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   Discussion Regarding Legislative Priorities for the Pasco County Legislative Delegation Meeting

   discussed

   Council discussed legislative priorities to present at the Pasco County Legislative Delegation meeting on January 13. City Manager Mann reviewed Florida League of Cities priorities (enterprise fund transfers, mobility plans, accessible/Sadowski housing, water resource planning, short-term rentals), several House and Senate bills of concern, and proposed funding requests for the U.S. 19 Overhead Pedestrian Bridge, Fire Station No. 2, and the Grand Boulevard Multi-Use Path. Council gave direction to prioritize Fire Station No. 2 funding and pursue resiliency/sewer plant funding in partnership with the county; Mann also indicated she will bring forward a recommendation to retain a lobbyist.

   • direction:Council directed staff to prioritize Fire Station No. 2 and resiliency/sewer plant projects (in partnership with the county) for legislative funding requests. (none)
   • direction:Council supported Florida League of Cities priorities and staff positions on the listed House and Senate bills for presentation to the Pasco County Legislative Delegation. (none)

   📍Grand Boulevard📍Harn Boulevard, Clearwater📍Main Street📍River Road📍U.S. Highway 19🏢Cyber Florida🏢Duke Energy Trail🏢FDOT🏢FRS🏢Florida League of Cities🏢Florida Redevelopment Association🏢Forward Pinellas🏢Pasco Hernando Instructional Performing Arts Center👤Debbie Manns👤Jim👤Mariano👤Matt Murphy👤Mike👤Percy Barrett👤Pete👤Robert👤Senator LaValle#2023 legislative session#Coast-to-Coast Trail#DROP program#Fire Station No. 2#Form 1 financial disclosure#Grand Boulevard Multi-Use Path#House Bill 303#House Bill 37#House Bill 507#House Bill 635#House Bill 9241#Pasco County Legislative Delegation Meeting#Pinellas Trail loop#RAISE grant#Sadowski State and Local Trust Fund#Senate Bill 1944#State Water Protection and Sustainability Trust Fund#U.S. Highway 19 Overhead Pedestrian Bridge

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   [00:00:30] You did great. [00:00:31] We have one set of discussion items, which is the legislative priorities. [00:00:38] And as I've told some other people, I'll share with you, [00:00:40] I think we sum it up in three words. [00:00:42] Leave us alone. [00:00:46] Just the less the legislature does to us, the better. [00:00:50] But we do have a list of actual real things we'd like them to think about, [00:00:55] if they must. [00:00:57] So, Ms. Mann, do you want to take this away? [00:00:59] Certainly. [00:01:00] As I indicated to you in a communication that was issued early this afternoon, [00:01:06] the Pasco County has set the date for its legislative delegation. [00:01:12] That will occur next Friday, January 13, at 1.30 PM in the Pasco Hernando [00:01:20] Instructional Performing Arts Center. [00:01:23] And in that respect, in previous years, you have elected a member amongst [00:01:32] yourselves to attend along with me to represent your collective wishes, [00:01:43] so that we could represent your priorities and any projects or funding [00:01:52] initiatives that you would like us to represent to the delegation. [00:01:59] I have spent some time over the course of the last few days, [00:02:05] and unfortunately that's all we had was a few days, [00:02:08] to review and prepare for this meeting today. [00:02:15] Some of the information that was put together by the Florida League of Cities [00:02:21] in respect to their legislative action agenda, [00:02:25] and then additionally reviewing the status of bills that were submitted [00:02:32] for consideration during the 2022 legislative session. [00:02:41] As has been the case for several years, [00:02:47] the best I can summarize is the expectation should be that some of our [00:02:55] traditional sources of revenue may be at risk during the 23 session, [00:03:02] and our powers of local government may be minimized by some of the bills [00:03:09] that likely could be reintroduced in 2023. [00:03:14] And so we need to remain really vigilant to protect our powers [00:03:21] and our sources of revenue. [00:03:25] In that regard, I will be bringing to you at a future council meeting, [00:03:35] a recommendation to enter into services with a lobbyist. [00:03:41] As we have done in previous years, we haven't done it in recent years, [00:03:49] because we've been able to handle the responsibility administratively, [00:03:55] but based on the posture and the number of bills that are to be considered [00:04:04] in the coming session, I really think it's appropriate to get the professional [00:04:08] help that may be required to fight some of the fights and get the representation [00:04:14] that we need to