[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] h [Music] h [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [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] one um we are now going to begin the S Charlotte City Council consent action review portion of our agenda tonight but let's start with introductions and we'll start with our City attorney and then come around good evening Patrick Baker City attorney good evening Lana Mayfield council member at large tarp C six Malcolm Graham District Two Marcus Jones city manager VES mayor dle Air at large James Mitchell at large Renee Johnson and I'm honored to represent District 4 Billy tons Deputy city clerk all right thank thank you everyone um so we've called our meeting to order and we've had our introductions and so now um let's move to the consent items that are on our agenda are there any consent items that um any council member would like to have for a separate Vote or for comment anyone yes sir all right Miss air item number 33 33 for a separate Vote or a comment well I have a question about that so okay so separate vote Yes all right anyone else okay hearing none Miss Johnson yes number 28 please 28 a question or a comment question okay got it okay anyone else okay so may I have a motion I'm Sorry Miss Mayfield still say 128 um but I will like to pull up a separate vat um there's a response that I want to follow up on okay that's 28 okay we will have a separate vote for those with questions and then we'll go from there so may I have a motion for items 19 through 35 with the exception of 28 and 33 so Mo second we have a motion and a second any further discussion all in favor please raise your hands anyone oppose no one's oppos so let's go to item um 28 cats microtransit service um Miss Mayfield and Miss Johnson had questions and comments about that MN question thank you I just wanted to hear a little more about um the microtransit and and just hear some more about it and talk about it possibly in the university area where we are with that thank you thank you and we'll have Brent Kagel from cats come mayor members of the city council good evening my name is Brent Kagel I'm interim cat CEO CEO uh Miss Johnson to your question uh microtransit it's a new mode that we are rolling out um with this contract will enable us to roll it out in the northern towns we say that it it's in the northern towns it's Davidson Cornelius Huntersville but also in Charlotte for the initial roll out because it includes the area generally around North Lake Mall so there are elements in the initial roll out to your question of what's the plan there are 19 different zones microtransit zones throughout the county and the um the plan is to over the next few years to roll out microtransit in all of those zones pending funding um specific to University uh City it is the next on the list so funding allowed it will be the next area that we look to roll out microtransit we are currently having conversations with um University City partners and some of the businesses in the University Research Park to see if there's a way for us to either roll it out on a limited basis uh sooner or to see if there are Partnerships uh with some of the private businesses to enable us to uh roll it out as soon as possible but it is next on the list to focus on as a roll out area area thank you that is something we've been talking about for a long time so it's good to hear that we'll start North Lake Mall area in District 4 and then University City and District 4 is next thank you all right Miss Mayfield thank you Madame mayor thank you for the information Mr Kel I wanted to just one highlight Marie was able to answer some of the questions I had I personally always have a challenge when we look at a outside company this company that we're talking about moving forward with is out of California somewhere when we have local companies but I do know that our local company just her ride ride share did not apply yet I do say that I appreciate the extra work that was done so this is not a getting ready to fuss at you I wanted to acknowledge the fact that you as a team that y'all went out and uh you created a relationship because my challenge is a outside out ofate company does not have the relationships locally they don't know the drivers they don't know the community uh Map Quest is not always your friend in Charlotte when you don't know Charlotte road so that can be challenging so I do appreciate that we have an organization locally that was identified and and this is the question to my understanding the way that this particular contract is written there is also opportunities for other local ride share even though the contract is asking us to give the main contract to a company that is out of state that is correct ma'am so there are several opportunities one would be through expansion so I mention there are 19 zones this is these are three of the zones each of those zones we could could look to expand on the existing contract or run new rfps for expansion as well as um the ability of other providers to come in and partner with um with MV or just stand alone and provide the service on their own so there is the ability to expand that is also why we unbundled service provision from the software had we put those together it would have been very very difficult for smaller companies to provide both so we unbundled those to provide the service as a separate contract from the software to create more opportunities locally and I'm glad you spoke to that because I was going to ask that question as well just really for public and for us that haveen it noted in the meetings that you all are listening to what council member Mitchell and others have asked as well as myself with how do we unbundle these projects to give more opportunities Mr manager I would like for us to just take into consideration we have local companies we have a number of local companies in the city that unfortunately have packed up and moved to other cities because of honestly lack of support so I do appreciate that we do have one of our local organizations that has a considerable commitment of 38.4% on it and they will probably be reaching out to others but I do think we have opportunity to really look home look in our own backyard and see how we can support our businesses to get them to the level for them to be able to move a conversation because this request is asking for a minimum threeyear initial term with also authorizing since this is ABC and D authorizing you the ability to for up to two additional oneyear terms so that potentially could be 5 years that this one company has access even though we're going to be expanding to other zones we need to make sure there's opportunity to have Charlotte growth in Charlotte thank you Mr K Mr Mitchell mayor I'm gonna be very brief I'm just going to Echo councilman May here Brent thank you uh cats have shown a a tremendous desire to be very passionate about CBI inclusion so thank you and 38.4% of participation uh I we haven't seen these numbers in a long time so thank you sir thank you mayor all right all right so we've have question all right Miss asme thank you Madame mayor so Mr Kagel I wanted to follow up from councilwoman Johnson's question you mentioned there are 17 areas that's been identified could you please send us what those 17 areas are yes ma'am okay all right that's all I have thank you hearing no one else for question or comment we have a motion and a second and any no further discussion all in favor of item 28 for cats microtransit service please raise your hand anyone opposed all right that's passes um now we'll go to item 33 Municipal record retention and disposition schedule update missir yes thank you Madame mayor so transparency issue keeps coming back and I know there have been conversations about backlog of of record request what implications would this have on our backlog of record request if any so I now also defer to the clerk if they have anything specific to add but this should have no impact this is just updating the Retro the retention schedules and the terminology to be consistent with the current standards yes I I did review that and I um this looks like more of a state requirement for um maintening for maintaining public records but at some point we would like to get an update on where we are with the backlog how long some of this request have been in our que and what are the steps we are taking to address this issues especially from from the transparence transparency perspective yes ma'am we'll work on that for you all right can I just add to that Miss Mayfield I'm sorry madam mayor and we do have our uh assistant city clerk here and I just for clarification we were advised earlier that there was a considerable backlog regarding our meet and minutes we had a number of challenges with staff as as well as transitioning training so actually the minutes that we are working on approving is actually getting us caught up and this is a question not a statement is this helping to get us caught up because of the backlog that we previously had so to my understanding as we're going through and approving these this is to help us get back on track because of previous staff shortages and challenges that we had yes ma'am that's correct and they didn't want to inundate you the clerk's office didn't want to send you all at once so they've been breaking them into packages so la if you recall the last business meeting you got six you got six today and they might there might put forward more because there's only one meeting in October to hurry up and get you more caught up but yes ma'am which I'm going to say I appreciate because that's giving us um small bites that have to go back through and read so I appreciate that but I just wanted to clarify so thank you for that thank you I I think the question is is there there's the records and then there are the minutes the minutes are on our agenda for um approval in our business meeting um and they are I think 2022 202 2022 minutes but this is about the records um Authority that we have to have what we have to keep up and what can be disposed of and so it's not I don't want to mix the two because we do have one item on the agenda here and then one in the um retention area on this on the this agenda right here so for clarification I was specifically speaking to the meeting minutes and why we are getting them at this point because of a backlog previously within the city clerk's office and now they're playing catchup because of some challenges so I was clarifying that right now what we're getting are the minutes to help us get back on track but this isn't because of Any neglect we had some staff challenges so I correct yes ma'am that is correct so um Mr Jones I guess two things so you've already approved item number 34 which are the minutes right and what was pulled was item 33 which the mayor was saying is the records was something different the records are different than the minutes that's all I wanted to do and make sure that we're okay so so the memo will be on the records the memo would be on the records correct yes ma'am to your um sorry um miss ashir you had requested the backlog of current record request as if I heard that correctly correct okay yes okay and so we'll get that information additional information because as you know we've had a as Miss uh Mayfield has said a difficult time with us getting people out and ready these for approval um Miss Johnson did you have a question I did thank you you I just I just wanted to clarify that we would like a report on the minutes and also the the records retention so we'd like an update for for both if the minutes if we're looking at minutes from 2022 we'd like to know what the schedule is for them to be caught up yes ma'am thank you all right so we um so we have approved um the meeting minutes and the so let's go to item thir Municipal records retention and disposition for vote to approve do I have a motion so move second a second hearing no further discussion all in favor of approval of the municipal records retention and disposition schedule update please raise your hand anyone opposed if not um we are complete with our consent agenda items and now I'd like to turn it over to the manager for an overview of our action review discussion topics uh thank you mayor members of council we have uh three items that are on uh action review agenda for tonight and they're really uh carryovers from the uh committee meetings from last week and what we try to do is uh in the action review set you up for future votes for items so the community area planning update will um Monica Holmes will kick us off with that that was in uh committee last week it's not necessarily a vote uh for you in an upcoming meeting but we thought it's important to make sure that the council is fully aware of the engagement that's going on with the um with the community area planning and how that also works a little bit with the Strategic investment areas and all the engagement that's going on with that and then we have two other items uh that came out of committee the arts and culture govern orance which will lead to a future Council action and the financial uh partner policy which will lead to a future Council action and mayor if um for any reason from a a Time perspective if anything needs to be moved to the um you know my piece under policy we can do that also okay okay thank you all right you're up okay uh good evening mayor and Council hope youall are doing well uh Monica Carney Holmes I'm the deputy planning director director and I am just going to introduce this topic and then I'm going to turn it over to our uh acting long range division manager Kathy cornette to really talk about uh the nuts and bolts of community area planning and where we are in the process so this process kicked off in the winter of 2023 and our team has been hard at work further refining the Charlotte future 2040 plan really drilling down into those 14 sub areas engaging the community Community uh looking deeply at the policy map and kind of working through phases so you'll hear from Kathy we're in phase three of the project right now and we are in the middle of an intense engagement season this fall uh we just had our first set of meetings last week uh had over 100 attendees on the West Side both virtual and in person um and are excited to really talk to you tonight about how community area planning and uh this area Plan update kind of further refine that Vision that we set several years ago that has really set us on a course linking together our Mobility our infrastructure Investments uh how we access our daily needs and how we grow as a city so uh with that I'm going to turn it over to Kathy uh please feel free to ask questions we are excited to share with you where we are thank you Monica Kathy cornette um again acting long range division manager and thank you very much um for letting me be here this evening so as you all know and as Monica mentioned with the adoption of the comprehensive plan in 2021 and then the Strategic Mobility plan and the unified development ordinance our city has made tremendous strides and modernizing and broadening our tool toolbox to help manage growth but we know that planning is an iterative process and it's never finished and we are hard at work on all of the implementation items that come from those plans for all three different efforts and I'm going to concentrate tonight on um the community area planning process as Monica mentioned so in 2022 immediately after the adoption of the comprehensive plan we began the first major implementation item which was the adoption of the policy map um and I want to make sure that you know where we are with with refining that map through the community area planning process and also as Monica mentioned go into a little bit more detail on what our engagement looks like and what the workshops look like so community area planning is that third tier of guidance that's needed to implement our vision um they'll provide more detailed development guidance than the comprehensive plan does across the 14 plan geographies they demonstrate how the Citywide vision and goals plays out for each of the um in the unique context of each of those geographies so we're developing all 14 plans concurrently over a two-year period so um no area of our community is left waiting for guidance and the expected outcome of this effort are 14 plan documents um and the intended use of those is for decision makers like yourselves um to inform processes such as rezonings also Capital Investments and then the revised policy map so this is what the process looks like over that 2-year period the first four phases are scheduled to be completed at the end of this year and then we'll move into Red Review and adoption in 2025 so phase one which we called setting the stage identified each geography's greatest needs in terms of access to housing jobs goods and services and also um towards reducing any environmental impacts this work is summarized in community reports which are available on our project website um and they kind of are are the background work that we we did leading into the next two phases so phase two which we called creating great places really reviewed the place type designations and was very focused on the place-based policies um and that work resulted in um the revised policy map which was released on March 12th and so if you go to the project website the adopted policy map is there and the revised policy map is there as well our next phase is called supporting the vision and that's what as Monica mentioned we kicked off last week and here we're working um we have been working throughout with our interdepartmental partners both at the city and the county level um but in in this phase of our workshops they are really the star of the show because we know that the growth of the city is not just based on on the place-based policies but it's also uh very very tied to projects and programs to help achieve that Vision so that is that's what's happening um during this phase and I'll talk a little bit more in detail about that in a minute phase four is developing and that's almost concurrent with this phase is developing the plan documents so there will be 14 plan documents that will be ready um right before we start reviewing adoption I'll talk a little bit more about that in a minute as well to talk a little bit about Phase 2 engagement give you an idea of what that looked like it wrapped up in the spring but it was um we we we put our engagement really in three different buckets constant coordinated and collaborative so a lot of not great things happened out of the pandemic but I would say a good thing that happened is we really really enhanced what we call our constant toolbox so the things that are available on our website 247 and people have really grown to to um expect that that will be available then the coordinated is kind of the more um in-person type events the workshops and the meetings that we go to and all of those things that we're used to and collaborative is is what we're doing here tonight what we do with um elected and appointed officials Planning Commission Etc so that work had over that all of that engagement in Phase 2 uh over 130,000 interactions so we had 42 workshops for each of the 42 workshops for the 14 geographies so for each geography there was a virtual option and two in-person options um we had almost 500 participants and almost 900 comments in addition for that period i six nemon period once a month we were available at a library in each of the geographies we attended a bunch of other um meetings and then as I mentioned our virtual platforms um continue to be very popular and really um Garner the most input as well the in-person workshops focused um on organized conversations around specific areas in each geography in terms of access to housing jobs goods and services and what that work um resulted in Phase One and phase two the comments collected fed into this revised policy matter and you can see um the revisions are shown in the bright yellow color on the map and that that was both internal and external engagement so not only talking with community members but also our inter departmental Partners all of that fed into um the map and actually the map revisions it resulted in a 6% change which you can see how that plays out across the development