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   Strategic Plan Update

   discussed

   Council began its annual review of the City's Strategic Plan, a 2016 document used as a blueprint for budgeting and department head goal-setting. Discussion covered the first two strategies—increasing the tax base and improving the image of the city—including action items on parking, Marine Parkway/US-19 golf cart and pedestrian crossings, Grand Boulevard streetscape, Railroad Square Phase 1, RFPs for the former Trues River Road Church property and the former Pasco County Health Building, annexation, residential/commercial taxable value programs, and an interlocal agreement with Pasco County for US-19 code enforcement. Council directed staff to identify CRA-related items distinctly within the plan and to schedule a second work session to complete the review before departmental budget discussions.

   • direction:Council directed staff to identify and visually distinguish CRA-related items within the strategic plan document. (none)
   • direction:Council directed staff to schedule a second work session to complete the strategic plan review before departmental budget discussions. (none)
   • direction:Council directed staff to correct the term 'systemic' to 'systematic' throughout the document. (none)
   • direction:Council directed staff to revisit FDOT regarding a Main Street/US-19 golf cart crossing once sufficient time has passed without incidents at Marine Parkway. (none)
   • direction:Council suggested the RFP for the northeast corner of Main and River Road include a scheduled event/mandatory meeting to engage the development community. (none)

   📍Davis Plaza / Dollar General Plaza📍Former HCA property📍Former Magnuson Hotel property📍Former Riverside Inn property📍Former Schwettman Education Center📍Grand Boulevard📍Gulf Drive (entrance from US-19)📍Marine Parkway at U.S. Highway 19📍Massachusetts Avenue📍Montemayor property on River Road📍Northeast corner of Main Street and River Road📍Pasco County Health Building (Bank and Main)📍Railroad Square📍Schwettman Oaks / Southwest District📍South Gateway Inundation Park project📍Trues River Road Church property📍U.S. Highway 19 corridor🏢7-Eleven🏢FDOT🏢Kaiser University🏢Pasco County🏢Pasco County School Board🏢South State Bank👤Brian👤Dale Hall👤Debbie👤Robert#Annexation strategy / interlocal agreement with Pasco County#CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency)#Design guidelines for residential housing stock#Enhanced rental inspection program#Marine District#Neighborhood nodes plan#Parking study implementation#Schwettman Oaks / Southwest District redevelopment#Strategic Plan (2016)#US-19 corridor plan

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   [00:00:19] It's yours. Okay, thank you very much. With that being said, tonight's purpose is to review [00:00:27] our strategic plan, which is truly just a blueprint, a guide, so to speak, of city operations. [00:00:34] It focuses on, provides clear direction on our goals. As an organization, it helps us [00:00:43] prioritize resources and facilitate management decisions that target the desired outcomes. [00:00:54] As a community, it provides a shared vision and a basis to identify and evaluate and [00:01:01] communicate our progress on results. We do conduct this comprehensive review of the strategic [00:01:10] plan one time per year, and it's very helpful to us that it occurs in advance of our budgeting [00:01:22] because it gives us a chance to review our goals, our objectives, and our action items [00:01:29] to determine not only the progress that has taken place over the course of the last year, [00:01:36] but it also gives you a chance to make any necessary adjustments for the upcoming year [00:01:46] and based on current community needs or the availability of resources or assets, meaning [00:01:56] any new risks that exist in the community or assets that may become or opportunities [00:02:03] that are available. And additionally, to identify gaps between the strategic plan and the staff's [00:02:14] actual performance. And with that said, we can get started on the review of the strategic [00:02:21] plan, and we have afforded ourselves about an hour to go through the document today, [00:02:33] and I don't think that's possible to get through the full document within an hour, so in all [00:02:38] likelihood we'll have a second session scheduled to complete our review of the document in the [00:02:45] event that we're not able to get through it today. And all of that will be slated to occur before we [00:02:55] start our discussion on the budget, not before we get started on the capital budget, but before we [00:03:05] get started on the departmental