##VIDEO ID:Y42LY9474cM## to stand indivisible city clerk roll call please vice mayor mahand here commissioner Marriott here commissioner Robinson here commissioner res Nikki here mayor patrilla we have a quorum do we have any changes to the agenda mayor maybe you would like to address them so they understand the what the Quorum is in our in our because you all going to get removed so we you know I'll let the vice mayor explain so you all know because we can't hear any changes to the agenda no could I have a motion to approve the agenda please I move to approve the agenda second commissioner Marriott yes commissioner Robinson yes commissioner res Niki yes vice mayor mahand yes mayor patrilla yes motion carried the first item on the agenda this evening is permit Staffing update as it relat relates to the hurricane recovery efforts good evening Denise Sanderson community development director so as you know this is a standing item we'll be providing these updates every two weeks to commission and so tonight's update is as follows we're going to be talking about our operations and that includes building and permitting Staffing update a substantial damage determinations update and that's looking at inspections FEMA packets and the look back period a minimal repair permits permits which yield temporary occupancy certificates local historic designation processes and other things we're working on and then the look back options to consider will be coming to you in the form of an ordinance Brandon will be presenting that later in terms of additional Staffing Resources as you know we've requested 18 staff of various technical backgrounds from uh the state through our web EOC process though they were committed Title Basin has been un the vendor that was selected by the state has been unable to fully um deploy the required staff necessary running into a lot of challenges with refi with identifying uh those with appropriate lure So currently we have one code enforcement officer five permit technicians two building inspectors and three plans examiners those plans examiners are operating remotely additional staff requested and not yet filled are two Code Enforcement Officers one permit technician and four building inspectors we were able to successfully hire a new candidate uh uh Joe dagostino will be joining us on December 9th he has accepted an employment office off excuse me an employment offer and will be a permanent employee serving in the role of building inspector and of course we do have an open ongoing recruitment for those positions and are actively seeking those in terms of permit tracking um you'll have to forgive me there is an error on this U particular slide so um the permitting update for on the leftand side of 101 through 111 is actually through 1117 so we're going to be showing this every Monday you'll have an updated posting of this tracking separating commercial from residential permits both submitted and issued issued and as you can see um we are well below goal I will share with you that our goal of 75 per day we were able to issue 19 permits today so as you can [Music] see folks once again I know many of you are new to the proceedings here but please be respectful to whoever is speaking at the lecan um clapping outbreaks or not appropriate uh so please be respectful to the person that is speaking thank you I wish for the Commission in public to to know that we have every intention of meeting that goal we are hamstrung a little bit by the staff the onboarding of Staffing the Technical Training that is required through our permit system and the like and of course the deficiency of the skilled staff that is yet to be deployed to the city in terms of substantial damage determinations uh the county manag inspect s uh that are being um conducted throughout the city we do know that more than 95% of the structures have been inspected um many though it's getting hung up in their qaqc process and this is really taking the information that's gathered out in the field and inputting it into the system along with the required documentation that FEMA requires it's a very um uh arduous process for them and to date we have received information about 197 structures 58 letters were mailed out today either emailed or certified letter 139 additional will go out by the end of the week we are expecting twice weekly downloads from the county on inspected um properties that have completed that qaqc um the city inspection process is not all that dissimilar and what I mean by that is we have conducted 85 inspections that we have gone out and conducted um getting it into the required system through that qaqc process is indeed difficult and arduous and so today we I cannot tell you that we have identified any of those as substantially damaged because they have not completed that process I'm moving on um several FEMA packet changes coming your way so um we went and looked at FEMA requirements I had I have legal opinion about required contingencies and overheads we have removed the contingency from the FEMA packet we have amended profit and overhead requiring documentation of stated labor and an hourly labor rate important to know we cannot tell an owner Builder what the labor rate is an owner Builder must identify a labor rate that is commensurate with work that's being supervised is supervising a plumber that's a particular labor rate if supervising an electrician that's another labor rate um so that information um can be difficult to obtain and we would recommend that you contact a a contractor about that overhead or hourly rate associated with supervising that work um we've also amended the owner Builder affidavit um and requirements for documented information so this the FEMA packet um on the front page will look very much the same as what you've seen it is now going to be a fillable form as well um and it will have um far more uh robust affidavits in there really putting the onus on particularly owner builders for proper documentation and responsibility for substantial damage calculations and the like and what I mean by that is by removing the 10% contingency and the required profit and overhead it's really removing any cushion that an owner would have so there is risk that an owner Builder or a contractor through change orders could indeed exceed a 50% calculation and any Investments made into that home or business if you will would be subject to demolition lifting or otherwise if not carefully managed by the owner Builder or contractor so it's important that they understand that and I would encourage anybody to read very carefully consult an attorney if necessary to make sure that they understand what it is that they're signing in that affidavit these forms will be posted no later than November 21st that's on Thursday and the reason they have not posted yet is dependent upon in some part what you decide by the look back period um tonight so once we get that final determination of how we're going to approach look back or no look back we'll amend the form in its final version and post it no later than Thursday I hope to have it up tomorrow afternoon but certainly no later than Thursday morning it will be available Miss Anderson can I ask a question yes sir what was the amended uh for the amended overhead profit and contingency so contingency is now zero contingency is zero overhead and profit contractor unless it's otherwise identified a contractor would have to put that in they have the opportunity to put it in there as a single light item if it's not included in their quoted um above the line if you will and for owner Builder it is the labor rate times the number of hours that they anticipate and the requirement that they document that and hold that documentation uh for years to come okay okay thank you great question thank you um to effective today we are now issuing minimal repair permits for temporary occupancy there's a lot of information in that it is available and posted online if you go to the city's website scroll to the bottom click on the permitting information on that landing page at the very bottom you see an item that says new and that is for the minimal repair permits for temporary occupancy so the um it's important to note here that FEMA does FEMA does allow for temporary occupancy permits prior to substantial damage determination so um that unfortunately that provision does not carry through for Commercial Business uh permits it is residential only there is no um way around if you will going through the process for business or commercial permitting um they must complete that process prior to any permits that we can issue for uh repair if you will but on minimal repair they will be able to do minor repairs to uh retake occupancy of their home it gets um evaluated for safety and they're issued a temporary occupancy certificate which must be posted conspicuously on the front of their home facing the street local historic designation to date we've received 25 applications for local historic designation of which 10 have been approved effective today there was a board meeting earlier today the second this month next board meeting is uh in early December and another in January so we're processing those as quickly as we can but to date we have received 25 and approved 10 to my knowledge none have been denied at this point other things we're working on we've made some um changes and we'll continue to make significant changes to the web page um primarily a new landing page which will jump you into other sections um we're working on cleanup activity associated with um getting things off there that don't make sense any longer um we've archived a couple of pages that um led to some confusion and we'll continue to to make those changes as we move through the process um long-term housing recovery resources I have received word that the state will be managing applications for homeowners to uh apply for uh recovery resources and this can help with acquisition demolition elevation Etc really important to note that the state has not yet made any applications to the federal government because information is required that they gather all of the data necessary before they can submit an application that's for one of the the programs the second program has an open application period and that doesn't open until March so we are talking a very long process before we even get to the point where the state has secured these grants and will be managing them on behalf of the counties and local municipalities and homeowners will be applying directly to the state Florida Department of Emergency ma um management their mitigation Services Program we continue to look for uh new ways to support small business recovery unfortunately as I've mentioned at the top of this presentation there does not seem to be a lot of Grace in the FEMA process for small businesses and largely uh they're left to the FEMA process um and then of course SBA Loans and the like that are made available I would encourage small businesses to explore every Avenue that they can um that said U as staff we are certainly looking for ways to support small businesses and provide opportunities for flexibility and variance as we move through through the processes to to give them the best chance for recovery and success over the long term be happy to take any questions I have a question I actually have a few um have we looked at doing any uh emergency um for the for the minimal repair orders those those can uh permits those can go out direct right now correct they are and they're available um same day permits those will be approved on site I would ask that folks read the document carefully understand what's necessary for submitt including photos of the work that they need to have done and to recognize that it is only minimal repairs necessary to reoccupy a home safely okay and um have we looked at any doing any after the fact permitting uh without penalty that is something that I'll be talking with our building official tomorrow specifically about that I don't know um what the what the concerns may be or the conditions or challenges that may be in doing that I am aware that some municipalities are doing that and I need to become more familiar with what the barriers may be and how we can mitigate those so I would ask the that you um hold on that one and I'll Circle back with you as soon as I have an answer for you I'll definitely be back on that one because I would like to give every resident or every person an opportunity if they've already done something to go ahead and put the permit in because I know that the permit documentation is huge from a city standpoint and from a FEMA standpoint I don't think people realize that that's you know that's the big accounting let's just call it so I would remind you as it relates to work that may have been conducted so we are as you know we are not issuing stop work orders with penalty at this point we are issuing stop workk orders so you would need to come in and get that permit um if you've conducted the work um you'll need to get a permit at some point certainly FEMA is going to be looking for those kinds of things the penalties because we have waved those for both stop workor orders um with the exception of commercial or of contractors excuse me contractors are still paying a $100 fine if um if they are identified as conducting work without a permit but homeowners are not paying that fee they are being issued stop work orders work without permit notifications and need to come in for a permit okay great um and then um as far as um waving waving fees what about the uh sod bond that was brought up to me um as well so I need to look into that that was not in our initial presentation for what we would be waving um those are particular to demolition uh that's when a bond for for the audience that's when those are required I do um I do wish to look into utilizing a a a bond agent to issue sod bonds because that can be done much more cost-effectively than a 1.25 sod Bond requirement that we have currently like to see what we can do on that just to help everybody out especially those that are demoing and are going to be you know either trying to be compliant or just demoing understood commissioner Marriott no questions commissioner Riki no mayor Petrella thank you Denise that is uh thank you for the update I I appreciate it um I know the progress is not as fast as our residents would want it or even as as fast as you would probably want it um but I'm incourage to see that we're making excellent progress I'm encourage to see that we're bringing on additional staff um and that we're able to start start issuing permits on a consistent basis especially the temporary uh permits to allow people to get back into their homes as quickly as possible so thank you for that thank you uh I would like to remind commission and the community that we do have a community meeting on December the 11th at 5:30 here in Chambers I'm not entirely certain what the agenda will be but for sure we'll have some updates then as well I have one more question just just to be clear we started with uh pre-or at four four uh uh person or position staff in permitting four permit Texs and one building official who is also our flood plane administrator and plans examiner and that has gone all the way up till uh with those five people up until last week correct correct okay and now we have 10 additional is that correct yes that's correct hopefully more coming yes and 11th um being code enforcement but 10 dedicated to permitting plans examination and inspections great just wanted to make that clear understood thank you thank you commissioner Robinson any public comments city clerk I do but I don't know if they're on this specific item so I'll call them and then see Deborah shner okay Vincent Tor minia do you want to wait or is your comment on this okay so that's all just answer a question you know have to come to that microphone the question I wanted to ask was about all these people that are coming around and um trying to buy sir could you state your name and address please 3514 cablanca Avenue St P Beach Florida 33706 um I would like an answer on like how can we stop these people from coming around and like trying to low bore you to sell your house you know they're getting numbers they're getting names they I mean I know it's on the you know it's out there but they're like harassing people constantly you know is there any way like that you could do something to stop this I'll try to address that make sure I understood the question so what I think I understood is you're you're asking for direction or thoughts on what we can do for those out in the community that are trying to to acquire homes buy homes well these are like corporations and real estate Real Estate Investors like okay try to come in blust sure I I understand unfortunately um private property rights do not allow for those kinds of protections so it really is up to the private property owner to uh either conduct their own negotiation or to say no not willing to negotiate so unfortunately there's not a code violation associated with that to my knowledge and that's really the best approach but I would remind commission and and the community that this is one of the reasons why we're very very concerned about retaining our CRS rating because we do not wish to enter an all cash real estate market as we've discussed previously the other thing you can do is register yourself for a do not call list at the federal and state they have do not call I get I get these every day and I wasn't even you know an impacted house but I get 15 or day folks please uh please reapo selectron if you have uh I thought that was a thing where there was no soliciting on St Pete Beach back in the day there was no soliciting where they can't come to your door and knock on your door or contact you in that in that fact one thing you can do on that is to put a no soliciting sign at your mailbox or on a post at the edge of your property and if they do that then they're violating state law yeah CU they're trying to they're trying you know block want to put a no trespassing and a no soliciting so you stop people from picking through your um debris and also the no soliciting okay all right thank you city clerk any other questions on this particular subject I have no other cards so folks the next item on the agenda is an update on debris pickup good good evening Commissioners Charter officials uh my name is Camden Mills and I serve as your interim Public Works director um tonight I wanted to give you an update on where we're at with our debris management uh for these storms um the progress that we've made to date so far is we've had over 189,000 cubic yards of debris collected um that equals about 3,200 truck loads um as