As of May 2019, the program has engaged 500 participants, with a target population of 1,000 for FY20. To meet these goals, staff is working to identify program needs such as continued funding and additional staffing. 

The City has an estimated 7,000 disconnected youth between ages 16-24. These youth are not in school, are unemployed, and when looking at national research, they are most susceptible to crime as a victim, suspect, or perpetrator.

To help these youth, TEMPO would provide essential services to find technical and vocational educational opportunities and would provide youth with workforce training through local short-term apprenticeships and through job placement.

TEMPO began with just one local partnership, and now has over 30 local partners and is garnering national support.

The City worked with the legislative delegation to request state funding to support TEMPO. This funding includes a one-time $150,000 stipend in FY20 for program costs. Staff also recommends funding a permanent location for TEMPO offices in the FY20 Capital Improvement Plan. The program has also received a preliminary award notification of $70,000 from the Department of Juvenile Justice to pay for various internal costs.

Based on the above staff recommendations, the award will be given from July 1, 2019, to June 2020. Needs will be reassessed for FY21 and a cconsistant funding source will be identified. The outcomes of this program would positively influence the Commission priorities of Economic Development, Quality of Life, and Impact of Poverty.

The City Commission believes this would ensure everyone receives “fair consideration” to be paid the minimum living wage of $12 an hour. The fiscal impact for this action is approximately $50,000 a year. 

At the City Commission Workshop held on February 20, 2019, city staff performed a living wage analysis. This analysis led to a proposed expansion of the adopted living wage of $12 an hour to encompass more of the City’s workforce.

The staff conducted an analysis of the various position types that are in the City’s workforce, including full-time regular positions, part-time regular positions, and temporary positions, which can be broken down into ‘Other Personnel Services’ (OPS) and other temporary positions (Other). 

This analysis found that the workforce has 152 temporary OPS employees. OPS employees regularly work over 30 hours a week and are given access to the City’s health insurance program at the same rates as full-time employees.  Out of the 152 temporary OPS positions in the City, 36 of those are making less than $12 an hour and 26 of those 36 work a consistent schedule. The other ten “float” between different jobs throughout the pay period.

Why this group is important: The MPOAC assists local transportation planning organizations in carrying out the urbanized area transportation planning process by serving as the principal forum for collective policy discussion.

Local impact: The MPOAC endorses state legislation which can impact local transportation issues. Also, the current Governing Board Chair is Leon County Commissioner Nick Maddox.

State legislation: Listed below are the top legislative priorities endorsed by MPOAC.

1. Encourages legislators to explore other options for sources of revenue. These include (1) expanding the Charter County and Regional Transportation System so all counties in MPO areas can enact up to a one cent local option surtax by referendum and (2) identifying ways to replace revenue for the current motor fuels tax, which can no longer support the needs of the transportation system.

2. Supports laws that regulates distracted driving as a primary offense by prohibiting use of handheld electronic wireless communications devices and other distracting devices while operating a moving motor vehicle.

3. Supports funding to 2007 levels for the Transportation Regional Incentive Program (TRIP). The 2007 funding levels were at approximately $149 million, compared to $16 million in 2017. Funding levels have varied, dropping substantially to below $50 million seven times between 2006 and 2017.

The MPOAC listed four additional priorities.

Allow Strategic Intermodal System (SIS) funds to be used on transportation facilities not originally under their system. The SIS would these use funds to enhance mobility or support freight transportation. This expansion of funding would directly benefit users of SIS facilities.

Establishes flexible, predictable funding for transit projects by removing various funding limitations in the State Transportation Trust Fund (STTF). This would increase funding for priority transit projects.

Recognizes federal metropolitan transportation planning funds as not state funds, for expenditure purposes. This would clarify that federal monies provided by the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) shall not be used for federally required duties.

Supports advancing of innovative transportation. The goal is to advance transportation technologies while also protecting citizens from tampering by making tampering a punishable offense.

Rather, the Commission decided to move forward with the development of a master plan for Midtown while seeking other solutions to the parking issues.

A master plan is a dynamic long-term planning document that provides a conceptual layout to guide future growth and development.

Previously, the City Commission had initiated a Request for Proposals (RFP) to provide public parking in the Midtown commercial core. Two proposals were received. Both were five-story parking garages that included purchase and leasing options.

One proposal, located at Thomasville Road and Fifth Avenue, included 331 spaces and cost $11,675,069. This proposal was self-sustaining, as user parking fees would cover the cost of the garage after the first year of opening.

The second proposal included a five-story parking garage at the intersection of Thomasville Rd. and North Monroe Street. It would contain 550 spaces and would cost about $25-30,000,000. This proposal was not self-sustaining.

Before the City Commission meeting, two public meetings were held on the issue.

