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1. 1Call to Order - Roll Call▶ 0:00
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   Review of Legislative Priorities by Sunrise Consulting

   discussed

   Sean Foster of Sunrise Consulting Company, the city's lobbyist, presented an update on the 2020 Florida legislative session, reviewing key bills affecting cities (plastic bags/straws preemption, firearms control, sunscreen regulation, recycling) and the city's appropriation requests including the Cody River Trail underpass and Beach Street stormwater drainage. He discussed the prior year's vetoed $1 million for the trail, the need for a feasibility study (expected December), and legislative leadership changes. Council also discussed concerns about Florida League of Cities leadership transitions.

   📍Beach Street📍Cody River Trail / underpass between Port Richey and New Port Richey🏢FDOT🏢Florida Association of Counties🏢Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)🏢Florida League of Cities🏢Sunrise Consulting Company👤Chris Sprowls👤Debbie Manz👤Kathleen Passidomo👤Matt👤Paul Renner👤Ray Sittig👤Representative Mariano👤Sean Foster👤Senator Hooper👤Senator Mayfield👤Senator Wilton Simpson👤Speaker Oliva#Beach Street stormwater drainage project#Cody River Trail underpass project#Florida Drug and Cosmetic Act#HB 113#HB 172#HB 73#Mayfield Grant#Senate Bill 326#Senate Bill 40

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   [00:00:12] We have only a couple items on the agenda. One is legislative priorities. Mrs. Manz. Yes and with that I'd like to introduce Sean Foster to those of you that may not know him. [00:00:28] He is with Sunrise Consulting Company and serves in a lobbyist capacity for the city and he is prepared this evening to make a presentation to you on the current legislative session. And with that, it's all you. [00:00:43] Thank you very much. First I want to say I'm glad I'm here before you adjourned this time. I was walking in. I'll say the session has started off, we are in our, on another platform, one more week of committee weeks. We had one this last week and we have one more week of committee weeks and then session starts on July 15th. [00:01:05] It has been, I'm sorry, January 15th, sorry, January 15th, 16th and it's been the slowest starting session I have seen in memory. The least amount of bills and all of a sudden we were trying to figure out, I mean committee, in other words, so committees get scheduled a week before and then all of a sudden the week that is supposed to start, like on a Monday, they start getting, they've been getting canceled and we couldn't figure it out. [00:01:29] And Speaker Oliva came out with and said, I want to make this the most productive legislative session we've ever had, but we want to pass the least amount of bills ever. So I take that in a sense for the League of Cities and what has happened to us over the years, the city of New Port Richey, meaning the implementation of a lot of unfunded mandates, that that is hopefully a good thing coming down, but it is interesting to see the least amount of bills that have been filed and the least amount of bills that have been passed so far this session. [00:01:59] So I put that in. I told you last year only like 5.5% of bills passed last year with the legislature, which was the lowest number. So let's go a little bit on the update here, capital update, plastic bags, which we've been talking about, straws. [00:02:15] As you remember last year, they reversed that decision to allow local municipalities to make decisions. This year now it's plastic bags and we'll talk about that in a minute. But basically plastic bags continue to create controversy among state lawmakers. You know, heaven forbid that the local cities mandate and decide if they want to have plastic bags or even charge for plastic bags or straws. [00:02:37] Local firearms control. Another issue that Democrats are working on is the removal of state regulations and the sale of firearms and ammunition. Obviously a lot of this follows up with what happened with Parkland, you know, even last year and it's been a very sensitive issue. There was a large group of young men and women up in Tallahassee this past week advocating on some changes and what they have in local firearms control. [00:03:01] And lastly, water policy as we have predicted was going to be a big issue and continues to be a big issue. The most valued resources we all can understand from Florida residents and visitors. Without it, we would have some huge issues. And there's going to be some funding mechanisms that the governor put out in his budget just yesterday and I'll talk about that in a little bit. [00:03:20] So every year that we've ever had, we've been able to do what we call water projects, water grants, and it can go through the legislature and we can ask for any amount from $50,000, you can ask for $50 million if you want, but very rarely do you ever get anything more than $7,000 or $8,000 for local municipalities. [00:03:39] And they have proposed for the past couple years to do something of a nature of about $150 million and they would do it as matching grants for cities. But it was never proposed by a governor, it was discussed as policy. This year the governor put out in his budget at 5 p.m. yesterday and at the end of this program I'll go into a little bit more detail on how that would impact us. [00:04:01] Sorry about this being a little bit so small, but again, HB 73 and Senate Bill 326 is about environmental regulation specific requirements of contracts between residential recycling centers and recovered materials. [00:04:15] As you can see down here, it would prohibit, again another prohibit, counties and cities from requiring collection and transport of processing or contaminated recycled materials by residential recycling collectors or recovered materials processing facilities. [00:04:30] I do want to say again what I had told you earlier that it's been the slowest session so far. Both of those bills have been filed, but neither one of them have even been heard in a committee as of yet. Again, they still have time to get through the process, but usually a bill like that impacting would have gone at least through one committee at this point through session. [00:04:50] The next one down, again, preemption of recyclable materials removes