I called to order the regular session of the Board of Commissioners of the City of Tarpon Springs. Tuesday, March 10th, 6:30 p.m. Roll call please. Mayor here, vice Mayor.
Eisner here. Commissioner here. Mr. Donato here. Commissioner Banther here. Tonight's reflection will be by Major Ted
Morris of the Salvation Army. Thank you so much, major. And it'll be followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Please stand. Thank you. Mayor. Bow our heads.
Our father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for our mayor. We thank you for the members of this commission who stepped forward to place the mantle of leadership upon their shoulders to lead this great
community. Father, we thank you for the members of the staff who work behind each one of them to prepare for days such as today. Thank you for our first responders, our fire and
rescue, those who strive to make our communities safe for all of us. God, we thank you for this venue in which the business of our city can be done in a public way. And thank
you for citizens who are here to observe and participate in this process. May the decisions made tonight and the deliberations made be in line with your will for this community, for it's in your
holy and your precious name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you sir. I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of
America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I
apologize for the flag not being behind us. I didn't notice that. Is it? There it is.
Okay. Invisible flag. All right, I apologize. Before we start the meeting, I just want to, you know, today was election
day in Tarpon Springs, as always gets. It's always an exciting day. Gets a little contentious. It's what tarpon
is all about. But, you know, we should thank the three people that put their names in, put their hats in the ring to run for office, to represent all of
us. And we should thank them all for for doing that. Whoever wins, remember that before we are commissioners or any
official of the city, our most important job in the city is being a resident and a citizen. So whoever is elected represents all of us, including
the people who sit up here as well. So they'll be making decisions on our behalf. We should all support them regardless of the outcome of tonight's election. So I just want to say that we I'm going
to move the agenda around a little bit. We had a special presentations first, but Commissioner Brian Scott are the chairman of the of the
commission of Pinellas County, is running a little behind. So we're going to go to the proclamations first. So our first proclamation is Irish
American Heritage Month. And I'm going to ask our I think our token Irishman, Commissioner Banther, to come
up with me and say a few things. Are you are you are you're a
quarter of eighth. Percentage. And then you're grandmother and would everything president Bill
Locke come forward? Is he here tonight? You've got the microphone. Okay. Is it on? Hello. Okay. Is commissioner
President Bill Locke here from the Irish club? Okay, so it's all yours, brother. It's all me. Okay, well. Thank you. So this
is my my daughter Marin and her birthday saint, oddly enough. So we went to Ireland in January and got to give the mayor of Dublin a key to the
city. And in turn, he gave us a very nice crystal bowl to present to our mayor. And I'm going to have mayor and hand it over tonight. You want to want to say anything, mayor? No. You
sure? How old are you going to be on Saint Patrick's Day this year? 12, 12 years old. She she she thinks she's 16 but has some time left. So. So were you. What what was the experience
like? Marin going over to Ireland and seeing the Lord mayor? It was very Irish. Yeah. So. What what what what what
did he have to wear? Because they have to wear a certain thing there. Yes. There were like a chain or something. It's a big gold chain that's like hundreds of years old. Yes. Wow. Did you have fun? Yes. Did you?
Yeah. What did they eat over there? What do they eat? It's a dangerous road here. Yeah. You had, you had you had lots of French fries, if I recall.
Right? Yeah. You did well, you like my granddaughter? She loves French fries. Well, thank you so much. I'm going to hand this with our city clerk. Come forward please. She is the
custodian of all gifts. She will log this in and it will stay in the mayor's office upstairs. So thank you. Thank you. But let's. Since President
Locke's not here, I'm going to read the proclamation, and I'm going to give it to you, if you don't mind. Okay. Whereas since our nation's founding, millions of Irish men and women have
immigrated to America with a spirit of determination and optimism that has strengthened our country's character and enriched our history. And whereas the friendship between
Ireland and the United States has deep roots, and Irish Americans have played an integral role in making our country a place of hope and
opportunity. And whereas Irish Americans since America's inception have provided and continue to provide leadership and service to this nation's political, business and
religious establishments. And Whereas during Irish American Heritage Month, we recognized the vital contributions of Irish Americans to our community and owe a debt of
gratitude to the generations who have sacrificed and continue to and continue in, contributed to a better America. And Whereas March has been
designated as Irish American Heritage Month throughout the United States to coincide with the celebration of Saint Patrick's Day on the 17th, now, therefore, I. John Colonies, by
virtue of the authority vested in me as mayor of the City of Tarpon Springs, do hereby proclaim March 20th, 2026, as Irish American Heritage Month.
Thank you. Are there are there any? Anyone out there with Irish blood? All right. Well, congratulations. It's your month. And if anybody's not
nice to you, remind them this is your month. They got to be nice to you. Okay. And, Mary, thank you so much for representing us in Ireland and representing the city of Tarpon Springs and for taking your
amazing father with you. So this is yours. Oh, there you go.
That's good. So this proclamation is for. This is for Flood awareness Week. It's not something we really enjoy
talking about here in Tarpon since we're, you know, still getting over all the flooding we had in 2024 with Helene and
the other two storms. But it's really important that we stay aware of and prepare for the flooding because, you know, it.
It seems to come no matter what. We wish otherwise and understand that in in its in with Helene. We had 18 deaths
in the Tampa Bay area and all those 18 deaths were elderly people living alone. And they drowned. And it was all flooding. It was not wind, it
was all flooding. So here in Tarpon, we're trying to do our best. We're going to you're going to see a lot of construction going on around town to, to work on, on flood mitigation in different
locations. You know, you can and people ask me all the time what is flood mitigation, what's it look like. And you got to think about something like one of the prior
commissions dealt with Martin Luther King at the end of Martin Luther King. When you go over the little bridge. Right. Okay. Remember that street used to flood very bad and now it's
been raised up and it doesn't flood under just normal high tides and stuff like it used to. So there's an example of flood mitigation where we do our best to try to. And that's an
important road because there's only so many ways you can get out of Tarpon Springs, especially if you live out by the high school and you know, they're going to be fixing the yacht Club bridge, and that could be down for a long time.