portions of the budget. So as indicated, we can pull up the [00:03:12] PowerPoint if you will. The strategic plan, as I've indicated, is a systematic, it's a document [00:03:20] that outlines a systematic process for moving forward a vision that involves the development [00:03:27] and prioritization of strategic objectives and goals along with measurable action items, and it [00:03:34] ensures the most appropriate and effective use of city's resources by focusing on organizational [00:03:42] priorities. The plan contains the mission statement, the vision statement, organizational [00:03:51] goals and values, and then strategic objectives. Our plan originally was created in 2016, and it [00:04:02] is used most prominently in the budgeting process and in the establishment of goals and values for [00:04:17] the department heads in their budgeting and in their performance evaluations for their annual [00:04:32] review. The strategies, so to speak, that have been identified by you in previous years are before you on the [00:04:50] screen, and they are to increase your tax base, to improve the image of the city, to strengthen our [00:05:01] relationships, to communicate effectively, to continue our community policing improvements, to continue to invest in [00:05:11] infrastructure, to promote environmental stewardship, to cultivate human resources, to maintain a dynamic and connected [00:05:22] downtown area, to advance emerging technologies, to improve customer experiences, and to continue the city's emergency [00:05:34] management preparedness response and recovery services and resiliency. And if there are any changes to that, this would be a good [00:05:47] time for you to tell me that, or we can go through the current state of those strategies and you can tell me if we've satisfied [00:06:00] them, or if there are additional goals or action items that you would like to have added to those strategies, or if they're no longer [00:06:16] relevant. We can, and it sounds like you'd like me to just jump right in. I'd like to jump in. Please do. So just, you've used the word that I [00:06:32] thought would be the right word, which was systematic, but it says systemic. Systemic is usually a designation of a problem, so the first [00:06:44] sentence says strategic plans are documented outlines. I think you wanted it to be systematic. Thank you, I did. And I think it says systemic in a few [00:06:52] places as well, so you might do a word search on that. I think because you're talking about the time that it's going to take to jump in and go [00:07:02] through it, one of the things I noticed in looking at this is the green and yellow that is in our book, so maybe you could review with us what the green and yellow means. [00:07:16] I am. And then secondly, I know it's nuanced, but the part of the effort of our redevelopment, our CRA, is a separate objective to the general fund. So to me, as we look at this [00:07:45] document, it would be helpful for us to actually title those sections that are related to the CRA, just to help the public as well as us to, you know, departmentalize or compartmentalize our efforts, because I continue to be concerned that we're going to need to identify ways in which the CRA's objectives and goals [00:08:14] can push forward the general operation of the city in the provision of services and the increase in our image and some of the programs that are in here. Some can't be done by the CRA, but they support. So I agree, our whole objective is one, it's not two disjointed efforts, but there are two separated [00:08:44] you know, funding and availability efforts and from day one, anytime we've done something like Railroad Square or like developing property or acquiring and kind of rebuilding the old parts of town, there is an element of the city that thinks of government as stripping it down to its bare bones. [00:09:12] And so we have this whole mission going on across the country, the doge, less government, more business, and we got this part of our city that is more business and less government, because we're using that money to make investments and then, in many cases, turn them over or do private-public partnerships or those sorts of things. [00:09:37] And I think it would be really helpful to make sure that we continue on that trend. [00:09:45] I understand it's a blended strategy, but I wish that you could take this document and find those boxes that were CRA-related and put them into the sort of elimination of blight improvement of the city, [00:10:02] where you say partner to catalyze investment, partnering in planning is a function that can be done in support of the CRA, because the CRA can pay for plans, it wouldn't have to come