##VIDEO ID:o6zGlLQzfPg## and welcome to the Bren city council meeting Wednesday January 22nd 2025 at 8:30 a.m. in City Hall council chambers at this time I will call lead pastor Matt inis with Westside Christian Church up to do our prayer and then we'll do the invocation or the prayer and then we'll do the pledge please stand and Pastor come forward well is Pastor here miss Barnaby would you give us the prayer if you would join me please oh spirit that governs and watches over all of us we ask for your wisdom and discernment as we make decisions that we hope will bring Progressive action to our wonderful Community we thank you for your many blessings and we ask that you watch over us and every employee that they may do do their job Faithfully do their Duty well go home to their families safely and we ask this in your name amen amen lead us in the pledge 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 please be seated we'll call the meeting to order Madam clerk the first item on the agenda this morning is a proclamation which I'll read on behalf of the mayor Village of the Arts 25th anniversary celebration year 2025 whereas the city of Bradenton and the Downtown Development Authority had a collective Vision to help Revitalize a a historic neighborhood for local artists to work and live whereas the city reson several blocks to encourage artists to relocate just south of the downtown area excuse me interested artists formed a nonprofit organization in 1999 called the artist Guild of manate the guild was instrumental in selecting Village of the Arts as the name for their new local whereas Village of the Arts held their official grand opening on January 13th 2001 and featured eight businesses and whereas today the village of the Arts is currently home home to 40 businesses and has been a model for other communities seeking to attract artists and Revitalize neighborhoods whereas The Villages dedicated their community and host art walks on the first Friday and Saturday of the month Community trick-or treat the Festival of the skeletons and the cigar box festival and whereas the artist skill continues to partner with numerous nonprofits including United Way Boys and Girls Club Manatee County School District Centerstone Humane Society of Manatee County and art center Manatee now therefore be it resolved that aene brown as mayor of the city of brenon Florida do hereby proclaim the year 2025 as Village of the Arts 25th anniversary celebration year and urge all citizens to visit enjoy the amenities and help the village celebrate on this very special anniversary sign Jean Brown mayor right who do we have Miss Annie come forward and whatever whoever your group is come with you so you have some kind and fun comments you want to say it's been a long road to ho and um it has been wonderful and it and and I am just so pleased that y'all are still supporting us in every way imaginable and councilwoman Barnaby has been here since the very beginning and has helped us a lot in in creating the uh 18 block Village of the Arts that we now uh call home and where our businesses are public works works has always been my favorite department so I just have to you know uh give a nod to those folks um and they're all here I was going to say that who's here today it sure looks like it so that's opportune and um and every one of you who has voted for issues here at the uh uh at the disc to um support us it's greatly appreciated and um we'll be back here councilman Kramer uh oh sure as a bus owner come up to the microphone so they can hear I'm Don Collins I have a couple of businesses in the village but I just wanted to thank you all as a business owner what you did after the hurricane coming in and cleaning up that meant the world to us because we could get back open up our businesses and provide for our families so thank you from from all of us we appreciate that I should say vice mayor Kramer oh whichever I'm going to answer the way um it's great to see you all here today and great to celebrate I when Carrie reached out first and said hey this is the 25th year um I think of it as sports teams like 25th season and it's good to be able to look forward to all your commemorative events through this year I hope there's a lot of history in it from photos across time but um very proud to have you all on my ward all right um I know and I just want to thank the council for the start of it when uh obviously we had the Hurricanes coming through and it was in a crucial month going into what you were going to do and and when we looked at things and as we went through we thought okay what's the the two things that we got to do first and obviously downtown and Village ofthe Arts because we know how hard it is for small business to thrive in today's society and especially the economy that's been the way things are and hopefully that's improving over the next several years but when you look at it you say what can happen and and when I got that phone call that morning and said don't cancel we're going to be done well they didn't have a lot of faith in some things that had happened in the past I said don't cancel it will be done and we not only had the majority of the people standing behind you in public works and sanitation that were out there but we had some great volunteer groups that came in keep manity beautiful and I'm going to say the one that came in the most in that one day on that Saturday morning when we had 50 volunteers going through the village and what I was proud of um through hail law they had they had almost 30 people coming and help with keep manity beautiful group we weren't going down the streets and picking up the trash in the streets and the yard debris and all of that they were going in and helping people at their homes that weren't able to get it that in what we realized then that made the biggest difference was that stuff would have trickled out for months but it was gone that day and the people in their backyards that couldn't get the branches and the the tree debris and that so um and I I know now we've got some of our staff out there that we'll recognize later that uh they drive through the village a little bit more often now and are getting stuff almost every day and uh making sure that it's there now it's on you guys to also do some things that will promote your businesses and and get that back and that's important to all of us because with what we're doing at city park that you see the fences around the city park area area it's going to be that important for City Park Village of the Arts Main Street Riverwalk and I say Main Street right now but the goal of this council is to have it be one block not just separated and that's something that takes a long time but I feel we're getting close so thank you for what you guys have done for the 25 years and any especially starting things but now let's let's all get along let's work together and um the next big thing is uh for for me and and us up here will be uh Santa in July Christmas in July so and Mrs claw so we really enjoy doing that but but thank you for what you've done and uh keep up the good work and any other comments by the council or you all have sorry some of you were Pioneers you did not know how this was going to work if it was going to work you put your money in your mouth where it was important and it has been I think a wonderful Renaissance in that I grew up in that area some of you all have houses that my Sunday school teachers had so to me every time I go through there it's just a wonderful rebirth it's kind of like the Phoenix came out of something so thank you for believing in the city of Bron yeah and I think one thing you know with our public works you got go through a bunch of different scenarios but one of the biggest things that the previous Council and this Council has really worked on and through especially through our utilities and Jim mlen over the years getting things going is we don't have the flooding that we used to have and that's very important not only for just life time things but also to keep businesses open and all that so um I think the more we can get people to see it the more people Love The Eclectic type situation it's not for everybody but you know it's that when you get there you want to have it and and uh really enjoy those moments and I can see it kind of swinging up especially um with the cleanlist there is some questions on lighting but I drove through there several times over the last couple of weeks the lights are on there's just some we're getting to and when we have 15 plus work orders I think at times we'll get to them but we actually had a big meeting yesterday with Mr Perry where'd he go he's down there got to find him again and the Public Works director and others and engineering and it was talked about some different ways to do lightings and maybe even some solar lightings if those things would help for the future but thank you and congratulations and you want to give them the proclamation it's on it's on there you want to pick it up and kind of hold it and turn around and we'll all stand up behind you and kind of get a picture uh David will get that for us you want to why don't you come back this way and we can kind of stand behind you with the group come over here everybody left them everybody can see everybody thank you conratulations keep up the good work [Applause] gratulations okay all right thank you you good Annie see you take care we're working on that situation I know all right moving forward Madame Clerk item 4A is a quarterly employee recognition presentation if some of the Village ofthe Art people don't mind staying a few minutes I'll take it then I'll pit it to you all right Madam clerk sorry it's the employee recognition recognition all right right so um something that was important to me many years ago when I came on the council and it just it didn't seem that it was something that was going forward was to try to do something for recognition of our employees um you've got employees that you know in all different departments work odd hours and are diving down into water holes and different uh other water that you wouldn't want to be getting involved in as it's flowing and and we know that that our aged system is uh working through our face it and fix it situation and when we looked back at this quarter and really talked you know there was a few individuals that you could have pointed out but one of the things that was so important going through this last hurricane season and what we did through the whole time because you know it started out with Debbie went to Helen and we thought okay Helen was was terrible flooded hundreds if not close to a thousand homes in our city as well as our County and and waterways including obviously one of our Council people that's still not back in her home and others aren't either you know in the community so you looked at you know boots on the ground things happening and and I'll say it after Helen when we called that day and said hey what's going on can on a Friday Saturday morning um I called Lance and Rob and James and said can we get some people out to help and we had 17 of our s itation and others in the public works department it just wasn't sanitation but you had employees that were willing to come out on a Sunday morning and that Sunday morning