you see here in this picture um that's been collected off of our ride way and staged at The Egan Park um from there it's been compacted and put into the trucks to take to the final disposal location and with that um we've taken about 63,0 700 cubic yards uh to those final disposal sites um currently we are complete with first pass uh so we ask if residents feel that they may have been missed um so please reach out to our public works department so we can make sure um that we're servicing servicing your residents um we are underway with our second pass um right now and we'll we'll continue that through November um one thing I'd like to point out is um as we're moving from the debris that's that's in the right of way um another important note is some of the debris that may have washed into our underground storm water system um so as we progress um this this will be a main focus of us moving forward um the Florida Department of uh Transportation has cleaned and vacuumed out that inlets and conveyance pipes that are under their jurisdiction um we have our city staff that's going around hitting some of our our inlets as see click fix and work orders come through um to service those uh we have submitted a request to the state for additional resources um vacuum trucks with operators um to help clean some of our conveyance systems Citywide um and with that also as we are working through the process of some of our damage assessment with insurance and FEMA uh we do plan on pursuing a project through FEMA for a city wide system cleaning um this will be a pretty sizable um project U but something that hopefully will have some scope and timing for here in the in the coming months I'd like to take some time to um remind um our residents and citizens of of the accepted storm debris that we are collecting um so vegetative debris U construction and demolition debris as well as household appliances and we ask that you please separate these into three distinct uh piles for our collection and shown here is some of the types of the debris that we will not be collecting um household trash um we ask that that's please service by uh your Waste Connections provider um and we won't be collecting Electronics or any Hazard is waste um so if you have those materials uh we will provide some resources here at the end of this presentation where you can find some more information on on where you can take care of those items this image here um shows that placement of debris and and separating those different piles um we ask that you please place the debris as close to the roadside as you can um and not in your front yard and Please be aware of any obstructions um please make sure the debris is not placed next to a water meter or sewer cleanout or a fire hydrant or um a low lying power line anything that may make it um difficult for for the contractors to collect next I'd like to get into some key dates as we progress uh with our debris collection um we are asking all residents to please pra debris by the roadside by December 4th um we plan on starting our third and final Pass of All properties on December 5th um so if you can get your debris out by the 4th that'll help ensure that we're able to collect um within our time frame um any debris placed after the 4th um if if we hit that property on the fifth and it's not out there um we can't guarantee that it will be picked up so we please stress that you have your debris placed um prior to December 4th our last day for collection will be December 23rd uh for for our private residential and we're also asking all commercial properties to please remove their debris by December 23rd as well um our code enforcement is currently contacting uh some of the businesses and Commercial properties um warning them of this date and then as we get started with our third pass in December 4th our our code will be contacting those properties and and issuing notices um of a violation uh from our code um to get that debris removed within a timely manner and and the purpose of that December 23rd date that's the 90 days from from the Declaration that the state and and FEMA gives us and and the purpose of that is is for the public health and safety hazard that that the bri can pose of being on the streets for a long time here are some of the um resources um the city website you can see um some of our debris collection up to date as well as some information on some frequently asked questions um another important link here is at the bottom this pelis County Emergency Management that is where you can find sources on um places that you can take commercial debris and and as well as contractors that that you can reach out to and with that I'll open it up for any questions commissioner Marriott nothing commissioner Robinson no questions thank you commissioner riski mayor patella thank you Cam for the update um and again I'm also encouraged by this report we're almost a a month ahead of schedule of where we had planned to be um you know driving down the streets looking at all the the homes and for the most part every single house has had you know first pass second pass and now we're approaching third pass um you know we thought this going to be at least another month and a half uh before we got to this point so you know I appreciate our staff working on this to make sure that all of our streets did clean as quickly as possible let residents get their debris removed as quickly as possible um you know I want to thank our vendor for also working with us um to get this done in expeditious man and also working with the uh commercial properties the apartments and the condos associations um you know to get their deges picked up as well um Cay I know one of the the things that's come up multiple times uh over the last week or so uh from the phone conversations and emails I've received especially from some of the cond associations is they're finding that um other people are are bringing debris and dumping on their properties um I know we've kind of talked with code enforcement about it do you have any sense of the progress that we're making that uh to make sure that we don't have any more of this illegal dumping happening that that is certainly an issue that um that we're becoming aware of um we are um notifying our our code enforcement as as those issues do come to us so they can reach out to the property owners and and try to rec ify it um but at this time I I do not have any you know clear Direction on on how we can address that um other than you know trying to improve communication the best that we can I can add that um the illegal dumping is a felony under Florida Statutes so if you can catch the person and report them to the sheriff or the police that's helpful it's hard to catch them of course they probably do it at night I will also say that um uh a property that my mother's um over in Treasure and they dumped some stuff and we were able to dig through a bag and get a name out oh and contact the person and so uh you know called the place as well and they ended up getting it getting the their items removed thank you anything else Mr Mayor thank you I just want to Echo the mayor's uh comments as it related relates to the aftermath contractor uh the contract's not done yet so we'll see how it all finishes up but I think they've done a tremendous job for the city in the amount of time they've been working for us and quite honestly they've treated us very well from a pricing perspective so um once again I'd like Madam city manager I'd like to revisit this maybe down the road uh if we feel this way a month and a half from now but I I really feel that uh they've done a tremendous job for us and I think that they they're entitled to some level of appreciation on our part so any uh Madam clerk any uh audience comments on debris pickup nothing on debris nothing on debris you say that's correct nothing on debris thank you thank you ma'am ma'am if you'd like like to comment on something you can take that to the city clerk is it on debris yes or no just nod your head if it is take it to the city clerk please and we'll allow you to come up to the El I'm the city that's the city clerk right there thank you I hav finished filling it out there okay uh the issues on City debris uh that please ma'am yes couple things sure before your time starts just so you know you have three minutes okay and please state your name and your address okay uh my name is Cindy Berg my address United States of America no uh the ad she can put it on the uh St Petersburg St Petersburg or St Pete Beach uh two minutes from St Pete Beach so St Petersburg okay so you live in St Petersburg yes okay thank you okay uh and this has to do with with debris so if you are a business owner uh where's the guy who I just was up here with about debris um the removal of debris is for homes it doesn't have to do with businesses businesses are responsible to remove their own debris okay so you guys have helped us zero as a business I don't work at a um I'm not a business owner but I'm an employee on Corey Avenue okay and uh and all the debris was at the end where our business is and we were responsible you know if we wanted to get our business up and running to remove it two 30 foot uh containers to remove that debris and mind you half of that debris if not more was not ours okay so on debris you know the city has done nothing for us and I'll tell you what if I come down here on vacation since you know all the prices are slashed I'll tell you you know I don't want to come to a city that looks like it's a skid row and that's what it looks like and this is Corey Avenue and this is St Pete Beach we pay a lot of taxes so nobody's helped us out at all that's why I think you the mayor should be on your hands and knees with everybody else like we are getting pet ma'am you are not allowed to address him you're not allowed to make derogatory comments derogatory okay I believe that if you a city ma'am State your feelings okay but do not get personal okay believe that if you are a city official that you should be on your hands and knees like all of us are getting tetanus like I got um along with us until this entire Beach is cleaned up because I'll tell you what if I come down here and I'm spending a lot of money and there's no restaurants open or retail places the last place I want to eat is at McDonald's okay we spend a lot of money on taxes here and nobody is doing anything to help us and I'll tell you what having only 11 people to do permits for a city this size that is just unbelievable it's unacceptable every single one of you when you're out of your tie out of your tie off your done getting your hair and nails done you should be on this speech helping us ma'am please stop for a minute um folks this is I don't know the third or the fourth time that I've asked you politely to maintain decorum in this chamber and we're running other chances on that so please please be respectful to whoever I I understand I get it yeah I I I get it I get it so anyway we're just mad and frustrated because we've lost our businesses our houses our jobs and no one's helping us folks please be respectful and allow the lady to finish okay so basically I've lost the place where I work since Hela I've lost my job my owners have lost their house and their business um we've done everything we can to get the end of Corey where our place is ready to go and we've had no help from anybody we've got a red flag while we were doing construction we were threatened by the city that if we did not stop they would mess with our occupancy they would mess with our occupancy of our place I'll tell you what we are the number one breakfast restaurant on St Pete Beach two years in a row two years in a row and and I'll tell you what your City to lose our place that would be a great Dept from to your city we have people that come back to our restaurant for 43 years year after year and nobody's helping us lift a finger nobody's I know people on this beach that did not apply for a permit with a a business did not apply for any permits they're up and running how's it there's only three or four places on Cory Avenue up and running that had tons of water damage tons our place is elevated so I'll tell you what this is a you wash my hands I was you city thank you [Applause] ma'am Madame clerk any more cards on this matter thank you the next item on the agenda is General audience comments uh these comments for for anything that you may want to comment on that's not associated uh with items that are on the agenda moving forward uh for example if you want to talk about the look back and the 5050 rule we be dis we will be discussing that on the agenda and you will have an opportunity to uh voice your concerns uh when we get to that point so right now any comments or for General comments thank you madam clerk Deborah shner good evening Deborah shakar basa Isle Drive in St Pete Beach I want to thank our commissioner Robinson for her uh information on next door it was so good that I passed it on to my friends in other cities including Madera Beach and Treasure Island who are not getting the information they feel they need um we have homes still boarded up and I am concerned about mold rats and insects some people have not been home to back to their homes yet so that is a real concern for me we all know FEMA is totally inadequate with the dollars they allow to rebuild our community and I really am worried that we're just going to become like this gentleman talked over here a corporate City and we have to stop that um sure the our ways to do it but we're at the a crucial Point um St Pete is having outof Control building Tower after Tower after tower 20 30 feet high we send our sewer to St Pete where is the guarantee that they are going to be continuing to receive our sewer we all know the sewer backed up we all know that St Pete dumped some SE water and it's an atrocious situation and I would like somebody from our city to coordinate with their City to find out where they're at on their sewer capacity because it's severely lacking and we're at the end of that situation I do want to thank our city manager and Mar and employees because they have worked tirelessly for a month and a half out there every single day out there cleaning up the beach s with every group that came to see us we were well represented by the mayor city manager Commissioners and I really really appreciate that you were out there on the ground I drove the beaches from a little bit north of us and down here and I will say that as far as Gulf Boulevard we're in much better shape than the other ones they still have piles of sand this high on the edge of the property and some into the street this is a awful trying time for all of us it's stressful it's difficult and you want to be back in your home that's the only thing that really really matters so I don't you can't you know make something out of nothing and you only have a certain amount of employees and the state should be sending more and I hope they do because it's a severe situation that we have now on a personal manner there's a mattress filthy and dirty being used as a sign at Robert Suzanne's property behind the um clam at 46 and Gulf Boulevard it's disgusting and if we have that rain tomorrow and any wind I'm afraid somebody's going to get hurt thank you thank you Jill mados hello thank you for this opportunity um my name is Jill mados I live at St pain Beach I'm very emotional so please forgive me but I just feel like I need to speak um on behalf of just the average Joe I don't own a business I own a home I thought I owned a home apparently y'all own my home because you're telling me what I can and can't do with it and when I can do it and when I can't do it I mean I hear about this long-term plan but I don't hear about the immediate do you realize the average Joe right now who has become homeless is not only having to pay mortgage but also now has to pay rent to be able to have a roof over their head to take care of their 87y old father I don't understand where the holdup is have you absolutely considered maybe just waving the permit thing taking it on the back end during final inspection ction and if it's not done to code then penalize the people for not doing it to code and making them redo it let us get us get us home I mean get us home I'm not political I have no other I'm an RN in an emergency room I take care of my community I love my people and I'm not going to say my friends from the island I'm going to say my family because not only did they lose their homes they lost their jobs too I was fortunate enough to have a job that can still go to but you guys are killing us we cannot afford to pay rent and mortgage and I'm not talk I understand Staffing and all that other kind of dilemma but what about the immediate I cannot I'm going to I'm going to sink I'm going to go broke and then my credit is going to go in the  and I'm not going to be able to have any place to live and excuse the  comment sorry but I mean come on let's wake up and see what we're dealing with here I mean it's everyone everyone whether whether you're your workers you own a business a home or whatever this is the fifth time I've said this and I'm so sorry I I apologize I apologize I do I'm sorry you're honor folks the the the last three rows on the left hand side as I'm facing the chambers you continue to disrupt the proceedings if you continue to do that I'm not trying to be a badass here I'm just trying to get through the meeting and allow people to speak if you continue to clap and yell and scream I'm going to ask the sheriff to remove the last three rows of the leftand section of the chambers so please reframe if you want to have comments if you want to speak with one another I ask you go out in the lobby I believe there's a TV on out there if not Madam city manager can we get it turned on but if you continue to disrupt the proceedings I'll have no choice but ask the sheriff to remove the last three sections ma'am I apologize no I apologize also for riling but thank you for your time I just I just felt like the average show needed to be heard because I'm not going to make it much longer and it's because you guys are tying our hands and I don't mean you personally but I just don't understand I mean it's supposed to be the land of the free I worked my entire life from my beach home and now I can't even fix it so that I can go home with my dad just let us go home I mean that's all I ask thank you thank you ma'am Mr Vice May May no no no he's asking a question yes Mr Mayor yes yes Mr Mayor well I just I wanted and I I apologize for for breaking you know the the normal flow that we have um but you know what she said is is extremely important and you know we certainly want people to get back into their homes as