the state prohibition and regulation of local government and the use of plastic bags. This has been a recurring topic. They're going to also see the issue probably come up with straws again, probably trying to reverse again. [00:05:08] That's the Florida League of Cities, one of the things we're working on, that if a city wants to get rid of straws, they can get rid of straws. So you're going to see that one come back again even though they overturned us last year. [00:05:18] HB 113 and 172, the Florida Drug and Cosmetic Act will block local regulation over the counter drugs and cosmetics, which include all sunscreens. That has been a huge issue, especially down the Keys, as you can recall. [00:05:35] Or maybe you didn't know about this, but last year they said they could no longer do that spray sunscreen that you can use. They prohibit that down in there for good reason. They have reefs, that is their tourism, that is their choice they have chose. The state believes that they should not be able to, same thing with the straws, be able to allow local communities to not allow that type of sunscreen. [00:05:58] And Senate Bill 40 again, a prohibition of plastic carry-out bags and straws. This bill would prohibit a store or food service business from providing a customer a carry-out bag made from plastic film. So this bill would actually say you cannot allow somebody to take a plastic bag home with them or a business from selling or providing to a customer a single-use plastic straw. [00:06:23] It seems to be all plastic this year, straws and bags and everything else, unbelievable. Those are the big ones. Don't get me wrong, we've got about 14 or 15 other bills, but the ones that are getting some comments around with the legislature and leadership, there's other bills we're doing and we'll continue to pass that through to your city manager. [00:06:43] So of course we have some appropriation requests. So the reason I have this one up here and the next one, I want to let you know the Cody River Trail, which I call the underpass, but we'll call it the property we know between New Port Richey and New Port Richey that we did have funded last year for a million dollars. [00:07:00] We had that funding stripped from us, vetoed from the governor at the last. It was a million dollars that was given to us. The reason that we were shared was we did not have a feasibility study. We have a feasibility study they're working on and I believe we'll have it done in December. [00:07:17] Last year the million dollars was coming through FDOT money, the correct allocations through FDOT? Yes, sir. Which it was determined we couldn't use FDOT money for anything related to golf carts. So is this request that we put in this year, is that going to be coming through FDOT as well? [00:07:32] No, that is through a DEP grant that they do. It does say that through the provision of what the legislature had done and the way they voted on it, we still would have been able to use that one. But the biggest reason they gave us the feasibility study, we are on top of it, we're doing it, we're reporting back. [00:07:52] We'll talk about it in a few minutes on a few items on it. It just didn't happen. It took a lot of communication back to Debbie. They wanted to know, one, had the feasibility study been planned or completed? We had told them yes that it was and the cost of it and what we were working on and how the collaboration was happening. The other one came that they wanted to make sure that there would be some matching dollars and then there was a grant that they kept on thinking that they were hoping that the city would have done. [00:08:20] And we tried to let them know, first of all, we discovered it wasn't us that really could have done the grant in the beginning anyways. We had looked into it, but it was the county of New Port Richey who was considered the fiscal agent for it, we'll say, leading it. But they said that they had looked into the grant that we were hoping to get and we were unable and not able to apply for it because of the mechanisms that were needed. [00:08:42] And when I say this, the reason I'm mentioning this, the grant is called the Mayfield Grant. It's named after a gentleman who was in office. His wife is now a state senator. She is over the agricultural appropriations, which I told you the DEP, that funding would go through. So we had to let her know that that grant did not apply to us. We tried to actually apply for it. She was going to make sure that we were going to get some funding from it. [00:09:04] So that took some work. I appreciate Debbie's support and the staff. We worked on that for several weeks to make sure we got their questions answered. So what happens is when you go before them and you're asking them to do their appropriations, it's not as easy as sometimes just passing over the piece of paper that they filled out, but it also comes back from questions from them and from staff when we file it. Did you have a question? [00:09:26] I'm sorry to stop you. No, of course. Regarding that grant, if the county would have applied for that grant, would they have qualified? No, they would not. And it was a good question. That was one of the things we did. We got the county to look into that for us as the agent. And because of some of the applications in there that did not apply to us, we were not. And it was unfortunate, again, because we had her support and ready to move forward on it. So, yes, sir. [00:09:52] The next one is going to be the Beach Street stormwater drainage. Are you all familiar with that one? Yes. I thought so. So I don't have to go into it, too. I figured you were. There was a little bit of explanation, just explaining to them a little bit how the connections would work on this, where it was at in the city, how it would impact the homes that you're building in that area, and what it would do for the socioeconomic status there. [00:10:16] So you have two supportive, I would tell you right off the bat, Representative Mariano asked to do this one, wanted to do this one and support us. Also, the other one that we just talked about, Senator Hooper was very interested in this also. And when we got him a little bit more information that we got back from the city manager, he was willing and jumped on that very quickly. [00:10:38] There was some discussion, and before I go to