Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves held his weekly press conference this morning. Fresh off a flight from Washington D.C., he shared insights from his meetings with federal officials and provided details on the upcoming recycling program rollout.
Recycling Program Updates
The first substantial portion of the city’s new recycling program will appear on next week’s agenda, focusing on pricing changes. The program will move to an opt-in pricing structure with once-weekly service beginning the week of July 14th.
- “You’ll see the first substantial portion as it pertains to recycling on next week’s agenda, which is the pricing changes that we have to put in,” Reeves explained. “Remember, since the beginning, we talked about going to an opt-in pricing structure.”
Under the proposed structure:
– Residents who opt out will see their bill decrease to $24.99
– Those opting in will be charged $32.99
Reeves noted that the city had delayed previously approved rate increases while working on the recycling program. “When I promised the citizen we were going to bring back recycling, what I didn’t want to do is raise their bill first before I did what I said I was going to do,” he explained. “So we had paused those increases and ultimately lost that revenue until we got this up and going.”
- The city plans to begin the new collection schedule the week of July 14. “You’ll see a ton of mail, but we don’t want that mail to hit before the ordinance has been approved. So that’s our only delay now is just making sure that we don’t have things hitting people’s mailboxes that get changed by the council if they have any concerns.”
Residents will receive a business reply mailer in early June asking if they want to opt in, with additional communication methods including QR codes to follow after council approval of the pricing structure.
Washington D.C. Trip Highlights
Mayor Reeves returned late Monday night from Washington, D.C., where he met with Christine Serrano Glasner, the Deputy Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs for the Trump administration. The 45-minute meeting included other mayors from Columbia, South Carolina and Riverside, California.
- The mayor noted that Glasner, a former mayor, serves as the point of contact for all cities in the current administration. “It’s always good talking to another mayor, even a former one. When you’ve been in the ringer, you kind of understand what we’re going through.”
The discussion focused on two primary concerns affecting cities across the country:
1. Federal Grant Red Tape: Using the Baptist Hospital project as an example, Reeves discussed how federal funding comes with bureaucratic processes that can significantly slow down projects.
“We’re obviously very grateful to have gotten the $5 million commercial revitalization grant that was sourced federally, but with federal grants comes lots of red tape and lots of time,” Reeves explained. “Even in the case of Baptist, we separated it across the street ultimately to the south so it didn’t intermingle with the main demolition, not because we aren’t appreciative of the money, it’s because we knew with everything else that would come with that, we would really, really slow the process down.”
The Mayor of Columbia shared a similar experience where affordable housing built with HUD money cost $322,000 compared to $157,000 for the same house without federal funding.
2. Public-Private Partnerships: With tightening budgets, Reeves advocated for creative approaches to help municipal dollars stretch further.
“As we start to tighten up budgets and resources are fewer and fewer, we are urging the administration to think creatively about public-private partnerships, about helping municipal dollars get stretched further,” he said. “Obviously, we’re in great support of the tax-free municipal bonds. That would be a disaster if something happened to that in cities across the country in terms of our ability to invest in infrastructure.”
Reeves and his fellow mayors have a homework assignment. “We’ve been tasked at our leadership meeting in June to come up with, ultimately, an executive order around these things written in that form. No promises, obviously they’ll have to run that up, and it sits on the president’s desk. But good progress, and we’re going to try to come up with tangible things that’ll help mayors around the country getting things done for their citizens faster.”
American Magic Project Grant
The mayor announced that the Port and Florida Department of Transportation have officially executed a $3.525 million grant to help construct the high-performance dock complex for American Magic at the Center for Maritime Excellence.
- “I’m very glad to announce that the Port and FDOT have officially executed the 3.525 million grant to help construct the high performance dock complex for American Magic at the Center for Maritime Excellence,” Reeves said. “That award includes funding to complete activities associated with the scope design, environmental and construction.”
Reeves recently visited the site at Warehouse 10, noting “they’re really making fast progress now.” Until the dock is completed, American Magic will continue using their temporary location.
“They will be dropping, until the dock is complete, they’ll be dropping the boat in the same location. If you guys recall where it was on that Southwest corner, they’ll be just using that as a temporary location until this dock is completed.”
Other Announcements
– Town Hall Tonight: Reeves will host a town hall with Councilman Charles Bare from 5:30-7:00 PM at Asbury Place in Cokesbury Church, 5272 9th Avenue.
– Bay Center Advisory Board: Responding to questions about Commissioner Kohler’s recommendation for an 11-member advisory board for the Bay Center, Reeves expressed eagerness to move forward regardless of the specific structure chosen.
- “I’m encouraged to get going. So in any form, this is a county-led board,” Reeves said. “I can tell you we’re ready to go. So whether that’s myself or an appointee, the council member, I know we are urgent to get this thing moving. If that’s the direction we want to go in, great. If we don’t want to do a board and just have joint meetings, great, let’s just get this ball rolling.”
– UWF Leadership Change: Reeves acknowledged Dr. Saunders’ departure from the University of West Florida, praising her for her accomplishments.
- “I’m very proud to say that the University of West Florida is part of our community. And not only did she keep the momentum at UWF, she made an aspirational vision that we’ve all talked about – higher performance, larger enrollment, unprecedented academic achievement – she made that a reality,” Reeves said. “I’ll certainly be forever grateful for the effort she put in. And she left the University of West Florida in a significantly better place than she found it. It was already in a great place, and she made it even better.”
– Budget Outlook: With budget discussions approaching, Reeves indicated the city is taking a more conservative approach.
- “If we’re going to be responsible right now, it’s not going to be getting too entrepreneurial and adventurous about what we think the budget is going to be or in the future years as well,” Reeves cautioned. “The grant funding isn’t going to be at the same level if we’re talking about multi-billion-dollar tax cuts, things like that. So it’s our job to adapt to that and we’re asking our departments to do the same.”
He added: “We’re reading the same tea leaves you are that things happen at the state and conversations about taking a significant revenue stream away from local governments is going to put us on our heels a little bit. And I think that’s the only prudent way to look at this budget would be a more conservative approach than entrepreneurial.”
– Regattas: The mayor concluded the press conference by highlighting the positive reception to recent sailing regattas. When asked about takeaways from the two recent regattas, Reeves shared:
- “I think the early returns were very, very good from the GL 52 folks. As a matter of fact, I don’t know that it’s solidified yet, but they were looking for a place for December and all those owners who had never been to Pensacola said, ‘Why don’t we do it back in Pensacola?’”
He noted that approximately 75% of the 200 visitors had never been to Pensacola before, yet expressed interest in returning. Looking ahead, Reeves mentioned, “I believe they’re in conversations to be hosted about seven or eight of these in 2026. That’s obviously super exciting news and huge for not only the sailing community here, but for economic and everything else.”