##VIDEO ID:Ram3U7kpFfM## all right all right all right good morning everyone it is now 9:00 I would like to call to order the Barrier Islands government council meeting for Wednesday January 29th please stand for the pledge pledge to flag of the United States of America and to the stands na indivisible withy and justice for all all right well we'll start off with the roll call uh I will start myself my name is uh David Will I Am the mayor of Readington Beach and we will move to our left Lisa Hendrickson mayor for Readington Shores and Marie Brooks mayor madira Beach we go around the room please starting I'm Mar and I'm oh thank you Robin good morning everybody Barry Rubin president and CEO of the panel's Beach's Chamber of Commerce good morning I'm Heather Davidson um vice president of membership for panel's beaches chamber good morning this thing is awesome I won't one it home um I am director of operations for the penella speeches Chamber of Commerce to you I want to toss it good morning Joan goodr city of Treasure Island e iomic development you can throw it oh we can throw it uh Jan Wilson vice mayor Indian Rocks Beach Arby Johnson citizen of Indian Rocks Beach Carla bowling Titan home lending I love this thing I'm taking it home Gina Johnson Waterfront realy Tim Johnson Waterfront realy Tampa Bay Beach's chamber Pat O'Neal resident Madera Beach Margaret antio resident madira Beach here we go I am Alex Hara I'm the marketing and Communications manager at the Tampa Bay beaches Chamber of Commerce well RJ RJ Myers Myers Consulting Group this is like a game show uh suie so for commissioner B Beller Bluffs hi I'm Stan Sofer xxi management just Renee Rose city clerk for the city of Belair Beach good morning Larry Shear resident of Indian Shores John Bishop pelis County Coastal management Kelly Hammer leevy penel County Public Works Colleen Cheney Board of County Commissioners Office of chairman Brian Scott good morning CJ hoit commissioner town of Readington Shores good morning council member from um Indian Shores good morning Tina Porter town of Indian Shores Town Administrator Tony faio pelis County communications Ashley janetti pelis County communications Tom Washburn pelis County Public Works John rean pelis County Public Works little disappointed I didn't get the uh fund box over there Gina Harvey penel County Public Works transportation Cameron bradbear resident Readington Beach Mike mlin Town Administrator redon Shores Adriana nees town clerk town of Readington Beach Jolie Patterson Deputy clerk town of Readington Shores Megan Powers assistant to the city manager madir Beach and Robin Gomez Mader Beach city manager thank you all for coming out Bill Queen mayor North read Beach Dian the shear mayor of Indian Shores Denise hasberg mayor of Indian Rocks Beach Bruce director mayor of the city of Clearwater Dave gtis mayor of the city of Belair Beach well all right that's everybody um oh well Sam just walked in so come on Sam Sam jbc's insy thank you all right um so depending on the length of today's meeting I might have to leave early but in that if that happens then Vice chair ganis will take over from there so do we have any changes to the agenda move to approve second all favor I moving on can we get an approval of the minutes from our last meeting December 4th motion to approve second all in favor I I are approved an approval of the treasurer's report for November and December of 24 motion to approve did you want to go over the there presentation yeah yeah all right so for the statement period November 1st through November 30th our beginning balance was 1393 we had some dispersements due to our web hosting ending balance November 30th was 110044 in December our beginning balance again 1144 C no deposits no dispersements ending balance as of December 31st 11144 that in concludes the treasur report move to approve much all in favor I treasur report approved all right we'll move right into new business Mr Dr John Bishop from pelis County to talk to us about uh sand renourishment good morning everybody thank you for having me um I'm here to give an update on the uh the the the easement acquisition process and our San key project do do I have a way to move this forward myself or is this do I need to request it what what are you looking for like the slides can I tell tell me to Advance it okay Advance the slide please so um a quick overview of our federal project areas um we have three different Federal project areas that historically were nourished by the Army Corps of Engineers San key Treasure Island and Long Key um they're both still active they haven't expired yet um Treasure Island was recently actually extended to 2031 uh Long Key which is St Pete Beach was extended to 20130 and sanki 2043 um they are all on hold for easan issues currently though um and treasure is and Long Key are actually authorized as a combination project for another 50 years as a as a whole new new project that would need uh new start uh funds to to begin but all of these projects need to have 100% of the federal easin before we can move forward thank you um quick background uh 2012 was the last this presentation is largely focused on S Kei for the most part but um because it's really you know driving towards the easements at s ke but I will um there will be some stuff about Treasure Island and s p peach in there too so in 2012 that was the last time we nourished San key 2018 um as you I'm sure all remember we did nourish again but there were significant gaps in the project due to a lack of easements um Army Corps has not changed its stance on the easements it has uh recently decided to allow for the use of 50-year uh Public Access easements over the project areas but that's not really a significant enough change I think to to put it back out um most people who are going to see Perpetual are going to see 50 years as essentially Perpetual so um 2024 uh we began seeking permits for a county Le project um seeing the reading on the wall still hoping we can get the core involved but wanting to be prepared to do a county Le project if we're directed to do so we began seeking the permits um those permits have been submitted those applications have been submitted to the Army Corps and to the state um and we actually expect to probably get them in the next couple months so uh things are moving very rapidly we were informed by the Army Corps that that um that permit may only last six months because they're giving it on an emergency basis so if we choose to use it it's going to have to have to happen at a break next speed um of course word of 2024 has also added another uh another part to the puzzle in that you know it might allow for the core to come back and nourish these speeches on a one-time basis um but they are still figuring out what their um what their guidance is on how to proceed with that especially with the lack of easements so um we are waiting on core guidance on how they are going to implement worda 2024 but they were given a two-year time frame to do it within so oh Advance the slide please so uh the easement we're moving with now for Sand Key is different than what the Army Corps easement was it still contains a lot of the language we need to be able to nourish the beach um but it does not include Public Access and we are giving the residents two options right now we sent out easements that had both us building a beach and a dune but in the letter we also clearly state that if they don't want a dune that's fine we just we will only build a beach but they have to request a beach only easement from us and then we will send the revised easement to them and they can sign that one so they have the choice of whether they want to have Dunes on their property or just the beach and the beach is that horizontal plateau of sand that we're all used to the core core building um you know it's usually an extra 100 150 ft wide 5et in elevation or so uh flat plateau of sand um that's what the core has been building for the last 30 years and so there's that choice they can have that or they can also have the Dune added um I have noticed that there's a lot of people that are confused about the Dune and what the difference between the beach nourishment and the Dune and so those questions come up quite frequently but we are explaining to people as best we can what the difference is and that if they don't want to Doom they can just request the beach only easement um so far and this was up to date I updated this yesterday we still need 93 easements in Indian Rock Beach 75 easements in Indian Shores and 41 easements in Readington Shores um um these uh we still have all the easements in in Belair Beach and clear water and North Readington Beach the core easements we got during the last project are fine um so it's still largely Indian Rocks Beach Indian Shores and Readington Shores where we need more easements um and and once uh since we began this um process mid December we've gotten about 20 uh so we need to do a lot better uh in order to be able to include this area in the project um this is a crosssection of the beach kind of showing where the easement area is so the uh the pink line is uh where the ecl is sew of that is all state land we don't need an easement over that what we need is for that spot that tapers into the seaw wall on the uh the landward side and that's because we need to be able to fill the full template to provide the most protection we need space to be able to run the pipeline down the beach to keep