out of the general funds, planning, or at least could be isolated enough so that they could easily be identified to be funded from that source. [00:10:27] And so, just at the look of the whole product, I think that's my only comment, is to try to identify that we are among only two or three cities in the whole state, I think, that have done what we've done in the small city zone to do something that's beyond just the downtown. [00:10:54] So people think of the CRA as the downtown, but it's the whole city, and we've had that discussion before. [00:11:02] Let's see if we can identify these as we go through. [00:11:05] Yeah, we can put a little checkmark by them. [00:11:07] Yeah, as a team instead of just her. [00:11:09] Yeah, maybe just kind of... [00:11:11] Well, can we just make the CRA-related items a different color? Is that doable? [00:11:17] First step, yeah. [00:11:19] I mean, we could. [00:11:21] So this way, we're not changing what you already have. [00:11:23] We're just going to change a color. [00:11:25] I mean, if that... [00:11:27] I don't know if that's going to work. [00:11:29] No. [00:11:31] Let's allow them to identify some of them. [00:11:33] Yeah. [00:11:35] Because we do it in the capital improvement plan, but the real deal is we do have a joint effort between the city and every department to foster all of these positive images and, you know, the way the city is looked at. [00:11:47] So it's not always possible to say this is yours or this is theirs, but maybe we just work through it and something comes up natural, but I would like to see a little effort thought about that. [00:12:03] We can identify that as we go through. [00:12:05] Yeah. [00:12:07] Okay. [00:12:09] You want to continue on? [00:12:11] Yeah. [00:12:13] Okay. [00:12:18] With that being said, we can jump into the review. [00:12:23] Thank you very much for your comments. [00:12:25] And we'll start with increasing the tax base. [00:12:30] And each of you has a copy of the PowerPoint in front of you in case you can't see clearly the PowerPoint. [00:12:41] If we can make that just a little larger, it might be helpful to our audience members. [00:12:52] And the color is intended to follow a traffic light pattern. [00:13:00] And green means we're in full progress. [00:13:04] Yellow means we're moving along. [00:13:06] Red means stopped. [00:13:08] We have no current action. [00:13:12] And in terms of increasing the tax base, our current action items are that we're implementing the recommendations of the parking study. [00:13:30] We are in discussion with property owners about infill opportunities. [00:13:40] We're in the process of completing FDOT requirements for golf cart crossings at Marine Parkway with U.S. Highway 19. [00:13:54] And we are completing pedestrian emphasis crosswalks at Marine Parkway at U.S. Highway 19. [00:14:06] And streetscaping at Marine Parkway and U.S. Highway 19 to include landscaping, wayfinding signage, and a multi-use path improvement. [00:14:21] And completing design and construction for the Grand Boulevard multi-use path. [00:14:29] We will be initiating construction of Railroad Square Phase 1 as of July 7th. [00:14:37] We have completed the purchase of the Montemayor property on River Road. [00:14:42] We are in design and construction of the Grand Boulevard streetscape improvements for Phase 1 and Phase 2. [00:15:00] asked to prepare the release on the request for proposal on the truest [00:15:07] River Road Church property and I have just started that so I haven't given [00:15:15] that any key color and we will be planning in the next couple of months to [00:15:25] conduct a planning exercise on the redevelopment of the northeast corner of [00:15:31] Main Street and River Road and we will also be developing planning documents [00:15:40] for the reuse of the following properties the Pasco County Health [00:15:45] Building and hopefully if you approve and the school board approves the [00:15:53] purchase of the former Schwartman Education Center, we'll have to start to [00:15:57] talk about the reuse of that property and the former Riverside Inn property as [00:16:03] well. Just one question back up on the Marine Parkway, is that also redesigning [00:16:10] it so golf carts can cross? Main Street and River Road? No, Marine Parkway and 19. [00:16:19] Yes. That would be for golf carts, yes. Okay, well it says pedestrian, that's why. [00:16:25] It's also for golf carts. Okay. I'm sorry I missed that. Okay, is Main Street at all [00:16:34] involved in this? No, it's not and FDOT's position is, and Robert will correct me, I [00:16:42] know he must, there he is, is that they would like to see a couple of years of [00:16:51] practice on Marine Parkway