we got over almost a quarter of a million pounds the the state goes by cubic yards we go by pounds because that's what you take to the landfill and they weigh you but and over the next week before Milton even hit we got over a million pounds cleaned up in neighborhoods and one of the things that really hit I think and you look at things you go it wasn't sanitation doing their normal job just picking up people's garbage that you're throwing out it was we were picking up their lives and when you really think about it you know if you didn't have it happen to you you were wondering why other stuff wasn't getting picked up maybe in a timely manner but if you had it happened to you and you were dealing with it every day you know we were crushing their Furniture we were crushing their Bibles we were crushing their you know nativity sets we were crushing everything and putting in the truck and what I learned from it was that you know they had it happen it was done you couldn't stop that but what they did see was a city and it wasn't us up here it was you out there loving your city and willing to do that work no matter what it took to help the citizens of Bradenton at least get a little normaly don't start I know you started it I know but but what we saw and what the community saw was that we cared and then oh by the way five days later six days later we had another hurricane hit us and what what this group did because it is you know usually it's one or two or three but today it's hundreds was worth celebrating what you you did for our city and our city is still struggling with some things and you know we know as we get older uh individually you have to go to the doctor a little bit more you have to go take care of yourself a little bit more and our cities at that point we've got a staff that is working so hard to try to make things better face it and fix it some of the things that none of us in this room really started out with Clay pipe and all of that but we're working hard and I don't think there's a person in this room that works for the city of Bradington that no matter when they would get called would not go out there and fight for for our citizens so from my standpoint I just want to thank you and appreciate what you do and give you a little something you know obviously we know that that you can take a day off or you can take a $100 credit uh I guess gift card that we give out and that's your choice but you're worth it and we appreciate what you do and uh you stay safe every day and these jobs are not easy all the time and one of the another thing that I just thought of is the other day I there was a gentleman that had emailed me through the storm and it's an elderly couple and they live in a home and they're trying to they're in their 80s and they're trying to fight to stay in their home you know they don't want to give up their independence and you really think about as we get older you give up your Independence and you have to go somewhere and you rely on your family or you rely on a a home you lose what you feel your mind says you can do but your body says you can't do anymore so you know it had gone by and cleaned up his home but the other day he's having a hard time getting his trash can out anymore and he sent me an email said that they saw him trying to bring it out in time got out of the truck helped him and now said you know just make sure it's there and I'll make sure it gets back to where it needs to be so that's the staff we have and that's what we've got every day so I could go on forever but I just want to thank you for everything that you do every day and um you know some of it's a dirty job but we appreciate it and we are trying to make our systems better and this Council will continue to work you've got my promise and I know you've got their promise that we're going to make our city uh infrastructure as quick as possible the best it can be and keep working and even like said over in village of the Arts um the one nice lady that would email me all the time about the flooding doesn't email me anymore but she doesn't have to because the flooding is not there and that's okay that she doesn't email and say it's not flooding but we'll we'll get through that because you know all of us drive through our Wards more and more every day I think with things that have happened so um councilwoman Moore um well I don't want to belabor the point and I know you all have heard us say it many times but I can tell you again um hopefully you hear it and you believe it that um that area that um mayor referenced really felt your compassion during that time um everybody was in shock and everybody was walking around in Muck Boots and um just really aimlessly counting on other people to help myself included and everybody told me every single neighbor that I encountered said we've never felt like the city has paid that much attention to us as they did as the cleanup effort in between the storms Helen and Milton so from the bottom of my heart I want you to know that you're appreciate it councilwoman Barnaby oh great I too had neighbors that got flooded I got water in part of my house but not my entire house and it's like when you all show up after a storm it's the Cavalry is coming I have said this numerous times I'm going to say it one more time our citizens may never need a police officer they may never need the fire department to show up at their house they might not get a building permit but they see and what is the face of their City to them weekly is our public works department when you have a citizen call and tell you how fabulous they think their garbage people are and with it being your hometown it makes you feel good I know how difficult and how dirty some of these jobs are but you go you do them and you make us proud every day so thank you thank you for choosing to live in the city to be with the city to serve our citizens we appreciate it very very much vice mayor Kramer thank you sir um I've said from probably before I sat here mainly because of my job before um we only do what we do up here we can only do what we do as a city because of all of you as our employees what we're doing today is a small token of our appreciation for everything you all did did during the storm and every day um Mr Mo I want to call you out especially for what you did for our neighborhood um and for then when I expanded out and was helping down in the village the the organization that all came from your leadership I appreciate that I know there's people right now who now are wondering why everything isn't done everywhere I say you're looking in the county because in the city it's all done and that's thanks to you all thank you very much councilwoman Coachman how did you know okay I'm going to get through this right now it seems like we're just focusing on all the hard work you did during a storm I've had family and friends work among you and each day you do that each day you represent this city you're the ones that the citizens see every day and you do oh almost said a bad word you do a fantastic job and just to know we appreciate you not just because of today or not just because of a storm but the hard work you do as ambassadors technically for the city thank you councilman Coker yeah I I you know I had the I don't know privilege whatever uh my ward Ward one was not as devastated as some of the other Wards but of course I still had citizens that had a lot of asks and wants and I I want to tip my hat to you that you still were able to in the face of all that get to to them as well and uh I think that once we let them know cuz we would get the calls and let them know what y'all were dealing with in the other Wards hopefully they got a little bit um more patient about it so um but I do thank you and thank you for what you do all the time um you always make us look good and I appreciate it thank you thank you Mr Perry thank you may and thank you counselor counselors for recognizing uh the awesome work that our 270 employees of Public Works do uh the comments were were really um heartfelt and and accurate and on point uh this was an unprecedented storm season it started in early August each and every storm had unique challenges with Debbie with rainfall um thereafter with Helen and the The Surge particularly into the East Side River areas and ultimately with Milton and a combination of of different perils so to speak and these employees just went above and beyond the Call of Duty um it's interesting to see it because there were so many individual acts of selflessness and and going above and beyond people literally climbing under flood outs um to try to find valves 3:30 in the morning we went out with some Crews again trying to find interconnects each and every Department of Public Works and Public Works is a very complex uh uh department they do a lot of different things and so they have to operate from a team approach we have those acts of individualism but at the end of the day it has to be done as a team with the right blocking and tackling and that's what today is about because each and every member that's out there made significant positive and constructive contributions to uh our efforts and those efforts involve things before the storm of protective measures things during the storm of response things after the storm of recovery and as councelor Barnaby pointed out I think when you're a citizen you pointed out mayor and you see people's poke Man collections getting crushed and and their lives the history of their lives and their fam's lives it's very heartfelt I think each and every of these people that work for us proudly represented the city recognized that respected it and and gave 110% and the police department and the fire department and and planning as well so as an administrator for the city me and Lance it's our privilege um Nils is going to talk a little bit about the awards itself and and take it from there but I wanted to individually thank each and every member as well as as well as collectively thank them for the awesome work they they did it was obviously unprecedented a Cascade of events like I've never seen before in the Emergency Management world and uh people Rose to the occasion and and we should be proud of them this particular award will bestow basically $100 for day day off it cost the city about $30,000 it's money well spent the money will come from what's called Wellness funds and so it's not general fund specific and I think it's the least we can do to recognize the great work that that that's been done so with that and your permission mayor I'd ask Miss Taylor to come up yes sir thank you good morning mayor good morning city council Mr Perry Lance Mr Williams uh thank you very much for this opportunity um the quarterly recognition program is designed to recognize employees and teams that demonstrate outstanding service to the city of Bradenton our citizens and co-workers today it gives me great honor to announce that the public works and utilities department has been selected for this special recognition there are they are the unsung heroes who responded during this unprecedented uh hurricanes back to back to back uh challenging uh situations and they're the ones that said I am here what do you need me to do for the city for our citizens and some of these employees they had their own