It could be a couple years. And then so we're not going to have that many exits getting out. So things like that. So you know, you're going to see us strategically address the
different parts of town that need to be addressed first. So, you know, you may have a street on your you may have a place on your street where you wish that they had come earlier, but most
of it's, you know, strategic. So anyways, would you do you want me to read it and then you guys talk? Sure. All right. We'll read it. Whereas the city of Tarpon Springs has
experienced severe weather in the past in the form of extreme rainfall and tropical system events, resulting in flooding in both coastal and river areas.
And this flooding has caused damage and flood losses to homes and buildings in all areas. Whether they are high risk special flood hazard areas
or low to moderate risk flood areas. Whereas the city of Tarpon Springs is a voluntary participant in the National Flood Insurance Program that provides residents with the
opportunity to protect themselves against flood loss through the purchase of flood insurance at reduced insurance premium rates, as well as setting higher regulatory
standards to reduce the flood risk and potential flood damage to their property. And Whereas, the reduction of loss of life and property damage can be achieved when appropriate,
flood preparedness, control and mitigation measures are taken before a flood, and whereas public education and awareness of potential weather hazards
and methods of protection are critical to the health, safety and welfare of residents, the Florida Floodplain Managers Association have declared the
week of March 9th to March 15th, 2026 as Flood Awareness Week to promote awareness and increase knowledge of flood risk, the availability of flood insurance,
flood protection measures and how to prepare for emergencies. Now therefore, I, John, by virtue of the authority vested in me as mayor of the City of Tarpon Springs, Florida, do
hereby proclaim March 9th to March 15th, 2026 as Flood Awareness Week. So we have a some staff members here. Please introduce yourself and say a
few things. This is yours. Yes. Thank you. Department. Okay. I'm Megan Araya, I'm the emergency management coordinator and floodplain administrator. I just want to take a minute and recognize
Holly Langston. She's our sustainability program manager. She just completed the certification to become a certified floodplain manager. It's a really difficult test.
So she just completed it, and she's a certified floodplain manager now, so our residents can contact her for any kind of FEMA advice, any kind of mitigation advice. And I'm just
really proud of her because it's a really, really difficult test. So. I just want to thank Megan, who does the work of
probably three people. So I'm just happy to be able to collaborate with her and support her work just a little bit. And she's still she is still the go to expert in the city, but happy to just be of a
little bit of extra service to her work. I see that Chairman
Scott has has arrived, so we're going to do our first presentation will be recognizing the life and contributions of Susan Harris, Commissioner Brian Scott, or
the chairman of the County Commission, and our Commissioner, David Banther, will be handling this
presentation. Good to see. Well, good evening everybody. Mr. mayor, commissioners, residents, it's great to be here this
evening. And. Tonight we are here to honor the life, the legacy and the contributions to the community of Susan Harris. Desiree Reese and I have a
proclamation on behalf of the Board of County Commissioners that I would like to read. Susan Harris was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and
made Florida her home beginning in 1963, ultimately settling in the historic and vibrant community of Tarpon Springs. Susan was a pioneering
businesswoman and a cornerstone of Tarpon Springs maritime community, owning and operating Jerry Seafood and Tarpon Marine Ways, and later becoming the
beloved baker at Rusty Bellies Seafood Restaurant, where her desserts became local legends. Susan was the proud matriarch of a four generation Tarpon
Springs fishing family, whose legacy continues to shape the cultural and economic future of the region. In the 1970s, Susan founded Pelican Point and
Marine Board Yard, demonstrating her entrepreneurial spirit, her vision, and her deep commitment to the working waterfront and the preservation of Tarpon
Springs maritime heritage and history. Susan Susan's life was marked by ingenuity, a tireless work ethic, work ethic, and a generosity of spirit that
touched the lives of all who knew her and the city of Tarpon Springs and Pinellas County as a whole. Oh, Susan Harris, a profound debt of gratitude for
her enduring contributions to the community, her leadership in the local fishing industry, and her unwavering kindness. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Pinellas
County Board of County Commissioners that we recognize and honor the life, legacy, and the lasting impact of Susan Harris, Desiree Rice, and
extend our deepest condolences to her family, her friends, and all who were fortunate to know her. And, you know, we we honor
we honor people like Susan because of the profound impact that they've had on this community and her life affected past generations and will
affect future generations. And when you're building business and you're building community, you don't even realize that you're building a legacy while you're doing it. You're just going to work every day. You're
doing your thing because because you have work ethic and it's just the right thing to do. And it's because of people like her that we have a community, Tarpon Springs, that we have
today. So it's just my absolute honor to present this present, this proclamation to the city, and we will honor her and
remember her forever. Thank you, thank you. Yes. Thank you. I had the privilege of growing up
with with Sue's with with with Sue's great granddaughter, Jacqueline. And if you just stop and think. If Sue didn't have that vision there, we we we we we we would have Rusty
Bellies, Pelican Point and all that. And that's become such an institution in our community above and beyond a place to eat. But most importantly, growing up with them. I remember one
thing she taught me friends don't let friends eat imported shrimp. Thank. With the family. Like to come up, please. Come
on everybody, we're going to take a we want to also we have our our photographer here. We're going to get a nice picture of the family. But while you're coming up I just want to say that, you know,
when you think about honoring someone, nothing honors someone more than how you live your life, right? If you want to honor your parents, you you can
say words, but it's what you do. And the Rees family is really just a wonderful family. And I know that it's. And Rusty
Bellies is way more than just a restaurant. I mean, it's a place where your life events happen. My, you know, working
with Connor, we had my granddaughter's baptism there when I had my 45th anniversary. My wife said, where? I said, where do you want to go? She
goes, I just want to go to Rusty Bellies. So that's where she wanted to celebrate our 45th anniversary. So again, it's more than just a restaurant. It's it's a part of our of our collective family of
Tarpon Springs. So thank you so much. And so would somebody like to say something? Come on, come on, gentlemen, come on.