make sure that some of the bills to be considered [00:04:19] aren't effectuated because they will have a negative impact on the city. [00:04:25] So in the communication issued earlier today, I outlined for you [00:04:32] the Florida League of Cities legislative action agenda, [00:04:37] both in terms of their priorities and their positions. [00:04:42] And I can talk about those things, [00:04:48] all of which really represent several different bills [00:04:54] that were introduced in both the House and the Senate. [00:05:00] And the first, and there are four of each, [00:05:05] the first priority relates to enterprise fund transfers. [00:05:12] And the premise is that we need to support the preservation of local government [00:05:21] related to the authority of that revenue source to realize a source of return [00:05:28] on what is a proprietary asset to the city. [00:05:34] Mobility plans is the second priority that they list. [00:05:40] And they are indicating that we need to establish legislation [00:05:47] that does clarify the regulatory framework so that cities can acquire, [00:05:53] construct, and implement traditional as well as alternative modes of transportation. [00:05:59] You all have collectively said that to us on many different occasions, [00:06:04] and we certainly want to support that as a priority. [00:06:10] Accessible housing is something that is not new. [00:06:16] It's not a new discussion item. [00:06:18] It's something that comes up every year. [00:06:21] And it is, again, related to the Sadowski State and Local Trust Fund. [00:06:26] And it is an affirmation that all, that would require that all of the funding [00:06:34] in that trust fund be used to support affordable housing programs. [00:06:40] And that those housing programs target housing for the needs of the workforce housing. [00:06:50] My understanding, that's been used year after year as a bit of a piggy bank [00:06:55] for special projects that have nothing to do with housing. [00:07:01] That's correct. [00:07:05] The next priority, as identified by the Florida League of Cities, [00:07:11] relates to water resource planning and comprehensive watershed management. [00:07:17] And the specifics are that a recommendation needs to be advanced [00:07:27] to establish a statewide planning approach for water resource investments [00:07:33] that fund both current and projected water needs. [00:07:37] And authorize a comprehensive watershed management project to qualify for funding [00:07:44] under the State Water Protection and Sustainability Trust Fund. [00:07:51] And lastly, it relates to short-term rentals, which is not something [00:07:58] that we currently regulate in the city, but it would allow our city and cities [00:08:09] that have lost the authority by the state to restore their local authority [00:08:13] to regulate short-term rental properties and support legislation within local units [00:08:21] of government to regulate their, as I indicated, their rental properties. [00:08:32] And it would oppose legislation that preempts us from any regulation of short-term rentals. [00:08:41] And that would relate to zoning and registrations and all of the other types of restrictions [00:08:50] and regulations that are currently preempted by state law. [00:08:58] In terms of policy positions, the first is residential zoning. [00:09:06] And as advocated by the league, they would like to support legislation that allows city [00:09:13] to tailor land development solutions through local decision making, [00:09:18] rather than having the state decide what type of land use decisions can be decided [00:09:27] by the local unit of government. [00:09:30] There are several bills out there currently, which are expected to be reintroduced in 2023, [00:09:41] that erode our property tax system and provide exemptions to certain classes of taxpayers [00:09:52] and also provide relief from the property tax system in terms of valuations. [00:10:06] And this particular position is an attempt to maintain an equitable property tax system [00:10:15] by preventing the erosion on the current tax structure so that local governments can preserve [00:10:24] our ability first to fund our services and provide the quality of life that we currently [00:10:33] are able to do so. [00:10:37] Transportation funding is one that I know is near to many of your hearts. [00:10:44] It is very aggressive. [00:10:47] It is written in a way that FDOT would be directed to provide financial assistance and [00:10:58] incentives to both develop and implement multimodal transportation plans that employ multiple [00:11:07] modes of transportation and are tailored to municipal transportation demands and to [00:11:14] support additional transportation revenue