and golf without an incident of accident before [00:16:56] we talk to them about Main Street being permitted. We have golf for a year now [00:17:02] already then? I'm certain that's been over a year now, yes. It's just a [00:17:09] public ask all the time and quite honestly, people use it. We see that it [00:17:17] does occur on a regular basis. I know some people will pull in. There are impediments to it. [00:17:25] Some people pull in the 7-Eleven, look around for cops and then when the light [00:17:29] changes, they'll go across. I don't want them ticketed, I want [00:17:36] the intersection taken care of. FDOT has been consistently resistant to approve [00:17:43] that intersection. Had any problems at golf, with golf carts? We have not had an [00:17:48] accident occur there, no. So can you look into when the two years are up or when [00:17:57] we can approach FDOT then again? We will stay connected to it as an issue, yes. [00:18:06] So to your point, Debbie, of the 26-27 pages of strategies, objectives, goals and [00:18:19] your accurate statement that we'll never get that done in an hour because every [00:18:27] time one of us wants to bring something up and I'm maybe the worst of the bunch. [00:18:32] But I would like to say on this front page, as just a follow-up of the example, [00:18:38] everything in white, all of that is CRA. RFP, planning on the redevelopment of [00:18:47] corner. It is. So I think back to Brian's point, maybe in each one of these [00:18:55] strategies you can identify a lead player and, you know, secondary. So, you [00:19:05] know, that we can show how the CRA can help to achieve these goals, some of [00:19:11] which may be city goals as well. And, you know, I have to also say that the [00:19:19] planning charrette on the redevelopment of the northeast corner of Main Street [00:19:23] and River Road ought to be an identified time and place so that when [00:19:33] the RFP goes out, the folks that are interested in developing it can come to [00:19:39] that. Because, again, the city wants public comment on your planning charrette, [00:19:48] but planning charrettes are planners talking about things that we want to [00:19:51] design that may or may not even be feasible. So it would be nice for the [00:20:01] development community or those interested in those projects to be able [00:20:05] to understand the city's goals. I mean, as a perfect example, I continue to hear [00:20:12] that there won't be a boat ramp at Main Street, and I never heard that there [00:20:17] wouldn't be still a boat ramp at Main Street. And so, we don't need a roomful [00:20:23] of people reacting to rumors. What we need is some of the smart people saying [00:20:28] here's something we can do, and here's something we can do, and here's something we can do, so they can look at it. [00:20:33] Some reassurance. And get some reassurances, and or us all take a look [00:20:40] at the mix on that property, which is public and private, and private [00:20:46] partnership sort of aspect of it. So I would recommend that you put out that [00:20:52] RFP and identify that there is an event that's going to occur before a [00:20:57] mandatory meeting, or whatever else you would have in that RFP to identify, you [00:21:03] know, the options and the opportunities. [00:21:08] And personally, I mean, from an investment of increasing the tax base, you look at [00:21:14] all of the public projects and the time that you will work through that, but [00:21:21] increasing the tax base is all about what's happening in that white area. [00:21:27] Everything else is indirect, I think. Parking lots, maybe a direct partnership [00:21:34] with somebody, but when you did the parking garage, you did partner with [00:21:38] Kaiser University, and you've got some buy-in, but the yellow stuff is kind of [00:21:48] more of the city's public works area that may that may include CRA money or [00:21:54] not. But as far as getting it done, I think obviously time to increase the tax [00:22:06] base. The project that was brought to us before had a deadline that said this is [00:22:10] when this project would happen, and this is when it would get to CO, and if the [00:22:14] CO is in February, it doesn't make the tax bill for the following November. It [00:22:19] waits a whole 18 months before it ever has that effect. So, you know, every [00:22:28] delay on that project is going to push it past us first seeing any tax base [00:22:34] increase into the year 2018, if they finished it in 2017. 