You're you're the the boss. I, I'm just easy to talk to. I do want to thank everyone. You know, my mother and father both
work very hard. But my mom, everything that we ever thought of doing, she supported us all the way to baking the cakes or
being the hostess at the restaurant or working in the fish market. It did not matter to her. And you know, I when she passed away, I said to my
husband, I'm like, all you have is these few bags of clothing and things for the family to take. And my husband said, no, you have the legacy of your
family. Do you realize what she was able to put on this earth and help us all be better people? And so for that, I want
to thank everybody here. But we are a close family and it's because of our mom and we are, you know, she'll forever be in
our heart. All right, well, let's get one nice big picture. If any other commissioners want to come up and be part of it,
please feel free. Oh. You're
welcome. Any other part? Of.
Congratulations. Commissioner. Commissioner. Commissioner.
Thank you. You're welcome. Member. Commissioner Scott, as a friend of Tarpon Springs. Right, Commissioner, we may be
coming to you for things. All right. Come on. All right, well, there you go. All right. So.
All right. That's all right. You can chase them out in the hallway if you like. Okay. So let's go to public comments. Let's have public comments on
anything that's not on the agenda okay. What. Oh I'm sorry. Forget about that. We have one more. I'm sorry. We have the
honor flight with Sharon Smith. Come forward. Where is she? Oh. You moved. Okay. All right. I
apologize for that. Now, you wouldn't let me overlook you.
Absolutely. Hard to hold back. I'm not gonna stop coming up.
Oops. I messed it up. Something's happening. I gotta
go, okay. Irish. You go. Okay. And then just go down. Do I have to click it like this or can I click it? You can click
that too. Okay. Perfect. Perfect. That'll be better.
Thank you. All right, all right, all right. Am I okay? Yep. You can hear me usually. I'm
usually I'm pretty loud. So thank you so much. Hello to the mayor and board members and Tarpon Springs residents. I'm
Sharon Smith. I am on the board of directors of Honor Flight of West Central Florida. I am also on Speaker Bureau. And what I'm
most proud about and so happy about is that I'm a flight. I'm on the flight crew that gets to fly our veterans every, every mission back and forth to DC.
So I don't get one veteran, I get all of them. So I love that. So you may or may not be familiar with Honor Flight. So I'm going to I'm going to give
you a little, little taste of it and what we do for our veterans and how we honor them for their service and their sacrifice to our country. So
let's dig in. There we go. All right. So. The the World War Two memorial was completed in
2004, in Washington, DC. And these two gentlemen, Earl Morse and Jeff Miller, wanted to do something to be able to show and bring our veterans to the
memorial that was built in their honor. So Earl Morse was a pilot, a retired Air Force captain, and a son of a Korean and Vietnam War veteran. And
the co-founder, Jeff Miller, was a small business owner and son of a World War Two veteran. So in 2005, they teamed up and
they created Honor Flight as we know it today. So with Honor Flight, we are a 500 1C3. We're
in 46 states across the country. We have 128 hubs in those states and in Florida. I'm I'm blessed to say that we have 11
hubs. Honor flight, a west central Florida, was established in 2010. We have no paid employees. Every single person from the top to the
bottom is all volunteer. We all volunteer our time, and $0.98 of every dollar that we raise through fundraising donations
supports our mission. $0.98 of every dollar we're in Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Polk County. So far we've
flown 55 missions, and to date, we've flown over 3800 veterans out of the Tampa Bay area and
across the country. Over 300,000. Our mission. Our mission is to honor America's
veterans by providing them with an all expense paid trip of a lifetime to Washington, DC, where they can visit and reflect at the memorials that have been built and dedicated
to their service and their sacrifices and gave. And we give them a welcome home that many of them never received. And we hear it all the time. When they get back to the
airport, they're like, we never got this. And there's tears. I'm kind of choking up right now because I, I know that emotion with them. Our guardians, they volunteer their
time and they donate $500 for the honor to spend a day walking through history with one of their one of our veterans. And honestly, it's a
day that they will never forget, nor will the veterans. What's included in our in our the cost of the trip round trip airfare
with Allegiant luxury coach busses in DC. Once we arrive, we have breakfast at the airport in Saint Pete. Before we depart, we get a box. We
have a box lunch for them in DC and dinner on the trip back home, and we have snacks and water throughout the day, and each veteran and guardian receive a hat, a shirt, and a
backpack that they proudly wear on the day of our mission. We give priority to our World War Two veterans. As many of you
know, there are not many of them left, and so that's our top priority. And we've had and my and my experience in the last few years. The oldest one we had was 102, and that was
just recently. And he did fabulous. And Korean War and Vietnam War. And any veteran that is diagnosed with a terminal illness, does it matter the age if they're if
they have diagnosed as a terminal illness, we get them on the very next flight. Or anyone over the age of 90 years
old. We have a waiting list. Currently, we have 350 veterans waiting to be taken on our
flight, and each one of our missions, we take 75 veterans and we go four times a year. Our next one is going to be April 24th first, and then we
have June 9th and September 15th and October 20th. We don't take them in the winter and we don't take them when it's too hot. Let's see. All right. So
what do we got. So this is this is I'm going to flip through some slides here. So this is our pre flight orientation. And this is a briefing. And this is when the veterans and the Guardians get to meet for the
first time. And we do this a couple of days before they they fly and give them all the logistics of everything they need to know. It's a pretty exciting day. So it's 150
between 75 veterans and 75 guardians, and we leave at O'dark 30 in the morning. So our veterans and guardians and
us arrive at the airport at 3:00. We leave at 4 a.m. and we get back probably about 815, 830 at night. So it's a it's a long day, but very, very
exciting. We get to DC and we are welcomed by many, many different people on that end as well. Here we are getting
loading our busses. We have three busses and we we have about 50 wheelchairs. So we have 75 veterans and not all need wheelchairs, but we have 50 of them available for them.
