Things we heard at the July 19 Gulfport City Council meeting.Adobe Stock
“I’m giving legal 90-day notice of intent to sue the City of Gulfport and Boca Ciega Yacht Club and the Gulfport Police Department. Govern yourself accordingly.” –Ray Rodriguez, speaking to the council remotely by phone
“At what point do we cease communication with him [Rodriguez] and just have his attorney speak with our attorney?” –Mayor Sam Henderson, about Rodriguez
“I clean the beach all the time. For a thousand cigarette butts that I pick up, it might be a hundred bottle caps and ten straws. Smoking is a big issue but I don’t see anything happening with a new ordinance unless there is a plan to enforce it.” –Karen Love, addressing possible no-smoking ordinances
“You received your budget by July 15, per the City charter. It reflects a 6.6% increase in the general fund with the understanding that 70% of your costs are people costs. Employees will all receive 6% raises. Employee compensation was the biggest part of it. We had very little growth in operational expenses. This was all done in the climate of a 12% inflation rate.” –City Manager Jim O’Reilly, to the council
“I had a meeting a couple of months ago, at the behest of some citizens, with the folks at Winway Homes. During the course of that meeting they shared some information with us that has turned out not to be true. So folks who are upset with that company in general have a reason to be. They were less than straightforward with us. I’m not going to go into detail about the things they’ve been doing. They were invited here to come speak to people because I let them know, ‘You’re not generating a lot of goodwill around here,’ and a lot of the things they told us face-to-face during that meeting have proven to be false. If you’re upset with Winway Homes, you have a fair reason to be. They haven’t been shooting straight with us.” –Mayor Sam Henderson
“We can only have so many toilets to flush.” –Vice Mayor Christine Brown, illustrating her desire not to increase the City’s density in the wake of Councilmember April Thanos suggesting the council look at ways to increase affordable housing options
