city council meeting Wednesday February 14 2024 at 8:30 a.m. in City Hall council chambers at this time we'll call Pastor William Sally of the worship uh of the church at Bradenton forward to give our prayer and then we'll do the invocation pledge pledge invocation and pledge right good morning Council thank you for your service thank you today excuse me for for what you will be doing today for our community so appreciative of you I want to pray just uh what Paul would say to the Ephesians I feel like that is appropriate for you so let's let's pray together God I thank you for this Council and I pray that everything that has taking place today will be um of peace and of love and of sound mind I thank you Lord for uh just what what you called them to do it is no easy task to love and to serve sacrificially you reminded us in your word that we are to stand firm to stand strong and so I pray today that as we love and make decisions based on what is best for our community that you would allow us to see that through our Salvation in you through righteousness that comes from you our feet is fed feeded with the Readiness that comes from the gospel of peace that we would be shielded by our faith that we would remember our salvation and that your spirit would dwell mightily here today and it is it is in Jesus name that we pray amen all right and before we start the pledge I would just like to uh to recognize a gentleman that served in World War I for us that passed away Paul Force um in his um do this pledge in his honor um because there's not many World War II veterans left and and all those veterans that passed but especially one that lives in our community so let's say our pledge in honor of what he did for our country and the few World War II veterans that are left so I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you we'll call this thank you Pastor we'll call this meeting to order Madame clerk the first item on the agenda today is a presentation by realize Bradenton all right come forward and who do we have the pleasure of of here today good morning I am Karen Corbin the executive director for realiz Bradon um we are at 10:15 Manatee Avenue um West in braon Happy Valentine's Day everybody thank you for allowing me to come in and talk to you today um I'm here to give you a quarterly update of everything realized Bradon for our first quarter um I will share with you that it probably was one of the busiest quarters that we've ever had but very successful very exciting okay let's there we go we want it up here um as you know we bring people together in the first quarter we brought a lot of people together so starting um with our Public Market which starts the first Saturday of October goes for 35 weeks um our goal has been to increase attendance at the market as you can see last year's average attendance was 3100 attendees we have intentionally added Market activities to increase attendance so far this season we have held Halloween um it was a special at the market um we had mayor Santa and first lady Claus and their elf thank you very much um also we have added a youth booth for um entrepreneurs under the age of 18 that's free to them um these special promotions at the market have resulted in substantial increases of attendances has been a cataly of larger numbers even on the weeks where we don't have um any special activities for the past three Saturdays we have exceeded 4,000 attendees at the market it has grown exponentially this year so exciting um I will tell you that we are on track to far succeed our goals and I also will share with you that the reason for that is it has been intentional it's a very robust marketing plan of which I can only attribute to um Andrea kenice who is sitting here in the audience she um she is our marketing director and she is killing it there I know that many of you attend the market you may have noticed a steady increase in full-time vendors you may find it interesting that we intentionally leave room for 10 to 15 vendors um part-time vendors that aren't there every week this creates a variety at the market that brings people back regularly it also gives us the ability to give complimentary space to other local nonprofits a great deal of our of thought and time goes into publicizing the market our market manager puts an amazing amount of thought into placement of the vendors to keep the flow of Shoppers moving and highlight each vendor also not duplicating vendors who sell exactly the same thing has been very successful what is unique to the braon market is that we have created a camaraderie among our vendors that's highly unusual that's very a competitive type of atmosphere spere they've named themselves we did not think of this we are not taking credit they are calling themselves frienders not vendors it's pretty interesting um so our Market is out going well and we're excited we will also have um the summer Market again this year um three times it'll be the 2 Tuesday June July and August second Saturday second Saturday second Saturday June July and August um so moving on because we weren't busy enough doing that we had another very successful Blues Fest got that in the in the record books I saw so many of you there thank you so much for attending I hope you all had a great time the weather was perfect and um it really was a beautiful day with the new lawn the new forever lawn really made a difference in what the event kind of felt like and looked like and I thank you all for that um attendance numbers were down however that was a trend throughout the country throughout 2023 that we had been monitoring and we knew we saw that coming um we received many compliments for changing the ticket system from buying tickets to get food to just doing the transaction with all the vendors I had a lot of happy customers one of the highlights of the event and some of you may or may not have been able to um see this was a we had a young man come to us a deaf son of the leader singer in the last band who had never experienced his father's um singing through sign language and he really wanted us he asked us if we would consider doing that so we did we went and we found these two amazing women who have a small business that's you know it's their art and their talent and they can they can come and um do that um and we also allowed them to bring 30 other Herring and peered people who have also never experienced a concert of that type through sign language it really was moving and it went over extremely well people loved it um overall the whole day was a great success so this was the first year that realiz Bron managed Winter Wonderland I want to thank Maryanne and her family for answering a countless amount of questions that we had in order to get this going I also Maryanne helped um program the stage and she helped she didn't help she MC the night and I don't know what I would have done without you so thank you very much um the word people used throughout the evening was magical from our beautiful ballerina whoops I forget oh there she is right there um amera helped you I think there she's always got my back to Santa and the SLE so many pictures were taken in front of that great um antique firetruck and of course there was snow for realiz Bradon the event came alive because of our amazing collaborations with Partnerships special thanks to our volunteers the jroc from manate high the Key Club from Manatee School of the Arts and then there were our cultural Partners the bishop with their incredible telescope the pirate Marauders with Marty which was in the whole cool Santa suit library and bat City Comics presented story time and the last but not least the doto society for Lending us the sleigh for Mr Santa the night was hugely successful for so many levels and we were able to accommodate over 5,000 people we got down there that night so the numbers were really good we had no idea what to expect so next okay Whoever has control um we are excited to have music in the park back at the Pavilion this season the free concerts will feature a variety of local musicians and provide local food in the past we have seen roughly 1500 people at the concerts and anticipate that attendance Trend to continue to grow um if you want to see the lineup go to realiz bron.com it's going to be a fun Year Karen