And we kind of encourage it because sometimes there's a lot of walking. And this is the World War two memorial. And we take our group picture either
here or we take it at the Arlington National Cemetery. And here we are. We take a we have a time slot that is just for us in Arlington for the
changing of the guard ceremony, which is very, very precious to many of them. The Korean War Memorial is we take them there.
And at the Korean War Memorial, there's supposedly a famous actor in there, Alan Alda. So that's kind of a kind of a
funny thing that happens there, the Vietnam War. Well. A lot of things happen at this wall. This wall is special to me
because my brother was killed in Vietnam when I was very young. So this is kind of my baby here. And I will tell you that there is a lot of healing
that goes on at this wall. Many of the veterans are either they're apprehensive to go up there and find their their buddy's names, or they're
anxious to do it because they want to have some closure. So it's a very special time, and we take a lot of time there. We go to the Lincoln Memorial, and
on the way home after we leave D.C. we have mail call and every veteran gets a big manila
envelope stuffed with thank you notes, cards, letters from maybe their family. And then my my women's Club of Tarpon Springs writes thank you notes.
And the school kids. This is so critical to how how important this is for them. They they sometimes can't even read those those those notes and those
letters because it's so it's it's just they're so proud, they're so happy. And but so when you write one and I have cards, I have cards out there. If you want to grab one and
write a note, put your heart into it because their heart is there and it means a lot to them. And then when we get back to the airport, to Saint Pete
Airport, we have a welcome home celebration for them that they don't know about. It's a total surprise. And sometimes we have up to a thousand people at the airport that are welcoming,
welcoming them back, and they are so overwhelmed with it and the tears flow pretty heavy at that time. And these are the
these are the numbers. Of. The dollars and where, where everything goes. So 75 Guardians go and they pay $500
each. And so that's $37,500 towards the 90,000 for each mission we take for a year. So each mission it costs $90,000. So 3000 737,000 goes to that.
And then the donations, which is 52,500. We raise that money. We raise that money the best
way that we we we can. Lost my notes. Hang tight here. Lost my note because I gotta get it
straight. Oh, here we go. Sorry. Okay. So. How can you help? Well, first you can help us find our veterans. Where are
the where are the World War two veterans and where are the the Korean War that are able that would be able to go. We need them. We want to take them. We
want to honor them. We need guardians. We need guardians to take them. We need volunteers. A lot of hands to make this work. And we need people to
write thank you notes for mail. Call and donations for our fundraisers. So Rusty Bellies will be one of the places that
I'll stop at. I'd like to do for we have one big fundraiser in May, and we, I would like to have a taste of or an
experience of Tarpon Springs. So gift cards, anything that we can, we can put together in baskets or whatever to raise dollars to pay for, to pay for
our, our flights. Corporate sponsorship and business and business sponsorship. That's critical to us. We have a lot of we have a number of them
that donate a lot of money to us every, every single mission. But we need more. So if you have ideas, please tell me. Let me know. Let us help, help us.
You can send donations to our website or you can send a check. And lastly. I want to thank you.
I want to thank all of you for the opportunity to stand here and tell you about Honor Flight. With Honor Flight, we want to give our heroes the opportunity to share this special day with
their comrades and remember the fallen, and share their stories and experiences with other veterans. It's such a healing process. We want to honor them
with gratitude and remembrance with this trip of a lifetime. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share this with
you. Sharon. I'm going to let the commissioners ask you some questions if they want, regarding the honor flight. You know, I promised you that I was
going to go. So put me down for June. You got it. Any other commissioners want to come along? This will be a great opportunity for all of us. Any of the commissioners like to
ask any questions of Sharon? Yeah. I'll be down for for the for the October 1st. You got it. Thank you. Thank you so much. It'll be great. I want to thank you for the program, too.
Sounds amazing. It's a beautiful. Thank you. And can I just one more thing before we go to the other commissioners over here, you know, you you kind of touched and went over the Vietnam thing, and I know
it's personal with you, but you told me a story upstairs about that. The Vietnam veterans were hesitant as not feeling worthy
to go, and that was that's awful, because anybody that served, regardless of of whether a war is politically
popular or not, yes, their sacrifice is equally as as important as anyone else's. And I think our assistant chief
could actually touch on that. Let me go to the commissioners. I want you to say a few words. Do you want to say something? I just want to thank you very, very much. I believe in I have
a lot of friends that have been. And I appreciate your efforts in what you do. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Mayor Sharon, you are the biggest heart. You
really are. I mean, you you live this, you love this and you know it shows you shine. I did want to share a little quick story with you. For a
number of years, I handled the Rotary Youth Exchange out of Tarpon Springs. And I did take 51 kids with me to New York, Philadelphia, and then to Washington. Okay. And you
touched my heart again when you spoke about the Vietnam War and the the 58,000 that perished. Yeah. I was old enough to live
through two drafts, and luckily my numbers were high enough that I was not drafted. When I spoke with the tour guide, who
was giving our kids the 51 kids the tour, they had no idea there was a draft in those days, really. I spoke to them about
Agent Orange. I spoke to them about, you know, the napalm to knock down all of the fall foliage so that they could see what was going on. We did so
many different things that the tour guide was too young to even know. And yet. So when I could so understand how these
people who fought in in a horrible war and then came back to be spat upon and to be disgraced as if they were dishonored to our country, when
they actually should have been all put up on a pedestal because they went to fight, and many of them were my friends because that was my age group. Yeah. So I fully understand
what you mean when you say that. They get a feeling of closure to see this, to see that their, their group, some of them may look at the names and some of
them may get closure by not looking at it. But however they get their peace and quiet. You know, I bless you for what you do, you know that. And you're a
dear friend of mine, so thank you for what you do. Thank you. Yeah. You're right. It's like it's like pulling teeth sometimes to get some of these veterans to agree to go. And I'm like, I just don't, you
know, I don't understand it. So, you know, you just keep talking to them. And little by little they, they come out and they share a little bit more. But yeah, they, they don't think that they're worthy. And the stories that you hear are just
incredible. But I, you know, it's hard for us to imagine that anybody would treat another human being like that, even their own family. And many of these, you know, even World War two and Korean, they they
have not even spoke about this. My dad was one of them. I didn't know my dad got shot until he was almost dying. So. Yeah. So it's it's so important. And, you know, one of the
things that I want to add here real quick is that the criteria for the veterans to go is they have to be able to walk up and down five, five steps on and off, five steps on a bus, and
we'll help them. I mean, we hold their legs or feet whatever, to get them up and down. And the other is they have to be able to go to the bathroom by themselves, and the other is they can't be on
oxygen. That's it. Other than that, we can work everything else out. So we have some, some, you know, older men and women, not so much the women, but more, more men that, you know,
they're they're elderly, assistant chief. They're so grateful. So grateful. Do you want to say a few things? Yeah. The mayor and I were speaking this morning, and I've had the
privilege of serving and spending almost 27 months in combat in Iraq. So I, I told the mayor this was kind of personal for me. Yes, I do have
family members and friends who did come home from Vietnam, who were who were, you know, not treated as well. It was a very divisive time in this country.