this real quick, of still trying to do the overpass. Senator Hooper is interested in it and has showed some interest in it. Representative Mariano, which before was switched, before Representative Mariano was interested in it and Senator Hooper was not. Well, I think it came from a little bit is you all had dedicated a good amount of being willing to submit it. He may still submit it. The deadline for the house has passed. [00:11:06] But there's no deadline for the Senate. So he still has shown interest in that. And I know you had cared a lot about that and been concerned when we had talked. And he thought the amount that you guys were willing to put into it, not only in that project, but all your projects, is very helpful. [00:11:20] They look at what is the local impact, meaning, I'm sorry, what is the local buy-in. And those who do zero, those who do only 10% or so, have less of a chance. I'll be very honest with you. So we have really stepped up to the plate on these projects. [00:11:36] I thought we had a million dollars you guys dedicated for the overpass. [00:11:41] You're thinking around four? [00:11:44] Depends on if it is golf cart accessible or not. It would range from three million to five million. [00:11:53] It's funny you'd ask that because that was one of the things we went over was we have the older feasibility study and with that amount. And that's why some of the questions were coming. What would the current cost be with today's construction? What would it be over the golf cart cost also allowing it? [00:12:07] So there was a couple of variables that without the updated feasibility study, we didn't have those specific numbers for him. [00:12:14] But it still didn't change. If it came back that it cost more, the city would be willing to do it and we'd get the million dollars from the state. [00:12:21] So we're still going to try for that. We're going to push for that. [00:12:24] House leadership, there's been a few updates since we saw you. It's still going to be currently Chris Browse, right from Pinellas County. I say he's from Pasco County. A lot of people know that familiar name. [00:12:35] He will be speaker next year. He had his designation ceremony a few weeks ago, just as Senator Simpson did. Senator Simpson had his designation ceremony. [00:12:45] So we will have, as you know, a senator from our area, which will be the Senate President. [00:12:50] And Chris Browse, who again I say he's from North Pinellas, but he's really Pasco County with his family living here, is going to be the speaker of the House. [00:12:58] It's been decided for the position after that is going to be a gentleman named Paul Renner. Paul Renner is from the Jacksonville area. [00:13:04] And just last week, the next Senate President has also been picked, Kathleen Pasadena, who is extremely close to Senator Wilton Simpson. [00:13:13] She has been now going to be the President-designee for 2022-2024. And that just happened last week. [00:13:21] She is from South Florida area, down in Collier County. [00:13:25] They actually, some of the things were going on, they didn't know if she was going to run for Congress for an open seat. [00:13:29] That happened down there, but she said no, she's going to stay in and she's running for... [00:13:42] Which band is that? [00:13:43] On the sunscreen. [00:13:45] Oh yes, I agree. I agree. [00:13:47] That's a big deal. [00:13:48] It is a big deal. [00:13:51] So you can't see all these here, but this, I'm sorry in the dark, this just kind of gives you what we do on a weekly basis. [00:13:56] So there's a weekly phone call for the Florida League of Cities that we participate in. [00:14:01] That's an update on the issues and the amendments and the bills and where they're going in the process. [00:14:05] The next one is provide legislative updates and progress reports and communication with your city manager and myself. [00:14:13] If there's any amendments that will come up during the week, I get it to her. [00:14:16] She gets to the staff and gets it back to me very quickly. [00:14:19] And that'll be happening between now and the next three or four weeks when we start seeing a lot of these bills start coming through. [00:14:24] So we'll be talking to each other as we did last session. [00:14:27] Just kind of feeling, okay, if this amendment passed, how does it impact the city? [00:14:31] What would be the cost for it? [00:14:33] And it's something for us to go back and report to the committee staff and also stand up and speak at the committee on your behalf and advocate. [00:14:40] The next one is, of course, is we meet and work with your local legislative delegation every week. [00:14:45] Kind of an example of this is we go and meet regardless if there's a bill, regardless if there's a meeting coming up. [00:14:52] A good example is I was going around meeting with another client and another delegation, and I walked in and they said, [00:15:00] This just happened last week. [00:15:01] They said, hey, did you know that so-and-so [00:15:03] is filing a bill? [00:15:05] And I said, no, they're only filing one bill. [00:15:08] So I got the information very quickly [00:15:09] and come to find out it was actually somebody [00:15:11] and an employee who worked for this other city [00:15:14] was asking their state legislator to file a bill. [00:15:17] They had the employee went above the city manager, [00:15:20] above the council, went directly to them and asked for it. [00:15:23] And we intervened on that very quickly. [00:15:24] Did not happen in New Port Richey. [00:15:26] This was another city. [00:15:27] But it just gives you a good example of the communication [00:15:29] going and meeting with them every week that we do, [00:15:31] that we can intervene on some of these items on your behalf. [00:15:35] And lastly, of course, we participate and work [00:15:37] with the Florida League of Cities lobbying team. [00:15:39] And you'll see a lot of division of folks [00:15:42] will find out who's got the best relationships and the strategy [00:15:45] to go after that and talk to the committee [00:15:47] members and the legislators. [00:15:50] Listen, before a bill gets to a session, [00:15:52] we kind of, I mean, before it comes up to a committee, [00:15:54] we kind of know exactly how that amendment's going to come out. [00:15:56] We've counted our votes. [00:15:58] We