news Gulfport Talks Events in Pandemic, Mayor has COVID By Laura Mulrooney
On Tuesday, November 17 Gulfport canceling it; it’s too important.” City Council returned to city hall for “Since the 1930s we haven’t had one night only. For the remainder of a pandemic,” Vice Mayor Michael the calendar year, council will hold Fridovich shot back. “I don’t think meetings at the Catherine Hickman people will lose their interest Theater. Council in Christmas, also decided to “It’s time for the city and Santa Claus and resume Zoom else if the residents to take back everything call-ins for public we do something the streets.” – Vice Mayor on a virtual basis comment. This means Michael Fridovich. for one year.” public comments “I think are no longer allowed via email; we can make Santa Claus out and participants must call in. about on that evening when the lights “We were only allowed to have come,” O’Reilly said. these meetings virtually as long as “The usual number of people we the governor’s order stood,” Mayor have tightly packed together, I’m Sam Henderson explained. “The order not comfortable inviting people to was not renewed.” that because of the contagion of this COVID cases continue to soar in thing,” Henderson said. “When we do Florida and across the country. Mayor something, then people feel like it’s Henderson virtually attended the safe, because we’ve said ‘Yeah, come meeting from his home as both he on out.’” and first lady Laura Henderson have Council agreed that Santa will contracted COVID-19; their daughter make an appearance when the lights tested negative. come on Monday, December 7. The city will put out further guidance on Virtual Tree Lighting this alternative celebration once they finalize the details. For almost 100 years, Gulfport has held the annual holiday tree lighting New Year’s Eve Fireworks on the first Monday of the month in December. City Manager Jim O’Reilly After postponing the July 4th announced that the celebration will fireworks display, the city is facing a now be virtual. loss of $5,000 to cancel the fireworks “I don’t agree,” Councilmember completely, or an additional charge Christine Brown responded of $3,750 to postpone the fireworks immediately. display past December 31, 2020. “We don’t have the number of The city included $25,000 for the small children available to put them 2020 fireworks display in the 2020 in that environment at the greeting Community Development Waterfront of the visitor from the north,” O’Reilly Redevelopment District’s annual said. “If council would like to provide operating budget. additional direction, I would place the Council decided to go ahead with the one caveat that it probably wouldn’t fireworks display, with the caveat that be child-friendly and close to each if there is a sharp increase of COVID-19 other. If you would like to light the tree numbers and it becomes apparent that and maintain social distancing, we it will not be a good idea, the city will can see what we can do to facilitate cancel. that.” The city will not advertise the “This has been going since the ‘30s fireworks display outside of Gulfport, and I do not approve of canceling the and the streets will stay open. tree lighting,” Brown responded. “We “I support giving this a shot,” said cannot take this holiday away from Henderson. “It’s a nice option for people our children and I will not vote for to get outside in cooler weather.”
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“We don’t want to hype this; keep this for the locals,” Councilmember Paul Ray said. “I think it’s a great thing and a way to start out on a positive note for 2021.” Gulfport will not be the only show in town: Treasure Island and Clearwater also plan firework displays. BCYC Lease Discussion Postponed Due to a large turnout for the Boca Ciega Yacht Club lease discussion and the lack of space at City Hall, council decided to postpone the discussion until Tuesday, December 1. During public comment, Rear Commodore Jennifer Buckley agreed postponing the discussion was the best decision due to space constraints. Sanitary Sewer and Lift Upgrades City Manager Jim O’Reilly reported that there were no sewer spills into the bay or into the storm drain system from Tropical Storm Eta. “We manually controlled the flow and we also had vac trucks on site as our protocol now calls for,” O’Reilly said. “Our lift stations performed admirably.” Council also approved Lift Station No. 2 Force Main Extension and Lift Station Improvements Project for just under $3,000,000, to expand the capacity of the lift station. According to O’Reilly, the improvements will help with sewer handling, especially during heavy rains. The improvements will decrease any bottleneck situation close to water to prevent overflow into Boca Ciega Bay. According to Public Works Director Tom Nicholls, the project will take close to a year to complete. Most of the construction will happen underground, and the city has further plans in place to keep disruption to a minimum. Refocus on Events: A Discussion The city manager discussed changing the way the city approves special events hosted in the city. Organizations that apply for special
theGabber.com | November 26 - December 2, 2020