2018? Yeah, it's 15 now. [00:22:45] You go out for a proposal, it takes us a year and a half to get it off the dock. I'm thinking it's 2025. [00:22:52] Fiscal year 2028, I mean. Okay, I just, you know, I'm listening. It goes a long way before the tax [00:23:06] base money comes in to help us to fuel the public projects that we have in mind [00:23:11] to do, so it's an important strategy. I'm just underlining, let's focus on those [00:23:18] things that are going to actually produce that tax base increase and make [00:23:24] sure we prioritize them. The other ones, I mean, are critical as well, but we can't [00:23:31] let our inventory sit, I guess. Right. Go ahead. Okay. In respect also to increasing [00:23:46] the tax base, we have partnered to catalyze investment and expand the tax [00:23:55] base and increase the taxable value of residential properties. And in regard to [00:24:04] partnering to catalyze investment, some of our action items and goals have to do [00:24:15] with seeking partners and expanding our focus beyond the downtown area, [00:24:25] providing more attention to the current business community, maintaining channels [00:24:31] of communication with other levels of government, developing a master plan for [00:24:36] the former HCA property, facilitating the redevelopment of the former Magnuson [00:24:43] Hotel property, working with the owners of the Davis Plaza, Dollar General Plaza, [00:24:50] on the redevelopment of the site and other retail plazas as necessary, [00:24:56] actively seeking a development partner to construct a resiliency improvement [00:25:02] project on the South Gateway Inundation Park project, and releasing an RFP for [00:25:10] the former county building located at Main and Bank. In respect to the [00:25:16] action items, the things that are new this year is that we have had discussions [00:25:25] with South State Bank in relationship to their interest in establishing a [00:25:30] downtown presence. They have asked if they could put in an ATM machine in [00:25:39] downtown and that would be one of their gauges for how much interest there might [00:25:47] be in our market for a bank of their type in this area. If there were [00:25:58] interest, their first choice would be to purchase the former health building at [00:26:09] Bank and Main, and if that were possible, then they have talked about using a [00:26:18] portion of the space as dedicated business incubator space where they [00:26:25] would assist other businesses that could then locate in the downtown area. If that [00:26:32] weren't the space, they would look for other space in the downtown area [00:26:38] where they would find a suitable place to establish themselves, but they're very [00:26:45] interested in locating in the downtown area. Expanding the tax base, we do have [00:26:57] an annexation strategy and we are, now that we have a talented planning director [00:27:10] in place, we'll be bringing that back to the table and looking to enter into an [00:27:17] interlocal agreement with Pasco County for the additional enclaves that exist [00:27:23] and then moving into the area where we can start evening out the borders of the [00:27:33] city so that they make some geographic sense once the enclaves have been annexed. [00:27:44] Some of which will not require a vote of the people for annexation to occur and [00:27:54] some of which will. In terms of increasing taxable value, we talk about [00:28:00] residential and commercial properties and some of the programs or action items [00:28:09] that we talk about to increase taxable value in the residential properties that [00:28:17] are new this year is launching an enhanced rental inspection program, [00:28:29] establishing a plan for neighborhood nodes, and seeking funds to support [00:28:37] programs that provide opportunities for home ownership and identifying and [00:28:43] prioritizing neighborhood areas that need redevelopment. That's something that [00:28:48] we haven't done as a study and I think we need to do that. They're sort of in [00:28:54] process but we haven't gone far enough along in it to have a plan for it and we [00:29:04] do need to finish our work on design guidelines for improvements in our [00:29:12] residential housing stock. In respect to the taxable value of commercial [00:29:22] properties, we're moving along fairly well with many of the action items that [00:29:34] have been advanced in previous years. We need to hone in though closer on a [00:29:42] recruitment strategy for businesses in the downtown area and producing a [00:29:50] marketing package for recruitment of those businesses and developing a plan [00:29:58] for U.S. [00:30:00] Highway 19 corridor, and there still is a need for us to enter into an interlocal agreement [00:30:14] with the county for the jurisdictional properties that exist on U.S. Highway 19 that are in [00:30:22] the county, which are in substandard