of the map in general um in a few slides but bottom line is we really think that we've been able to incorporate um the comments we've kept a consistent methodology throughout our whole community so we're treating one area and in one part of the community the same as we're treating another in terms of specific issues um and this map informs resoning decisions so again the the adopted map is on our project website and the revised map as well in addition to that at the same time that we release the policy map we released um a policy map manual so what that does is really describe how the map was created it describes the methodology Place types Etc it also talks about how the policy map relates to the Udo and the zoning districts and then it talks about how the policy map can be updated so that's planning related updates like we're doing right now with the community area planning process but also minor plan map amendments with the criteria are for those and you see those mostly through the resoning process and then also um major map amendments so when we look at the development of the policy map um since um 2020 well since the adoption of the comprehensive plan and then immediately the comprehensive plan was adopted in June of 2021 and July of 2021 we immediately began um this large implementation piece and you can see here the different um comments that are received through each phase of the process and also the different um engagement methods that we use and what I'd like to point out here is that you would notice that the comments are decreasing as we go through not from 2021 to 2022 the the development of the adopted policy map and then since 2023 with the revisions that have been made the comments have been decreasing as as they should and you can see also all of the different types of Engagement methods that we used as well so I'll talk a little bit more about that in a second too and I'll also mention that um from the policy map perspective the revised policy map you should have in your uh August 29th agenda packet received um what we call a briefing book that breaks down all of these map changes by Council District so there's more data that's broken down by district and also overall as a for the city as a whole so um phase three engagement so the phase that we're in right now talking about projects and programs our our um interdepartmental Partners or stars of the show um we've added another component um which are focus groups that we've partnered with UNCC Charlotte two professors of planning there and the geography Department those were that was over the summer those were six sessions that were were very intentionally small and focusing on um folks that we typically don't hear from and also Transit dependent um um folks as well um and there there were six sessions across three study areas two of them line up with the corridors of opportunity and it also has some overlap with some uh Urban heat uh mapping that these two professors are doing as well you can see some of the themes that were discussed three of the sessions were in Spanish and three were in English in addition to that we have um our our workshops our traditional workshops we've divided the 14 geographies into four cardinal geographies so we're talking about three of the sub geographies at each of these workshops we have eight total workshops there's one virtual option which is Tuesday at lunchtime which we've found that's a very popular time for folks in the virtual setting and then in-person workshops on Thursday from 5:00 to 7:00 the workshops are a dropin format there's no formal presentation there is an orienting video that is is that when folks come in um they they watch the video and then they're free to um I'll talk a little bit more about details around it in a minute but they're they're free to visit the stations and as many stations as they want stay as long as they want um and they're and more importantly be able to ask questions and engage Eng AG with all of the partners that are in charge of and developing these different projects and programs get questions answered and more importantly provide input on those as well we're create recreating this inperson um experience online using a web tool that offers 247 opportunity to engage it's active from um early December until mid November and it includes basically the exact same components that you would find at an in-person meeting but um it also includes embedded surveys um to help collect feedback um so if you look at where and when the workshops are uh completed the West last week next up is the north there's a little bit of time in between each of the workshops because every time we do this and every time we go out we know that there's something that we can improve and or tweak and so that allows opportunity to do that you can see across the bottom when I talk about the different stations these are the stations that we have Mobility sustainability and open space Public Services Community character and Special Districts and you can see there's um pretty much almost 20 different city county departments and also um our Municipal Services uh districts represented at each of these meetings so it's really a onstop shop for folks that are attending um so that they can they can get information questions answered and provide input as well so if you were to go to one of the stations at the workshop you know what does that look like this is a sample of the mobility station so these are posters that are created that um illustrate different projects and programs and other information that you'd find from cats crtp and also um C dot with the Strategic investment area so each um attendee is given a passport when they arrive there are questions within the passport that we've designed with our partners that they're asked to fill out um if they don't feel like doing it in person um writing it down there's a QR code and they can they can do that online um later or they can add more um things they've thought about since they've gone home later these are some samples of some of the questions that we've asked and all of this input will be shared with our partners um as well I mentioned the web tool which is how we are providing the same experience online so we do we use this web tool um both in the virtual meeting setting and then it's available for folks to use 247 as I mentioned and it uses Dynamic maps to share the same sort of information so instead of having static posters we have Dynamic Maps folks can scr scroll through there's embedded survey questions for them to provide input and also there's an online mapping comment tool there as well which we have used throughout the policy map process and folks are very used to that um and we've tried to keep that experience and in how the comments are made especially regarding the um online mapping tool consistent throughout so that that um people are pretty used to it I mentioned the next steps in the plan development so um there will be 14 um individual documents there'll be a guide kind of at the front that explains um you know an introductory piece and also includes pieces that will apply to all 14 geographies in these documents you can uh expect to find the community profile or existing uh conditions and demographic information an overview of each area's priorities as it relates to the comp plan's goals maps of recommended place type refinements um that are made through through the policy map lists of plan projects and program illustrative Concepts and an implementation strategy and again all of this is um work that is that feeds into when or one of the pieces that you would look at as you consider resoning petitions um capital projects Etc so that is all I have and I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have thank you for the information Kathy um it's a lot of work a lot of effort I can see already um so let's open the floor but first I want to recognize that we had several council members come in and um there I just want to recognize that Mr Driggs is in then Miss Brown is here and Miss Molina will soon be back so thank you all for getting here and appreciate it so questions oh oh that's right and miss Miss watlington so I know I'm trying to everybody I know so all right so with that so here we go um so if who would like to have is there a question Mr dggs and then Miss Johnson and then Miss Brown so we've had a lot of conversations about this appreciate the work I think some of us may still be looking forward to finding out more about what this actually looks like and how it's going to work but you had a date up there uh where the draft was to be ready which was in February next year is that right that's right so at that time you will release to us something like five or 6 hundred pages of area plant all at once right and and we'll then have an update of the policy map to go with that reflecting the final alignment process or whatever else has come on board uh how much time do you expect it will take to get from the release of the draft to the adoption well that's that's always as much time as you need but we we are working on the draft right now so that we can't begin review and adoption until we have those um documents complete as you mentioned I will say that we're we're trying very hard to to make it just them slim documents that really cut to the meat of each of the areas um and they'll be very visual as well but we are working on WE once we get through the workshop process I think the next step for us in addition to producing these documents is really to refine what that review and adoption schedule looks like and have um a couple of different options for that as well so will you have Enga engagement with council members uh on a district by district and area by area basis before the release of the drafts we can do that yes I would I would encourage you I think I would definitely encourage that that happened that each district person have the opportunity to see the draft okay before I we shouldn't print anything without the council members in the districts reading it okay I also want to chime in that the policy map has been revised a couple times without adoption so uh the briefing book was handed out and you can we can start having those conversations specifically around the policy map sooner rather than later because we have been revising that along the way so that it is in a more refined State heading into that adoption process process so so we can start doing that you know soon basically it's already online and there it it will go through another round of revisions following this community engagement but it's it's been iterative so it's already out there so go ahead Mr sorry I just wanted to finish there uh there will no there will not be a binding change to the policy map before that point in time when we adopt the area plans and the updated map is that right so we're getting updates on the draft but no there's no intention to act on that until we have the area plans and the whole thing becomes effective as a package yes that is correct yeah all right thank you so thank you very much because I think that's a really important point and I know that we get a lot of information and this is a lot of information if there's a possibility of ways to like code what we're getting let's just say you know Miss Molina is always going to be in blue because she has blue paper because it's she's in a blue dress today and her document will always be blue but I think this is important because it is absolutely how do we communicate with the citizens in the area as well as all of the district people so if you can find ways to kind of adjust for us to be able to determine what we're really working on and and and be able to do deep Dives that would be helpful so Mr Jones Thank You mayor members of council that's one of the reasons why we're presenting tonight what we've learned over time is that there are different ways that you that you communicate with your with the residents and we don't want to be in a situation where as you mentioned 500 pages comes to you on a Thursday and you say where is what are we doing so as much feedback as we can get today that'd be very helpful yeah okay well thank you Mr DRS for opening that up because I think that is essential to what we have to do um you have any other comments um no I think I I was just going to mention maybe for for for us um this process is supposed to have the effect of aligning the Udo better with uh circumstances in individual areas uh it doesn't modify the Udo by itself I think it's important to know that uh the Udo as it stands will essentially remain I mean it's always subject to some some text amendments and revisions but this the intention of this is not to create 14 Udo in 14 different areas uh but simply to uh clarify the application of the Udo the appropriate existing Udo categories in different areas and I'm hoping that the outcome of this is going to be that we have fewer instances where resoning applications come in and they're not consistent with the plan and we approve them anyway because that's not a a good situation that's a transitional thing but we have to get to a place where the plan is working well enough that most of the time a petition that is consistent with the plan gets approved so that's that's my comment thank Youk you Miss Johnson thank you Madame mayor I just want to piggyback off council member Driggs when we were considering the Udo it was my understanding that these community area plans were kind of the meat and potatoes of the the Udo or how it actually applies to the different neighborhoods so we want to make sure thank you for the presentation we want to make make sure that we're receiving feedback and we talked about that a lot with the Udo and even with all the feedback that we received I I think the numbers when you compare to the entire population was just a a small percentage of the residents actually were engaged so if if we can ensure and and I've said this multiple times this is a lot of information we have to have more simplified ways of getting this out there um I know I have a group that I would like to this to be presented to and I think that as a council we can recommend different neighborhood groups like The The District 4 Coalition and and different areas so um I want to make sure that that we're getting this out um is there a way that you can put this Slide the phase three engagement slide with the dates or um the phase three Workshops can is that going to be on social media yes yes we we do use social media and we actually um boost our social media and then um see see what kind of results that's getting us but yes it has been on social media and if you'd like to put it on your social media we have readymade um uh Graphics that you can use that would be great thank you and then you also mentioned that that you had sent something out to to council a breakdown by District that was sent to us yes that was a it's called a briefing book and it was in your August 29th packet okay okay okay thank you that's all I have thank you Miss Brown thank you Madame mayor thank you so much for your presentation um so there's a lot of um information that you've shared with us and I know that I wanted to drop in on the the planning sessions that you were doing um specifically in my district and didn't was not able to do so the drop in in piece you said there's no specific agenda they they can just walk in when they walk in what are they getting what's there for them so when they walk in they go to the signin table is their first stop and they sign in um we do we use the Eventbrite we kind of do that really to gauge like about how many people might be there they don't have to do the event Bri they they sign in and then they're handed one of these passports and then they're um escorted to a video that's a two-minute long video that kind of describes what the process is the history of it and then what they're doing there tonight then once they're finished with the video there's a room set up where there's all of these different stations with the posters that that I shared um in a subsequent slide and apartment that are very knowledgeable about all that that department does generally speaking and then the projects and programs that they're highlighting there that night and they're also able to ask questions there's prompting questions of feedback that each of the departments would like um on their projects that's in the passport and again if they don't want to do it they at the meeting um there's an online way they can do it as well okay so you did two that I know of in like this week or this week last week last week in my district so the virtual do you know how many did you send me the information on how many attended virtually 78 78 virtually and then how many were in P person um about 30 okay and you have data from those meetings we're still processing that but yes and we will share that with departments okay and then when will we be doing another one another uh the next meeting the next meeting will be the North and it'll be Tuesday the virtual piece will be Tuesday September 24th they're all from they're all on a Tuesday and they're all from 11: to 12:30 the inperson will be at the Oasis Shriner Temple um on the 26 from 5: to 7:00 p.m. okay that's all that I have right now if I have any other questions I'll get back with you but thank you so much for compiling the presentation for us so it gives us a idea general idea but it is a lot of information yes I have some one other thing I didn't I just thought of it Community leaders like that are over their Community um organizations how can we get them involved to be there like for instance Wesley Hills Clinton Park those Community York M the people that are in the district that actually lead the efforts for the community and get the word out to other people how can we get that information out to them we have a very extensive mailing list that we've kept since the um comprehensive plan process and it does include all the neighborhood leaders okay and we try to strike a balance of providing um timely information and um status and when meetings are without blowing up their mailbox so uh something went out to them this afternoon um kind of as a followup from from last week's sessions so are you you're physically mailing it and emailing or you doing one or the other we're um emailing it but we also do have some canvasing that goes on where paper um Flyers are handed out I would have to get the details of exactly where that is happening right no problem and this so how do we know who gets to the email list how are you compiling and comp in that email list the email list is um that was compiled through the community area plan process and it was a sign up for the most part um so we have permission to email folks and so when I check with um certain individuals that want to be involved if they're not on your email list how can they get on your email list they can sign up on our project website or they can call or they can um email me there's a variety of ways if thank you so much that's all I sure thank you madam thank you this is good work thank you very much um Mr barari yeah I was just going to quickly comment the as a district rep from my own experience I don't know if others have it but I'll just speak for myself and I got to imagine others do the number one thing practically that I need out of this exercise and hopefully based on what it looks like it should be scoped into this but if not it needs to be is a view of the infrastructure need needs and back logs not just at a current state but at a state where now with the Udo we have increased density in units and trips and all the other things that are there and I mean if I had a nickel for every time I'm in the middle of a scenario with the neighborhood where prudo there was an acre and a half that could have gotten eight dwelling units on it and now it's 29 units by right or 30 or 35 or 37 uh and there is no game plan for what the backlog and the increase that that dumps onto it for the roads and the trips for the water and the sewer for literally everything that is considered infrastructure um I mean we we have by Design purposely dumped all of this extra stuff there and we don't have any sense of what the right answer is of are they where they need to be with infrastructure or not so I I I when hopefully when I read