Other highlights from committee meetings

A few other things I wanted to highlight from yesterday’s Council committee meetings:

• The Committee of the Whole meeting, where most of the contentious items were discussed, lasted about four hours and 50 minutes, ending at 8:09 PM. Most of the time was spent on three issues: the Community Maritime Park, the pension study, and the airport hotel lease.
• Regarding the airport hotel lease, Councilwoman Diane Mack’s much-publicised proposal that City Council break the contract with Julian MacQueen died for lack of a second.
• Council got into discussing some minutae regarding the Community Maritime Park project, which irritated CMPA chair Lacey Collier, who sarcastically suggested that Council just abolish the CMPA andhandle the project itself.
• The other big issue on the Committee of the Whole agenda was Escambia County’s plan to increase the gas tax by three cents per gallon to fund mass transit, specifically ECAT. The County does not require the City’s approval to do so but was asking the City to pledge its share of the revenue to ECAT. Council endorsed the plan with a 9-1 vote, with Councilman Sam Hall dissenting.
• At the end of the Enterprise Operations agenda, Councilwoman Diane Mack moved that the Airport be required to save trees at the Airport Boulevard entrance that it was considering removing in order to install new signage. Her request was sent back to staff to be brought forward at the next round of committee meetings.
• Councilwoman Mack also proposed commissioning an “environmental assessment” prior to consideration of a contract with a woodchip company at the Port. This proposal was likewise sent back to staff.