During “new business” at The CRA meeting today, it was announced the city and county have come to an agreement on a Memorandum of Understanding with the Rays for the baseball stadium and mix-used development. City Attorney Scott Steady emphasized the MOU is non-binding, saying “we pushed back” on the issue. Steady said he’d be emailing the final draft to Tampa City Council members later today for their consideration during next Thursday’s regular council meeting. A council meeting with an already full agenda. No details of the MOU were shared during the meeting with the City Attorney suggesting details of the funding agreement would be included in the document. He also indicated the Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners will hold their vote on May 20.

Pertinent to The CRA Board is the need to schedule a meeting to meet the Ray’s deadline which Steady said was based on the State Legislature. The legislature failed to pass a budget earlier this year so are currently in Tallahassee in a special session to finish their job. They want assurances from the local governments they are on board to give the Rays $1 billion before appropriating the funds for Hillsborough College and other infrastructure work promised by Governor Ron DeSantis when he gave the land away to the Rays.

Board member and City Council Chair Alan Clendenin characterized The CRA Board vote as performative if they approve the MOU as council and originally considered the idea put forth by Steady to continue today’s meeting until next Thursday so they didn’t need to issue a public notice for a special call meeting. The CRA Board rejected that idea without a vote choosing to set a special call meeting for The CRA Board during next week’s regular council meeting. Clendenin said they could just gavel in and out of each body during the day until time for a CRA Board vote.

No consideration was given during the discussion on how public comment for a CRA Board special call workshop would be handled. Under council rules, which the CRA Board follow, no vote can be taken during a special call workshop without affording the public an opportunity to comment. Whether public comment during a Tampa City Council meeting is sufficient opportunity to satisfy that rule for a separate body will certainly be a point of discussion next Thursday morning.

Several board members including CRA Board Chair Naya Young made clear they had obligations that would require them to leave by 5pm next Thursday. During the discussion of time and the extensive agenda they are anticipating next Thursday minus the MOU vote, no thought was given to the potential level of public comment the MOU may generate.

Will Tampa City Council limit the number of speakers claiming the public had an opportunity to speak at the workshop? Where and how they draw the line will be interesting to watch with the acknowledgment that the meeting will be in the morning and may not draw as many public comments. The flip side is some may have sat out commenting during the workshop because few details were available. Difficult to speak against something when you don’t know the details.