Council Raises Utilities, Worries About COVID By Ryan McGahan
On August 3, Gulfport City Council met for less than two hours, including a 10-minute recess. Mayor Sam Henderson was absent and Vice Mayor April Thanos led the meeting. Council discussed water/sewer rate increases and other budgeting issues, along with growing concerns for the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, while approving events and dropping a utility payment fee for some. Council Responds to Growing COVID Concerns Throughout the night, council discussed how best to handle the surge in COVID-19 resulting from the more contagious Delta variant. Resident and Gulfport Multipurpose Senior Center Foundation office manager Amy Oatley was the first to raise concerns during the public comment, asking council to “show courage again, and stand up for what’s right
by adopting a citywide mask ordinance for indoor spaces and outdoor crowds.” City Manager Jim O’Reilly explained that the city no longer had the power to implement orders such as mask ordinances due to Governor Ron DeSantis’ executive order overriding local government COVID restrictions. “We can recommend, and that’s pretty much where we’re at,” O’Reilly said. Councilmember Michael Fridovich spoke much more bluntly, saying, “Basically, the governor doesn’t care whether you live or die, and he’s totally ignoring what’s going on in Florida while he runs around the country trying to improve his national image.” Later in the meeting, council discussed launching a public awareness campaign to urge more residents to be vaccinated, something proposed at the previous meeting. Councilmember Christine Brown spoke against the idea, saying, “You can’t
listen to anything in the car, or see anything on the internet, or look at anything on the TV without it being a COVID message, so I’m not in favor of spending $20,000 to send more COVID messages out there. I think there’s enough.” Fridovich concurred, saying, “I agree with Christine: If by now if you haven’t figured out that you need your shots, and you’re not wearing your mask in public, then… I’m not spending $20,000 on stupidity.” Other members of the council agreed, along with several members of the public, and the vote failed unanimously. In one of the few pandemic precautions freely available to the city, council agreed during closing comments to allow residents to resume call-in attendance via Zoom for the next city council meeting. Of particular concern was the expected volume of speakers who might come forward Council continued on page 9
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