condition and warrant address for ordinance-related [00:30:32] attention because there are deficiencies and they are not enforced by the county. We would [00:30:39] very much like the authority to be able to enforce those ordinances ourselves. [00:30:45] Without a doubt because the public doesn't know one or the other. [00:30:50] There are eyesore because they're on U.S. Highway 19, whether they're in the county [00:30:55] or not, so we'd like to enter into an interlocal agreement with the county related to those [00:31:00] things. And if the project as contemplated for the former HCA property does come to fruition [00:31:17] as planned, and if we are able to acquire the former Schwetman Education Center as planned, [00:31:30] I think there's a perfect opportunity for us to invest in the former, what I call the [00:31:38] Marine District, and what Dale Hall has corrected me and calls the, help me out Dale, the Neighborhood [00:31:48] Oaks, yeah. I think there's something else. The Southwest District. The Southwest District on our map. Thank you. [00:32:15] That's it. Schwetman Oaks, isn't it? Schwetman Oaks is there. Oh, Schwetman Oaks, that's what I was thinking of. [00:32:24] Schwetman Oaks. The Schwetman Oaks District for residential redevelopment of that area and the [00:32:34] commercial properties which are either underutilized or unutilized and could [00:32:40] really benefit from some adaptive reuses of the properties. [00:32:45] Is that about the old doctor's offices? Yes. [00:32:52] That's also the Gulf Drive scenario coming in from 19, and that was a big issue for years back. It still doesn't look much different than it did. [00:33:01] But it did get paved, which was smart, because it would be forever before we did major... [00:33:07] People avoided it because of it. [00:33:17] In respect to improving the image of the city, there were three objectives that we [00:33:25] have established. One is to cultivate community ownership. The second is to [00:33:32] deliver high-quality municipal services, and the third is to enhance quality of [00:33:38] space, of place. Please jump back to page 11 where you talk about your county agreements for Highway 19. I think that Highway 19 is not enough. They have a stable of [00:33:56] planners, and Massachusetts Avenue was such a big issue for us where they own [00:34:01] the one side of the road, we own the other. It's really the Ridge Road [00:34:06] extension turns into Massachusetts Avenue for us. I mean, anybody coming from [00:34:13] the east, from the Suncoast Parkway, or coming off that Ridge Road extension [00:34:16] wanting to come in the city is going to come either down to Cubilas or turn and [00:34:21] get on to Massachusetts. It's an entrance into our city that starts at [00:34:26] Magnolia Valley or before, and it is blighted on the right side. And to your [00:34:33] point about Highway 19, it's the same point. It's also our bicycle [00:34:41] trail is on Massachusetts. So there are so many people moving to this county [00:34:49] from Dade City to Angelina, to that whole corridor, that are pipelining their way in. [00:35:01] Let's add that mass to that county discussion. We can, yes. [00:35:09] You know, it's residential, but Madison is the other joint project road that is [00:35:15] critical for us for transportation, was a big part of the arguments people are [00:35:19] making. And it's going to be a two years or however long North-South corridor [00:35:25] once the bridge gets under construction at Grand. So when we talk to their [00:35:32] planners, can we just expand the concept to say areas that we share with you, 19 [00:35:41] being a major one, obviously, Massachusetts maybe is another one, but [00:35:47] certainly Massachusetts is next. And then from a traffic and planning [00:35:53] standpoint, I think Madison is problematic because those, you know, those [00:36:01] residential, sort of like the old veteran village when you go through it, is [00:36:04] everybody's got their driveways right up to a road with, in that case, two lanes [00:36:09] and how they get in and out. Anyway, let's take advantage of the county's [00:36:14] planning and that tell them we have these joint problems. Maybe they'll start [00:36:20] directing a little more money this way. [00:36:26] Congress is going to see an impact over Grand Boulevard too. Yeah, and Grand. [00:36:32] But we got our plans on Grand. I'm just saying, once that project starts, [00:36:37] Congress is going to be a main drag too. Go ahead. Okay, in respect to cultivating [00:36:48] community ownership, we have motivated all of the action items in one respect [00:37:00] or another. I think the only thing that we didn't specifically state