At the December 19 Gulfport City Council meeting, Council passed five resolutions. One includes the Michael J. Yakes Recreation Center will move on up — with a new elevator. Photo by Cameron Healy
Gulfport City Council had some resolutions they needed to make before the New Year. At the December 19 Gulfport City Council meeting, Council passed five resolutions at its final meeting of 2023. Each of these resolutions spoke to a different way Council can improve parts of the City, from fixing roadways to elevators.
Here’s what Council talked about.
Resolution 2023-111: Where Does the Money Go?
Each year, Gulfport has a financial audit. To decide who does this, the City puts together a selection committee. This year, Councilmember Christine Brown (Ward II), City Attorney Andrew Salzman, and Kelly Schrader, Finance Administrator for Pinellas Park, served on the committee. After careful consideration, Council unanimously approved a resolution creating a three-year contract with MSL, P.A, with two three-year renewal options.
On Nov. 5, the City put out a request for proposals. Four firms submitted proposals, so the audit committee met to discuss a selection. They graded each firm on a 300-point scale. The scale rated level of service, quality of work, and timeliness. MSL, P.A scored highest, with a score of 295 out of 300. Purvis, Gray, and Company LLP scored 264/300. Marcum, LLP scored 248/300. Christopher, Smith, Leonard & Stanell, P.A scored 237/300.
The City budgeted a total of $47,800 for the 2024 fiscal year. The cost for 2024 is $44,000, leaving a $3,800 surplus for the City.
Resolution 2023-112: Number Crunchers
With Gulfport’s Finance Director recently moving on from working for the City, they need some help with their finances. Because of this, Council passed resolution 2023-112 which allows Milestone Professional Services, Inc. to take care of financial support services during the transition away from the previous Finance Director. Milestone Professional Services specializes in governmental accounting and financial reporting. The City has used their services since 2010 for help with their Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. While the standard budget for them is $20,000, Council approved $30,000 because of the need for special services to deal with the finance director vacancy.
Resolution 2023-113: Sewers!
At the Nov. 21 Council meeting, State representative Linda Chaney presented the City with a check for $2.2 million. This check is for repairs to the sanitary sewer (wastewater) system and roads. The City previously analyzed all the pipes in the sanitary sewer system, and categorized them by priority, from one to three. The City of Gulfport has made all the top priority (priority one) repairs; City staff now needs approval to make the priority two repairs. The State appropriation provides $1 million for the City to use for these repairs, but the estimated cost for the priority 2 repairs is $850,127. The City will use the remaining money on priority 3 repairs.
Resolution 2023-114: Do You Even Lift?
The Michael J. Yakes Recreation Center is on the way up. Literally. Resolution 2023-114 will allow Otis Elevator Service to fully modernize the elevator at Gulfport’s Recreation Center. The current elevator has several mechanical failures, and needs a complete modernization to bring it into code compliance. This includes a new controller, which is basically the brain of the elevator. It also needs a new power unit and tank, which holds hydraulic oil. Finally, the City will upgrade the system with a new door operator, edge sensors, and new doors. The door entrances will be clad with marine-grade stainless steel to match the doors. Originally, the City budgeted for $100,000 for refurbishment. Once engineers determined a full modernization was necessary, staff requested an amendment of $80,000. The total cost of the project is $179,256.
Resolution 2023-115: One for the Road
The final resolution that was approved is an agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation to make road repairs. This is the other $1.2 million of the $2.2 million that was presented by State representative Chaney. The total project will cost $1,746,318, which includes the previously approved $146,317. The City budgeted for a required $400,000 match. These repairs will include fixing the slope on the road and improving curbs. This will help with runoff collection, and prevent standing water, which can be a driver safety issue. Along with this, the base of the roadway and paving need to be redone to accommodate current and future traffic. This improves roadway resilience, which is a constant issue in small coastal cities in Florida because of strong storms and hurricanes.
That’s not all that happened at the December 19 Gulfport City Council meeting. Read what we overheard in the meeting.
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