challenges lost their homes had flooding um however they were present they said I'm here I'm going to take care of my city I'm going to shine with my city we'll get through this together so if that said again it gives me great honor to announce Public Works and [Applause] utilities all right so who's the spokesperson I know a couple that I worked diligently with that could come up but perhaps if if Irv could bring up maybe his superintendence and some of those folks mayor as Representatives um you know it's important to recognize that when we talk about public works there's the solid waste sanitation function that you pointed out the tireless work they did but also the fleet section and uh Garrett who kept all the vehicles operating and and the gas as we know constantly going um as fuel is a critical aspect of of of operation ations the Landscaping grounds that Ross and Craig did the engineering work that Kim and her team did electrical facilities with with with Chris and Cody and Don Bruner and his team streets and drainage Sean uh and his team did great work and obviously with the sores and and water with Greg Jones and Nate Bailey and Andrew and some of those folks there was a lot of people that were involved in this and I don't know I could go on and name probably every one of them other 270 but we don't have time for that this morning unfortunately let me pass it back to you if you'd like to say anything there yes yeah just kind of to finish up and and you look at the leaders here and uh yeah with with all of them and and and I look at not only people that have been with the city a long time but several of the ones standing up here now have our Our upand cominging Heroes as we go anybody that's willing to dive underneath a puddle of water with the pipe broken and and to with no scuba gear we hoped his swimming lessons were well but but trying to get it fixed and you know you see that happening and then you see out at 2 o'clock in the morning somebody working on a valve that can't get fixed in a a uh Pump Station but trying to put a Band-Aid on it to make it work so it doesn't hurt our environment and just all the little things and Fleet Maintenance and and anything that can be done you know it just makes you proud that they're here and you know again they all showed up no matter when they were asked and that was what impressed me the most for us because it was for the citizens so I just you know you know there's again you looking out and and guys that have been with us 20 years they've been it's been their life it's been their life with the city of Bradon and and they want to be here another 20 years you know and and going so Ross I don't know that's what I said with the doctor but just thank you thank you thank you and I mean we can't thank you enough can't get everybody up I mean we have some operators that do the the uh where we pick up the garbage off the side of the road what's that called the crane or the the claw the claw that could literally pick up a dime off the ground and you see that and how clean they can get and uh keep things working so again I could go on but thank you Mr per and may just be remissive I didn't mention some of the awesome support staff Heather loots and uh and Alis Allison Nicks and Morgan and and Ron Tomkins they organized things like the water distribution that we saw they were working be the scenes put in the work schedules to make sure we could do ab shifts they're they have what we call the Blue Sky work and the gray sky work and they tirelessly worked you know to help out supporting this and secured Fuel and sandbag distribution and played traffic cop out there that you would see um you were out there yourself personally with your wife which was was inspirational quite honestly doing sandbags and you know we were filling sandbags that Sunday I remember and everybody lended a hand uh all hands on deck and and I was proud to be part of it yep all right so are we going to call everybody up I everybody needs to get up here at one point after Irv says something um but we want a picture of every for a photo what I was was thinking about perhaps if we could have our leadership this way and then bring everybody in here and we stand up we our our Mr Myers may be able to get a nice panoramic shot not not sure does he have the Drone with him today he doesn't have the Drone that was that was obviously used very extensively right during the Hurricanes yeah so Irv and I know you know we welcomed you into a great City coming in and we appreciate you being here and you said a 100 days are we still within 200 days we're working on it working on all right it's there we'll adjust as needed but I did want to again uh this is an attitude of gratitude this is uh the the kind words that you all have spoken uh are I I know they were were heartfelt and and they are believe me received uh in an attitude of of of gratitude this is uh we we thank you all um this is uh as you say this is our life this is what we do uh and we do it it for folks who who have said thank you who who show their appreciation for the hard work and diligence and again what you see here uh this is the the the heart the the salt of of this city and and we just want to continue to to move us forward and we appreciate uh this recognition uh I know there are some who are uh rejoicing over national championship and and are looking forward to uh the Super Bowl but I tell you what uh they can't I'm I'm honored to have a team like this a team of Champions to uh continue to support this city thank you thank you all right Mr Williams yeah I just just real quick I I don't want to repeat what everybody's already said but I'm extremely proud of this group extremely proud to be a part of it um the leadership that we have is phenomenal I just want to make sure we don't have representation from our water plant or our Reclamation facility here today um also battled through the storms battle every day to make sure our citizens have water and we we can take what they do with that water away from them so I just want to make sure that they're noted as well um but just again very very proud and extremely happy to to call these uh this a a good family and and very honored to work with them good thank you so why don't we call everybody up get behind if you guys could do a 45° angle it it makes it much tighter couple people in the middle and 45 degree angle y if you guys could line up probably yeah there's going to be a lot of people so we might need two lines of people behind our superintendent and supervisors perfect you're doing great y probably should have the Drone do what wow 45 Dee angle act like you like each other right 45 degree angles tight tight tight it's only going to hurt for a minute say out now do this this youres Leo come on everybody get in here we want everybody in the picture we got plenty of space down here yeah plenty of room in the back line everybody back up a little bit yep watch the camera but back up I saw the coming oh it is quacky right I think he's doing a I'm tapping your David Myers give us the call from the back please keep the duck away from Myers here we go if you're taking a day off don't everybody take the same day yeah thank you guys thank you so much Zach what's up buddy good to see you man doing well brother good good don't worry about it man great work buddy keep it up y there you are say wait wait wait why does he have a St Augustine sweatshirt on we need more braed gear pick up a dime that's crazy he just like this I mean thank you back in that house he was a bad app oh good where were you coming just down from youing out all hours of the night oh yeah prepare for two to three feet yeah yeah yep yeah yeah thanks Phil Mr Campbell appreciate it thank you well we're working usually good to see you see man May May real quick yes sir Mr just real quick we keep talking about this person that's in the in the water so this is our person Mr Phil Campbell and if you look on your screen now that is what he was in trying to find a valve to shut off a water man to repair it so when you think about what these guys do every day that's what they do every day well and also you know that every day and one of the things that I was so impressed early on when we had um Debbie we were trying to figure out how to cross connect the water with the county the valves that may have never been turned in 20 years that we found well Phil was out there with the County Employees so we we want to thank our County counterparts that we were able to find it get it together to help keep producing the best tasting water that we could at that moment because we did have the breach of the Braden River above our dam but thank you and and and there's not a time that I drive by something and see a truck whether it's 7 o'clock on a Saturday night or anytime Phil's there making sure his crew will get it done but he's also willing to dive underneath you know so I don't know if we need scuba gear now but let's hope not turn into requisite thank you and one more thing how many 300 games have you bowled two two how about that Focus that's what it is it's Focus yes is that picture made public I think I yeah it was on it was on our was on Facebook yeah I don't think I ever saw that that's it it got out it really kind of encapsulates how they went the extra mile all right we've got to still have a business meeting so that's a good thing um now we're at the part of Citizen comment will be accepted during the citizen comment portion of the meeting and on any non-agenda item agenda item future agenda items or topic of relevance to the city comments will be accepted on the public hearings at the appropriate time and when you come forward please stay your name and you will have three minutes and we first have Christy Haley and that doesn't look like Christy KY christe ducky qu I understood good morning everyone are youall having a quantastic day yes we are so excited to be partnering with the city of Bron and we cannot thank you enough for helping us grow our race after we had a little bit of a catastrophe with the hurricanes with caddies and this is going to give us the platform to make our race bigger and better and to grow every year so we've brought you all some gifts are you excited yeah okay y thank you these are signifying our move down to thank city of brington these what we handed out to all of our sponsors everyone will join the way thanks for coming down and thank you oh just wait thank you watch your Stu over [Laughter] here thank you that is cute my grand was here this would be history one last thing mayor Jean we have a special gift for you are you ready okay than definitely I'll wear that thank you so cute it's going to be a pantastic year again thank you so much for your partnership we truly appreciate it because of you more girls lives will be saved and we can't thank you enough so coming up soon duck season it's opening March 1st adopt a duck help a girl thank y'all so much appreciate it thank [Laughter] you all right next we have Wy green please come forward state your name and your town of residence and you have three minutes Wy Green City of brington 20 2015 25th a West uh tell you hate to come up here now after such of those wonderful remarks and comments and got a chance to see some guys I haven't seen in 20 or 30 