quickly as possible uh and then actually provided the information on how we can do that just a few minutes ago and I I wonder if we could maybe at some point either at the discussion at the end um if the these can come back one more time and just explain that process so that people understand that we do have a way for you to Temporary get a temporary occupancy permit so that you can go back into your home as quickly as possible because that's exactly what we want we want people to get be able to get back in start making those repairs get their homes back to where they were get a sense of normaly again um and you know I my heart goes out to her I mean she was clearly you know overwhelmed by by this situation and I just want to make sure that people have all the information that they need even if we have to say it a third time and repeat it a third and fifth and sixth time just so people know exactly what we have available the resources we have available and how they can get back into their hom as quickly as possible I would appreciate that if we could is Miss Sanderson still here Madam City attorney yes she is uh I I would propose unless the commission objects that once we finish with audience comments that we allow Miss Sanderson to come back up and uh review uh that part of the updated permitting process if that works for everybody thank you next card please Cameron M yeahi Cameron mizuchi 3307 West maritana Drive um I'm here to talk about uh the permitting issue um I raised this maybe three to four weeks ago that everything was kind of Lynch pinned on the substantial damage reports and what we're doing to get those done um but what I see I think in my opinion what I see is a city that is not fighting for its residents but it's fighting for FEMA and it's in fear of FEMA and that's not what we need right now what we need right now is to have people that have the resolve to um push back against fuma to go to the state to go to the counties to to come together and come up with a better solution because we're putting undo burdens on residents with adding 10% in and 20% profit and all these things that nobody else is doing St Pete we I walked in with a friend and helped him get a permit in a day that was last week it can be done it should be done and in a a document that was brought to my attention over a month ago from the county uh done by haggerties I just want to give you a little example of what they gave a few examples of what happens if you don't follow everything that FEMA does and they audit you and you get in trouble well one city in uh East bat uh Rouge in 2016 uh they had bad flooding in 2016 and a 2020 FEMA nfip audit found that um some of their M municipalities did not conduct a thorough substantial damage assessment process and over 1,200 homeowners were permitted to repair their substantially damaged homes back to pre- disaster condition without elevating their homes and or making other building code required improvements local officials pushed back on FEMA seeking assistance from their legislative representatives to identify mechanisms to wave requirements or provide funding to assist homeowners to become compliant ultimately four years after this disaster event the local governments issued substantial damage letters informing residents they were not permitted to make any additional changes to their residents until proper were brought into compliance with current building codes so they let these people they went ahead and did it they moved back in their houses four year four years later FEMA knocks on the door and they push back and what the res resolution was we're not going to make you rip everything out but when you come back to get a permit you're going to have to bring it back up to code now that seems very reasonable but we need people that are willing to fight and push back against FEMA and say you're not going to do this to us and and you guys are the ones that are making the rules there are some guidelines from FEMA but you guys are going above and beyond and asking for undue unnecessary things that are just putting too much burden on people um and what that's going to cause is you're going to have a lot of people moving out they're going to sell their houses they're going to have to sell for cheap and you're going to turn turn it over to a bunch of investors so and you know what it cost of building is going up so who knows when they're going to recoup money if that's the case but what you're going to do is you're going to send a lot of people packing so you're not helping those people you're forcing them out thank you thank you sir at your finances any other yes I have a few Cindy you came up and spoke on debris but you wrote permits on your card did you want to speak on permits did okay well then it's your turn you can come back up okay permits uh Cindy do I got to stay my name and all that again please yes ma'am please please state your name cyberg St Petersburg um spelled differently uh so permits okay so we went uh by the law we submitted the permits we did everything we're supposed to do we're fixing up the place moving the debris getting everything together boom we get a stop work order boom now mind you chill down the street has a stop work order red notice on their building but they're up and running serving customers of you know for the city but we were threatened with if we step foot in there or do anything that they are then going to screw with our occupancy okay so why will we be threatened by someone from the city that they're going to mess with our occupancy for trying to fix our place up like I mind and mind you we got no help from the city with those two 30 foot dumpsters you know that were ,400 bucks a piece okay half that debris that was on the street that should have been City cleanup not ours but anyway we cleaned it up for you um so yeah so yeah that's a big problem with permits you know why isn't it being fast tracked and this this is the thing we all knew the storm was coming okay why didn't anybody the mayor the governor anybody say Hey listen the storm's going to hit this coast of the Gulf Coast of Florida let's grab some people from the other side to bring over here to help everybody you know and now we just find out that okay we have now what a total of 11 people FASTT tracking the permits or not FASTT tracking whatever but we only had one before I mean come on for thousands and thousands of of permits being submitted so yeah cut the red tape let us get back to work you know or unless you do want this to be a land grab and all those places on Cory where there's nobody in them anymore if you're going to tear them down because I'll tell you what the talk around town is yeah that you're not going to rebuild any of that you guys are all going to tear it down so then all the customer or all the people tourists that come down here aren't going to have the place to eat they'll have a place to stay but they're not going to have a place to eat or shop but they do in Orlando so obviously Orlando will get all of our business you know what I mean so the permits on the uh the red tape on the permits you know and us being threatened by a city official don't like that at all we should be able to get up there get to work we could be open in 3 days and then you got the number one best breakfast best diner in St Pete Beach two years in a row open ready to go help us our owners lost their business they lost their house they're living in b&bs going from place to place to place okay all of us are on our last leg none of us planed for unemployment until this week thinking we'd be up and open now we've all spend all of our money so just like the gal before us yeah we're not going to be here either we're not going to be here either you're going to lose a lot of great people in this town great people CU everybody's sitting on their butt without their pin you know like Camala said with a swipe of her pen she can change someone's life so you know what change our life swipe of the pen get us in our restaurant get us in our homes thank you ma'am thank you Miss web I'm sorry I can't read your first name good evening my name is signy Webb 2524 F St B Beach uh first I'd like to thank Miss Robinson for a thorough response to a question that I had sent a couple of weeks ago to the commission you obviously sense the great frustration that my neighbors and I have because frankly it feels as though we are not being heard it feels as though we're being hostage from fixing our homes I know some of you may be in the same boat but I'm telling you that that is how it feels to that end if there were 150 permits given in six weeks and we triple the size of the staff which we have not yet done how will we get to 75 permits a day the math does not add up we have thousands upon thousands of permits that are going to be coming I'd like to really see what the plan is to actually get those permits efficiently given to people who are trying to fix their homes and uh businesses further substantial damage letters 200 homes have been assessed as substantially damaged there are thousands of homes on this beach so how long are we going to be waiting to get those letters we hear that they're going to be mailed out on November 15th then we hear the end of the month we really need to know because at the last Commission meeting we were told call if you want to have an expedit expedited substantial damage assessment I called the office I was told FEMA does that we don't do that we can't help you with that there is a serious lack of uh communication and consistency within the office that adds to our frustration and I realize in a big organization it's difficult to maintain consistency but now more than ever it is so important I'd also request information about elevation permits for those of us because we don't want to be in the situation of the people on deison who waited months and months to get their home lifted and then flooded we'd like to get information on how we can do that more expeditiously the last thing I would say is that I believe it would go a long way to have clearer communication more often that is honest and transparent because presently it feels that there is a drought of communication that is accurate and a drought of compassion it is very frustrating to feel as though what should be government for the people is not actually for us thank you thank you madam clerk John kman can you zoom in a little on the screen itself so I'm trying to give some good news uh or some ideas I used to live in in Long Island before Sandy happened and I saw one of my friends who lived there he has a raised home and one of the things I asked him was I said so after Sandy did everybody you know get locked out of their homes from basically impossible Insurance where they had insurance that was not enough to you know rebu their home and raise it so basically they had insurance they couldn't use and then you know then of course was everybody saying what do I do and you know blaming you know where they were today but really they were set up years ago when they got their insurance what happened how did they understand or how did it how what happened from all that and they said no they we had New York rising I said well what was New York rising and they said well New York rising was funding where we all got grants to raise our homes and I said well what was that so looked into New York rising and New York rising was actually funding which gave money to the cities for instance a dyke to put around the sewer treatment plant um elevating the 57 pump stations which sounds familiar like we'd want that and then grants and low interest loans for individual homes to be raised and the money actually is federal from Housing and Urban Development where they have billions of dollars through What's called the Community Development block grant disaster recovery program which is is currently around now they have it's a program that has to be applied for but it just sounds like something that to you know when you're up to your you're up to your neck in alligators you forget you're trying to drain the swamp but just something else to to maybe look at other thing is for people to look at I attended Mr Swit seminar last week and everybody would want who I think going to that Survey Monkey link so if you go to his site and look for the tax refund page you're going to want to look and apply so that by January 2025 he knows to reassess you for the coming year of 2025 um because that date the condition of your home on January 1st 2025 dictates your 2025 uh taxes um this guy out a site sync uh and then all oh I missed a couple slides and then there's also a page for 2024 um where you then in 2025 you're going to want to apply for a refund for 2024 but that's a refund that you want to apply for you have to pay your taxes and then of course you also if you pay your taxes in 2024 early enough you have a discount don't forget to do that and then also on the IRS there's casualty because we've been declared a disaster area because we're a federal Disaster Area not only can you pay there's rules about timing but now because we're a disaster there's uh publication 547 to look at where you get money back from the federal government because you're in a a disaster area and you could get money back look at publication 525 also I'm I'm not saying that this is you know terrific but there's money to be get get back from the government um because of what's happened to us thank you sir let me just comment on that too um uh I can't speak for the other Commission but I know the city manager and I have talked some as it relates to getting grants and lobbyists and some of those things um unlike Long Island and unlike New York City we don't have and haven't had a a legacy staff uh that does nothing but tries to get grants for their city but uh it is a great idea there is money there and I I hope that you know we can get some movement there but being a small City uh it's not something that you know is built in or has been built into to how we operate or have operated over the years but there certainly has been some discussions about that behind the scenes um and we do hear the points that Mr kusman made uh and I think they're valid and I would hope that we could get something stood up in time to to get some traction there there but you know we're not we're not New York City we're not Long Island um but there have been discussions about that so thank you sir Madam clerk a Angela Murray no yes so I'm just a basic girl here in St Pete Beach I just moved here my dad owns two houses I gave you I believe your name is Aela Murray Could you give your uh address please uh 3900 Moody Street thank you um I just moved here about six weeks before the storm and lost everything I own with my 14-year-old daughter we've moved six times since then I'm sorry I sent her back to connetic where I'm from to live with my mom because I can't get her to school the trade wins is where I've been staying for the last few weeks threaten to throw me out every other week I don't know what else to do I just want my house back that my dad owns it's not a lot some flooring drywall cabinets I don't understand why we can't go back there I just want you guys to help us I'm sorry it's been emotional that's all I got thank you ma'am mam clerk Debbie Lewis I think or Miss Lewis yes is it Debbie yes oh okay good Debbie Lewis 9160 Gulf Boulevard my question is regard to the certified letters you're sending the certified letters to vacant homes you have a website can I I left this message with mayor petrolo office the other day create some sort of bulletin board maybe that lists addresses for letters that are done so people can check this daily and come pick up their letters I mean you're spending I saw the other day $816 per letter that's coming out of our Texas I imagine for 3 to 4 thousand homes damaged is what I heard that's racks up quite a bill if people can see their address and be able to come pick it up give ID and pick up their letters at this point if you deliver the letter to my house if it went out my house is vacant so when I go to check on it I might find the notice if it happens to be the same day the postman came over I still have to wait because it's got to get back to gulport for me to go over there I think you have the technology to work something out my neighbor across the street is 93 years old her family has moved over to Fort Worth temporarily her letter you know how's she going to get that I don't know you have to have a plan in place for us to be able to come get these letters so we're not delayed any further we can get going that's it thank you uh Madam city manager just to follow up on that uh I seem to recall during the town hall there was some discussion about uh creating some type of access point for the for the letters is that something Miss Anderson could um possibly speak to when she comes up or um yes I would ask that she address that all right multiple methods Madam Clerk I do not have any more cards okay at this point uh we'll go ahead and ask Miss serson to come back up to address the issue of um a a The Davids for um occupancy permits as well as the item that I just mentioned uh about possibly having some access for residents to be able to to get their Letters by going to the city website or some other fashion yeah I I love that idea that was just presented so thank you we will we can make that happen we can post that what letters are available by by address um but uh certainly we do wish to send certified letters so I would encourage homeowners if they do have not forwarded mail to where they're staying or to hold at post office I would encourage them to do so um we do anticipate reimbursement from FEMA for the distribution or or mailing of those certified letters so and and the reason that um we are choosing to send certified letters is because as you know uh many homes are substantially damaged based on the assessment and that begins the appeals process which is a 60-day window to file an appeal so I love the idea I think that's a great idea and we can certainly make that happen we can post which letters are available for pickup if you wish to come in they are also attached to any permits that are in the system so once we issue a letter it is available within the permit portal as well for downloading and viewing so um there's a couple of ways to see them and if we have an email on file through the permit process um we are emailing those letters as well so multiple forms and ways that we can make sure that people get that but I thought that was a terrific idea and we can easily make that happen so not to try to put you on the spot the but I I seem to recall we the the the subject did come up at the last Town Hall that we were going to