to fund this infrastructure and transit to [00:11:21] meet the transportation growth in our region. [00:11:29] The last is in response to some of the workforce shortages experienced in water and wastewater [00:11:42] plant operators bearing licenses. [00:11:50] What they're specifically proposing is that operators are defined as essential workers, [00:11:59] that there is reciprocity established with other states for licensure of operators and [00:12:08] that credit for military experience and time served be allowed and also out-of-state experience [00:12:21] for retired people be considered in times of emergency. [00:12:27] All good positions and relevant and worthy of our support as well. [00:12:36] So I think their platform is well thought out. [00:12:42] In addition to those issues, the staff recommended several different house bills that I think [00:12:53] are important for us to consider and to keep a watch on. [00:12:59] House Bill 37 is one of which is of interest. [00:13:05] It's a bill which relates to financial disclosures and they are full financial disclosures and [00:13:11] public financial disclosures and they relate to the city council and the city manager. [00:13:19] We have not in the past had to provide full and public disclosures of our personal financial [00:13:30] interests and this requirement would be in accordance with the requirements of the state [00:13:39] constitution that is new and the staff opposes the bill as it's overly invasive. [00:13:57] We have to fill out Form 1 now which has a summary and tells where our sources of income [00:14:04] are and what sort of investments we've got and what sort of assets we've got, but it [00:14:10] doesn't go into the super detail that is required of somebody at the state level, i.e. a legislator [00:14:25] who is voting on stuff and there's a lot more opportunity for the state legislatures to [00:14:37] be unfairly influenced, I guess is maybe the term I'm looking for, or voting to enrich [00:14:46] themselves by voting for stuff that benefits certain specific companies. [00:14:55] That generally isn't the case at the municipal level. [00:15:00] so it makes no sense to put that level of disclosure on local folks. [00:15:07] I hope I said that right, Pete. [00:15:11] I think so. [00:15:13] I agree, Jim. [00:15:14] I'm just looking at all these. I've read them, so I appreciate what's being said. [00:15:20] Go ahead with the rest of them. [00:15:22] All right. House Bill 635 is a bill that prohibits building inspectors [00:15:29] and fire marshals from making changes to building plans after the plans have been sealed. [00:15:35] And the staff opposes the bill because sometimes there's changes in the field [00:15:40] that require changes in the building plans. [00:15:45] And so it restricts the ability of the building department staff [00:15:54] from requiring additional revisions to the plans. [00:16:00] House Bill 303 is a bill that relates to sanitary sewer laterals, [00:16:07] and it specifically talks about local government's programs, [00:16:18] about who is legally and financially responsible for work that is performed on laterals, [00:16:26] and it does authorize local jurisdictions, [00:16:34] and we think that's a good thing, to access private laterals, [00:16:39] but it puts the responsibility for any repair work on private property. [00:16:45] It assigns the responsibility to the city rather than to the private property owner, [00:16:54] and the city staff, of course, does not feel that that is appropriate. [00:17:00] We feel that the responsibility of the laterals is to the private property owner. [00:17:07] House Bill 507 modifies the drop program, [00:17:13] and the drop program is a post-retirement program. [00:17:19] This amendment would apply to the special risk class, [00:17:24] which is basically law enforcement officers. [00:17:28] The current program allows the drop participants a 36-month period of time [00:17:39] after retirement to participate in the program. [00:17:45] This bill allows them up to 60 months to participate in the program, [00:17:53] and the staff opposes the bill in large part because FRS, [00:18:00] which is our retirement system, funds the program, [00:18:06] and the rates that we pay into the program fund the full normal cost of retirement [00:18:14] plus the amortization of the full cost of retirement, [00:18:19] and if we're keeping people on for the additional time at their highest cost, [00:18:26] our cost into the FRS is going to be increased, [00:18:37] and we currently pay a very high percentage of payroll into FRS, [00:18:45] particularly for the special risk class. [00:18:49] House Bill 9241 is an important one. [00:18:54] It's a bill that would provide $5 million