By Jeremy Morrison, Inweekly
While on vacation in South America, Mayor D.C. Reeves received some troubling news: a longtime Pensacola business, the Apple Market, had been damaged by fire. The positive spin: Pensacola Fire Department was quick on the scene to put out the blaze.
“The crews had water on the fire in less than eight minutes and had it extinguished nine minutes later. No injuries,” Reeves praised the efforts of city crews during his weekly presser Tuesday. “In addition to a quick response time, the quick efforts from PFD saved the building.”
Still, though, the Dec. 30 fire will present challenges ahead for the Apple Market, and Mayor Reeves said he empathized with the small business owners.
“I was in the middle of somewhere with one bar of signal, and I texted David Apple, the owner of Apple Market,” Reeves said, explaining that he assured the business owner he had the city’s support and “anything we can do to help him we will.”
“You deal with enough as a small business owner, trying to make payroll and all of that, and I certainly have great sympathy for what he’s been through,” Reeves said, adding that Apple was “very, very positive” about the efforts of the city’s fire crews.
Carry Forward, and Stay Calm
The city of Pensacola has some funds leftover from last year’s budget — unused funds that are being carried forward — that Mayor Reeves plans to reinvest mainly into three categories: public safety, strategic planning and maintenance.
“These really are the anchor priorities for me,” Reeves said.
According to Amy Lovoy, the city’s finance director, the investments that Mayor Reeves will recommend to the Pensacola City Council represent about three or four million dollars. He will be drawing from carry-forward funds stemming from the city’s general fund, where there is about $5 million available, and from Local Option Sales Tax, or LOST, carry-forward funds, where there is another $2.8 available.
The largest recommended investment is the construction of a new pool house at Roger Scott at the cost of $1.2 million. The mayor described the new facility as essential — the pool currently subsists on a portable bathroom facility — and said he planned to use $600,000 from the carry-forward funds toward the effort.
“A city pool, almost morally, being run without an operable bathroom is not something I’m interested in,” Reeves said.
Insofar as other parks and rec expenditures, the mayor said he preferred to upkeep existing facilities instead of developing new projects: “While it may not be as fun as a groundbreaking, these things have to happen.”
“I’m just in the mode of wanting to maintain the things that we have,” Reeves said. “It’s fun to build shiny new things, but when we have 94 parks and 10 community centers, we need to keep those up.”
Where public safety is concerned, the mayor said he planned to recommend funding technology upgrades at the Pensacola Police Department, including body camera upgrades; two additional officers to work the city’s urban core; a new tactical rescue vehicle; additional barricades and security fencing, as well as the implementation of traffic calming measures. Reeves is also looking to reaffirm already-on-the-books expenditures, such as ensuring that funds remain available for the newly-created deputy fire-chief position.
Mayor Reeves is also hoping to use these carry-forward funds for a collection of other maintenance and strategic planning purposes. There are plans for a city-wide strategic plan for $300,000, as well as an assessment of the city’s Land Development Code and a congestion management plan. New positions are on the table — a new senior grant writer, as well as an economic and neighborhood development director — and also a study to ensure city employees are receiving equitable pay. There are also sidewalk improvements, money for park maintenance, city hall improvements and an assessment of public safety buildings.
In determining how best to expend the city’s carry-forward funds, Mayor Reeves said his team talked with each city department, including the Pensacola Police Department and Pensacola Fire Department, to ascertain the greatest needs.
“These aren’t just things that we’ve come up with last minute, and these are things that we have researched,” he said. “We asked a lot of questions. We didn’t just come in with the back of a napkin and say, ‘These things sound good,’ we want to invest this money wisely.”
Ultimately, the Pensacola City Council has the final say on budgetary decisions. Mayor Reeves said he has conferred with each of the seven council members and feels confident his requests align with their visions for the carry-forward money.
“Obviously, these are things that I have discussed with them,” Reeves said. “I feel like that is my duty, to make sure they understand the direction we’re going. So, I would say that we feel pretty good about it. I wouldn’t want to put our council in a position of proposing things they’d never heard of or that they would have a lot of questions about.”