The coming week in City government

Below is the breakdown of what the Pensacola City Council will consider in the coming week. As always, direct expenditures are highlighted. Links to the full agendas are included at the bottom of the page.

Note: This meeting will take place on Monday, August 10. The meeting begins at 9:00 AM in the Hagler/Mason Conference Room, second floor, City Hall. The Community Redevelopment Agency will not meet.

Committee of the Whole

Board appointments: The City Council will make appointments to the Civil Service Board, the Code Enforcement Board, and the Zoning Board of Adjustments. For a list of nominees to each board, see the full agenda.

Goals and strategies: After making the aforementioned board appointments, the Committee of the Whole will apparently adjourn until after the Finance Committee meets, at which point the Committee of the Whole will meet again in a special session devoted to discussion of Council’s declared “goals” and the various “strategies” for achieving those goals as proposed by each Council member.

Neighbourhood Services

Parks & Recreation: Council will consider the purchase of 45 light poles and lamps for Wayside Park East, which would replace fixtures destroyed in Hurricane Ivan in 2004. The total cost would be $78,750; the vendor is the Stuart C. Irby Company, a Pensacola company located just outside the City limits.

Council will also consider the purchase of playground equipment for Magee Field in Eastside. The equipment would cost $46,288.66; the vendor is Playmore Recreational Products and Services, a Fort Myers company.

Road projects: The Neighbourhood Services Committee will also discuss the planned creation of an interchange at Interstate 10 and North 9th Avenue.

Enterprise Operations

Saenger Theatre: As part of the expansive renovation and expansion of the City-owned Saenger Theatre, “groundwater seepage issues” in the theatre’s basement need to be addressed. According to City staff, groundwater seepage into the basement over the lifetime of the theatre have made the basement essentially unusable. In order to correct the issues and allow the space to be used, City staff is asking Council to approve an agreement with engineering firm PBS&J for an amount not to exceed $65,000. PBS&J is a large, out-of-town firm, but they do maintain a full-time office in Pensacola.

Airport: Staff is asking Council to approve up to $25,000 for efforts to attract new or enhanced air service at the City-owned Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport. It’s a start, but we need to be spending way more on this. The Panama City area has a new airport coming online in the near future, and Walton and Bay counties are spending much more on attracting carriers to that airport.

ESP: Staff will provide an information item for Council concerning an award recently received by Energy Services of Pensacola, the City-owned gas utility.

Economic and Community Development

Right of way requests: The Will Call Sports Grille has requested a license to use an 8′ x 80′ portion of the right of way at 22 South Palafox Street. Will Call, which previously occupied only the second story at that address, has recently taken over the lower story, formerly Starbucks Billiards, and intends to expand into that space and place outdoor seating in the South Palafox right of way. For the record, the City’s Planning Board, myself included, voted unanimously in support of Will Call’s request last month.

Finance Committee

City employee compensation: The City Manager is asking Council to approve an ordinance suspending longevity pay increases. Regarding general employees, this can be done immediately. Regarding unionised employees such as police and fire, such changes must be subject to collective bargaining, which would commence upon Council’s approval of the ordinance.

Stormwater management: Since 2001, the City has an annual stormwater assessment fee on property located within the City limits, in order to generate revenue to improve stormwater management. This fee is based on the size of a property’s impervious area, i.e. areas which water cannot penetrate into the ground, such as building footprint, parking lots, etc. This spring, the City verified the impervious area of all non-residential properties, which resulted in the discovery of many parcels at which the impervious area was being under-reported. As a result, the stormwater fees for over 1800 properties will increase.

Links

• Committee of the Whole agenda
• Neighbourhood Services agenda
• Enterprise Operations agenda
• Ecomonic and Community Development agenda
• Finance Committee agenda