and I I know on music in the park last year was during the remodel time so we had to have it music in the amphitheater but the the job that your staff did during that time um because my wife and I think we missed one but just we had something that night but we went to all of them and it was unbelievable the number of people that filled that Amphitheater when and the boats that were out there there was several times there was seven eight nine boats and I think that will grow but I'm excited to see how it is on the lawn this year in in Rossy Park are we moving it back there we are I know I'm saying that's what I'm saying we got to be on Rossy Park but but that will be fun to see and um a lot of people that I talked to that were just so thankful there was something to do and I think that will even you know start to play off of our water taxi with AB that so I think we're going to we had people reach out to us from an Maria asking us about that so that water taxi is definitely going to play part and the other piece to last year was we had a phenomenal amount of people I almost am thank God there weren't more because that's a different venue and with the stairs and everything however what if you noticed you didn't see a lot of children and the in the year before when we had done it at Rossy Park you saw a lot of families coming with kids so I think this year is going to be phenomenal at Rossy I do I think the families are going to come back with their picnics and bring their kids so we're really excited about it no great job on that last year I know it was a challenge but but and our officers did a great job at because there was some walking challenges people were walking down the railroad tracks trying to find us but worked down the stairs right so but no I'm glad and and and again thanks for you're welcome adjusting that last year yeah we did we did and we're glad we did it worked out awesome it worked out awesome so just before the holidays you may or may not know that we launched made manate an online storefront for local small businesses um this is also a grant funded I encourage you to go to realiz Bradon to come and do some shopping um you go to realiz um go to our website you'll find it and we have uh local um local businesses that have signed up there so you can shop through them and it's gives them the opportunity to get their products online so we're kind of excited to be offering that to them um and last but not least through grants and sponsorships realize Bron is currently recruiting for the next cohort of the startup Circle entrepreneurial program um at the conclusion of this free 9we program participants will complete business plans to work from applications will be available on website until March 4th and next cohort begins on March 12th what is um to specifically note about the startup circle is that we have had um many compared to the numbers you're talking about of these people coming in wanting to start their own their own businesses and they're using the market to test out their Market plans they're using the market there you know that part-time vendor piece that we allow um people to come in they'll they'll get a booth and there are you'll see um soon we'll be getting some signs so that you'll see the the vendors that went through the startup program started their vendors and that they're now at the market and they're doing very well they're doing very well so we're excited about that too that's helping the community and small business and Business Development um so that's kind of that's kind of our first quarter not busy at all um anybody have any questions questions anyone or comments good job all right I do have a couple comments uh Saturday you could tell that the numbers were up because we were walking and and we realized we need to get on the sidewalk so we cuz we were going to a bricks But but so we actually it was just so tight and it was fun to see and I think what I've noticed more and more is the younger population that's coming down to it and and everybody has a bag in their hand and that's that's where the the vendors or the frienders you know really will tell you guys how it's happening and I think that as we know as we've gone through things and with covid and other things that have happened that really to get to where you what you guys have done sustainable wise obviously with an icon following an icon is always hard and and Janette but what your staff has done and come through that you know with all of it is to be commended and I think that when you look back you know some of the things that happened you know we don't want to relive but the way you've come through it and without realize Bradenton and the market over the the 11 12 years city of Bren would not be where we're at and I don't I'll I'll challenge anybody to that because realize Bradenton has taken us to that next level you know and and it's just uh it's proud to be a part of that and in my fourth year as mayor I'm proud to say that that you guys have done that for us and I know this Council will agree with me so thank you thank you you all very much we really appreciate that and we continue to want to do more yeah and we're and we're right there with you so and thanks for taking over winter wonderland taking it over it wasn't a hostile takeover it was a it was a good help takeover so and and we'll work through those issues there's always first year stuff and and those I mean there is but overall I have to say we um we conquered and and we did make it through with everybody everybody was happy that the way it came out so wonderful thank you we appreciate it thank you everyone all right moving on to Citizen comment and I'll read the our citizen comment portion citizen comment will be AC accept it during the citizen comment portion of the meeting on any non-agenda items agenda items future agenda items or topic of relevance to the city comments will be accepted on public hearings at the appropriate time so at this time we'll start citizen comment I have one card bill Sanders and if you'd please come forward state your name your city of residence and you'll have three minutes uh Bill Sanders 252 Riverside Drive uh good morning Council Happy Valentine's Day to you and the citizens of our city in 2018 I walked nearly every street in Bron to learn that our infrastructure underground was terrible and the city was sued under the Clean Water Act to correct the side walks were inferior the city only spent $75,000 per year for sidewalks not nearly enough to maintain or improve therefore I Champion the annual amount to $750,000 per year or tenfold in addition as Vice chairman of our CRA we funded another $500,000 for city sidewalks today I have been contacted by five citizens who have been injured by falls on sidewalks and dist repair have we stopped the braen and sidewalk program as a citizen of concern I ask the city Administration to Comm communicate with me on this issue to preent prevent further embarrassment to the city this is a failure to protect our citizens especially the elderly in our neighborhoods I know we have money because we recently gave $300,000 to the EDC on a consent agenda or a 400% increase in their funding then an appointment of Kurt landerfield who ran for city council to the EDC committee for input in the city's Economic Development I understand cronyism is not illegal but a long-standing Playbook to reward those that agree with administration of the city last week I testified in Rodney Jones trial for speaking out on corruption in our city after I testified we broke for lunch and I went to my car on Mante Avenue across from the courthouse as my car was blocked by an unmarked police vehicle after lunch I went back to the trial and spoke to the judge in concerns of the lack of legal representation and material facts not presented to the jury I went home to find out two Royal Palms were removed from my front uh area I went home to find out two Ro pal I'm sorry two days later I attended the sentencing of Mr Jones at 2:30 p.m. I told Dell Brown he was an evil person the next morning at 10:00 a.m. 500 gallons of sewage spilled occur in front of my home in the city of Bron it was reported to the state but not the community the good of my report is this to you count three of the trial of the Mane