filling additional properties um and and right now uh we don't have easements over this area in a lot of areas most of the beach that's on state land right now is very low Ling I'm sure you go out there and it may look wide but you've also noticed it's very flat and very close to the water we you know we we need a higher Beach that we can work on and we need to be able to to work on those easan areas so here's a slide um to kind of give you a an understanding of where we're at currently with the beach we have had some accretion since 2024 when this photo was taken so it does look a little better that storm burm has come back on but that's that low line Beach you see when you go out there um now for perspective the photo on the left was pre-project September 1985 after Hurricane Elaine and the one on the right is after Hurricane Helen um I didn't make them rhyme on purpose it just comes out that way um and so we're basically if you look at the profile there was more more sand in the a Shore and under the water than there was then but you know that's not what people see so for all intents and purposes we're back to pre- project levels that means there's a whole lot of sand on the landord side we have to put just to even bring the project out to what you guys are used to seeing um for perspective on the top photo that's uh my director uh Kelly Hammer ly who is on a stairwell that probably hasn't been exposed since 1998 and this is up by the Dan's Island which is uh around r61 Advance the slide please so this is what the beach looked like after the last nourishment so that's a whole lot of sand that's gone uh and this is just a beach also all the all the sea o on the left in the Dune area that that's all gone we're we're back to the seaw wall and this is a little fur this is uh actually facing the other direction at Dan's Island so you can see same thing there's no sand to the north either actually looks very similar to uh to Hurricane Elaine Advance the slide please and this is what the beach looked like after the last nourishment in 2018 uh Advance the slide uh so moving a little further south this is just at the very south end of Belair Beach kind of looking into Belair Shore very similar to helane advanc the slide please and this is what that South End of the beach look like right before you get into Beller Shore this isn't Bell Shore this is just a little bit north but it's so this is the tail end of Beller Beach uh you can kind of see it tapering in off in the distance that's where Beller Shore begins um Advance the slide uh Indian Rocks Beach same thing uh there's a little bit more sand out there now but you can all see it's very uh dark tan because it's wet um and the rack line is pretty high up on the be so uh it's all very low Ling it's not very protective um and it's not really exposed at high tide uh and this is what the beach looked like at that location after the last nourishment here's a little further south uh Central Avenue by 50 Gulfside and the happy Fiddler um same thing you can see during 85 there was actually a lot of seaw wall failure Advance the slide and this is what it looked like after the last nourishment Advance the slide same thing F facing the opposite direction um you know the 50 Gul SC condo area the seaw wall uh it's or sort of at the um the Headland of penel County where or the belly the part that sticks the furthest out in the in the gulf and is exposed to a lot of waves so the beach always arose the fastest or or faster in this area uh and that was a big concern during the last nourishment and we were able to get it filled but and this is what it looked like after next slide and so here's Indian Shores you know you can see the rack Line's very high up the uh the beach is very wet there's not a lot of protection in there especially at high tide or when you have a surge uh and you can see on the left there's less sand so we're doing a little better than 1985 but um still not a whole lot and a lot of that's probably due to the fact that the sand moves from north to south so they're getting Indian Rocks Beach of sand too uh and this is what it looked like after uh the last nourishment advance and then uh North Readington Beach not a lot of sand here it's always another area that's pretty thin um desperately need sand uh and they've provided all their easements Advance the slide and this is what it looked like after the last nourishment so I wanted to show you on this slide um sort of what the beach looks like in areas that aren't maintained this is Readington Beach and Belair Shore um and these both these areas do benefit from the current project we've had the sand uh after Elaine it was all seaw wall and Beller Shore um they do get sand drifting down from Beller Beach but that depends on Beller Beach having sand um the same thing with Readington Beach um they do get sand but that also depends on North Readington Beach and Indian Shores getting sand it sort of diminishes as it goes south the further you are away from where the Sand's placed the more likely you're not going to get some on the beach might be down in the near shore you might have a bigger bar but you're probably not going to have a beach um so I want to let everyone know that we're going to have a project information meeting that's a webinar to the public on February 13th we've sent out um Flyers to all of the properties that need easements um and uh we're hoping to answer any questions we have there and to uh help explain what we're planning to do and and hope to alleviate years so that people will sign the easements um right now we don't have enough easements to do any of Indian Rocks Beach Indian Shores Readington Shores North rton Beach we can do Bell beach in Clear Water but right now we don't have enough easement to do anything south of there we have uh four or five pipeline corridors that come on the beach um that's where you've traditionally seen the pipe come on from the offshore dredges um and those don't connect to where we have a significant amount of easements right now so we need to fill in the gaps in in between and get as many easements as we can or or we're not going to be able to fill this area it really comes down to um you know a constructibility issue uh if we don't have continuous areas it won't last as long the sand will erode away and fill in the areas that um we didn't fill and so then that diminishes the areas we did and it all erods that much faster um if you need an analogy you could look at um you know the west coast of uh Cali California how they have those tombolos that stick out and sometimes you'll see them turn into arches I'm sure on the cliff faces you've all seen that and that's because where you have a piece of land that sticks out like a nourishment the waves refract as they come in and they eat away at both sides until it's gone so it really needs to be continuous putting holes in it isn't going to be effective and it also doesn't allow us to get our pipeline down the beach so we need a continuous area and to be able to do the project all right you can advance but my next slide is just questions so does anybody have any uh questions I I do um morning John morning appreciate you being here uh the uh why is it that the Army Corps will only allow the permit to last six months um they were hoping they will change their mind but I guess the idea is that it's a little bit confusing when you talk to regulatory they don't have an emergency permit for nourishment but they're treating it like their normal emergency permits and Expediting it but by doing that they're also adhering it to the six-month timeline which their emergency permits last for so we're hopeful that we can get that extended because um it took six months just to construct Sand Key last time and that was with less sand um and and less need so it'll probably be over a six month absolutely not it's not a practical solution for sure um for the people that have not signed the easements yet and I'm talking the county the County's version of the easement uh how long does that easement last that that easement um does not expire and that is because we need to be sure that we can build this project so you're asking for the same Perpetual easma that the Army Corps is we don't have public access in it that was a huge concession that's what's different that's what's different so it you know they don't have to worry about you know we're not making any claim one way or the other about whether the beach is public it's not removing Public Access but it's not granting it either it's just purely allows us to either build the beach if that's what you want or build the beach in Dune these projects aren't one-time projects they've had to happen for the last six years every six years on San key every four years in Treasure Island right and if that's not maintained that beach sand will quickly go away now um what was the purpose of giving them the option of Dune or no Dune um a lot of people are extremely anti- Dune and we did not want to and some people are very prune and we really didn't want to because this was a very fast moving project we may only have six months to construct once they grant us the permit and that permit could come in as little as two months we wanted to ensure that we could get as many easements as possible so in in many places where uh where we saw sand an influx of sand coming in and and flooding our streets and destroying our towns there was a dune in place but there was also an opening so that's