years so it's good that they're still here and continuing to be in leadership positions where they were laborers when I was coming through at that time so it's good they were glad smiling to see me as I was glad to see them as well uh one of the things I was wanted to talk about was uh are they going to be evening Council meetings back again this year uh I know we used to have it once a month uh I don't know why we made the change but it perhaps would help me and some others sometime if we can't make the morning meeting uh another concern was uh about the uh land adjacent to the water we like aiss on 17th Avenue uh I don't know if we selling it or leasing it to to the county but I thought we was going to hold on to that to maybe for emergencies or expansion of the plant because uh I think it would be needed in the future and also with us also having problems with the plant uh I know we're trying to rectify what has happened in the past administrations but uh I was just wondering can we do like uh with some of the water breaks to let the citizens and others know that when we do have that situation where we do have to release the water maybe it can come up within a few hours instead of a few weeks or a few days uh on the city of bre.com sort of like they do with the water breaks and that way it may keep a lot of stuff out of the uh propaganda section and uh hopefully we'll be fixing enough soon and we won't have to face these problems anymore also I was just wondering uh can we get a deadline for PR projects that's in my particular area the 25 2400 block or 25th Avenue I know Mr Lee and others have been working but we just can't get a deadline on when this is going to start on the infrastructure some of you all have been hearing me four years and now you're in your second term and you're still hearing me talk about this project and I know that's slow but that's not fing it or fixing it also uh again we would like to uh ask that you will continue to encourage our employees and thank you for a job that you have been doing uh hopefully we can face and fix that uh the little Pro problem that we're having at the church I mean it seem as though it was retaliation and discrimination but maybe it wasn't but it just seemed that way when I had mention other problem then that came up and we like evicted from the land no more parking thank you for your time um first off we have no more citizen comment um that I have so and as we do as citizen comment we wait till all citizen comment is done before we comment so um with PACE Center for girls with obviously they would always have it at Caddy's and the the duck celebration and fundraiser which again then helps them be able to help more young ladies and and get been to several of their graduations and it's such a a great spirit to see when you can help a young lady change her life and get to that next step any children of of those points but but we were able to bring it down to Riverwalk right in front of the day Dock and work it out where it'll work out perfectly in a timing situation we when this Council approved the executive budget there was some extra money for funds and those things that we were able to use some of that to help support support it and I know others and anybody that wants to that's out there that wants to give a donation or buy a duck or whatever they want to do it's available it's easy to just go on their website and figure it out because that's become such a great event to not only celebrate what they do but also celebrate what we want to continue in the city of Bradenton with events because we know as as things go on and move other places it doesn't celebrate Bradenton like we wanted to be in to continue that good spirit so um that is something great and we're going to keep it going and we'll keep seeing how we can maybe keep it in the future there as time goes on so thank you to to all that PACE Center for Girls does and hopefully even though their building isn't in the city it's close to the city right down the street they're going to well they're new they're new ones and they're not going to be but um it's only a couple blocks outside the city on 26th Street there and I saw a portalet on it the other day so that means they're getting ready to build the building so and that but um congratulations on that and that's going to help a lot of our young ladies and families in the future so thank you any comments Miss Barnaby well quacky I just wanted to say thank you for the the the Jeep and the duck and I guess did you put these on your [Laughter] bill come on it it my version of a dad joke come on all right thank you to to PACE Center for girls um talking about a couple of things uh Mr Wy had brought up I do want to answer to the one about our Reclamation plant oh that we did not own the property next to the plant even the immediate adjacent property right next to it was still in a County City agreement and anything farther west of that area where we had the um haulers bringing the debris onto it that is now clean we had an agreement that we did several years ago that the county felt that they still had the right to take that back we worked it out that we were able to keep that portion and we were trying to work with the county maybe to go farther west but they already had plans for their um Doggy Daycare so that was already in the process so we did not own that property we would have liked to have but it was a county-owned property all around there so we were able to keep at least the portion that we can do some things that we are working for future Improvement to that plant area um and then the other things I don't know Mr Kramer was writing a few things down did you have anything to address on that specifically I don't no and obviously I mean Mr Mr Green and I have been in communication a lot about the project back to when Mr mclen was here and I know Mr Lee and his staff we've been talks too so it's you know it's it's on the list it's we're working towards a solution and I've driven through there and I know after storms it's there's a lot of lot of need for it and obviously there is no retaliation of any kind that is important to see that's there's because again we try to work with somebody but we also have responsibility of storm water and that has been I think probably gone up a millionfold since the last 6 eight months that storm water is creating ing our Wastewater problem and you know with when you have the bypasses it's the majority of the bypass is mixed in with the waste water so if we didn't have the storm water infiltration we would still have some issues on our plant we would be updating but it wouldn't be the volumes that we're having and and some of the other issues so we are working aggressively through that and the plan that you know we're willing to face it and fix it and put it out there and I think continue to work and I know we had a great meeting yesterday with staff and Mr Perry Mr Williams and and Colonel Lee and others that we're working we're trying to do things and and how fast believe me there's not a person up here that that doesn't believe in government the wheels of government work in Reverse sometimes it feels like not forward so it is something that timing is is important to all of us and we're going to keep doing that Mr Perry briefly mayor uh Mr Williams myself and and public work staff had a meeting Monday actually morning at 10:00 and uh the church property and and and the uh flood control project that's that's on site behind it is uh came up and and one of the issues is is that trying to get a contractor to do the project and we had the meeting with Woodruff who's A A continuing Services contractor for us and they're trying to put it onto their work schedule I will say that frankly there are some more um priority projects in front of it that are very very significant because of the need to have them done um but I I'm hopeful that woodriff can get to that project probably within I don't know I'd say four or five months there's some conflict on the engineering regarding um some utility that's existing in the back of the property but ultimately they think that they're K that that it won't be uh the type of conflict that would not be insurmountable in with field adjustment basically by the construction in the field ultimately as Mr uh green knows I met with him out in the site I think it was the first couple months I was here and we looked at it um I got with with with Jim and he got with his folks and they put together a concept plan to identify a strip of land that is immediately adjacent to Mr Green's church for parking purposes um ultimately when we can completed the engineering they needed a little bit more land um when when we had the initial assessment we did an appraisal on the property came back at $100,000 and uh the good news is is that if we have to take a little bit more and I want to say it was like 7 ft or 12 feet it wasn't very much more to meet the engineering specs for volume then what's left over really will not be marketable as a lot or any other use and so I would think that ultimately the valuation on that will endure significantly to Mr Green's benefit when we are through I know it takes a little bit of time I know he's heard it for a while and he has frankly uh but unfortunately this particular project um has has been on uh a moderate but not accelerated basis because of the type of flood control it is it's a bios Swale y all right thank you yes ma'am I just wanted a little clarification I I heard you say you're not being allowed to park now next to the church no no no saying all right it's we just don't want to start so an engagement okay well business reasons know what yeah so that so they are allowed to park I I've been out to the site personally I didn't think it impaired the parking which is immediately I want to say west of the church okay all right so most of the is is far to the west but I can get with Mr Green to see if there's something we can do help with that so all right Perfect all right so that's all a citizen comment I think one thing we want to do since the city is going to be a sponsor with PACE Center we want to get a picture of Ducky up here with all of us behind them so come on yeah yeah yeah sponsor like as a group of City get a bigger duck big duck all right so we get quacky up here kind of come in front of us without squeeze together turn sideways 45 we are breaking records once again 33,000 Ducks is our go sold out 31 you want on the right here in the middle in front of us we're fine we'll we'll spread out we'll go we'll go around quack spread around except for Lisa get away from the back one two three say tail feathers get this angle all right thank you thank you very cute thank you thank you thank you all right we got it just Mak you a lot of Joy it's it's a fun it's a fun event yeah all right moving forward Madame clerk item six is the consent agenda and staff is requesting approval of items a through L all right chair we'll entertain a motion I'll make make a motion to approve consent agenda is there a second second all right I'd like any further discussion before we comment yes ma'am yeah I just wanted to clarify um regarding the charging stations in the that we're approving for the garage that that is those are being done at the cost of freebie