So for me, I, I feel a privilege that I was a resident of Tarpon Springs while I was deployed because a lot of people in this community, community sent me stuff to Iraq
in 2003 and back again in 2005. Anita, produce. You know, I call her out because she spearheaded a lot of people from this community that had never met to send me packages
all over. I will get with my wife and figure out what month is good for me to volunteer, because I would love to get up there and hear their stories, because we're all we all have
different stories. We all. I didn't go through Vietnam, but I've been blown up in IEDs quite a few times. Yeah, and we don't have any any memorials for for your service. But we
will. There are no Iraq memorial. Afghanistan. Yeah. Yeah. I'm glad you brought this to me. And I definitely will figure out with my wife what's a good month for me to get up
there and. And if we can just raise awareness in Tarpon Springs to get more exposure, because we all know somebody that could go or whatever. So, yes, I think those Vietnam vets
give them a good welcome home. Yeah. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you so so much. Thank you. I look forward to June and going along with everyone, and I'll see if I can coerce some of my
colleagues to come along as well. Yeah, we'll we'll have fun. Okay. So now we'll go to public comments of things that are not on tonight's agenda. So
would anybody like to come forward? And the assistant chief told me, Mayor Pro Duce, that you are his son's
godmother. Well, you've done a good job in helping him become
a good man. Commissioner. Go ahead. Thank you for your lack. Is 514 Ashland Avenue. This
really touches on my theme of what I want to speak about today. So we're going to identify people. How about
Captain Cody Cork for Winter Haven. Sergeant First Class Noah Tiedjens from Bellevue, Nebraska. Sergeant first class
Nicole Amor. Amor love, 36, from White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Three of the first four killed
already. What is going on? What is going on? We send our our sons and our fathers and our uncles and cousins and brothers
and sisters to wars. For what reason? What reason? Oil, oil, oil and resources. That's what's been the theme. First,
Venezuela. Oh, it looked easy. So let's do the same. We had Gaza, Ukraine, and now I don't know if you guys have studied
history. I remember when all that happened in Tehran in 79. And yes, I was on the draft list too. I didn't get called. And I know friends of mine who
did. And one of the tragedies, and it's sad that we have to rely on our community because our government doesn't take care of our veterans once they
come home. So I only have a few more moments, and I wanted to read this from Isaiah. And this
section is called judgment Against the Nations. Come near you nations and listen. Pay attention, you peoples. Let the
earth hear and all that it is in it, the world and all that comes out of it. The Lord is angry with all the nations, for his wrath is upon all their
armies. He will totally destroy them. He will give them over to slaughter. Their slain will be thrown out. Their dead bodies will send up a stench. The mountains will be soaked with their blood. All the stars of
the heavens will be dissolved in the sky, rolled up like a scroll. All the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine. Like shriveled
figs from the fig tree. We spend more money on war than we do on anything else. We're good at making bombs and weapons. We
need to turn our our lives around and our and the people making these decisions. Thank
you. Okay. Thank you. Anybody else? Hey, there. How are you? My name is Olga Savchuk at 232 West Lemon Street. The issue of
veterans is exceptionally important to me. Most of you know, my boyfriend al was injured in a head on collision in 1995. Vietnam era veteran.
And he passed away in 2019 as a result of that. And I was one of those old hippies that hated the Vietnam War. I ended up becoming involved with the Tampa VA because they had a
head injury and spinal cord program, which morphed after Iran and Iraq into the poly traumatic Injury unit. And from
there we became the Poly Traumatic Family Support Group. And I still go and I can tell you, I, I was listening to the other gentleman talking about the cost of war. Always
remember that the cost is not the person who is actually injured or dies, the cost is the families. I cannot even explain to you how these situations tear families apart.
People in my case, oh, we're going to come help. 24 years I never got help. And so those are the things that we need to pay attention for, especially going into the next few years,
because we were already talking about we said, boy, we haven't had a lot of people at our meetings. And then we said, well, we need a new war and go. And we meant it. Funny, but here's where we're going. So do
respect the veterans. Remember them all. But believe me when I tell you that the VA provides excellent medical care and the one thing everyone needs is an advocate. Even for myself, if I
go tell a doctor something, they don't pay attention. When Olga spoke about how it was happening and if anybody needs any tutoring on how to get
through to the VA, call me because I'm good at it. Thank you. Thank you Olga. Anyone else? I'll give you some enlightenment. We had a lady
here many years ago. Can you state your name, mayor? Oh, yes. Excuse me. Anita, 901 Bayshore Drive. We had a lady here years ago who came to every meeting
and was very involved in the city. Mary Quisenberry oh, yeah. David remembers her. Frank remembers her. Peter remembers her. I remember you remember her. She was a force to behold.
