During his press conference on Wednesday, June 11, Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves covered everything from major construction projects to service disruptions and upcoming community events.
Baptist Health Project Moves Forward
Mayor Reeves expressed optimism about recent discussions with Baptist Health, calling last week’s meeting “very productive.” The city is now ready to negotiate creative financing solutions, allowing the county to commit to the project while maintaining fiscal responsibility.
“I felt that the meeting last week with Baptist was very productive. I felt like having all of that happen in one conversation at one time and the city being able to share those facts and clear up some confusion on timelines and the what and why of everything,” Reeves said. “We’re now ready to get to the table with them and see if we can figure out something creatively that allows the county to be committed to this project, but do it in a way that makes the best financial sense for them, which I certainly can appreciate.”
The mayor emphasized the city’s proven track record, stating: “I think we show a pretty good track record in almost three years so far of trying to figure out ways to get something across the finish line when it’s not general fund dollars or it’s whether it be our grants office or crass or anything else.”
Major Main Street Closure
Beginning Monday, July 7, the two-block portion of Main Street between A and E Streets will close as part of a massive stormwater project currently affecting B Street. The closure, which will impact the area in front of Joe Patti’s Seafood, is scheduled to last until approximately Sept. 5, with B Street remaining closed for an additional 20 days.
- Traffic will be detoured via Zaragoza along A and C (streets), allowing continued access around the construction zone. The project is part of a comprehensive flood mitigation effort that will benefit nearly 1,800 homes in the area.
“You remember this is the project that’ll have a positive flood mitigation impact for almost 1800 houses in that area,” Reeves explained. “You guys know you covered it yourselves probably several times that when it rains hard enough for enough minutes, that E and F Streets along Main is one of our worst flood-prone areas, and this is helping address that.”
The mayor acknowledged the inconvenience, stating: “Like any good thing that comes with construction, there’s a little bit of inconvenience, and we wanted to get that word out as soon as possible.”
Yard Waste Collection Challenges
The mayor acknowledged ongoing delays in yard waste collection services, attributing the issues to staffing shortages. To address these challenges, the city has implemented several measures:
- Sanitation crews are working six days a week
- Cross-training of Pensacola Energy personnel to assist with the collection
- Aggressive recruitment of new drivers and sanitation staff
- Equipment maintenance prioritization
- Collection route optimization
“Right now, while we’re navigating some of these resource constraints that we have,” Reeves said. He explained that energy and sanitation departments have been consolidated under Darryl Singleton, noting: “This was actually one of the reasons we did that: there are lots of similarities with the gas company in terms of trucks and equipment. The trucks do different things, but in terms of people being trained and staffed to be out in the field.”
- Reeves stressed that the city is treating this as an opportunity for modernization: “So we’re really doing the modernization of these things not only for this temporary inconvenience but for the long game of making sanitation more successful.”
Juneteenth Parade Adjustments
Due to heat concerns, the MLK Day parade scheduled for Thursday, June 19, has been moved from 11 AM to 10 AM and limited to two hours (10 AM to noon). Road closures will begin at 7:30 AM, with Main Street closing at 9:00 AM.
The city will fund an on-site ambulance to ensure participant safety, highlighting ongoing discussions about increasing costs for parade management citywide.
- “I know one conversation that came up because the heat was having an ambulance on site, and there were some concerns about their ability to fund that the city will be funding to ensure that there’s an ambulance on site,” Reeves said. “And of course that leads into a larger parade conversation that you guys have asked me about before, about these increasing costs to put these types of things on.”
The mayor emphasized safety precautions: “We couldn’t mourn enough, and you will hear me talk about it next week. Please make sure you’re staying hydrated in the shade and taking all the normal precautions if you’re going to be out in the sun, even at 10 AM, it still will be quite warm.”
VEO Scooter Program Under Review
Mayor Reeves revealed ongoing discussions about the city’s VEO scooter program, with the three-year contract coming up for renewal this fall. The city is conducting its own data collection to assess resident satisfaction and neighborhood impact.
- “The big conversation is, let’s see how our citizens feel about it,” Reeves said, noting that while VEO has user satisfaction data, the city needs to understand how residents in affected neighborhoods view the program.
Several modifications have been made during the current contract, including eliminating standing scooters, banning use on Palafox Street, and implementing a midnight curfew.
Reeves discussed infrastructure challenges: “I think we lack, the city lacks the same equal infrastructure that some larger cities have that have this program, that have dedicated bike lanes, that have where, because a lot of the complaints I think locally is the confusion between whether you should be on the sidewalk or you should be on the street. And so that’s no one’s fault. It’s not the rider’s fault, it’s not the city’s fault, but I think there’s some real infrastructure questions that need to be answered.”
He outlined the program’s evolution: “If you think about the evolutions we’ve taken, one is we’ve eliminated the standing scooters. We went to only seated with the hopes of seeing them more in the road as they’re supposed to be and less on the sidewalk. We saw some issues on Palafox Street; we banned Palafox Street so that (the VEO scooter) turns off now on Palafox. We moved the curfew to midnight.”
The mayor emphasized data-driven decision making: “You guys know me long enough now, I try to deal less in hyperbole, more in real numbers. And so I don’t want to react one way or the other to three emails this way or four emails that way. But VEO has survey data from users, but they don’t have survey data necessarily from the residents of whom the streets and sidewalks are being used.”
Budget Approach and Economic Indicators
The mayor revealed a more defensive budget approach for the upcoming fiscal year, citing slower trajectories in both property values and sales tax revenue compared to previous years. This shift reflects broader economic conditions, including the impact of interest rates on construction permits and new development.
- “I can tell you those indicators are obviously slowing trajectory on property value and slowing trajectory on sales tax from what we’ve seen in the previous years,” Reeves said. “We’re taking this a little more of a defensive posture in this budget than we have in a couple years previously because of those two key factors.”
When discussing the city’s hiring philosophy, Reeves emphasized quality over quantity: “When we rolled out the salary study, I was very clear that we needed to focus on quality before focusing on quantity and meaning. What’s the use of having lots of jobs that we can’t fill because we aren’t paying competitively versus if we’ve got to figure out what’s our bandwidth, but we’re doing it by paying in a quality way.”
- He added, “Competitive pay also creates accountability. Accountability to the citizen, accountability to directors and administrators. And it’s kind of hard when if you’re not paying competitively, if every conversation always has the rationalization of, oh, well if we pay more then we’d be able to do X, Y, and Z.”