attempt I'm going on memories so somebody correct me if I'm wrong um that we were going to attempt to get it stood up where resident would be able to put their address in or whatever and get their L if it existed uh it seems like that yeah and that is happen yet and is that is through the permit portal so that information so if they haven't there yet so any that we have sent out is they are also posted in that system in fact they're generated through that system okay so if they're in if they go to the permit portal that's where they would find that information8 that is currently available correct thank you MH and so we uh you wanted me to to talk about the minimal repair permit um Ryan I don't know if you can get me to a screen where I can open up the minimal repair permit uh document you just open the website for me Ryan thank you so much I'll take it from here and so from the homepage um easiest way to find it is to go to the hurricane rebuild and repair information scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will find it it's identified new minimal repair permits for temporary occupancy looks like this you'll find in here the language that it um is post that is provided by FEMA which gives us uh The Authority or the policy language necessary to be able to issue temporary occupancy permits and again what I believe I stated earlier but we'll reiterate is that um this is outside of substantial damage determinations or substantial damage inspections so if you um are looking to regain occupancy and wish to submit information to to obtain minimal repair permits outside of the substantial damage process and determination you may do so and what that means is is that any Investments associated with those permits do get included in the substantial damage calculations on the back end but you do not need to wait for a letter you do not need to wait for a substantial damage determination assessment inspection or even have submitted a FEMA packet to date so if you have not gone through that process you may still come in and apply for the minimal repair permits so I'll just read briefly what those um repairs can include find it on here so you'll see here at the bottom it includes electrical Mechanical plumbing and structural this also includes re-roofs um and roof repairs so certainly we wish to have a safe home uh not incur additional damage brought on by weather and the like so again and I said this earlier it is very important that you don't submit for an entire repair through this process it will be denied um what you need to submit is for minimal repair I would encourage you to contact um a a contractor for that work because as we talk about mechanical or electrical that would likely require a contractor to do that kind of work um and they can submit it um we ask that you submit photos of what it is that you're trying to reconnect or repair minimally and send that in and that's all we're going to require and we'll issue that same day so you can walk that in you can submit it through the permit portal we would prefer that you submit it through the permit portal you're going to get much faster service that way and we can we can approve those same day okay that started today um we had several that picked up the packet and we'll be going through that process now it's um you'll find in there there is an affidavit and there's a requirement for documentation and those things are um certainly we had our attorney review all of those things that really protects both the homeowner but also informs the homeowner of what their obligations are and the uses of this permit are and again how it will be calculated into the substantial damage calculations going forward could take any questions that you may have Mr Mar I've got a couple Denise and I I think this is redundant but I just want to make sure that that I and everybody else completely understands so if if I took my own house as an example which I think is pretty indicative of many houses I could come in with pictures of of what exists I could come in with pictures of my house with the drywall cut up four feet and uh you know enough outlets in my house to make me functional that I want to have raised up higher you know have the have the wires that got wet cut off and put an outlet up higher and uh probably a water heater and potentially the outlet that my stove plugs into and then I would be able to get a permit to have an electrician or I assume that I as an owner I could do it myself it would still need to be inspected cor work would be inspected so I could have that electrical work or mechanical work done so that my house is functional correct it then once the work is completed either I or the contractor would put in for an inspection a building inspector would come inspect it and then you would get a a a temporary certificate of occupancy through I believe I saw June 1st it is June 1st and so um what I wish for folks to to make sure that they understand is that it is a temporary occupancy certificate through June 1 which is the start of the next hurricane season this is consistent with pel's County's process as well as it relates to Temporary occupancy extensions certainly will be made available if we show progress toward repair or ultimately compliance if that if you're substantially damaged and need to comply so um you're a great example um you and I have spoken before about the extent of damage likely to be incurred in your home you probably are substantially damaged we so long as your home is safe and the inspector by the way when they come out to do that inspection we'll make sure that you've addressed any kind of safety concern so you can safely live in that home that will be part of that inspection process so we want to make sure that you can live safely in your home while you're figuring out what you're going to do if in fact you are substantially damaged that's certainly a primary concern that we keep residents house in St Pete Beach a part of our community that is important to us but for those that are not substantially damaged but are waiting determinations or waiting that the outcomes of the various processes including contractor quotes and the like they too can move through that process and we'll uh provide those extensions if necessary so long as there's premum requires that there is progress being made and so we'll be providing those extensions okay perfect and so so then potentially you would have somebody who's who's who's kind of camping out but camping out with power and hot water Andre an ability to cook in your house while you are filling out your FEMA packet or getting your FEMA appraisal so that you can fill out your FEMA packet and awaiting your building and awaiting your building permit being issued and then potentially for a lot of people they could continue living in their house while the work is done they could continue living in their house while a contractor is replacing drywall and absolutely and of course what we wish to see is eyes on the street as well we want people in these homes um we recognize you need to to safeguard your property your investment um so certainly we wish to see that occur it is really important that we do so but again I'm going to caution that please do not submit work for an entire repair of the occupancy under this program because it it we won't be able to issue same day thank you commissioner Robinson yes I just had a question so again at same day is it a separate counter is it stand in put your name on the list like everything else do um are there going to be packets up at the counter like we did with the FEMA packet there are packets at the counter yes right now um I will be converting this to a fillable form I cannot promise you that it will be posted on Thursday like the FEMA packet will be but we will be converting it um but it's pretty minimal as you've seen very few line items to fill out so we should get that up in pretty quick order the primary um concern of course is that you submit uh information in whole on what it is that you're trying to do we are having a great de of difficulty with owner Builder permits information is severely lacking and it's um causing a lot of back and forth so I I understand why that's occurring but it is very time intensive so I would encourage you if you can talk to a contractor get some estimates or or quotes from them for this minimal work if you can it's going to be the fastest route probably for you and the least amount of questions but it's so long as you're submitting information that we can understand photos again or encouraged we be issuing same day thank you thank you commissioner Ros Nikki my question is for for those who are living already in their home whether they have dryw or not right Y is this the same process is this is this like a like for like do they fill out the same one or is there another permit that they go for um if they need to repair electrical um or so whatever you know so this is the minimal repair is necessary to occupy the home safely that's how FEMA describes it and it's irrespective of the SD determinations or inspections process so it doesn't require as I said the FEMA packet or those other processes it's kind of outside of that FEMA presumes that you're continuing to go through that process but but while waiting or or entering into that process you can safely live in your home and so that's the intention of this under the FEMA's rule okay so you could it's not just let's say the people who are living outside of their home in a hotel apartment you know neighbors friends you could still be in your home you don't have to prove that you're not in the home oh that is correct yes I'm sorry I misunderstood your question you do not have to approve that you're not in the home okay and and one more thing it's is it like for like replacement because um I heard what commissioner Meritt you know was mentioning like you want to raise your electrical or maybe you want to raise you know your AC unit even though I know we have you know non-conforming be able to raise but does that fall in that same permit because you're you're trying to improve what you're doing as well at the same time yeah uh so yes it's like for like I would discourage Improvement in terms of um a renovation or a significant change to your living condition because remember ultimately what's going on with all of these FEMA packets is returning to pre-storm condition this is not the time to do improvements it's the time to repair um to pre-or condition so I would not foresee any issue with elevating your Outlets as an example because you're still running the same wires it's you're just putting them up probably a couple of feet um so I wouldn't foresee that being any concern that I would view that as a minimal repair and I would imagine that the permit technicians will be doing so as well so no issues there okay even like water heaters because I know you mentioned water heater too like if you're you're looking to elevate it yeah that's Elric mechal and you do not have to elevate in a minimal repair process of course you will ultimately in order to conform with our code requirements but if you're putting in a water heater and you're you don't know yet what you're going to be doing with your home long term because we don't have an SD determination as an example I don't believe that there would be any issue with replacing that water heater so because again that affidavit spells out pretty clearly that any Investments you're making in your home through this process are subject to full compliance you know depending upon codes and ultimately what you do for a full repair or compliance with elevation conformance and the like okay thank you Mr Mayor thank you Mr vice mayor thank you Denise I appreciate you taking the time to go over this information uh again in in more detail um I realize most people don't have to deal with this on a daily basis you know for most of us this is a one in the lifetime hopefully situation that we have to deal with so I think taking the time to clearly articulate the process uh I appreciate you doing that being generous with your time and and going through the additional explanation on that note if you wouldn't mind clarifying one more actually two more items um the first one is on the um on the on the letter the substantial determination letter I know this came up at the last town hall meeting also came up at the last commission meeting um do people have to wait to submit their FEMA package do they have to wait for the letter to arrive or they can they can they submit their FEMA package even before the letter arrives they certainly can submit it before the letter arrives we would encourage them to do so and and keeping in mind that it is not final until you final it um so what I would suggest is that submit your FEMA packet certainly to the best of your ability read all the instructions carefully and and the new revised FEMA packet will have some additional instructional information to hopefully bring Clarity to the FEA packet process um but I would suggest that you know fill it out to the best of your ability recognizing that you can amend and alter it as you move through that process one of those processes being the appeals process if necessary right and and the reason I wanted to highlight that is because again we we have a lot of the residents that were here that we from tonight you know they want to be able to get back into their homes they want to be able to start the process as quickly as possible and you know we hear a lot about the letters the letters when are the letters coming are they coming certified are they coming email which you also mentioned earlier are they going to be posted on the website you don't have to wait for the letter get your contractor get your bids in get your FEMA package submitted once we have that if we don't have a letter and and please correct me we were able to then send somebody out to inspect the property once we have the FEMA package received that is correct so there's a couple of different there's several different ways in which data has to be um received and processed um and this is the painful part of this en this entire thing quite honestly so as we know that the city or rather the county has a contractor that is out doing substantial damage uh assessments and those are the letter those are the properties that so far we have received 197 um uh determinations if you will or calculations and I should would share with you that what we get is a massive spreadsheet with it has to be 200 different Columns of data in the end what it gets to is whether or not the calculation exceeds 50% based on the information that's available on the property appraisers website the FEMA WI mitigation letter that we've discussed previously and how to find that so it's based on the information that's available on the Property Appraiser's website so if you've had an appraisal that won't be reflected in the work that that the vendor and the county is doing but that they're running a calculation if it's over 50% that is a substantial damage determination then a homeowner we don't get pass that without the appeal um that is a binding determination in so far as once that is determined by this vendor we then must go through an appeals process which can include an appraisal it can include outside of an appraisal a very detailed repair um um contracts quotes things like that um that can show us that you can repair that home to its pre-storm condition at under 50% of your structured your depreciated structure value so there's that set of data that's coming to us there is the FEMA packet that is coming to us that homeowners and contractors are completing sometimes in tandem then all of that information ultimately gets put into a substantial damage estimation tool and effectively what that means is we have to ensure that the data on the assessment is reasonable in context with the scope of repairs that is being provided to us and when there is a disconnect between those two figures we must go out and inspect the scope of work to ensure that the FEMA packet as it's detailed reflects the actual scope of work that's being done what's important to note about the assessments that the County's vendor is doing in most cases they are not entering a home they are U the calculations that they are processing are based on multiple factors and years of knowledge and history about Market rates and repairs and things like that I'm sure that the the mystery the magic behind the curtain The Wizard of Oz if you will there's a lot of science to it but it does not require entry into the home in order for them to do that assessment so it is quite possible that a detailed repair FEMA packet will indeed come in under a 50% substantial damage determination calculation that the vendor has conducted and that appeal could be successful and alternatively we've talked about getting that private appraisal which could also significantly potentially up the value of your depreciation structure value so there's a couple of different ways but it is um intensely important and difficult that that FEMA packet and the calculation from those from that vendor or from the city if we're doing those align together because that is what gets audited by FEMA and ultimately that you know the the thing that we do not ever wish to see is that we tell somebody that they're not substantially d damaged and they end up exceeding 50% and they have just in invested their hard-earned money in a into a home that we then have to tell them they have to demolish or Elevate that is a nightmare scenario that I think all people wish to avoid and while it's extraordinarily difficult and painful for everyone I know um we do wish to avoid that situation if we can that doesn't mean that we can't take some measured risk some of the um letters that will be going out Title Basin who is the vendor for the county the subcontracted vendor doing these assessments again they're providing a calculated value if under 50% the letter you will receive is what that calculated value is as determined by this vendor so though you may not be determined to be substantially damaged you're you will see the calculation done by that assessment and have information to help help you make decisions if you're at 40 we saw one as an example 49.2% was the calculation so it did not determine a substantial damage determination but I think it's really important that homeowner understand what that calculation is so that they can think very carefully about their options um and and what they may wish to do going forward so that they don't fall into that nightmare scenario that I've just mention so that's what the these letters will include if not substantially damaged you may be substantially damaged depending