to support cyber Florida local government infrastructure [00:19:01] and technical assistance program, [00:19:03] and that is a program that would provide threat assessments and grant funding [00:19:09] to help local governments to update and secure information technology systems. [00:19:15] We're very much in support and will watch that bill and hope that it does become a law [00:19:22] so that we will have an opportunity to access some grant funding [00:19:27] to help us further secure our system. [00:19:33] And lastly, one of the more important bills that we wanted to make sure to mention to you [00:19:42] is Senate Bill 1944, which is a bill that modifies local government's contractual remedies [00:19:51] against solid waste or recycling vendors who do not perform under their contract. [00:19:59] The bill modifies a local government's contractual remedies against companies [00:20:08] who don't perform under the contract, [00:20:11] and the staff opposes the proposed legislation because we lose our teeth in a contract [00:20:20] if we're not allowed to impose any form of damages to the contractors. [00:20:29] With that being said, in years past, we have proposed funding initiatives [00:20:38] as part of our presentation to the delegation, [00:20:46] and I've proposed three projects for your consideration. [00:20:52] And the first is the U.S. Highway 19 Overhead Pedestrian Bridge. [00:20:57] It is listed as a priority project by the MPO, [00:21:06] and in accordance with the study that was conducted, it's a $6.5 million project, [00:21:16] so certainly some funding assistance would be helpful to that project. [00:21:22] The second project that I listed where some funding assistance would be helpful [00:21:30] would be Fire Station No. 2. I'm still hopeful to be able to build that station. [00:21:36] The project is currently out to bid. [00:21:39] I don't know at this point what the bid numbers will come in at, [00:21:45] but some legislative consideration would be helpful. [00:21:49] And the Grand Boulevard Multi-Use Path is another project that is on the MPO list, [00:21:57] and it is a high-ticket and interesting project [00:22:07] that might bear some merit in front of the legislators. [00:22:11] We did receive notice today from the county, [00:22:17] who was very committed to working with the city on the grant application, [00:22:26] that they didn't think they could complete their work on the grant application, [00:22:33] which is due February 28th. [00:22:37] And so I was very disappointed to receive that news from them. [00:22:42] I do plan to follow up with the county administrator about that communication [00:22:49] and find out if there's any opportunity for us to get a reconsideration of that decision [00:22:58] and see how we might work together to still meet that date, [00:23:04] because we've done our part, [00:23:08] and we feel that we have a good opportunity for the RAISE grant, [00:23:17] and nothing on our end has changed. [00:23:22] And February 28th is still a while off, [00:23:26] so we feel that there's some time to work together, [00:23:32] and I'll have a better report for you after having spoke to the county administrator. [00:23:39] But without being greedy, [00:23:43] I'd like to at least have, you know, one, maybe two projects [00:23:47] to at least present to them for some funding consideration. [00:23:54] And you may have others, those were just the ones that came to my mind. [00:23:59] Interesting enough, and I read this on the internet, so take it for what it's worth, [00:24:04] Forward Pinellas, which is the metropolitan planning organization for Pinellas County, [00:24:10] posted that the Florida Department of Transportation [00:24:13] is constructing a much-needed pedestrian crossing of US-19 at Harn Boulevard in Clearwater. [00:24:21] The million-dollar project addresses a safety and access issue [00:24:26] for people that was created when US-19 was rebuilt through central Pinellas County, [00:24:31] making a barrier between residential and commercial development. [00:24:34] This also ties to the Pinellas Trail loop and the Duke Energy Trail to the west. [00:24:38] Forward Pinellas, and this is the cool part, [00:24:40] Forward Pinellas has directed FDOT to incorporate pedestrian and bicycle crossings [00:24:48] every one-half mile on new segments of US-19 going forward. [00:24:54] On new segments? [00:24:57] New segments. That's presumably where they're doing work on the highway anyway. [00:25:02] But if that may set, to me at least, sets a precedent [00:25:07] that maybe we ought to encourage FDOT to look at, [00:25:14] and it may be a funding request that has to go forward, [00:25:18] to get pedestrian and bicycle crossings every half mile up and