um that's not at the cost of the CRA or at the cost of the city so okay any other comments hearing none we'll start the vote inward two yes three yes four yes five yes one yes carries five to zero Madam clerk item 8 a is emergenc procurement report all right is that Mr Williams Mr Perry mayor thank you um I believe attached to um your papers today that Miss Melton had handed out the only individual item that we've recently received as an emergency procurement it was from Mr Peterson it involves a series of work on we's Creek that was related to Hurricane uh remediation it was I believe in the amount of $48,000 um and and it was again a series of different pieces of work including manav all the way um uh progressing with other types of Mangrove clearing and Riverway clearing and and flow um and environmental conditions uh heading from obviously manate Avenue on where's Creek South and so with that I just figured it's my responsibility to bring to that to your attention as the last item that we received um as an emergency procure procurement that was approved by myself and needs to be bought to council's attention at the next meeting which is being done here too on and the procurement was done on 11025 if you have any questions let's and to say that clearing it wasn't mango clearing it was more cleaning out I believe it was yeah it wasn't because you say mango clearing you may get people wondering good point if we're clearing it's just more of cleaning debris that flowed into the where's Creek area and if you drive by there at times on low tide you can see big stumps and branches that we had to get out to keep the Waterway open so um did we need an approval just to no sir just it's just for knowledge that's what I thought okay all right any questions of Mr Perry um question for you sir yes sir vice mayor is this just from this last bit of storms or is this sort of a full assessment of War's Creek because I know that there was back before I took office I had people talk to me about stuff in the debris in the area in in the creek I I I'm not I can't specifically say that some of it wasn't related to pre-existing conditions okay uh that had been there but my understanding was the vast majority of it was related to storm debris okay and I know a couple of years back with keep manate beautiful they did a special Cleanup in that area where we actually had canoes and kayaks and we went through and picked a lot of not only trash which they you know that's what keep man beautiful does but we we also got big branches and different things and so that's hopefully through this storm it cleaned out a lot and it won't have to be as much but there's still always going to be some debris that gets in and to the mayor's point about the clearing I think a few years back we actually did obtain a permit and did some clearing in there to yeah to open up because open it up yeah that was that's one of the waterways that comes from outside the county in through the city and uh and that was one of our lift stations that we were having problems with around there from a lot of I and ey that I hopefully some of the pipes have been lined and are working better as we go through so all right any other questions hearing none we'll go to the next Madame clerk uh mayor oh yes sir just I have one more item under new business that I think is is worthy of mentioning of course as Council knows we have um we have a workshop scheduled for next week I don't wait till after we get the speed camera perfect we'll do it afterwards thank you mayor y yeah and then we'll finish off with that so Mr giddens is going to come forward and have hope he doesn't turn sideways because we'll lose him then you look great good morning mayor council um this is your annual report for the red speed camera program there's a few things I need to reading the record for the U comply with the statute so I try to give you a bit of a comprehensive overview of uh how the program began and where we're at maybe just state your name and who you are jerem midd city of Bren Bren Police Department red Suite program um in short we deployed the redspeed cameras we were somewhat delayed with some of the storms um and in total for 2024 we issued 192 uh violations of those 101 were paid there were no uh citations contested none dismissed um none that were contested and upheld and one um notice of violation that reverted to a UTC and there was none that was pending for 2024 and that is your report um I can answer any questions and again I try to give you um a brief overview with the memo that was attached all right any questions yes ma'am um I'm definitely was in favor of this anything to make our kids um safer but I am wondering um because all the schools have different times um it's varying speeds in the different school zones I'm very concerned about properly notifying you know the notification to the what exactly speed they need to be going and when they need to be doing it and I I mean I I have very limited but the ones that I drive through really more in West brington and on manate app there are no blinking lights there are no posted time signs and so I just could see having a problem if you issue a a citation to someone that they weren't really properly notified of what it should have been um so I didn't know if anybody's addressing that or if there's been any at this and we've I'm sorry go ahead no I just um I I I don't I I just worry that we'll do all this and then there'll be legal challenges and then we'll pull them out like they did before with the red light cameras we worked with the uh vendor redspeed um there are signages it's up uh we've tried to Market out those times you are correct depending on the school and the location those times might vary um there is signage there I think we've met all the obligations um the the timing was mirrored we worked with public works man County to ensure that the timing for the uh cameras uh match up to that timing for the school zones for each area um so we've done everything that we can to adhere to that make sure we've marketed that out uh and it's visible I can continue to reinforce that and we can ensure that we're contining to publicizing that and I think one of Mr Kramer I just wanted to on your point of manyy Avenue I think it was a addressed in there there are no official school zones on manace Avenue there school areas but even know at man Avenue East by Manatee Elementary which 100% should be a school zone dot has not approved that to be a school zone that is corre and just to add to that we did work with for Department of Transportation F dot we have asked them to conduct studies on state R 64 they have completed the study uh in front of JCP Miller they've determined that that doesn't meet the requirements based on their pedestrian counts and vehicle counts they are continuing to study in front of manate Avenue on state R 64 um and I I'm waiting um for that report to come back to determine if they're going to designate that as a state road or I'm sorry if they're going to detm that a school zone on the state road the the one camera that's not active is on 15th Street East which is a designated um State Road it's alternate State Road 70 that has been permitted already and it is already designate a school zone but we don't have the cameras installed yet um that's the only one that we're that's pending and you know I know we have to work through do but obviously 43rd Street in Manatee Avenue over the last 36 years 26 years I've seen quite a bit of that intersection and I know of one crossing guard that got hit because somebody ran a red light because they were hurrying and then I also have been sitting waiting to turn on to 43rd off Manatee Avenue and got sick to my stomach a couple times from close incidents where people are speeding and running through it and almost hitting children so when when you see that and and you question these cameras and I'm not saying we are but I'm just saying with the social media out there and that not only are they speeding they're not paying attention and kids cross the road with the crossing guard and still have opportunity and and it's 11 miles an hour over the posted speed limit and I don't know if there is a vehicle out there now that doesn't have the little speed limit white thing on their Dash that tells you where you are and how fast the speed limit is you know because today's cars do that also if some most of them have it where it says you're in a school zone now you know that if if it's if it's activated or your phone does so my whole approval of this and I mean everybody knows out there how I felt with red light cameras because I had two friends killed by red light Runners that wouldn't have been saved from the old days red light cameras but the new technology on red light cameras is saving lives and that's the most most important thing that we do in setting policy up here is try to save lives through our storms we were very ProActive at what we did through our police fire Public Works Administration to make sure people were safe through the storms and we didn't lose alive in Manatee County and the City of Bradon through those storms because people took the the warnings in that so I just think this is one of those things Mrs Barnaby thank you Mr Mayor um manate Elementary is also on Manatee Avenue have we done a speed study out there or is there a camera out there uh man on State Road 64 East correct yeah that is the study that's uh still in process with floor Department of Transportation okay so we have not gotten gotten information back on that yet uh my understanding and speaking with them as a Recon of last week um their first study whatever their criter was it it seemed to have met that thr threshold they're continuing to study it and I should have report back with in a couple of weeks that I'll be able to share I think uh State Road 64 in front of Manatee Avenue or manate Elementary is a very heavy travel thare and uh you know we we have quite a few Vehicles out there that are speeding but we we have to wait for them to goad and designate that as a uh a school zone it's it's it's very interesting reading some of the post on social media I honestly think everybody thinks that it's okay to be going 40 or 50 m an hour throughout our city and there's very few places where it is posted 50 miles an hour um people complaining that you know they didn't know they were going to get a ticket um again I think there's been a lot of coverage on this I know that Captain the and myself did at least three media interviews uh prior to it taking effect and you only get a ticket if you as the mirror says if you're going 11 miles over what is the regular posted speed limit so I again I find that it's I guess unless we keep posting at 874 times on Instagram and Facebook people aren't going to realize that's what triggers the tickets um my other question I have as um and I don't know if it's for you or for Mr Perry what are the the budgetary implications of you know how much money are we getting in and how is how are we going to use this what are the implications of of how is this going to affect our budgeting mayor councelor Barnaby um so first off the the purpose of this was this this school zone safety program and and and uh speed zone camera program wasn't for fiscal Revenue it was for