jury found Rodney Jones not guilty of telling Dale Brown his head would be put on a stick the jury evidently considers this a NOC item and found Rodney Jones not guilty I respect the election process however Florida has a resigned to run law this process is in question as D brand you filed to run before you resign clearly a violation of Florida law I do not consider you a legi thank you we have no other comments listed is uh Mr Perry The One thing I would like you to answer to Is there was a A misstatement in that of $300,000 to the EDC we did not raise our budget to $300,000 to the EDC right so so I was I don't believe it was stated that way to the insinuation was it was right and and and and I you're out of order if you you've already had your time but you're you're walking out of the room sir we're going to discuss it now we're going to discuss it now uh officer would you please take care of the disrupt disruption um the the the nuu endos and the the lies that are basically said during a citizen comment you are not going to be addressed in this but but if if any citizen wants to question anything you can call any of our Council people at any time you can call any of us and the the the problem is is when somebody gets on social media and just says fake or false information with no consequences it's got to be addressed and you know it's a we we did raise it as a budget item to go up to start some of the EDC see situations in our city Economic Development and uh Mr Perry I'd like you to address that a little more what we're going to get out of that and the possibilities one of the key things we're trying to look at is an economic development um action plan to identify uh those areas of the city that present us the best opportunity for um a both retention and expansion of economic opportunities we're not like the county that has uh a lot of land to the east for different types of District distribution centers or residential development or manufacturing things like that and to that extent we're very unique and we're asking um uh EDC to look at the various opportunities that are before us a lot of it has a connectivity to the built environment obviously we're on a capital expansion um situation in the city there's a lot of private development and and how do we bring a cergy to that um I think it's a fairly modest amount I remember councilor ra had asked me if I wanted to set up an economic development department and I said unless you had about a million and A5 dollars I didn't think that we could do this so this is really dipping our toe into the water in that regard right and then like you said when we have to start a department you have to hire several staff members you have to go through retirement programs you have to do insurance you have to do all of that by being able to work smartly in government by utilizing services that are in our town that are already doing those services you can do it at a lesser cost so someone to put out Inu windows that and then walk out of the room and not even give an opportunity to hear an answer or even re I've never got an email from anybody asking me about that or questioning it so we'll go through it and the other stuff is just propaganda you know it's it's the stuff that we have to deal with and and we'll take it you know because we can answer every question and be able to Mrs Coachman yeah I just want to say something in terms of about the money that was disputed about uh sidewalks and I think CRA was also mentioned in city that money is allocated for sidewalks but some is for new for new sidewalks and some is to repair it's not all collectively something we can just go and fix all the sidewalks that's a very good point I'd also point out with the sidewalk initiative I had actually texted Miss clayback to get a quick dump on you know what we've done on sidewalks and it's about a million dollars a year of each year over the last three years and that is our base contribution to also things like the school safety program that we try to leverage with the state do um over by Manatee High School a lot of the funding that was that was put into that area for improvements was related to that and uh so we look at where we the highest need is for repair replacement as councilwoman Coachman was pointing out we also look for supplemental opportunities where we can leverage City money with with State money or other funds and I don't know if any of you have gotten the phone calls but you're on down Manatee Avenue right now working with the state oh I'm sorry no no no yeah I was just going to say they're fixing a lot of sidewalks around this city and we're and that may be do but we worked with them to get that process done and you know through the no some some of it and so to say that we're not doing any sidewalk repairs again is false information that's being put out there so miss Coker did you want to add anything uh yeah if you don't mind that was one of the things I was going to bring up was manate Avenue and I have had calls about that and um and I've had calls from uh the where's Creek neighborhood that they love the new um sidewalks that they're getting there and I'm sure that it's going on elsewhere in the city but I feel like we're almost being pulled into a trap here um someone was voted out because they didn't like the way they did things we set the agenda um and yes we have to respond to comments but I think publicly like this is is uh it's just disruptive yeah and and again that's the the makeup of an individual so mayor May yes yes more I just wanted to speak to a couple of substan things I agree with you uh councilwoman uh coper um as to the you know how much we should address this but just uh as far as activities going on um that lift station I very familiar with that lift station um I walk by it almost daily and it's being phased out we are currently you know just point of clarification we are expanding the lift station that is about 3 blocks to the um south of that lift station and we are eliminating that lift station so it it is you know it has problems there's a generator out there right now but it's being addressed by way of the project to expand the lift station which I'm very excited about and then I'll also just point out that we just recently um prioritized the complete Street project for Second Avenue which will include Street lighting and sidewalks and uh designated bike lanes and that's also in that immediate area so I'm you know while like we always say the work is slow but I do steadily see us making progress and one thing I was going to say for my my uh Ward comments was um the availability of federal funding which Mr Perry and I have had um some discussion about and I wanted to make sure I brought it up in the to y'all's attention and word comments that there is funding available and that I you know it's been one of my uh focus is to bring that to the attention of administration whenever we have that opportunity to maybe be a part of a coalition with other planning organizations and um and try to bring as much of those funds to our area as possible so we and I and I do agree with both of you about the gaslighting that's something somebody has done for a long time and it's it's in there and obviously you know it's this is it's not appropriate to address some of that stuff and it's an election year and we know that's out there but you've seen how we have been very consistent very open and very willing to debate things and go through them and our budget is very open and we're we're willing to go through it and I'm willing to stand it up against anybody's budget for for accountability for the citizens and I think that's important to address and so when somebody gas lights and doesn't tell the truth it needs to be addressed at the time and and we will do that and and the other stuff is propaganda again and if if there was things that really did happen we'd be seeing photos of it so show me the photos and I'll move on so all right moving on to consent agenda Madam clerk staff is requesting approval of items a through U chair will entertain a motion I will move to adopt the consent agenda a through P and R through u a through P so you're asking to remove q q I just have a quick question about Q okay I'll second okay and a second by Miss Coker Mr Mayor I