down US-19. [00:25:28] That wouldn't necessarily just be in the city of New Port Richey, [00:25:32] but New Port Richey needs it, Holiday needs it, [00:25:34] and they don't all have to be $8 million bridges. [00:25:38] But it sounds like FDOT is at least amenable to it in Pinellas, [00:25:46] so let's see if we can't get that done on Pasco as well. [00:25:52] Mike, you're the MPO rep at the moment? [00:25:56] Matt Murphy. [00:25:58] I don't know why I was thinking it was you. [00:26:01] We ought to, I think we ought to push that, [00:26:06] because it would be really nice to have, [00:26:09] and if it takes money from the state to make it happen, [00:26:13] maybe that ought to be in a request. [00:26:16] I think that, to your point, [00:26:20] FDOT is really federal money passed through from the state in a lot of cases, [00:26:27] and whatever state allocations there are. [00:26:30] And they have not been happy with us [00:26:35] after we sent them packing on the crossing that we did have here [00:26:39] on River Road, to River Road. [00:26:44] But I had reported to you going down there to try to talk to them, [00:26:48] and they showed me the amount of money that is budgeted for us. [00:26:52] So if we kept this discussion on legislative priorities to that, [00:26:57] I really think when it comes to transportation, [00:27:01] our city just isn't of the size that has a big transportation department. [00:27:07] We've got public works running transportation, [00:27:10] water, sewer, maintenance, parks, stormwater, and the like. [00:27:17] So to me, working with the county [00:27:22] to make sure we interface our bike trail and our priorities, [00:27:28] and with Matt to make sure that we push the funding. [00:27:33] We did get, as a point, a grant of $750,000 to do that overpass. [00:27:40] And I'm leery to allow that to become a public issue [00:27:48] when we put in a grant request, [00:27:49] but rather to try to go through the normal processes. [00:27:54] Because I was involved in promoting that grant. [00:27:57] I went up there and saw Senator LaValle at the city manager's direction. [00:28:02] And when I talked to DOT about that coast-to-coast trail [00:28:10] and some of the recreational things, [00:28:12] because you have, once again, safety, local traffic, [00:28:16] getting to food from a food desert, [00:28:20] all the arguments we put together, [00:28:22] as I usually do with anything I bring up, [00:28:25] has got recreation and transportation and all these other elements to it. [00:28:29] But when I talked to the recreation folks, [00:28:33] they're like, well, if you can get your trail on the list, [00:28:40] which we've done now, you can go through a process. [00:28:43] So I think encouraging funding to our legislatures for those topics, [00:28:50] like resiliency is another one. [00:28:53] I mean, it's a huge thing. [00:28:55] Having them continue to provide that support is the group that's there. [00:29:00] I think the fire station is probably the best argument. [00:29:06] And when I looked at the governor's recent report [00:29:10] of the projects that he approved through some of the programs and economic programs, [00:29:17] the bulk of them were public utility. [00:29:20] They were water lines, the essential water, sewer, [00:29:24] either related to environmental protection or health and safety. [00:29:30] And I think it's harder for someone to turn down the public safety issues [00:29:39] than the bike trails. [00:29:41] I looked at the entire list. [00:29:43] It was just sent by Florida League of Cities, [00:29:47] maybe from the Florida Redevelopment Association as a report. [00:29:51] But it was the governor's guy announcing all of the awards. [00:30:00] think that that's the trend. So I'm, you know, I'm, I'm all full bore ahead to [00:30:10] move forward. But I, I think that's county has such an extensive [00:30:14] transportation department, including not only they're running the bike trail [00:30:20] thing, but also they have the bus system, the multimodal. I really feel [00:30:28] like our way to get this done is going to be going through and becoming [00:30:33] partners with the county on on some of these projects. I would agree [00:30:37] particularly on an $8 million overpass. And maybe there's another one out [00:30:42] there that we could or could or should focus on. But I think that fire [00:30:48] station two has been planned. We have a good story. We tried to do it. We [00:30:52] went out to bid. It's the city's service area includes Highway 19, which [00:31:00] is the Federal Highway. A lot of our calls are calls that are not just for [00:31:06] our residents, and we need some help in order to serve this additional flow [00:31:11] through traffic