every access point it was low that's that immediately created problems the dunes started washing in everywhere where there was a gap there was a problem I'm not 100% convinced that a a spotted Dune is in our best interest well I not saying we're going to necessarily build the Dune that way um if we don't have complete easements it's going to be too difficult to move forward with building a dune on a piece by- piece basis right where areas where we can build a long stretch will include it but if it's a piece meal we this Con this this Con this permit may only last six months we can't have the contractor dialing in and putting you know 200 foot Dunes here and a 100 foot Dune there it's just it'll be a waste of their time they need to keep moving right if you look at uh unfortunately a dune is the is the correct solution it Dune and Beach nourishment but it has to be continuous if you look at some of the old Florida areas they all have Dunes they have grass growing on them and they're they uh they live on through storm after storm they stay uh so I think maybe part of the problem we have is really there's just not been enough education for the community to understand what the benefit of each are because definitely the beach nourishment is a uh is a Band-Aid and the Dune is a a more permanent solution but it can't you can't have any breaks in anywhere and that's that's even just for accessibility to to get on the beach it can't be low if it's open it just it's just a a duck for sand to come in and so uh definitely something that I would like to have more conversations about that's all I've got oh you have an answer it looks I just wanted to add um so last night um the board of County Commissioners adopted a doom protection ordinance um it's not a countywide Authority um but cities can opt in and we're willing and ready to work with any City that wants to do that part of the reason for that is because we have heard from some um residents um that were hesitant to sign easements is that they felt like if they could protect that area between a dune you know the beach the Dune and their property um if they felt like if they could protect that better and keep people out of that area that they'd have a better they'd feel better about it um and so to that end uh we talked to the core about a year ago about a dune ordinance and they said so long as the ordinance the intent of the ordinance was to protect the Dune then it was fine um so now we have a dune ordinance in place place um that can be utilized and so residents can I mean they still need to go through the state and get you know their authorization to put the sign out there but they can actually Place signage out there um protecting the Dune no trespassing through the Dune and it has a County ordinance that can be enforced so it's to give them a little bit more peace of mind that they can protect their dunes and keep people out of them and it is actually a local law on the books that sounds like they're moving in the right direction that's good thank you does anybody else have any questions for John no Bruce um mayor G I would just say that uh at least in Clear Water there's a wide variety of opinions on dunes um some of our residents want them how quickly we're going to put them back and there are others who do not want them at all they they like particularly those that live on the Gulf of America um they like the the the open area not having the Dune there so and and then what you shared was accurate there's a different mix of opinions as to whether or not uh just here and there if they cause more harm than good so definitely uh I think that's why you're offering two options is throughout I'm sure all the Barrier Islands there's a mix of opinion among residents whether or not they're helpful or not I I'd also just like to add that Sunset Beach which was probably the most buried of all the beaches uh in sand that Dune and the beach was fully eroded before the project began a lot of the sand that buried these communities yes the dun was mixed in there because it was part of it but the beach is also gone and the Nearshore sand is also highly eroded in the lower Shore face just below the waves so or the upper Shore face sorry so that's a large volume of sand that was moved up onto the beach it's not necessarily I know people like to think 1 plus 1 equals two but these are much more complicated equations than that it's not as simple as the Dune is now there and you know there's also the um extra benefit that yes there was sand on the property but what did that sand on the property protect I've seen lots of places where the area behind the seaw wall was undermined and removed um parking lots were eroded and collapsed tiebacks exposed you know if it was buried then that might not have happened so there could also be a benefit to that I'm not saying there's always going to be a benefit to the sand having come on Shore but in some cases it may have also provided a benefit yeah and my other uh question I had was uh when we talk about six-month span to do it we're talking about doing it the traditional way that's pumping it in from the Gulf we're not bring it in by truck loads which some communities do no we would be pumping it in it's much more expensive and slower to bring it in by trucks yeah Dr Bishop what is the due date for the resident easements uh the end of February end of February March 1 okay and I understand that the county is emailing a copy of the easement to each of the residents that are required to sign it no we don't have email addresses for everyone we have mailed it to them mail snail mailed it to them and then when it's returned we find a new address and we remail it to them okay so snail mail and I know that Readington Shores has been working to try to get some of the residents to sign the easements um I think it's a great initiative what the county has done to allow the residents a choice of an easement with a du or not a dune I think the most important part of all of this is renourishment and you know this is going to be a very unpopular comment that I'm going to make but at what time let me rephrase this the easements have always been a sticking point in this project at what point does the county or the state step in and say our beaches are dire we need renourishment and we're going to do this project with or without the easements at what point does that happen we need the easements to do the projects we can't do it without easements so our beaches will just continue to erode erode and erode without the easements in order to work on on private property we need easements we can't just go on there and do the work and we are posting on our website the informational meeting that's coming up that the county is doing um I hope that the messaging is clear to the residents that we will have no beach if these easements are not signed if the renourishment is not done and this is our future I agree thank you for listening as as uh Dave alluded to regarding uh education one of the situations we ran into when we were talking about Dunes we did that previous Dune project was the the height of the Dune there was residents that were concerned that they would have wouldn't have a view anymore out to the beach so uh when you're when you're putting this information out can we can we establish the height of the Dune so they'll know that it it won't be blocking their their view that that needs to be engineer to um the standards that the engineers decide but if they are worried about that they can always sign the non- Dune eement right but some people they they were uh in favor of Dunes but the concern was it would be a mountain behind their house and you wouldn't be able to see anything yeah well a large in large part it looked like a mountain in a lot of areas because there was no Beach right so when your Beach is at zero a 10 foot Dune is 10 foot high when you have a 10 foot Dune and your Beach is at 5 feet now it's only five feet high which isn't nearly as high as it seemed a second ago so understandable let say that was the concern that was coming up constantly a lot of it's visual but no we don't have a lower restriction in there or anything it's that comes down to the uh Engineers to decide what's best to protect um but they if they are concerned then they can always just opt in for the beach portion of it and um I understand the the beach uh the renourishment is also to protect the infrastructure and to protect Golf Boulevard yeah so as as the mayor said if if you don't have these easement then at what point do you step in to protect that infrastructure well the beach is sort of uh I I I like to liken the beach to those barrels you see on the highway that are supposed to you know cushion your your crash if you run into one of the one of the uh the side rails um it's it's sort of a buffer right the uh the beach uh erods landward whenever there's a storm and that creates more space that it has to erode through before it hits that infrastructure because once it begins undermining sea walls and cutting through you can get breaches um you know there were some people that were worried that the Narrows might breach during this this you know helan um portions of Honeymoon Island and Shell Key have breached during Past St forms and that's how we've gotten new passes um so those aren't structured so they're a little easier to breach but you know breaches occur in areas that have uh roads and infrastructure as well around the state just hasn't