9/17/26 – South Howard vote, a Peregrine grant and the Tree Trust Fund ordinance

Easing back into a regular agenda preview this week and thankfully Council only sits for a single regular meeting this Thursday morning. It helps that the headline items Council will be voting on, the South Howard Flood Relief Project, I covered when it was previewed 2 weeks ago. I do have one small addition after that presentation. Beyond those 4 items, a handful worth noting.

Hope Shelters

Item 3- This was added to the agenda in July as part of a motion “Catholic Charities and Feeding Tampa Bay to provide an update on services they are providing within the City and how, in light of tightening resources, the City can help update and prioritize recurring resources.” At the beginning of the month I reported Pallet, the company that makes the Hope shelters, had abruptly closed. I’ve questioned the whole Hope Shelter program not because I don’t believe helping the unhoused is something the city should be funding, I do. I question if this is the right non-profit to be managing how the limited funding is spent. I’ve heard Council Member Lynn Hurtak speak highly of the facility at council meetings, I’m just not sold on the management.

TPD

A couple of TPD related items on the agenda I wanted to note. As the debate over Amendment 3 continues and we discuss what “public safety” costs, item 11 is a reminder that beyond police officer salaries, health care and pension costs, there are costs like $1.4 million for uniforms. To go along with a service weapon, $1.77 million for 1,300 of them in March, and vehicle.

Speaking of hidden public safety costs, item 17 is an agreement with the county to cover the cost of school crossing guards within the city to the tune of $1.7 million, paid out of the general fund, filed under Police SSD / Personnel. There were discussions about how the funds from the school zone cameras should be spent, seems this is one expense they should cover, freeing up general fund revenue for however Council sees fit to appropriate.

Finally I’ll mention items 12/13, one of those benign looking grants TPD accepts for some 3rd party service. Except this $595,000 grant through the State Attorney’s Office is for Peregrine, a data integration platform with an added generative AI layer. What kind of data? The language in the grant agreement says it’s to connect TPD’s dispatch and records systems and to Axon’s Evidence.com “to protect public safety in Ybor City and data analysis for purposes of investigation and prosecution.” Anyway, I took a closer look at the source of the grant funding and who Peregrine is. They’ve been getting millions in state funding for local police departments that have characterized the platform as “facilitates immigration enforcement by sharing local data with federal agencies” and “allows rapid searches across databases to build profiles on individuals.” Which seems like a really odd way to spend funds that were earmarked for a “Ybor City Community Outreach and Engagement Initiative.”

Tree Trust Fund

I haven’t touched on the Tree Trust Fund or Natural Resources Advisory Council lately but now that the actual trust fund ordinance is up for a vote in item 64 I wanted to at least flag it for those that might be tracking it. It seems like there’s a compromise that keeps Type I, II, and III trees in the ordinance but expands the opportunity for property owners to plant the tree in their front yard (or side if on a corner), not just in the right of way. This would allow more Type I and II trees to be planted as they could be planted far enough away from power lines thereby reducing the need to plant as many Type III trees. Fewer Crepe Myrtles.

If this item makes it through agenda review and isn’t continued, and if it passes first reading Thursday, there would still be a final opportunity for public comment before adoption.

South Howard Flood Relief

I covered this in the preview 2 weeks ago and I’d like to thank everyone who reached out and commented. The only thing I’ll add because it sounded like it’s something that could be twisted — how the 10’ x 10’ box culverts connect at the CSX rail crossing. It was the sudden discovery of the existing 5’ x 10’ culvert that made the route viable in the first place. The current design adds a 60 inch round pipe adjacent to the existing culvert to make the connection. Staff emphasized all of the modeling and cost is based on that design. However the term “bottleneck” started getting used to describe it and to question its efficacy. There were also questions raised about the lack of a permit with CSX. Staff and the contractor Kimmins explained that the permit process takes place after the design is closer to complete therefore not applied for yet. Kimmins’ representative stated in his vast experience, CSX has never not approved an application.

There’s also a scenario that’s been discussed with CSX, which would need to be run up the chain of command for final approval in which Kimmins would replace the 5’ x 10’ box culvert with a 10’ x 10’ culvert. Staff stated if that were to be approved, it would actually result in a cost savings of $3 million. The proposal would be that with only one existing customer receiving deliveries west of the Howard Ave crossing, Kimmins would use an alternate method of delivery to allow for the closure of the crossing.

After Thursday, Council will next sit for the final budget hearing on September 22. And to be honest, I have no idea what’s being proposed. Council Member Hurtak suggested Council should go forward with funding the capital projects that were put on hold and not wait to find out what happens with the Amendment 3 vote. If it passes, they kill the projects, if it doesn’t the projects are funded and there’s no need to go through the dance of negotiations. Meanwhile, Council Chair Alan Clendenin referenced some kind of scheme where there’s a quarterly evaluation in FY27 of unappropriated funds and the first $10 million is put towards “paving” and the next $20 million to parks. Which parks? Which projects? Who knows? That doesn’t sound like appropriating, that sounds like a handshake deal built for sound bites. But we don’t know exactly what’s being proposed because nothing has been shared with the public. We’ll have to wait to see if anything is released with the agenda later this week or if it will be one of those scenarios where the admin sends a memo an hour before the adoption hearing and is flashed on the overhead projector before they vote.

At this point I sincerely think the most prudent thing Tampa City Council could do is not approve a budget; work out a continuing resolution with the mayor to fund operations through mid-November. No new spending, no pay increases except for union-negotiated, just keep the lights on. Be prepared for two scenarios and vote on the budget before breaking for Thanksgiving. Have as many workshops or special call meetings necessary to work out the details. Not approve something with an imaginary gun to their head.