I didn't mess with her. She had three doctors graduated from Vassar. I think she taught a little while at Saint Pete College. She taught at the
University of Florida, and she taught at Harvard. She had her doctorates in humanities. And this is a funny story. One night we were talking about
foreign countries, and Thomas Craig got up and he says, well, we know about Greece, but we don't know about the others. And she got up and said something about Scotland and Ireland, and I didn't know
y'all were doing the proclamation tonight. And she and I don't know, I don't have verification of all of this, but she got up and said, be
proud of what Greece gave to Ireland and Scotland. And she said years ago in Greece, they didn't have enough prisons or jails for their convicts. So
they sent them to Scotland and they sent them to Ireland. And when these men were over there, they entertain themselves and they killed the lambs to cook the lamb. They take the stomach
and make the instrument that the Greek people use for their music. And that's where the bagpipe came from. Oh, and she said, I've taught that in my
humanities at Gainesville and at Harvard. And I want you all to know that I don't have it in documentation, but it may be in old tapes or in old meetings. But she got up and said, that's
where they originated, the bagpipes. So I thought that would be funny and beneficial for tonight. Very nice. Thank you, Dave, for going over there and giving Tarpon Springs
notice and a name and recognition when you go. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, so
we'll move on to our consent agenda. We have. Okay. Item number five satisfaction release of leans. Number six
special events. Sunset Hills PTA Color Run 2020 66B Saint Nicholas Holy Friday Procession
2026 Award File portable 60 kilowatt generator for lift stations. Number eight Award contract post storm recovery services. Number nine Award
services for hydrated lime parts and service and number ten award file for electrical testing, maintenance and repair services. Does anyone wish to
pull any of these items? No. Okay, could I get a motion? So moved. Second, no discussion. Roll call please. Yes, yes,
Commissioner. Yes. Yes. Vice mayor Eisner. Yes. Mayor. Kuleana. Yes. Okay. Let's go to ordinances and resolutions. The first ordinance. Would the city attorney please read the
ordinance by title ordinance 2020 601, an ordinance of the Board of Commissioners of the City of Tarpon Springs, Florida, amending section five, Dash 26 of the Code of Ordinances in
its entirety. Boat launch permit. Providing for conflict. Providing for severability, providing for codification, and providing for an effective date, that is, ordinance number 2020
601, read by title only on second reading. Publication was February 25th, 2026. So this is since this is second reading, I don't think staff. Did staff
have any additional information? Okay. So is there any commissioner questions of staff on this second reading? Okay.
Is there any public comments on this item? There's one there. And then the city hall in 20. Come to that, we can't hear you. It's okay. You got to say your
name again. I'm sorry. I'm still at 232 West Elm Street. You know, I live right by Creek Park and talk in the microphone. And because it's not, it's not
that we can't hear you. They can't hear you five words or less. Why did the subject of the permitting come up? Was there a problem with allowing people at the boat ramp just
real quick? Just why why was this brought up? Permits for for launch permits? Well, one is to get some water down there. I mean, we got people parking
in front of people's parking things, and we have a lot of. So the permits help with that whole process, trying to get order in down there. Any other
public comments? Let's come back to the motion. Back to the board for a motion. So moved. Second, okay. If there's no comments, let's go to roll call,
please. Mr. Banther. Yes, Commissioner DiDonato. Yes, Commissioner. Yes, yes, vice mayor. Yes, mayor. Yes. Okay.
We'll go to the next item. Number 12. It's with the city attorney. Read the ordinance by title, please. Ordinance 2020 602, an ordinance of the Board
of Commissioners of the City of Tarpon Springs, Florida, amending section 18, Dash 14 of the Code of Ordinances in its entirety. Parking of large vehicles and trailers and residential districts.
Providing for conflict. Providing for severability, providing for codification, and providing for an effective date, that is, ordinance 2020 602, read by title only on second
reading. Publication was February 25th, 2026. Okay is since its second reading. Is there any additional information? No, sir. Are there
any Commissioner? Questions of staff? Is there any public comments on this item? Parallax
514 Ashland Avenue. As I mentioned last time, another picture from this last weekend. It's more more than just Craig
Park again. That corner of Reed Street Canal and where turn spring. That's a popular place. Also. Sure there's some other
areas, maybe on Center Street or some of the other areas in that back area, but I would recommend that you look beyond
just there and Sunset Beach. And again, as since we're talking about, you know, kind of the beach, because it does include sunset, sunset beach. I
want to reiterate what Mayor Produce continues to say. We need a lifeguard out there this summer. So if you're going to spend money on somebody out
there to be tracking permits and parking sizes or however they're doing it, it wouldn't hurt to have a lifeguard out there. Also. Thank you. Anyone
else like to speak on this? Hey, Commissioner, how are you? Susan? 214 Earl Street, Tarpon Springs. Years ago when I sat up there, this came up about
the parking and trailer parking and boat parking. And we did come up with one solution, and we started charging for permits.
Helped a little bit, but this has gone on for years and years. And what I'm concerned about is parking our community. Okay, is a boating community. We are a
waterfront community. We have water surrounding our entire town. There are avid boaters in this community, me being one, so limiting the size of the the
width and the length of the boat and the trailer. I'm not sure what what you know how that's going to help our residents at all to boat
because, you know, just a normal 22 foot boat and is in length. And how much in in width it it's it's a little bit bigger than that. And I understand this is and I
understand that this is a safety concern. But before we pass this ordinance, have we looked at any other options like maybe only some streets
you can park or I had brought up in the past? The, the. Shuffleboard courts, maybe designing that into trailer boat and trailer parking. What
about remember we bought the the old Hoffman lot on the corner there? I don't know what we paid $800,000 for. And it sits there that that could be converted into boat trailer
parking. So is there are there any have has anybody looked into an alternative before we pass this ordinance and restrict our residents of
parking their boats and trailers? And I understand my in-laws live right there. I get the craziness of it, I do, but there's got to there has to be some sort of a compromise, you
know, to help out our our residents. Thank you, thank you. Anybody else? I promise last
time. My name is Olga Savchuk. 232 West Lemon. I live on West Lemon Street. And let me tell you something, the government spent a ton of money making our streets absolutely gorgeous,
but people are cruising by 40 miles an hour and they go straight from Bath Street all the way to the to the bayou. Except when there are boats parked. It's the only time we
have slow traffic, so I really am. I don't and I haven't heard anyone in my neighbor think seeing the boats is kind of interesting, because we know people are visiting and are enjoying themselves, so if they
could do something where we're. Unless the residents like me are complaining, are we over legislating something that may not be a problem, at least in
our neighborhood, and stop signs? That was the other thing that I said, that the boats parked there slowed the traffic down. It's really true. I can get from Bath Street to Shaddock where I turn without
using my gas, just cruising. But people are going by so fast and I don't like stop signs. But I sure would like one at Shaddock and lemon and every street down the way because and
come by 232 you will see the curves in the road already from the brick, from the bricks, the curves in the road. So anyway, I'm not going to speak anymore.