know if it's going to be voted for or against [00:16:01] and how many would do it. [00:16:02] And that's a pretty interesting thing in our procedure here. [00:16:05] Obviously, you can't talk amongst you. [00:16:07] It's hard for me to go back and forth, [00:16:08] because in Tallahassee, I can say, hey, [00:16:10] this person's going to vote in that manner. [00:16:12] But of course, you can't do that. [00:16:14] But that's part of the process. [00:16:15] In Tallahassee, we can't do that. [00:16:16] Right. [00:16:17] I know Tallahassee's OK, but not here. [00:16:18] And it's crazy. [00:16:20] And they do it during the committee meeting. [00:16:22] They'll stand up and walk right behind and decide [00:16:25] how things are re-voted. [00:16:26] And I think you saw that happen during the delegation meeting. [00:16:29] So that is a good example of it. [00:16:32] Can we stop here for League of Cities, [00:16:34] just for a little discussion of that? [00:16:35] Of course. [00:16:36] I don't know the particular titles. [00:16:38] There's an administrative leader, [00:16:40] and that's changing hands right now. [00:16:42] There's somebody stepping down, and somebody's coming in. [00:16:44] The tall blonde's coming in. [00:16:46] All right. [00:16:46] And then there's the president. [00:16:48] I don't know what their titles are. [00:16:49] Ray Siddick. [00:16:50] Pardon me? [00:16:50] Mr. Siddick, the top guy retiring. [00:16:53] Is that correct? [00:16:54] Yeah, right. [00:16:55] But there's a new lady coming in. [00:16:56] OK, then there's also the president, [00:16:58] some representative from some city. [00:17:02] He wears a hamas, so I know he's Jewish. [00:17:05] But I don't know his name. [00:17:06] Can't remember his name. [00:17:08] But I'm saying this because Matt and I were there, [00:17:12] and I found that it seemed like the president that's going out [00:17:17] didn't work very hard this last year. [00:17:21] Maybe he did in Tallahassee, but both the sessions [00:17:25] that I went to, the one in August and the one last week, [00:17:28] weren't very strong. [00:17:30] And I don't know if it's him easing on out and easing on in. [00:17:35] But then I was also kind of bothered [00:17:40] by the new president from whatever city it is. [00:17:44] I can't remember. [00:17:45] It's a real small city. [00:17:46] But his emphasis was going to be on the youth. [00:17:49] And I'm like, what is that about? [00:17:52] So I don't know if you're getting [00:17:54] any kind of feelings in your conversations [00:17:56] you have with leadership. [00:17:57] We haven't. [00:17:57] We kind of felt that last session. [00:18:00] During session, they usually have at least one or two [00:18:03] lunches where we all get in this one room, all the lobbyists. [00:18:05] So there's 60 or 70 of us, those internal and external [00:18:09] for the cities. [00:18:09] And I saw both of those canceled last year, [00:18:12] which I was really, really, those were pretty vital. [00:18:15] Right in the middle, in the meat of session [00:18:17] to see those canceled. [00:18:18] So there were some of us who were a little bewildered [00:18:20] as much as it was going on against the cities last year [00:18:22] that something like that would be canceled. [00:18:25] But I would say, comparing to, I don't [00:18:28] want to talk too negative, but the Florida Association [00:18:30] of Counties, the Florida League of Cities, [00:18:32] I see a little bit more output sometimes [00:18:34] by the Florida Association of Counties. [00:18:35] But yeah, I've seen a little bit in the past year, [00:18:38] the difference that you could say. [00:18:39] I just figure maybe he's sliding out. [00:18:41] I don't know how strong is this lady coming in. [00:18:43] I'll say for this fact that, but when [00:18:45] I have a specific question on them, generally, [00:18:48] and I need to get some information or more [00:18:49] information on a bill that they're working on, [00:18:52] I do get replies from them. [00:18:54] So maybe it's because I'm directly [00:18:55] going to the staff that I know, because they [00:18:58] divide it up on policy. [00:18:59] So I'm not always going to the president. [00:19:01] I'm going really to the ones who work specifically [00:19:03] on those policies. [00:19:05] I was just hoping that this transition, [00:19:08] she might come out of, you know. [00:19:09] Well, I will say this. [00:19:10] That's a blazing in support, you know. [00:19:12] Right. [00:19:13] The strength comes back, because it hasn't come back [00:19:15] in the conferences, you know. [00:19:17] I mean, it hasn't definitely. [00:19:18] It wasn't the people there that there was last summer, either. [00:19:21] Well, I'd still, what we have done in years past [00:19:23] with Florida League of Cities, we'll [00:19:25] go and talk to a legislator on our issue, [00:19:26] and they'll say is, you know, who's [00:19:27] got a relationship with Senator Simpson? [00:19:29] Like, OK, well, then bring in me, the lobbyist, [00:19:31] the Florida League of Cities, and maybe another person, [00:19:34] and let's go meet with them. [00:19:35] I haven't seen the push for that this year [00:19:37] that I saw a little bit last year, the coordination on that. [00:19:39] And so maybe that'll come back, hopefully, before session. [00:19:42] Because what we would do is, you know, not just on our own, [00:19:44] but take somebody from the Florida League of Cities, [00:19:47] and then somebody from their district, [00:19:48] and say, you know, Senator or Representative, [00:19:50] this is how it impacts your city and your district. [00:19:53] Like I said, I haven't seen that as much [00:19:55] as it was active last year. [00:19:56] On that topic, Chopper, the other person that's retiring [00:19:59] is the longstanding legal counsel, who has just [00:20:03] received an award for his many, many years of service. [00:20:07] And he gave a speech at, I think it was the League of Cities, [00:20:11] but it may have been the FRA meeting, as well. [00:20:13] So the old, the longstanding leadership, [00:20:17] although Ray Sittig, Jr., the son, I believe, [00:20:21] is still active, but to your comment about attendance [00:20:26] and at the League of Cities, at the FRA conference, [00:20:31] we had the record attendance that they've ever had. [00:20:34] So the CRA community, the