[Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is and how it we continue to make it possible for people to choose Charlotte um and we will have words of an invocation or um if not the invocation some words that someone would like to have to give to us um I would like to ask m Mr Mitchell if he would do the invocation for us tonight okay following the invocation and we will have the Pledge of Allegiance please stand if you choose to or not or participate however you will let us all stand please invocation let us bow oh wise and gracious father we thank you for this day father thank you for allowing your spirit to be each and every one of us today bless each council member and family represent bless the city employees who work tireless for this community and bless all the citizens who call Charlotte home with this I Pray let all believers say amen amen amen all right now we'll have our Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you very much as one of our um traditions for our meetings is that we recognize that there are many things that go on in our community that should be recognized and tonight I'd like to have council member Molina read a proclamation recognizing may as ALS Awareness Month Miss Molina thank you U Madame mayor um so our Proclamation reads whereas ID tropic lateral sclerosis or ALS known by many as Lou Garrick's disease is a progressive fatal neurodegenerative disease in which a person's brain losses loses connection with the muscles slowly taking away their ability to walk talk eat and habitually breathe and whereas on average patients diagnosed with ALS only survived 2 to 5 Years From the time of diagnosis ALS has no cure and every 90 minutes someone is diagnosed with ALS and someone passes away from ALS and whereas people who have served in the military are more likely to develop ALS and die from the disease than those with no history of military service and whereas securing access to new therapies durable medical equipment and communic ation Technologies is of V is of vital importance to people living with ALS and clinical trials play a pivotal role in evaluating new treatments enhancing quality of life and fostering assistive Technologies for those living with ALS and whereas the ALS Association has committed over $154 million to support more than 550 projects across the United States and 18 other countries and whereas our commitment to accelerating the pace of Discovery remains unwavering fueled by the hope that one day alss will be a livable disease for everyone everywhere until we have a cure for it and whereas ALS Awareness Month increases the Public's awareness of people with Al Als dire circumstances and acknowledges the terrible impact this disease has not only on the person but on his or her family and the community and it recognizes the research being done to eradicate this disease now therefore our mayor VI Alexander La does hereby claim May 2024 as ALS Awareness Month in charlot and commends its observance to all citizens thank you Miss Molina I truly believe that if all of us gave some thought that we would know people who have gone through this terribly difficult disease and so hopefully we continue to look for a way that we can have some kind of T opportunity to keep people better in Better Health and so that this disease is actually one that we can say we've taken care of and a way that we are able to um prevent it so thank you very much Miss Molina all right so the next item on our agenda is our consent items and I think are there any questions um for Miss Harris as a result of the review of the consent items any questions hearing no questions do I have a motion to approve consent agenda items 12 through 23 so moved second a and a second any further discussion all in favor of the motion please raise your hands Madam clerk I know that we've got a few people miss azmir out today and a few people that are not in the room is and so um the item passes thank you the next item is that um we would go to our public forum on behalf of all of the city council members here I would ask that all speakers and audience members be civil and courteous in the use of language because we would not like to have insults profanity gestures that are inappropriate behavior or comments questions or jeers we will not tolerate those activities or those ways of addressing the council speakers are encouraged to address Council and not respond to the audience attendance and be polite and respectful I think it's almost like everyone is told when you first get to be someplace and your parents tell you act like somebody okay so we're going to ask you to act like somebody with not having disruptions I also want to state that when you come down to speak and if you're making an appeal to the council that the council members will have the um opportunity to um get the results of your comments as well as have the opportunity to respond to it after the city manager of the staff recommends or makes a statement around what we're trying to accomplish or what you're trying to accomplish so with that I also want to note that our public forum we have a limit of 15 speakers for each meeting and so tonight unfortunately we have many more than 15 but we're going to pay attention and hopefully get everybody that we can in because of this we will have a two-minute time for each speaker and we're going to start off with um can we start before 6:30 can we start before the 6:30 advertisement of this public forum the public forum was advertised at 6:30 it needs to start at 6:30 all right so we've got a little bit more time to take before we get to those of you who have joined us to speak so just bear with us and then Miss Mayfield yes madame mayor I had a question and I think I might need to verify from the attorney when you all were going through the consent unfortunately I stepped outside to cough so I wouldn't be coughing on the screen and left my bed and couldn't get back in but I did want to speak to item number 16 and it was a request for staff they were Marie was kind enough to get the information for me but what I was going to ask and I'm checking with the city attorney to see even though they have moved and voted for all of the consent items since we have time do I have have the ability to go back to ask a question regarding a consent item that's really at the presiding officers okay yes please Miss Mayfield thank you mad sorry I did not notice it recognize so thank you madam mayor mainly I reached out to Miss Harris to just get a breakdown of exactly who are the identified dbes because it was not noted in here so I would just ask if moving forward forward and this is similar to a question I've asked previously if staff can just start adding into our RCA opposed to just the language of the dbe goals for the project is set at 10% identify who those are because we just approved through your vote an additional 4 million making this total contract 85,681 th000 contract but we have a 10% dbe goal it would be great in the r CA if it's identified who those partners are so that if we hear from them we can ensure that they are actually getting opportunities with the work mainly because in 20 I learned recently within the last two weeks of vendors that have been approved through our process going back as far as 2018 but they have never actually been called to show up to do any actual work and therefore have not received payment from the city of Charlotte because no work has been done so this would give us a chance to be more accountable to our business partners thank you madam mayor right thank you Miss Harris thank you do you have another any other questions Miss Mayfield that was it Madam thank you very much please all right yes Miss Brown I was not here as well and you voted we did it voted we voted and um it passed um if you would like to State your vote we would be included in the minutes okay and it was on the agenda items um Forum 12 through 23 did you have any comment around any of those I'm going look at them okay okay all right thank you very much so with that um we are still ahead of our schedule for the public forum so we'll go to the next item on our [Applause] agenda she the same for 20 minutes we'll um do we have any speakers for the public hearing on the annexation Madam clerk we only have the one speaker who is here to answer questions if there are any and advertisement was it 6:30 as well so we have to wait until yes ma 6:30 as well even though all right so we'll go to the city manager's report I I didn't n expecting that we we're going to do something different tonight let's go to our policy item all right let's go to our policy items our agenda policy items Hold On The Puzzle we can talk about all that infrastructure that we approved at the airport that has a regional impact for all our neighboring towns and counties you didn't talk about that you want to go to appointments let's go to appointment ments then why don't we go ahead and make the appointments that um that the council chose um Madam clerk would you lead us through that yeah Charlotte business inclusion advisory committee the following persons have been U appointed Candice Gaddy ragunda Goa and leesa wmat um to the community relations committee Miguel Kera Kara has been uh appointed to community relations I need to practice all right those are the appointments those are the appointments so thank you everyone that's willing to serve and help us as we um try to plan strategy and future for the future of our city we can I'm asking um for the item number8 on the agenda is fiscal year 2025 annual action plan for Housing and Community development and the recommendation is to adopt the fiscal year 2025 action plan um we have staff resources available if needed um Mr Jones do you have any comment on this so do I have a motion to approve the action item of the fiscal year 2025 annual action plan for Housing and Community Development that would be submitted to the federal government I have a motion and a second any further discussion hearing none all in favor please say I I okay um the next item is item 10 well we did that already as well Madam mayor ready Miss Mayfield since we are in a space that we've not previously been in well we're actually early may I ask I have a request for the manager's office because once upon a time at the end of meetings is when we would have council members will share whatever but there was something that I wanted to ask for ask of the manager for his staff moving forward so since we have a 15minute window now may I be acknowledged to do that I believe as long as the manager is aware of this if you had a conversation he's not so he gets to he gets to take a buy does he get to take a buy all right it would be up to his manager report he didn't have a well let's do this and Miss Mayfield and then we'll have a recess and come back in about 10 minutes and begin and begin the actual work of our meeting so Madam mayor so Mr manager along the lines of the last item item 16 of asking for us to in the RCA is moving forward if there is a Amendment or an addition into a project it will be helpful if for the sake of time I would say quarterly Council receives a update again what was brought to my attention at a community event within the last few weeks is that we have as a body approved a number of mwsb that have been identified through General services and through other opportunities but we do not have a tracking mechanis m in place to identify when those companies are actually called upon that have that are the subs for the primes meaning the primes may do the work but with there's no tracking mechanism in place today that actually tracks whether or not they're utilizing the subs that were identified as part of their contractual obligation in order for us to streamline that process I think it would be very helpful if through the Departments if they're working with CBI and their team and re reporting to council again on a quarterly basis give us an update on those approvals that we have voted on so that we can ensure that our mwsb businesses that have been identified are actually receiving the opportunities that we are promoting that they should be receiving as we are encouraging more and more businesses to go through our trainings and to sign up through CBI so uh council member Mayfield totally agree with you uh Tina Adams the internal auditor has been doing a review of CBI and there are some I guess the best way to say there are some opportunities for improvement both from a technology standpoint and a tracking standpoint so totally agree with you and Renee is nodding her head so yes that those improvements are in the works thank you thank you all right we're going to um take a 10-minute break and be back at 6:30 to begin our public form [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] followup and we're going to have each speaker