in here as [00:37:15] a goal is, relates to our Citizens Academy, which has been a very big [00:37:25] success and certainly has cultivated community ownership among those that [00:37:32] have participated in the program. And that's something that we should [00:37:39] probably have noted because it has been so much appreciated by those that have [00:37:46] participated. In regard to focusing in on high-quality municipal services, I [00:37:54] think that we have definitely set the stage for maintenance and upkeep of [00:38:03] municipal buildings and properties. I think that, as indicated here, we have [00:38:13] advanced customer service as a priority within the city administration and we [00:38:24] have made improvements through our processes and on our media and web [00:38:38] presence to improve and streamline things for customers and provide them [00:38:43] opportunities for efficiencies in billing and access to online data. We [00:38:52] have launched the JustFOIA public records portal and are providing much [00:39:01] more up-to-date information on our recreational and library programs. And we [00:39:10] are just starting to research an after-school program for Francis Avenue [00:39:18] Park and researching an opportunity to potentially starting an after-school [00:39:26] program and also starting some staff training to become an approved Passport [00:39:36] Renewal Agency. In terms of quality of place, we are making public improvements [00:39:46] at a, in a couple of respects, at James Gray Preserve and we are also making [00:40:07] improvements at the existing Skateboard Park. And what we need to do is we need [00:40:14] to assign the task of developing a public arts master plan to staff. We've [00:40:20] talked about it but we have fallen short of really assigning that task out to [00:40:26] someone to do that. We do have funding available in our public arts fund to be [00:40:35] able to purchase some public art and I would very much like to have a master [00:40:41] plan in place so that we make good choices and put it, put public art in [00:40:49] the right locations. And so that's something that we'll work on this coming [00:40:56] year and we also want to work with the Historic Preservation Board on the [00:41:01] preservation of some of the older areas of the city. I get to see the use of [00:41:09] Francis Park more than once a week. They go by there every day after school let [00:41:15] alone nothing to do in the summertime and they're out wandering around because [00:41:19] they walk to school. I think that's the impetus behind wanting to get some [00:41:26] programming there. Strengthening relationships, I think that's something [00:41:32] that we have achieved through our staff efforts and through your [00:41:41] efforts. I think we're very well connected to external agencies and we [00:41:49] meet with them regularly and we've noted all of the potential partnerships and [00:42:00] relationships with the business community that we have and we're always [00:42:07] evaluating those partnerships to determine what mutual benefit there [00:42:12] might be to our relationships and taking action steps to make sure that we [00:42:19] understand what what they do and how we can effectively work together in terms [00:42:27] of communicating effectively. We are using a new web page and it offers some [00:42:45] new functionality which will help us communicate more effectively and one of [00:42:55] the exciting parts about what will be offered in respect to some of our [00:43:09] projects is that we can offer updates on projects on a regular basis and use that [00:43:20] as an opportunity to communicate with affected and impacted members of the [00:43:28] community and that I think will help when we can't communicate personally [00:43:40] with them about what's going on with projects because they really do [00:43:44] appreciate information when they're impacted by a project but our social [00:43:50] media and video content has significantly improved with the new [00:43:58] website and our current marketing person is doing an exceptional job. I think [00:44:08] you'll note when you get to the budget this year that our gravity platform for [00:44:20] the budgeting is also an effective tool and was a good use of city funds. And we [00:44:31] have Deputy Chief Latona here today and Lieutenant Paschalli on community [00:44:42] policing which is an area of the strategic plan where we have implemented [00:44:54] all of the goals and all [00:45:00] all of the action items with the exception of one, [00:45:03] and that's one that we're, [00:45:07] they're currently working on, [00:45:09] and that is working with homeowners [00:45:12] to establish watch