that part that says you're Focus ing on projects and programs needed that will be an overlay of a map that shows me um current state this is like the level of failing or adequacy of all the components of infrastructure and then elaborating out to how much people then can go with the Udo to build in addition to that what the Gap is okay because until we have like anything else with the meetings and all that stuff is real nice but what we PR practically need on the ground is District reps is an understanding of the anger that is bubbling up over the lack of infrastructure and planning around this stuff understood Mr DRS so strongly agree with that um I think a lot of that thought is going on and I would just mention on Mobility which is a key infrastructure component uh we expect to start a planning process based on the reality of the allocation of funds that has been permitted by the state which is going to be uh involve a lot of Engagement and Outreach and the interesting challenge is to harmonize the planning that we do for Mobility with the planning that we do for land use and uh in our Udo and understand that those two things act on each other if you build a blue line for example going south you get south end so you can't do these things in isolation it does have to be a coordinated process where we we harmonize the mobility plans and the development plans and other infrastructure so appreciate that and agree with you okay thank you very much um good work and great questions and a lot to do coming up and quickly for us so all right so Mr Jones We've done community area planning how about arts and culture okay sounds good so uh I think we're going to turn this over to the chair of uh the committee thank you uh Mr maner I don't have much mayor and council members I just wanted to provide a quick overview before I turn it over to Julia Martin um with the city manager's office um last Thursday the jobs and economic development committee heard a presentation regarding the council's potential participation in the new Arts and Science culture governance structure there are a few important points that I want to just highlight one is the core priority of the Charlotte arts and culture plan which Council accepted in November of 23 was public sector collaboration and then secondly through the fiscal year 25 budget both the city and the county approve historically High allocations to support the arts and culture 11 million from the city and $10 million from the county uh governance collaboration amongst the public sector and the art sector at large is the next step um on um September 3rd as I indicated the committee voted for one to move it to the fil Council for consideration and I'll turn it over to Miss Martin thank you council member Graham um good evening mayor and Council um here to talk about arts and culture governance I'll quickly talk through the policy referral that went out in August um if you notice the note on the bottom um concluding this presentation we'll be seeking consensus on participation in the new Arts governance structure so it doesn't require a formal vote but we'll be be looking for consensus to move forward with that um here's the referral um so what role should Charlotte City Council serve within the governance structure um and then the charge below really focusing on U what that structure is going to do and how council's participation uh would support furthering the Charlotte Arts and Cultural plan as council member Graham said um back in November the council accepted um the first ever Charlotte arts and culture plan eight priorities in that plan um two have been called out here for you tonight um priority one is about collaboration with um the public and private sector and then priority two is really more about um funding and governance um again as council member Graham said um a great year for Arts um in meinberg county in the city of Charlotte um combined 21 million across the organizations um you can see meinberg County's $10 million allocation in blue and then the city of Charlotte's $1 million allocation in green important to note um a bulk of our funding $9 million um is going to support the annual operating organizations um that receive um annual operating support every year that money goes right to the foundation for the Carolinas and gets distributed directly to the organizations um again a little bit of background and then we'll get to um what the new governance structure will look like back in May um a memo went out from Kathy bassant at the found foundation for the Carolinas um to the Charlotte City Council mecklinburg County Commission and the arts and culture Advisory Board a couple of key points in that memo um the first of which is that the ASC Arts and Science Council would be restructured to become a legally Affiliated supporting organization of the foundation um and so what that enables is the ASC to really build upon their um tradition and history in this community of supporting artists implementing Grant programs while enabling the foundation um who again has a long history of business and adid management to do more of the back office functions required with supporting those grants um in that letter a new governance structure was proposed um and that included participation from the city the county and cultural leaders as of June um that new supporting organization the Arts science and cultural Council ascc um has been Incorporated under the foundation so here is a look at um the ASC governance structure um so five appointees each for the city and the county three appointees for the foundation two from the meberg county towns and then two from the ASC grants board and that grants board um as you can see on the screen is really comprised of uh arts and culture professionals um who are the ones that can advise on Grant making um the types of Grants and they would make funding recommendations to the governance structure who would ultimately have the final say um the so the role of the ASC governing board um you know much similar to the ASC where they played a central role in our community in terms of um convening the Arts Eco system um and organizing the sector as a whole this ASC governing board would look to play a similar role um in fy2 they'll also be responsible for Distributing um the $10 million from meinberg County in addition to any private allocations and corporate support that they might receive I think especially important for um the city council to know is that part of this board's charge is to help guide the implementation of the Charlotte arts and culture plan there are a number of priorities and strategies within that plan not all of which um or not even the majority of which fall under the public sector's purview and so how can this group Galvanize the sector as a whole um and help start moving that plan forward and then a priority as well as a through line um of the Charlotte arts and culture plan was to ensure that programs are fund programs and funds are delivered in an equitable and inclusive Manner and so again that is a central component in charge um of this governing board so just a reminder about the city's allocations I'll draw your attention to um the dashed box in the bottom in light green and you will see that on the next slide um so everything in blue um in the uh Hardline box will be distributed by the ascc in fy2 um this year we are moving forward with Charlotte is creative to distribute um the $2 million that you see in the dashed box um a couple of reasons for that we have a long history um of working with Charlotte is creative through um the infusion fund and additionally the ASC would typically be the organization that would to help distribute those funds for us but given um the changing nature of that organization we wanted to make sure that we could get that money out into the community as soon as possible should Council um choose to participate in this governance structure there is the potential um for a future contribution of $2 million to that um grants pool that again the um ASC governance structure would help uh distribute in the into the community similar to how mumberg county has put you know buckets of money in prac um Council of course would be able to do something similar as um Council M Graham said um committee took action on this on September 3rd um and voted four to one to support council's participation on the ASC governance board seeking Council consensus tonight to participate on the board and then looking ahead we would move forward with um the standard appointment process managed by the clerk um striving towards end of October for Council action on actual appointments with that turn it back over to the mayor let's open the floor up for Council discussion and let's start with Miss Mayfield followed by Miss watlington thank you Madame mayor thank you for the presentation I have a couple of questions if we go back to slide seven where we look at the governance structure so just I need clarification you have on here a 17 member governing board count tell me the difference between County appointees and me towns appoin to since aren't the towns part of the county yeah so it is just a separate carve out that two appointees from the county would have to come from one from the northern town one from a southern town so why 17 versus 15 and the county has their five versus County having seven representation and the city having five Mr Jones Jones Mr Jones so uh Julia if you can go to a slide that really represents the money that the um this new board would have oversight over so if you start to think about it the meinberg county is taken roughly the entire $1 million and sending it to this board for distribution and I'll use a term that was used two budget Cycles ago 9 million of the city's money is hardwired and basically what's going to happen is is going to go to organizations and there's a very limited overhead to to distribute the money what this proposed uh governance structure would really have oversight over is 2 million of the 11 so therefore the concept is um a greater weight of the votes that'll go to let's say the county in the towns because so much more of the money is under this board's um jurisdiction from the county okay so we keep this slide in mind which is slide 10 and we go back to slide five the background so fiscal year 2025 public sector Arts participation meberg County was 10 million city of Charlotte 11 million 9 million of that 11 is our heart services so this is currently what we've allocated is $1 million correct and what is being proposed on slide 10 is that along with our 11 million we're looking at an additional 2 million or we're saying we're saying instead of the 11 million commitment we're looking at potentially only a $2 million commitment 2 million so in fy2 in fy2 here is the city's allocation so 9 million has already gone to the foundation we are working with Charlotte is creative on the 2 million in FY 26 and Beyond should you choose to you have the option to contribute up to 2 million or whatever amount to this ASC governance board so this does not impact fy2 this will be FY 26 and moving forward so the 2 million potentially for Charlotte is creative Charlotte is creative is separate from the foundation for the Carolinas correct so this is yet an additional organization when we funded foundation for the Carolinas for foundation of Carolinas to get funding out to the Arts organizations so great questions uh council member Mayfield hopefully um we will get to a point in time where there is no such thing as 11 million and 10 million there's 21 million and then there are certain things that are important to the county certain things that are important to the city when you put it all together it is a broad brush that goes from um those organizations that occupy our buildings the buildings that we have to keep the light on all the way to the individual artists and so I know it's tough tonight but over time this is should be a public sector contribution to uh the ecosystem that's very different than anything we've done before so Mr manager what I would like for to request sooner rather than later there have been a number of leadership changes over at foundation for the Carolinas foundation for the Carolinas needs to come present to full Council it will be good for us to get an idea of their plans because we support a number of line items through tax dollars through foundation for the Carolinas so it will be helpful to get an idea from foundation for the Carolinas the direction they're going in as well as a update because little amounts being presented to us individually over a period of time it will also be helpful to get a idea in totality for the number of different initiatives out in including Arts that the city I.E tax dollars are Distributing through foundation for the Carolinas that will be helpful to know since if I'm understanding and if I'm not please correct me the 9 million that we have allocated is administrator I don't know how much of that 9 million is actually covering salaries or anything at Foundation versus if all of it is going right back out into the community we don't have to answer it I need to see them writing so what that looks like at some point we may get to a single line item but for right now while we have city funding as well as County funding it will be very helpful to be able to share if I'm asked where your tax dollars since basically taxpayers are paying twice you pay two-thirds of your taxes to the county you pay a third of the taxes to the city I'm hitting I'm paying out of both of those sets of taxes to cover this it will be helpful to say exactly how City dollars are going right back to the community so council member may think it's very important at least I answer the first piece I don't know what the the new number is but for the first three years putting all of this money out the markup was like 60,000 on 9 million yeah so it it is there's no way in the world as a city that we could administer something like that for such a very low so we're not paying salaries with this administrative fee it is literally being able to um cut checks get the dollars out and be accountable to how the dollars are spent I appreciate that part of that accountability is for them to come in and do a report out thank you Miss watlington thank you I just got a few questions because as we all know this is one component of an overall discussion around arts and cult culture and the budget and so I I want to make sure that I'm clear about some of the other items as we consider this so just for clarity sake I see on Slide Five City of Charlotte there's $11 million contribution can you help me understand the the money that the city is putting in to support the buildings where is that on a slide so um and Julia can bail me out uh it's not here at all so there is I don't know 15 million there's a a big number that we're doing each year just to pay the debt service on the buildings what also is not here is that we need to maintain those buildings HVAC roofs things that nature they're are assets we work through it this is simply an allocation that is going into the um ecosystem to organizations it is not the debt that we pay uh and neither is it the the maintenance and there's a second referral that I believe is in uh your committee Mr Graham where we're trying to see for other options as it relates to these uh grants operating support other than the general fund which was something that you brought up to in the budget discussions thank you that's very important to me in this conversation because I want to make sure that to council member Mayfield's Point everybody's clear about what is the overall sum of money that's going to support this particular industry um and how do we best do that in a way that makes sense um the second question that I have is in regards to the 9 million annual operating support for organizations in the city uh to be distributed by the foundation as I understand it these particular organizations are the same organizations that are in the buildings that we're already supporting is that correct correct and the idea is that these same organizations every year will get investment yeah let me um clear that up these organizations are the organizations that traditionally have been funded by um the ASC a combination of private sector funds and public sector funds both the city and the county so what occurred um in this first year of this collaboration is that the county took on all of those smaller organizations that were in the towns not in the city proper the city continued to fund those organizations that had been a part of this group and maybe it's 30 30 plus organizations and almost I would call it two categories maybe three the first category are the ones that I think are near and dear to everybody and that are those institutions that we're paying that on and then there are some other large organizations and then you can make a case that there's a number of organizations that may receive $100,000 or less so because the plan basically said stability in the ecosystem the first thought process wasn't to just eliminate the folks who had been receiving funds over the years but make sure this first year and maybe even going forward that there's still stability in that group but also with all this new money how are you able to do more things with individual artists and some organizations that have been on the outside looking in and so that's going to be pretty important to me as we think about this I appreciate you saying that this is this year but I I noticed you said ongoing I don't want by any means that any vote in the affirmative for this is an endorsement that these are the organizations going forward in perpetuity so that I would need some more clarification on can I take a shot of that two different things that this is a governance structure to get funds out into the community and have accountability this Council decides the the the the amount that goes in and um whatever are the levels for for those groups but this is a very different mechanism again two pieces getting money out into the ecosystem but you also want to make sure there's some accountability that the organization are doing what they said they're going to do which is consistent with elements of the plan now I heard you say that Council would decide the allocation amount but I didn't hear a discussion about who so is the idea that the same organizations in perpetuity are going to get something so so I would say yes but let me go a little further one of the things that I believe this body didn't want to do is have t dozens of organizations come up annually during the budget process proc to have I guess a bite at that 9 million or whatever the number is going going to be instead to to have the amount and the amount isn't is I guess more important than having individual organizations come to you during budget just think about Financial Partners if all of a sudden you had Arts Financial Partners I think we'd have a much longer uh budget process so I'm I appreciate what you said that's still gets a little murky are you saying that we decide how much but there is no opportunity for organizations in this community who are also taxpayers to get a bite because now the distribution will happen in an organization that's separate and apart from the council so again if we think about this as one pot of money during the infusion fund there was 11 million year 12 million a year 12 you have 21 a year so there are much much more resources for everybody versus that and I would say Council can decide what council can decide but ultimately I sure hope the council would have a willingness to let a an a board that you appoint folks to look at the bigger picture so you've answered my question the intent as it's written here is at this 9 million whatever we do with the other 12 million this 9 million is a an E mark for certain organiz ations only so that I'd like to understand that a little bit more going forward um because I do think that all of it should be something that could be equitably accessed and absolutely we we understand that each organization plays a different role within our within our community but we need to be open to the idea that where we invest might change so that's going to be a sticking point for me um to your point about the the board so Foundation brother the Carolinas