have a question yes ma'am uh Mr rudis still since I am included as an appointee of the Grievous grievance board am I allowed to vote Yes okay there's no financial gain there's no financial gain but I again Caesar's wife Caesar wife okay so um we have a motion and a second to approve all EX removing Q by Miss Moore and seconded by Miss Coker and we'll start the vote in war four yes five yes one yes two yes three yes approved five to zero Miss Moore I just wanted to make sure the the cover page I was aware that this was coming on the agenda and I'm happy to see it on the agenda um the projects mentioned in the cover letter I I'm I'm assuming that they're not um limited to just these project because it says including um but I wanted to make sure that the reflections of manate request was also so in being considered as part of the tree fund transfer I don't know if I'm going to defer to Mr Williams who's coming up that probably might have some information about that Mr Peterson was working on it with um Miss clayback I believe um good morning mayor council Lance Williams Chief Operating Officer um I'm sorry what what was your question again I didn't hear it to make sure that that there's a list of projects but it looks like it's representative um and so the reflections of vanity also made a request for tree um preservation board funds and I wanted to make sure that they were included in this um as one of the projects that the funds were going to be used for so I I'm not aware of their request um but we can we we can make sure that their request is fulfilled but we're also doing some other right projects in you know for for that project so or other items for that project so it'll be kind of more all inclusive this was more of uh we had these specific areas um that needed to have some tree Replacements on an urgent level um so we wanted to make sure that we had the funding available for m so Mr Peterson's group could go ahead and make those Replacements but I I think that the reflections was also a tree replacement for a tree that is um I don't know if it's diseased or something but it's it it is a replacement and um I know Mr Peterson has already been working with them you know I I've got one question before is is Reflections private property or is it public property um it is I I'm not totally positive but my understanding is it's a it's a nonprofit not city public property is my understanding I'd want to make sure we were meeting all when we use the term Reflections is of course the reflections Monument that is on the southwest side and that's I believe part of the city park and and then Reflections in the term of uh more generically um the tribute to Angola and and that area and the like I think that's a nonprofit yeah well so I don't know exactly where this tree is and and and and where it's going to be put where it's going to be put pet perhaps Mr Peters have Mr Peterson come up and yeah shed some light shed some light on the situation no pun intend but is that in is that in this agenda item to clarify it wasn't inclusive in the in the project list but it actually was the first project that was on the list again the list wasn't is not all inclusive okay so there is an addendum to the tree fund policy that allows um tree tree maintenance for unsafe trees and because it is a uh not for-profit somewhat public historical landmark um it seemed to fit the criteria to be available for the fund I just don't want to open up something that you know there's some private areas and there's some public areas in that area that we want to make sure we're right and it was more about safety hazardous trees not not necessarily replacement but trimming and removal of of hazardous trees so thank you for thank thank you all right so chair will entertain a motion I will move to approve consent agenda item 6 Q second all right any further discussion hearing none we'll start the vote inward five yes one yes two yes three yes four yes carries 5 to zero thank you Madame clerk the next item on the agenda is 7A first reading of ordinance 433 an ordinance of the city of Bradenton Florida vacating a portion of a 16 foot east west alley as shown on the plat of go Gregory subdivision recorded in book one page 236 of the public records of Manatee County Florida and more particularly described herein being generally located north of Manatee Avenue East and east of 22nd Street East providing for recordation in the official records providing for severability providing for repeal of ordinances and conflict and providing for an effective date and the second reading and public hearing for this ordinance is scheduled for February 28th All right so that'll be set for February 28th nothing else we need to do on that no sir all right Madam cler we don't have anything listed under new business or unfinished business on the agenda mayor if I could have Indulgence of council just to hit on a couple of important perfect yes sir Mr thank you sir thank you couple of things I wanted to talk about appreciate your Indulgence mayor council uh the first one is that on February 9th I sent out a memo that was distributed to council regarding an emergency procurement for Sledge hauling and uh pursuant to our emergency procurement uh that is to be bought up at the next council meeting so there's an obligatory um commitment to do that I wanted to tell you a quick story on that basically we use a company to hul sludge from from the the water treatment plant and uh there is a lot going on with environmental regulations as it relates to the acceptance of different levels and of sludge um I guess it's characterized I I didn't know this but I guess all all uh how do I put this politely sludge is not is not the same sludge basically and and to that extent uh H&H hauling who's been a longtime contractor for the city is caught in the middle of that as far as hauling it and ultimately disposing of it and so they're really not willing to sign an extended contract until it's settled a little bit um through environmental regulatory sources on the Sledge itself and they may require us to do certain things to bring our Sledge up to a higher level and the like but in the meantime we have to do something with our sludge and uh so this and we had spoken with H&H and and asked that you know we could do a short-term uh contract and the like and they said look we'll keep hauling it until we know more information about it um and there might come a time when you have to do something or we have to do something but this is basically an interim measure to haul the Sledge and so uh we issued that on Friday and uh hopefully we'll make some progress with where we're at on Sledge really quickly that's the sludge issue sounds like fun yeah yeah uh I I want um perhaps Mr Williams and and Brian show to come up and Craig Keys talk a little bit um about the plastic bag initiative just to make it quite clear that uh where we're at with that from a solid waste perspective and where we're what we're kind of postured currently is we have to kind of act quickly to eliminate the use of plastic bags for for yard yard waste green waste and the like specifically I'm sorry and paper bags as yeah you're right right paper bags as well um it it's really something that is environmentally mandated um as it relates to the processor of that type of waste and they could manually remove it um from the yard waste but of course there's a cost to staff it with laborers with pitchforks that would pull the yard waist and separate the the the bags and then put the true green waste into the the recomposition and the like but it it's strictly related to to a mandate you may ask well why doesn't the County have to do this right away the county will eventually have to do that they they have the same contractor that we have but they're under contract that's longer than ours and so we're coming up on a deadline I believe it's April and I'll I'll allow uh certainly recommend that Mr Cho and Mr Keys talk about that but that's kind of the overview of it um good morning and uh say your name just so it Brian Cho superintendent for solid waste uh I I've spoken to all of you but we're uh glad to see Mr Mayor on TV last night on the news talking about the rata but funny enough right before him they had the mayor of City of Tampa