On January 28, 2019, a public meeting was held where staff shared the Midtown Action Plan priorities with the community, explaining how the proposals would alleviate parking shortages but “did not have the capacity to facilitate large-scale redevelopment of the area”.  Further, a Midtown Working Group Meeting was held on February 11, 2010. 

The recommended parking solutions derived from these meetings include selecting one of the two RFP proposals, finding an alternative, considering “smart parking” options, and hiring a parking specialist.

At issue at this meeting was the fate of these two proposals.

After approximately twenty speakers addressed the issue, with a majority against both parking garage proposals, Mayor John Dailey began the discussion among the elected officials.

Dailey proposed that the parking garage proposals be “scrapped”, the city move forward with a Midtown master plan, and purchase the land currently for sale at Thomasville Road and Fifth Avenue for surface parking.

City Commissioner Jeremy Matlow agreed with rejecting the parking garage proposals, but was against purchasing the land.

City Commissioner Dr. Elaine Bryant was also in favor of rejecting the proposals and moving forward with a master plan. She was not in favor of purchasing property for surface parking without further analysis.

Commissioner Curtis Richardson agreed with rejecting the proposals and with the development of a master plan, but did not agree with moving forward with Dailey’s proposed land purchase.

In the end, Commissioner Matlow made a motion to reject all parking garage proposals, seek other parking solutions with city staff working with midtown representatives, and to move forward with a master plan for midtown.

The vote was 5-0.

Gruters introduced the “Florida Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act” for the upcoming legislative session in response to a controversial vote in New York state which expanded abortion rights.

Currently, Florida state law allows abortions to be performed up to 24 weeks.

On the 46^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed New York’s Reproductive Health Act (RHA) into law.

After signing the bill into law, Cuomo said, “Today we are taking a giant step forward in the hard-fought battle to ensure a woman’s right to make her own decisions about her own personal health, including the ability to access an abortion. With the signing of this bill, we are sending a clear message that whatever happens in Washington, women in New York will always have the fundamental right to control their own body.”

The RHA has been seen by advocates as necessary to “safeguard abortion rights” if the Supreme Court overturns the Roe v. Wade ruling. The RHA moves abortion laws from the criminal code to the realm of public health and expands rights.

However, others are angry at the leeway it provides to those seeking abortions in any term. Critics say the language is vague and the act is “too far-reaching,” expanding abortion up until birth, through the third trimester.

In addressing late-term abortions, if the fetus “is not viable” or when it is necessary to protect the “life and health” of the mother, abortions are permitted after 24 weeks.

Also, under the New York law, certain medical professionals who are not doctors are allowed to perform abortions, such as midwives.

Compared to other states, New York abortion laws are much less restrictive. For example, a number of states, have provisions that include waiting periods, consent requirements, and other restrictive statutory language.

Gruters says the new New York law is “radical” and that “Late term abortion is an assault on basic human decency to other humans. It is now legal in New York up to the point of the baby exiting the birth canal…Ironically, murders and child rapists have more protections in New York without a death penalty.”

At the recent city retreat, several citizens spoke aggressively against the proposed location of the public safety complex on the Southside of Tallahassee. However, City Commissioner Curtis Richardson defended the city’s decision to support the location.

Many residents, most from the Southside community, argued against the police station being placed on the Southside.

Cea Moline, a student in Emergency Management at Florida State, said she is “worried that putting it in that area of town…might endanger black and brown people who live in that area…we know that, you know, the police isn’t really accountable in any city in America for what it does to people. Whether it be shootings, killings, or beatings.”

Opponents also argued that the police station would take away from Southside jobs, would drive up property prices, would provide an incentive to police officers to arrest colored people because of it being a “weed and seed zone,” and that the money that could be put towards the proposed complex would be better utilized elsewhere.

Residents cited a city audit that indicated that crime statistics were over reported and complained that this information was not sufficiently explained to the public.

Due to this lack of transparency, these residents said they could not trust the city to build a police station on the Southside.

However, Tallahassee City Commissioner Curtis Richardson, later in the meeting, spoke in favor of the police station being placed on Southside:

“I have lived on the Southside of Tallahassee for 25 years. My wife and I chose to build our home on the Southside of Tallahassee.. I want the public safety complex. The people that I talk to, my neighbors, those who are involved in the neighborhoods movement on Tallahassee want the public safety complex on this side of town…what you heard today, is not characteristic of what I’ve heard in all of my years.”

Richardson stated that the complex would allow for more public meeting space, more community-oriented policing, and would help to develop the Southside by coexisting with other Southside developments that are already taking place.

At the January 30th city commission meeting this Wednesday, officials will vote to authorize city staff to negotiate an architectural and design contract for the public safety complex with the Architects Design Group.

The first project, and the largest one by far, is located at Cascades Park. The CRA completed the sale of the property in October, with $4 million in funding for the project. They have completed demolition, besides the one building being preserved, and construction is anticipated to begin in 2019. The project includes an AC Hotel by Marriott that would “hopefully boost tourism” and allow for larger conventions.