and uh ascc um certainly we foundation for the Carolinas is a known quantity at this point um I'd like to understand a little bit more about the ASC who is appointing the members of that board you are the the county and the foundation for the Carolinas I'm sorry I may be calling it the wrong thing I'm not talking about the left side I'm talking about this this light green box here ASC grants Advisory Board who are they so the ASC will still have staff members and so part of their job is to convene a group of experts that represent cultural perspectives from across the ecosystem there's not yet a set number of how many people are on that Advisory board but that is the job of that staff to cultivate who is on that board and that's really thinking more people who live in breathe Arts um every day so so in that sense then this governance board will choose The Advisory Board who then chooses appointees that goes on this governing board am I reading that correctly so the as I don't believe so the ascc will have its own staff part of their job will be to find the individuals who comprise the grants Advisory Board I don't know how they'll select who those two governance structure boards are maybe the governance structure appointees are perhaps they do it as a an Advisory Board and we say we want Je and Marcus to be a participant in this um but they have their own staff and that is how that will go just as the foundation has their own staff okay I'd like to understand that a little bit more because I don't totally I don't totally get it what I and I'll say those the role of those people is to really help provide the um perspective of artists and people employed active and working in that space so it's to have a much closer feel to what's happening on the ground and speak to hey here's why we recommended this grants program here was the discussion amongst our board this is Food For Thought for you guys and that Advisory Board is appointed by staff of the ascc I believe so and then that Advisory Board selects two people to sit on the governing board for the assc I'm going to say I believe so but it's it is we're all still it's influx okay that's that's a red flag for me um and then the other question that I have is just as it relates to the county and the city appointees how is that split in terms of council appointees mayor appointees I guess the county the commission just does them all I'm not sure how that particular piece works but how is that split so my understanding from the clerk's office this is a um a situation where you have five it can it's typically either one the mayor and for the council or to the mayor and through the council okay when will that be shown is that I would assume as ahead of the vote we're not going to leave the details to be sorted out and and I guess the the other question I have is at some point there is going to be a nomination process like you typically do and so I don't know if you're going to have an ordinance an RCA and then a nomination process or you'll just move forward with the nomination process and I and I think what initially we have said is4 okay and I don't believe Julia that we need anything other than moving forward when the council is ready to have nominations for the board correct because this is a not a City Board it's a private board and you were just making nominations okay so that would be through your typical process okay and then the last thing I will say um it's just as I look at the F uh the foundation appointees to this board as well and Foundation is also we're appointing people to the foundation and then the foundation is also appointing people to this particular thing I just when we start to get with appointed people making appointments to me that's a a step too far away from accountability to the public so I just want us to really think about this as we put it together that's all thank you okay Mr Mitchell next followed by m mayor thank you um I was a yes voting committee to to move this forward and have this great conversation but I did raise one issue and I just want this counsel for us to be very careful what type of modeling um that we Tred to establish so Julie if you go to slide number nine um the distributed by Charlotte is creative I think we need to be very careful not to S Source opportunities when we know that we have other firms and our CBI that can do the same work and so I would prefer that to be a procurement process to H to select someone who can provide the $2 million Grant staff I do not know about charot is creative they can have a great reputation but as Council we have to be careful to give everybody opportunity when we know there's other firms out there that can do the same the same job so is this time sensitive that we can have a procurement process and we can award who will be providing the grants so I'll say the um a couple reasons we selected Charlotte is creative um through the opportunity fund um we have worked with Charlotte is creative they worked with a subcontractor who helped them with um some marketing um but in terms of here in Charlotte there's really two main entities that distribute arts and culture grants on a large scale and that Charlotte is creative and the Arts and Science Council and so because the Arts and Science Council again that organization is currently in flux um with their Staffing and their operations in order to get these funds out into the community sooner we selected did um we went with Charlotte as creative and so um the the current plan is for them to start advertising um the grants and the opportunities in October um do really extensive Community engagement and then to have the money out into the community early in um the calendar year of 2025 so so let me do a followup because I think all of us around this table knows people who can provide grants and so what make this unique because it's a Arts Grant correct um Charlotte is creative is an exclusive Arts nonprofit um they do a tremendous amount of work and engagement in the community in terms of um spreading arts and culture they know um a number of people they really have the expertise to advise us who are not um arts and culture Grant experts on here's what is the best thing for the Arts community so the capacity building component was something that they had added because they had learned from their experience through the opportunity fund we really need to give um artists and and small collaboratives experience writing grants because that's an area that was really lacking and prohibiting them from getting other grant opportunities so we did a procurement process wouldn't you be wouldn't you be comfortable that that create charotte is created was still a score high enough to be awarded the contract I I think part of this is transparency and being fair and so I'm trying to separate this from the policy discussion so I raised my hand but I'm too passionate about about CBI and procurement opportunities for us to in this particular case we s souring we have selected this firm to distribute grants and we talking about grants and we know a lot of companies that that can provide grants so uh councel I'm going to be a big no uh for this particular reason I just we going down a slippery slope if we have staff start just so sours and opportunities when we know we got capacity in the community thank you mayor yeah okay all right okay so um just I want to make sure that uh as we're going through this that I you know put a couple things into the record I do believe that the foundation for the Carolinas has done a great job over the course of the last few years with the infusion fund I'm not so sure that we could be where we are today with this level of collaboration um without having the foundation for the Carolinas and I feel com confident that um even in distributing that 9 million I think the the fee is 150,000 but that also includes um you know performance measures and and things of that nature the um so I'm not going to leave you out there Julia the the concept with Charlotte as creative um was we just didn't know we didn't know what July 1 would be like we didn't know if there would be an AC what's ASC ascc and we didn't want a lot of the organizations that had gained this great momentum through the infusion fund to feel like okay here we go again it's going to take forever for us like it's almost starting starting over again so uh Mr Mitchell I don't disagree with you with the look of this as it seems like we're just we we're we're picking somebody the the concept was because they had distribute some of the infusion funds that as this other 10 million was trying to get out that again there wouldn't be any step back from the previous three years because 11 million was being deployed but I just wanted to make sure that was some of the thought part but I I totally understand where you're coming [Laughter] from all right well I'm glad Mr Jones went before I did um but let me first say this I I understand Mr Mitchell's perspective on giving on being fair and trans Trans arent in the process but I also understand the staff was trying to get the money out sooner CU a lot of organizations were concerned after uh the whole reorganization of the structure so they were concerned about whether they were going to get funding or not so if we had delayed it it would not have looked good um so certainly in this case I I understand why this organization was chosen uh I will say this I have been to Charlotte is creative events and they have every Friday they host uh various artists in town in fact myself um C uh former council members eglon and uh Winston along with bukari we have we've attended Charlotte's creative event and uh we were part of the panel and that's the first time I got to see like a majority of the movers and shakers in the Arts Community Under One Roof so um certainly I appreciate the work that they have done and they have really built relationships in arts culture I mean this is a very Niche area that you have to have expertise in in order to distribute funds so um I can certainly attest to their expertise uh but I think to Mr Mitchell's point if they have the expertise even even if you go through the process they are going to do well and they're going to actually be our partner so yeah I think from transparency perspective and fairness it it does make sense to go through that process and I'm pretty sure they will score much higher than other organizations because of their expertise oh well that was not my question my question was about more uh to follow up on um councilwoman watlington and Mayfield's question so I just want to make sure I heard this correctly so this structure doesn't have anything to do with funding commitment correct correct okay so we are not aligning or committing any amount whether it's 2 million or I I understand 2 million was approved in the budget that we just adopted but moving forward it could be nothing or it could be 5 million or it could be anything in between correct okay um go that's true that's absolutely true it would go against one of the pillars of the arts and culture plan if all of a sudden let's say mecklinburg County said we're only going to give 2 million and not um 10 so that there is this concept and again you can't buy a future Council that you can't create stability if each year you're going to change change it right I I understand but I guess what I'm I also want us to be mindful that just because we are committing to the structure does not mean that if they are not able to raise additional private funds that it will become City and County's responsibility yeah yes our commitment is at 2 million but if they don't go out and raise whatever the amount that they have raised in the past it it doesn't automatically the city and the county is not the it's not the backup plan the the concept here is um in the past the private sector came in and you know the story the public sector came in and at some point we dipped below $4 million and um as we move forward the public sector public sector combination there are no private sector dollars in this 21 million but what the private sector is doing is starting to sponsor more you know programming and things of that nature fundraising things of that nature I just didn't want the council to leave tonight believing that anywhere in this 21 million are private sector dollars it's over and above this okay so anything so so this is just the basic correct and then they will raise more based on the programming um but there is there is no adjustment for any increase or any discussion about that at this point correct okay um are there is there any management fee that we are committing to because of this new structure so in in terms of getting the money out um $150,000 is what they have done much uh similar to in the past it was $60,000 the difference is uh they're also going to do a bit of performance measures on this because there's criteria this it's not as if even with and this maybe we should have set it up this way even with the the organizations that have been receiving funding over the years there are some requirements in ter terms of collaboration there's some requirements in terms of equity to make sure we're just not writing checks to these organizations so part of what um that fee will do is to make sure that these organizations are adhering to what they said they would do in order to get the money in the first place and that was very important to the council to make sure that it wasn't just writing checks to these organizations so so what I'm hearing is it is more involved process when it comes to distribution of dollars so $150,000 of $2 million that's 150 of 9 million oh 9 million yeah so it's like a little it's like about 1 and a half% okay okay because I was like 7 and a half% management fee that's unheard of okay um all right that makes sense okay and um what so I understand that currently we have picked the Charlotte is creative nonprofit to assist us with getting this $2 million out uh moving forward with this structure ascc will distribute the entire 11 million or just the 2 million just the 2 million if Council chooses got it so in in that case Charlotte is creative will not be part of this model in any way should Council choose to give the $2 million to the ascc governance structure they might solicit additional um organizations or help capacity building Etc um but should Council choose to give the $2 million to the ASC we will not have a direct relationship with Charlotte is creative I understand so the decision just was recently made to choose the charl choose this non nonprofit Charlotte is creative and now it's not even been 6 months we are changing we are bringing in a new organization ASC um has there been any concerns or about Charlotte's creatives capacity to do this continuous work why change all just in Middle um in our conversations with them not at this point um you can see the buckets of um funds that will be distributed through the ASC which are the blue for meinberg County um and the $4.5 million is largely culture blocks which is a grant that the ASC has been Distributing for years um and so my presumption is that they will have the staff retained to be able to administer that program themselves um and so in terms of Char's creatives expertise is really around um individual artists and small organizations capacity build building um and so having heard from them that they would be that they think they would be tapped to distribute some of these additional funds um nor would there be a capacity issue for us this year so I would like to hear from Charlotte is creative since they are involved currently what is um what is their take on this um and I see the committee had voted 4 to one so what was the committee's or at least a Comm a committee member's opposition with going with this model Mr MRI voted in the negative and he can speak for himself you asking why I voted no what was it sorry I just tuned in here [Laughter] h i mean to me the it we've been on a long-term Journey with this trying to take something that over multiple decades was on a decline the Arts culture and culture uh funding Community because of a simple reason the business Community had disengaged in a way that they had before so we ripped the Band-Aid off in 2019 and 2020 we worked hard we redesigned it we fixed some of the broken parts and then the basically it went back on a bit of a rough path we focused in on part one of two parts which was dump a ton of money in there which was really good theoretically but we fell short on part two which is how is this going to be governed longterm so not only does the money make it to the right places but the government money becomes a way to reignite the engine of the broader ecosystem to engage to shape where it goes in the future and make it sustainable over time so the reason I voted no is not that I don't think we're on on somewhat the right path because I have a lot of uh faith in the the the expertise and ability of foundation for the Carolinas being a big part of this at the table where I have a problem is similar to where I have problems in other fronts is a bunch of people that are going to make the decisions and help steer the course of this longer term being just appointed by us is not the recipe for Success it's a recipe for friends and folks in the community to get appointments to something that they're not equipped to necessarily do which is completely chart A New Path to restart the engine of the public sector private sector being engaged in all this so if you strip all that away we could just do onetime stuff without the foundation we could do the 11 million without anybody's help we could literally have staff toss the 2 million out the door we know where the 9 million is going the whole reason for this governance structure and being associated with this conversation is the hope that some new thing is going to rise out of the ashes of all of this and then start a new vision chart A New Path for the future I have a huge problem that we're just dicing up and saying okay well we'll appoint five here you see how we appoint people to stuff right I mean I think I don't need to say more on that so what I would suggest we do is the 11 million is nearly baked um I think that the Charlotte as creative folks have the on theground expertise to get stuff out fast which they did in the past I think the reason is changing for them in the future so I would think that we get behind in a near-term uh uh goal foundation for the Carolinas and let them provide the business Acumen where Charlotte is creative provides the Grassroots understanding and allow them to put a little governance and take this 2 million that's literally going to get out one way or another whether we RFP it or give it out through staff or let them do it and let them kind of have a little bit of an ability to Pilot something and show us the outcomes of that 2 million so that when we're sitting back here for the next discussion which needs to be an overhaul of who's on that board to make sure the right people are on it but also how much more money is going to be given in the future we have something tangible to look at and I I because I think I think that might be the solution in the near term because it's clear with all the negotiations we're not going to fix the government structure right now right away it's also clear that most of that money knows where it's going so let's use the little bit of it that there is discretion to keep doing what's been done okay which is Charlotte is Crea find the the opportunities and the different things but allow the foundation to do what they do well which is put the business Acumen and governance around it to structure something where we get back an opportunity to see how well they did and then we can make big broader decisions going uh forward I don't know what the question was but I hope that addressed it why did you say no all right I have Miss Johnson okay I've got a couple questions my first question is can the folks in the Das see this meeting do they know why we're late they can see is it on the screen in the screen outside in the chamber it is on the screen yeah they can see the sh isn't I did I say that correctly yeah yeah okay I just want to make sure because we always go over um because of the agenda well I mean we have to be allowed to ask questions um my second question is this