talking about this exact same thing and how they've kicked off the exact same program as we have removing the plastic um from the contaminants from the yard waste um we're doing the same thing uh no bags no no plastic no bags in our things and and we all know that when we shred that it becomes a huge contamination and so that's why uh we're meeting the EPA regulations and and trying to help our vendor produce uh a good clean product that he can that he can sell on the market um they're currently here if you have any questions for them um if not that's that's fine but um that's that's basically the I just think one of the mo most important things as Mr Perry said and it's going to be messaging to our citizens that we get out there that this is not something that the city of Bradenton is doing this is being mandated and it depends when your contract with this holler is up and ours is up in April where Manatee Count's is up farther down the road they'll have to do the same thing process the process server right so again this is not a city of Braden initiative and I'm glad you brought up you know if the news media calls me and asks me about it I'll tell them too and the mayor of Tampa told them this is it's happening all over the state so we just want our citizens to know that this is something that that Brian Cho and the yard waste isn't doing it's the the EPA and regulations that we're all trying to work within yes and we also have the the uh second bin program so anyone who wants a second blue bin cuz we we're very green here uh we offer the the second bin for the first first year they can call our office and uh they can do we also have a uh QR code that will be going out so they can get more information and get numbers as to answer any of their questions um so as of April 1st no more no more bagging it only bending it that's what we're asking for we're just bringing it to attention uh M Coachman go ahead um I just had a question you just mentioned about a QR code in terms of how citizens can get the information are there going to be other ways we're informing them yes we're putting it out on the media we're we're putting out on door tags everyone will get a door tag to be lawn signs on all the HOAs I'm also meeting with all the HOA um people so associations so that we we can get the word out we're also doing it all over all of the social medias so we will be hitting this full full glass that was my question great minds think alike Miss Moore um I I I understand that we're going to be news blasting and I think that is important and good but what will happen I feel like inevitably there's going to be someone that managed to not hear about it and put the bags out what will it just remain there or should we put tag on there so any bags any bags that uh at first any bags that are left out um they will be left at the curb and they'll be picked up with with their garbage and the garbage team will pick it up but that but that homeowner will also get a notification as to the update as to no more bags in our yard ways a gentle notice yes yes so we so we we we have we have mechanisms in place that anyone slips through the cracks will still be able to capture capture and inform Miss Coker yeah I I might suggest that we remind people of the the changes that we made before about bundling and everything because I've recently noticed quite a bit in my area uh of just piles of things again and it seems like they're being they're not being picked up I don't know if we give them a notice as to why we aren't picking that up but I I just would suggest that we remind them about that yes ma'am and we are we are we are continuing to still pick up bundles and piles as as a regular uh bulk item pickup oh okay thank you thank you want to just touch on a couple more quick items the first one is uh related to the aaga request for information and we compil compiled that request and uh provided it to the OPA office basically for information related to the city of Bradington I received some information inspectional public records request for information we provided that to the local uh I think it was only one entity that requested it but we provided that it's really more public information regarding our budget our our our complement of services um our structure and a whole host of things and that is a state initiative that we are agnostic about um and we have an obligation to comply with our partners at the state and uh the press and everything else and we'll continue to do that we are not going to take any editorial position at all from the administration perspective and you know I imagine that at some point you may be questioned about it but that's that's on y'all's prerogative to handle so I'll just move on from that if that's okay sir yep uh one of the the last things I want to talk about is something that was kind of mentioned a little bit earlier which is infrastructure and uh I wanted to specifically touch on a few things of good news regarding uh supplemental funding from the state we received uh back in December and and there in the ensuing months since then uh the forms that really we've received about $6 million since State D grants um to hit on some of these you know worn um infrastructure aged infrastructure issues specifically out of the $5.7 million Grant um lift station 8 which is of course right down on uh on the waterfront here uh a little bit uh uh West yeah West I'm sorry I lose my bearing sometimes a little bit West of uh the marina is lift station 8 and its proximity to the water is fairly uh uh jeopardizing to the environment um if you remember after um hurricane Ian we had a fault at that station and there was um there was spillage into the water related to the valve uh systems and and connection systems that were in there we've spent some money on temporary temporary repair of it but we're going to relocate off the water basically and move it back to some property we have um a little a little bit away from that it's a fairly expensive undertaking it's uh $3.8 million so when you hear about list stations and and what council more those are excellent comments about some of the repairs being done into Ward 4 uh they're it's expensive and and we have an initiative to really repair and really replace most of our 65 different lift stations throughout the city and some of them go back for being very aged most of them aren't that as expensive to do I think on average you're probably will be looking at about some between uh $300 and $400,000 per lift station I had asked Kim clayback that question and that was the number I thought that she had given me um but we're continuing to deal with those those aged infrastructure issues in Ward five there's a drainage Improvement project that we reive funding for that's uh two $250,000 and so you know we're constantly dealing with drainage and storm water and those issues um they also can implicate the Clean Water Act um they're regulated in what's called an ms4 permit Seth Jones is in the back of the room he's one of the best Engineers we work with had retired came back to the city he's doing a lot of work for us in that regard as well and our ms4 permit um and the like but but we're I I guess moving back to some of the comments earlier when you think about our ability to get $5 million $6 million in loans is not loans and grants direct grants um a lot of that is through the government Affairs process of creating good relationships between our staff our electeds our administrators with the state level people at the various executive agencies in this case most of it's under resiliency that would be D and the governor's office too who administers that um it's really important to forge those relationships and to try to use some of those state taxes that go to Tallahassee back here into the city of of brington and we have I think about $12 million in direct Appropriations request in right now that are still in the budget and you know we're getting into the final times of of of the state legislative session we just got requested by the governor's office for a consideration of $5 million in traffic um improvements and the like and it's interesting because we've taken a little bit better approach uh for that to the extent of we have state roads and a lot of the traffic congestion that's