10/20/2020 Council Work Session Meeting Minutes October 20, 2020
City of Clearwater
Main Library- Council Chambers
100 N. Osceola Avenue
Clearwater, FL 33755
e
Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
1 :00 PM
Council Philosophy Discussion - Special Work Session
Main Library - Council Chambers
Council Work Session
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City of Clearwater
Council Work Session Meeting Minutes October 20, 2020
Roll Call
Present 5 - Mayor Frank Hibbard, Vice Mayor David Allbritton, Councilmember
Hoyt Hamilton, Councilmember Kathleen Beckman, and
Councilmember Mark Bunker
Also Present: William B. Horne II — City Manager, Micah Maxwell —Assistant City
Manager, Michael Delk—Assistant City Manager, Pamela K. Akin City
Attorney, Rosemarie Call — City Clerk, and Nicole Sprague — Deputy
City Clerk.
To provide continuity for research, items are listed in agenda order although not
necessarily discussed in that order.
1. Call to Order— Mayor Hibbard
The meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m. in Council Chambers at the
Main Library.
2. Council Discussion Item
2.1 Roundtable Discussion of Philosophy and Priorities
Questions 1 through 7 were discussed at the October 5 special work session.
#8 How do you want to interact with Scientology?
The City Attorney said, in its legislative capacity, the City Council has
immunity. Council may make any comment they wish but she would like
Council to recall when they begin taking action, those previous
comments may come back to haunt them. For example, Council passed
an ordinance that was neutral from a religious standpoint but in the
process held several hours of public comments that expressed hostility
and action against Scientology. The courts said the action taken by the
City was not neutral. She said the courts used the Council's language
against the City's case.
Discussion ensued with comments made that the City is willing to
cooperate with the Church of Scientology, that if Scientology cares about
the community, they should be challenged to fill their empty buildings
and that the Church should open communications with the City as it is
also their city. Comments were made that the redevelopment of
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Council Work Session Meeting Minutes October 20, 2020
Downtown should occur organically and not by purchasing available
properties and redeveloping a contrived Downtown similar to The
Villages.
In response to questions, the City Attorney said she does not recall
Scientology ever ignoring staff after staff initiated communication. She said
she or the City Manager would be most likely to initiate a request for the
City. Since the CMA property issue, very few demands of each other
have been made. Historically when the City has made asks of them, the
Church followed through.
There was council consensus that Council is still committed to Downtown.
In response to questions, Economic Development and Housing Director
Denise Sanderson said staff has conducted two retail recruitment
strategies in the last several years. In 2010, one study was driven by the
CRA regarding recruiting retail first because office will follow. The Church of
Scientology partnered with the Clearwater Downtown Partnership and hired
a firm to conduct a retail recruitment strategy. The City Manager said, the
existing downtown restaurants, such as Clear Sky, have experienced great
patronage from the community, including members of the Church of
Scientology. From a municipal service delivery perspective, staff has not had
any difficulty working with the Church of Scientology as it relates to them
fulfilling their role as a private property owner. He said the Church was fined
a code enforcement penalty, of which approximately$435,000 was paid, the
Church paid the fine without complaint.
#9 Thoughts on Strategic Planning
Discussion ensued with comments made that the process cannot wait for
post-COVID, that the strategic plan should place more emphasis on the
environment and quality of life and include measurable goals. Support
was expressed for a one-page strategic plan that sets priorities and
reference supporting documents.
There was consensus to start strategic planning process sooner than
later and that the process should include an online component, such as
Zoom, and that a draft strategic plan should be shared with the
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community who can choose the priorities lol.
In response to a question, the City Manager said he believes his role is
to support the City Council and if coming into a new job, his job would be
to implement the strategic plan and priorities set by Council. That would
provide a new city manager at least a year to see how the established
strategic plan operates, before expressing any suggested changes.
#10 What are appropriate levels of service? and#11 Hierarchy of
services?
In response to questions, Police Chief Daniel Slaughter said when he
was appointed Police Chief, there were 228 sworn officers and when grant
funding was prevalent there were 270 officers. He said currently there are
245 officers, which allows officers to have some discretionary time and
focus on quality of life issues to determine the needs of the community
and identify preventative measures.
Discussion ensued with comments made that Pinellas has one of the
best library systems anywhere, public safety will always be number one,
that parks and trails are not free. It was stated that the City should clarify
what is the appropriate acreage of park land per resident.
In response to a question, the City Manager said the department budgets
are derived around what they must maintain. Quality of services emerges
when the decision is made to add to department responsibilities. The
debate on levels of service stems from a citizen who wants something
that has not been budgeted. He said after the recession, it became clear
that park maintenance did not receive a high level of service when it was
outsourced; city staff provided a higher level of service. The lion share of
the City's budget is dedicated to police and fire and, to a certain extent,
parks and libraries. Not one library branch or park was closed due to the
recession because it was important to the community.