item up for a vote we're talking about it like there's a choice I mean like we we're voting on it are we voting on this or is this a done deal no absolutely not so the council will decide whether or not you will move forward with this governance structure and when is that vote so my understanding is it's not necessarily a vote if you say you're going to move forward then you would go back to your normal appointment process I thought that Julia said it's some consensus around the the council so when they say that I assume that means that at some point most of the council says yes go forward and others may not but I'm just saying that's pretty much the way it works that's not the way it works like we vote on are we approving that's what they asked for it's already so you don't need Council vote no you can add additional step that we could bring an RCA forward you can vote on the RCA then after you V in the rcaa you can make appointments okay no no I mean we all so this is it would be up to us if we want to move a different direction okay um my second question is or third question is there a difference in the allocation that the individuals artists are going to receive with this structure versus the old structure is there a difference in the is there less money for the individual artist so so with the uh what we have on the screen for the last three years the green has been what has gone into the ecosystem plus some portion of these culture block grants but in terms of the infusion fund $1 million went into the Community each year of the last three years 12 12 sorry so 12 million and this year would be 21 21 million okay um my concern is always equity and and transparency and if we are allowing the foundation for the Carolinas or another group to be accountable or responsible for for public dollars when we as elected officials are are responsible to answer to the public um and I've also shared my concern with just a few organizations um being responsible for that level of funding and I know Mr Jones you said we would have all these grassroot organizations coming to us at budget time but that might be okay with some of us we know that there's um an equable lens and we can really take a look at at who's getting the funding because there was a a grant I can think of last year that I recommended several Grassroots organizations apply and I don't and none of them receive them so we've just we want to be able to answer to our constituents that that there's oversight of these dollars so I I I just as a council member in the direction that we're going with our public dollars I hesitant to keep to award just a few small organ a few large organizations that much control and power or or responsibility and stewardship over the public dollars that's all I have thanks so Council Johnson know one of the options early on was to create a new Department with a lot of staff to do all of this and even in the previous City I haven't said this in a long time that I was in you know we had it it it it it it was big and so to some extent the concept was how can you get is if you set the parameters if you set the rules if you set the goals that's important to the public bodies how can you get as much money out without having a lot of overhead so that was kind of the the one of the thought processes early on okay Miss Anderson mayor protim thank you I know thank you Madame mayor um this is always a a a confusing conversation with every time we hit on arts and culture and I think we just have to work to De demystify this um because sometimes it feels like an over rotation um but if we just take the step back there's just been a lot of historical skepticism and lack of transparency and lack of trust within the arts and culture ecosystem um in the city of Charlotte and it's going to be an uphill battle a heavy lift to try and um engender that the loss um from residents and from members of the artist community and I personally think that the foundation for the Carolinas are a an excellent um Steward choice to help us get this write this ship and to help from a governance perspective um so that we do have the right pieces on the table to ensure that we have a thriving Arts and Cultural community in Charlotte we should we should want that um and and I personally want that I feel I'd like for Charlotte to be known as an Arts town I would I would like to have that feeling Aesthetics as people walk come to visit our our city and as as we enjoy it just as we believe that we're a sports town right and so but that's a heavy lift and and if anybody is I think equipped to do it I I have tremendous faith and I would say standing up a city Department um adding additional overhead to manage something like this um and then we'd have to go out and and hire experts to actually do this doesn't feel like the right um the right way to of to manage this from an executive perspective because there are entities out in the community that have that expertise um but I I feel like there's three things that we need to focus on here and um not necessarily about the 9 million and the 2 million but really what has been missing at least from my perspective is a collective voice from all aspects of um arts and culture in our community we we have people who are part of that Community who have felt like they their voices haven't been heard that they've been left out from a funding perspective so as we're thinking about the new model in a new governance structure um having ensuring that that Collective voice is present is is critical the other piece we're already doing it but just continuing to do that and that's supporting our existing institutions that we've mentioned several times this evening um and ensure that they have the the right the right support so that they can grow as well and then thirdly we have to make sure that there's Equitable access to funding and support from um from artists small to you know large to the to Blumenthal arts and some of our other Blue Blood institutions and so I hope that as we get to a point where on this slide we're thinking about the the appointees I think there's specific um Acumen and characteristics of these appointees U that we really need to be thoughtful about because they will be um by and large responsible for ensuring that the Arts community grows the Commerce of the Arts community grows and fits in with the overall feel of of what our other goals are across the board so I really want to lean in and focus on on on this structure and and the individuals the characteristics and the Acumen that we need in order to be successful for this governance structure to be um successful in the long run thank you Madame mayor right Mr DRS I'm sorry he Mr drgs have been holding Mr drgs so I I think it's appropriate that a lot of questions are being raised here but I just want to offer a little perspective right a few years ago we had gotten to the point where the city was putting 3.4 million into an alien ASC and there were culture blocks being funded by the county we've come a long way we're now talking about an amazing partnership and understand it's a partnership the county and the city and the foundation have all come together to tackle this issue of funding the Arts and I think that's an amazing feat in itself frankly because we haven't had that kind of cooperation uh the involvement of the foundation is important because they're the the connection to private sector and the manager mentioned I've been told by private sector leaders their intention is to be sponsors and uh to uh in fact step up their investment in the Arts uh but what one executive told me was he went to an event that was uh hosted by the Arts and Science Council and another sponsor's name was all over the thing and this company was not even acknowledged because of the way they had funded so uh the the companies do want to get the benefit at least of some recognition uh some name recognition and so I I think we can expect to see that and uh a lot of what's been talked about is going to need to be worked out but we've also accomplished a lot here and the understanding is for one that although we are committed for the first year the intention is to make this a kind of a sustainable effort to create an expectation that this will continue uh another expectation is that the grant making board will consist of creatives and people from within the Arts commun Community who know what's what and what's going on there so it will be up to us through our appointment power and oversight uh to make sure that that works the way it's conceived but that was something we agreed early on we wanted to do we did not want politicians or people like that actually deciding on grants so this is a process that was intended to create the partnership among those three entities and then give the grant making to people who know about Arts so I I just think that uh we we should we rightly question a lot of these things but there is a cause for celebration here we have finally figured something out that was nowhere for 10 years thank you Mr Graham and I'll be quick I know we're short on time and I want reiterate what council member DRS and and Anderson has articulated I think they're spot on again the committee did vote this out for one so it's in the hands of the council uh to do as you choose um I I think if I would love to advance it as as submitted but if there's council members that want to cut around the edges of it that's your prerogative to do so but I think what council member Anderson and Dres has outlined it demonstrates uh a year and a half two years worth of work that we've been trying to get to this point to really uh Advance uh this discussion to a conclusion right and so I would hope that Council uh would continue to asked the very important and valid questions that that's here today but be prepared to vote for it right because I think we're we're close to the end than the beginning and we're we can see the goal line and again everything that we do won't be perfect but I think we we've got to a point with this where I think there's a meing of the the collective Minds uh with the city the county the foundations of the Carolina is structurally putting a structure together and that's what we're voting on is the structure uh of how we advance Arts and Science in this community and obviously there's will always be discussion about how what we find how we find to what extent we find I think that's a separate conversation and I'm willing to have that conversation as well I just had a great visit with the history museum last Friday uh and would love to see them get in the game right so I'm separating the funding of what we're doing versus today which is really approving the structure of governance for the Arts and Science with um Community Partners uh and I think I I would encourage us to uh to put it on the agenda relatively quickly and move it forward thank you thank you so um Mr Jones do you have a no an action step that you'd like to take or talk about oh I think the committee chair just did that I I just want to make sure mayor I I talked to uh council member asz the financial partner policy is still in committee so it shouldn't be discussed tonight even during the manager um piece so that's still in committee so it's still in committee we're not going to discuss that until comes out of committee okay so um this is this has been a really great conversation people are asking for explanations people are you know expressing their thoughts and ideas on this but I think that if we are going to be in this city where we have public private Partnerships where we work with our foundations in lots of ways and as well as we can maintain the infrastructure that we have for the pro for the Arts and um community that we support and have supported through our you know debt funding and all of that but the idea of programming really requires an expertise now you know and I think that we have to look at where we're going to get that and how we're going to get it so I don't know if there's a motion I think Mr Graham made a motion to accept the structure if I if I'm saying that incorrectly what was asked at the end of what they asked for was was a not not a motion so are we saying the not is saying move forward because as it stands right now based on what we are presenting I am a no to that not I understand that but I wanted to make sure because I think Miss Johnson talked about well you know so it has to be a vote because it was a nod but um I think Miss Johnson said if it was better if we had some kind of effort around how do we raise our hands so I'm just trying to get to some place to The Next Step because we have a recommendations M may have this consensus to participate and it says proceeded if you agree with that that's fine um so proceed with standard appointment process and Madam mayor things yes Madam mayor I if we're making a motion and what I'm hearing around the room is that there's some some work around the edges if you will like you said to be done I would rather we do that work and then bring it back for for consideration that's and I and I that's what I'm trying to get at tell me what you want so that we can actually move on so I mean if it needs to be in a motion I would move to do that second the motion I don't know what they um he moved to do some work all right we'll be back more work all right is there anyone that disagrees with that brown I second the motion to move forward Council on me should be a time I think there needs okay hold on hold on one second I'm trying to hear what the mayor's saying I think that um what we're trying to figure out is that we are going to come back and do some more work on this miss the mayor protim has said give us a timeline because these groups are not going to be able to um operate without having this funding that we will need and who's going to do the work and do the work so Mr manager how much time do you need to work in the edits that you heard at this diet sure okay so the the first thing is that um the $9 million is gone it's gone it's gone okay that is hardwired y okay so there's $2 million that we can park and there's a governance structure that you want more answers to and we can uh bring something back to you um at the next B first business meeting in October fantastic 14 because because it's not about the money it's about the structure corre yeah well right structure to be on the same page with I listen to you guys I listen to you attentively and from what I heard mostly from everybody is come back I don't think everybody said come back I think some said mostly majority I think that we're going to come back meting it was a lot of people I don't think it's a majority either but what's your motion I don't think council member Brown I don't think that we have to have a motion we've this was on for the action committee we've had a discussion and I believe that the manager said the first meeting in October he would come back what mayor protim said is let's make sure we have a timeline so that will be the timeline of first so we don't have to make a motion and vote on it y so we're going to come back to the go ahead I was supp to say point of order it had been moved in properly second there was a motion on the floor so if we want to vote for it then if we want to vote for it and if if it votes down then Mr Mr Graham may be correct that it's got the votes to move forward so I mean I just well you were making comments so you have something to say no no I I've already said it um once and I think we're we're we're focusing on the governance not the money maybe $2 million may be at play there's it's time sensitive and I think the mayor protim um and the manager said with the next business meaning something like that I think that makes sense yes I agree with that I'm not in opposition I was just wondering you said not most people but I'm just I'm just fous I'm I'm folling with all du respect I um okay manager I understand exactly what's going on so we're going to bring it back um the first business meeting in October yes is that the first Monday in October uh it maybe the four 14 is the committee meetings the first business meeting the first business meeting second Monday night so okay I just wanted to be sure all right thank you and it's a focus on the governance issue correct we've understand that yeah I just want to understand all right we have people downstairs and let's go downstairs to start our regular meeting [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] f [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] good good evening everyone thank you for um being present and um please um we are grateful that you um continue to come in and sit down even though we are still doing work in another room but I want you to know that that's what um keeps us um um going and getting ready but we apologize for any delay that was was done so I want to call the Charlotte City Council business meeting to order and we'll start with introductions and we'll start with our clerk Kelly city clerk welcome Temple a at large good evening I'm margorie Molina represent East Charlotte District 5 good evening I'm Renee Johnson and I'm honored to represent District 4 good evening James Mitchell city council at large Marcus Jones city manager V mayor Dante Anderson mayor protm District one Malcolm Graham District Two and drgs District s six good evening I'm Victoria watlington representing you at large Patrick Baker City attorney all right thank you um um we begin our meeting um with an invocation and expression of inspiration followed by the Pledge of Allegiance the invocation is going to be delivered by me tonight and it's intended to solemnize our um potential for working together and how we do we do ask if you choose to celebrate with us any religious diversity in our community and if you'd like to participate if in our prayers or in our pledge feel free to do so and if you choose not to that is okay as well so with that um if you'll take a moment and bow our heads for prayer dear God enable us today to find the reasons for actions we hope to understand and and make possible in our community let us open our minds to look at our opportunities so that we may better serve the people that live with us and here call us to find ways even in our differences to focus on our ability to serve knowing that together we find more to unify us than divides us thank you very much Lord for giving us this day and this opportunity to serve this great City in your name amen amen if you would stand for the 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 liberty and justice for all okay so tonight we are going to have several recognitions and awards and I thought that we would start first though because we are keeping people that came down earlier to present to or petition this Council for their ideas and their thoughts so we will go ahead and have our public forum um recognition and we have speakers speakers will have three minutes to talk with the council um in this case we do not reply but you will have someone on the staff to address your question and you will get some information if if not immediately tonight then sometime over in the next week or so so we will have 11 speakers tonight I believe and one on our actual business item but we will start out with um Joy Mayo um Miss mayo and Miss Mayo will be um followed by Sil Gonza Gonzo and be careful coming down the steps pretty steep thank you you have three minutes hi I'm Joy Mayo I'm the board chair of transforming Nations Ford a new Community Development organization I'm here to highlight the urgent need for space for for our youth so that they can feel safe Thrive and see a brighter future Paro 205 17125 at East AR a Wood Road in England Street offers a key opportunity to address the disinvestment and crime that is long impacted our neighborhood this area home to many lowincome minority and immigrant families desperately need safe enriching spaces on March 19th community members met with City officials to discuss the parcel's development the consensus was clear our youth need a place to gather and engage in positive activities we envision amenities like basketball courts soccer fields a playground a pavilion and Community needs space so the petition the parcel that I mentioned is actually owned by the city um and we'll talk more about that we urge the city of Charlotte to sell portions