Item 74 Paving Contract This item bothered me so much I wrote a separate post about it after I wrote last week’s post and newsletter. Fundamentally, my questions aren’t about paving, rather how the budget/contract process works. Do funds need to be in place when we approve a contract or not?
From the resolution (I uploaded a copy here because the link has changed at least once in Onbase.)
WHEREAS, on July 12, 2022, the Mayor received bids, tabulation of such bids being hereto attached for informational purposes, for the construction of Citywide Roadway Improvements and Street Resurfacing, and recommends to this Council that the proposals of Ajax Paving Industries of Florida LC and C. W. Roberts Contracting, Incorporated be accepted, funds therefore being available in the appropriate account.
“…funds therefore being available in the appropriate account.” The director of Mobility stated the $8 million never existed. That Council approved $17.1 million in paving contracts without a funding source.
The problem I have—it’s my understanding Council cannot obligate future funds. So I don’t understand how they could award two eight and half million dollar contracts without the funds being secured. If Council could approve $17.1 million in paving contracts without knowing where the money was coming from—“secured from various funding sources”—what stops them from approving a $35 million dollar contract to build a 10 acre park or a $120 million dollar contract to build a new a new city center and not know where the money is coming from? Figure out how to pay for it later.
Isn’t that the whole point of budgeting funds, approving RFPs and then contracts? Again, this wasn’t approving $17 million in the budget as Council did last year approving $12 million in paving, this was a contract where a start work order was sent to the contractor. On October 11, 2022.
I look forward to further explanation.
Items 75 Public Safety Master Plan – Police/Fire As I stated last week, the presentation to Council was not a master plan. There is no master plan for fire or police nor is there any effort being made to develop one. When asked by Council member Viera the fact Council budgeted for one this year, Chief of Staff Bennett put the responsibility on the the Chiefs. Chief Tripp accepted responsibility for having not started the process of bringing on a consultant to create one, but her argument for delay was based on wanting to see the fruits of the efforts we’ve already made (we are still waiting on equipment we’ve paid for to be delivered) to establish a baseline to build a plan on. She said she would begin the process. Chief Bercaw was not asked the question and had presented during the morning when the topic did come up.
Item 76 Combating Violent Crime This was covered by Chief Bercaw in his presentation for item 75. Rather than watch that, I would reading this Reuter’s piece on “A new report adds to a growing line of research showing that police departments don’t solve serious or violent crimes with any regularity, and in fact, spend very little time on crime control, in contrast to popular narratives.”
More notably, researchers analyzed the data to show how officers spend their time, and the patterns that emerge tell a striking story about how policing actually works. Those results, too, comport with existing research showing that U.S. police spend much of their time conducting racially biased stops and searches of minority drivers, often without reasonable suspicion, rather than “fighting crime.”
[Update] Since I posted this, the City has posted 2 news items highlighting a traffic stop and a pro-active patrol that resulted in the recovery of illegally possessed and in one case, stolen guns.
Item 77 Station 24 and Fleet Supply & Maintenance relocation The big news out of this is that the Chief Tripp anticipates ground breaking on Station 24 this fiscal year, so before Oct 1. For something that has been budgeted twice, including being on two different reimbursement resolutions that’s a huge milestone. As to relocating supply & maintenance there hasn’t been any movement on finding property despite this also having been in the budget & reimbursement resolutions twice. Almost every other station improvement and expansion depends on this relocation according Chief Tripp’s previously presented plan.
Item 80 Fiscal Year (FY) Mid-Year Review Unfortunately it doesn’t appear the presentation from Thursday was added to Onbase and I’m unaware of it being online anywhere else. One of the slides that stood out to me is the exponential rise in costs related to public safety pensions. In 2019 it was $16.2 million. This year it will be $40.8 million. General employee pension rose from $17.8 million in 2020 to $30.7 million FY24. Overall personal costs rose from $333 million in 2019 to $480.5 million this fiscal year. The news that came out of the presentation was the tentative dates for the budget process this year. FY25 begins October 1, 2024.
- budget presentation – July 18, 2024
- CIP Workshop – August 5, 2024
- Operating Workshop – August 19, 2024
- 1st Public Hearing – September 3, 2024
- 2nd Public Hearing – September 17, 2024
This doesn’t preclude Council from having their own special call workshops. Often there is one between 1st and 2nd public hearings. I would encourage Council to schedule more if they really want to wrap their head around the budget this year. I believe the more time spent understanding what’s in the budget and what they are approving will eliminate a lot of the time wasted on “surprises” and reduce friction with staff.
Item 85 Residency Requirement Affidavit A majority of the current Council disagrees with a Charter Amendment that our elected officials and major department heads must live within the city. I believe there’s also some confusion for at least a few of them who this applies to. These are heads of departments who make over $180,000 a year currently. Some make as much as $240,000 a year in the case of the Chief of Police’s latest contract. If our housing crisis is such that someone making that kind of money “can’t afford to live in Tampa” we are seriously screwed. I’ve voted for the amendment every time it’s been on the agenda. I want the people who are making the major decisions for the city to live in it. The argument about one side of airport or the other and is that really not living in the city vs living at the north end of city limits doesn’t concern me. The city boundaries are the city boundaries and if you want to expand the boundaries of what living in the city of Tampa means then start talking to the County. Until then, it’s a Charter amendment and this item simply cleaned up an issue with self-reporting. The city employees bound by this charter amendment will now sign and fill out a form attesting to their address versus it being something a staff member was responsible for checking. Also worth noting that June 6 there will be a discussion with legal as to whether the list could be shortened within the bounds of the current charter language.
Item 86 Racial Reconciliation Committee Nominees Council members and the organizations named in Resolution 2024-344 submitted their appointments for the Committee. I link to this resolution and its language because it was emphasized the new resolution is the guiding document for the Committee, not Resolution 568. Meaning, just because something is in 568 doesn’t mean it’s within the scope of the committee.
Appointments:
- Councilman Bill Carlson – Connie Burton
- Councilman Alan Clendenin – Lydia Hudson
- Councilwoman Gwen Henderson – Dr. Cheryl Rodriguez, USF Professor, PhD
- Councilwoman Lynn Hurtak – Daryl Hych, President, The Switzer Hych Group, LLC and Chairman, Hillsborough County Black Chamber of Commerce, Inc
- Councilman Guido Maniscalco – Dr. Jeffery Johnson, CDC of Tampa
- Councilman Charlie Miranda – Bishop Thomas Scott, Pastor of the 34th Street Church of God
- Councilman Luis Viera – Pastor Christopher Harris, Crossover Church
- NAACP – Jarvis El-Amin
- Urban League of Hillsborough County – Kiah Wilson
- Tampa Bay History Center – Fred Hearns
- Tampa Bay Coalition of Clergy – Pastor Clethen Sutton
- Abe Brown Ministries – Robert Blount
- Florida Rising – Robin Lockett
Item 88 amending Council Rules & Procedures Council amended their proposed new rules to now require speakers at public comment to fill out a speaker card. The justification is to help the Clerk as they are required to record the names of all public speakers. There was also more conversation about limiting calling into public comment to those that can demonstrate a “hardship”. I’m not sure why, rarely are there more than a couple of people who call in during public comment, though I think there were a couple of calls that morning that weren’t on-topic to the agenda. There was also mention of some new technology, a kiosk, that’s been proposed? already bought? that speakers would sign up at.
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