Gulfport Talks Events in Pandemic, Mayor has COVID.

By Laura Mulrooney

On Tuesday, November 17 Gulfport City Council returned to city hall for one night only. For the remainder of the calendar year, council will hold meetings at the Catherine Hickman Theater. Councilalso decided to resume Zoom call-ins for public comment.

This means public comments are no longer allowed via email; participants must call in.

“We were only allowed to have these meetings virtually as long as the governor’s order stood,” Mayor Sam Henderson explained. “The order was not renewed.”

COVID cases continue to soar in Florida and across the country. Mayor Henderson virtually attended the meeting from his home as both he and first lady Laura Henderson have contracted COVID-19; their daughter tested negative.

Virtual Tree Lighting

For almost 100 years, Gulfport has held the annual holiday tree lighting on the first Monday of the month in December. City Manager Jim O’Reilly announced that the celebration will now be virtual.

“I don’t agree,” Councilmember Christine Brown responded immediately.

“We don’t have the number of small children available to put them in that environment at the greeting of the visitor from the north,” O’Reilly said. “If council would like to provide additional direction, I would place the one caveat that it probably wouldn’t be child-friendly and close to each other. If you would like to light the tree and maintain social distancing, we can see what we can do to facilitate that.”

“This has been going since the ‘30s and I do not approve of canceling the tree lighting,” Brown responded. “We cannot take this holiday away from our children and I will not vote for

canceling it; it’s too important.”

“Since the 1930s we haven’t had a pandemic,” Vice Mayor Michael Fridovich shot back. “I don’t think people will lose their interestin Christmas, Santa Claus and everything else if we do something on a virtual basis for one year.”

“I think we can make Santa Claus out and about on that evening when the lights come,” O’Reilly said.

“The usual number of people we have tightly packed together, I’m not comfortable inviting people to that because of the contagion of this thing,” Henderson said. “When we do something, then people feel like it’s safe, because we’ve said ‘Yeah, come on out.’”

Council agreed that Santa will make an appearance when the lights come on Monday, December 7. The city will put out further guidance on this alternative celebration once they finalize the details.

New Year’s Eve Fireworks

After postponing the July 4th fireworks display, the city is facing a loss of $5,000 to cancel the fireworks completely, or an additional charge of $3,750 to postpone the fireworks display past December 31, 2020.

The city included $25,000 for the 2020 fireworks display in the 2020 Community Development Waterfront Redevelopment District’s annual operating budget.

Council decided to go ahead with the fireworks display, with the caveat that if there is a sharp increase of COVID-19 numbers and it becomes apparent that it will not be a good idea, the city will cancel.

The city will not advertise the fireworks display outside of Gulfport, and the streets will stay open.

“I support giving this a shot,” said Henderson. “It’s a nice option for people to get outside in cooler weather.”

“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

event permits in Gulfport city limits would have to benefit Gulfport businesses or Gulfport-based organizations.

“There’s a higher bar for folks not from here,” O’Reilly said.

“We were trying to put people on the streets to benefit the businesses, but we’ve pushed that boundary to some extent and some of these events were having a negative impact on residents,” Henderson said. “I think it’s time we reduce the frequency and the impact that this has on the residents that often just want to enjoy the City of Gulfport when it’s not doing anything more special than being Gulfport.”

“Going this direction would help local organizations that may not have scheduled an event because the calendar was already full,” Councilmember Christine Brown said.

“It’s time for the city and the residents to take back the streets,” Vice Mayor Michael Fridovich said.

Overhead at the November 17 Gulfport City Council Meeting

“Our police department has basically become a dog catcher.” – Councilmember Paul Ray during council comments in response to complaints of aggressive and unleashed pets in Gulfport.

“I don’t know why I say ‘healthy.’ How do healthy and Thanksgiving go together?” – Ray, after wishing the City of Gulfport a “happy and healthy Thanksgiving.”

“Please wear your mask. It’s not politics, its science.” – Vice Mayor Michael Fridovich

“Continue to be careful. We’re likely to be dealing with this virus for a while. I think we’re suffering what they’re calling ‘pandemic fatigue.’ Don’t let yourself slip up.” – Mayor Sam Henderson