of the parcel to meinberg county for $1 prioritizing Community needs additionally we ask the city to subsidize rent in the proposed mixu facilities at the parcel for nonprofits like our bridge for kids desita and the urban leagues Alternatives of violence program allowing them to continue vital work in the community transforming Nations forward has collected over 1,000 signatures from City of Charlotte residents who believe investment is critical I am requesting a meeting with each city council member to dis discuss this proposal further and we'll follow up with you via email to arrange a time thank you for your thoughtful consideration on this important matter thank you very much Miss Mayo look forward to that conversation our next speaker is Sil Gonzo happen without this sorry no ma' nothing I'm fine how y'all doing hey good evening everyone my name is Ganso and I represent our Bridge an organization dedicated to fostering the education acculturation and well-being of newly arrived Refugee and immigrant children and their families since 2014 our Bridge provided outd School programming and wraparound services to over a thousand Refugee immigrant children we primarily always worked on the east side of town however the pandemic led us to expand our reach to the Southwest specifically the South Boulevard Nations Ford and Arrowood corridors because a growing number of immigrant families were carpooling our community side on the east side as we began developing relationships with newly arrived families in the southwest we learned that they want access to English classes more recreational activities for their children and after school programs that could help their kids with homework and stay connected with friends through healthier activities throughout 2020 and 2021 we spent time meeting with local leaders understanding the available resources identifying service gaps and listening to what families needed we found that the Southwest area is now the biggest pocket of immigrants in the in fact 60% of the neighbors there identified as hispanico Latino but the more we learned the more concerned we became with the future of the children growing up in the southwest as the gaps were bigger than we initially identified more specifically I'll use three apartment complexes at the corner of Arrowwood and Nations Ford about two blocks from the parcel Joy just mentioned 82% of the residents in those three apartment complexes are Latinos remember that and 36% of the homes in the neighborhoods have access to Internet compared to 80% of the rest of the county and while life expectancy in the city is 72 years old it drops to 60 years old in the southwest area and in these apartment complexes where 82% of Latinos live life expectancy is 48 48 years old inequities are Stark and that is not okay and I know we can do better so I am proud here to stand in support of Joy Mayo the swan leaders and the neighbors who have been advocating for investment in that area for the past 40 years I urge our city council to consider this Leader's request and work with the county to enhance the quality of life for all families in the southwest thanks thank you very much our next two speakers are chrisen Coughlin and Anna Grace blot Council Members First I want to thank you for your time today before I get into the topic at hand a little bit about myself I am proudly a born and Brad charlan my mom was raised on a farm off Sandy Porter Road and attended Olympic High School I myself graduated from South meinberg High School went to App State University and missed the city so much that I moved back uh after graduating to pursue a career in and finance I started fostering for ACC back in April of this year a call went out to the community asking anyone who had capacity to take a dog while the shelter underwent Renovations for 3 weeks I drove over to the shelter picked up a very handsome black lab mix uh and took him home the 3 weeks came and went and when I was faced with the choice of fostering until adoption or returning him to the shelter it really wasn't much of a choice returning him to the shelter meant that he faced the very real possibility of being euthanized I believed he deserved an advocate and a Fighting Chance at adoption I am happy to report that that dog was adopted into his forever home on July 15th over the course of my time fostering my eyes have opened to the struggles that the shelter faces ACC operates on a barebones budget that does not reflect the exponential growth the city has experienced in recent years this underfunding results in inadequate resources for basic necessities such as food Medical Care and proper facilities because of this they struggle to maintain a Humane environment for the animals they care for if I'm being honest going to the main shelter off bym is something that I try to avoid doing very regularly uh the reason is because it's not a pleasant place to be when I'm there before I walk inside I have to take a very deep breath the air feels heavy and the front desk staff are overwhelmed or absent um most of the times there are scared confused animals being surrendered they're often caked in dirt and neglected the other reason I avoid the shelter is the bigger one because I'm asked to almost weekly I receive an email telling us please not to come to the the shelter they're underst staffed they have no capacity so unless you are a Community member coming into foster or adopt an animal it's an emergency for your Foster pet or you are a volunteer please avoid coming in as you can imagine many staff members at ACC are burnt out they are tasked with not only handling the daily care of animals but also administrative duties Outreach efforts and Community Education investing emotionally in the animals and Community is taxing especially when they know that not every dog who walks through the front doors will walk out that's a heavy thing to Experience day after day I love that as a citizen I have the ability to cast my vote for the candidates whose platforms reflect the causes I care about in that way I'm able to advocate for myself the tough thing with animals though is that they don't get to do that they rely on us to act as their Advocates I firmly believe we have a responsibility to create a framework that gives them a fighting chance at a life worth living thank you thank you [Applause] thank you hi my name is Anna Grace blunt and I'm a foster for the animal shelter shelter Advocates have been asking for two things that can significantly improve the pet homelessness crisis in our city a new adequately staffed shelter and an independent city Department I support both of these requests I want to extend my gratitude as well for the recent approvals of additional staff which will benefit both animals and caretakers while we're thankful for the new staff positions they remain insufficient and the need for a new shelter and independent city department is urgent operating under the police department causes multiple bureaucratic challenges including low non-competitive pay for key roles like veterinarians as a foster I see the desperate need for more Clinic staff to manage the overwhelming number of animals requiring care Beyond Staffing the shelter itself is outdated and ill equipped to handle the growing demand a new facility is essential to improve Animal Care provide adequate space and reduce strain on both staff and resources earlier this year I found a dog tied to a tree in a parking lot abandoned after recently giving birth I bought her to the shelter and she was placed on a mandatory 3-day stray hold despite her condition and obvious mistreatment to my surprise someone did reach out looking for her and promised to retrieve her by the end of the day but they never showed up her name was honey I was able to find a foster home for her but due to strict procedural obligation the shelter had to extend the straight the Stray hold by an additional 10 days because contact was made during this extension honey contracted kenel cof a highly contagious respiratory infection that can lead to pneumonia after two weeks of waiting in a kennel and discomfort the previous Guardian finally arrived but chose not to take her back due to her illness Honey's illness had developed into pneumonia and she suffered immensely for over a month Honey's suffering could have been significantly reduced with a less crowded appropriately designed shelter and more veterinarians to manage care of the animals for people like myself and many others who are here today it is tiring and overwhelming to work for a system that does not work for us furthermore the current structure heavily impacts public perception people are less likely to support or trust in a system that seems more concerned with red tape than with the actual welfare of the animals and the community members it serves as Charlotte continues to expand the need for a better shelter facility and more adequate Staffing grows simultaneously I also urge you to consider the significant benefits of designating the shelter as an independent city department and to take action to ensure that the shelter can operate with the autonomy needed to best serve our community thank you for your time and consideration thank you our next speaker is Alicia Harvey Alicia Harvey montasia mlan monasia mlan all right we'll go ahead and go down to the next L Dr meline mclenny um Cameron Smith Cameron Smith late Thomas vinon Thomas vincon Mr vinon hello how are you doing Mr Von I'm here speaking on the transformation of Nations Ford I'm here with Miss Joy mayo and also with swan um I'm a native charlott 10 I've been here 46 plus years I'm close to the 50 and 40 um we know it's a resource desert in the nation forward area um Mr Mitchell used to be my mentor over 307 years ago he used to come pick me up because we had nothing over there he would come pick me up to go to save the seed at John C Smith that's right um we've never had anything over there the crime rate has escalated tremendously over in the nation's four road quarter and that's because they have any they don't have anything to do we are in the top four you know in the city in the violent crime makes up 8% of it and we're only 1% of the landmass in Charlotte um we're just asking for the help from the city to put us something over there so we can get the youth something to do which also can bri bridge the gap between the youth and the elderly by bringing us all together because it can also be a place for the elderly to come play Bingo have little dances and do different stuff so it just be something for y'all to think about let us get that parcel you know help us out everybody claim the four we are the four so put something on the four invest in the four thank you thank you our next speaker is Kimberly Moore Kimberly more okay so that concludes BR here she's here I I got this okay I got this just ask yeah I know I'm I got it so um now I'd like to go to the time that we would have for recognitions here um very for the very first recognition that I would like to have is that we just lost a major leader in our city leader in civil rights leader in equity inclusion um at a long small at the age of 75 Kelly Alexander passed away this past week and I just wanted to acknowledge Him He has been a part of a family of legacy and always about talking about how do we make sure that people have their civil rights that people have the opportunity um he will be missed so much from this community but we also know that his family loved him deeply and the Legacy that he left for as a businessman a legislator is very important for us to recognize so if we could just have a moment of silence for Kelly Alexander I would certainly appreciate it thank you I would also like to recognize and thank the KN foundation for the Investments that they made on a visit of their board of directors to the city of Charlotte and this investment included um a really deep dive into one of our corridors of opportunity along B for Road and not only did they look through the batty for Road template of what was going to happen thank you jaata and all of the residents along B for Road for this but they also left an investment of almost $17 million in Economic Development initiatives for the quor so for that I want to say thank you to the KN foundation and the work that they do um they are part of what our we used to have as our newspaper and they have been a part of this community in so many ways for very long history and we need to recognize them for what they've accomplished and what they contribute they also left funding for our culture and arts program so hopefully we'll see that five or so million dollars in some way that we can figure out a way to get it out to the community and work with them because that is really important and I I think that they would really again should be recognized for that and so with that I would like to ask Fonda Bryant to come down and have a proclamation um we are grateful for the opportunities that you are taking make our a place and know was no can hear the so she's asked me to read this Proclamation I'm grateful to do it and then she's going to give us some comments whereas suicide and suicide attempts affect the health and well-being of families friends loved ones co-workers and the community suicide is especially affecting our young people with suicide being the second leading cause of death for young people the ages of 10 to 34 for young black males the ages of 10 to 24 and on college campuses it is the number one cause of death for police officers not in the line of duty the in the United States one person completes completes suicide every 11 minutes resulting in over almost 50,000 suicides in 2022 according to the foundation for for suicide prevention whereas the stigma around Global mental health is the number one reason why people won't seek help and fuels the suicide rates suicide is a global Health crisis and not a personal character flaw mental health conditions and suicidality work against suicides by discouraging PE persons at risk for suicide from seeking life-saving help and further traumatized super survivors of suif suicide loss and people with lived experience of suicide and whereas organizations like the American Foundation For Suicide Prevention Wellness action recovery Mental Health America and others continue to work to help those suffering in silence and prevent suicide from through advocacy education research and action now therefore we VI Alexander l mayor Charlotte and George Dunlap chair of the meinberg County Board of commissions do hereby proclaim the month of September 2024 as National Suicide Prevention month and we ask all of our cities all of our citizens to honor this observance and certainly no more than we can have from Fonda Bryant who has carried this cause so well for so long thank you very much Miss Brian thank you thank you I'm going to try to get through what I say without crying sometimes I had those days when I was coming in this evening on 277 there was a black man up the park up on the um Bridge wanting to jump cmpd was there I hope and pray that they get him down I know what that pain feels like so I wanted to let y'all know on July 1st 2024 cmpd lost their fourth officer in 2 and A2 years to Suicide according to bluel dog the organization that tracks First Responders suicides as of today we have lost 62 police officers Nationwide to Suicide eight more since officer Brent Simpson died where's the call to action where's the help as at his memorial his wife talked about the pain he was dealing with I know daily I know that pain and if it wasn't for my aunt Spanky 29 years ago recognizing the warning signs of suicide I wouldn't be here and neither would others I would have missed out on so many good things if I had taken my life on February 14th 1995 I would have missed my son growing up and my grandson Bryce suicide isn't a warm or fuzzy subject it's a hard subject to talk about but we must have these uncomfortable conversations to become comfortable invoking change through action words are just words if action doesn't come behind them we can share how sorry we are when someone dies by Suicide we need more than mere words we need to do better as a community a culture and a society when it comes to preventing suicide education is the key to presenting preventing suicide suicide is the most preventable death of all deaths and it is everybody's business no one should have to deal with the pain and tragedy of losing someone to Suicide everyone needs to care and everyone needs to get involved to stop the global Health crisis that is suicide I put pens on y'all's desk for y'all to wear tomorrow September 10th is World Suicide Prevention Day the Duke Energy building will shine till and purple for that day everyone needs to take a moment and recognize that whether directly or indirectly suicide affects all of us thank you glad you're still [Applause] here White House also sent out well so is our Prevention Day action kickoff um thank you very much that concludes the um public portion for speakers and our forum and our awards today so now we will go into our first public hearing which is um a hearing and a decision on Huds Beth area voluntary annexation um do we have any speakers mayor I mean clerk Madam clerk I'm the mayor I'm sorry whatever any speakers Madam clerk none so um do I have a motion to close the public hearing and adopt an annexation ordinance with the effective date of September 99th 2024 to extend the corporate limits to include this property and assigned it to council District 4 mov you have a motion a second any discussion hearing none all in favor of the motion please raise your hand anyone opposed all right the motion carries the next item is uh the policy section of our agenda and we refer this to our city manager Marcus Jones do you have any updates for the council thank you uh mayor members of council I have a little side bet going on with Council Mitchell he didn't know I had several presentations no um so uh mayor council what I would like to do is we were going to I was going to have Julia Martin come up and talk about the Strategic uh progress tracker don't want to do it tonight but we did send some information out to you last month you will U remember at the annual strategy meeting we're trying to make sure we could align our goals objectives and performance measures so that is going live we'll make sure that we get information out to you on that we're really excited about that and um in a future um meeting we'll give you a um a go through with it okay all right thank you very much so the next item on our agenda is a policy item that is for affordable housing policy affordable housing policy funding policy um it is item 10 and so we will hear from the committee but this is a motion could I have a motion to a recognition from the committee chair and vice chair approve the housing safety and Community Committee recommendation to create affordable housing funding policy guidelines inclusive of housing goals and outcomes investment priorities and investment goals across affordable housing categories to help direct the city housing investments through local funding sources move Madam we have a motion and a second any discussion absolutely thank you madam mayor so I just want to say that I thoroughly thoroughly thoroughly enjoy working on this with staff and my colleagues my vice chair uh Lana Mayfield and council member DRS who was able to join us um as a unofficial Committee Member over the summer uh we were tasked with thinking about how are we going to deploy this $100 million in our Housing Trust Fund we know that we've done 50 million over the last several years and that was a step change um at the time and now we're ready to take another step but we want to do it in a way that is not just doubling the amount of funding but we want to make sure that we are updating our funding to reflect our community's current needs and I think that we we did that um so I'm very excited to uh see this come to the table it was supported by our committee and thank you to our housing uh safety and Community Committee members Brown Mayfield excuse me Brown Mayfield uh Johnson as well as as thank you for your work on this and thank you for your input thank you to the community we were able to get um uh Community engagement executed and we're in the process of um getting that feedback and