number of communities [00:20:38] that are doing city redevelopment is expanding. [00:20:41] And that was in Tampa, which also might explain it, [00:20:43] because we have so many cities close by here. [00:20:46] But that has had their largest. [00:20:50] And on the lobbyist side, the FRA also [00:20:53] pays for a lobbyist, as well as the League of Cities. [00:20:56] And they're kind of like a stepchild of the League of [00:21:00] Cities, in a sense. [00:21:01] They're separate, but they're supported with their staff [00:21:03] from the League of Cities. [00:21:06] And that organization is also going to see some transition. [00:21:09] But the reason I bring it up is the new lobbying contract [00:21:13] with the FRA has been not just work in Tallahassee, [00:21:19] but to incorporate helping us on a local level [00:21:22] to talk with our local county elected officials. [00:21:25] And I know, I don't know if there's any city working [00:21:28] as hard as Weyark. [00:21:29] Vice Mayor Starkey has met. [00:21:33] I understand the mayor has met. [00:21:35] I received a phone call the other day, [00:21:37] someone interested in talking about CRAs. [00:21:39] And it would seem to me that I would [00:21:42] like to see us try to maybe get you connected with the FRA [00:21:47] side, because the CRA element is such a critical thing to us, [00:21:52] in terms of our financing and support [00:21:54] and the projects we might do. [00:21:57] Maybe too in the League of Cities. [00:21:59] Aren't you the rep for Suncoast Leagues? [00:22:01] Suncoast, yeah. [00:22:02] Yeah, maybe that needs to be pushed from the bottom [00:22:04] up to the top, and say, hey, rattle their cages from what [00:22:08] we saw at the conference. [00:22:09] Yeah, good, yeah. [00:22:14] So any resource we can get to work with you, [00:22:17] in terms of the local, particularly Commissioner [00:22:21] Moore, who has some questions. [00:22:23] He lives in a CDD community, in a Community Development [00:22:25] District community. [00:22:26] And those communities are built out infrastructure [00:22:29] with 30-year bonds on the residents who live in there. [00:22:32] And he supports those. [00:22:34] So if you're going to support those new communities having [00:22:38] the ability to rebuild themselves, [00:22:40] then I think, logically, he would be receptive. [00:22:44] So I think it's education. [00:22:46] And it's just working to talk with them [00:22:48] and let them know what we do. [00:22:50] And also getting them to agree to our projects. [00:22:52] These projects you mentioned, our county [00:22:54] has already seen acts to be in on those. [00:22:56] So I think we've got a great chance [00:22:59] to try to consolidate their thinking into our projects [00:23:04] and get the support we need from our county. [00:23:07] That's almost as critical to us as these Tallahassee funding [00:23:14] that we can get, is to have their support. [00:23:16] So I don't know with your contract how that works, [00:23:20] or if you have a willingness to work with us locally [00:23:23] in those issues. [00:23:24] But I think that that was the idea we had, [00:23:29] was that it was a two-pronged thing. [00:23:30] You've got to deal with the local problems. [00:23:34] Many of the Miami area CRAs are where [00:23:37] a lot of this main problem festers, [00:23:39] from places like Miami Beach that just become so [00:23:44] successful with condos being CRAs, [00:23:47] it kind of runs against the logic. [00:23:50] But anyway. [00:23:52] Well, I'll just say, what I learned is, [00:23:54] my frustration is, I see the same 15 or 20 lobbyists [00:23:57] every time in Florida League of Cities and places. [00:23:59] And I know that 80 or 90 cities have lobbyists. [00:24:02] And so I asked the staff there one day, [00:24:04] I'm like, where is the coordination? [00:24:06] Why do I see so few lobbyists in these meetings [00:24:08] when you could be more people you have in here [00:24:10] that are powerful than me? [00:24:12] And they said, well, some of the cities [00:24:13] just have them working on their appropriations projects [00:24:16] and nothing else. [00:24:17] And I'm like, how foolish is that, [00:24:20] when you're allowing some of these unfunded mandates that [00:24:23] will have much longer recurring costs than a $250,000 [00:24:27] appropriation that you're asking them one item to work on? [00:24:30] They need to be fully engaged on your policy [00:24:33] and on your appropriation. [00:24:34] And I think that's- [00:24:36] Is there an avenue that you have, Debbie, [00:24:39] that reaches out to these people, [00:24:41] the other cities that have lobbyists? [00:24:44] Or do you have to go- [00:24:45] Not formally, no. [00:24:47] I mean, I've done it. [00:24:48] I mean, I've done it because I'm the guy that's saying, [00:24:51] hey, I know these other folks. [00:24:52] And I see them around the halls, and they're getting paid. [00:24:55] Why aren't they at these strategy meetings [00:24:57] that we have and not involved? [00:24:58] Because I know they're in relationships. [00:25:00] That should really be the League of Cities uniting those people. [00:25:02] And I think they're frustrated, too, because, again, this [00:25:05] is the Florida League of Cities saying to me, [00:25:07] if they could get all of them engaged, they would. [00:25:10] But they found out, well, some of the cities [00:25:12] have felt like, well, they just have them working [00:25:14] on that one appropriation that they're fine on the rest, [00:25:18] when in reality, that's the policy you're [00:25:19] fighting every single day that you're speaking, [00:25:22] you're watching it going through committees [00:25:24] that would have long-standing impacts on us than anything [00:25:27] else. [00:25:28] I'm in agreement with your comments on that. [00:25:30] Thank you. [00:25:31] I'll continue to push. [00:25:33] And Debbie, if I find that there's something you can send [00:25:35] an email, but- [00:25:35] That guy that retired with the League of Cities [00:25:37] said he started out with a broom in his hand [00:25:39] or something like that. [00:25:40] So 34 years ago or some number like that. [00:25:42] So maybe he was just writing it out the last year. [00:25:46] Right. [00:25:48] What else do you have? [00:25:50] Finish on with this here real quick. [00:25:52] And