upon the actual cost of repairs and anything that is not excluded in your look back period depending upon what you all decide tonight when we get to that agenda item did that answer your question mayor yes and then that brings me to my second question so you know the comments that the gentleman made earlier I I think myself and everyone in the commission would certainly Echo the same sentiment saying that you know we we are for the people that we do want to fight for our residents and I think that there's a distinction between being cautious and making sure that we have all the data versus being fearful we're being prudent at this point making sure that we set ourselves up and our city and our residents up for the best possible outcome as our city manager has mentioned several times when that FEMA audit does come now with that you know we have made several Chang changes in fact we're going to be talking about several more changes tonight you know in the effort to fight for residents in the effort to be able to speed things along for residents uh in the recovery process just like we are looking at the look back period the same way that we looked at um you know skipping the variance process through the board of adjustments if you want to elevate your mechanical if you want to elevate your home in place even though the setbacks May no longer be uh you know where they should be and as commissioner Robinson brought up uh just a couple weeks ago at the last town hall meeting that we had and you know we actually saw some revisions just today in your earlier presentation about the 10% profit about the uh vendor profit that if you are doing I think that's something that the gentleman himself addressed as well so you know would you mind elaborating on that as well and just kind of going through some of the changes that we have made again as the gentleman said you know fighting for our residents fighting you know to make sure that our homeowners get back in there as quickly as possible and also in the ways of simplifying the process and making it easier uh and more efficient so that we can move forward with these with these homes sure so as you know I I started here with the city on on September 30th um and my first meeting with you all I said I would be bringing forth a lot of information and that you would be placed in situation where you had to make a lot of difficult decisions in a very Speedy Manner and I know that for many it doesn't feel speedy I recognize that um and that we would do so with transparency so in full transparency certainly I was surprised that a contingency and overhead profit for owner Builder is not a requirement of FEMA according to the regulations FEMA recommends and this and I I will say I've worked with Federal Government funding sources for 12 years and so this does not surprise me FEMA recommends a contingency of 1 to 5% they do not have a requirement for contingency femo requires that an owner Builder permit must Supply a reasonable cost of market rate labor for the work involved in supervising the work of their subcontractors there is no definition of reasonable there is no definition of market rate there's no definition of minimum number of hours I would suggest to you that the FEMA packet that existed up to tomorrow if you will uh was one that was uh drafted with an abundance of caution to ensure that owner Builders did not find themselves in difficult positions we are now putting that responsibility onto the owner that they fully and completely understand exactly what it is that they are responsible for um certainly this community has proven to me how very smart everyone is they are very tapped into I you know I'm sure most had never heard of the FEMA 50% rule until early October when this started to rear its head and everybody had this um both horrifying realization and light bulb moment now people are very very aware of what the FEMA FEMA 50% rule is and certainly I hope that they're reading fully every document that is put in front of them both by the contractor and by the city when it comes to the affidavits that you're signing and again if you I would encourage you to to talk with an attorney um to make sure you understand fully what your obligations are including documentation and the like and that um you certainly are disclosing every single repair that you intend to do in your home because ultimately we we will have to know about it there's just no way there will be an inspector in your home at some point and their obligation is to look for unpermitted work and to ensure that it's reflected in those FEMA documents so there are some things that I wish to be very creative um and take measured risk with what I never wish to do is risk somebody's investment in their home that ultimately um is wasted money and and that's what that's what I that's my not caution to every homeowner and business out there read fully every document that's put in front of you I I had a couple questions yes um uh as far as the breakdown of Hager uh uh 49.9% um are residents allowed to see that is a document that they actually get to see or is it just a total and that's what you got certainly they could I what we're getting is a massive spreadsheet and notifying you of what that calculation is identified to be ultimately once that gets put through the SD estimator tool all of that information will be available individually otherwise you'd have to come in and look at the spreadsheet independently I mean I I did see on the permitting site some of the um you know columns with the 0 to 25 the 25 to 50 the uh 50 to 75 and and Beyond where they check marked boxes um on different categories but that's all I saw didn't know if how much more detailed it would get I would hope it would get more detailed than that it's extraordinarily difficult to interpret and there's really only three columns that anybody would want to look at and that is ultimately what is the total estimated value of repair and what does that calculation look like and whether or not the determination is substantially damaged or not substantially damage so turning in an initial FEMA packet uh with all the appropriate documentation as as well as support documents uh for labor and costs Etc if you're an owner builder for example does it behoove you if you've already gone and got an independent appraisal and this is not having a letter yet would it behoove you to go ahead and submit that as well so that when you're when staff is evaluating they can see the FEMA and they can see your U your um independent appraisal value or save that for appeal I I would suggest that it's probably you can sort submit it we're not likely not going to be looking at that simply because we're looking at data and want to get those letters out immediately based on the data received um now if we're doing the independent inspection in QC process because we're not waiting on on the data from the county and as I said we've conducted 85 of those inspections so far um then we would be looking at um any documentation submitted that would offset that structure value such as an appraisal um but but the information coming from the county I would say that is not going to include that you're going to see the structure value on there that's um actually on substantial damage determination it likely will not include the structure value the the form letter does not include that it tells you whether or not you're substantially damaged you have 60 days to file that appeal certainly give us a call and find out you know hey did you look at my appraisal we would still need you to technically file that appeal however okay Commissioners the uh public comment uh period has closed but it looks like the city clerk has received a card and I saw somebody else raise their hand do we want to allow uh any more public comments um I'm I'm fine with that commissioner Marriott sure yeah that's fine uh sir you the G in the pink shirt with the hat you were kept raising your hand if you'd like to speak on this subject you need to fill out a yellow card please uh within the next three minutes you can you can you can come and speak state your name and address and then when you're done go to the back get a yellow card and then bring it for the record thank you uh John barquette I live at 219 55th Avenue um thank you we you know we're all anxiety stricken stressed for all our reasons um I do this for a living I'm an Mii appraiser I have a master's degree from NYU and valuation and Analysis I've revamped my entire company to help the community deal with this um I have a question about the modifications to the supplemental Improvement package I've had everything in and Sir unfortunately this isn't a question and answer period sorry well this is well this will go to the the mayor's point about bringing up changes what happens to all of the people who have filled out forms and now the form has changed do they have to now modify their form because we filled out forms with contingencies and we had to have contractors sign affidavits with contingencies and now the rules have changed Midstream so do I need to go back and will be okay but you you can submit an amended form if your first form wasn't good right or you want to get rid of the contingency and put actual costs in it doesn't you can do that or you can just stay with what you have okay some of it will depend on how close you are to the 50 not even not even close just waiting for a letter based on thank you Mr City attorney uh excuse me sir yes uh have you no I apologize news do we have any other cards Cindy B [Music] uh cynth Berg St Petersburg good by the way I've also had a house on St Pete Beach lived here for 25 years worked on this beach alone for 25 years I've also lived in three apartments on this beach for the last 25 years I've never had a job off of this Golf Boulevard Beach from 75th to the uh Donar that is where I have worked for 25 years so first off I am I'm past the point of being sad crying in the stages of grief I'm at the anger point of grief so also we've been talking about residential permits what about the red notices that like is on the business I work at but yet there's businesses that are open with that red notice I want to know can we get to work can we get this place together how much waiting do we have to do you guys are waiting on stuff from FEMA to show up for you guys to finish our stuff but there are places that have red notices and they are open and running making money you know we aren't that's what we want to know we've gone above and beyond cleaning up the aftermath from all the debris uh a burnout Transformer behind our building we we've cleaned all this stuff up on our own our own dime with our own volunteered labor okay we want this place open so that the people that come here year after year have their little family owned place to go to all the people that have gotten engaged at our restaurant all the people that have uh had their birthdays um we know people where one of the spouses died okay and their family still comes there because that's their favorite place open up lack cette somebody do something we're going to lose everything the employees the owners lost their house we're losing everything that's all we all have some of these girls have worked there as long as this place has been open 43 years somebody help us somebody knows somebody to um swipe of a pen fix this for us and you're talking about people with homes can have can get back into their homes how can we get back into our restaurant to get it open so that by this weekend everybody can eat have a place to rest and relax somebody help us okay that's what I got to say thank you ma'am is this one more card Madam clerk I do not have any cards for this item it's for an agenda item okay so the public comments or general public comments and the followup to miss sanderson's are now now closed we'll move on to to paragraph 4 the agenda which is a consent agreement or consent agenda I move to approve the consent agenda second commissioner Robinson I'd just like to uh I guess read the two resolutions that are included by title um so that we are actually reading the resolution title D would be adopt a resolution 202 24-28 authorized iing the mayor to execute the Corey Avenue neighborhood historic survey Grant agreement this will help us designate Corey Avenue as a historic district which will help with FEMA and with other substantial damage Improvement determinations that the one speaker was talking about one step along the way the second one is to adopt resolution 2024 29 waving permit and plans examination fees associated with hurricane damaged properties for the period October 1 2024 through January 14th 2025 and establishing a minimum building fund Reserve what this would do is to wave building permit fees for structures that were damaged by the Hurricanes thank you Mr City attorney commissioner marot would you care a motion again please her her motion is fine it's part of the good with the motion yes okay mhm yes commissioner Robinson yes commissioner Riki yes vice mayor mahand yes commissioner Marriott yes mayor patrilla yes motion carries so our next item on the agenda this evening is uh paragraph six ordinances uh item a which is the public hearing to adopt emergency ordinance 2415 do we have a staff presentation on this um vice mayor I need to read the title into the record first as staff comes up to make their presentation understand ordinance 20245 an emergency ordinance of the city of St Pete Beach Florida amending for 60 days the city's Land Development code division 28 historic preservation section 28.5 ordinary maintenance and repair providing for codification conflicts severability correction of scriveners error construction publication and an effective date good evening Brennon Barry planner this is a brief emergency ordinance we brought a few of these to the commission recently and this is one of the last at least for the foreseeable future on the zoning side U that we've been looking at and this is offering effectively a second pathway for the owners of historic buildings that would be both homeowners and business owners for elevation and flood Pro thing um respectively to have an alternative to the typical FEMA variant to allow for their uh permit values to exceed the substantial Improvement rule without needing to either Elevate or flood proof so there are two options that are enabled by FEMA for this the city currently has in place the more arduous process which is the FEMA varians and that applies from all structures that range from interior renovation only that just happen to be a substantial Improvement all the way up to Major addition major facade changes things that can actually affect the historic Integrity of the property but we've always used the one process the FEMA Varian process to uh bring all of those cases forward for the substantial Improvement waivers FEMA does enable a second process which is through the definition of substantial Improvement this is a nationwide definition we have it currently in our code it would remain in the code regardless of which option that City commission chooses for the upcoming ordinance and it's effectively one sentence it says that the city can approve um or rather substantial Improvement does not apply to structures that are historic as long as the improvements will not preclude them from remaining as historic structures so that is the option we're hoping to enable for those structures that are only taking on either interior Renovations that just happen to be substantial improvements or those minor exterior repairs we just had a structure go to the um historic preservation board today where they're just looking to restore the outside walls of the structure all the materials will be the same the layout of the structure will be the same those situations where there would be no reason for us to recommend anial because there's no meaningful change to the outside of the structure that's something that could be approved over the counter when it comes in as long as the structure is on the local registry uh those major changes the facade changes the additions the elevations those would still go to the historic preservation board as a fee of varians but this would be an alternative just to help those homeowners and that tends to be the case that most most property owners that have designated recently are in where they're just looking to restore the inside of their structure without having to elevate and that's an option that's available to them uh we have run this by the state um Florida Division of Emergency Management we've also run it by the our certified local government coordinator who is responsible for our uh historic preservation board certification they have both review this they were okay with the language that was in the ordinance so we're looking to pass this as an emergency ordinance if that occurs will'll bring this back to you through the typical channel do you have any questions for me oh uh this was also recommended 5 to Zero by the historic board on their um meeting on the 7th I have one question BR that's okay um just to verify I think we had spoken about this before but in case for the public to know if you're submitting a locally designated structure for residents or commercial currently today moving forward is FM Florida Department of of Emergency Management okay going back to the event is that an issue or not it's based on the improvements made at the time of the permitting so it would be based on if if they were a historic structure before we're adding them onto the registry it's not based on that it's based on the application dat okay thank you any other questions Commissioners Mr Mayor no thank you sir and we appreciate the historic board working on on this expeditiously Madam clerk do we have any public comments I have no comments on this item any discussion before we have a motion somebody care to make a motion motion go ahead I make a motion to adopt emergency ordinance 20245 second commissioner res Niki yes vice mayor mahand yes commissioner Marriott yes commissioner Robinson yes mayor patrilla yes motion carries next item on the agenda is B first reading of ordinance 20 24-13 yes ordinance 202 24-13 and ordinance of the city of St Pete Beach Florida amending Land Development code division 3 administration of the Land Development code section 3.10 vested rights and non-conformities and division 6 supplemental regulations Section 6.14 encroachment of certain specified ancillary residential equipment into required yards repealing emergency ordinances 20241 and 20244 containing similar Provisions providing for codification conflicts severability correction of scriveners error construction publication and an effective date okay so this is