have two minutes so let's start off with our first Speaker Jennifer diasa should I wait uh I think we're going to get that door closed pretty quickly so we'll just wait for no worries thank you okay thank you you good to see evening Council good to see you as well my name is Jennifer Dasa I have been in Charlotte um for 25 years currently living in District 5 throughout my time here I have raised three children and dedicated myself to my career in community service I volunteer for the animal care and control here in Charlotte the Humane Society of the United States and St Peter Church as a senior business development manager for Messer Construction I understand the importance of efficiency and Effectiveness in organizational structures that's why I'm here to advocate for two crucial changes in our City's Animal Care and Control Department first I urge the council to make animal care and control an independent Department by removing bureaucratic barriers we can enhance and and access and streamline reporting lines to the city manager's office ultimately improving responsiveness and accountability secondly I call for the construction of a new shelter capable of accommodating Charlotte's growing population the current facility over 30 years old was not designated for the life-saving work that Charlotte me lber animal control and Care focuses on today it's imperative that we provide a safe haven for the countless animals who have been surrendered abandoned or abused I understand that the initial quote for a new shelter was high I acknowledge that the property under consideration for the construction is exceptionally difficult to grade I encourage the council not to write off this possibility but to explore alternative locations where a new shelter could be built for a lower price tag volunteer in for the shelter takes a toll on my mental well-being I know it has the same effect on the rest of our volunteers and staff in the community at large witnessing the suffering of these animals making difficult decisions with limited resources and confronting public misconceptions are all deeply challenging aspects of this work the inadequate facility and Staffing further exasperate these challenges making it difficult to provide the level of care needed this constant struggle not only impacts the wellbeing of volunteers and staff thank you thank you all right our next speaker is Gina and delorio please come down all right good evening hi everybody my name is Gina andaloro and I'm here today to speak with you about what's going on in my neighborhood specifically at 8127 Cliffside Drive so just to give you a little bit of background my husband and I have lived in Old Heritage for 14 years and I've honestly never lived in a better neighborhood than this we have two children who are here with us today aged 7 and five and we love being outside with them and although our house isn't exactly the right fit for us we have found it so difficult to leave this neighborhood because of the amazing experiences our children have had and the relationships that we've built here in this neighborhood one of the things that I've specifically loved is the fact that I could let my kids out front to play with the neighbors while I'm cooking dinner everyone watches over everybody we know everybody in the neighborhood and we're truly a family I live right next door to 8127 Cliffside Drive and things took a turn when a new neighbor decided to build a parking lot as a driveway that got me wondering what was going on a quick search online and I started seeing ads everywhere for renting rooms for as low as $26 per night and now I've seen things that make me uneasy to say the least a parole officer someone cracking open a beer in their car at 10: in the morning another person doing I don't know what kind of drugs in the driveway and people removing doors in the middle of the night I don't know why you would have to do construction in the middle of a night before codes come if you aren't trying to hide something it was extremely suspicious so a neighbor of ours rented out one of the rooms to get a good look inside and confirmed all of our worst fears they were renting out eight single bedrooms this Behavior quite frankly scares my husband and I and the rest of our neighbors it has significantly affected our quality of life I don't oh that's it yes I thank you very much we have gotten letters and communic ations from your neighbors as well as you I believe and um our City attorney has agreed to take a look into this and I think that we will follow up with you um as soon as possible um thank you so now Allison Ben would join us thank you for continuing good evening I'm Alison Bennis and I've also come to discuss the matter of 8127 Cliffside Drive I do am a mother with two small children in the neighborhood my neighbor Gina just described the changes recently made to this house from what I can find in the current city ordinances the closest thing to describe what he's doing is a rooming house however I still don't think this is accurate based on his advertisements on multiple websites his intent is to rent out rooms with keyless entries on a nightly basis for rates sometimes as low as $26 a night renting out individual rooms Under One Roof by the night to different people unrelated without leases or background checks I have to ask how is this in practice any different than a motel he is advertising such low rates to flip as many rooms as possible to make money this provides no stability and does nothing for the affordable housing crisis he has no regard for the people staying there just read the reviews from his other houses and no regard for the neighborhoods his houses are in I remind the council that just last year they purchased the economy in in Sugar Creek because of the crime Budget Motels are known to F in doing a quick Goog Google search of the area most Budget Motels that remain are going for about $70 a night and this person is renting his rooms for as little as $26 a night given the city's experience with the Sugar Creek Budget Motels you can understand our concerns for the type of activity that would be drawn into our neighborhood with these rates how can this be allowed in a neighborhood with small children would you allow it in yours if the city decides to consider this a rooming house based on current ordinances I believe he's already out of compliance he has no permit and also does not live there himself and even if he did cap his rental rooms at 5 to comply with the ordinance this would mean that up to 150 people could come in and out of that house in our neighborhood in any given month would you feel comfortable with this in your own neighborhood the city must stop this to protect our neighborhoods and our children please fix the Gap in the ordinances so this can't be done to another neighborhood thank you very much Candice Mills I have to um recognize Candace's mother mother who was Liz Mills who ran the Charlotte um minority participation program for the very beginning who was a dear friend and so I have to just say that and Candace I appreciate the calls that you've made thank [Applause] you a little nervous so bear with me um good evening members of the city council thank you for your time tonight my name is Candace Mills and I stand before you with a grave concern for our old Heritage neighborhood this is a wellestablished hardworking middleclass neighborhood my family purchased our home in 1984 that's almost 40 years ago they were welcomed with open arms there was no animosity no harmful rhetoric or resistance of any kind and now I am blessed along with my sister to continue to display our pride of ownership along with our neighbors this is a very friendly loving neighborhood we have family picnics in the summer the fall along with other activities such as Christmas carolling Easter egg hunts we even have a dog walking crew as you can imagine this is more than likely a rare occurrence we help each other whenever it's needed a tree fell across our driveway during a storm and while my mother and I were trying to figure out what to do there were two gentlemen outside with chainsaw cause we offered them money but they refused they said this is what neighbors do it doesn't get any better than that so to have our way of life disrupted by this individual is very alarming to say the least we did not ask for this my home is my best and only investment and to have that value put in Jeopardy is very disturbing Charlotte being the booming City that it is enjoying the influx of people and businesses from around the world it seems It's time for Charlotte to get to work updating its ordinances and Zoning standards which I don't know much about I just know that this is unacceptable in closing the only thing I ask is what you the city council are willing to and able to do so that this does not happen to any other neighborhoods including your own thank you for your time thank you very much our next speaker is Jordan Casey EC hey Jordan um good evening ladies and gentlemen of the Charlotte City Council my name is Jordan kazy and I am a father that lives across the street from 81 and 27 Cliffside Drive um as you can tell from the previous people before um in our neighborhood we have a full-fledged business known as a real estate syndication operating a real estate syndication is a process of pooling funds of multiple investors to finance the purchase of a single property this fact is supported by the existence of the company's YouTube channel a website and obviously the expressed explicit content to operate various uh Motel type businesses throughout the city uh where this model differs from the traditional real estate investment is that rather than one owner um it's dispersed amongst many many different owners that pull their money and they do it with very few people uh I mean with many people coming in and out of the house which as the previous speakers have noted is very very disturbing um furthermore what is particularly alarming in the business model is that this is happening throughout Charlotte and across municipalities in the US and Canada um to put a thumb on it here in Charlotte um just this indication has these houses in District 4 district 6 district 7 and District Two from what we can find I cannot see how this scheme helps the city in any other way other than helping an exploitative set of owners for this business the situation is not just business as usual is a disruption to the way zoning has always been done in this city I can recognize that we live in an era where Financial opportunities of disruptive technology and business models are held in high esteem and I understand that but with that benefit comes challenges it is time to apply our critical thinking skills to what we see as happening to ensure that our policies and practices and technology and Zoning codes are aligned with the intentions and values that our c that we want our city to embody and grow from within what has happened at 8127 Cliff Side Drive is ruining the essence of what makes our neighborhood great thank you so much I appreciate it thank you for your time I just want to say thank you for coming uh I'm very aware of the situation we've talked to code enforcement about it citations have been issued they're not even but the truth is we don't have an ordinance that completely excludes this we need to work on that and I think that that is something that we need to work on so we'll see how we can do this Mr Baker will follow up thank you very much we see what ideas we can come up with all right so thank you very much so our next speaker is Arthur Griffin Mr commissioner Griffin isn't that your my district yeah your community I like to color that purple foldo sir Transportation see if I can do this in two minutes uh good evening mayor council members uh manager I'm here this evening to ask you simply to implement a temporary pause in the bght approval process in the Palisades etj and other ejs until such time as when the city can address the imminent threats to health and Public Safety although I have spoken to you about radio communications with emergency services that is even more immediate problem of the cmpd being Limited in enforcing normal traffic laws in the Palisade and the reason is private roads not maintained by cot or NC do sometimes called orphan roads you are approv moving hundreds of private orphan roads in the Palisade and etj putting residents at risk of death a serious injury from speeding running stop signs Etc can you imagine a child riding his bicycle into the road on one of these Oran roads and hit by someone traveling 50 60 70 miles on Palisade Parkway or one of the other oring streets another safety issue your staff has accepted a duplex and Triplex development for review at 10 alleys at 17001 Young Blood road now this is where Common Sense will rule today a 41 ft 7 