so I'm going to follow up on this real quick. [00:25:54] The Governor DeSantis, this is the small stuff [00:25:56] that he put out, but I've got the big stuff [00:25:58] that he just put out the budget yesterday. [00:26:01] Governor DeSantis requests $603 million, [00:26:03] as you probably have seen, for teachers [00:26:04] in the past couple of weeks. [00:26:05] Actually, it's going to be growing to a billion, [00:26:07] but I don't want to make it. [00:26:09] There's already $300 million in there [00:26:10] for what's called Best and Brightest. [00:26:12] They're bonuses for teachers. [00:26:15] He's going to rename it another one, [00:26:16] so it's not really asking for a full, [00:26:18] but he's asking for $600 million in teacher pay raises. [00:26:21] Revenue and Estimating Conference [00:26:23] has already put through a decrease of $500,000 [00:26:27] compared to what was here last year, [00:26:29] meaning there's $500,000 in revenue. [00:26:32] They have another Revenue Estimating Conference [00:26:34] coming up January 15th, the day before session. [00:26:37] So we'll get, that is the one where we go by [00:26:40] with that number. [00:26:40] When we get that number, [00:26:41] it could come up a little bit higher, [00:26:42] it could come down a little bit lower. [00:26:44] We're all holding with bated breath, [00:26:46] wondering what that number will be January 15th. [00:26:49] We have seen a turn down in the economy. [00:26:53] I don't want to say the big recession word yet, [00:26:55] but we have seen some of the sales receipts [00:26:57] coming back for sales tax have started to lessen, [00:27:00] and that's what they have based it on. [00:27:01] Hurricane Michael reimbursements continue, [00:27:04] and $100 million request [00:27:05] for additional mental health allocations. [00:27:08] If I could, I'd like to pass this around here to you all, [00:27:11] and I'll give one to the clerk if you need one also. [00:27:14] This is the update from the Governor's budget [00:27:18] as of yesterday that just came out at 5 p.m. [00:27:21] I think it would be good for us to review real quick [00:27:25] a couple of the items. [00:27:26] I'll wait until you get all of the pieces of paper. [00:27:34] Debbie's got the last one. [00:27:36] I wanted to go over, just put this in real perspective here. [00:27:40] So the new budget that just came out, [00:27:42] you see I highlighted it there in yellow, [00:27:43] was $91.4 billion. [00:27:46] Why is this important? [00:27:48] It's only a 0.3% increase over last year. [00:27:53] Last year we had 91.1, but take this into consideration. [00:27:56] From the 2018 to 2019, they saw a $3 billion increase. [00:28:03] So, yes, last year was a good year. [00:28:05] We went from 88.7 billion to 91.1 billion, [00:28:11] and we're only having a 0.3% increase. [00:28:14] We're only going to 91.4, we think. [00:28:15] We're waiting for what the next budget increase will come. [00:28:19] So I took a couple of things in there that would impact us, [00:28:21] and I wanted to talk about it real quick. [00:28:24] Natural resources and environmental budget [00:28:26] that I saw researching it last night [00:28:29] is the largest part there. [00:28:31] The portion of the budget is 14.1 billion, [00:28:34] but it is 4.4% less than last year. [00:28:38] That is going into MPO plans, [00:28:40] five-year work plans for transportation. [00:28:44] So I just want to kind of mention that. [00:28:46] That is one of the areas where I saw a decrease [00:28:48] in the governor's proposal. [00:28:50] The next one is that, remember in the beginning [00:28:52] we talked about the water budget [00:28:55] that I had talked about, that 150 million. [00:28:57] This is where he has proposed it in his budget. [00:28:59] You can see there I wrote up to 50% match. [00:29:02] We're currently, it would be the Beach Street. [00:29:06] That would be one of those we would apply [00:29:08] into this situation for a grant. [00:29:11] Currently right now it is an appropriations process [00:29:14] where the state representative and state senators [00:29:16] allow it to go through. [00:29:18] Now I will say this. [00:29:19] I've heard about this concept for about three years. [00:29:22] I somewhat think it's probably not a bad idea to do it. [00:29:26] I kind of, it's going to be interesting to, [00:29:28] I couldn't predict right now what the legislators will do [00:29:30] because they would have to give up control [00:29:33] of doling out those dollars. [00:29:35] But I will say this, currently we only get about 50 [00:29:38] or 60 million for water projects. [00:29:41] So to get that up to $150 million, [00:29:42] that would be phenomenal. [00:29:44] So if that goes through, remember the governor's budget [00:29:47] is a blueprint, in the end the state and the house [00:29:49] and the state senate, they have the final word on it. [00:29:52] The next item down there, [00:29:53] transportation and economic development. [00:29:56] I wanted an affordable housing. [00:29:58] This is the first time and. [00:30:00] years, I have seen this, the governor fully allocate to SHIP every single penny that was [00:30:07] in the trust fund. So that would be a huge win for cities and counties around the state. [00:30:14] There's also 119 of the provisional language, I thought this was interesting too, I need [00:30:18] to mention. He wants provisional language directing local governments to receive SHIP [00:30:23] dollars to prioritize hurricane housing recovery, which I had not seen before. Of course, these [00:30:28] are supposed to be for affordable housing, low income and others, but it would be interesting [00:30:32] to see how they would apply that, but that is his suggestion. He thinks, and we are, [00:30:37] we don't have the appropriate amount of the funding that we need for those hurricane housing [00:30:43] recovery, so we'll see where that turns. 