happened here yet so it's very possible that the the beach could erode through and cut through the natural process of Barry islands is to move landward uh all that sand that people experienced that's actually the natural process of what barer islands do it's sort of like a conveyor they transport sand from the front to the back and in doing that they kind of like a track cycle their way landward and that's how they've migrated on Shore to the positions they're at right now um we built condos roads and seaw walls which now want to block that flow so it still wants to move landward we just need to keep putting sand in front of it to stop it from being able to move as fast thank you so in in uh in the past um instances where we've had be nourishment what did we do with easeman at that time um in the past there was sometimes 100 foot wide Dune along these areas or there might be areas where or 80 foot wide there there were places where we were arguing with the core because the easement was was 60 to 80 feet away from the beach itself um those Dunes are gone so all that high grassy area that we didn't need to nourish is now gone and now the beach is lower so now we have to go landward of where that spot was in all those pictures that you had where the erosion was in you know 84 and currently to the seaw wall how did we renourish those areas without an easement the the initial project was done with temporary easements okay so is there an opportunity to do it with temporary easement how come no we're not going to do it with temporary easements in order this is a massive investment in the beaches we need to know what we can build and how to build it and it needs to build complete so we need to be able to build complete segments and we need to have these easements not be temporary so that we can know what to plan for for the next project too okay so is is 50 years the minimum you feel comfortable with or 50 years is what the core so what's what's the minimum that you feel comfortable with I think the the issue that a lot of the residents have is they feel like they're signing away their their Beach property in perpetuity and so what what is a time frame that you say look this is the minimum we could deal with is it 5 years 10 years 25 years I mean what well we're trying to balance the fact that we're still trying to work with core at some point in time a decision will I mean we are running these parallel tracks and at some point in time a decision is going to have to be made as to which track we take because um if we if the Army Corps advises us that we're going to issue this emergency permit and what we've kind of discussed with them is that they would let us they'd kind of were ready it would give us a time to get it out on the street bid it and they would align the start date with the notice to proceed so that we didn't lose months in the bidding process all right that is running in parallel with these core decisions and we touch base with them Weekly right now there's no assistant Secretary of the army and so there's no one to guide and help make that decision and that's what they're waiting on um there's also the fact that the Congress has allocated emergency funding for this project and that's sitting out there but they have unless something significantly changes their minimum is 50 years right and so that that's a a barrier um as far as a the county easement this is for for me as the Public Works director this is not different from a drainage project it's not different from a road project anything else if we need if we don't have the property rights we can't construct it um that would be a taking of of property um we're hopeful that that after this community meeting that we can elay some of those fears the other thing is you know with a county project like John mentioned I mean these projects are on I mean technically the Corp project is supposed to be built every 5 years on average has been closer to six if we have to go out and get four 500 easements every single project it's it's just going to be a never ending battle the difference with the the you know a purely County easement is if the county goes away those easement can be vacated right I mean it's in code and you know those easement can be vacated and and the residents you know are not encumbered anymore um but we but the logistical concept of having to go out and get hundreds of E ments across all three segments every few years is just it's it would be next to Impossible and you get new ownership and they don't know what the project is and they're they don't have the history that we all have um it just it makes it incredibly difficult but you know at least you know with the county you know we know that if you know in the future if there is no project then and the and the residents don't want that incumbrance on their property anymore they can just say I want this vacated and we go through the process and we do it you don't want to have to do it but we've got to you know we've got it to protect our beaches and that means getting ready for a project and that means we need construction easements like any other project they own the property it's their rights we what we're asking from all of our Community Partners is that you help advocate for this project and you help um try to help move the needle I mean you know Indian Rocks Indian Shores and and Readington Shores you guys are you are the Lynch p of this project and we need your support and we need you to be the biggest cheerleaders to help us get this across the finish line so we have um I mean with with the Big C part of the purpose of us being here is to be able to pull some of our resources to kind of get together um you advance some of some of the shared concerns that we have between all of our cities and you know our vice mayor had a family situation he was dealing with this morning and so I because his presentation I felt it was important for me to skip the PSTA meeting to be here here today and one of the things I was going to ask all of you today was um I know um John Mayor John doctor had this a good traction with the letter he sent out to the president uh this past week and so I'm asking would it be beneficial and one of the things I was going to ask uh The Big C this morning is is there a way for us to pull our resources right it seems that the the president is saying the right things that he wants to eliminate you know bureaucratic hindrances to moving some of these projects that are detrimental you know to the health of our communities is there something that we can do write a letter together ask the president please appoint somebody immediately and let's remove would that be helpful is there anything on the on the administrative side that could be that could remove some of these roadblocks from the federal side is that something that we can do where we can at least at the very least get together and say look this is a dire need I mean not just for our community in fact we could take it further and we've done this before we did it with uh the short-term ordinances you know mayor will I mean you had amazing success with that we've shut it down you know the last three years in a row and I mean we've we've had good success by pulling all of our resources together uh commissioner Peters is actually drafting a letter to all to exactly what you just mentioned um it was discussed yesterday at the County Commission meeting and and they all agreed that um she would draft that letter on behalf of the County Commission and I'd be happy um to make sure that her office sends a copy of that over that could be you guys could you you know maybe uh you take some of those points and incorporate them in but yes and you know your advocacy and helping to um you know get past some of these hurdles would be would be very well no I mean but I'd be personally happy to sign on to it send it to our governor send it to our Senators send it to our you know representative House of Representatives I mean whatever it takes I mean at this point you know our town isn't as effective we've only got three eement that we're dealing with and God help us all we'll never get them um but you know some of your towns I mean Treasure Island the rest of them I mean it's just it's it's beyond dire dire was three years ago yeah yeah yeah Treasure Island we're working finalizing that erosion control line on Sunset and we'll have some City easements that we need to work with them on and but we do need um private easements from Property Owners on Sunshine and so yes you know we're going to be asking the city for for their help because you know your community better than we do thank you y I'd just like to clarify real quick if I can to the 50-year easement that the core is allowing is really a concession because they authorize some projects with 50-year easements and since our products are pre-existing they were going to allow it for those three existing projects I showed up there the San expires in 2043 um and uh Treasure Island 2031 and uh uh Long Key in 2030 and basically even though it's a 50-year easement it's only good for those projects then all new projects the newly authorized project I mentioned for Treasure and longy those would all still require Perpetual Public Access easements this is purely because those projects were authorized back in the day i' like to comment on what you just shared because um I guess it was Monday I did state of the bay with mayor casor mayor Welch and um in St Petersburg and a lot