The front of the building contains a public event space useable for a variety of functions. Underneath, there is space for storage and support for the amphitheater, which would in turn bring in larger performances. There are also 250 covered public parking spaces.  A plaza will be constructed with a design tied to the historical monument that is located on Jefferson Street. See picture above.

Completion of this project is planned for late 2020. There is even a second phase to the project, with planned construction of townhomes and apartments and a refurbished health facility. The completion of this phase is anticipated by 2021.

The second project, located across from Hotel Duval on 440 N Monroe, is a “companion project to the refurbishment of the Envision Credit Union” that the CRA helped to fund. It will include 224 apartments, with about 1300 square feet for retail. The developers plan to submit construction plans in early January and anticipate start of construction in mid-2019, with completion roughly two years after that.

The third large project is a LOEWS Hotel that is currently under construction behind the Leon County courthouse. Labeled the Washington Square, the redevelopment will include 18,000 square feet of meeting space and 267 rooms.

The construction, which commenced on August 6th, began with demolition and site clearance. Construction of a parking lot, footing, and foundations began at the end of November and will continue for approximately 2 years, with anticipated completion in 2020.

However, according to the National Center For Education Statistics, only 17% of public middle and high schools follow this suggestion. They also reported that less than 10% of American high schools start before 7:30.

Leon County high schools start at 7:30—a time which is far too early, according to studies.

This early start time was approved in 2009 when the Leon County school board okayed new start times for all schools in an attempt to provide consistency. Before the change there were 18 different start times among Leon County schools.

Recently, Seattle decided to follow the advice of health experts by changing the start-time of its schools from 7:50 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. The University of Washington studied high school students in Seattle over a two-year period, before and after this start-time change. The change allowed students to get an average of 34 more minutes of sleep, boosting total average sleep from 6 hours and 50 minutes to 7 hours and 24 minutes. Median grades went up 4.5%, and absences and tardiness decreased.

Citing this study, Orange County, home to Orlando, discussed applying a start-time change, but “school leaders have whined” about the costs of making this shift. One district would need $7.7 million for new buses and up to $5 million to operate annually. Though this may sound like a lot of money, the $7.7 million only accounts for .15% of this district’s annual budget of $4.5 billion.

Scott Maxwell, a journalist for the Orlando Sentinel wrote the “inaction has not only frustrated parents, but also community leaders such as Jim McIlrath, an Orlando attorney who served 12 years on the board of the school district’s foundation. ‘I just think it’s ludicrous that we’re lagging behind the more progressive school districts in spite of all the scientific evidence,’ McIlrath said.”

“In Orange County, we like to be a leader in everything we do,” said new board member Karen Castor Dentel. “But we’re lagging in this. And it’s inexcusable.”

So what about Leon County Schools?

When Leon County School Board member Alva Striplin was contacted by TR about the issue, she said “I hope to see our district move to two school start times in the 2019-2020 school year. Not only would it benefit our high school students who would get an extra half hour of sleep by moving high school start time from 7:30 am to 8:00 am, it would also benefit middle school parents by moving middle school start time from 9:30 am to 9:00 am.”

Striplin also said that concerns about the substantial cost of adding buses and drivers to make any change a reality has been an obstacle to being able to consolidate school start times from three to two.

However, Striplin said “a recent transportation audit which revealed less than 40% of our students ride the bus, has led to more efficient bus routes which should enable us to now discuss transitioning to two school start times.”

It appears this may be changing for residential permits.

Recently, the Leon County Board of County Commissioners (LCC) was provided a status report related to the ongoing analysis of the time it takes to process single-family residential  (SFR) permit applications.

The analysis indicated that process improvements have decreased the review time from 11 days to 9 days.

A “5-Year Target” created in 2016 proposed a 30% reduction -from 11 to 8 days – in the County’s review timeframe for this permit type.

The SFR permit is the most common permit in the County, accounting for over 90% of all new construction permits each year. The report analyzed the common issues in delaying permit issuance and discussed improvements that should decrease these delays.

The timeframe for issuance of a permit is dependent on many factors. These include the detail the state requires in the application, the promptness with which staff receives and reviews the information, and the possible need to request more information in addition to the application.

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A review indicated that almost 50% of requests for additional information are due to compliance issues with the Florida Building Code.

The County has implemented improvements to the permitting application and review processes in recent years including the continual utilization of technology to support the development industry coupled with the recognition of the personalized face-to-face customer interaction. Specific improvements and ongoing efforts related to the building permitting process include:

• Utilized software to allow customers to electronically submit applications and enable staff throughout the department to concurrently review applications.

• Expanded web-based permitting services to allow additional classifications of contractors to apply for and receive County permits online.