in fire truck cannot reasonably navigate alleys to attack a fire so help us with a pause with bite development until such time we can find a reasonable way to keep people safe you can do this legislatively under the Udo or statutorily under North Carolina Journal statutes d-107 I'll be back to share with you how I think we're doing with your 10 planning goals in the ejs under the comprehensive 2040 plan such as 10-minute neighborhoods protecting critical watersheds infrastructure tree canopy safe and Equitable Mobility integrated natural and built environments Etc let's have a win for etj residents and a win for developers thank you thank [Applause] you all right our next speaker is Ricky [Music] Singh good evening esteemed members of the city council mayor and city manager my name is Ricky Singh and I'm honored to address you today as the executive director of My Brother's Keeper Charlotte mackenberg since stepping into this role in July 23 I stand before you to express our profound gratitude for the funding received for FY 2024 and to share how this support has enabled us to initiate transformative initiatives in 10 months we've expanded to 40 Partnerships from six engag youth in over 100 Innovative and positive experiences impacted nearly 5,000 Youth and are currently working as a partner with Charlotte meckelberg schools around supporting the senior class in five of the largest high schools in Charlotte as well as addressing addressing the nation wide issue of chronic absenteeism over the past 19 years my journey in education as a school founder leader in our city and county administrator and teacher has deepened my commitment to creating inclusive spaces where young individuals specifically boys and young men of colar I'm a dad and father of four boys myself age 12 to 22 can flourish and realize their potential um you received our proposal where we want to expand the two initiatives we have started in since July of 2023 the first one is launching a youth Impact Office geared around providing robust internships apprenticeships and professional experiences in our corridors of opportunity and providing more nonprofit sustainability a program that focuses on enhancing the effectiveness and sustainability of nonprofits directly serving Charlotte Youth and low-income areas I want to thank you for this time this my first time I was nervous but I appreciate everyone for hearing me out tonight thank you thank you our next speaker is is Brian Morales casano good evening mayor um ly's uh mayor pres Anderson and city council and manager my name is Brian Morales director of government Affairs of narup Charlotte due to the short period uh of time that we're given today I'm going to give the mic to our chapter president with the message on our report thank you good evening mayor lyes um mayor pro team council members and staff thank you for the opportunity to speak here with you as the president of the charlot chapter National Association of Hispanic r State professionals I want to present to you the findings of the 2023 estate of uh Hispanic home ownership report in 2023 the Hispanic home ownership rate in the United States reached 49.5% the largest amount in racial any racial or ethnic group compared to the previous year despite facing the uh of the least affordable housing market record Latinos achieved a net gain of 377,000 oner household the largest single year gain since 2005 and do you know that here in Charlotte we have similar Trend however facing unique challenges High interest rate and raising home prices have made it difficult for many to qualify in Charlotte initiatives like those from Habitat for Humanity and local real estate professionals provide education uh education financial assistance and support to the Latino families to navigate the home ownership now our report highlights that many Hispanic buyers are willing to move Lo to lower Coast areas to achieve home ownership in closing I urge the Charlotte City Council to continue supporting policies and programs that facilitates affordable housing and home ownership for our Hispanic community and by doing so we do not help these families to achieve their American Dream but also strengthen and fabric to our uh entire city thank you for the time much thank you thank [Applause] you our next speaker is Ty twine Ty twine all right we'll come back if um that person comes in so we'll now go to Michael capro live Michael CI o um we'll go to Ashton gazi if you um just reading material thank you thank you how are you should I wait for the packages to get around okay we will do that yes thank you for having me while while we're waiting I'm aen gazi I've been developing here in Charlotte for over 30 years um some of you probably know me from building the epicenter um I brought brought my younger daughter with me today because my older daughter her older daughter her older sister is 24 now I moved here in ' 93 from Louisville Kentucky my first home was in a duplex and it was a $130,000 duplex that I brought from Allan Tate and he became one of my mentors one of my guides one of the stewards of the city he's passed now and I take this um I take our home very seriously and I love where we live but we do have a crisis and I hear about housing here and I hear about housing from the previous people that just spoke and the simple thing that brought me here today is because after 8 months of passing the new Udo staff came back with a recommendation to um take a step or two steps backwards and get rid of triplexes in Li of just duplexes except for on corners and what they cited was parking issues and um uh lack of applications currently we have about $30 million of duplexes under constru triplexes under construction in the city the reason I got in this business is because my 24-year-old daughter can't find a new home anywhere in South Charlotte for under a million dollars doesn't exist you can go find a tear down or a renovation project that's going to cost you 500 to $800,000 but the problem there is if you tear down a $500 to $800,000 house you have to to build back roughly $2.4 to $3 million worth of something in order to make the economics work so the simple rule is without density you're not going to bring affordability and in in the staff meeting where they showed the maps the majority of our city is n1a and n1b and if you decrease triplexes and [Music] duplexes I think that if you want to send your remaining REM marks to the city clerk we can have them and or you can come back for our next public hearing I invite you to come see our trixes they're beautiful all right thank you very much thank you our next speaker is Angela Edwards thank you for taking the time to come down those steps really I know it is State yeah I don't know who got that through the permitting process take your time Miss ever thank you all right you can start that puzzle like guess yes good evening um everyone to sound of my voice I just greet y'all all in the name of the Lord Savior Jesus Christ I'm here tonight uh for Springfield Community I am the leader of Springfield as y'all well know I'm also a candidate for meinberg County District 2 right y'all remember me andela white Edwards that's me all right at 122 Glen Rock Drive Charlotte North Carolina 28217 case number 2019 0 6435 original Case Case open 129 2019 total fine was $1,750 this the okay this is the same property we're talking about now new case started due to cases that were dismissed from environmental Court uh 122 Glen Rock Drive Charlotte North Carolina 28217 case number 2022 0079 22 case open 225 2022 total F so far is $14,500 got another property right here 115 echodale Drive Charlotte North Carolina 28217 case number 20 2300 63814 case open 124 2023 total fin so far is $ 1, uh $750 I'm here tonight because we are an old neighborhood my father lived there from 73 to 2018 July the 4th he passed so it came into my possession I live there that's my legacy so I became to be the neighborhood uh leader uh I tell you these people over there they they murmur and complain they are so frustrated that the city have just like this bombard not even seeing them as the existence uh that 122 Glenrock Drive is a church that has not been open in 20s something years uh this is how the um the don't worry we we got we've got your remarks and um we will have this turned over to our neighborhood services for deeper and further review and someone will contact you thank you so much thank you no thank you for bringing it to our [Applause] attention a shirt I I see that shirt I saw that this y'all oh that's it's smart it's absolutely smart make us stand stay on our toes all right so um our next speaker is Thomas vinon Mr vinon Thomas vinon our next speaker is Antonio gleeton there he is thank [Applause] you good evening good evening okay so April 7th 2024 I was maliciously attacked by my stepdaughter's boyfriend while I was called to my daughter's home to pick up my grandchild because the assumed father refused to care for the child while my stepdaughter goes to work while in progress of picking up the child my stepdaughter asked me to escort the assumed father Jalil Baker out of her residence Jal Baker did not refuse to leave but he did insist that he had 30 days to stay before an eviction I suggested that we step outside and called the police and they instruct us on what to do we walked side by side out of the residence and as soon as we exit the door Jal Baker turned and brutally stabbed me deeply in my abdomen I remained hospitalized for 20 days my intestines had to be pulled out and stitched my outer stomach stapled now I carry a wound back my case has been dismissed to the grand jury with no time frame as to Wi a court date however my stepdaughter still CA my wife and I to pick up the grandchild and Jal Baker Still Remains in the house and refuses to leave nor nor care for the child I'm asking the council to speak to the supervisors over the grand jury and get me a court dat soon as possible I'm also requesting that we abolish squatter's rights to remain in the residence where there is no signed agreement male nor material should no longer validate a squatter's rights to remain in or on premises in which there is no written agreement I'm suggesting that this becomes a law and it be called gon's law I ask that the council submit gleaton's law to re g governor Roy Cooper for immediate action because I nearly was unived and I don't want others to go to go through what I went through thanks for hearing My Cry thank you okay um our next speaker is Michaela young Michaela it's not here so all right our next speaker is Kimberly Wade good evening mayor Madame mayor and council members my name is Kimberly Wade a resident of district 7 I have lived in Charlotte for 17 years and for the last six I have been a volunteer and Foster with animal care and control my experience as an animal shelter volunteers has profoundly shaped my life and worldview I see firsthand the heartbreaking reality of animals being surrendered due to various circumstances including lack of affordable housing and unforeseen Life Changes our shelter is a Lifeline for so many animals and people in our community it should be a place of hope and healing I want to share a story about Sarah and Max Sarah walked into the shelter crying holding the leash of her beloved Labrador Max his gray muszle spoke of years of companionship and loyalty trembling she clung to the leash of Max sensing her distress he nuzzled her for comfort Sarah had been evicted from her apartment despite her Relentless search for a petfriendly home she found herself with no safe options where she could keep Max desperate and at a time she made the heart-wrenching decision to surrender him to the shelter hoping they could provide him with a new home when Sarah arrived a staff member explained the dire situation we can take Max but our shelter is at full capacity there's a chance he might be euthanized Cyrus's face crumpled as she she took in the news she had already lost her home and now she confronted with losing her best friend her sobs echoed through the shelter overcrowded conditions means that every new intake increases the risk of euthanasia this tragic scenario happens all too often at our shelter people already devastated by their circumstances are forced to make impossible decisions and animals face uncertain Futures because of our failure to provide adequate resources we must act to change this and we are asking for two things please designate Animal Services as an independent city department and find a new shelter this does not need to be the one with a $200 million price tag we are a community with abundant wealth we can figure this out thank you thank [Applause] you our next speaker is Robert Davis the list good evening good evening good even to start with saying uh with my statements with saying thank you to the council members