created here is created by virtue of pass through traffic people that aren't particularly going to use Bradon Services come to Bradenton and utilize beautiful uh City and and see our great people but it creates problems on our local roads and so when we go to Tallahasse and they say well isn't this a local initiative why why would you ask the state to pay for it well the impact is really from State activities transportation and the like so we have to integrate that all together um we have not had a transportation program at the public works department for the city of Bradington that I know of and and I've talked with a lot of our folks it really falls into the the Bailey Wick of Miss clayback and our engineering Technical Services Department who will be handling waste you know storm water one moment waste water the next water distribution um electrical engineering everything in between and and by when she has a little extra time she'll sit on the with the mo you know as our technical advisor with our our mayor who's the chair of it and the like well we got uh we we reassess things and we were lucky to get someone with some really good civil engineering experience particularly in the traffic engineering perspective um that we're that's from the area locally here in Sarasota Manatee County and uh he's going to be joining us and probably starting up that Transportation uh uh type of uh engineering and it it's it's hard to find people with really good skills in that we in my prior job we'd always had trouble finding Transit Engineers that that could do that Transportation not Transit um and the like so we want to take more of an active role is my point both at the legislature in getting the funding working with our partners as well as having the bandwidth within our own City to to to to engage in that stuff because of the impact on local roads and we're having some pretty good success with that um we're hopeful about that that $12 million um it's an array of different uh Transportation um improvements uh as well as other types of improvements a lot of it is on the environment Al infrastructure side um that deals with resiliency or or or or water collection and treatment and the like and uh we're you know we're putting a lot of effort into something and you know it's like most things that are so kind of distorted or I won't call them falsities the best way to tell a falsity is take the truth just sprinkle a little little misinformation on it that's what I used to say when I was a prosecutor it's no different when someone comes up to this Podium and the truth is is that we we we ha haven't probably been keeping up with infastructure like a lot of local governments but the reality is is that we have a very aggressive commit you know board and councel that has seen the need for that with an Administration with our technical experts out the department that are busting it every day to play catchup and we're doing a pretty good job you can't fix in 20 days or 20 months or 20 weeks what took 20 years to to create and and it's it's no one's fault it is where we are but my ha goes off to you for taking the lead as our electeds and giving us the latitude to do things like deal with the state to do things like hire additional support staff to do things like assess really where we're at and where we want to be that's courage that's leadership and I appreciate it from my perspective so with that I'll sit down we'll move to the rest of the meeting thank you Mr Perry and that's one of the things that that I was going to say later but I just think that that he had it spoton that the leadership not only from this Council and the and our administrative staff all the way down from you Mr Perry is taking some of those bold steps that we need to do now and our city will be 121 years old in May and we're proud of that history but we also have some aging infrastructure that we have to to deal with now and I think that some of the things whether it was hiring a lobbyist a few years ago whether it was was working through getting you Mr Perry and and changing some of the thoughts on what we're going to do to take that proactive step to make a difference and you know and it's whether it's getting the fir TR whether it's getting the right police cars whether it's getting with our Public Safety and working through those things and and when somebody comes up in throws out falsehoods about those things yeah we want to defend what we've done and we want to work through what we've done so again we're going to be that bold Council that's going to say how are we going to make it better for the generations to come a lot of us didn't have anything to do with what's happened but we've got to work towards that next generation and that's important and if that is something that that you know people want to talk about and ask us about we're glad to talk about it because we do have a plan and we are you know at times and I look at out in the audience right now and it's almost every person out there is a staff member and you know we are taking bold steps and we are holding you to task but you wouldn't want to be in your position if you weren't being held to task to make it better for what your everyday job is so from my standpoint and I'll speak on behalf of the council if it's all right we thank you for every day and that's important to know that questions or asking why we do something isn't questioning what you do it's how we can make it better for you to serve our citizens so that's important to us every day and some of the minutia that comes in here spew it at me all you want I know our city is going to be better for our children and our grandchildren and that's the most important thing so um Madam clerk anything else before we go to council reports no sir all right thank you Council reports we'll start in Ward four okay great um yes so I as I uh intimated before uh Monday for me was a Tampa Bay Regional planning Council uh day and I'm very excited to see with their restructuring of their staff and their Administration the focus is 100% um trying to form coalitions within the Tampa Bay Region in order to be stronger candidates for federal funding for very specifically things that we need here in the city which is flood mitigation um infrastructure um projects and so Mr Perry and Mr uh Williams and I have had somewhat brief conversations but I just want to bring it to y'all's attention that I'm trying to push um Grant opportunity information to staff so that we can take advantage of it and I'm very excited about um the recent hires of the two Engineers because I think that will help Miss clayback with um you know her workload and the hopes that we're moving forward with having uh staff that can have the time to apply for the grants and participate in those um projects so that's just uh information for you guys know that I'm talking to them about that and and hopefully everyone would um kind of get behind it and and just my also kudos for the recent hires and hoping that we continue that trajectory of um having our Ro robust public works department so that we can meet you know face the challenges of growing and I think you put it well with trying to fix what has taken 20 years to happen is no small feat so um I Mr Cho left but or and I'm not sure if it falls in within his purview or Mr Peterson's but I just wanted to thank public works for the speed with which they this seemingly small thing but um adding a dog waste container to a neighbor a couple of neighborhood that asked for it um so that was very fast and as we say government works slowly so I was very delighted to see that something happen very quickly um I am excited about the workshop on April 6 I just want to push out there in case you know March 6 or March 6th I'm sorry yes thank you um so I I hope people you know listen in or attend to um what I'm sure will be a interesting and exciting conversation and I believe that that is it for me all right thank you Miss Coachman okay so much of good stuff has been discussed and and trying to clarify some things so I I'll just say ditto to most um you're so right our public works department they really do strive to um get things done if they can uh in a quick manner but I also have to say and I agree with you mayor our staff everyone every department