11/01/2017 CLEARWATER DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT BOARD MEETING
November 1, 2017–5:30 PM – City Hall – Council Chambers
Members Present: Paris Morfopoulos Chairman
Dennis Bosi Vice-Chairman
Thomas Wright Member
Stu Sjouwerman Member
Caitlein Jammo Member
Lina Teixeira Member
Also Present: Bill Jonson Ex-Officio/Councilmember
Doreen Caudell Ex-Officio/Councilmember
Micah Maxwell Asst. City Manager/Interim CRA Director
Denise Sanderson Economic Development Director
Anne Fogarty France Board Administrator
1. Chairman Morfopoulos called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.
2. Citizens Comments--Items not on the agenda—No comments.
3. Approve the Minutes from the October 4, 2017 Meeting
Member Bosi moved to approve the minutes as amended from the October 4, 2017,
meeting. The motion was duly seconded and upon roll call, the vote was:
Ayes: Member Morfopoulos, Member Bosi, Member Wright, Member Sjouwerman,
Member Jammo, and Member Teixeira.
Nays: None.
Motion carried.
4. Adopt September 2017 Financial Statement for Filing
Member Wright moved to adopt the September 2017 Financial Statement for filing. The
motion was duly seconded and upon roll call, the vote was:
Ayes: Member Morfopoulos, Member Bosi, Member Wright, Member Sjouwerman,
Member Jammo and Member Teixeira.
Nays: None.
Motion carried.
5. Adopt Resolution 05-17 Grant Funding for Blast Friday Events—Anne Fogarty France, Downtown
Manager briefed the board on the grant funding resolution for Blast Friday events. The resolution
notes that funding for FY 2017-18 in the amount of$30,000 was approved in this year's budget
and delineates the payment schedule of four payments in the amount of$7,500 paid in December,
February, April, and June. The DDB attorney has reviewed the contract and approved it. Member
Jammo read the resolution into the record.
Member Bosi moved to adopt Resolution 05-17. The motion was duly seconded and upon
roll call the vote was:
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Ayes: Member Morfopoulos, Member Bosi, Member Wright, Member Sjouwerman,
Member Jammo and Member Teixeira.
Nays: None.
Motion carried.
Member Wright questioned whether changing the name of Blast Friday is still being considered
and was advised that it was not being considered at the present time.
6. Proposal from Jennie Pearl/Bazaar Art LLC - Jennie Pearl, 331 Cleveland Street, Suite A,
appeared before the Board concerning the Station Square Park events that she coordinates. As a
recap, the September event was rained out and for the October event she was asked to
collaborate with the House of Beers' Oktoberfest event. Due to the being asked by City staff to
stay at the Oktoberfest event, she did not have the event at Station Square Park. There is now a
conflict with her December event because it is the same date as Blast Friday's Miracle on
Cleveland Street. She is concerned that she will lose her funding for her events because she is
not holding the events in Station Square Park as proposed.
Ms. Pearl asked the Board if she could move her event to the corner where Second Century
Studio is located whenever there is a conflict with another City event. Discussion ensued
concerning the effect that moving the events out of Station Square Park would have on the
funding provided by the DDB. It was expressed by several members that moving the location
would not adhere to the original proposal submitted with Ms. Pearl's request for funding. Ms. Pearl
said she could change the date of her December event but would have to obtain a new permit
from the City. Ms. Fogarty France advised her that she could request the date on her special
events permit be changed.
Ms. Pearl said she is willing to collaborate with Miracle on Cleveland Street. Brianna Hartigan from
Ruth Eckerd Hall stated there is space in the park and on the sidewalk by the studio and they are
willing to work together on how to hold both events.
Ms. Pearl's greatest concern is that she not lose funding when the City schedules another event
that conflicts with her date. Chairman Morfopoulos said there are two issues: 1) what to do about
the December event and 2) what to do in the future. Ms. Pearl's events are held the first Saturday
of the month. Ex-officio Member Caudell stated this would be an exception due to the Miracle
program. Further discussion ensued.
Member Sjouwerman moved to combine the two events this time, keep the funding and
have them work out how it should be coordinated and by next time have it figured out what
to do in the event of a conflict. The motion was duly seconded.
Chairman Morfopoulos asked if there were any citizen comments.
Robert Thor, 628 Cleveland Street, #1507 at Station Square Condominiums, spoke on behalf of
Ms. Pearl's events and how important they are to Station Square Park.
Further discussion ensued and at the conclusion, roll call was taken and vote was:
Ayes: Member Morfopoulos, Member Bosi, Member Wright, Member Sjouwerman,
Member Jammo and Member Teixeira.