that voted in favor of the $25 our minimum wage on last week it's a very important issue for city workers so I won't bore you with a lot of facts and figures there uh I will also uh not talk about because we've done it at nauseum about the housing insecurity and the food insecurity amongst city employees I'm simply going to ask that you reconsider that vote that you uh weigh that against the backdrop of Charlotte being the F second fastest growing city in the nation and also think about that stat is on the backs of the workers that are out there every day completing their jobs we have reached that glorious height as a city based upon the work of city workers so I won't waste an entire two minutes going over things we've done countless times before you I'm glad you've heard us in the past I'm asking you to hear us one more time we have workers that are ready to send kids to college this year $23 an hour is not going to do it for them so take this time think about the stats that the city has we had we're serving a million people with Charlotte water that's who I work for reconsider that vote think about where the city has grown exponentially think about inflation and think about the workers that are here every day tirelessly making this city great thank you Dominique Harris I thought he went to work hey y' I didn't think ID get a chance to speak all right so I think from the beginning our goal was to raise City level city workers level up to here because that's where we deserve to be I think that was a whole goal to get the bottom up to a point where everybody can come in the city and have a respectable job and earn respectable wages where a little kid can look at their daddy in the morning and be like like Eddie I want to be like you when I grow up not to have a situation where a man comes home and complains about a job and how much he gets paid and what he has to do for a city it doesn't seem like they appreciate the work that it does we want to be able to be the the vision of what the city is you know what I'm saying it's not just the buildings it's not just the streets it's the people and it's the people that put them things there so we got one of the fastest growing city ities in the nation and some of the hardest working people in the nation doing that be to be able to um get the city to the level that it needs to be so I just want to say one thing thank you for the city workers for contributing to the survival of this city because without them we wouldn't be here thank you [Applause] that concludes our public forum I'm sorry one more we have one more Craig Brown Mr Brown Craig Brown come on be careful Mr I really M around be careful got that 4% yet h Mr Brown I hear you want to talk about the people's budget yes yes first and foremost good evening good evening Madam mayor M respected council members City minutes I ain't got nothing but two minutes so I'm going try to make this real simple I got to go home to Charleston and it made me appreciate the place I am today I migrated here right I got a job with the city when I got a job here we a making no money and the jobs that we do as city workers was look down upon you know but let me tell you something through this job I was afforded some things I made the best that I can do city manager wise counsel please lift the city workers up think about the welfare of the living I took a little with y'all gave me and made a lot so if you add a little bit more just how Ma just imagine how far we can go together we've been talked about all through the southeast of what Charlotte is doing together let's keep this going thank you Mr Harris you are our last speaker for our public forum and you certainly did it proud Mr Brown I'm sorry sorry Mr Brown all right so now um we'll go to the next item on our agenda which is the public hearing foration we have no report we just did that all right item number six which is public hearing on and decision on Oak Lake Town Homes area 2 two area I think that we were told that we have someone that's available to ask questions thank you all for coming thank you for giving us and sharing us this information that you have for us you've left us a lot to think about you all right I six all right Madam clerk has anyone signed up to speak um the only speaker is the one that's here to um answer any questions if there are any is so we have a public hearing and a decision we can um we've opened the public hearing do we have a motion to close the public hearing we have a motion to close the public hearing all in favor say I I anyone opposed all right so with that um we have a motion to may I have a motion to adopt an annexation ordinance with an effective date of May 28th 2024 to extend the corporate limits to include this property and assign it to the adjacent Council District which is District 4 do I have a motion so move second I have a motion and a second any discussion hearing no discussion all in favor please raise your hands anyone oppose Miss Mayfield opposes thank you very much all right our next item is item number seven we went through that with the manager item is item number nine cat's Transit governance interlocal agreement um we have a action to adopt a resolution to approve a second amended and related Transit governance inter local agreement providing for the coordination of Transit operations on a countywide basis through the Charlotte area transit system and authorize the city manager to execute the Second Amendment and restated Transit governance in a local agreement subject to the conditions set forth wherein um I'm going to recognize the manager for comment so uh thank you mayor and members of council uh I I do want to I guess set this up for the council and I want to talk about three different items that may seem um not related but they are first a rant line of we've been talking about the city has been talking about acquiring access to the red line from Nori Southern um for some time now it's officially called the o line but we've called it the red line and uh two years ago I think if we had this conversation uh you could have probably received something like nothing has changed changed from a policy position I.E from norol Southern nor that information is not accurate so I I would tell you without going into much detail uh we are progressing in those conversations extremely well and I continue to be optimistic second um and it's also important to note that the red line has been a part of the mtc's 2030 plan for for a while a a top priority second the sales tax author ation so we we talked a little bit about this but but not necessarily about this bias but clearly there's positive work happening in this space relationship building with the North Carolina general assembly and it's simply having the sales tax authorization from Raleigh which eventually will allow the individuals of meinberg County to be asked a question whether or not they would agree to a a sales tax to help with um Transit and transportation so we're talking about not just Rail and buses but roads and sidewalks and part of the infrastructure that we've talked about for a while so um I think it's important to distinguish those two items before I get to the third item because the uh third item you can't get to the first and second without having a conversation first about the interlocal agreement so the county and the six towns have um a desire to have this interlocal agreement amended and voted on by the council as we move forward to what I would say some of the bigger goals I.E um building out the transportation system and having transportation well the transit system but also having transportation dollars for not just um Charlotte but the other towns also so this interlocal agreement that's before you tonight um it's about 25 years old the last time it was amended was 2005 so clearly There's an opportunity to update that what I have tried to do in these discussions is to make sure that we preserve our fiscal and legal responsibilities as the city of Charlotte but also taking into account uh many of the terms that the county and the towns felt were important so in this amended uh inter local agreement there are about uh 15 different issues that were brought to the table by the county and the towns that have been uh resolved in one way or another and when you start to look at some of the cleanup um and the just the overall Amendment there are about uh 23 different Provisions that have been addressed or amended in this so I I say all that to say I think all of you know that eventually um we would be moving towards some type of Regional Transit Authority and if we think about this in terms of steps or legs to a relay this is the first one as we start to think about sales tax and the red line and the authority we can't get to the end without having at least this beginning discussion so mayor just wanted to set that up as to um some of the thinking from the city's side perspective with this all right thank you Mr Jones um I have to say that a number of us have really been deeply engaged in the idea of how do we make sure that as we continue to grow that we do it in a way that serves every resident of our city um I always like to tell the story of um Miss Molina and having that wonderful new sign that says Wake Forest Medical School on the building and um and that that business alone will have 5,000 new jobs and I'll never forget one day that I got a call from a young woman on the east side who told me that she had a job and she said she just had a job because she had no transportation to get from the East to her job and of course if you don't show up after a certain amount of time you have no job and so this idea has always been something that I think we've all known that as we are growing through the issues of having upward Mobility part of it is not to have to pay for a car car insurance car taxes um you know gas and all of those other things that we've used to say well you know we all wanted it but right now I think most people would choose the ability to get to work in an affordable way and not necessar neily to have to have or own a car but I always remember that young woman saying she lost her job because she didn't have a way to get to work and she could not afford a car so this has been something we've been all talking about the questions that we have and to place in play today Mr Jones has pretty much laid it out that you don't get something done until you begin it and so I had one more thing so I just wanted to talk about the interlocal agreement which I okay there is one additional provision that's been discussed and that is these orphan roads okay so my position has uh been consistent that the interlocal agreement with the city the county and the six towns or the MTC deals with Transit deals with buses and rail so a provision dealing with orphan roads doesn't have a place in my professional opinion in this agreement so what I've done is proposed to this County and the towns that through anou that we would have um memorialize how we would go about using if we got the sales tax a portion of that sales tax that's related to roads um as it relates to Charlotte for those orphan roads that are within Charlotte's etj so while that isn't in what's being proposed tonight for the interlocal agreement there is a an Avenue to address that through an mou all right so Mr Jones um has spoken Mr Driggs you recognized thank you mayor so I have followed these conversations as chair of the transportation and planning committee and I want to emphasize Charlotte has always tried to keep its eye on the main prize uh the goal is regional plan uh it needs to be funded the identified funding source was the sales tax uh however we did encounter with our partners in the MTC issues uh for one the northern towns having been disappointed by the half cent sales tax and not gotten the red line were were really not interested in in working with us right right so I I just want to point out that as part of our effort to kind of reach an accommodation and move this forward we are now engaged as the manager described in conversations to overcome that issue uh other things came up in which our partners in the MTC expressed the desire to have more engagement more uh a bigger role in in the whole thing and that's what the topic was and I hope you all remember I circulated actually to everybody on Council about a week ago the actual document with the markups and the changes so um I think the uh the manager has has done a great job of representing our interests uh uh you know in under difficult circumstances at times but but he has looked after us and he has taken our message into those conversations and I believe he's come back with something that uh we can support uh in order to be able to move ahead on the subject of the orphan roads uh the the the serious question was not whether or not we would participate