I do believe that what we've got here is reflective of the broader goal so I'm excited to see the investment in home ownership at a level that we've never done before I'm I'm particularly excited about the 5 million that we've got in an innovation fund that will really allow the market to tell us what is it that we we could be doing at scale that we just have not set up a tool to do so I look forward to the great ideas that come out of that but once again just very very proud of the work that staff has done and certainly I would um I'll turn it over to Vice chair Mayfield thank you madam mayor thank you chairwoman I again want to Echo it was why a lot of people were off on summer break we the three of us were trying to dig in to come up with some really creative ideas what I would like to add is we have a survey we work very hard together to push out the importance the survey honestly takes 5 minutes to complete we already have a list of priorities you are literally just moving the little moving the sentence up for what is your number one priority we have less than 400 surveys so far that have been submitted I have shared it on my social media the city of Charlotte on my Facebook as well as Instagram the city of Charlotte's Facebook page as as well as all of our social media the link is on there for the input I promise you it takes 5 minutes this is a way for you all to let us know if the ideas that the three of us and the entire committee that we thought we heard from you as the community that is of importance we are now giving it back to you I can say so far for the almost 400 we are right in alignment the idea of how we are looking to allocate the funds and support our community and not just do another 50% more of what we previously done but to look at outcomes not just quantity that was very important but for those 400 right now those will be will be the ones that say Hey this is what we want so we really really really want everyone all of your family all of your neighbors all of your church members all of your friends make it a challenge go in who can complete the survey first get the survey done because we want to hear from you thank you Madame mayor and Madam mayor I apologize I would be remiss if I let this moment pass without acknowledging our assistant city manager uh Sean Heath director Rebecca Hefner and Warren Wooten out of Housing and Neighborhood Services they did a tremendous job supporting us this summer and being very responsive to the questions that we asked they provided excellent data and the research that they did uh we we could not have done it without you also thank thank you for once again uh knocking it out of the par thank [Applause] you all right so um Mr Driggs uh thank you Madame mayor uh at the time we uh adopted our budget over actually my opposition I did Express a concern that we were increasing our housing commitment to 100 million do and in my view uh we weren't specific enough in targeting it we did didn't have accountability around results and I think that earned me a slot on the working group uh and I have to say I did enjoy working with you ladies very much um and i' want to also chime in on the staff the amount of material that the staff brought to us and the analysis they brought to us and the way they responded from what we said in one session to the next session was really remarkable so very impressed with that H and I'm pleased with where we came out I think what we have now is a more clearly expressed uh intent around our investment in affordable housing and the goal is to make sure that the people who benefit the most from it and who deserve it get it and that we are going to be accountable about being able to prove that that was the case so uh I think we came out in a good place and I'm going to try and get my summer back this fall sometime but uh I appreciate you ladies uh thank you very much all right mayor proam thank you Madam mayor Mr DRS I think we all a few of us need some more days from our sumary from the work that we did but um I want to commend the uh committee on the work that you all did U on this presentation I was able to sit through a couple of meetings um and I really like the Strategic approach and the focus on economic mobility and residential stability and one of the things that I noticed uh a couple years ago when we were talking about housing was the percentage of the units for um for sale to uh promote home ownership in our community were were very low and in this proposed structure we have increased the dollars aund approximately 150% towards home ownership which many of us know um can have a generational impact on families and the other piece is really that Workforce housing the the the middle house housing that's missing and that is one of the key issues of a growing city is not having proper housing for our Workforce to stay inside of the city proximate to the to where they work and without that housing it um it breeds flight out of the city and therefore tax base and resources and so really love the focus on that specific area as well and lastly I'll just say um I know that we're going to through a tremendous um um Community Education process but this will be just one of three Bonds on the ballot um in the fall and so I really encourage our residents to educate please take the survey as as Miss Mayfield stated but educate yourselves keep a lookout for all the information that we as a city will be pushing forward on information around the bonds because they're really critical to ensure uring that we have a city that can grow and Thrive properly thank you Madame mayor I doo want to say thank you to the committee members and those self-appointed and some of those that were just anointed um and I want to say that because this city has worked many years to figure out how can we do this better how can we do it and I think that what you did was exceptional but it only works if we come out and vote for the 100 million in bonds so you know this good work needs financing and funding and if we will be accountable for that but we will need your vote to make it happen and make it possible this ballot is going to be almost I think two pages long and so when you come in it's always going to start with the president and bonds are always at the bottom so but we need to really understand that and as you go out and talk about this wherever you are in your community your neighborhood your church your schools just know that we need you to follow the ballot all the way until the end and support these bonds because that's the way we will Implement change and and opportunity so thank you very much thank you again to the committee for the work that they've done so with that um I think that we don't have to have a vote on this I believe until after the um election so you hear that we can't do this until after you vote for it okay thank you very much all right Miss I'm sorry it's oh approve I'm sorry I'm going I'm going way too far here I am trying to get you to do the next section we have a motion and a second and we want to approve the housing safety the committee's recommendation so thank you all in favor please raise your hand anyone oppose Mr s thank you very much all right and again thanks for the work all right so now we'll move on to consideration of our business items I'm sorry madam you're fine okay um I will now move on to our consideration of our business items the very first one be being 11 page adopt a budget ordinance appropriating 417,000 $600 from NC doot for consolidation and coordination of regional public transportation to the cats operating fund do I have a motion so move second have a motion and a second is there any discussion hearing n all in favor of the motion please raise your hand anyone opposed all right next the next item is 12 for item 12 adopt a resolution authorizing the manager to NE negotiate and execute a supplemental agreement with the ncdot to accept the surface Transportation block grant direct ATT tributal funds in the amount of 1 Mill million $745,000 for the marsfield drive Bridge replacement project adopt a resolution authorizing the manager to negotiate and execute said to product and adopt a budget ordinance appropriating 2,62 2,000 from the North Carolina department of transportation to the general capital projects fund do I have a motion someone second we have a motion and a second is there any discussion hearing none all in favor please raise your hand anyone in opposition no opposition thank you the next item is item 13 adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager to negotiate and execute a supplemental agreement with ncdot to accept state resurfacing funds in the amount of $300,000 for the Ray Road widening project and adopt a budget ordinance appropriating said funds to the city's General capital projects fund do we have a motion so moved second and a second any discussion hearing none all in favor please raise your hands anyone oppose motion carries the next item is item 14 is there a motion to adopt a resolution to direct the expenditure of opioid settlement funds so move have a motion and a second any discussion hearing none all in favor say I I any oppos thank you the next item um is item 15 um it is for Eastland Redevelopment Sports and entertainment development agreement for item 15 is there a motion to authorize the city second okay all right I already read it I think everybody else in the audience may want to know what it's about but we'll start with a little bit I won't read all of that but um the manager to negotiate and execute a master development agreement with the sports complex team setting forth general terms and conditions of the city also authorizing the manager to negotiate and execute agreement for the reimbursement of costs for public infrastructure an amount not to exceed $18 million which represents an additional $8 million or million. n million from previous city council approval which is expected to be reimbursed to the developer in full by the 2024 Bond referendum or split between 24 and 26 Bond referendums authorizing the manager to negotiate and exe execute the agreements for the reimbursement of cost expenses for expenses associated with indoor and outdoor amateur sports facilities and other public improvements in an amount not to exceed two is it 2,334 22 million 334 million grift represents an additional 2.34 Millions from previous city council approval and authorize the manager to execute these documents as needed so with that do I have a motion motion to support a b c and d second have a motion and a second we have have a speaker um Greg fro would you please join us down and um welcome good evening all my name is Greg audo and I'm the executive director of Charlotte East we are the Community Development organization dedicated to building social and economic capital in E Charlotte your vote Tonight is the last last turn of key needed to restart an economic engine that promises to bring a $169 million annual economic impact 500 jobs at East Charlotte this project these outcomes are what thousands of East charans have spent two decades fighting for you while last year saw a very public and contentious advocacy cycle we would not be here tonight without it as this chapter closes we're excited to start a new one by welcoming Bolton Ivory KY Edge Sports Group Southern entertainment and Charlotte Soccer Academy to our community and I believe all of them are here tonight we are incredibly excited and cannot wait to see the transformative impact that their work is going to have on E Charlotte and I would like to say this is a a lot of Tory public comment uh I am grateful to the city of Charlotte for its investment both in the site and our organization with roughly a quarter million in support via the corridors team Charlotte East is is excited to Embark Upon A 2-year effort to establish and formalize a greater Eastland business district our goal is to help our business Community navigate the opportunities and challenges posed by this development ensuring existing small businesses are given the supports they need to thrive and stay in place while opening the door to those who want to do business on our side of town and in case it gets lost or I don't get another public opportunity to do it I would like to thank all members of council tonight um for helping us arrive at this moment in time regardless of the the ultimate decision of your vote some specific thanks to the following uh council member isir thank you for ensuring that this Sports Complex did not die in committee last summer council member watlington thank you for your constant support of our community and leadership in the formation of this merge proposal council member barari thank you for helping Shephard this final funding request through to tonight's Finish Line council member Graham thank you for your oversight of this project since teer departure and lastly I would like to give a huge huge thank you to council member Mitchell for ensuring e Charlotte had a seat at this negotiating table from day one thank you for your day one support your guidance and your delivered promises and I'm going to wrap up and truly say thank you to everyone here um thank you again for your support of Eastland and I look forward to working together in coming months to ensure that both our residents and 100,000 plus annual outof Town visitors will be able to get to it via train thank you all right thank you very much for your remarks all right so um I believe that the district rep would like to make a remark and then we'll have the committee chair as well and then we'll go around so then everybody can have a opportunity to speak all right Miss Molina thank you my Ally Miss Madam mayor um I I spent the weekend deciding um just collect cting my thoughts and my words around this and so in order to make sure that I didn't leave anything out I wrote my thoughts down so I'm going to read them to you the way that they come from uh came from my mind collecting everything that has happened over the past almost two years now um tonight marks a Monumental step forward for East Charlotte and our entire region today we officially closed the transaction on the North Folk Southern rail line which is an essential part of what could become a comprehensive regional transportation system this acquisition opens the door for connecting neighborhoods reducing traffic conjection and fostering economic opportunities it represents the type of forward-thinking infrastructure investment that will benefit generations to come providing East Charlotte and our entire region with the much needed access to Citywide train Transit just today I interacted with a dedicated longtime Community member who brought more concerns to my attention the message was for too long East Charlotte has been underserved when it comes to transportation and infrastructure Independence Boulevard one of the busiest roads in the region has been a corridor of frustration for residents and commuters alike from the de from the demolition of the Coliseum shopping center on Independence B Boulevard in 2017 once a bustling retail Hub to Eastland and to the bustling retail Hub that was Eastland Mall the community of East Charlotte has felt left out and I want to acknowledge that sentiment the closures have left gaping holes in the hearts of e charlatans despite High Hopes the area still awaits meaningful development and the promised economic Revival that has yet to materialize I commit with the announcement of both items today that these key M about these key milestones for as long as I hold this duly elected position to continue to push for solutions that serve e Charlotte's long-term needs now for the main event I want to focus on Eastland yards a crown jewel of East Charlotte's future as many of you know Eastland Mall once stood as a vibrant Center of Commerce and Community Gathering when it closed in 2010 it left a void in both the economic and social fabric of our district since then we've been on a long and sometimes difficult journey to revitalize the site I've been deeply involved in this process as a member of the jobs and economic development committee in both election years 22 and 3 and we've carefully reviewed every proposal for Eastland yards from those early discussions to where we are today the project has under the project has undergone multiple iterations what began as a singular A and B is now a comprehensive option that considers a broad and comprehensive range of desires from the East Charlotte Community it's a mixed use development with that will combine residential housing retail and green spaces bring jobs and and economic Vitality back to the area tonight we will finalize the last major decision approving an additional $1 million to complete the final 30 Acres of this deel of this development when I asked our city staff and this counil to support the combined option on August 28th 2023 and return the results in 45 days it was a risk a risk that I was willing to take to consider the broad needs of our community members in East Charlotte that act was supported unanimously by this Council which I am extremely grateful for I am encouraged by the outcome and I am proud to support the additional funding in what will be a long awaited solution for the community that I represent on this body at a council woman a 20-year charlatan and someone who has lived through the ups and downs of this community I understand the frustrations that many have expressed e Charlotte has been traditionally overlooked and I've been though I've heard those concerns loud and clear since taking office I've been committed to ensuring that e charlatans get the attention and resources it deserves tonight's decision is not just a new develop or infrastructure it's about creating the future that we've all been waiting for a future where East Charlotte is a thriving part of Charlotte's Community story tonight's decision on Eastland yards and today's acquisition of the Northfork Southern rail line are critical steps towards addressing long-standing gaps in transportation and economic development for our district and the entire city of Charlotte East Charlotte has traditionally been underserved I say that once again but I feel strongly that we are now on the right track we are laying the foundation for a future that will bring jobs housing and Transit options that have been long overdue I am proud to be a part of that journey and I look forward to continuing the work with my colleagues the community and Business Leaders to ensure that East Charlotte reaches its full potential thank you madam mayor thank you Molina council member Graham thank you thank you madam mayor um in August of 2012 the city purchased approximately 80.4 Acres of the former eastn Mall property the mall itself was demolished in 2013 and since those time we had a lot of discussions about eastn mall and in a wide variety of ways uh on a personal note I I tell the council all the time I used to work at easty mall at Websters Men's Wear selling clothes when I was a student at Johnson C Smith University to drive by the site and was extremely impressed by what I saw in terms of the development um Crossing Southeast and I see timas up there uh has been doing a fantastic job uh building the senior housing the affordable units retail is going to be out there mackenberg County continues to work on creating a a 4 acre Park uh and by the end of the year there'll be people actually living on the ground I I think that deserves a round of applause for for waiting for 10 years and then it's the concept that we we're fulfilling today um working with a wide variety of Community Partners to have indoor sports um basketball uh pickle ball Volleyball outdoor sports um soccer arts and entertainment restaurant and retail all with Community access to the property it's a great day uh for East Charlotte and there's a commitment that this Council has taken to heart I I want to thank the committee because Greg is right we had a pretty interesting year and a half of committee meetings uh and the residents for uh being honest Brokers uh and advocating for their Community uh I appreciate uh what you've done uh and your advocacy uh and I want to thank the committee for working with me uh chairman uh Vice chairman Mitchell um uh Mr barari who um I I enjoy working with um I really do I I like my hot dog with mustard and ketchup on it so