BY IRIS B. HOLTON

Sentinel City Editor

On Thursday afternoon, members of the Tampa City Council could not agree on the legal language in a new panhandling ordinance. The ordinance failed in a 3-3 tie and must be revisited during a future Council meeting.

City Council Chairman Charlie Miranda has been absent for several meetings due to illness. Last week during a workshop, Council members agreed to merge two suggestions to create the new ordinance. Those suggestions would have only allowed solicitation on Sundays, but would have exempted the sale of newspapers, passing out of leaflets, and other papers.

However, on Thursday, when the proposed new ordinance was read, Councilwoman Yvonne “Yoli” Capin pointed out that the results were the same three suggestions discussed during the previous week and no merger had been made.

After much discussion, all three proposed ordinances were read into the record and all three received votes of support from the same Council members: Councilman Mike Suarez, Councilman Harry Cohen, and Councilwoman Lisa Montelione voted in favor of the ordinances. Council Vice Chairperson Mary Mulhern, Councilman Yoli Capin, and Councilman Frank Reddick voted no on all three ordinances.

Council members agreed to meet with the legal department to discuss their personal concerns and to have their questions answered individually, in hopes of reaching a decision on the new ordinance at the next meeting.