Thank you. There's no other items. Commissioner. Okay. Is there anybody else out there? All right, let's come back to.
Let's come back to the board for a motion. So moved. Second. I do, let's have discussion. Commissioner Banther. Yes, I want to thank. It seems like homecoming night. We have mayor produce. We always have. We
have we always have Commissioner Dulac. And then. Then Commissioner Slattery, I just, you know, as we all know. And the past electeds. No, as no as well. Come to us before,
before, before second reading. It's kind of hard at second reading to to change the ship. So maybe we can work some of that in here in the future. But I appreciate you all you all,
you know, coming out tonight and voicing your, your your your concerns. Thank you. Commissioner Donato. Yes, sir.
Commissioner coleus. Yeah, I mean. Former Commissioner Kika is right there. There has to be that balance of trailers and being able to vote in the community, as that is the main
boat ramp in Tarpon Springs. It's you know, the Sunset Beach isn't big enough, but I told that Mack that Mack or that recreation master plan, I said,
for $250,000, do not come back to us and tell us you can't find us a third boat ramp, or your master plan will be a failure in my eyes, you know? And so we'll see what that
entails and see if there's some type of property to help expand. I even mentioned purchasing Howard Park and that whole softball area field that's completely wide open could be
used for many, many boats. But, you know, so there's some good ideas out there. And but she brought up a very good point. We're going to stick to this for now. And I mean, don't be
surprised if we don't see a lot of activity with boating over there, because the boat regulations aren't, you know, too big. So thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you. Mayor, I
fully understand I am a boater as well, but we were getting just so you know, a lot of complaints. All you need is a fire truck to turn down any of those streets in the fruit
section, and all of a sudden, they can't be backing up. And, you know, their their time is so precious to get to an emergency, a fire, you know,
and most of the trailers, as I said in the first reading. Most boats, eight foot six, the trailers are another foot and a half to two feet on each side.
And most of those streets are undersized. And it's just unfortunate that we have small streets and large trailer widths, and you have to be able
to have emergency vehicles go up and down. I'm not adverse to try to see about getting another location to place trailers and vehicles, and
possibly have a shuttle service to bring people back and forth. That might be an idea, but I can't have people be at risk and not have an emergency
vehicle to be able to go up and down those particular streets. We can look at which streets have maybe 20 or 21ft wide, where you can get a an
emergency vehicle up and down. That might be a venue, but the first thing is for safety and to make sure that we can get emergency vehicles. So that is
my take on it. Thank you. Yeah. The vice mayor said it. Well that's that it's really a safety issue. And those streets are so narrow in the fruit bowl
area. And these trailers are preventing emergency vehicles from being able to come down the street. So I don't think we have a choice, but we we do
need to look for other alternatives for people to park. And that's something that we, as we get into our budget process, that we can make some emphasis on. Let's go to we we
have a motion. Everybody's had a say, let's vote roll call please. Yes. Mr. Donato? Yes, Commissioner. Yes, yes, vice
mayor Eisner. Yes, mayor. Yes. Okay. And the last item has been deferred to April 28th. So we. That concludes our meeting, our items. Now we're going to
go to board comments before we start the board comments I do want to make an announcement that our new commissioner in
April will be Lori Weaver. So she has won the election. And again, I want to thank all the the people who ran for office
and thank them for their service and tell them that they should stay in the game. You know, in a couple years, we're going to have, I don't know, four spots coming up and, you
know, stay involved and and you should be proud of yourselves. So let's go to Commissioner Banther. Now let's go down the list. I mean, I'm sorry, Vice
Mayor. I mean, the assistant chief, assistant chief, vice mayor, and I got I got you. I was like, vice chief. You don't. You don't get chief of vice mayor. You got the B squad, you got me and Scott. So I have no
comment, okay? No comment. No comment over here. No comment. Did you enjoy being up here with us? It was an easy one. Yeah, yeah, that's why we gave it to you. That's right. All
right. City clerk and city clerk. Thank you so much for all you do at election time. You make everything she does deserve. She is amazing. She is.