of what we've been working on together our our three Mayors and our three cities has been uh trying to address these Federal issues like you're talking about as a region uh I was in Washington last week uh met with all senators all all kinds of folks they don't view they don't View a Clear Water Beach or you know our individual municipalities they view us as a region and uh I think we're wasting our time for me to write my own letter or for you to write your own letter we have to act and have to request things write the White House and it even includes the county the county needs to be on board with us too to request things as a region we all have the same issues with with FEMA but we're we're not going to be very effective if we're each writing our own individual letters what you said I think is really important that if there are things we can all agree on that we all need then we're much more effective when we're now including more than one Congressional delegate know now more in in Tallahasse even you know we've got representative jacqu we've got representative Chandy we've got representative burfield all on the same page uh U you know helping us advocate for what we want i' i' like to see us particularly on beach nourishment these other issues be more organized as a Barrier Island community to uh to request these things because we will get lost in the shuffle if it's just one off from the county wrote a letter and you write a letter and unless we do it all together I just think um and and that's what we're learning Tampa St Petersburg and Clearwater on Transportation issues we've got to work as a region to to make requests and get things done or else we'll get lost in the big Washington DC bu bureaucracy and and not get anything done at all and we can take that one step further with the Florida League of cities because it's this is not just a you know a pelis Pasco Sarasota issue this is an issue on the East Coast just as much as is here and so again if if we can pull our resources and then you know I'm not sure who that we reach out at at the FLC uh to see if there's some momentum we can gather getting all all the beach towns together and and even the non- beach towns to advocate for us and say look you know this is a natural resource that Florida has and affects every County in Florida whether you're in a ler or whether you're in pelis and we have a uh a new Administration that's hungry to solve problems make changes um I I think timing is uh is very important we can't can't dottle whatever it is we need to form a plan uh and present it uh the the correct way because right now uh we've got like I said a new Administration and uh they like solving problems and simplifying things coming up with Simple Solutions and acting quickly so I think I think uh both Mayors are correct that we need toh take a stand and uh join with the county and see if we can get some some national attention for sure I think now is the time any other questions or comments for John I have a comment not not necessarily for John but to piggyback on what you're saying we won't meet again here as The Big C until February and I don't think that waiting until February to write a letter or to make a decision is appropriate I think there are several things that are going on in our communities that need to be addressed immediately and we need to decide today how we're going to go about that how are we going to write this letter and do it in conjunction with the county our legislative officials and how are we going to address FEMA because that's going to come up in discussions and write that letter that is signed off by all of us the purpose of the big CA is for all of us as Barrier Island communities to unite together and I think that and this was said I'm just reiterating when one city writes a letter okay it's not really a voice but when we collectively come together and we all agree and write a letter our voice is much stronger and to take the next step and include our elected officials from the commission level to the state level to the federal level that makes our voice even louder and [Applause] we definitely have a lot right now that not just the Mayors are dealing with but our community and our residents are dealing with and it's I mean expedience in acting on this I think is very important it's uh it's sad whenever you've got two of the most powerful agencies in the federal government and they're both working against you 100% all right any other comments questions no all right John I appreciate you being here and uh thank you for being so patient y all right thank you all right uh I'm not sure if he's here or not uh Clint herbick Chief Operating Officer pelis County schools was supposed to be presenting on the uh flood damaged schools uh he is not here so we will move right on to Gina Harvey transportation planning section manager pelis County Public Works good morning um not Gina Harvey obviously Gina's in the back um she told me I was doing this presentation this morning so uh good morning my name is Tom wasman I'm the transportation division director for penel County Public Works I just want to give you a brief presentation on a project that we're working on uh that affects the traffic signals primarily along Gulf Boulevard within most of your communities as a result of the storms that we had last year so and it's uh elevating the traffic signal controller cabinets so next slide please so as a result primarily from Helen with the the storm surge that we we all experienced uh most of the traffic signals along the the coast were inundated with salt water uh The Surge flooded the controller cabinets uh to an extent that we have never seen before so we lost uh 35 total cabinets there's some photos there to show you know what happens I mean electronics and water don't usually mix but it's even worse when you mix in the salt water so it just destroys the equipment that we have uh inside so these were complete rebuilds um usually when we lose power at a traffic signal we've got a pretty good plan for restoring that we have UPS um uh un un uninterruptible power service that will maintain the signals for a period of time we also are able to deploy generators and um uh inverters to to keep the signals running why we why we wait for power to be restored but when something like this happens these were were uh total construction uh required total replacement and so for that period of time the signals are down as we're rebuilding uh the equipments uh we were scrambling trying with 35 cabinets we don't keep that much in stock so we were scrambling uh you know trying to get the equipment from others across the state we were successful uh it took us about a week and a half after Helen to get the signals repaired just in time for Milton to to come our way again so uh there was a chance there if we to experience that same amount of surge that we would be looking at the same amount of repair work fortunately that did not happen but again when this happens you know we've got law enforcement that could be used doing other things having to control uh the intersections for us as we're rebuilding the the intersections it gets costly each of these cabinets depending on the amount of equipment that's in there uh costs anywhere from $35,000 to $50,000 uh per location um and so again you can see with the pictures the amount of equipment we have in there so it's a pretty pretty big hit that we we took so um next slide please so what we've been doing with some of the research since since uh the storms is to come up with the project to look at ways to elevate our cabinets uh typically when you look at a standard installation those foundations are anywhere from six inches to a foot high you know so for for most flood events we're safe but um we're looking at um elevating them to an extent where if we get you know Storm surges in the future that uh you know we don't suffer the same type of damage that we did so we've been doing quite a bit of research to determine you know how high that should be what our alternatives are and and so you know we're still working through those details but we're at a point here where um we want to present this information to you and let you know what we're doing um getting prepared for the next storm season and then storm Seasons uh moving forward uh next slide please so these are are some of the options that we've come across during our research uh some of the photos there we've got one location up in Tarpon Springs where we do have the the foundation elevated a little bit with steps uh research that we found um state of Mississippi did quite a bit along their Gulf Coast after um some of their storms and so you've got an example there in the middle of you know a better looking structure it's a Concrete structure with the railings on it and the cabinets set up nice and High um but it's a safe work environment for the for the Technics with with the railings and then we've also looked at options with the uh the metal railings as well um next slide please um and and so there's there's a couple different options that we're looking at we've looked at the option to again Elevate them on foundations we've looked at options for mounting them on the poles where we can get them up a little bit higher uh what we found out is it's really a function of the type of equipment and how much equipment we have in the signals so we do have you know some major intersections that have a lot more equipment in there uh the