Council led off hearing from applicants for the Equal Business Opportunity Advisory Council. I applaud everyone who applied and spoke. There were a lot of applicants so after several rounds of voting, 7 positions were appointed by the Council. The mayor appoints 9. It was unclear if the Mayor had selected her choices or if she would be picking from the applicant pool not picked by Council. I hope those that weren’t selected continue to look for ways to contribute. Council Chair Maniscalco noted that prior to being on Council, he applied for the EBOAC and was one of 2 applicants. He wasn’t selected.

There was a last ditch effort by some in the developer community to persuade Council into not accepting staff’s recommendation of $220/lineal foot for the Sidewalk Trust Fund, but the community was prepared. There was a concerted email campaign to encourage Council to support staff’s number and put an end to what a lot of people (myself included) considered a loophole. It passed 4-2 with Maniscaclo and Miranda voting no, Henderson absent. I believe one of the speakers against the $220 (their math put the cost at “$40-$50 a lineal foot) and that roughly 200 people paid into the fund last year. I would be curious what that number is next year.

Item 31 I noted last week, and to say it was troubling is an understatement. I have never heard of Council being asked to vote (Council approved the agreement with Carlson and Hurtak voting no) on something they cannot discuss publicly, complete with warning from City Attorney if they do so they are proceeding at their own legal peril. The neighbor of the project who fought the design exception spoke during public comment and noted some of the judge’s ruling. It seemed in complete opposition to the City Attorney’s position to accept the settlement. I also noted that I believe this was the result of human error, and I can only speculate that because the suit was directed personally at the head of Construction Services, the city circled the wagons. There was a motion under new business (that couldn’t be discussed) to update the current land use code for the Seminole Heights Overlay. “to ensure that said section of the code, as amended, is internally consistent. For example, any illustrations or tables that depict a BTL must show the BTL stopping at the property line.” Emphasis mine.

Also under new business a broader discussion about the lack of communication between Council and the City Attorney regarding issues that relate to actions taken by Council was started, but didn’t get very far. I thought that was the role of the City Council Attorney. City Attorney is in communication with City Council Attorney who can then communicate individually to council members. I tend to simplify things too much though when it comes to these types of issues.