to another nursing home and it made it tough. I had to cut my day short. We would like your help on this. >> anyone else? >> margaret. I would like to offer this. Council had a charter review. It didn't seem to be in line with what a staff member had told me. I happen today read the minutes of 10/1. It appeared to me this this case the minutes were out of context. The response was not all property owned by the city that might be sold has to go to referendum. On November 5th council member asked attorney if what was in the minutes was correct. It was not correct. On 11/19 attorney offered an explanation again regarding his legal opinion. On 10/15 you stated that you didn't want to get in the habit of changing minute. My concern with that the official record of the meeting is the written minutes. They're kept for ever. The video is not an official record and is only required to be kept for two years from the date that the minutes are adopted. And my mine and perhaps I'm misunderstanding it appeared to me that people could use the video to verify that the minutes were correct. I think you get into a bit of a quandary. There was additional information given and that information is in the minutes, but if you go back and read 10/1 minutes they're wrong. So with all due respect I would ask that you reconsider and please correct the minutes of 10/1. >> thank you. Anyone else for public comment? >> I agree with margaret. Now I wanted to discuss an item that is not on the agenda and I'm a little annoyed that it is not because people will be a little lost. Would you like to tell folks what this is about? >> it is your public comment. >> I'll take ownership for not letting you comment at the last meeting. >> I'm glad that you did that. So I want to review the minutes of this conversation before it is published and made record. This is about variance. Now, I apply for variance about ten years ago for a fence. And what I want to talk about is, I have been to planning and zoning where variances were -- post work. I think it was ted sheds where they placed a shed too close to an alley and they give the variance after the fact. I was a little annoyed that there is no find involved in work being done by contractors who know that a variance needs to be applied for. When the work is done the person is cited. And they need to apply for a variance at $250 or whatever it is post fact. So I think businesses should be bumped for that. I don't think that is -- you know, consumer be aware. You expect folks to do the right things for the right reasons. I'm not thrilled about variances in general. Particularly for businesses. I think they're for -- it is up to this council to make decisions about variances. You can override decisions that planning and zoning do. That's with in your power. And that's what you're elected to do. If variances need to be undated then you need to direct them to do that. Okay. Next, I understand we're having coffee with a cop this saturday. That was not listed if there is going to be a Councilman There. Anyone going to be there? Got it. I need to make sure that -- you know, it is in there. And I need to apologize because I had said that in accurate information about that there was going to be no debate and they actually did. So my apologies. There was an article that there was a possibility of a debate and it had a date. This week there is nothing that is promoting the debate. I have here at the beach beacon, they seem to do a little harder news. And I would advocate that they start advertising in the beacon so residents can read some harder news. So take heed about the community news paper. That's all that I got. Thanks. You'll be getting an email. >> anyone else? All right. So I did want to let the city manager address anything that he might want to address. Otherwise we do have at ability to follow up with you. We haven't made any recent changes to those boating rules since we put that money into the transient dock. The rules have been sustained in place. Council had adopted those approximately 3 to 4 years ago. We adopted at the time ordinances passed related to not putting boats on the beach. That is covered in the city ordinance. It does prohibit live aboards. But there is a seven two-hour rule. There has been no change. The recommendation is that these individuals other than the one -- the conversation about the ability to put power boats, that would require us to change our permit with the state. To approach that and get a proposal to change that ordinance. Or that state permit. Our recommendation is for these individuals to -- I would say about 15 to 17 of them available. With that you do have the ability to come to the marina and it is part of the amenities. And I'm not going to debate the state statute but you can control that area offshore. So the city has been through this. This is not unique this time. We have been through this. There are ordinances in place. Just like any of them, we enforce them. The discussion about reaching out to the harbor master. You have to -- space if you want to come in and spend the day. And that's what we had spoken about. There is a minimum charge. That is amenities at the marina. There is no entitlement to live offshore there without being regulated by the city. That was run of the reasons that we drafted. >> I'm so sorry about your friend and neighbor being killed out there on the water. That is an absolute tragedy. I want you to know that if we didn't care about our boating community we wouldn't have that morning field out there now. We wouldn't have spent the money that we spent improving the marina down there in the first place and having that option. So if there are ways that we can think of to meet somewhere in the middle we will consider it. I'm sorry about the loss of your friend. What is the status of the gentleman who was driving the boat. >> it is an investigation. >> the engineering requirement is a requirement that we require the window to be engineered and that's part of building code. That's not the city. That's through the building code. The city requires the (Inaudible) Of the engineer. I guess that's what you were asking. If we would provide an engineer. >> that's for everything. That's not just windows. >> they would understand that they have to have signed and sealed plants. When you buy the window there has to be how you're going to put that window in. All right. >> that's part of fema so we can qualify for flood insurance. You have to -- a lot of these things are out of the cities purview. >> okay. Thank you. Anything else on your report? >> no, sir. >> city attorney's report. >> city clerk? >> that brings us to consent agenda. >> five a. Five b resolution 202006. Five c resolution 202007. Acknowledging the award to the gulfport public library. Authorizing the budget amendments. Five d. >> motion to approve consent. All in favor? No ordinances or resolutions on the books tonight. Bringing us to council comments and informal reports. >> the car show was a huge success. It started out slow because of the weather. This is black history month. We have flags for various months but we don't have a black history flag. I would like to get one for next year. So we can fly it during black history month. Also I have been asked, scott -- is resigning. Vice President Of the chamber for about eight or nine years. I'm putting in for the spirit of gulfport award. Would I like to do that as well. That is it. >> is that all right? All right. Consensus on the idea for the black history flag? >> what other flags do we have? >> I would have to do an inventory. >> thank you. The league of cities is accepting nominations for the municipal achievement awards. I think the city of gulfport should apply for the environmental steward ship award. All of that stuff combined including the sewer and lateral work, put that all in a package and apply to see if we can win their environmental municipal achievement award. I think we have a shot. I would like to see if you are interested in applying that. >> I think we're putting one in for -- >> project for market scare. We won two years ago. We're doing the same application for -- market square. >> we have done it before we should have a template to work off of. >> okay. Thank you for staying, jim. I wanted to promote the fraud prevention form that is happening tomorrow at the hick man. At 2:00 o'clock. It should be interesting for those of us who are monitoring our own identity safety. So I think it is going to be very -- I'll leave these up for you if you want to come and see them. It will be helpful and informal. I look forward to being there my self. I was at the car show there. I got first place on our car. We could have gotten best in show. We got first place. It was fun. This was our first time. It was a lot of fun. We never had a car to take before, but it was a lot of fun. Vice mayor paul and I are going to the florida league of cities, the vice mayor will be ride ago long side of me. We're going to be talking legislatures. Keeping at ability to rule ourselves instead of the state telling us what to do. Some of the things that they're