Bradenton City Council Agenda Results: January 23, 2013

BRADENTON – At its monthly Wednesday evening meeting, the council debated and eventually passed an ordinance that would allow for greater enforcement of penalties for trespassers on public property. Business at the meeting was otherwise scarce. 

1. INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Invocation by Dr. Joey Mimbs of Bethel Baptist Church.

2. PROCLAMATION

Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day – Jan. 25, 2013 City Clerk Carl Callahan read aloud Mayor Wayne Poston's proclamation, acknowledging Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day.

3. PRESENTATION

4. ADMINISTERING THE OATH 

5. CITIZEN COMMENTS

6. CONSENT AGENDA (passes unanimously)

a) Minutes: Jan. 9, 2013, council meeting. 
b) Chamber of Commerce sublease. 
c) Public Event: Don Vautrinot Panther Prowl 5K Run on Saturday, Jan. 26. 
d) Public Event: Music in the Park every Friday in March at the Amphitheater. 
e) Public Event: Request to block parking spaces on 10th St. W. for South Florida Museum’s “Couture in the Courtyard” on Monday, March 4. 
f) Line Item Adjustment for Streets Department. 
g) Request from Bradenton Police Department to use forfeiture funds to purchase equipment. 
h) Request for one-year extension of time for Magnolia Lakes PDP, 418 48th St. Ct. E. 
i) Resolution 13-06: Appointing Deputy Chief Keith Davis to the Grievance Board.
j) Public Event: YMCA Healthy Kids Day on April 20.
k) Execution of Southwest Florida Water Management District agreement for 12th and 14th avenues west bridges and 20th Street West improvements.

7. BUSINESS/ADVERTISING, PETITIONS, HEARINGS AND COMMUNICATIONS

ORDINANCE 2945 SECOND READING & PUBLIC HEARING 
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF BRADENTON, FLORIDA CREATING A NEW SECTION 54-14 OF THE CITY CODE OF ORDINANCES; ESTABLISHING A PROCESS FOR THE ISSUANCE OF TRESPASS WARNINGS ON PUBLIC PROPERTY; PROVIDING NOTICE REQUIREMENTS FOR TRESPASS WARNINGS; ESTABLISHING AN APPEAL PROCESS FOR TRESPASS WARNINGS; PROVIDING FOR A SPECIAL MAGISTRATE TO HEAR APPEALS FROM ISSUED TRESPASS WARNINGS; PROVIDING FOR THE SEVERABILITY OF PARTS HEREOF; PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. (passed 4-1, with Councilman Harold Byrd dissenting. Councilman Bemis Smith made a motion to make two changes to the ordinance: (1) to change the appeal to trespass deadline, as noted in J1 or the ordinance, from 10 days to 20 days; and (2) to give appellants the option of asking for an additional 40 days before their hearing, which would be fulfilled upon request as long as said request was made within the original 40 day time period. He also made a separate motion that would require a report that detailed the number of violators and their specific violations given six months later, in order to see if the ordinance needs further tweaking. Both motions were passed unanimously.)

Despite concerns that the new ordinance, which would give new guidelines on what can constitute a trespassing violation on public property, was too broad and vague in said guidelines, it was passed by the council after much discussion. Full story can be viewed here.

8. NEW BUSINESS BY DEPARTMENT HEADS, CITY ATTORNEY AND COUNCIL

9. BUSINESS BY APPOINTMENT 

10. COUNCIL REPORTS Councilman Gene Brown thanked department heads for helping to guide him during his still-fresh tenure on the city council. 

11. DEPARTMENT HEAD REPORTS City Police Chief Mike Radzilowski praised the officers that worked security detail in Washington, D.C. during the presidential inaugural, and said that his department "had already started the paperwork to get reimbursed for every dime the city is owed (in compensation for said security work)."