Nays: None.
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Motion carried.
This will be listed as an agenda item to discuss how to handle conflicts in the future. Mr. Maxwell
suggested they bring a calendar with funded events to see where there are conflicts. Kris Koch is
in charge of special events for the City. Madai Gutierrez works for the Special Events Division on
events east of Osceola Avenue.
7. DDB Election Results — Chairman Morfopoulos advised the board of the October 10, 2017
election results. There was a three-way tie with candidates Ray Cassano, Venkat "Vincent"
Devineni and Lina Teixeira each receiving 84 votes. The DDB attorney was briefed and advised
that a run-off election is necessary. He also reported that there were 18 ineligible ballots. The run-
off election will be held on November 21, 2017 and the two candidates receiving the most votes
will serve the three-year terms and the other candidate will serve the one-year term.
8. Appoint a Canvassing Committee for the November 21, 2017, Election – Chairman Morfopoulos
stated that the Board needed to appoint two members who are not on the ballot to assist in the
counting of ballots at the Supervisor of Elections office on November 21, 2017. Members Jammo
and Wright volunteered.
9. Chairman's Report - Chairman Morfopoulos advised the Board of upcoming events. Events are
listed on the City's website.
Mr. Morfopoulos stated that citizens will vote on November 7 for Penny for Pinellas and Imagine
Clearwater. The City has asked the Board to formally endorse Imagine Clearwater.
Member Sjouwerman moved to formally endorse Imagine Clearwater. The motion was duly
seconded and upon roll call the vote was:
Ayes: Member Morfopoulos, Member Bosi, Member Wright, Member Sjouwerman,
Member Jammo and Member Teixeira.
Nays: None.
Motion carried.
Mr. Morfopoulos advised the Board that Member Starova resigned. Due to the timing of his
resignation, this could not be included in the recent election process. Therefore, the Board needs
to appoint a replacement to fill his term through December 2018. Whoever is appointed would
have to run in the October 2018 election if they want to continue to serve on the Board.
Members Bosi and Jammo who currently serve on the Board are willing to continue. Member
Teixeira stated that she felt it was important to have more than one woman on the board of seven
members.
Member Teixeira moved to appoint Member Jammo to the Board. The motion was duly
seconded. There were no other nominations. Upon roll call the vote was:
Ayes: Member Morfopoulos, Member Bosi, Member Wright, Member Sjouwerman, and
Member Teixeira.
Nays: None.
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Abstentions: Member Jammo
Motion carried.
10. Final Comments
Member Teixeira stated she was honored to have been elected and encouraged everyone to vote
on November 7.
Member Wright encouraged everyone to vote yes on the referendums.
Member Bosi stated he was looking forward to another exciting year.
Member Sjouwerman also encouraged people to vote yes.
Member Jammo stated she appreciates the votes in her favor and is excited to serve on the
Board.
Ex-officio Member Jonson had several suggestions on future agenda items for the Board: 1) the
City recently did a citizen survey and some of the topics concern downtown which should be
presented to the Board; 2) some of the geographic questions concerning downtown and
surrounding areas of downtown had opinions that were different from the rest of the City and he
would like the Board's input on this; 3) projects for downtown that will be upcoming such as the
East Cleveland Street entrance signs 4) he is reading a book by Steve Case about the right to rise
which encourages cities to provide entrepreneurial financing and Clearwater has so many
technology companies there may be things we can do to make them more successful in our area;
and 4) he congratulated Lina Teixeira for being selected as Creative Loafing's Best New
Downtown Clearwater Crusader.
Ex-officio Member Caudell advised the Board that the technology firm Sc2 signed a lease-to-own
for the former Florida Power building. The city is moving forward on many projects. She stated
that the Festival of Trees will be held November 17-19 at the Long Center.
Interim CRA Director Maxwell advised the Board that an ad has been placed for the CRA Director
and they will start reviewing resumes on November 15. However, the recruitment will remain open
during the review. There will be a public component to the selection process and the DDB will be
involved. Member Sjouwerman suggested they should go back and look at the previous resumes
received because the second choice may still be interested.
Chairman Morfopoulos congratulated Lina Teixeira for her award. He stated that some years ago
the Board was given updates on the City initiatives and they haven't happened for a while and he
would like to hear these updates again. Ms. Caudell advised him that the State of the City report
will give an overview of what is going on, as well as the display at the art studio.
Mr. Maxwell stated the City Manager has instructed him to get coordinate a meeting of the same
group and it will be done in the December/January timeframe. There's a lot going on and to the
defense of staff, we've had many retirements lately.
11.The meeting was adjourned at 6:32 p.m.
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