and and help to do something about it it was just whether a topic like that belongs in a a charter document or an organization so it's just a question of where's the right place to do that and uh I think the manager has propose something which it sounds like in the minds of the uh MTC is a base for further conversations and um so I think it would be great if all of us could uh get behind this interlocal agreement and and and understand that it's one step towards the goal that we have of getting that referendum out there getting that Revenue established and then being able to re realize a regional plan so uh I would move to approve it second we have a motion and a second um and I believe I had Mr bard well I'm M Mr barari and I'm Miss Mayfield um someone on on this side okay Mr Graham all right Mr barari yeah thanks so um I'm going to be supportive of this tonight and I would encourage everyone else to as well um and for the community and colleagues just this context is is how I got to this point there's a thousand complexities to this which still have to be figured out um but this to me is pretty simple it puts us on a path for this one item of is there going to be money to spend and invest in our transportation system and secondly how we're going to do that right and if I break those two statements down just one step further this entire last decade but particular last couple months is irrelevant if there's no path to getting an actual investment of of of a magnitude that matters together so now is the first first time in a long time we've had that potential and at this point it really just comes down to the broad Strokes of is the Charlotte region aligned and can we communicate that and get Raleigh to be aligned now that second part is a little more complex but to to me that's not the problem at hand right now right now we're trying to say can we be all aligned aligned with some rough Strokes that brings us to this point and I think in all the fine print the thing that jumps out for number one uh in its most simple form is we have a agement roughly with a majority of the folks needed to kind of speak with one voice to say roughly 40% is going to go towards Transit and Rail and the other 60% among other things the vast majority of it is going to go to Road based projects that is a unified voice coming out and saying something here from the Charlotte region that will resonate with the folks in Raleigh and will resonate with a lot of the needs we have so then the only big item that was left was well how do we govern it how are we ultimately going to come together to make sure the Thousand little details that could break this thing down or make it into something it wasn't supposed to be how do we ensure that that had to happens correctly I was deeply concerned that we would get there and I think a lot of the folks in the general assembly that I've spoken to were as well and then a very elegant solution came out of the MTC working groups all of you guys here together that have been in the weeds which was let's punt it let's punt it just a little bit let's give ourselves an extra six months so we're aligned on those broad Strokes of we're going to go after the money with one voice and here's the rough buckets it'll be in and we'll figure out the governance structure after we get past step one I think that was a brilliant move because that governance structure with the public and private sector together is going to be the Crux of every one of these issues so not only has that been punted but saying we're going to buy more time so we don't have to tie it right now in an emergency to this it also gets you to a point where it has to go back to the general assembly in the long session so ultimately those towns and folks that have concerns myself as an individual who might have concerns that oh we're going to get steamrolled the general assembly still ultimately has to approve that governance structure so when you boil all that down that gives me great comfort to raise my hand tonight and be able to say whether my passion areas of roads of the future and and autonomous vehicles and all those things or somebody else's concern about orphan roads or a thousand other things the point is we're making no decision and everyone still has the ability with the same leverage going forward to Champion their points and make sure the governance model that ultimately gets approved down the road will be there for it so um I'm not here to say that every other item is a no-brainer and we're done but this one was a big headwind to us and with tonight's action and all the work that's been done I think this one turned into a tailwind and it's a pretty big one so I applaud everyone who's worked on it I app all the different towns and folks on the local side in a very tough situation these last couple months have been for coming together and I think this this marks we're shifting gears into that final Dash to the finish line and who knows maybe a miracle will come out Miss Mayfield thank you Madame mayor Mr manager I you know you and I have conversation a lot regarding words and the power words I'm trying to understand this logic of this idea of Orphan Road one uh press release went out earlier today they identified a particular area Palisades and some roads those AR Earth roads that was private roads lenar as the developer private developer private roads the conversation is now they are talking about turning those roads over to the HOA HOAs we have little to no Authority with that's the ener assembly they have a representative out there that has been trying to come up with ways to protect residents because of all the powers that HOAs have had so I'm trying to understand based on the conversations and what has been shared with me prior to us getting here today this seems like let's just throw in one more thing with saying well these orphan ropes they're not orphan Roes it's private ropes help me understand why that is something that we would even consider because as a taxpayer who does not use public transportation but a good of my good bit of my taxes goes towards it to help others why would I consider any funding to go towards that versus and or what does it look like for the town's contribution to go since if it's in the etj that is County that's not City help me understand well the um it seems like there's a look of fear on my face it's because it's a real in the sense of going down the pathway of trying to explain uh orphan roads and so so so I'll look to some of my my help uh out there in the audience but what I'll start with um the concept has um been out there for a while and we have been talking about the interlocal agreement that if we're talking about roads and a part of this sales tax is dedicated to roads can there be oh that's my guy thank you can there be up and help restro look come on over here know and they don't know whether you're coming or going to tell you the truth so you might want could there be Al is not the right word could there be could this be in the definition of uses for some of the transportational roads money respond but to talk about orphan roads I'm going to turn it over to Ed to just give a broadly definition of of what incompasses that is that right sure yeah I'll get it a shot and also to explain the difference between a private road and an orphan Road since we now identify what was a private road as a orphan Road sure again I'll I'll give it a shot Ed McKinny with the city manager's office um yeah let me let me try to start a little bit with the definitions and it's there's a lot of words in here and different terms that we use so it'll take a minute just to sort of untangle a little bit there are um lots of subdivisions residential development in the etj so the extr territorial jurisdiction the county uh in all throughout the county but in specifically we're talking about uh the areas in charlott etj so each City each town has a jurisdiction outside of their Municipal boundaries that they have land use control over and as as you all know you see that in your rezonings every month so there's there's development that's happening with within Charlotte's etj that is governed by land use decisions that the city makes within those and what typically happens is as as a development occurs in that area in the etj their streets and roads are designed to a standard that ultimately when they become public they're accepted by the state ncdot for maintenance and the requirements that ncdot has for that are sort of basic their own basic design standards and so if those roads are designed uh and set up under the state's standards and it's a relatively simple process for that development to then build the roads to those standards and go through a process by which the state officially accepts them for maintenance uh so they're public roads but then the the state becomes responsible for long-term uh repaving and maintenance of the streets so what has happened though is there are situations of a variety of um of re of reasons that neighborhoods residential developments um have not gone through the process of getting the state to accept their roads uh for maintenance uh some cases there's residential development that happens where the final piece of work the final pavement uh and finishing of a road hasn't happened partly because in some cases uh the developer is gone the residential uh development has been sold the houses are there uh but the final details of finishing those roads haven't occurred and it's unfortunately and again not to anyone's fault from the residential side left to those neighborhoods to to do that final investment so we believe and certainly it's an issue that we've been talking about with ncdot for a while we've known it's an issue and we believe there's an opportunity through this discussion around funding for us to partner uh in those areas with NCD with these with these homeowners and homeowners Associates and neighborhoods to do in many cases a relatively simple thing which is you know get these uh final residential neighborhood roads paved and and improved to a standard by which the state can then accept them and so they're not private roads they're they're public but they they're not accepted for maintenance until uh the state would accept them and those standards are met um I'll stop there to see if I've done any good uh clear way to sort of describe the you probably did better than our manageable what you triggered for me is multiple additional questions so we have roads out there we do not have any language that actually holds developers accountable so planning city council we approve a development a developer goes out he starts a development he may or may not complete that development he or she mainly he a developer goes out starts a development that development is not completed it does not get transferred over the ncdot of which again we are paying city taxes County taxes and state taxes the state has a responsibility on a number of Roads we are now having a conversation that with our dollars in support of cats that opposed to us reinvesting in expanding our current infrastructure when we have neighborhoods within the city limits that do not have bus routes or have had bus routes eliminated under previous leadership we're saying that we are going to consider putting money aside to go in and complete a private road that a business neglected to complete in order for that road to possibly be accepted by the state because in what the process should have been is that developer in the process of his b business of building should have applied for it to go to the state they chose not to do that so we are now trying to figure out a way to come in and offset those costs could could I respond to that um Mr Miss Mayfield continue just like to provide a view on this one I'm need help have a better understanding from staff of how we think that that's a good idea when state has a responsibility on roads and we have been having conversations for decades regarding etj and even as someone who served for eight years in the area with etj where we had I had to constantly tell people no we are not able to do X or Y because you're in extr terrestrial jurisdiction but we're now saying that we're going to create an exception for this to complete roads that a business did not complete what I would say is it's you've described it correct there's a subset of roads and it's a limited number it's a F you know a finite number of these of these rows that exist um that require this this effort and this investment it's under a partnership again uh with with a relatively straightforward set of investment they they will be and most of them will be uh acceptable for the state to maintain so we believe it's a it's a finite issue it's an issue that in many cases can be solved pretty clearly with a partnership with the ncdot we can get to a very