and all that kind of thing. I think you could make a good [00:31:15] story for it. I don't know if you get one of our legislators to put in a bill [00:31:21] or to ask for a special funding. It's just my guess that that would be [00:31:27] a good thing to do. The other one, and Robert is not here, and I don't see [00:31:33] Percy Barrett behind the chair there, but the comment was made when we [00:31:41] were talking about our sewer plant on Main Street out toward the Gulf that [00:31:48] we're investing a lot of money in new pipes that'll last a good long time, but [00:31:52] it was also made that maybe someday that plant is going to have to go all [00:31:57] together. And you know, I've talked to some people in the infrastructure [00:32:01] business, and with the sustainability stuff there, that's not a practical [00:32:09] application for the many sewer plants that are in those high-hazard areas [00:32:15] across the state. So moving all things out, there are going to be hardening [00:32:22] issues, and I don't know, raising the walls or whatever. [00:32:31] That's so much coastal, and that I would suggest that, you know, [00:32:41] something that relates to resiliency that's shared with the county, and I know [00:32:46] that one of the most active assistants is Mariano's assistant, who's pushed one [00:32:56] time before for some funding for that sewer plant enhancement. But you know, [00:33:03] we've now moved down to 51%. We hope to expand our reach, and I'm just curious. [00:33:13] We should be doing a study or some kind, even if we put in funds, to try to [00:33:20] identify a strategy to deal with what I think could be a problem. But it's [00:33:31] not fair. I'm just mentioning it. It's something maybe you could get back to [00:33:35] the staff and say, what would you ask for? It might not be a whole lot, but [00:33:40] it's probably another way to work with the county. [00:33:43] A lot of that has got pretty high walls because of the size of the tanks, but [00:33:46] you're absolutely right. In the event of a major storm event, that parcel's [00:33:51] underwater. I don't know, I don't want to put Barrett on the spot, but the [00:33:57] control building is probably the one we'd need to take a look at first to [00:34:02] make sure that that's still above water if we have a storm event. [00:34:10] We're doing our vulnerability assessment, and we're going to get all kind of [00:34:13] projects that are going to be big dollar numbers come out of it. So it's kind of [00:34:17] like, that's why I'm like, keep the resiliency money coming, because we're [00:34:22] identifying projects. If we have to build a new control center that's physically up [00:34:27] higher than the one that's there, that's not a small undertaking. I wouldn't [00:34:33] want to cut off Barrett either, but I think just in a short story, if he had [00:34:36] something to say, I didn't know, I thought I heard him over there. [00:34:52] Yeah. [00:35:10] I want to look at what our base elevation is at the floor in the [00:35:15] building compared to what we expect we may see. It's all being done, I'm sure, [00:35:19] that's what that vulnerability study is all about, and stormwater, and our [00:35:25] city stormwater as well. I have for a long time been trying to advocate for us [00:35:32] to treat all of our downtown area as a part of our stormwater system, so that we [00:35:38] can follow the guidance of our consultants to utilize as much as we can [00:35:46] for walkability and for expansion of the uses, and so that we may not have a [00:35:55] project, but I think highlighting to them that we see some of our major capital [00:36:00] projects coming from the safety of everything from evacuation, road [00:36:06] conditions, they know that's a problem. They're hearing it from Miami. I mean, [00:36:12] imagine them raising all the road work away from Miami to Key West, and the [00:36:20] internal roads within those islands. It's a massive, humongous cost, and so our [00:36:27] costs seem high, but we need to get a piece of some of that as we find out what we have to do. I'm fully supportive of [00:36:38] trying to move forward with all of the projects that are listed. As just one [00:36:42] response, and then I'm going to leave it to you guys. A, if need be, or if there's a [00:36:48] willing interest, I could accompany on Friday. If no one else is, Mr. Mayor, if you are unable. [00:36:55] I'm tentatively planning on going. Okay. Yeah, the last time we did this one a [00:37:04] couple years ago, I think several of us were in attendance. So if you're going, I [00:37:09] may join you just to give you some moral support. To the degree these [00:37:15] priorities are here, are come from the Florida League of Cities, which