works hard every day to try to speed up the process uh uh that you know government tends to slow down and also just also say to our fire department and our Police Department I get to see you guys work a lot um I don't know if that's good or bad but I definitely get to see how hard you work and how you keep the public safe as well but on another note happy Happy Valentine's Day to everyone and um just to say that the month of February is definitely full of love it's Black History Month and it's such a t a great time to talk about the rich history of the Black Culture uh it's not all negative um and just to to be a part of a lot of the events so um I don't have any to really just recommend that you all attend but just look in social media for any of the events that you might want to attend but obviously this weekend we have a lot a lot of things going on so I'm just going to say Happy Valentine's Day and everyone enjoy this wonderful weekend full of fun thank you m Coker oh yes um first off I you know it uh some I sometimes take it for granted but um there are people that don't know this isn't dirt on my forehead that today is Ash Wednesday which is a very holy day for a lot of people but it marks the beginning of uh the time of Lent and I hope that um everyone takes an opportunity to renew themselves um in their faith that this is a very holy time of year for a lot of people um I also um gosh the calendar so much great stuff going on and I would encourage that you uh follow the city of brington on Facebook especially for this weekend um and uh I want everybody to enjoy the festivities and um understand that with all that's going on there's going to be a lot of increased congestion on the road so kind of pack your patience and uh and please uh remember we are the friendly City for a reason and let's let's get through all this um and uh so plan ahead um and one one last thing about the the the negative I think you nailed it when you called it gaslighting if you're getting your your facts from next door and Facebook I I I would encourage you to reach out to us because we're all here for public service and uh some of the things that are said um it's hard it's hard to hear it and not you know anyhow I just would encourage if you've got a question please reach out to at least me I'm happy my phone number is everywhere my cell phone I'm happy to talk to people um but know that we're all working very hard and and we have great staff with that are committed to making brington the best place to live and we're doing a good job I think so thank you that's it vice mayor Barnaby oh okay well I've got a I've got a long list first of all I want to say uh thank you to everybody that got freebie up and running uh CRA and our our staff here as well if you're not aware of what freebie is it is a freed ride share program throughout the downtown so if you let's let's say you've got somebody you you live on the west side of town you're meeting somebody from the East side of town go ahead and park in our free parking garage and then take freebie down to leom take freebie down to uh Motorworks or any of the businesses in the village of the Arts and uh it's it's one less car the road there as far as that and you don't have to worry about parking so highly recommend that and I want to thank the staff um public work staff and Utility Billing staff that got a project done in my ward on review Boulevard dealing with uh a seaw wall and a massive amount of what is called weep holes and I just appreciate that because that will keep the flooding out of out of that area and and off the stre street so our street should last longer as well uh let's see want to thank shemica standerford of our staff for the employee event the Employee Appreciation event that she put together on behalf of of the meing council because that was it was I thought it was wonderful and I I hope that we do it every year I think that's something that we all want to see I know the mayor has been pushing for it so I think that is terrific uh let me see what else I've got uh L the LPGA I did not go to the event but I had fun flipping the TV channels and going and seeing our Bradenton Country Club and they kept talking about here in Bradenton and here in Bradenton and the the club and the course looked great um I want to say it was kind there was one shot with one of the te's where you see West Bren Baptist Church and it sure did look Majestic as heck I mean it I thought it was fabulous so to the country club and to everybody that put that together thank you and I'd love to see it come back and and if you bring it back I promise I'll go that next time uh let me see we've got um happy Valentine's Day to everybody and uh wanted to say there's a a quote that is attributed to Mark Twain but I believe it's it's really from Jonathan Swift that says a lie can Halfway Around the World while the truth is still putting its shoes on and I'll just leave that there and uh want to give um my family and I think everyone's uh deepest sympathy to Mr rudisell on the passing of your dad your dad was a legend worked in the schools for many years raised a very fine son thank you Mr Mayor Mr Kramer thank you um one of the things that was brought up earlier about us bringing on EDC and I think Mr Perry touched on creating a potentially creating a whole new Department really one thing I've said to any citizen who calls and asks well why aren't you getting this done well because we have professional in the city who do great work but we can also lean on Community Partners like the EDC and if we contract out and have them do that work for us that's all going to benefit all these citizens so that's just want to thank all our employees again for that um one thing we get the updates from the from Chief bevon um seems like a lot of times they have information on pedestrian crashes and very often fatalities and I know from my time with the police department uh that this area and just from living here um this area Manatee and the Sarasota counties is always near the top of the state for fatalities um again just this past week we had one um always be alert especially in areas where there's High pedestrian activity like tamami Trail or anywhere downtown or First Street there's we've lost a lot of people that granted and I'm talking more to them than I am the drivers use crosswalks use go the extra half block and cross at a light please it's it's for your own benefit especially it really infuriated me to know that someone couldn't go not even a half block uh on eth Avenue where this last fatality was cuz they cross midblock um do came in put those very bright lights in but it's designed for pedestrian safety has the whole idea behind it and we really need people to I I know the police department tries to educate as much as they can in communities but maybe some type of social media campaign that we can do with the city and I'm sure the state has some something out there we can do um now to some happy stuff you got a rata so this weekend you got a rata you also probably got to bring a raincoat but um and also welcome back to the Pirates uh the pirate Riata is going to transition right into the Pirates FanFest downtown or the pepper alley downtown so uh hopefully everybody can stay in the downtown area for all that uh Happy Valentine's Day to my darling Maria I miss you and um there's a quote that I'm not going to attribute to Mark Twain or anybody else El but to Coach Lee Coro uh when you lose say little when you win say less thank you um yeah and basically agree with everything that was said and and going on um one thing with our employee recognition we had almost 8,000 years of employees recognized the other day and it's amazing to see and you know had won over 41 42 years and shmika did a great job at setting it up it's something I asked her probably two or three years ago and and working it and just said something that I just felt that you know for us as a council and going through things that it would be a great celebration and through the HR department she not only when you walked in the room was it a wild Factor it was just a wild factor and everything that happened and I I I think I saw some sparkle and some of our employees eyes that it was well worth doing because you serve a city for 42 