uh a clear process of getting that the acceptance from the state to happen uh it's a policy decision I'll ultimately for Council how to spend these dollars what has limited Us in the past and this is an issue again we've known about and I've been working with ncdot on uh an understanding for a while is again the fact that this is outside of our Municipal boundaries so it limits us from using uh tax pay property based uh city funding on on the sales tax was a unique opportunity right because that funding is separate from uh essentially the constraint of using that within the city's Municipal boundary and so with this potential for transportation funding Road funding within this uh new funding source uh it gives us an ability that we've never had before to to take this issue hone in on the specifics Define the finite uh investment needed and work again in partnership with the state to hopefully solve what we believe is an issue that should be solved for the community thank you for the explanation all right right speak to that I just asked Mr Graham if you I'd like to respond while we're on this Mr Graham was next so Mr Graham okay you okay I'm okay okay Mr DRS so uh there's a little more to the story uh what I heard talking to Brett kite the NC do engineer was that there was development that took place in the expectation that it would be annexed under involuntary annexation so the road was built to City specifications and not to State specifications then the legislature outlawed involuntary annexation and the annexation didn't occur so this what that is one reason why this is an orphan because it was built properly to City specs but that wasn't okay for ncdot to take respons responsibility so they said it needs to meet our requirements before we will take responsibility for it the other thing to note is this road is in a right of way private roads uh are a different story this road is accessible to the public by virtue of a right of way but it's not subject to maintenance by anybody and that's why it's an orphan it's different from a private road and it has become a major thoroughfare that is used in those areas to access different places and this is why we have this conundrum my feeling was that because the road was built the way it was with the city's encouragement by virtue of our plan to Annex it and according to our rules that there is a role for us in trying to figure out how to unlock this because ncdot said it's not us right the county has taken an interest and wants to solve it and I don't know what our role might be but all I thought was if the county says that they want us to partner with them in figuring this out I can see a justification for it it's different from a private road right thank you Mr Graham thank you um Madam mayor um I I see this a little different and and it may be because I know too much right um uh I I want to thank Ed and and the mayor and the manager because I know they' have been working behind the scenes for weeks uh in reference to this interlocal agreement and issues related to to the MTC and so my comments tonight has nothing to do with their performance I think they have performed extremely well um with good faith uh and an eye towards building Regional cooperation and Regional collaboration um so I want to thank you for the work um I understand the importance of regionalism and Regional participation I think that our future as a city our future as a community is directly tie into um working with others uh working with the small towns uh working with yourk County and Union County and um so I think we're all in this together in terms of how we grow and how we prosper and promoting coordinated economic growth jobs and housing uh improving Mobility um and transportation infrastructure projects Road networks um seemlessly connecting communities together um as a state senator I repres presented Davidson canas and hunsville for 10 years so I understand the the the growth of those areas I understand their frustration with Transportation issues over the course of the last 10 years and and moving forward uh and I understand some of their concerns and so I don't take um their concerns um um in chess I I I know that they are coming from a a good spot I think um but I want to focus on the main thing right and and the main thing is and I think the interlocal agreement is a distraction I really do from the main thing right the main thing is getting the general assembly to approve uh the authorization for the city and the county uh to put the measure on the ballot that that's the main thing because that unlocks funding uh gives us the opportunity uh to take it to the voters for their consideration to tax themselves for greater mobility in the region for all of us right and so that's the main thing and I told Miss Alman that weeks ago I told the county manager that weeks ago and I told Mr Gerald that weeks ago that's the main thing right then we got to get it on the ballot and get it pass right that's another hurdle that we all collectively have to come together to get it pass we also have to work on the language uh for the bill to be introduced in the general assembly that's acceptable to all of us right that's that's the main thing and then we have to focus on what I think brought us to this point today is the operations of of the system and the system had a failure about a year ago we acknowledged the failure a year ago we disagreed with the MTC and said we would do a federal review of our operations we've gotten the first report back which is the financial audit minor findings tur in work late but a clean audit and we're getting ready to get the the the operations audit back and we are cautiously optimistic that the findings will be the same so I'm not sure why we are let me let me back up we formed a city council working committee appointed by the mayor and to my knowledge correct me if I'm wrong we invited a member of the MTC to join on that committee they did join to join so they they were there so we're solving this thing together right and so I I'm just puzzled today that we get we get a at least I saw online that the MTC big bull letters Metropolitan transfer commission opposes proposed in the local agreement can't be in clearer than that right I mean it just can't be any clearer than that and I think we've done a lot of good work to demonstrate that we're want to be a great Regional partner even in Al Consin agenda which has nothing to do with this but we passed millions of dollars without discussion for the airport control operated by Charlotte benefiting the region everybody benefits from it I mean so we we we've been doing this for a number of years working with our regional Partners enlightened self-interest helping Charlotte for sure but also helping the region and I think we should be given the benefit of the doubt to do the same thing on Transit as well without having to be um forced um to to to amend the agreement and the reason why I said Force because they hadn't operate passed their operating budget yet the MTC have they like tomorrow no that's not they are they P they they vot on tomorrow it's on the agenda for tomorrow yeah after we vote tonight right so you can read between the lines on that one um I don't think that's right I don't think that builds a foundation for regional cooperation I don't think it builds a foundation for trust which is a words that's been been battered around for the last several weeks um and I just don't think that we we should move forward with this one item in particular is this annual discretionary fund of $500,000 created to use to conduct studies commission reports $500,000 discretionary fund the MTC already has the ability to fund reviews reports and studies through the existing budget process is that true I think it is the MTC is not recognized by the state statute as a legal entity or board where Contracting Authority or a body with fiscal responsibilities that's cor is that true it's not a legal person it doesn't have a legal I'm still talking that Mr Drake Thank you just answering your question so why is the budget needed questions does the balance roll over from year to year if they don't use it Mr manager I mean what happens if they don't yes so it just rolls over so 500,000 could become a million dollars oh no no it would you would build it back up to the half a million Kanas the city dep apartment all cast deaths and risk is born by the city of Charlotte all cat's debt is backed by the city of Charlotte and his taxpayers when the Ali was established in 2020 it established distinct separate roles and responsibilities between the MTC and the City of Charlotte have they ever someone can ask us to do something through a budgetary process that we said no to other than a year ago when we said not no but choose a different direction over the last six seven eight years can somebody tell me that they that they made a request to us and we said no what was a question question it's rhetorical it's I know the answer I I I I'm asking questions I know the answer too right I'm just trying might not to make a point no what was your question the question is have the MTC requested a budget review or anything to the city and the city said no yes La we didn't say no last year we said no to the request but we fulfilled the obligation of doing the study I'm talking thank you I have the floor I I have the floor okay we fulfill the obligation we're not required to say yes we said no no we'll do it a different way we exped the the the process and we saved the taxpayers about $500,000 yes yes and so I'm a region partip partner as as as surely as I sit here when I am gone from this Das and gone from this Earth how we cooperate and participate as a region will decide our future as as a region no doubt about it and transportation and Mobility is the key and it unlocks the door for the revenue matching funds from from the from the federal government and if we start a relationship and I've been on record on two points one we should have Consolidated back in the 90s and some of this confusion and the table things that we're hearing that's not in this sanitized report that we we got right because this is really sanitized right it's it's the policy and and and the politics is certainly a lot different than the policy that we're voting on here tonight we should have Consolidated a long time ago right and we would have relieved ourselves from from some of this pain right and so I'm just not sure so I will offer a substitute motion that we that we um um approve of uh the U manager recommendation with the exception of item number four under the budget which is annual discretionary fund being taken away do we have a second to the substitute motion I know that we have a lot more conversation so right now Mr Graham second I'm Sorry Miss Mayfield second it so come back to that I I reserve my right to speak again all right so the next speaker that I have is um Mr Mitchell followed by Miss Johnson and we're not talking I'm Sorry Miss I'm Sorry Miss Johnson followed by Mr Mitchell I got you thank you Miss Brown um can Mr McKenna come back up please thank you thank you I just have a couple questions regarding the orphan SL private roads are there any of these orphan roads within city limits no the so the ones we're talking about in this case are are outside of the city boundaries um there are again these are public rights away where the roads themselves haven't been accepted for maintenance so we're we're talking about roads that are outside of the city boundary that the state has not accepted for maintenance but there are orphan roads within the city limits aren't there there are there are rights of way within the city where those roads have yet to be accepted by the city you know for for uh for maintenance and as those roads are developed you know we have lots of res um private development that occurs within the city and as those roads are developed and to our standards and development is finalized those roads then get the public rights away of those roads get accepted by the city for maintenance one of the first calls I made to the city back in I think 2015 before I thought about Council was an area that there there pot potholes and there was no one to fix them because of you know they didn't belong in the city they were state roads and so I think there's a lot of that and we can talk about that offline but um but I know that that's an issue when we talk about orphan roads as far as the orphaned roads in the etj can we talk about safety as far as police and fire um who's responsible for those roads as far as safety police and fire is there is is there something that the city doesn't so um I'll spare Ed from that so okay so we have um so I remember when I first got here in 2016 we were negotiating in local agreement about policing in the etj so it it's a mixture in terms of like Pineville