intersections that come off of the uh uh the the bridge access out to the barrier islands and out to Golf Boulevard those are all pretty major intersections they have a lot of our ATMs it equipment so those are much bigger cabinets they're too heavy to be mounted on poles so those are locations where we'd be looking at some some sort of a foundation option um for mounting but some of the smaller intersections uh we have been working with our vendor which is econolite and they've come up with some options uh where they can scale down the the size of the cabinet so that it could possibly be mounted on on some of the poles that we already have out there uh next slide please um and so again locations that we're looking at we've got the 35 locations uh that we've identified you know that we know were damaged uh what we actually do at a particular location depends on the rideway that we have it depends on the type of equipment that we have um and then that last bullet there certainly open to discussion on beautification ideas several of the controller cabinets in the area are wrapped um uh Gina and John are here with me today they they have a program with graffiti abatement that they've been monitoring through creative pellis for several years so you know we've actually had murals painted on some of our concrete structures we've had some of the panel Trail overpasses uh painted with murals we've wrapped the controler cabinet so we do think there's an option if there are locations where we've got those concrete large structures that there may be some options to uh beautify those and make them a little more attractive than just having a concrete structure on a golf Boulevard uh next slide please uh this is just a a list of the locations again primarily on along Golf Boulevard but then some of the Inland locations as well I know that's that's hard to but we'll make a copy of this presentation available but those are the 35 locations that we would focus on uh storm loss is uh just with the two storms for us total $2.2 million we've got a grant in for uh the $3.5 million next slide please and so finally our next steps we've applied for the local migration strategy Grant uh those applications were due just a couple of weeks ago so um we did add this project onto the priority list um the committee goes through a rating process so we expect that this will rate pretty high we've had other projects in the past where we've converted several of our span wire intersections to Mast arms as hardening projects and so um I know we've had some some conversations with some of some of your staff in some of the beach communities uh just to get a sense of uh level of support for this project um EMA goes through a selection process so you know we're still several months away from from getting any any sort of feedback on this um but at this point we wanted to present this to you uh hopefully we um would love to have a letter of support from the big seed to move for that we can include in our application but uh um again we are moving forward with with the application and uh at this point I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have I appreciate your time thank you Tom uh any questions I I have one um go ahead so I I think our team told told me that we regretted after Helen that we didn't pull them that evidently you can pull them out it's not it's not like a huge task to physically remove the signal boxes uh I mean it's going to take some time and resource to do it unfortunately we got enough employees we were capable of doing that but is that an option with what you're talking about here how hard is that to do uh we we did the same thing after Helen like I said we spent you know that first week and a half getting them repaired um we did pull some of that new equipment out um so we can't pull everything out but the critical components the controller um some of the the more technical um its equipment we did pull that out um it's just a matter of how much time you have and how much work U that it I guess I guess the other thing that the residents might be sensitive to throughout all of our Bari communities is is uh just the appearance you know the like the structure you showed us in Tarpon where it's you know it's not as it's noticeable when you when you raise them up like that and you add all that and and there might be some resident sensitivity to to the appearance of it yeah we we understand that that's why we want to come here today let you know that we've got this and if we if we start moving forward with this we certainly want to have those discussions and see what's going to be acceptable to each of the beach I'll certainly say it's uglier to have no signal than it is to have a box out there I I'm curious uh just for my own information whenever uh the storms hit uh were was the timing of the once the the equipment was restored was the timing altered it seems like all of our signals operate less efficient than they did prior to the storms yep you're absolutely correct so our Focus especially after milting with the amount of damage that we had is is getting the signals operating red yellow green and putting whatever timings we have in there that that we can but certainly they're not coordinated um you know the detection part of that becomes critical making sure that we've got good vehicle detection uh to make sure that we can keep coordination going but those were something that we were playing catchup on afterwards now I'm uh used to we could call a number and make suggestions we saw something that was super inefficient there were massive backups of traffic you see obvious defects in the programming are you guys still doing that of course okay all right and do you know that number by heart I don't uh Kelly Gina 464 8900 464 8900 8900 all right great all right any other questions or comments for Tom all right well I appreciate you being here and uh I'm sure that you won't have any problems working with our communities thank you for coming appreciate that thank you all right now we are on to unfinished business do we have any unfinished business that anyone would like to bring up mayor Queen you've been very quiet today very quiet it's not like you it's uh you okay got one more meeting left and I'm out of here okay all right 20 years the mayor has spoken all right uh now we're on to discussion items uh does anyone have yes sir um along the same lines as the letter to the Army Corps of Engineers um I I saw uh mayor Treasure Islands letter my family sent me a screenshot from they live on the East Coast in Hollywood Florida and so we are getting tractions traction and and again I think we should consider pulling our resources writing a letter as The Big C sending that to the president's office sending it to Rick Scott's office you know sending it to anina's office sending it to our state representative office and saying we need to get bureaucratic relief I can tell you in our city based on the numbers that we have last night we're about 75 80% through with permits almost all the permits for damaged homes are in it's going to help us a little bit not much but I know so many other cities who are still struggling with getting residents back into their homes getting permits filled and so much of it is is just held up by the requirements that are strangling us keeping us from letting residents back into their homes and being able to you know streamline the permitting process um so I think again until proven otherwise I'm going to take the present out his word when he says that he wants to offer relief and so I think um we should put him to the test and say you this is what you said publicly and I think this is what we then now expect to see from our president as well you know help us get through this process he he made a big talk about the Carolinas and about California and we're in Florida we were affected as much as anyone else if not more in many cases uh and I think we again so my request to The Big C would be that we uh we put something together as a group I think the mayor alluded to it as well um there should be strength in numbers here I believe that uh pull us pulling together I see no reason at all why we couldn't get the president here and actually have a face to face with it I I actually see that being possible yeah so definitely something we want to work on um what does uh what does The Big C think about maybe let's follow up with this meeting uh within the week maybe we do a a conference a webin a Web Conference or something and we uh we kind of brainstorm on what our plan of attack is and how we want to approach this uh is anyone open to that I I am open I think that I think that we need to my my opinion would be FEMA started with good intentions and I can tell you that from madira when Cola hit and our staff went to work we hire professionals who should be able to hit the ground running without fear of Retribution from a federal agency that's going to come in in 2 three 4 years and punish the citizens our I I want the letter to tell them that the FEMA should not come in and say your state rules Aren't Enough and they should be able to oversight what the professionals who work in our cities do if when we started on the ground after helain had been able to continue doing what our city staff was doing here our homeowners would all have permits there wouldn't be any more SD letters we wouldn't be waiting on ACV appraisals we wouldn't be waiting on remodel permits to be approved they'd all be done we