it was for pedestrian safety it was for school zone safety and traffic safety that was that was I believe the intent of the legislature and I think that was the policy intent of both the department and Council um however several million dollars were budgeted attributable to what estimates were on how much this program would bring in and thus far the program is not fully functional it's in its infancy stages to a certain extent and so we don't have specifics on a on a year-to-year basis looking at full implementation of whether it'll meet that that specific Target of Revenue that was projected by the police department we heard about 192 tickets being being issued thus far I think that in incorporates a certain period of time and I don't know exactly what that was and there's 101 that were paid out of that payment the some of the money goes to the county and some of it goes back to the operator and there's about three other four other folks that get a cut of that money and ultimately the city gets gets a share as well I asked Mr Williams to actually look at where we are thus far as far as how much we actually have collected where the money went and how much basically goes to the police department as well as to the general fund of the city because one of the issues is is that if that money is not realized at the end of the year on a continuing basis which going to have to come out of the revenue side of the budget and it's going to represent a shortfall in our budget so it's important to to recognize that Mr Williams yes sir thank you mayor so um to date and this is the most current report that Finance has um and it this ends um the last deposit that we had was actually on uh 118 of 25 so this goes from 128 of 24 to 118 of 25 and to date um we've taken in 11,6 $600 um and out of that the city Nets about 60% so we're just shy of $77,000 of of the tickets paid um we have so Mr Perry talked about others that they get Revenue so um half of the half a percent goes to pay for crossing guards which obviously is on our budget um 12% goes to the school district and 23% goes to the state through their Department of Revenue general fund and then the Department of Revenue law enforcement fund um and that's all paid out of that and then obviously red speed as the vendor gets a portion as well they get 21% so so so I just make a comment on that and then we'll go to Mrs Moore um obviously this program was going to roll out a lot earlier hurricanes connections you see people complaining about there's generators on them well that's because Florida Power and Light was a little bit busy for several months that are now getting mon it so it may roll out slower than it was but and I mean I would if if we had to figure it out and not budget anything next year because people were obeying the law then that would be good because it would be safety but we know that that's not going to probably work into the way that we know and again the whole goal is not punishment it's compliance and when you see people going through a a 40 35 or 40 mph at 60 and 70 in a school zone area where kids could be out you know all day at times and especially when they're going to school and coming from school it's it's 11 miles an hour over just obey the law if there was an officer there they would write you a ticket as well but you know we just got to obey the law and the financial part of it will work its out over the year once everything is in you know working and going the only thing I would add is is confirming that the program was delayed the storms FPL we actually wind up moving our cameras over to solar because there was just such a delay with uh getting uh Powerpoints and then permitting or what have you um so you only have probably about a little more than 30 days worth of data for the 100 plus citations on two locations what I can share with you is as I pulled the numbers this morning since the cameras have been active after school we've had 938 violations uh since January 6th I'm sorry please repeat that 938 notice of violations since January January 6 um so to to to bring it into perspective while this is not a program that is uh aimed for monetary gain or anything like that is for safety um the program was delayed you have a very small set of data for the 2024 and we're beginning to see those numbers and what the true data will look like moving forward um certainly we'll know that more in a couple of more weeks Mrs Moore um my Rec election at the time that we passed it was that uh we recognized that we wouldn't consistently have a lot of you know that that the way that it was going to work was in order to modify behavior that you might see a spike of violations but then it should as people modify their behavior even out and I don't recall that there was uh a fiscal impact at that time and as part of the discussion so I guess just a verify the potential shortfall like how do we get there are we being charged something ongoing without corresponding violations no there was several mayor counselor Gonzalez Moore there was there was several memor random sent as I remember regarding what the projections were for Revenue at the end of the day the way we build a budget is your revenues have to equal expenses that's the accounting kind of Crux of it and so I believe it was nearly three million in Revenue was attributable to this program I think the original estimates were closer to5 to6 million in in revenue and we said let's be conservative because we don't know about these things as far as the spikes and when it's going to come on and whether there's going to be delay and so um that's what was initially basically recommended to be programmed into the police Revenue budget was the $3 million and we have to give it time and as the mayor said um there's different things that can come up but it's a significant number and at the ult ultimately at the end of the day if it's if it's significantly less than that that's that's a shortfall that will have to be made up that's something else that can't be done or or otherwise or can't be spent um there was certain expenditures and it gets into some fairly complex analysis of some of those expenditures that I probably don't want to go that deep a dive in right here but that's a little bit about the issue well but also a comment on knowing quite a bit about it is it is not a budget balancer sometimes you try because we have to have a budget balanced U balanced budget but it wasn't put in to say okay we're going to balance the budget if the police department has an issue and we don't hit that Target then there may not be as many cars that we get that meet the criteria we can't replace this money with other budget items it has to go towards newer cars that are electric it has to go towards crossing guards it has to go towards safety and environmental things so if something comes up and the police miss their budget then there may be some things that they may have to figure out what to do but that's on the police department through their budget and making sure it happen if it doesn't happen if it goes over then there's an issue that they will deal with at that point how it will flow in that's my understanding of it and you know I mean I I feel that since uh Captain giddens retired Captain giddens came back that uh that it's well worth the the effort to try to do what we're doing as far as safety initiative I think it is going to meet our Target of trying to get drivers to recognize school zones and to slow down and I think when you put that into context um if we don't see those numbers and we actually see modifi modified Behavior then we've met our goal and we've accomplished what we wanted which is to increase visibility and drive safe driving within the school zones and if you look at the county numbers right now they're in the thousands and they were a little bit ahead of us um I believe 88,200 was theirs as of this morning this month 8,200 in the county so again modifi let's modify that behavior so we don't have to be sitting up here thinking about a fatality or an injury from someone in our school zone all right any other questions thank you for the report now Mr Perry you had another comment about the workshop yes sir just briefly um we do have the workshop scheduled we are going to be assembling the the final agenda we want to look at Wastewater we want to look at uh at uh sanitation and Paving programs uh as as well you know as uh a good deal of the the Public Works um issues and and infrastructure planning and the like and so um I think that'll be helpful some of the comments I have received from Individual counselors is like we'd like to get more information and uh have a little bit more um understanding of the needs and plans of the department and the administration and uh I've spoken with you directly and and try to coordinate that so hopefully we'll have some good information at that and it may be one of several meetings we have frankly yeah over the next few months we're going to have probably several workshops to keep working through because some of it's fluent and I know on next week Wednesday we're going to have planning department giv a report some visioning we will talk about some other things that um you know opportunity for the council to make a decision at a future council meeting that that we can talk about so you know we we probably you know plan on this meeting being several hours it won't be you know a short meeting probably two three hours and we'll try to make it we try I'm going to try to work the workshops where we will be done before lunchtime you know but if they need to go longer we will all right anything else Mr Perry no sir all right any other department heads that have anything all right we'll go to council reports we'll start in W two um I hope everyone is enjoying this brief respit of very cold weather and just remember this in July August and September um but um I will be having a a meeting with the uh HOA Association at um Cortez Villas in February and am working on a couple of other organizational meetings for some neighborhoods as well good thank you board three thank sir um not a lot to pass on really um we obviously have these little Flyers here for the fair which goes through the end of the weekend so if you have the ability to make it over there it's always a good time um stay dry and couldn't do that last stay warm good luck um I guess I would be remiss if I did not congratulate Mr Williams and Mr dong I don't see him sitting here on their Ohio State Buckey victory over Mr Perry's Notre Dame Fighting Irish um it was a l lose situation for me but um uh my my wife's oh no yeah that's yeah my wife's family's all Ohio State either just they they're from Ohio so they have to be Ohio it's state law you have to be a fan up there um but um happy for you thank you I'd like to thank coach no common sense all right word for Miss Moore um I um I'm looking forward to next week's Workshop I specifically can't wait to hear about uh planning's report and um also the discussion on public works and how we can be better informed about the projects and ongoing prioritization of them um I think it would help me of quite a bit you know I have several conversations with Mr Perry and and Mr Williams regarding U issues that I see in W four that are probably also common issues