the first reading of the ordinance that culminates the two emergency ordinances that the city commission approved at the prior meeting there's only one change and it's just a clarification it doesn't change the meaning but I did add into the section 3.10 amendments just to clarify that the um this provision applies only to residential structures that are non-compliant by setbacks we're not looking at anything related to use that is a different section of the code um they do have more stringent standards so I just wanted to clarify that for for future review purposes we did take this to the planning board yesterday they did recommend this 4 to zero to the city commission they had asked for both section 3.10 as it relates to um determining compliance with the structures flood zone as well as 6.14 related to when elevation needs to be elevated per the Florida building code they just wanted examples put in it's again it's not going to change the intent of anything that's in this ordinance but if it's okay with the city commission this is something we'll bring back to you for the second reading there's also some discussion about the determination staff are making when a structure is elevated whether it's it's necessary to be offset we didn't want to make this an arduous process um we would like for homeowners to be able to elevate in place as long as they meet all the other standards so we'd be looking for permission to either strike that language or just make it clear that elevation in place as long as they meet the height limits they're elevating above the flood plane it meets the minimum three foot side setback that would be approved moving forward so there isn't that discretion there isn't that hold up for those homeowners who want to move forward with that I just wanted to get clearance on that before we bring it back because it was discussed slightly different at the last meeting I have a question on that Brendan um and to remind me I guess if that is that like if you have to raise something but you can't raise it higher there's some obstruction above it um to go higher and and when you say offset means to move it over a little so that you can or I I hate to say a little we don't know the dimensions but is that what you mean by the offset so that would be in situations where the structure may be non-conforming on one side but not the other there might be space to move it over currently the language is reads that they would need to justify why it can't the offset during that elevation um that does require a lot of Staff discretion there's a lot of I I I want to make sure that we're consistent in how we apply and review these permits so either striking that language or just setting a specific example of how far offset they need to be currently it's three feed if the commission would like something greater um you know but that's that's where we start to get into fire separation requirements which is why the three- foot is in place so if that's sufficient for the commission we can bring it back without that language so it would be it would be the staff discretion still like you would look at it at a case- by casee basis we for that one we would like to off uh we would like to strike that language and the reason for that is because unlike the staircase where it's fairly easy to justify when there needs to be encroachment into the front yard um with the offset you know is it is it a cost basis is there a certain cost over which they would need to offset um we just don't want to be making that determination permit by permit so it would just be effectively allowing for elevation in place or reconstruction in place as long as the all the other standards that are adopted mad any other Commissioners have any questions for Mr Barry Mr Mayor I do not have any questions thank you madam clerk any uh audience comments I have nothing on this item any discussion before we have a motion Commissioners could we have a motion I'll make a motion to adopt emergency ordinance or sorry I'll make a motion to approve the first reading of ordinance 202 24-13 I'll second vice mayor mahand yes commissioner Marriott yes commissioner Robinson yes commissioner is niiki yes mayor petrola yes motion carries we're going to do them both together if we so for the benefit of the commission as well as the public um paragraph C which is first reading of ordinance 20246 and paragraph D which is public hearing to adopt emergency ordinance 20247 uh both of those will be pres presented collectively by staff and and public comments will be received uh as one item for those two ordinances so I just wanted to clarify that uh before we have a reading of the ordinance as well as the presentation thank you okay I will read all four at the same time or simultaneous back to back at the same time we can't do that um as as you're jumping in it's because there's there's two alternatives yes um and then there's an emergency ordinance alternative and staff will explain that as we go into them but it's all basically the same thing so first is item C which is the first reading of ordinance 20246 alternative a an ordinance of the city of St Pete Beach amending the St Pete Beach code of ordinances section 98- 35 9836 98-12 2.4 9 98-12 18.4 and 998-1316 to adopt amendments to the city of to the city code regarding substantial damage substantial improvements look back period and exemptions to Improvement and repair of buildings in flood Hazard areas providing for severability codification and scriveners error and providing for an effective date um ordinance 20246 alter alternative B an ordinance of the city of St Pete Beach amending the St Pete Beach code of ordinances 98- 35 98- 36 98122 do4 98128 do4 and 998-1316 to repeal a provision related to substantial damage substantial improvements look back period and Improvement and repair of buildings in flood Hazard area providing for severability codification and scrier errors and providing for an effective date ordinance 20247 it's an emergency ordinance alternative a an Emergency ordinance of the city of St Pete Beach amending the St Pete Beach code of ordinances section 98-349 35 983 36 98-12 2.4 98-12 18.4 and 998-1316 to adopt amendments to the city code regarding substantial damage substantial improvements look back period and exemptions to Improvement and repair of buildings in flood Hazard areas providing for severability codification and scribers errors and providing for an effective date emergency ordinance 20247 alternative B an emergency ordinance of the city of St Pete Beach amending the St Pete Beach code of ordinances 98- 35 98- 36 98-12 2.4 98128 do4 and 998-1316 to repeal a provision related to substantial damage substantial improvements look back period and Improvement and repair of buildings in flood Hazard areas providing for severability codification and scriveners errors and providing for an effective date pull the PowerPoint please so ordinance 202 24-16 presents two options for adopt adoption as directed by City commission at the prior meeting option A would reduce the look back to one year starting September 23rd 2024 we have gotten clearance from the State Department of Emergency Management and their consultant to begin that the day prior to storm landfall uh it retains all of the exclusions that are currently in the code Under The Five-Year look back that we have an effect that looks back to June U sorry July of 2021 that would include mechanical change out windows and door change outs when they're impact rated roof repairs and so on and allow wind and flood repairs to be decoupled from other improvements that made at different times I'll get into that in a moment that's a new addition um that we've cleared in the last two weeks option b would be a no look back again that would be retroactive to the day prior to the storm this is the minimum nfip standard it would remove all exclusions just as we discussed at the prior meeting there would be no exclusions for mechanical Windows Doors roof repair and so on that would be retained with that ordinance 20247 is simply the emergency that would be in the instant adoption form ordinance 20246 we weren't sure if we were going to be able to adopt this through emergency ordinance we did get the clearance on that so we have two items that we're we're asking that you adopt tonight or one of which you accept first raing one of which you adopt so looking at option A this is the one-year look back it would reduce the current fiveyear look back to one year it would be effective the day prior to Hurricane Helen impact any homeowner or business owner who closed out permits prior to Helen so prior to September nember 24th 2024 we'll start with a$0 substantial Improvement cost accumulation that is different from what we discussed at the last meeting that was cleared through that retroactive look back that would be an option that's available it would again retain all the exceptions that are currently in the code and this is a new addition this is something we spoke over with the consultant for fdm and we did get clearance for this it would allow for flood and wind damage repairs to be decoupled from all other repairs and all other improvements that are not being made at the same time and I'll have a few examples of that in a moment it would allow for residents to not draw from their substantial Improvement cost accumulation when making storm repairs if decoupled from other improvements so here's an example where there would be no substantial Improvement or no substantial damage determination so you have a home with a depreciated value of $100,000 that makes the fee a 50% value $50,000 so in this case this home took damage in September 2024 $45,000 worth of storm damage which is repaired and the permit is opened from September to February the permit's closed out in February and the homeowner opens a $45,000 bathroom and bedroom remodel permit in March of next year and they close it out in July of 2025 the month after that in August um hopefully this doesn't occur but if if there were to be additional storm damage in August of next year despite the fact that that is within the one-year look back it is decoupled from the repairs that were already completed and already closed out from Hurricane Helen and Milton we are able to not only treat the repair periods as one discrete period it doesn't need to be for all the damage restoration but different events different periods can be decoupled from one another it also allows us to maintain different tracks for repairs and improvements that are not flood and wind related and those um that are related to wind and flood damage so for example in this timeline if the homeowner wanted to open a permit for a kitchen remod model that was not tied with storm damage they would be limited to opening that in the end of March or later of uh 2026 because that would put them a year out from their substantial Improvement cycle but this particular situation would not require the property or would not have the property owner exceed that substantial Improvement or damage role Brendon can I ask something before you you go in that case because I'm not sure if you're going to do it after let's just say in that particular case when they open that um bathroom bedroom remodel in that March July 2025 period okay that's to me signifying that they closed the permit correct so how about if the permit is open well that's that's the next slide and that's not something that we can decouple so okay this is an example of let's say a property owner this is hypothetical it's not a it's not a real example but if someone opened a bathroom and bedroom or model in February of this year and they had planned to close it out in October so the permit was still open at the time of damage in September that $45,000 bed in a bedroom and bathroom remodel combined with the $20,000 in storm damage would put them over the FEMA 50% value those cannot be decoupled so anything that's open at the same time that exceeds the FEMA 50% rule whether it's voluntary elective improvements or whether it's damage or some combination of those we cannot decouple those if it's 50% or more open at the same time that would require compliance with the flood plane ordinance but in the example that I just presented there is that decoupling at least between look back periods damage periods and voluntary elective improvements so moving on to option b this would be the No lookback period only simultaneously active permits and permits associated with substantial damage are considered at one time and again I know we talked about this extensively but substantial damage looks at all of the permits that are required to restore the structure to pre damage condition even if they're not applied for at the exact same time we're going to be evaluating for all those restoration permits that is the minimum standard it must remove all exemptions from the code we are not allowed to keep any in the code so any of the exemptions for mechanical change out windows and doors and so on those would need to be removed there would be no decoupling permitted as with option A granted this is a no look back so those type of situations would typically not come up where you have a cumulative value but it would not allow for any kind of decou bling and it is retroactive to September 23rd 2024 just as with option A so because of the situation the city is currently and this will affect more homeowners due to inclusion of window door mechanical and so on permits not only do we need to go back and look at those what we've estimated to be 108 residences with open permits from prior to the storm that would now be brought in those have an average permit value of $14,000 we would also need to include those permits that were applied for after the storm for storm related window door mechanical and so on permits those have an average value of $115,000 now that's a lower threshold for most Property Owners to be starting with but again if there are substantial um improvements needed as a result of the storm that would be a starting basis that they would not have if you if you went with option A and I'll give some examples do you have the effects of option um a on homeowners I'm sorry do you have the uh effect uh for homeowners for option A so would be no additional effects above what is above what is in place today there would also be no effect additional effects compared to option b because there would be that decoupling there would be that look back the now those those homeowners with permits that were open when the storm um impacted our community they would be affected in option A and option b the exact same there would be no change between those two but they would not be affected in a degree greater than option b with that though Brendan because I thought I remembered from the last meeting for option A what was the average though because the option b the average re is 12,000 and I think it was around 60 some thousand if you if you all remember that that would be if we took the exceptions out of the code which I was not we we didn't look at that because we weren't directed for that and the reason for that is because so many of the exceptions are lower value permits Windows Doors shutters things like that the non-accepted permits that would remain in the code regardless of which option we went with those tend to be the major remodels the additions and things like that that are much higher cost so when you removed the exceptions the value went way up just because those weren't being included and drying down the average okay so here's an example of if the city went with a no look back where no substantial Improvement or damage would be assessed again a home with a depreciated value of $100,000 feem a 50% value of $50,000 so the structure sustain ains $45,000 in storm damage repairs they open the permit in November of 2024 they closed the permit out in January 2025 but again this links back to a an event that occurred in September of 2024 they closed that permit out they then open a permit for a $47,000 bathroom and bedroom remodel that's open in February it's closed out in May there's no overlap between those two preceding permits they Clos that out the following month they open a $40,000 permit for re-roofing Windows and Doors there's no overlap between any of these permits so there's no need to add them together um despite the fact that the latter two are elective improvements and they would not be Exempted in this case um there's no overlap so they're they're not exceeding the 50% value and there would be no issue with needing to elevate or flood proof an example where there would be a substantial Improvement is going back to the example just presented um they open a $45,000 storm damage repair permit in September they Clos it out in January the opening $47,000 bathroom and bedroom model in February plan to close it out in September and then in August they sustain $20,000 in storm damage repairs that will add together with the $447,000 permit it'll sum up to $67,000 that exceeds the FEMA 50% value they would need either elevator flood proof has made mandatory for their structure type Brendan and with that is it so in that situation there's a storm at that point couldn't a homeowner get a get a reappraisal they could get a reappraisal um that's that's always going to be an option regardless of which option they they go with um so this is it's not disingenuous but it's looking at different values the value is going to fluctuate and it's going to be contingent on what the value of the home is pre- Storm um so if they aren't too far into the renovations it's going to be lower than if they're near the end and they they're able to reassess at a higher value because it's a substantial Improvement to their home correct so in terms of expect expected impacts um option A will have no additional impact on homeowners and is less impactful in this particular event than option b due to the option for decoupling and look back when we brought this forward two weeks ago we weren't aware that there could be that decoupling that is something that we had cleared through the state option b may be the less impactful over time due to the lack of cumulative calculation for repairs and improvements again it allows that back to back especially for improvements without there being any time uh period in between that's also a return to the standard that the city had in placei prior to 2021 however it does not include those exceptions that um many many homeowners and business owners currently take advantage of option b will require currently accepted permits to be counted against substantial Improvement in damage this will affect over the 100 homeowners that I pointed out with the open pre-storm permits and may also affect the 