took two steps forward and got told we had to take 20 steps back and we all know tital Basin has failed everyone the Title Basin is not FEMA's responsibility right but the whole notion that we have a federal government stepping into our barrier islands where they know nothing about how we live or what it's like to be here and they're telling the Professionals in our municipalities that they can't do their jobs I think is just terrible and it doesn't serve any Resident anywhere and I do think that if I was going to have an opinion on President Trump and on the oversight of Florida I would tell you that my my opinion would be we deal with hurricanes all the time and people forget about us because they think we know what you know we do it it's like living out in the Midwest and getting hurricanes and the Carolinas don't get hurricanes so for them the devastation is a different type of Devastation than what we're dealing with but without coming together and and doing something to push us to the Forefront we're going to stay forgotten so next week get together on a call or do Zoom I'm 100% for it I think that um we sit here as Mayors there's a great value of input that comes from our community development departments the engineers they understand what we're going through they're the people who are writing the letters having them have input I know that I Rely heavily on our Community Development Department to understand and keep up with what's going on in the process so having one included as well or maybe um emailing some information to get that to kind of start a letter going would be my thoughts okay great um you're in luck actually um my city clerk is here she's probably rolling her eyes right now going what's he going to make me do next uh but uh I think Renee would be very helpful in putting that together and then we'll uh we'll have the call and we'll uh we'll brainstorm we'll come up with some we'll try to come up with a good plan and um and then we'll see what happens I might too um I think it's important that we be very clear on what we want and we also be reasonable in our expectations I can tell you I've worked in cities in towns with prior three two other communities with prior disasters one wildfires in Tennessee and then the Panhandle and panal city beach after Hurricane Michael which was completely devastating and the um experience we've had with FEMA here with Helen and Milton identical to the to the experiences that those communities had uh they are great day of you know and then as time goes on uh they become less and less effective harder to deal with and all these struggles are similar to struggles that communities throughout the country have with them so I think for us we need to kind of talk about for all of our communities what is it that we really need immediately some help with I know the president talked the other day in North Carolina about some things he was going to do immediately for that area and I think that's where we really need to focus and kind of talk and crystallize what is it specifically that we really want help with right now because some of the some of the challenges and and we've all dealt with uh there are challenges that are long-term fixes for FEMA and I think for us right now with the situation we're all still in even Clear Water we made a lot of progress but we still have a lot of need too we need to really be crystal clear on what it is we want done immediately I agree so maybe if we could come prepared to the meeting go back to our city staff discuss that immediate need that would affect change most quickly in our communities and that could be where we start the conversation on our call is everyone come prepared with your immediate need see where we're all in line together and I'm I'm certain we will be good deal I'd like to uh address um the letter uh I I wrote a letter on Saturday after watching on Friday night uh What uh president Trump had done in both North Carolina and in California and I'll tell you he was surprised you could actually tell he was surprised how FEMA had reacted especially in California and uh and then it also went back to North Carolina and uh the one thing that I do know about Trump after watching him for years and years and years is he's a he's a person that attacks and moves on and to wait three four five weeks or whatever it's going to be isn't acceptable to president Trump government moves very slow and that's a problem and I think that Trump basically has said he's going to do what he needed to do in those two places and he's moving on and he is truly moving on so what uh what I did um was to send a letter and uh it's it's it's out there for people to see um that basically said we would like to see the action taken in all of our Coastal communities that he had taken in uh both California and in North Carolina and that basically said he said we don't need FEMA to get in the way we don't need FEMA to tell people that they've to fill out all the paperwork and he also said to especially in California we can do this and get it done tomorrow and that is his mindset and that's the mindset we have to have too it's not that we can sit around for three weeks four weeks five weeks until we meet again or pass it around because he's already moved on past that point if we wait three four five weeks or even a couple of weeks and that's the reason that I did this and U and I think that it was a very well- Written Letter um it addressed addressed all of the concerns that all of these communities have where we're basically all in the same boat and we're just asking not that he's forgetting us because he's not forgotten us I can tell you that but with and as I wrote in the letter uh I respectfully ask that you extend the help clearing the theme of bureaucracy to us in the State of Florida we need the same help with permits and regulations that North Carolina and California need we also need the same Financial Resources our residents have been willing and able for months now to do the necessary repairs that they need to return to their homes and restart their lives FEMA regulations and bureaucracy stand in our way and that is basically what he cleared in California North Carolina was the bureaucracy and all of the regulations and that's all I've asked him to do uh as a mayor uh and uh basically addressing that all of the coastal communities are in the same boat and that uh we would like to to uh to have him do the same thing for us so I I I you know I think that it was a good idea I stand behind you know basically taking it I I I basically said the other night uh is that if there are 50 letters that would go to the to to the president uh that would even be better but I didn't have the opportunity to get to 50 people but I did have what my thoughts were and that's what I didn't put out there so let's take that letter and make it from The Big C right now it definitely couldn't hurt yeah we don't have to wait let's do it the thing that's really interesting is that no matter how quickly we respond to FEMA on all the requirements they have and even the help that we can get in our offices to help process that paper it still takes years not months not weeks it takes years to get some of this money for the towns and for the citizens and I you wonder you know are they really aware is the president aware of how long it takes from the time that you have everything complete on Iran till money comes into the city money comes into the residence I'd be more concerned about getting people back at their homes rather than getting the money back so let's get people back in their homes that well that's of course part and parcel of it that's first yeah well if they don't have insurance they need to rely on Freeman to get back in their homes and that's the issue the the turmoil that we're having is people are not back in their homes and I understand it and they're they're mad and they're mad at me they're mad at everybody and we need to help them and that's the way to do it it's been four months I mean it it you know we couldn't move any slower uh but everybody is afraid of FEMA and that is one of the issues uh three weeks ago FEMA came down to Treasure Island and they basically looked at everything that we had been doing said well you're doing a pretty good job uh but they gave us kind of four conditions and the four conditions are threats basically I mean the four conditions basically say what we can and can't do and what they can do if we don't do it this way and that way and that's what's been keeping everybody out of their homes for the last four months and I yeah I would be mad too I mean just everybody anybody in the world would be mad if you can't get permits and it's now been four months plus and that's that's uh that's basically all I'm saying in the letter and uh and he's already opened the door when he went to North Carolina and to California so you strike when the iron is hot Mary Queen if that is a motion I'm happy to Second it absolutely that's a motion second all in favor I have no idea what your letter says I mean U look I I I understand the I understand the resources available to other communities uh we have not had a problem with permitting in Clear Water at all uh we've got folks been on our staff for 30 years work through the process and and we have to also remember that uh it's not just FEMA it's the Florida building code that folks have to comply with and a lot of in Clearwater a lot of what we're asking people to do to get to