years you love your job and you know so that was great to see um uh the this weekend it's been busy week already for it but you got a rata as councilman Kramer said and and it's the Ninth Annual um and we can say annual on that one because that's something that has definitely definitely been something that very few things go that long and and be that successful so we're proud of what how the city of Bradenton 10 years ago because we did have to skip one because of covid but 10 years ago that Council which I was included on you know really fought to get that and it's it's really supported through tourist tax and the TDC so you know we really have grown that and it's exciting to see actually this year is the first year it's going to have a Friday night public event so that's fun to see and uh go to our website I think I don't know if it's up yet but you'll see the route for where the Clyde stales and the timing of what they're going to do to start out the whole thing it's um you know Super Bowl slow them getting here a little bit I don't know if it's the exact Clydesdales maybe not but it's the Clydesdales from the East Coast but but still part of the whole situation so and then going into Friday night at Rossy park with a a a band music in there and then Saturday all day and again tying it into the Pirates Fest or pep rally as a whole weekend you know in between all of that they will have the market you know so that's going to be seeing the number of people downtown so as councilwoman Coker said you know kind of pack some patience as you're trying to get somewhere um because the green bridge will be closed all day Saturday from about 4:00 in the morning I think it starts um on until later in the evening um but the Drone show will be Friday night on Riverwalk down by Rossy Park so there won't be a fireworks show Saturday night so we're hoping to get the Bridge open a little earlier for some of the traffic going out but but the Drone show you know wind related is is cool the little bit we saw last year and then unfortunately Saturday night it wasn't but but we're excited about that and just keeping the things going and as as everyone has said you know it's about doing the right thing for the right reason especially when nobody's looking and uh everybody up here is doing that so we continue to do that and and working hard Mr Perry uh any staff other staff that would like to speak or talk or Mr Williams Mr Williams and Miss singer s i I forgot something but they might be speaking to it good morning again so um I know I usually don't talk a lot in the council meetings but um one of the things I wanted to say in kind of the spirit of of talking about the staff and the benefits that uh that we have here and the assets that we have here so in the last several months I've had the opportunity to work pretty much with every Department um you know that we have and I can tell you that I'm very proud to work with the staff that we have I mean the dedication is a lot of what you don't see are the after hours the weekends the time and the energy spent um to be put in so from planning Community Development to Public Works to purchase to utility building uh to Human Resources um accounting Finance obviously um but it it really is just it's a great group of people um and I know specifically with Public Works um I've spent a lot of time with them recently and they're all very excited about what the future holds and the possibilities so for some for a citizen to come up here and say that there's corruption is absolutely absurd so I just felt it was my time to finally speak up on behalf of the staff uh because they put in a lot of effort and you guys should be proud and I know you are and very supportive of of who we have and uh I really can't speak any more highly of every single one of them well I think as this dasis sits right now we are very supportive and again very um grateful for the years in the service and I don't know that that was the last Das before the election so so and I hope the staff sees that and I feel they do you know and so I appreciate you saying that very much a collaborative effort all the way around so thank you all right that's all Miss singer we didn't have to have your staff come up much today it was kind of quiet from that standpoint so yeah wait till next time items for you um we're moving forward on the visioning project we've been at the last two markets stantex Sant is going to be there again this Saturday weather permitting um and then we're kicking off into public meetings uh the week the 26 of this month um there may be some changes in venues but um that's all being publicized through the website that they've set up um and we're promoting that through QR code and flyers and and postcards so um we'll be make sure that to let you know exactly where those events are occurring and the times they're occurring and uh so that you can attend those if you choose to um and we'll keep you updated on that that'll be followed up with a Citywide online survey uh so that anybody who wasn't able to attend any of the events can still have their input um on the city's future and the comprehensive plan so with that um we'll keep you updated all right Miss Barnaby yes Miss singer um I've had someone say that they don't have a computer at home they do a lot of stuff on their phone and with a QR code how how do they they how do they do the QR code with their phone when they're using their phone so I'm just questioning with the survey if we might be able to put a link We will we will thank and I believe for our City's um newsletter she's imported a link on that as well super okay thank you all right thank you all right and just comment to that this past weekend at the market you know we had a lot of our staff there and and uh looked like they were having fun in shorts to wear shorts to works [Laughter] so it was fun to see one comment I wanted to comment because we do a Monday meeting and and and Greg dong had a rather entertaining experience um it was visioning of course and he said that he was solicited about six times about where he could get his uh people could get their eye examinations and uh continuously I said next time we'll get you a lab coat and yeah and and just a final comment I think with uh um there's several people in this room that we sat together for about four hours 5 hours yesterday some uh one individual meeting that we came together with a citizen and uh with a bunch of Staff members that were trying to figure out a water problem and it was good to uh get all of us in the room with that individual because you know it's not a he said she said thing it was about how do we figure out where we're going and how we fix things because it's easy for somebody whether it's on our side or their side to say it's not my fault it's somebody else's fault but that doesn't solve the situation well with great staff great interaction with those and I was glad that we were able to work out that meeting quickly we were able to solve the problem you know and it wasn't anybody's fault it was just a situation that worked out and that's something that you know that you've always seen and I know up here here you call any of us we're going to call you back you email us I'm going to call you back I'm not I'll email you back but it's going to be a phone call because we can solve an issue that doesn't become more of a a situation that doesn't become an issue months down the road so and but again that was great to see and great collaboration for down the road and and then we had another meeting for almost 4 hours it ended up being that was talking about some progress in the city with City Park so that's some stuff we'll get more information out and how that's going and and as I say a lot Miss Moore said today it's slow but slow to me is gas pedal on and let's go you know and I mean again it's not like a normal business as Miss Barnaby said but we can be businesslike and that's what we've got to do and we'll continue to do and not apologize for moving things along because what that's going to do and and talking about about um especially Miss Coachman's area is we're saving three and four year olds lives down the road and if we can do that I'll take all the Heat and arrows you want to throw at me thank you we'll be adjourned