119 million for SAIL, as you know, again, that's [00:30:49] the other part of SHIP, so that would be fully funding SHIP and SAIL this year. The reason [00:30:54] I mentioned the job growth grant fund, because we, as the cities, can apply to this, and [00:30:59] they are allowed for infrastructure, he is increasing that into 10 more million that [00:31:04] was there last year, and so that's one of the programs, I would say, if the underpass, [00:31:10] I call it, doesn't come through, that's a project that we can apply through that councilman [00:31:15] Sarkey, specifically, without any prohibitions that he could, and roads and water for right [00:31:20] now, so that's a good one that we can apply to, not everybody does. Visit Florida has [00:31:24] been one of those controversial groups that they were trying to get rid of, and this year, [00:31:30] in his budget, extends it for 50 million dollars. It is a, not a robust budget, as I said, it [00:31:36] is a, kind of a even keel compared to what it was before. You have two very conservative [00:31:43] folks in the legislature, one even more conservative, and that is the Speaker, he's the one I had [00:31:47] told you in the beginning, he said, I want to see the least amount of bills passed. They [00:31:51] have not done a huge amount of reserves in this budget, as they did last year, I think [00:31:56] that is going to be a discussion, as you may recall, or not recall, but in last year, before [00:32:01] they passed last year's budget, they only had enough for 28 days in the reserves, before [00:32:07] they passed last year's budget, 28 days. That is not a good number for folks, and to keep [00:32:13] the bond rate, that has now been stretched up to 39 days, just by the amount that they [00:32:18] put into the reserves, that was 11 days, by putting over 1.2 billion dollars into reserves [00:32:22] last year, and we think that is generally a good thing. We are obviously very apt to [00:32:28] being hit with hurricanes and other sources, but I kind of wanted to give you a feeling [00:32:33] of what was going on. It's been a very, like I said, I started off, it's been a very different [00:32:37] session, very slow, the bills are very, going through at the lowest rate that I've ever [00:32:42] seen, and as some say again, that's probably a good thing, the less legislation that's [00:32:47] filed is probably a better thing for us here, sitting in this room. I do want to point out [00:32:51] real quick, before I start, there's a young man back here, Bertel, who is on the advisory [00:32:56] board, and the youth advisory board, he was picked to be one of the pages for Senator [00:33:02] Hooper. Senator Hooper is only allowed to pick two during session, and he was one of [00:33:07] the young men that he picked, so congratulations Bertel, that's all I have. [00:33:14] Do you have a place for communications, if anybody wants to do any of those right now? [00:33:23] I kind of threw my communications in in the presentation. [00:33:31] Just as a takeaway, most of what we hear about in the budget are capital type projects, water [00:33:37] projects, transportation and economic development. A lot of what we talk about are those kind [00:33:42] of projects, so that's the lesson of not having a fully developed plan in place when these [00:33:52] new grants come out. I've mentioned to the city manager that I would love to have this [00:33:59] dialogue with you all in January and February about some of these capital projects, particularly [00:34:04] CRA funding and our capabilities as we're acquiring some real estate again. So it would [00:34:11] be my preference for us to start talking about our projects sooner and give us enough time [00:34:16] to develop consensus among our groups, CRA and the city. So that's my hope. [00:34:27] I'll just piggyback on what Mr. Chopra said about the League of Cities. One thing that [00:34:35] kind of hit me funny is Mayor Scott Tramley was there, and they kind of greeted him like [00:34:40] a parade, and he got to speak and everything, but from feedback I was getting during the [00:34:45] whole process with Fort Ritchie, they really weren't that helpful. That kind of set me [00:34:53] off, so I wanted to really talk to them about that and see why that wasn't something that [00:34:58] they jumped on. They were fine with it afterwards with the result, but going into it, they were [00:35:05] a little timid on that. I didn't understand that whole thing. [00:35:08] It basically sat on their hands, and it was unfortunate because the excuse that was used [00:35:15] to try to get rid of Fort Ritchie could be used against literally any city, or for that [00:35:22] matter, any county in the state of Florida. If you go back far enough, you will find somebody [00:35:28] who has screwed up as a public official somewhere in the past. Heaven knows if... [00:35:34] Not among the five of us. [00:35:36] Not among the five of us, but as a city or a county... [00:35:39] It's our staff that holds us up. [00:35:40] As a city or a county, I mean, you look at Pasco County, how many counties have earned [00:35:47] a reporter a Pulitzer Prize? I don't think the folks at the Florida League of Cities [00:35:56] quite got that. The other thing, since you touched on the CRA's redevelopment, I was [00:36:04] going to do this at the regular communications, but I will mention that Charles and Debbie [00:36:08] and I went over and saw Chairman Ron Oakley yesterday and had what I thought was a very [00:36:15] productive meeting talking to him about CRA's and what our CRA was doing to make New Port Richey a better place. I think he has a much better understanding of us and what we're [00:36:30] trying to accomplish now. I suspect we need to have the same sort of conversation with [00:36:36] four other people. [00:36:37] Well, Ed, did you have one, Jeff, with Mike? [00:36:42] I know that's the paper he gave us. That's why I just... [00:36:45] Yes. Commissioner Moore is about ready to... It was on the agenda to bring up our CRA at [00:36:51] the City of New Port Richey at a BOCC meeting, and he was going to call for a state audit [00:36:56] of our CRA. Once again, it just goes back to communication and being able to speak to [00:37:02] people in a positive fashion and work with people, because we all here in Pasco County [00:37:07] have the same goals, right? So as a city, we're spearheading, in my opinion, the redevelopment [00:37:12] of West Pasco County. I mean, we truly are. And the issue that I had is, I'm looking at [00:37:18] it from the outside, why are these county commissioners battling us? Why aren't they [00:37:22] working with us? And, you know, 45 minutes behind a closed door with Ms. Manns and Commissioner [00:37:28] Moore and his... What's Andy's position? [00:37:33] Legislative