they kind [00:37:20] of do, I think we would focus as much of our attention with our local ones on our [00:37:25] sense of needs, and make a, give it in written form or whatever you've [00:37:32] done as well, and have you in the short time they allow you to speak, to say that [00:37:38] you're endorsing those those things. The only one that I have any comment about, [00:37:44] because it's a it's a common complaint, and oftentimes with complaints they are, [00:37:51] they're easily explained why we need to, but when it comes to the the changing of [00:38:01] building permits once they're issued, there has been in the past provisions, I [00:38:08] believe in the, maybe in the fire department, particularly with fire [00:38:12] marshals or the fire chief's ability, and I'm not looking to you as if you're [00:38:17] doing it, but past stories have shown that folks have added additional [00:38:22] requirements for safety purposes or whatever that went above and beyond the [00:38:29] Florida Building Code. So I'm all about us improving our building code and [00:38:34] making sure it's where we want it to be, but it's an easily argued target for [00:38:42] folks who listen to those kind of complaints all the time, to maybe the way [00:38:47] it's worded particularly, or, but if you have to change something to meet the [00:38:52] building code or the permit you find out doesn't match it, then you should [00:38:57] force them to change it. I think there's a, that's a bit of a nebulous one to me. [00:39:03] I had the same one flagged. If we approve and seal plans, they ought to be [00:39:11] approved and approved so that if somebody follows those plans and builds [00:39:17] them, that's it. We should not have a building inspector, who may or may not be [00:39:24] a city employee, may just be a contract person coming out and taking a look at a [00:39:29] project saying, no you need to do this instead. It's not, the example is not [00:39:35] specifically to our building department, but Chief Fitch can can attest to a [00:39:42] situation that we had over at the Commons on Grand, where the building was [00:39:48] approved and the way they were going to do their internal partitions and openings [00:39:54] between the three businesses was approved, and in fact they even put fire [00:40:00] exit lights up over those exits to make sure people knew that there were [00:40:04] multiple ways of getting out in the event of an emergency. And then some, I'll [00:40:10] be nice, state employee from Tampa came up and told them that she was going to [00:40:16] shut them down and pull their liquor licenses if they didn't block off the [00:40:23] emergency exits. And that's absurd. No single person, inspector, be they city or [00:40:31] state, should be able to wield that sort of power, basically just on their [00:40:38] personal whim, with no documented basis in any sort of fact to stand up [00:40:45] to it. And to my knowledge, that person has never been countermanded by anybody [00:40:53] in authority down in Tampa. It's just wrong. If we have a [00:40:59] building that our fire department, our fire inspectors, come in and say this is [00:41:07] what we want to have you do, this is what you've got to do for it to be [00:41:10] appropriate and safe, that should be it. Well, I'm only going to say, devil's [00:41:16] advocate, that I've had to change some of the way the building's permit was issued [00:41:21] because the subcontractors don't want to build it the way it's planned, and [00:41:27] rightfully, the city staff says you need to get the architect to, and the [00:41:35] architect has certain powers under the state law as well, I think, when it comes [00:41:39] to what is done. But when you have a lot of the complaints are coming from small [00:41:45] construction projects that maybe didn't use an architect, or does have to pay a [00:41:49] lot of money to get an engineer to say something, and so, from my [00:41:54] experience in building a house right now, I've seen the tug and pull of [00:42:01] subcontractors to contractors, and contractors to architects and engineers, [00:42:07] and things changing, and engineering have to change. So the idea that plans don't [00:42:13] change, they change a lot of times more from the other side coming to the city [00:42:18] than from the city going back. But I think if this is listed, is [00:42:24] this a League of Cities, or this is our, yeah, this is something we've added. Yeah. [00:42:28] I think that if there was any softening of the language, a little bit to say for [00:42:34] safety, you know, purposes, or to comply with with standards, city standards, if

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3. 3Communications▶ 42:43
4. 4Adjournment▶ 57:50