#12 Private property rights vs the desire of some to limit additional
development?
Discussion ensued with comments made that Clearwater is completely
built-out and that the City must redevelop.
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In response to questions, the City Attorney said Bert Harris addresses
vested rights in property and what happens when a city or local
jurisdiction takes away the investment-backed expectation. There is a
statutory process to address that concern if someone believes the City
has taken their vested property rights. The City Attorney said Bert Harris
does not necessarily apply to current restrictions, it applied to changes the
city makes currently(i.e., downzone a property). The cost for the acquisition
would be based on the property's appraisal. She said in addition to a building
being safe, one must also comply with the zoning code for the use that is
being proposed.
Planning and Development Director Gina Clayton said staff has been
focused on creating redevelopment areas where transit and pedestrian
supported areas are already located, which enables support for residential
suburban areas. Downtown, Clearwater Beach, and U.S. Hwy. 19 are
designated areas where the goal is to have higher density to support
transit and pedestrian objectives. She said when these types of walkable and
transit supported communities are built, the communities are also
sustainable from an environmental standpoint by reducing carbon
emissions. Clearwater Beach is the City's most successful
redevelopment area. Ms. Clayton said Downtown is still not attracting
redevelopment even though the higher development potential is in place.
US 19 has a lot of development potential but the market is not there.
The Council recessed from 3:09 p.m. to 3:18 p.m.
#13 What are your feelings about Major League Baseball?
The City Manager said the city has had a 75-year relationship with the
Phillies. He believes the relationship is responsible for the Phillies'
tenure in Clearwater and how the community has enjoyed their presence.
He said the relationship has also enhanced tourism. There is a desire
that the relationship hits the 100-year mark, staff is optimistic it will get
there as staff continues to negotiate a new 20-year agreement. He said
the Florida operations organization has invested in our community in
areas outside of baseball. The current agreement expires in
2023. Staff is working with the consultant handling the contract
negotiations.
Discussion ensued with comments made that Major League Baseball
has been great for the Tampa Bay area tourism and that the
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Council Work Session Meeting Minutes October 20, 2020
associated contributions for both parties must be identified. There was
consensus to continue negotiation efforts.
#14 Once we get back to normal, how do we want to better engage
citizens?
Public communications Director Joelle Castelli said staff recently
coordinated a Facebook Live Chat session with the Police and Fire
Chiefs, which was well attended. Fire Chief Scott Ehlers said the session
was interactive in a relaxed setting. Police Chief Dan Slaughter said the
session was moderated and allowed you to connect with individuals who
would not normally engage with the City. The only concern would be that
the format does not guarantee local residents will engage, many of the
individuals who participated in the session were from out of state. Ms.
Castelli said in the past, Council hosted monthly breakfasts which were
successful at the beginning. Invitations were sent to registered voters.
Discussion ensued with consensus to allow staff to slow-down or stop
responses to citizens who disagree with the answer but continue to
engage. Interest was expressed to begin the monthly breakfasts after
COVID and consider an online format, such as Facebook Live.
#15 Council Budget
The City Attorney said the item is about Council's budget, in year's past
Council discussed how it would be managed. Each councilmember has
an allocation for travel, training and business cards.
Discussion ensued regarding increasing council salary. The City
Attorney said she could not recall a time when Council voted to increase
council salary. She said Council cannot provide themselves with an
increase, any salary increase would be for the next council.
The City Manager said it is hard enough to determine if the council is a
full-time or part-time job, but if Council adds more money to the equation,
Council must sort it out. Many of the citizens are not asking Council to
make policy decisions but rather to change what they do not like. The
City Attorney said when councilmembers are full-time, they will need
more staff. The strong mayor systems, for example, provide councilmembers
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with full-time staff, such as secretarial staff and legislative aides. If the
expectation is that council is a full-time position, Council will need more
support than is currently provided.
#16 Advisory Boards
Discussion deferred to a future date.
#17 Natural Gas Discussion
Discussion deferred to a future date.
#18 Establish annual measurable goals and priorities for the city
manager.
Discussion ensued with consensus that measurable goals should be part
of the new city manager's job description. It was stated that the search
for a new city manager will be discussed at a future meeting.
3. New Business (items not on the agenda may be brought up asking they be
scheduled for subsequent meetings or work sessions in accordance with Rule 1,
Paragraph 2). None.
4. Closing Comments by Mayor— None.
5. Adjourn
The meeting adjourned at 4:26 p.m.
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