• Continue to convene with the Advisory Committee for Quality Growth and meet with the Tallahassee Builders Association to provide information, offer training, and address any individual or collective issues regarding the building permitting process.

Further reductions in permit time issuance are anticipated with sustained application of these improvements.

The list of recommendations are provided below. It is important to note that the acceptance of the report does not commit the city commission to adopt any of the recommendations.

The two recommendations that would impact residential developments address the criteria that triggers requirements contained in Tallahassee’s Inclusionary Housing Ordinance (IHO).

Currently, if a residential development is designed for over 50 homes, the IHO is triggered and the developer must provide 10% of the homes to “affordable home” buyers at regulated prices.

The new recommendations lowers the IHO threshold for a residential development to 20 homes and increases the percentage of “affordable homes” to 20%.

The AHAC is periodically required to “review the City’s established plans, policies, procedures, and ordinances, and recommend specific actions to encourage or facilitate affordable housing.”

The AHAC also submits a report to the City Commission every three years. The most recent report was submitted on on  October 25, 2018 and contained the following recommendations.

1. Prioritize redevelopment of current housing for affordable purchase and for affordable rental housing

2. Create a strategy (by July 1, 2019) to use funds from the Southwood Development of Regional Impact affordable housing escrow account.

3. Amend Inclusionary Housing Ordinance (IHO) “to reduce the applicable development size from a 50-unit threshold to a 20-unit threshold.”

4. Amend Sec. 9-245(a) of IHO. This would increase minimum of 10% of units to be provided at prices no greater than the maximum price to 20% of the units.

5. Amend Sec. 9-249 of IHO to require annual status reports to be provided to the City Commission.

6. Encourage developers to use training programs available to create “apprentice-type workers.”

7. Post information about procedures, finances, and projects on the City’s website or provide a link for public use.

Commissioner Matlow applauded the presentation on the UFMP and said “I would like if we could ….amend the motion to include, to have language come back of how we can develop a tree commission to oversee this plan.”

Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox said that “there would be some criteria established for the removal of trees…though I know many of the trees are on private property, but we have a way of working with private owners to preserve what we need to preserve.”

The purpose of the Urban Forest Master Plan (UFMP) is to proactively manage the city’s trees and canopy roads. The plan states that canopy roads “drive economic development” and make Tallahassee unique.

Also, the report stated that managing a healthy urban forest adds “ecological and cultural social value” to the community.

The three goals identified in the UFMP were to improve canopy quality, maintain canopy levels, and engage the community.

Under each of these goals, recommendations were listed. The plan states that the execution of these recommendations will bring awareness to “existing and potential management issues.”

The plan sets benchmarks to track the progress of the UFMP to ensure that the recommendations and goals are being achieved.

The plan also provided a cost estimate for implementing the program.

Noting that the city now spends approximately $500,000 per year on tree programs, the plan estimated the annual cost for a fully implemented program would be between $1.37 and $2.35 million.

The 142 page plan can be found here.

Staff provided the Board with a report on ten appropriations requests, fifteen projects for potential grant funding, five state policy issues, and four federal policy issues proposed for the 2019 state and federal legislative sessions.

The appropriation requests, shown below, include funds for two septic-to-sewer projects ($3.5 mill), backup generators ($1.3 mill) and two water restoration projects ($5.5 mill).

Leon County has been successful in recent years securing grant funding from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Five-Year Work Program, the Springs Restoration Matching Grant Program administered by the Northwest Florida Water Management District (NWFWMD) and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).

The Board approved 15 grant projects for 2019 totaling approximately $60 million. The grant projects are listed below:

The policy requests approved by the Board include five state priorities and four federal priorities. Notable are the priorities of restoring passenger rail service in the Gulf Coast region and maintaining local control over the canopy road systems.

State Priorities:

1. Support the protection of the state workforce and oppose any reductions to state employee benefits.

2. Support the revision of Sec. 125.0104, F.S. to modify the eligibility of counties to levy the Local Option High Impact Tourist Development Tax.

3. Support the Gulf Coast Working Group’s efforts to restore passenger rail service in the Gulf Coast region.

4. Oppose legislation that further restricts local government’s ability to regulate and preserve canopy road systems.

5. Support the Florida Association of Counties 2018-2019 legislative efforts unless specific issues conflict with Leon County’s interests.

Federal Priorities:

1. Support efforts to coordinate and gain support of the County’s proposal for consideration as the potential relocation site of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Offices.

2. Support the City of Tallahassee’s application for a Foreign Trade Zone at the Tallahassee International Airport.

3. Support the Gulf Coast Rail Service Working Group’s Final Report and federal funding through programs such as CRISI and REG to restore passenger rail service in the Gulf Coast region.

4. Support the National Association of Counties 2018-2019 legislative efforts unless specific issues conflict with Leon County’s interests.