permits has nothing to do with FEMA has to do with complying with Florida building code so I I I again I think we're all we are definitely more effective if we speak with one voice but I would just like to see the letter first before we vote to just sign on to it uh to see what it says just to make sure that it represents what each of our community residents are feeling or the experiences we're having and if it's okay then uh what i' would like to do is uh you send us all a copy of the letter and then we'll review it and um Renee will put our Zoom meeting together and we'll have a final discussion about it and decide if that works into uh our strategy and uh and then we will uh we'll plan our our attack the main thing is is that right now we have two agencies that seem to be working against us no matter what we do it seems that they are completely against the uh the beach Comm communities and uh the Army Corps and the anema they're supposed to be our allies not our adversar so um we'll we're GNA we're going to get this message out and uh and we'll see what happens um do we have any other discussion on this particular topic or do we have any new uh discussion items that anyone else would like to bring up all rightn as we have none let's move on to legislative update do we have anyone here that would like to present legislative update okay smart move I guess considering all right so let's move on to City events uh we will start down with the um uh start on this end with mayor Petraeus um I came unprepared come back to me in 30 seconds you didn't look at your cell phone I did not but I'm about to yeah I think the big thing is is that uh we are beginning to get back to normal some normaly uh we are now uh beginning in March we're going to start doing things in our Parks um and that'll be the first um I think that uh we have seen in the last few months four months uh almost all of our major events cancelled we had our sanding o s we've had some tennis tournaments we've had and uh and you know our beaches and our Parks weren't in great shape uh they're back almost to a normal uh so um I'm just waiting now to see how many of the folks are going to come back uh to the beaches uh we did have one event that's going to be a corporate Fest uh that's going to be in March uh and that is where a the corporations in the county come together and they have challenges and they have tug of wars and they have a lot of things and and uh the kite festivals are coming back as well we're starting to sign them up and so um we don't have an accurate list yet and an exact date that we're going to open but we uh we're hoping that by March 1st everything will be taken care of so if you have any ideas if you have any of these promotions or anything that you'd like to see happen in the city uh please let us know madira beach has our monthly trash cleanup on Saturday with the trash Pirates uh it will meet at saltwater hippie and we meet down at John's Pass so anyone that wants to come out and pick up trash I think this Saturday they're going to focus on archal will be one of the locations and the library is scheduled to open February 10th and I'm sure everyone is excited about that that was one of the biggest things to lose in the storm for many many residents um for all the people who say we shouldn't have a library and there are people who say we shouldn't have a library I cannot tell you the number of people who reached out because they miss having a place to go and sit and read a book so I think that's pretty exciting news all things considered that are going on in the world nothing further just the library February 10th okay mayor Queen still battling title bason other than that nothing's else going on in our March towards getting back to normal we're going to have our uh traditional St Patrick's Day Festival on March 15th so everybody stop by and see us we'll have vendors and music and Irish dancers and very happy to be able to do something like this for our uh Community great well in Indian Rocks Beach we're hosting Winterfest on the Rocks again February 15th from 10:00 a.m. to 400 p.m we're going to be painting kids faces while we drink beer and wine we're going to have live music we're gonna have a pet contest how exciting um there'll be games and a silent auction so see you there go right ahead well it's almost U baseball season believe it or not so um uh going to be in U out at Bayer ballpark on uh I guess a week from tomorrow um or a week from Friday to welcome the Phillies equipment truck for spring training uh and so we're excited we had a lot of damage at Bayer ballpark we had good two to three feet into the locker rooms underneath the stadium and so we've had to do major recovery renovation work out there to get it ready for spring training but we jumped on it and uh and guaranteed the Phillies we'd be ready for spring training and we are so I'd even I'd even uh told the raay yesterday I'd be glad uh day before yesterday be glad to get it ready for a regular Ray season too if they decide they knew place to play in 2026 but we'll see where that goes uh but we're excited about spring training just because spring break for all of us is just so important to our communities to to welcome uh and so uh we're fortunate that you know we've got we've built up we've we've in the last 15 years built a lot of hotels new hotels are more resilient uh and we were able to get back quicker with at least our tourism industry to welcome folks back and so we want to we want to help all of us recover by making sure that all those Baseball fans that have come here for years maybe stayed in Treasure Island stayed all up and down our Barrier Islands to attend spring training we want to make sure that they come back whether they can stay in Treasure is or anywhere this year we just want to make sure they don't go somewhere else for spring training we want to make sure they come back to penel County and have a good experience and then when that place they have historically stayed down the barrier islands is ready a year from now it's just routine they go ahead and re rebook there so we really want to help all of our communities by welcoming back folks this year for spring training keeping them in the routine of visiting pelis County for spring break and spring training so that they don't have an experience in the pan or somewhere else this year uh and then they decide well this is nice too and then they don't come back so we feel like that's a big role and so we're more excited about spring training this year than ever and so uh the other thing we're also uh doing is we've been giving more and more musical acts at uh the sound Amphitheater in Clearwater uh they've just released a more robust schedule with a diverse uh kinds of music we've even got uh um it's not really things I have on my radio in my car but uh this electronic EDM music that's uh very attractive to young people we have three of those concerts coming up here soon and we're trying to get more than just uh the old school the sticks the the U The Beach Boys you know the music that a lot of is my generation we're trying to get a diverse range of music and again bringing people back to penis County to have that same experience they've already had so that they will not go somewhere else short term and then not come back and when all of our beaches are running up and again full again they'll continue to go to all those places that they've enjoyed for years up and down our Coast so uh we think that the next couple months going to be a great time not just for Clear Water but for the entire County and I'm really looking forward to it thank you mayor Rector all right let's give St Pete Beach a second crack at it first I would like to to say how much of an avid connoisseur of EDM I am and so I'm highly looking forward to participating at least one or two of those three events you have coming up in clearw beach and you all think I'm kidding um you know I was I was actually really excited to see when I came in this morning that the Wednesday Market was back up and running um so I looked at our events calendar and then we do have our Sunday market on Corey Avenue that's uh running every Sunday uh starting at 10:00 a.m. to to 2: p.m. so that is available that is all that we have in our social calendar for right now we're still in the process of rebuilding uh our community center um that that was a near total loss uh so we're we're working getting that uh back up but for the time being we hope to see there on Sundays okay great Mr President could I please uh make one introduction this morning uh sure go right ahead so uh in Treasure Island this is the first year that we actually have a position for an economic development director and um she is sitting right here Joan Goodrich and uh we welcome Joan she's got a lot of experience and hopefully she's G to put our business Community back together again great thank you and welcome uh in b beach we're we're very close to normal again uh we're having a Saturday morning we're having our our monthly Beach cleanup uh also we realized uh just recently that uh this March B Beach turns 75 so uh look for some banners and maybe some events will be uh we'll be uh having uh this year uh we're going to try to celebrate this 75th Anniversary all year long so U anyway looking forward to that um and that's all I have for City events in Belair Beach uh I'm open to a motion to adjourn the move second all in favor I I all right everyone thanks for coming