in other Wards you know lift stations and Ward 3 sealls in W two um there's a lot of programming I think that's coming up um and from a state and federal level and I know that the lobbyists are going to help us identify those opportunities um but I would like to see us proactively uh go after those funds because um not to diminish the sympathy and compassion I have for other states who are also suffering from really horrendous um catastrophic natural disasters but we're going to be now in competition with those States for those funds and so I I think it's uh really important that we are pretty aggressive in that regard one of them one I was going to highlight is this Elevate Florida program which is a state funded program and I was going to post on it about it on my public Facebook page and Instagram um because it has two components so one component is of course the municipal side um procuring funds that then can be used from citizens who apply to help them um build more sustainable residences but also there's a there's an individual component to it as well so individuals can directly apply to the program for funds as well so that's just like a community FYI to anyone who might be looking for that type of programming I think many of us are um I also um I also was uh going to mention that I did a police ride along uh last week which was a lot of fun um there was some harder things to watch uh but it was really great to see the way that the offic handled that uh you know the more difficult challenging calls that we responded to um it was also really great to just talk to them and see them in their environment and and see what they're facing and how they deal with it on a day-to-day basis um so I know that that invitation was extended to all of us and I'm sure the rest of you all will enjoy it as well um I look forward to doing it again at some you know regular interval and I I also felt like I learned a lot about the city you know because it we started in W four but then you know we definitely found time to Branch out and go to different areas of the city and and see what uh what they're having to deal with um and then one final thing I was going to mention is the back to Angola Festival which is on our consent agenda for approving the event at Mineral Springs Park which is now because it had to be rescheduled because it was originally held in October so it's going to be in mid-march now um and they are looking for funding and so I know that uh they're in conversations with both the CRA and uh City staff in that regard um so I just wanted to bring up that that might be something that you all will be hearing about um upcoming shortly and um I believe that's it for me for now thank you Mrs Coachman thank you kind of to um piggyback on what you were saying about the festival there are there are some things some other festivals in the works as well and I think it's the Multicultural Heritage now it may be in paletto I'm not sure I keep hearing conflicting things um but that is also something to enjoy or look forward to enjoying I hope everyone enjoyed Monday Monday was a very busy full day uh celebrating MLK Martin Luther King um Dr Martin Luther King uh Jr and senior anyway um and also the big inauguration and all the celebration that comes with that so fun times in that have passed and fun times in the future um I I want to say that mayor I really enjoy your state of the city presentation um the other was that last week last Wednesday wow um prior to you going up most of the Mayors had to kind of talk a lot of Doom and Gloom sort of and I mean that was just the reality um but it was it was in it was uplifting when you presented the things that we are looking forward to and um it it just it it made me feel proud to be among everyone as we work towards that um so thank you for that you um you're right along I am looking forward to a ride along as well um I get to see our Police Department up close in personal quite a bit on my street or down the block or something like that so I'm looking forward to being in that seat I mean not to say I haven't sat in my son's truck but but uh it it is I think it's great that that has been offered because I think you know we watch TV and we see things and we say oh that's not in Bradon yes it is yes it is Chicago Detroit New York they don't have anything on Bron and and our our dep Department really works hard a lot of you don't get to see it or feel it but I sleep better at night when I see one of those cars drive you know down the street with the cruise lights on now so you really know that them um so I'm looking forward to that as well and I hope everyone takes takes the time to do that and and see how see see it through the lens of law enforcement see your friendly City um oh and I want to find out and and it sounds like the workshop is going to answer a lot of questions that I have and that's where are we now um I do want to ask if if just the daytoday repairs that we need done are we at the point where we can meet those challenges now I'll talk a little bit when we get okay well just just letting you know that that's on on my mind and um I'm just looking forward to the workshop I have a feeling it's going to answer a lot of questions and give us some information because I always sometimes feel like I'm kind of a you know I feel like there's things going on and I don't know what they are and that's not a good feeling when the public comes up and asks you a question you're like I don't know let me get back with you you know which is okay too um War five is alive Mrs Coker yes um I have um had the opportunity to meet with a couple of my um homeowners associations in Ward one and and as I had referenced before we didn't take the brunt that some of the other areas did but um still we all we all still felt the loss and it had to deal with debris and all that um and I have to say feedback from these HOAs they all recognize it um that y'all really and and by comparison with other areas um especially now with what you're seeing I I think that the city needs to be applauded I think they did an an amazing job um and and I think that our citizens feel it I really do um so and I would like to encourage any other HOAs um I do like to come and you know put a voice and and even if I don't know I can find out and uh be there for you that that's why I'm here so I would encourage you to reach out to me uh I'm happy to attend your meetings um uh this time of year is always um there is so much to do it's fun and everybody's coming into town so keep an eye on the calendar I just wanted to highlight a couple things I put them in my update um we've got the founders Club cup block party that's February 2nd so that's very soon uh for the L LPGA Tour and um tournament that's coming February the 22nd the rata you got a rata and then we have the Pirates pup pep rally which is February the 15th so Bam Bam Bam and then uh realized brington at the farmers market this past weekend just unveiled bamfest which is going to be an event that's going to uh basically engage the entire river walk from bridge to Bridge I keep an eye on that that's going to be not until April but um I just love this time of the year there's something for everybody there's something to do so um thank you to all that make it all happen oh the fair yes don't forget the fair it's going on now um until the 26th thank you before I give my report I'd like to call officer small up he's looking at me like oh no what's going on and he's got pants on he's got pants on not short so not today not today all right so I saw a picture online of somebody in Washington DC so I don't if you don't mind and I know it's we didn't talk about this but give us a little update of what happened up there and and you know it's an honor to go Absol and so maybe give us a little information about that um so we uh were supposed to be on the parade route but due to the prayed being cancelled uh we were moved to a perimeter location around the uh Capital 1 Arena so um where we were posted we didn't really have much contact with public uh we had one of the probably quietest areas um so what we got to do was freeze yeah so we froze um but it was it was worth it we did have a line of sight down the down a roadway that went right to the Capital One Arena where we were able to see the presidential motorcade come through to uh bring president Trump into the arena so we didn't see Trump we saw a vehicle that might have contained Trump so it was it was really an honor um it's it's it's an amazing thing to go to um it's it's eye openening when you get to an attend an event like that because it is an event of historical value um you know you you get to go to it and you don't at first you don't think about it that way but then when you start getting into it you think about how many inaugurations have taken place in the past and how important they were in the past and this one is just as important as the ones before so it was an amazing thing to be a part of um I've been honored to be able to go three times uh I think this one's probably my last so um I really enjoyed it and uh thank you for inquiring about that right so we had did we have 15 officers it was like 15 or 16 something like that and obviously Sheriff's Office had some had some and Beach agencies as well yep so we had a large group yeah I think it's something that when you look back um why do we do that but also it is training it is for protection we see when there's things around the country that if you can get a little bit out of it and also then work forward as you go on in in life as a police officer 100% you we're good and I think it's something that you know we thank the the city council and everyone who works through budgeting things to make that happen for us and and and it's an honor like you said that we're proud that you went and and the group so if you can pass that along to the group most and I don't know if vice mayor Kramer has anything or ever went but I did go thank you you did you have any comments uh so I froze along with the rest of the team um s or the time officer C detective CIA his uh for President Obama's first inauguration his right hand for some reason swell up twice the size of his hand it was sort of a frostbite situation took a little while for it to come back down but he was able to eat a steak that night so everything was good um but uh and then I was able to go to president Trump's first inauguration back in 2017 um two entirely different uh vibes just say in the town uh for those two um but no it is um we've changed our verbiage on uh our events here so now we are in cordons here like they are up in uh the district and it this all started back in 2005 from Chief razowski who uh was when he retired from the police department in Metropolitan Police Department in DC his last command for years was was basically special events and he was the one who was in charge for DC of parades or any large events large scale events so it was good that he was able to get us sort of on that list for probably perpetuity um but it's always great when the team gets there gets there safely gets around safely gets back safely I know you opted to drive and I did Officer small and I were in contact on his drive up to check make sure he was all right and on his way back to sort of I was