aid. [00:37:34] Legislative aid just went such a long way, as I'm sure your meeting did yesterday with [00:37:39] Commissioner Oakley. So just it all, to me, comes down to being able to communicate properly [00:37:45] with people and let them know, address their concerns. You know, it's no secret that the [00:37:50] BOCC's concerns with our CRA that we hear over and over again is the fact that 100 percent [00:37:57] of our city is the CRA district, as is New Port Richey's. They have a huge, huge issue with [00:38:02] that. We spoke about it. We heard his concerns, brought it back to you all. We discussed it [00:38:07] at a CRA meeting. Ms. Manns just sent a very, very positive email out to Commissioner Moore [00:38:12] addressing his concerns. You all were all cc'd on it. I thought she did a phenomenal [00:38:16] job doing that. And I just say from here on, I see from here on out us being able to work [00:38:21] with the county in a more positive fashion. And if they have an issue, or we have an issue, [00:38:26] just, you know, for me, it's easier to rather than my frustration here publicly, pick up [00:38:32] the phone, call Commissioner, say, how do we work on this? How do we get past this? [00:38:36] You know, and it's very effective. I've developed a decent relationship with Mr. Oakley, serving [00:38:45] with him on the Tampa Bay water. Sure. We've got to know each other. So it was real easy [00:38:51] for me to say, hey, we'd like to come down to sit down with you. And it was well received. [00:38:56] It sounds like some of it's lack of knowledge on their part. It really is, I think. And [00:39:01] that's why I was suggesting we need to get, probably have those meetings with each of [00:39:05] the county commissioners, just to bring them up to speed. I think they've gotten some bad [00:39:10] information and I'm not sure where that originated. I felt a little wall up when we had the trio, [00:39:19] us, New Port Richey, and the county. But maybe some of it was the New Port Richey problem, but, [00:39:25] you know, between Jack Mariano and New Port Richey. But I just felt there was a little wall between [00:39:30] them. So I... But you two have broken down a little bit now. And we just need, we need to [00:39:35] get through to the other three commissioners and sit down with them. I really think that's, [00:39:40] that's going to be... There might be a change in one of them. There could be a change in four of [00:39:46] them. We can't wait till this time next year to start doing that. It's incumbent upon us to talk [00:39:54] to these folks. I mean, they're good, decent, honorable people. And I think they're reasonable [00:40:01] people. And if we can build our case to them about why it is that the CRA is so doggone important [00:40:10] for what we're doing to make New Port Richey a better place, and what we've done over the [00:40:15] past few years. I mean, a lot of that is a direct result of CRA investment. Payne Street Landing, [00:40:23] the Central on Orange Lake, the Hacienda. I mean, all of this stuff is a direct result of what we've [00:40:30] been doing through the CRA. And if we can explain that to them and give them concrete examples. One [00:40:38] of the things Commissioner Oakley was concerned about was the amount of money that we had sitting [00:40:44] in the CRA. Explain, you know, we're about ready to be on the hook for a three-quarter of a million [00:40:53] dollar incentive payment on Main Street Landing. And conceivably, that's in the next month. And [00:41:01] that there'll be another one of those within the next year. And so that million and a half dollars [00:41:07] that he was concerned about, I mean, we basically... Well, beyond that, it's just a misinterpretation [00:41:16] of our financial statements to begin with, when we have a negative equity as a result of the [00:41:21] downturn and what has occurred. Thinking that we had a fund balance when we really have a negative [00:41:28] equity, because our liabilities were high. Because the CRA's liability comes back to the General [00:41:34] Fund. And so, you know, it's a matter of discussion. I do want to just comment again on what Jeff said, [00:41:41] because it's so critical, I think, in getting their support. Recognizing that, you know, for them to [00:41:47] understand it was their harbor's plan. It was them who brought in the folks that were meeting at [00:41:54] the incubator four or five years ago, who in their own written documents have said that the city is [00:42:02] the impetus and the location for the redevelopment of the West Side, and that the West Side was [00:42:08] important. So their planners, their documents, their strategy. Once they realize that we're [00:42:14] implementing their strategy, I think some of this will drop away too. And they see the successes that [00:42:21] are happening, they're not going to want to be opponents of that either. So I think now is the [00:42:24] time for us to realign, partner our, you know, concept of this. [00:42:29] You bring up private business, and the city is what's implementing harbors, not the county. [00:42:35] Right. [00:42:35] That's their project. [00:42:36] Right. Yeah. So for them to take ownership of what we're doing and recognize we're doing what they have [00:42:42] outlined for us to do. [00:42:43] I think that's an incredibly important point, because they set out this harbor plan for all of West Pasco. [00:42:49] And, I mean, we're sitting here implementing it. We were the first ones to landscape US-19. [00:42:55] Right. [00:42:56] We've been aggressively working at building our business base in the city. And, you know, all of that [00:43:05] stuff is stuff that was spoken to in the harbor's plan. And yeah, it's a great plan, but we're actually doing [00:43:12] it, at least in the city of New Port Richey. And certainly I have no objection to, you know, saying, [00:43:19] hey, the county, the county commission, those guys, you know, were on board with this when the original [00:43:24] plans went up. Thank you very much. We're trying to do our part and hope that they will continue to [00:43:31] support us. So anything else?

   This text was generated automatically from the meeting video. It is not a verbatim or official record. For exact wording, consult the video or the city clerk.

3. 3Communications▶ 43:35
4. 4Adjournment▶ 44:00