groups. [00:45:14] That's the only action item that isn't fully implemented. [00:45:21] The more significant relate [00:45:26] to applying already to the state of Florida [00:45:31] for our CFA accreditation [00:45:36] and hiring a second social worker [00:45:39] to support our lift program efforts, [00:45:44] to continue working on our issues [00:45:51] that the life improvement facilitation team [00:45:56] addresses and we are continuing [00:46:02] to have a presence in the downtown area, [00:46:06] which I think mitigates a lot of things [00:46:09] that might occur there otherwise, [00:46:11] and that has turned out to be a very effective program. [00:46:18] Along those lines, Debbie, [00:46:22] there is the allowable use of CRA funds [00:46:24] for innovative policing [00:46:27] that is not existing in the budget, [00:46:29] so because the budget is so constrained, [00:46:34] I think if the police department looked into [00:46:37] what others have done through CRAs and innovative, [00:46:42] there's the potential for you to introduce a new program [00:46:45] because it can't be doing something [00:46:47] that's already being done, [00:46:50] so if there are elements of community policing [00:46:53] that could fit into that, [00:46:55] it could help to allow for all of these initiatives [00:47:01] that the police department has taken [00:47:06] to the point of property taxes increasing. [00:47:10] We're not gonna see that for a long time, [00:47:13] but once the CRA's over, [00:47:14] then the city gets its property taxes, [00:47:17] at least its city taxes back, [00:47:19] so if you have some programs [00:47:22] that are gonna go on into the future, [00:47:24] when the CRA's done, [00:47:26] at least those programs will be able to continue [00:47:28] to be paid for if you strategize [00:47:31] how you're gonna use that money [00:47:32] once you release parts of the city [00:47:36] or when it's finally met its final date in the 30s. [00:47:43] I don't know what that would be, [00:47:44] but if it's enhanced security, [00:47:48] I know there's a pushback about cameras [00:47:51] and watching that activity in a different way, [00:47:59] but I think it would be a worthwhile effort [00:48:01] to find out what innovative practices [00:48:03] are being introduced that meet the criteria [00:48:08] to try to incorporate some of that into our CRA. [00:48:12] I do appreciate the comments [00:48:14] that Councilman Altman is making, [00:48:16] and in that regard, [00:48:19] I did include some draft language [00:48:22] in our update to the CRA plan, [00:48:25] which you have not seen yet, [00:48:28] which would cover some police-related expenses [00:48:33] if the need presents itself [00:48:38] for us to perhaps fund some police expenses [00:48:42] out of the CRA if something becomes eligible. [00:48:49] I had an idea that went over like something [00:48:51] in a punch bowl that would be undesirable, [00:48:53] but back in the day for the walkable, [00:48:58] bikeable, you know, connected city, [00:49:05] when I was trying to get a bus [00:49:07] or something going way back in the day, [00:49:09] I had the thought that somehow [00:49:11] the police department could get involved [00:49:14] in a direct way in the interaction of people [00:49:18] moving around the city. [00:49:21] It was seen, I think, as almost like [00:49:23] we don't work for Busch Gardens [00:49:24] and I'm not gonna be riding a bus, [00:49:26] and you know, but at the same token, [00:49:28] I would just encourage you [00:49:29] that you see who's coming and going, [00:49:32] and yet if there is a community interaction program [00:49:36] that doesn't exist, it could allow for it also [00:49:39] to serve some kind of need to see who's coming and going, [00:49:43] even during the busy times [00:49:45] or making sure people are safe. [00:49:47] I don't know, I'm just tossing it out there, [00:49:50] but I would encourage some creativity [00:49:52] from the police department that could also support [00:49:58] all of these events that are taking up, [00:49:59] undoubtedly, a serious amount of overtime, [00:50:02] time, more events, more activities. [00:50:07] Seems that downtown is a place we need some programming, [00:50:10] maybe something different, I don't know. [00:50:13] Definitely, thank you. [00:50:18] The next strategic objective has to do [00:50:23] with a commitment to continue to invest in infrastructure, [00:50:29] and the action items that have been advanced [00:50:41] have almost all been implemented. [00:50:44] I did not, I don't think in the copy in front of you, [00:50:52] color yellow, one of the action items,

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3. 3Adjournment