we used to um have police in the Pineville etj a year ago um Pineville no longer asked for that so it it's a mix and I don't think we could tell you tonight everything that goes on with each of the ejs with policing and fire and things of that nature are there some roads where police don't have jurisdiction or they're not um managed as far as speeding maybe it's the paldes area but I I was told that there were roads that they they weren't managed by police or fire in the etj these orphaned roads yeah I I want to make I don't want to say something that's incorrect so we we could get you back some information exactly how policing and um public law enforcement or Public Safety is is um executed into etj it's okay it's my understanding that there's no jurisdiction on on those orphan roads so that's something that was a concern also um how are we avoiding this in the future we know that this was a problem has the Udo been updated or the permitting process been updated so this will not happen again yeah certainly I don't want to speak for uh planning or Alison Craig and the details of the Udo um but as I think as Mr D Driggs described there there had been a period by which development was occurring under under City uh standards and review with the anticipation that they would be annexed within the city there was a short period of time where there that anticipation uh didn't result in actual annexation the annexation laws changed and so therefore there were neighborhoods and areas of that of the etj that are built streets are built to standards that are City standards uh they weren't that area wasn't annexed into the City and therefore some cases the city standards for streets are different than the ncdot standards for the streets so there are cases and that would be part of our evaluation on this issue would be to identify those identify what standards would need to be um upgraded or modified to make them acceptable acceptable for State um acceptance to your question that we're the Udo is clear now to make sure we don't create that situation as development is occurring and it is in the etj and the developer has no intention of annexing into the city then the standards by which those roads are being built are the state standards and when they are done developing those roads then are designed to be accepted by the state for maintenance so they're designed to be accepted by the state is is that a like a routine process does that automatically happen that automatically happens the state can't reject that road if there again that do the development process the review process includes uh City staff and state staff and so as they're reviewing development and the designs of those roads uh State staff are involved to make sure that the design the construction the final completion of those roads are to their standards and once they are then the state does accept accept those streets for maintenance okay all right those were my question and if we could get that answer regarding safety jurisdiction in in the etj I think that's important I don't know Joe Bruno if that's something you want to find out that's a good question okay um um lastly I I want to um respond to council member Graham the the question was have we ever and I don't really want to get the weeds but the question was have has the mtj MTC ever asked for anything from the city and we said no and that answer is yes that's I believe why we're in this position I this a may I I was in that meeting when the vote was taken the vote was unanimous and I was on the unanimous vote so it was not that we didn't do it it was about how to get it done but it was a unanimous vote including your own represent representative which was me well perception is reality so well that's not always true sometimes they ask that that sales tax which is going to equate in $700 million per year I think for our taxpayers this is something that uh we we definitely um should should work with these groups um there's there's the other towns um the other city managers and again perceptions reality so I think this is an opportunity for for the city of Charlotte to work with them and not be perceived as um as steamrolling or bulldozing our way um in you know into um the agreement so thank you that's all I'll be supporting it all right M um fair and saying that the mayor chose I don't know the correct name a small group or committee what's the correct name for it working group group working group working group that consisted of um council member Mr Mitchell mayor potim Anderson and Mr Driggs and I'm almost sure that they took a lot of time to work and research through um disagreement you know the cats Transit governance inter local agreement Amendment and I listen to Mr Graham and his concerns and his detailed explanation he said that he know too much maybe I don't know enough and and I think in this case as we continue to work as we continue to learn um I spent some time with Mr Griffin who lives in the Palisades and to council member Johnson's question about safety and etj I spent hours out there and their different um emergency response teams that respond depending on where it is in the etj we went in several different locations in the Palisades and on the private roads we went on the back roads near the lakes and the rivers and um they pulled the reports U and and I think he called me out there even though I only have one vote with all due respect to all other members on this Council that is closest to my district and they didn't do every single street that was impossible to do during that time for this study but what they did do was check a a great deal of them and it could be Pineville it could be um Charlotte mecklinburg it could be different emergency response depending on the location and who got the call but there was some concerned about some of them not being able to get any response at all and so I hear the substitute motion from Mr Graham and then second by council member U Mayfield but my question would be with all the work that we put in with all um the towns uh the surrounding towns and the leaders in that area if we did that sack in motion would this still be relevant because this was done with the the new annual discretionary fund of $500,000 am I correct and so if we do a second motion would this interrupt the local agreement that we've been working on I'm just asking a question and um don't necessarily require an answer maybe somebody can take notes and answer well now I think m brown that um Mr Graham's motion was to approve everything with the exception of including the $500,000 that was my question and that would be taken out again these this is um something that we're working on today tomorrow it will likely have gone to the County Commission and the towns for their comment so I don't know that but I think what he's recommending Mr Jones so uh so I'll try to be helpful with this and maybe I won't be so um one of the things that um with one exception that the managers did was agree to this to bring this before the bodies that's why the orphan roads became a problem because it wasn't in The Matrix it wasn't what this work group that's been working for weeks was on so I tried to bring it in a different way through anou which I think we're in a good place with that but I do believe that if Council begins to take away items from this framework it'll be very difficult to get it passed in all the other jurisdictions okay I'm not done I I just think that's an we're coming back to you Mr Graham so I think addressing your question yeah addressing my question and so we also went down and we talked about the private roads the orphan roads and the annex roads we were talking about that the city at one time was going to be able to take on those roads but then the legislator stepped in and intervened and so that did not happen right and tar council member tar he you know it's like a we got to do something 25 years is a very very long time and as a council that's governed the way that we are with all of this intellect that sits around this diets and the different talents that we bring we have got to make a sound decision to be able to do something to show that we can do something and for me with the research that I did the studying that I did and take and spending the extra time with uh Mr Griffin who's lived in Palisades for quite some time and had a great deal of concern and has been researching and pulled out maps and different things in that area for me again I need the question answered about the substitute motion and if we could find out I know um our County managers our city manager I'm sorry said that that would not it probably would not be effective if we did that for me I would like to move forward with if the way that it is um based off of the research and the information that and the time that has been spent in 25 years is too long to hold off anything and not have any amendments that's just ludicrous to me um for a city as big as the city that we govern and make policy and make decisions for I would like to support it just as it is without the substitute motion but we've had a sacking on that so I don't know what doing where we go from here but we we we still have some speakers and we'll come back we'll start with a substitute motion where you can vote Yes or no we'll go to the next to the original motion you can vote Yes or No but before we do that um I had wrote down something else I know Mr Graham also said that we should have done something a long time ago but we didn't do it a long time ago and so now the time is here for us to be able to do something collectively as a a governing body members of this Council to be able to do something that would show our constituents that we're trying to get something done collectively and I'll be interested to see what that is today that vote will tell us won't it so thank you Miss Brown all right our next speaker is Mr Mitchell uh thank you mayor and counsel and let me let me just share with you kind of my experience because I think they say we're all a byproduct of our experiences so 2015 U Michael Smith and U mayor Roberts took about eight of us to Denver Colorado and we witnessed a true Regional Transit partnership and it was something I was excited about I think we all left that meeting hoping one day that Charlotte could duplicate uh the model in Denver when you had surrounding towns with the large big city all have one common goal how do we move our citizens and how do we move them on the public transit system so tonight I I want to thank uh we made him our honorary chairman of the work group Council madrigas all his heavy lifting uh dealing with mayor protim and I and to uh the city manager th this was a very complic ated relationship building uh process that the city staff um endured um $345 million as council member Johnson mentioned so I kept my eye focused on the prize and the big prize is our transit system we talk about Charlotte growing to be a million people in almost less than seven years and the question if you listen to our citizens they say we don't want to be like Atlanta and so the question for this Council we need to be proactive looked upon as a partner and we need to make sure that we are progressing the right way that the quality of life does not become a hindrance because of our growth and so tonight I'm excited to finally since 2015 I get to vote on what I think is beginning of a regional transit system uh when you do the federal match to councilman Johnson you're talking about $700 million per year right 700 million and so to the citizens out there I at least speaking for this council member I hear you loud and clear about our transportation needs I hear you loud and clear we need to be proactive I hear you loud and clear we need to be a partner in this in this region and so tonight that's why I'm voting for to be a partner and to address our transit system going forward thank you mayor thank you mayor protim thank you madam mayor um and really appreciate the comments of all my colleagues around theas you know city manager I was thinking about the budget of your proposed budget and the subtitle of it is advancing opportunity for all and when we think of Charlotte as a regional partner and player and everyone within the ecosystem we really live and breathe that as a community Mr Graham brought up the airport and the importance of the airport as to the region but we also can think about Charlotte water and their water treatment and wastewater treatment facilities and how they serve the region and so I think we always come to the table as an honest broker uh to partner with our with the towns and and me Berg County and this is just yet another example of it we have worked tirelessly for months and I want to thank the city manager for all of the work that he has done yes we've had a working group and Mr Driggs has been our honorary