She is so fair and informative to all the the candidates and Switzerland. She she's more than Switzerland. Switzerland really didn't do much. She does a lot. So anyways, no offense
to any of the Swiss that are out there, but. So let's go to Commissioner Banther. Yes. Thank you. I want to congratulate Commissioner elect Weaver. And for Vasileia, who
was a close second, I want to encourage her to get on a city board and try again. As as the mayor said, we're going to have a lot of openings up here as we're all forced into, into,
into like retirement now, especially me, thank God. So I'm sure some are happy, trust me. So I really hope that she tries again. And it's very it's
very good to see. I was talking with Commissioner Cooley before. It's good to see a healthy, contested election, you know what I mean? It's you know, it's, you know, people that were enthusiastic to run and,
you know, really put their all into it. I saw some old school campaigning this, this, this, this, this, this time around. And even though I don't support obviously everybody in the race, it made me happy to see that
because that's how it should be. Furthermore, I know that Commissioner comments at the end have become a little bit controversial. I did email the board. It's a matter of public
record for a a plea for civility, and I would ask that we keep working on that. I buried the hatchet with many people up here, and I would encourage us to continue doing that. I'll use my judgment, but
I obviously speak first. I guess I'll be speaking second after Miss Weaver's up here. But if it gets nasty down the line when I'm here, I'm just going to walk out. I'm not going to go home with that kind
of negative energy, and I'm not going to I'm not going to do that and entertain that. And that's no disrespect to any of my colleagues. You have freedom of speech. You all are grown men. You have the right to say which which which, which you
will. But I also have agency, and I and I, and I can walk out as well. So I just want to keep that in mind. And I hope that we continue, especially in this new board, that we find ways to
work together, find ways to collaborate. I know we can do it because I've done it with every person up here. And that's my encouragement. Thank you, thank you. Well said. Commissioner Di Donato, I too
would like to congratulate Miss Weaver and wish her the best. And I'm thankful for relatively clean, clean race and I too would encourage everyone to
adopt. Let's get along to work together and do the right thing for the people of the city. That's why we're up here. So again, happy for Miss Weaver,
Commissioner Coolio's. Yes, I want to congratulate. Miss Weaver was a tough, competitive race. She earned it. And she will be speaking for the citizens of Tarpon Springs. Also. Want to speak out and
tell Miss Vasileia as well as Craig. Thank you for running again and participating. It's very good to get involved. And I just wanted to follow up as one thing as we talk about what
Commissioner Banther said as well and as what Commissioner Donato said, we need civility, but we can't have false statements and very, very
vulgar activity come up in here and certain purposes. So obviously there's going to be someone who's going to be able to speak after me for afterwards. So but the point is,
I was accused of by Mr. Vice Eisner and his little private messages to people that I threatened Frank DiDonato while the police escorted me out of
the last meeting. And so and these are big statements. These are not, you know, little statements that you can go around and publicly socialize and think you're just going to give false information out
there like that. Also, we had the wife of Mr. Eisner sit there and say, two weeks ago, two senior citizens from the dais, members were violently verbally attacked, and this
bully had to be physically removed from the building by the police, which again, wasn't the case. And so I just wanted to follow up. And maybe if Assistant Chief can help us
just explain the situation, because these are serious comments and offenses and they need to be squashed right away. As I asked Mr. Gibson to help
be someone there to watch as we escorted out. And in reference to your question of whether we escorted you out or or asked to escort you out, I we were not asked to escort you out, nor
were you made aware of any threats of violence or anything like that. We know that there was a heated argument between you guys, and the officer took it upon himself to walk outside
to deescalate, but there was nobody that asked us to remove you. There was no threat that we were made aware of or anything like that. Thank you, Assistant Chief. So just want to squash any type of those
rumors. I think it's very important that, you know, we speak the truth up here and not try to say extra things. But I look forward to working, Miss Weaver, believe me, I've had major issues with other people,
and we work just fine up here. So another week or so, we'll be fine getting in, talking about policies and moving forward and having a great government. So I want to thank everybody. Thank
you, Vice Mayor. Thank you. Mayor. I want to congratulate Visalia for doing a very, very good race. I did a lot of sign
flipping with a lot of people. I know a lot of people. At the same time, I want to congratulate Lori for really being a tough person here on a
short period of time. I don't believe in the comments of Born Here that that's the only people that should be running the city. We all love the city
and we all have the city in our hearts. I actually even spoke to Craig Lunt today and I said I disagree, you know, with supporting him, but I was very
proud to he and I put our arms around each other. And, you know, I said I'd be happy to work with him. So all of these people should be congratulated for the contribution and the
hard work that they all did to get involved. As far as what the commissioner said, I agree with him 100% with everything he said, and I'll probably walk
out with him when things go uncivil. That's not my style. I do respond to things, but I don't want to do that. And more
important than that, I did at the last meeting, I had a very, very busy week and it was an extremely long agenda and I
missed something. So I tried to this week, see if I could amend a an ordinance for that $19.3
million that I originally agreed to to take the loan out for. But there was, there was
in, in the makeup, it showed that there was 2.5 million allotted in 28 and 2.5 million allotted in 29. And that threw
me for a little bit of where the $6 million was coming from. And I didn't realize at the time. But afterwards, I got an explanation, a further explanation, that 1 million
went for something, and 5 million went and was broken up into 2.5. So I want to verbally, for the record, state that I
want to amend my vote from a negative to a positive vote, just as I know it won't change the the ordinance because the
deal closed. But just verbally. I want to amend that motion to be a positive and that's all I got. I just am happy to meet up
later with Lori and have a good time and get some sleep. I'm a little tired, so thank you. Thank you all for coming to.
Thank you. So as far as the first, I want to I want to congratulate Commissioner Banther because he actually won
an election effective today, because he ran actually effective back in November. Commissioner Banther ran as is
will be forever. It will be registered that he was elected without opposition. So, you know, we don't have any control of who runs against us. We put
our name in the hat and in the, in the game and, and sometimes we're fortunate. There's I think several of us have had
elections with no opposition. And it's easier. So it's a lot easier. But anyways, anyways, I
want to congratulate him and Commissioner DiDonato. You know, we're going to have time to give you a good send off and for what you've done and and
just, you know, that I was there that when I'm having breakfast with somebody when they mentioned that you might want to come back and help us fill that seat and bring some
balance and, and some stability to our board, and you, you stepped up and then you decided to run to keep the seat again. And I think you did it for the
betterment of the community. You have served our city. Honorably for many, many years as multiple time mayor and multiple time commissioner. And,
you know, it's it's not easy. I can imagine you become the mayor and then you come back and now you're a commissioner. I think all of us are commissioners, regardless of whether you have the gavel or
not. But the fact that you were willing to come back and do that for our community says so much about you as a man, and I
will forever be thankful for what you did. And I think the community should be as well. So
I want to thank you so much. And the meeting is adjourned at
746. Miracles do happen. Thank you. So.