Gulfport Council Conducts Annual Review of Rules and Policies

Slight Change Ahead for Public Comment

By Monroe Roark

Future Gulfport City Council meetings should look slightly different from how they have been conducted of late.

Council reviewed its rules and policies, as is done at this time every year, at its March 21 meeting. One topic discussed in depth involved how the council handles public comment on specific agenda items. Council members also addressed how they should keep each other informed about outside meetings where they represent Gulfport.

Section 307 (b) of the city’s charter mandates the council to determine its own rules and order of business. Each year the members review the current rules and policies. Then they provide staff with any amendments for an annual resolution. This will get presented at the April 18 meeting.

Mayor Sam Henderson asked the council members individually to share whatever changes they wanted to see made. Council member April Thanos (Ward I) began with an item she had shared several times at previous meetings.

Thanos routinely reports on whatever meetings and workshops at the regional or state level she attended in the past two weeks. She also tells the council what she learned. She has repeatedly asked other council members to do the same.

“I go to the Suncoast League of Cities now [as the council’s representative],” she said. “If I don’t tell you what’s going on, you’ll never know because you weren’t there and we can’t both go.”

Thanos shared copies of a recent Largo City Council agenda, noting that it is standard practice for members of that body to report on outside meetings. She pointed out that if everyone followed this pattern, “everyone can learn what they learn when they go to whatever meetings they go to. I would really like to do this because if any of you go to a meeting, I want to know what you learned so I can learn. I’m happy to always share what I’ve learned with you.”

She asked that the council hear from the Senior Center Advisory Committee and Teen Council from time to time.

“We don’t hear anything from them so we don’t know what they’re talking about or what they’d like to see from us,” she said.

City Manager Jim O’Reilly said later in the meeting that the Teen Council no longer falls under the council’s purview. It currently operates as a Recreation Department program. He said he would ask if they would like to come in quarterly and brief the council . He will also extend an invitation to the senior advisory members, still council appointees.

Council member Christine Brown (Ward II) said she is satisfied with the rules and policies as they are now. Vice Mayor Paul Ray (Ward (III) said he had only one change request, and it pertains to how public comment is solicited for specific agenda items.

Council hears general public comments unrelated to the agenda at the beginning of each meeting. City Clerk Lesley DeMuth said that for an individual agenda item, the council’s stated order is a motion, a second, council debate, public comment, and a call for the vote.

“We don’t really adhere to that,” said Ray, noting that public comment has been coming before council discussion. He added that a number of residents have made it clear that they prefer to give their opinions after the council discussion. “We’ve heard enough people say it gives them the idea of where we stand, and they can give feedback.”

“Let’s do it. That’s fine with me,” said Henderson. “I don’t really care which side it’s on.”

As far as not using the proper order at recent meetings, Henderson took responsibility.

“That’s on me,” he said. “We’ve switched it so many times. I’ll take the blame on that.”

Council member Ian O’Hara (Ward IV), taking part in his first official meeting since his election, said he favors the idea brought forth by Thanos regarding council members giving reports from outside meetings.

Brown said the agenda covers this during the council comments portion of the agenda. Thanos countered that she never hears reports from anyone else.

“When I go to a conference, I go to at least four or five different workshops. I’ll make a report on every workshop I go to,” she said. “Sometimes you may think everybody al- ready knows about it, and sometimes there is a lot of new stuff. It just depends on what the topic is and how new the information is.”

Thanos added that she has no problem with continuing to do this as part of regular council comments as long as it is done.

“I don’t know if you can force another member to do something, but it hopefully promotes the conversation,” said O’Reilly.

Henderson tied all of these issues together. He expressed his desire to “get squared away and do things by the book” during council meetings.

“When we have city manager and city attorney reports; I’d like us to stop jumping in during the middle of those. Let them complete their reports. Any specific questions can be addressed at that time as opposed to topic by topic during a report,” said Henderson. “First of all, it’s disrespectful to those folks trying to give their reports. I’d prefer to see them finish it as they present it and then we can ask a question if we need to.”

Along those lines, Ray added that the council should pay attention to the speaking order.

Henderson agreed.

“Sometimes those things are because of me dropping the ball and sometimes it is people interrupting,” he said. “We can all do a little better, I think.”

Ron Jeremy: One Tampa Bay Woman's Story

The #1 porn star is a serial rapist. No one told the new girls.

April 21 – 7 p.m. (6:30 doors)

$10 admission Reservations Highly Suggested. Talk, followed by a Q&A and book signing.

Jenny Brown, an unguarded exotic dancer in Beaverton, Oregon, seeks financial legitimacy for her and her family through higher channels of adult entertainment. In December, 1997, she meets porn star Ron Jeremy in a strip club and he o ers to introduce her to contacts in Los Angeles. She flies down for a modeling shoot for Hustler Magazine, and Ron rapes her.