chair um but for all the work that we've done the city manager has done 5x of that right um and so there has been no bulldozing or bullying at all in this process there has only been collaboration and thinking about how do we want to be good stewards and partners for the entire region so I just want to make sure we preference everything that we say tonight with that the city manager has worked effortlessly to come up with this inter local agreement and there was agreement across the towns including Charlotte and in meinberg county that this agreement that sits before us in his current state would be put forward as a vote right and then something occurred at the very last minute um to try to impact that and modify what we already had an understanding on and so I think the approach uh city manager of thinking about anou and thinking about how do how can we yet again sit at the table to uh help assist and partner from a regional perspective of these quote unquote um orphan roads or as as Miss Mayfield said private roads uh but being a partner in that solution but I I also just want us to think about the importance of our transportation system being the second fastest growing city in the United States of America and thinking about the economic ecosystem that the city of Charlotte and we as the board of directors for the city have a responsibility to nurture uh is critically important and a reliable multi-prong multimodal transportation system is a clear important pillar of how we build and grow as a city so as as the May mentioned you know the someone in the city not being able to take a job or show up reliably because we don't have reliable public transportation so I never want us to be in a position where we're playing politics or games with our residents livelihoods and not allowing others to do the same and so I support the interlocal agreement that we have in in front of us I I do think it it's one of many steps so we have it's just one step that we have but there's several more to go but we have to ensure that we are not allowing anyone to play or to uh introduce politics to the livelihoods of the residents of the city of Charlotte and the county and the entire region thank you madam mayor thank you so we have a substitute motion made by Mr Graham that we approve all of the items and under explanation with the exception of the new annual discretionary fund of $5,000 $500,000 with the with the Metropolitan Transit Commission which would be used to fund studies and commission reports related to the Charlotte area transit system so Mr Graham wanted to be recognized this the second time Madam mer thank you very much and again uh I made the substitute motion with the caviart that the MTC already has the ability to find review reports and studies through the existing budget process they can do it right now they don't need $500,000 the MTC is not a recognized by State Statute as a legal entity or with Contracting Authority so they can't even enter into a contract even if they wanted to do a review or study uh and so I think it's just redundance um um in it and so that's that's why I would respectfully ask that you would um consider the The Substitute motion uh and lastly listen I I I understand Regional collaboration and cooperation I understand what's at stake um um I understand um that we need honest Brokers on every side right we need honest Brokers this is easy right we had even started talking about the authority right and that's the hard stuff right and if we have and if we're I I can't get beyond what I'm reading Metropolitan Transit Commission opposes proposed in a local agreement it can't be any clearer than that well they're accepting I'm speaking they're accepting it thank you facts are facts I'm speaking uh I can't get beyond that uh and we responded to their request um by providing a study uh that they wanted not an independent study but we went straight to the to the folks who are giving us the money which is the federal government to expedite it uh and and save the taxpayers money so Mo Point um I'm I'm here for regionalism I want to be a good Community partner I just want to make sure that we have some all we have honest Brokers on all sides of the AL thank you all right Mr barari yeah just real quick I I think I I stand by my first points I made I think it's the right decision I just say councilman Graham's frustrations I think run through a lot of us right now I mean and and honestly um I think it's not a bad thing that it was said out loud so it was heard but I think the punchline is there's been some big progress made and there's still a little bit of political Dynamics rising up every day and a kind of who gets the last word moment I think it's a powerful statement for us to say that those frustrations but then take this vote cuz like Malcolm said there's 50 much more complicated things to go get done after this by us taking The High Ground and saying you all agreed to this statement okay we're gon to we're going to thumb it up here so the rest of you can do it you you've heard the frustrations it wasn't all that easy on our side but it's about getting that step taken care of and done so I I don't I'm I just want to make sure I don't diminish your point but just from the expediency of us not having to be the last person to kind of make the political statement I think we we put it in their hands and let this vote tonight be a show of good faith that all those hard things aren't going to work unless we get to a foundation that we all agree with and so I I I I think we all can win on that front all right um Mr Jones and then Miss Johnson so a couple of you have asked me to clarify a couple things I think is important so um there's been discuss discussions about this Federal match so there are dollars that are available to the city the Towns meberg County that we can't access because we don't have a match so having the sales tax provides an opportunity to get 50 cents on the dollar for for many of these projects so today is um May 28th 2024 so as it's been said earlier the difficulty of this is um going to pale into comparison with some other things that are also on this line so there is this concept of getting the interlocal agreement um resolved it's even a conversation about having the legislation potentially even in the short session and a lot of this is going to be spelled out in the legislation there's this we talked about the city being able to work with nor North Southern to unleash the red line and be able to have it for um um passenger rail there's governance and the governance of how this new Transit Authority is going to operate many of the questions tonight will be solved through that and it's going to be messy the County Board of uh Commissioners actually decide whether or not to put this on the ballot or not this is not a council city council decision so that's a step the what year sir well so let's just say that that's next year right so you're talking about potentially a referendum in November 2025 and not collecting the first penny of this sales tax until July 1 2026 so as much as this is complicated it's just the beginning and there needs to be trust and conversations and relationship building because we can't get there from here without having that Miss Johnson thank you I just wanted a couple of us or a couple have referenced the um the MTC opposing the city council vote later but I just want for the record that this the MTC did later release a statement that they will not be opposing the proposed Ila as drafted which will be approved tonight so that's the latest the the MTC is not um opposing this draft right here in addition to the letter of intent to committing the city to appropriating a portion of new sales tax to Orphan roads is that a vote by the commission by the MTC it's a statement by from the MTC it's we are members of the MTC this is an exact example of what we're talking let me say let me say this it's the same medium that was referenced earlier so you can ask that question to all of us I understand that yeah it's the same medium that was referenced earlier if if that if the opposition was considered the MTC then the support is considered the MTC also thank you so I want to um say we have a substitute motion on the floor um all in favor of the substitute motion please raise your hand one all right all those opposed all right thank you very much we also now have a um I thought did we have a motion from Mr Driggs for the motion to carry and the motion was to approve the Second Amendment restated Transit governance in a local agreement all in favor of that please raise your hands anyone opposed Mr Graham I um I have listened to a lot of this for this evening and I just want to um say you know as a member of the Metropolitan Transit Commission I'm I was very disappointed that the county or whomever that group was that created the document made a statement instead of making a phone call and I think so much of what we do is about having a conversation with each other so that we can move forward together or at least understand better what we don't want to do and I think that that was one of the things that has been most difficult and I think in some respects um Mr Cari and Mr gram are right maybe as we're going through this we really need to determine who's going to represent our position as a council to get this done because I often think we get representation that's not representative of what we are trying to achieve but I also believe that the city of Charlotte has worked so hard in so many ways from where we have agreed on police consolidation where we were agreed on Parks and Rec consolidation all of these things we need to figure out what are going to be our guiding principles to get this done how do we improve what we're doing and how do we have a statement that is consistent for this Council so I am really um thinking about how do we include our values how do we include the values that we're going to have to achieve with n CDOT as well as other members of the MTC I think we're all one running to create the opportunity for Upward mobility and are moving our community forward but one it requires us to come together which is really different when we start out with divisiveness and so we have to acknowledge that and perhaps that we can have some sense if the manager continues to work including the county manager and the town managers or the Mayors or whomever they want to represent them if we could agree on a sense of values that people would take and make sure that we're all having an honest conversation I think that would make us move forward but we also have to recognize as a sense of urgency you know this isn't something that we'll be able to say oh we did it 3 years after that the federal funds were going to be there we've got to make a decision whether or not we want to step up and how we're going to step up so Mr Jones so I guess this is like one of those things that you're going to have to help us create as you meet with the managers of the other towns how do we actually talk about values instead of talking about these kinds of agreements that seem to get in the way of something even better so with that I hope that we and I appreciate the support and the thoughtfulness that's been done and had around this D day as tonight Mr DRS and we're going to close this up I'll just bring it down um I just wanted to mention when when I became the chair of transportation and I got more involved with the MTC I was surprised to discover how much dissatisfaction there was and I didn't really understand it and I think probably all of us are a little puzzled at how we are perceived here uh I hope tonight with this vote that we have demonstrated a desire to move ahead to work together uh I hope we can take other steps to improve the communication and and be able to cooperate in a better atmosphere than we've had during this so thank you very much I think our vote tonight says a lot I hope people appreciate that all right Miss Johnson yes thank you I think what might help if this the city manager meetings um are maybe in public and televised or uh the manager meetings with the enti with the other Town managers because you know when you say you didn't re there was no phone call made it's my understanding there was a phone call made phone call s made prior to the public release so I think that we could re we could seek or have more transparency if these meetings were public so that all of us can see what was said and I think it would avoid this in the future thank you I appreciate that Miss Johnson and perhaps it wasn't but I am a member of the commission and it would have been nice for me to have seen or had a conversation as a member of the commission that I would have been able to represent to all of you so with that do we have a motion to adourn all right let's do that thank you [Music] [Music] e