I I I really enjoy working with them uh Mr drgs um for always uh being um a uh a reasonal member uh and certainly um the district rep um when she first got here in 2019 it was intentional uh that she served on the economic development committee U because we knew that this project was long overdue and her advocacy and her voice was desperately needed I want to thank the team um Edge Sports Global and the Charlotte Soccer Academy Southern entertainment all for really working together and I and I see the handshake up there because um we didn't know if this was going to work we really didn't um but uh you guys took the time um um negotiated among yourselves negotiated with the city to come to a conclusion that represents the best interest of this community so I want to thank you for your leadership thank you for your uh your commitment to e Charlotte and and partnering uh with the city of Charlotte uh lastly I also want to thank the staff right um Tracy and Todd um and I've I've seen the emails go back and forth for the a year and a half trying to uh make sure that we dot eyes and cross teas and um our professional staff um is get at what they do um they protect the interest of the city uh for sure uh and that's what they're supposed to do uh and so I wanted to thank the staff for for their commitment I was telling the the the manager earlier today um this was the easy part the hard part now is the building and the operation of it the maintenance of it the upkeeping of it right that's the hard part and I'm committed uh I know that the right team is there to get it done right I think there's no doubt about that that uh these folks are committed partnering with the city uh to ensure that when we have this groundbreaking sooner than later uh that that facility is going to be up there for years and years to come that would be a landmark a destination location uh for not only the citizens of East Charlotte before the region it's a regional uh destination uh in which will bring growth development jobs housing uh all those type of things necessary to fulfill uh the mission of the project so I'm happy that we're here um uh this is only a halfway there we got a lot more work to be done for sure uh but I'm committed to working with the team and the membership of it uh Tim as well as you to kind of finish what we started uh to um accelerate the pace of where we're going um because I think I want to get there sooner than later uh I think we all do um but certainly this is a a good day for eacha it it demonstrates uh when people come together what they can do uh it demonstrates the commitment of the city to create jobs economic opportunities affordable housing senior housing sports and entertainment all wrapped up in one facility so thank you very much and I look forward to voting yes thank you s thank you madam mayor um councilwoman Molina is correct this is a Monumental step in the right direction this feels like a dream that is finally being realized I mean I've been on the city council for over four terms now so this um to see this as a east east side resident as a fmer district council member I waited for this moment for a long time and I know certain members that are in the community that have waited way longer than I have uh I can I remember talking to Diane langine Carolyn Millan and others uh when I first met with them they would show me big binders that had presentation ations after presentations after presentations of every proposal that's been out there that's how passionate our neighborhood leaders are and we all deserve a big we all deserve um gra we all deserve uh they all deserve a big hand from [Applause] us I I'm proud to live in a Community where residents neighborhood leaders come out they are engaged throughout the process and they are committed they're committed I mean we are talking about committee meetings that happen during the daytime they are there uh they are there at neighborhood events when team had done various community events all of this neighbors showed up and team had done not one not two not three there are so many community events that Tim and his group had done to ensure that this was a community development project project and I appreciate the work uh that you have done along with both development teams um I would be remissed if I did not thank District councilwoman margerie Molina for taking this to the finish line for steering this project to the finish line um I also think about our predecessors especially Matt Newton John ay Nancy and others uh they really laid the foundation and groundwork for us so today we stand on their shoulders um this has been truly a collaborative effort every step of the way with Charlotte East and neighborhood leaders so thank you to Charlotte East for your leadership in this process um this is just a transformational investment as chairman Graham said this is going to be a destination point for not just for the east side but for our region you know we are talking about a sports and entertainment District uh transformational investment that's going to unlock economic Su success for generations to come so I'm really excited um and I can't wait for the ground breaking to happen soon thank you all right council member Brown would you like to speak I have anything to say all right council member Johnson thank you Madame mayor I just want to say that I'm honored to be a part of this this this transformational vote also and also to stand beside my colleague congratulations I know there was a lot of work and a lot of late night so I'm honored to support you and honored to support this devel development um the speaker mentioned $169 Million worth of economic benefits but I also want to acknowledge the community benefits um that will be a part of this project so the we talk about youth violence and uh tools to address youth violence this is a some a resource in the community for the Youth for those youth to answer or to respond to the violence in our Community there will be a sustainable yearr round athletic uh ecosystem that benefits not just the east side but the Charlotte Community there's over 9,000 hours of free community access to the facility on-site physical therapy and Sports Medicine a Carolina sports Walk of Fame local artist and interior and exterior murals over 500 jobs that are are going to be created a diverse mix of food and beverage options so that's going to benefit those small businesses uh small business owners and also development through Community Learning Center stem education and health and wellness program so this Center checks so many boxes and meets so many of our priorities so I'm honored to support thank you to both the developers Miss KY and the other group I'm sorry I'm not okay thank thank you and it's just awesome to see you all sitting together that's collaboration and partnership so great yeah it's great so we're honored to support today thank you thank you mayor proen thank you Madame mayor um this really is a historical moment I've I've shared my story I'm a Charlotte native born and raised and when Isam mall was constructed it was a unique destination um and really a magnet for yes charlatans I spent endless weekends there just hanging out having fun and meeting my friends there but it was also a regional destination as was mentioned before where people outside of the city of Charlotte would come to Eastland and spend an entire day shop have a meal at daryls watch people in the ice rink it was really a destination that U brought economic dollars into East Charlotte and so I'm really really happy to be a part of the vote in the affirmative to um bring yet another economic driver and destination on the very grounds where something unique um had been many many years ago so this what what we're voting on today has taken months and months and months Miss Molina um oh God and we've had conversations with the developers you guys are awesome um iteration after iteration answering the questions um being there for all the council members who had questions and wanted to see something really meaningful come on this site and so I'm Mr Graham is right that this is really the the easy part we have to build it but I am so excited to see the end product and be able to walk through this facility and see all the East Charlotte residents that just have tremendous engagement um throughout this across the board they're going to be so it's going to be such a day of joy for East Charlotte when this is constructed and we're able to really embrace it as a community so I want to thank everyone for their engagement with this um in particular Miss Molina who's the district many of us who have been District reps I think pretty much all of us we know that when something happens in your District it's all hands- on Deck all the time answering questions emails phone calls so anything that occurs especially something historic in a particular District the district rep has done extreme heavy lifting to bring that to the community and so um I want to thank the district rep for her involvement and all the other council members too because this really has been a full Council effort because we all care so much about Eastland Mall that site and bringing economic Vitality back to the east side thank you madam [Applause] mayor Mr Driggs thank you mayor um having been on Council for over 10 years I've experienced a lot of The Saga of Eastland uh and the the sheer futility uh the mall went broke there was no commercial solution nobody saw a feasible way of developing it through the normal means of just uh tearing things down so the city recognized we had to get involved in order to make something happen there uh and remove this sore spot and the city bought the land the city then raised and cleaned up the site to make it more accessible and continued to consider possibility a breakthrough came then when the partnership with crosland Southeast came about and really do appreciate that uh I think Crossland was willing to move in when others weren't and it's a m it's one of the main reasons we were able to get to where we are today um after that we all know there were setbacks uh there was supposed to be soccer there and then there wasn't and then we went through a whole new round of what happens at that location and I remember being in a number of conversations with people who had ideas for development there that I thought weren't good ideas uh and they involved a huge amount of public money and not much other investment weren't necessarily supported by the the kind of uh substance that I would like to see for Eastland because you had to think about uh we need to do something where we can be confident about success and there was no point in seizing upon a plan that had with it a great risk of just not being able to be completed um then as everybody knows we got into a late situation where there were two proposals and we were sort of stuck wrangling those proposals and so I'm incredibly pleased that uh after too much time and it's taken a lot of time but we've arrived in a good place uh I think we've got the best of those two proposals we resolved that the city's willing to step up and increase its investment in order to allow this plan to move ahead and I hope the people of East Charlotte appreciate that uh there is a history of underinvestment and I've been told about it often but on this occasion we are stepping up and we're doing so out of a concern for the future of e Charlotte uh I want to commend council member Molina uh she has been through a lot here I think most of us in the room know what it was like I'm glad I wasn't in the middle of that I can tell you that uh there weren't easy ANS answers and you hung in there and you fought for your people and uh I respect that I admire that so uh I'm a yes and I look forward to seeing this come true thank you very much Mr barari uh good work everybody that was a hell of a journey thank you all try to do anything let's vote well wait a minute I we may have other people that would like to speak Miss I'm ready to vote all right Miss watlington would you okay um I want to come back Miss Brown did you want to speak and Mr we did have we I have been walking waiting waiting for Mr Mitchell to come back so that he's already got his shirt on oh gosh I'm sorry I'm sorry all right Miss Brown yeah thank you a mayor I um I just want to speak to what mayor protim said about e Mall knowing the history of e mall and living here my entire life definitely experiencing some of the things that happen over at the the ice skating ring and just being in eastn mall with my mom those memories are Priceless they would never ever go away because we would catch the bus from Southside homes to East mall but I just want to um just thank my colleague because we go daily with 100,000 people that we have to support in these districts and I think everybody could just point the finger at us and I'm G take I want to just give her her flowers right now I don't I can't I've been in this chair for since January but east has been going going on long before I got here but if anybody can speak to e mall it's me because I probably spent more time in E Mall than anybody in this in this Arena um but I would like to say that it's hard when you have all these qu well Lana I don't know maybe you over there he had to work in the store you were probably having more fun I was I had more fun you had more fun that's what I say but anyway um going back to it it's really difficult and I just want to commend you for all of the work I've seen all of the emails and I'm going to stand in solidarity with you and support your vote people don't understand the magnitude of this job all of the emails um it's easy to say what we don't do but I don't think people know what we do do I'm behind these closed doors so I'm standing with you and I'm going to vote with you and just keep moving forward this is a hard job and if y'all don't believe us try us come take our seat do it it's very very hard it's not easy at all and um there's a lot of emails there's a lot of phone calls a lot of text messages a lot of going back and forth and we work really hard so it's easier said than done and it's easy to point a finger and say what you're not doing I know what you are doing so I stand with you solidarity and I'm ready to vote say yes for me Mr Mitchell oh didn't you start it so uh I got to tell it uh from a standpoint of a journey and so y'all bear with me mayor I promise not to go over 30 minutes oh no no no no no no no so uh back in 2008 I think the only one that was on the Ed committee was council member Mayfield when we first had this conversation about something transformative on the east side and through that uh we tried several projects that we thought was a good fit uh people have already acknowledged the previous District 5 representative who were passionate about doing something special for the esad and then 2019 uh this young lady replaced uh Al auson as District 2 representative and she ATT at a meeting and she raised a question to an ed about amateur sports and how much money was amateur sports and we should be playing in that market and I remember at the time Ron Kimble did a study amateur sports in 2019 was a$6 billion industry six would it be and that council member at the time made a joke she looked at the city manager and she said when I get off city council I'm going to become an amateur consultant and I'm going do something special for the city of Charlotte yep here we are today M 2024 and it this has not been an easy Journey uh there were four other opportunities to put this Vision this transformative project and other parts of our city so sometime it is the right project with the Right leader at the right location m and tonight I think that's why we going to vote for this transformative project Tim thank you for having a leap of faith and being the first developer there um Charlotte sports academy and Bob thank you for joining forces what I think is going to be now in the top project for the region for nationally talked to crva today Steve Bagwell and Steve said we so excited about this project we going to make sure we do all we can to make make sure it's successful the National Junior College Athletic Association headquartered here in Charlotte have already committed championships to when this facility can be built and up and operating and so to the Visionary to the young lady in 2019 who told us that she had an idea thank you for your patience thank you for your perseverance and thank you for going let's take a pause yes ma'am can you stand up Miss KY can you please stand up can you please stand up yes ma'am thank you and as with any leader she knows she need to surround herself with people who can help her along the way a young man came from the corporate Community Mr Robert Bolton I didn't even know Robert and so East Side East Side thank you for your patience uh Carolyn you can stop coming to Ed meetings Now Greg you can stop calling me on Saturdays we we are here to deliver and I I'mma Echo Jordan Lopez the future house representative Jordan say it might be called Eastland but it had it's going to have so much energy so much National recognition that it's going to have one name we going to call it the yard so thank you and I'll be supporting the motion and raising my hand with my proud t-shirt saying thank you for your patience job well done thank you e is is there anyone else that would like to also um put their hand out and understand that this is going to be a vote that's momentous to this community um I I do want to say to um um all of you you know the housing is important because once we have housing we have people um people that can have opportunities around them for whether they want to work or if they just want to be a person that can remember and create the new balance of whatever Eastland is going to be with all of this after it's done I mean we won't be able to talk about the sport the ice rink anymore we'll be talking about different things probably a lot more on stem education and a lot more on ideas around basketball and and sports that really leaves us an opportunity um Sports is a big business I mean I looked at Sunday um um the game I shouldn't say which game but um on Sunday watching the game and you know they have four screens up now and imagine what that can be when we get to Eastland so what I would like to say to you is thank you for what you've done so far but let's make sure that what we do at the end of this day celebrates every one of you who begin this that Journeys and we really appreciate you so we have a motion all in favor of the motion please raise your hand [Applause] [Music] thank you everyone that's participated in this good that is so cool now now you know you're invited to stay in your seats and continue to listen to us go on and on and on and on you want to take a picture with the hands up oh you want to take a picture with hands up everybody raise your hand thank you guys D can you get your hands up oh everybody's up you got it Titus here we go hey Titus okay now we've gotten I think one of the most important things that we have to do tonight okay item the next item is item 16 is there a motion to authorize the city manager okay I knew this calibration was going to happen it was going to take a while right um to accept a grant in the amount of 96 3,000 from the United States Department of Justice for the community Assistance respond engage and support team program so move and adopt the resolution and the budget ordinance we have a motion and a second any discussion hearing none all in favor please raise your hand anyone oppose the next item is item 17 approve the purchase of 11.79% the relocation of the Charlotte meinberg Police Department's Aviation Division and expansion of the special op unit I'm authorizing the manager to negotiate and execute documents to approve we have a motion and a second second did I hear a second down there second second any discussion hearing no discussion all in favor please raise your hand is there anyone opposed no that's it the next item is for um item 18 appointments to the Charlotte mecklinburg Public Access corporate Madam clerk yes ma'am um Sasha tomaseski was appointed to the Charlotte meinberg Public Access Corporation all right do have a motion to adjourn everybody thank you it's been a long day we really appreciate you and what [Music] [Applause] [Music] e e