This week council sit for a 65 item agenda, 54 requiring a vote. Of the votes with a monetary value they range from accepting a $2,000 grant to the parks department to a $12 million budget realignment previously approved by the CRA Board. In between there’s $1,039,876.55 for a pumper truck for Tampa Fire Rescue and $6,500,000 for “Dewatered Wastewater Biosolids Loading, Transportation, and Disposal and Drying Bed Maintenance”. What’s left after wastewater has been treated and filtered. Merde.

Beyond the dollars council will be voting to approve the list of 18 schools speed zone cameras will be installed as well as taking a first look at a resolution modifying their rules as it relates to public comment.

Other consent items of note

• Item 6 – $1 million for TPD gas & lubricants. This was brought up last week during the mid-year budget review. Council member Lynn Hurtak asked what effect gas prices are having on the budget. Deputy Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Mike Perry noted this item would be coming before council and was the only area currently where the price has affected what was budgeted.
• Item 19 – $200,000 for Morris Massey LLC to assist in negotiations with the Tampa Bay Rays stadium “and other complex real estate development matters.” Mr. Massey was until recently a Deputy City Attorney as well as previously served as the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) attorney. It stands to reason he has expertise and familiarity with the subject matter. And if it was any other negotiation besides the Rays, it might not register. Who has been doing the negotiating for the city and CRA is a point of contention for Council member Bill Carlson and was the grounds for him to suggest delaying the CRA Board vote on the MOU until June 11. It would be interesting to know how much staff time and outside consultants used and a total cost to “negotiate” a “deal.”
• Item 23 internal audit report for purchase card program. The audit notes several items that need to be corrected as far as oversight and reporting. Issues noted included “Receipts retained did not always describe the purchase. P-Card receipts are not always reviewed and signed off by authorized AccountsPayable signers. There were instances of missing receipts. The cardholder signed off on the receipt as the approver.” In fiscal year 2025 there were $13,187,511 in purchase on the cards with the average expenditure roughly $350.
• Item 36 – $350,000 interest earnings added stormwater assessment fund maintenance work.
• Item 37 – $10,000 from the stormwater assessment fund for Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful, Inc. to assist in promotion of an adopt-a-drain program that’s been discussed and hopefully rolling out soon. It’s an idea I pitched to the city 8 years ago as a civic-tech project and I’m glad to see someone finally convinced the city to adopt the idea.

School Zones

Item 53 is a modification to the list of initial schools that will receive the controversial RedSpeed speed cameras that were initially pitched as being Flock integrated. Read more details and full list of schools. Ironically, there’s a an item on the agenda from council requesting options for more/better signage around schools. The staff report says adding flashers to 100 schools would be $8 million and would take 3-8 years.

Staff Reports

Item 58 – Fire Station 24 had a scheduled update and last week Council member Hurtak noted the update would include the guaranteed maximum price (GMP). Council will not be voting on the contract Thursday but for a project that has been slowly worked its way through council for 4 years to have a final price tag is a big step.

Item 61 relates to an issue that’s been percolating inside city hall for several years — concerns of retaliation by staff. Creative Loafing recently reported the city paid a $350,000 settlement that among other things accused Jean Duncan, Administrator of Infrastructure and Mobility, of retaliation. Chief of Staff John Bennett has a presentation prepared for the item.

How the city uses staff and the costs related to events and parades has weaved its way through discussion all year as details emerged of how TPD leaned on the stormwater department for help with setting up concrete barricades for special events. Item 64 was to be a discussion on event/parade budget and has been continued until the August 17th budget workshop.

Item 62 – Changes to council rules related to public comment

Council will be considering several changes to their rules and procedures specific to “public participation within the limited public forum.” Added language for dress code and conduct as well as separating “Agenda Public Comment” from “General Comment”. The former to be heard “prior to the conclusion of the meeting”. Comments related to agenda items will remain in their traditional spot in the agenda. Despite only ever speaking during public comment twice, I have strong feelings and made my own public comment on public comment.

Next week all eyes will be on the CRA meeting where the board will pick back up the discussion of the CRA contribution to the Rays stadium development. The MOU. The planned discussion at last week’s workshop was dropped, though there was a brief discussion during new business at the evening meeting. Council member Carlson reiterated his issue with the CRA Board not being part of the stadium negotiations. Or council for that matter. Meanwhile, County Commissioner Ken Hagan has floated the idea of a mid-July vote for a binding deal. Coincidentally, July 16, when council return from their 2 week break, had been the target of the mayor’s budget presentation. At last Thursday’s workshop, the mayor requested to present the budget as a special call meeting prior to the CRA meeting on July 23. Council declined that request and moved the presentation to the 30th of July. So the 16th is open for a vote if they make it past the CRA vote on the June 11.

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