65 homeowners who recently applied for permits for non-excepted work so we're requesting two motion from you tonight um we just ask that they be consistent the first would be a motion to approve the first reading of ordinance 20246 alternative A or B A being the one-year look back with the exceptions B being the no look back the minimum nfip standard and transmit the amendments to the Florida Division of Emergency Management motion two would be the motion to adopt the emergency ordinance which is ordinance 20247 alternative A or B do you any questions for me Mr marot yeah I've got a couple questions I just want to make sure that that I'm understanding this all correctly so when we when we're looking at alternative a because we can now decouple substantial improvement from storm damage what that means is that anybody who had an open permit when at the time of the storm they can still exclude they they still keep the current exclusions is that correct they still keep the current exclusions so if they had an open permit at the time of the storm for Windows Doors or roof that doesn't have to count towards storm repair correct yes okay and so essentially what that does is it and and and then you also said that um that separate storms could be essentially decoupled from each other as well correct so if we have a second storm in less than 12 months after Helen those will be looked at separately it won't be a cumulative year correct specifically for flood and wind image um as as long as the preceding cumulative repair permit was closed out it will be counted separately now if there's a situation in which the homeowner has an active permit and again this would apply to any permit that's open at the time that colen impacted us it would also apply in the future for any homeowner and this would be in either situation there would be no difference in this regard if they had an open permit and if repairs needed to be made they would be added together because they're open at the same time at the same time so the lesson is really you don't want to have an open permit in Hurricane Season don't do construction during Hur right um okay and so so alternative a um at this point the only people that would be you you know because as as and I I think we're all looking at this in a similar fashion which is is what decision can we make that requires the fewest people possible to have to tear their house down who don't want to tear their house down and so um alternative a will the the only people who are really affected one way or another are people who had open permits at the time of the storm for things that are not in the exclusion list correct yes okay thank you commissioner Robinson I had a question as far as the day before the storm I thought the storm was 9926 and we've got 923 on here just saying it made landfall on 926 I think it's when it's named is it when it's named I everything I've read said it's when it makes landfall that was the date that was drafted for us um I can I can verify that and I I'm not certain only because I did my flood and that too understand when it made landfall so and then like I said everything I read on that um as far as again go back to um the open permits the the the median or the because I'm still trying to weigh that through my head too because those are the ones that are not exempt and the values on those and that again is the average value do we have um um okay just going to say high and lows but that's okay we just fine and there is quite a bit of variability in that list I don't have the agenda report in front of me but if I recall there were 18 homes that were over 25,000 and I believe there were five that were over 50 so it isn't too many at that higher end that would be affected by this a lot the average is several very high cost projects and then um much much lower cost permits so okay and again um option b kind of protects a little bit it's more of the longterm um protection should I say I'm pleasantly surprised on the S the sdsi decoupling I'm sorry I'm just a little like wow um because I asked that question a long time ago and it took a while and I'm very happy to see that that can be done now it just makes decisions more interesting MH thank you I have a couple of questions um is it okay if I'm next now okay I think you're going down the line um yes I figured out sometimes someone else Tri triggers a question so it's trying to make sure I don't forget um active permits okay this is I know it's really hard and and there's a story to each active permit that that Jew list um a lot of these active permits are in different timelines um some might be at the tail end some might not be at the tail end um if you're at the tail end of an open permit like what I had mentioned before earlier you could have um your home re-evaluated right have someone come out and do an appraisal which could in turn give you more money to work with right on on repairs um so that's one because it's really hard to know what the true number is you know so I I do see it as a it's a small amount of active permanence and not to minimize anybody out there but everybody's it's Unique um my question and this might be legal and and I had asked this earlier this morning was how about active permits because there's a a variety of things that could be happening we've all heard complaining I I hate to use the word complaining voices out there about the delay in permitting prior to the storm okay and inspections and everything else because we've have been historically for some time short in in this department so there could be some clerical errors right of maybe someone who was waiting for a final inspection and didn't have the opportunity to close their permit or there could be a homeowner who you know when you do an improvement you have maybe one thing that you're doing or maybe you have 20 different things that are going on over an inspection process right you you call an inspector hey I finished my Plumbing they come out and inspect their Plumbing they sign off on it right so my question is um for those people who are in those situations um because it's signed off it's almost like I want to say that that was closed right that project was closed it's just that typically we close out a whole project we don't go you know you could have a whole project that includes your windows and includes your roof but you don't close out your whole building permit until you're done with that contractor if you working with a contractor but technically you could have closed out that roof or that window and everything else because it was signed off already but you didn't close off the whole thing so is and and um I hate to put our City attorney on the spot but this is something that I had um discussed to hopefully look into it about whether that amount because technically it's closed um I don't know what else to call it you know I don't want to use words of exemption or you know I I don't know how to call it you know well the building official really needs to answer these questions for particular homes and how far they got along and and uh whether they were closed whether the final inspection had occurred so they're very facts specific so we would have to look into those but as we relate to these two ordinances we're looking that a permit should be closed before that storm and so as a practical matter you're correct you want to try to close out all your permits especially if there's an approaching storm coming maybe not the beginning of hurricane season but if there is a storm coming you need to close that permit out hopefully you've gotten far enough along and I had asked the building official who's also a flood plane manager A variation of that question and if if there were a clerical error we would look at it but if it is not gotten a building final or whatever the equivalent would be for that permit type um that that's really on the Builder to call in um they they do effectively respond to requests for inspections so if if it were open and it were to not have been a mistake um that would typically count I they could always reach out to the building official and and request a second opinion on that but that's the going to be the case in in most instances so on the other question I looked up the governor 's executive order for Helen 24-28 was issued on September 23rd 2024 I think that's why we have that date but the landfall was September 26 2024 in Perry Florida at 11 p.m. so I'm not sure which date is better to go with I think it's better to go with the September 23rd that would make sense for the date of the executive Bo I believe and that is what that was the date that uh the division of Emergency Management was comfortable with so I could I could request to be moved two days later but um that that was the date that they adopted I'm fine with either one I just wanted to clarify from what I've read and we can go I think with September 26 maybe some permits were closed on the 23rd 24th 25th um so it may be better in this particular situation with this ordinance to go with September 26th for this purpose if demm will go for that right do we know if that would help anybody probably not I I could check real quick during public comment I could see if if any permits were closed out on that dat so I can Mr Mayor yes thank you Mr vice vice mayor thank you Brandon I appreciate you coming back with all the the questions that uh we've had the last couple times um if I may add one more question please um if we look at the two options uh with exemptions if we were to go if if the Mechanicals roofs windows and so on if they were not exempt and somebody just wanted to replace their Windows where they have to complete a full FEMA package if they're not exempt or would they not have to complete a FEMA package uh especially during this event they would still need to complete a FEMA package that would be for the full scope of work associated with the repairs but even moving forward that that would still be expected yes okay so if we went with one of the options that had an exemption then they we can do windows roofs Mechanicals a few other things without completing a FEMA package I believe so I I I don't believe we we require a FEMA package if there's nothing within the scope of the permit that requires that that counts toward the FEMA 50% Thank you very much Madam clerk do we have any uh public comments John excuse me John kersman yes joh way just on that last comment also U if we go to per per permit model it used to also be our our our practice that if you knew that you were so far away from the FEMA limit 50% limit you didn't do a FEMA package that was the beauty of a per permit model that GE you got $5,000 worth of work and you have a $50,000 FEMA limit there's no reason to do a FEMA package because we don't have to worry that your next permit it's going to push you over the limit so I think that was why you didn't that was one of the be beauty of bookkeeping um another thing about um the way it used to be and this is actually since 2021 just want to bring up is the post firm houses didn't have to do FEMA packages um the FEMA guidelines you know def def delineated between SI and SD and they also said if it was post firm your job wasn't to alter any way a home that was non comp make it non compliant if it was pre-firm it was 50% and then on the right this little box also from The Desk Reference said you need to make sure you follow the rules of requirements that when the building was constructed um and then um and then here in 2022 even uh Bill Palmer the the official uh wrote to a City Commissioner and CC the city manager about how if a house was constructed after December 74 de December of 1974 uh it you know they were exempt from the 50% Rule and they do not need an elevation certificate and it was confirmed in August of 23 with the building official um and then and then you know again the guid say post firm buildings you know have to be met when the building was constructed follow those rules and then the plans would be stamped and say post fir construction you know below the BF just needs to make sure they they follow the rules um but to get back to the topic in general for these pre-firm houses or the houses that are having worked on you know please don't please make sure they don't keep chasing um the new rues so if they raise their house you know if later on the rules change you know make sure they're sort of treated the same way they've raised their house leave them alone because the when you read I just spent the time I read the 700 page you know CRS guide It's all about making sure they don't get repeat offenders they don't want to have to get pain the same 15% of the 2% of the houses 15% you know huge amount of the time and and they they they want to see that you're you're focusing on the hoses that have not been raised up and that's where you're putting your attention my question is there's Gates you you so if you regardless of which option you pick will it change that those Consultants that go around and are making the SD determination so whether you exempt or don't exempt the windows for instance will that change whether someone gets considered significantly damaged so if it's not going to change it then it's then it doesn't matter what you pick thank you sir because they're already disqualified and then and then secondly thank you sir would SD be good for window be good the summer sir if uh thank you any more cards Deborah shner Deborah shna BGA Isle driveing St Pete Beach I would like to note that uh the last Administration the former mayor and commissioner chose that fiveyear look back that would have hurt every single person in the city I'm so glad that you're looking at this um I think the best option for people might be the no look back because I know folks who put a huge amount of money into their home over the last two years years and that should not count towards the EMA 50% because then they cannot repair their house they cannot make it habitable it makes no sense whatsoever to do anything else but from what I understand the no look back people need to be able to repair their homes and if you have a lookback of a year or two years whatever they will not be able to do that and that becomes a real issue I know one woman who did a gorgeous job in our house that's all gone so why should she have to worry about that look back period it makes no sense she finished her house last year so I bet there are a lot of people in the city and I think this should go forward that when there is devastating storms two in a row that we have never ever experienced before so this is really all new to us we were always on the other side of that horrible horrible situation we need to protect the homeowners and allow them under these circumstances to make their house not only habitable but also secure and please don't hold it against them because they tried to improve their home over the last two years it's unconscionable to do so thank you thank you Adam clerk any more cards Cindy B is she here no it doesn't look like she's here okay that's all I have so Commissioners I think Bron has some info I just wanted to follow up on the questions I did speak with the building official yes a FEMA packet would be required if even if the individual permit itself does not exceed 50% or if it's it's for example just Windows if you were to go with option b um because he would want to track that if additional permits were open in the future it would need to be added together with the original FEMA packet however if the work is entirely accepted so for example if you were to go with option A and some were to someone were to apply for just impact windows and doors a FEMA packet would not be required in that case because those are accepted items so Brandon while you're there and commissioners before we well I guess we are going to go into discussion just so I'm clear on this we have 108 plus 33 residents that would be negatively impacted by alternative B and those residents would be the very residents that were doing things to harden their home is that correct that that would be so and and that's that's the ones that we know about so far that that's based on current applications that we've received I imagine we will probably receive more window door roof uh mechanical change out permits in the future that's the current C count that we have but yes those those items that are currently accepted if we were to go with option b would now need to be calculated in whether or not they were open at the time that storm made impact or whether they were open after the storm we would need to go back and count those back in okay and so none of those are are foraste improvements they are hardening improvements right they're they're their equal change outs effectively yes repairs so that's uh 141 residents yes as as we know so far right so there there could be more there could be more uh correct there there there will likely be more right thank you commissioner Marriott I just want to clarify are those we those are not we haven't determined those to be substantially damaged cor right so that's worst case that's worst case okay thank you Mr Mar um one quick question for you Brandon I understand that if a permit is still open at the time of the storm that that gets counted but when looking at a at a you know a at a one-year look back period or or any look back period is the date that you're looking at the date that the permit was opened or the permit or the date the permit was closed it's a date the permit it's open is is open um the where it gets a little um so the exception to it being a onee is when the permit is open for longer than a year so anytime that permit is open if someone opens a permit for a 45% Improvement and it remains open for 16 months the day that permit's closed they can then open a new permit even under a one-year look back but if in month 15 they wanted to open a permit for repairs other improvements it would need to be counted against it just because that permit's been opened for that length of time okay so if you open a permit in February and you close it the following December you could still start a new permit after the February Year from the February date when it was opened at as long as as long as it's been closed as long as it doesn't add together with the open permit to exceed 50% yes okay thank you that's the only other question I Hadad Mr Robinson and these have all been vetted as we've discussed and no change we're all good CR uh with our rating and all stays the same so it's just now we're looking at whether the one year with decoupled with exceptions or or zero with no exceptions correct this this language did come from the state we did speak with our uh the consultant who has the right to to speak for fdm