navigating him through like here's the snow come this way and here's the rain com that waye of the weather he ran he ran through the shoot pretty good and got home just in time so well thank you for doing that and congratulations thank you appreciate it thank you all right um I'll start out with the fair um was there last night working with the hund club to feed all of the officers through paletto and sometimes our CRT officers are there and others that come through to make sure that while they're working the fair they have a good dinner but it was pouring down rain so it was cold and rainy so I don't think last night was a great fair and they were having a veterans event that got canceled because of the rain so I don't know if they'll try to reschedule it but but again the fair is kind of that staple we're the first fair in the State of Florida at the beginning of the year and it's something that that you know from our community standpoint we're proud and they said Saturday night I think broke some records with crowds and was a good crowd so you know it's it's not always there's kids that have fun but at the this point it was was very fun to hear that part of it um and Mr Mayor yes ma'am Mr I would like us when we get into doing our budgeting look at the possibility of having a booth in the veterans hall we did it for many many many many many years and um it kind of fell by the wayside but I think it stopped in the early 2000s I remember correctly but yeah know it was always great and and I know that uh sometimes it's a little staff intensive so if we all I think something to talk about bring back that we'd all want to work a night or or do something to promote our city because we got a lot of great things and that would be another way to get out the great things and what we're doing when you're talking to people so NOP definitely something to look at Manatee Avenue West is almost done from 43rd to downtown and then downtown on 6th Avenue um you know it's and again it it supposed to be done June July of last year hurricanes um supply chain you can just go through a bunch of things but we're close and it's supposed to be kind of completed know they're working on some other things about uh maybe some railings getting back and that was a conversation I had last night so we'll talk about that with the Women's Club and just a little bit more on that um but it is gonna be nice and when I got on the no eight years ago when it said Manatee Avenue 2425 like that was forever but now it's almost done because they do have those things planned out do has things planned out sometimes 10 years because they know when they're going to need to be replaced um talking about some of the challenges and Workshops the reason we're probably not going to be able to get to everything at this coming Workshop but I feel that you know as we process through the next couple months we'll really have some things with our infrastructure and and one thing that I did hear yesterday and it's something to think about is you know when the city was built there was a lot of pipes put in in different areas and some roads have more water pipes than you think they need to have but over the years it was different ones 4 in 6 inch 8 inch and and some of the storm water and sewer lines might have been reigned at a point but the water pipes are having issues and they're not as deep as they could have been at the time because 50 years ago it might have been a different process but think about the volumes and the weight of trucks over the last several months that we've had drive over them because of the storm debris and some of our more common roadways like 9th Avenue and you know the truck may have went down a side street once but then hundreds of trucks went down another street because that was their area to to get to the the way so those are things that was brought up yesterday in a meeting that hadn't really thought about as much so we're going to be looking looking at that you know and that's some of the planning and and looking that there might be some areas that need to be repaved but if we can fix some underground stuff six months isn't a long time but if the underground stuff is going to be five years out then that road might need to be repaved knowing that it'll be replaced um the underground stuff because that was one of the things in 2013 and that drove me crazy in a city that you'd pave a road and six months later you'd come back and tear half of it up to put new piping in now emergencies happen things break but how are we planning and that was one of the biggest things I asked Colonel Lee to go back on and Jim McCullum did a great job at that 10-year plan but we're at the 12 years now and show it sidewalks is important other things that we're going through so all of that will be discussed at workshops and challenges that we have and timing and we know money can do a lot but you know and you you think six months but really these hurricanes have cost six months to a year on some things that then what's next but processes will be really talked about um councilman Coker mentioned the LPGA one of the things that is is so important about that tournament it's at Bradenton Country Club in Bradenton Florida it's you you we love our cities around us but it's not at a club in Lakewood Ranch that gets the Sarasota connotation so I'm very proud that that Braden and Country Club did a great job at recruiting it again they saw the effort last year and and one of our Hometown Heroes in Nelly Corda won it in a playoff which was fun to see so you know when you can get a HomeTown and and the founders come upup decided to sponsor it this year here in town so um kudos to all the people at Braden and country club for doing it and getting it and you know even though Braden Country Club is surrounded by city it's not exactly in the city but it is our city when you drive through things so we're proud that that's coming up and and last year they were going to try to have a a downtown event but it was just too quick this year they've got it all scheduled and we've approved it and it's going to be fun to see and have the LPGA players down there and the founders cup is really articulating the Nancy lopezes of the world and the ones that really got that started and I think that probably was one of the first female sports that put the female sports on the record as it is now today and when you look at things I I don't know that they still have the monetary value of the different sports but they're getting there better to make it where to celebrate you know male and female sports um let me see before I go that we talked about the workshops um City Park Drive down 9th and 13th and you're going to see fences up working with the Peta CRA and doing some things to to try to continue to two for one as we said over the time and we'll get as much as we can out of that building that will help them continue the the growth of to revitalize their building that was is on the histor registry which ours is not but it's really going to change the Dynamics of the neighborhood in that area which we talked about this morning a little bit from Village of the Arts to City Park and back to downtown to Riverwalk how we're really trying to do it and we're seeing events and realize Bradenton you know never say that this is their bam event is going to replace the Blues Festival but this is the event that is taking that place of the Blues Festival which when you look at the different areas of Riverwalk that are going to be energized and engaged it's giving an opportunity to have a lot more um different cultural things that'll be out there and what they're doing so you know this is what the event that is taking the the uh time slot even though it's a different time of the year but it will engage more which will then also engage more of the cultural arts which is on our Avenue of the Arts that we're working in and you see the art center is getting close and I think they're hoping to have a temporary Co by the end of February so they can tear the other building down to get the permanent Co within a few months after all that's done but but those things are just going great um and then and on a a sad note you know but a celebration note is uh councilwoman retired Sandra Ron you know passed away and um you her husband passed away a few years ago and and you know as we get older things happen and you know more people but but she was a Trailblazer on this Council for a lot of years and and really did some good things was she the first woman lenina Bell Co was the first first she was one of the the pioneers of getting things done in the city to start some of the early parts of it and I think three don't remember that part of it but I just know Sandra was she two was she two or three Maran she was four maybe five five oh five she was five okay so in award five but just obviously to her whole family you know condolences but they had a nice celebration of life and really celebrated what what she had done for all the years and going through so um and just once again you know proud of our Public Works proud of our police and fire proud of our Administration through that through all of the the last half of the year we said we say it a lot but we continue to just celebrate what we're doing and we're able to to do that with our Public Works staff and to go through it and you know be prepared to to work through a lot of the workshops and decisions that are going to have to be made to progress this city you know because again it can't look back we got to look forward face it and fix it and you know at times staff is working very very hard especially administrative staff and things are happening but we're going to continue to grow and um push and I think that's what we have to do in different ways and and the public I think is seeing that and sometimes they're happy and sometimes they're sad but as you know out there and I think everyone up here knows I am very approachable and if you call or send an email you're going to get a response back with a phone call and so you know there's been a couple of things out there that I'm just going to say it that people have sent emails to others that said that I didn't return phone calls you didn't call me if I didn't return your phone call or you didn't email me you will get a call back and it doesn't matter where you are who you are or who you believe in we're going to to work together and make this city better and this council is is showing that and our staff is showing that you may not always agree with the response some what you're getting sometimes or as as Mr Green says the fastness or the quickness of it but we're going to be there so thank you to everybody in all of our departments and let's get the next five or six months without any storms obviously and get prepared for June 1 and and I just want to say to our staff thank you for for that and there's a lot of stuff to go on in this city that we're going to keep pushing and working with our partners in the county city of paletto and the islands because without collaboration you know we're not in a silo by ourselves we've seen that over the years and that's not the way to be so thank you very much Mr Perry you have anything no sir close up anything else for the good of the whole we'll be adjourned thankful