and um we would lose those 20 points but we are over more than 20 points into the category that we're in so this is a nice surprise I mean I think we all thought a few weeks back that um there wasn't going to be as uh as many options as we have or as great of options as we have to hurt the least amount of people so that's a that's a really really nice to hear especially decoupling that was a pleasant surprise um just a lot of thought to go into this one um at at not seeing this before and just this coming to us just today so absolutely um I'll I'll let you you have it Betty because I'm I'm still weighing in my head a few few options here and just thinking about um because I didn't think the zero was necessarily going to affect as many people but now with the decoupling it really does help quite a bit now I still want to emphasize though from what I'm seeing though you're giving us the worst case scenario because we we don't know for sure out of that number how many truly are there right um one question on those open permits do we know how long those have been open because I know we've had talks about some people forget to close their permits right so is these permits that have been open you know for two years and haven't closed them and so therefore back to what um Miss marot just mentioned it goes back to when they opened the permit so if they opened it two years ago so does that and and that that is the case with some permit types but our permit administrator did go through when I I'd asked them to pull this list together they did go through and close out those permits that should have been closed out so this list should only affect the ones that are actually actively open I'm going yep Mr Mayor well I want to thank again the city staff for for being so diligent and making sure that we get all the answers and also to the City attorney for you know preparing multiple ordinances so that we we don't have to spend additional time waiting for those ordinance to be drafted so now it's ready and I'm confident that with all the information that we have now the commission will make the decision that will serve the community and our residents best so thank you thank you any final follow-ups Commissioners I don't have any questions but I just just a just as I'm thinking through as commissioner Robinson said um you know that the options we had all been thinking about for the last two weeks are are slightly different than now what's been presented to us and so um I I came into this tonight thinking that really the only option was no look back right um you know because that's that was going to be the the best option to protect all of us in the in the event that we had another storm in less than a year um you know and and and that was my my main rationale for thinking for for coming into this tonight thinking that no look back was going to be the best option um with with this information now that the that the storm repair can be decoupled from substantial Improvement uh I'm looking at it a little bit differently and so um you know anybody who in the last year had a permit open to repair their house or two years or five years or or any amount of time had a permit open to improve their house uh electively improve their house that that permit value will not be counted against their storm repairs now and so um and and then also with the knowledge that a separate storm would be separate separately figured when figuring the sub the 50% value for someone's house um to me that seems like the only option that really makes sense um as far as being able to have you know PE people who have who have have had work done on their house people who had open permits at the time of the storm for things like doors and windows and roofs um I I feel like the the that option as presented tonight it is kind of the the best option to get the most people possible to to give the most people possible the most options um if the permit is is closed if the permit is closed but if the permit is open it's the same problem either way like I don't see see that either option is better or worse for anybody who had an open permit at the time of the storm I don't know I I see so many things because it's almost like a learning too if you I know some people are repairing windows and some had some roof damage this this was not a true wind event that damaged way more right so my learning is if I get my windows um damage I make sure I repair it before before it's hurricane season and I make sure I close it before hurricane season and then therefore it doesn't affect us you know and I I'll keep saying this the no look back to me is good because I've lived in a neighborhood that has had multiple events multiple okay and and some very close you know I I you know the rules have changed to say or my mentality because that's why I mentioned dep the project right I I did my windows I did my roof um last year right and I mean it's closed my my permit is now closed but if it would have been during the storm um and I didn't close it that was a lot of money you know and all that Improvement so I would have been affected um so and again it goes back to individual situations everybody is going to have a different situation and even the number that that we're hearing still doesn't mean it's all of those numbers we're going to affect somebody whe whether we want to admit it or not you know someone's going to be affected by tonight's decision um you know so you know and I know I said it before I don't want to affect anybody you know I'm trying to think of for people are in those situations what can they do to work either with the city if let's say they were close to closing or or something because they're coming into a change in the rule let's just say right um but moving forward you know with we're going to have events I mean we all live in Florida you know it we're not it's not going to stop and clean is permit to permit you know in my opinion um it's going to hurt somebody you know but we have to know we're getting close to December we have hundreds of people who are going to be pulling permits to do repairs and we're going to be going into um a hurricane season okay we have weather coming this weekend it could have been a hurricane it could have been a hurricane okay so it it's going to be to have a lot of rain and a lot of flooding for some people especially those who live in some areas of B Vista Don CeSar pag Grill they can get flooded you know so I don't I don't know it's it's hard but going back to 2021 when we had Adalia and when we had ETA and all those things that happened should have been permit to permit that's where I'm at that I make a motion to approve the first reading of ordinance 24 20 2416 alternative a and TR transmit the amendments to the Florida Division of Emergency Management Second City Clerk commissioner Marriott yes commissioner Robinson no commissioner R Niki no vice mayor mahand yes mayor patrilla yes motion carries 3 to two and Mr City attorney I believe that we just need to do a motion for the Emergency adoption is that correct if you would like to implement this ordinance immediately then you would move the emergency ordinance for uh 2417 alternative a Commissioners is there any reason we wouldn't want to move this forward uh we've already had um assurances from staff that uh the state should be good with this uh any comments on whether or not we uh should consider not doing this I think if we're going to do it we should do it yes let's do it okay could we have a motion I make a motion to adopt ordinance 20247 alternative a i second commissioner Robinson no commissioner RZ Niki no vice mayor mahand yes commissioner Marriott yes mayor patrilla yes motion carries 3-2 the next agenda item uh would normally be items for discussion however uh we had no items for discussion uh added to the agenda so at this point uh we're going uh see clerk reports I did have one person turn in a card he wanted to speak on the items that you just adopted which items was that 20246 and 20247 but it's up to you all question well this isn't sir this isn't question and answer but if you have a comment because right now Fe is being underneath investigation by Congress okay and will sir sir sir sir sir if we're going to have you speak you have to come to the elector I want to come up here do do we have a card Madam clerk yes she does she has the card I asked the clerk sir do we have a card we do we have a thank you sir okay my name is Vincent Toria okay 3514 cosablanca renue the reason I'm I'm bringing this out to you because femur is right now underneath investigation through Congress they are going drilling them for what they did in the Tampa Bay area so if things come out and things change with FEMA is it going to affect everything that you're putting in implementing here when they find all the stuff that's been happening that's my question duely noted sir thank you city clerk report hi yes so we had qualifications for district 2 and District 4 election it ended on Friday November 15th at noon we had two residents that qualified for District Two Lisa Robinson and Grant Izzy we had one for District 4 Joe molland we will have an election on March 11th 2025 for district 2 only all of this information is available on the city's website with the names of the candidates as well as candidate information that they provide when they turn in their qualification information that is my only report thank you city manager no report City attorney nothing think this evening thank you commissioner Marriott um I had a a group of about uh 25 people joined me at masteries Brewing last week on Wednesday for just an informal get together and a uh a little bit of question and answer and sharing stories about how we're all moving forward and uh what options we've all found for repairing rebuilding um and that sort of thing I intend to do that again in uh sometime in uh early December I will try to let everybody know I'll try to put it on next door um I think one thing that uh that we can all use is lots of collective knowledge about resources for building and contractors and creative ideas for financing and and and all of the ideas that we all need to move forward uh to figure out how we're going to stay here on St P Beach and so um if anybody has any information like that that they'd like to share with me that I can pass on to other folks I'd love to hear it and if you want to have that information shared with you please feel free to reach out to me um and we'll all just try to help each other get through it thanks Comm commission Robinson not much on my side I've been a little busy on next door trying to get some info out so I'll continue to do that um and then December 16th I'll be at the library um from 5: to 6 commissioner riski my card out where's his card um had a had two meetings with um belvista and with a Donar neighbor their Association meetings um haven't heard from any other neighborhoods yet but for um belis and the Donar just for you all know that we're trying to put together um a meeting time to discuss the historic preservation survey for the neighborhoods that has been out there for a couple of years already but has has the final report so once we do that we want to have a a meeting with that neighborhood um to discuss those results and what they can do that's it thank you for District 4 uh a few things uh the C the county has advised us that the passor grill Beach renourishment project is complete uh so uh they there won't be any more dredging or anything going on there for the foreseeable future uh in coming weeks and months I'll be advocating uh with uh the city manager for much strict uh enforcement on uh people being on the dunes and what we can do to protect the dunes particularly the ones south of Paradise Grill that are brand new and have no vegetation on them I think we need to get more serious than we have ever been uh about protecting those uh I think we had pretty good evidence in the the last couple storms how important the mature Dunes are to protect in our city not just in pass Grill but throughout but uh obviously PES Grill is my area um for those who've been inquiring about the rat's problem um the city contractor that handles extermination has been working the rat problem now and I'm talking about the four-legged variety um the the rat problem for the past uh three weeks or so uh I I'm seeing a few of them they're still around but they are working on it and I see to recall they said it was a several month uh ordeal and then finally uh it is the city's responsibility to rake up and pick up small debris remnants after uh aftermath has come by uh but it would be greatly appreciated for those residents and businesses uh that have the ability to uh do this on their own to clean up around the sidewalks and next to the RightWay ways uh obviously the city staff is busy doing a lot of things and uh it's very messy out there as you know and the small remnants it would be helpful if people would rake and clean that up themselves if they possibly could so thank you Mr Mayor thank you Mr vice mayor I appreciate you holding down the for today in my absence um a few last week we had a meeting with the local business community St Pete Beach um and one of the things um that I think came about from that conversation as well as from Cindy's multiple comments this evening is that maybe we can do a better job of the city communicating to the business Community also to our residents exactly what we have been doing behind the scenes to help our businesses get back up on their feet and so if you allow me just a minute or so um I want to give you the same report that we gave to the business Community last week um just on the efforts from the city uh specific specifically helping our businesses reopen you know as as Cindy actually mentioned you know many of the businesses it's you know for for our residents often times you know it's the impact is is the house for many of the businesses the impact it is the business it is their employees who may also live in a city the owner who may also live in a city so now you have a business that's shut down the employees can't work at that business the owner may not be able to live in town the employees may not be able to in town so the impact is often magnified for our local small business community in particular so here is just a a quick list of some of the things that we've done uh that the city staff has done in the coordination with the city manager uh to help our local small businesses um we have worked with the Cory Avenue Business Association uh to get the Cory market app uh as quickly as possible so we help with additional resources uh for the breeze removal sending in additional street sweepers not just on quy Avenue but also on G Boulevard and for those of you who don't know we have our city employees the day of Helen while they were still water at 5:00 in the morning they were out in the city clearing out ol of Golf Boulevard and by noon 1:00 they had most of it cleared now then we've also allocated additional resources for street sweepers whereas usually we may have swept the streets once or twice a week now we're doing a much more frequent basis so that we have a nice clean environment for the business Community you know the other thing that we're doing with our business is helping them with resources that the city has so the city's had contracts with debris removal and other vendors and we have made those available those contacts available to the business Community uh because you know again as Cindy mentioned FEMA does not allow the city to Bear the the the responsibility and the cost which we get reimbursed for in the residential side but on the business side those businesses are they themselves responsible but we've provided them with the resources that we have uh so that they can take advantage of those vendors uh that the city has um another thing that we've done um that I'm particularly proud of is how quickly we've been able to get the beaches cleaned up so for a lot of our business Community they understand that if we do not have a beach there will be no visitors if we have no visitors a lot of our small businesses and local business Community will suffer because of that we've had over 500 volunteers we moove over 7,000 pounds of trash from the beaches I want you to let that sink in 500 volunteers not all from sty Beach from as far away as you know for laale Miami coming into town to help us clean up our beaches I was personally out there just a few weeks ago you know we're shuffling sand off the sidewalks as if that's the most exciting thing we're shoveling the the walkways free and the walkover so that people can access you know whether it's the businesses or whe they can access the beaches but that was one thing that was particularly important um to make sure that we have nice clean beaches that we get all of the debris all of everything that was on the beach get that removed as quickly as possible um and while I have received the emails and comments that maybe that shouldn't have been our number one priority please do keep in mind that these were volunteers these were people that dedicated their time their Saturdays and Sundays and afternoons to come in to help our community and I am incredibly grateful to them uh I we were having lunch with a group of volunteers just a few weeks ago at the hurricane and the owner of the hurricane came over and he spoke to us and he said I just want to let you know something in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew hit Miami for lell you know D Broward County we took all of our staff from the hurricane yes they've owned it that long we took all of our staff and employees from the hurricane we went over to forla Miami and we helped with the debris cleanup and I just want to thank tell you how much we appreciate what you are doing doing it took 30 years but yet here you are coming and repaying that debt paying it forward as it would be so again I'm incredibly you know proud of our volunteers I want to thank our city staff for the efforts that they've put in working with our local business Community to help them you know recover as fast I know we spend a lot of time talking about our residents you know and I've never been shy about it saying in my campaign in my you know in my tenure as a mayor that residents do come first but a very very close CL right behind them our local small businesses and we do want to support them we love them we want to make sure that they also can recover as quickly as possible and so again I just want to make sure that we give a just a quick status report and update on the efforts that we've done for the local small business Community to help them recover thank you thank you Mr Mayor we're adjourned e e