Better lighting. [snorts] Good morning. And we're going to get started this morning with an invocation led by Councilman Bradley Carter and that will be followed by the pledge of allegiance led by Caroline Skinner representing Girl Scout Troop 324. Please stand as you are able. Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning, Lord. We're so grateful and thankful for the opportunity to be here to help lead our city. I ask Father that you would help give us wisdom and the discernment to understand the wisdom granted that we may be able to make decisions that lead this city forward, never behind. It's in your son's name we pray. Amen. >> Amen. 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. >> Thank you, Caroline. Thank you, Councilman. >> All right, I call this meeting of the city council to order. And I do have one presentation. If our uh friends who are here uh for the Veterans Day citation would join me down at the front. All right. As I think we have for at least the last few years, we have a lot of folks here gathered to commemorate our veteran employer champions. And we'd like to learn a little bit more about that program. And so I would ask the clerk to read this citation. >> Whereas Veterans Day is celebrated nationally on the 11th day of November. And whereas Veterans Day honors the patriotic individuals of every branch who work to defend our nation, establishing an honorable tradition of dedicated service. And whereas our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, coast guardsmen, and merchant mariners commitment and sacrifices have made our state and nation immensely proud. And whereas Oklahoma City recognizes the dedication of the Oklahoma City area veteran employer champions who have demonstrated their commitment to supporting veterans in the workforce. And whereas Oklahoma Veterans United has diligently surveyed and evaluated these employers, awarding them the esteemed label of veteran employer champions for their exemplary efforts in providing opportunities to veterans. And whereas Oklahoma City continues to be committed to amplifying and increasing appreciation of all admirable veterans whose service has allowed our nation to prosper, preserve, and allowed us all to live in freedom. And whereas the Oklahoma City area veteran employer champions are Arvest Bank, BOK Financial, Cox Communications, Harrison Energy Partners, Matrix Service Company, Melton Truck Lines, Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma Veterans United, One Gas, KO5TV, Pimmen Group, Volunteers of America, Williams Companies and Public Service Company of Oklahoma, Oklahoma. Now, therefore, I, David Holt, mayor of the city of Oklahoma City, do hereby recognize Veterans Day, in gratitude to our courageous and dedicated veterans and recognize and commend the Oklahoma City area veteran employer champions along with Oklahoma Veterans United for their dedication in creating a brighter future for our veterans. >> Thank you. And I think we have, she's not well positioned, but we have Rachel Renfoli here from Oklahoma veteran. There we go. Oklahoma Veterans United to uh say a few words and maybe talk a little bit more about your program here. >> All righty. Well, thank you very much. I appreciate you taking the time to do this for us. We've been here, this is our third year. We've had the network in place for about uh seven or eight years. We uh kicked it off in in Tulsa. That's our our uh home office. And then we were able to expand here in Oklahoma City. And Mayor Holt has always been so supportive. So for these employers here in Oklahoma City as we grow in this location, I can't thank you enough for taking the survey and being veteran ready for uh employees here. You've got a huge workforce with Tinker Air Force Base. Altus is in the southwest and we've got Vance up north. Um so that's a lot of veterans here in Oklahoma that we want to keep in Oklahoma and we can't do that without your support. I know this survey is rather rigorous, but for you taking that amount of time and and getting through it, we we just can't thank you enough for being veteran veteran ready to to employ those folks. Um we do have an office here in Oklahoma City as well as Tulsa. We are a very large uh homeless um homeless program with also suicide prevention. By homeless, I mean we we assist homeless veterans and place them into housing and also help those that are facing imminent eviction. We've been around for about uh 10 years and serve 56 counties here in Oklahoma. So again, thank you so much for for being here today and for all your efforts with our our veterans. >> Thank you. Let's thank all these folks for giving our veterans opportunities. All right. Well, thank you all. Thank you all for coming down. Appreciate you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, that concludes office of the mayor. Now we have item four, items from council. Um the uh legislative committee recently met and uh recommended our federal and state legislative issues for the council's consideration for 2026. And uh we have Jane Abraham from the city manager's office here to uh brief us on both of those agendas, federal and state, items A and B on this agenda. >> All right. Thank you so much U. Jane Abraham with the city manager's office and um happy to be here and present the legislative agenda this year. So I'll go through this fairly quickly. Um I know we've got a lot of items to handle today. So uh just first of all starting out just talking about our process that we follow for legislative issues each year. The city manager asked department heads for the items that they believe require a federal or require a legislative fit fix either on the state or federal level. And then requests can also come from council members sometimes or from other groups. Um then they're considered by the legislative committee and then uh that committee makes a recommendation to council. Then uh staff works with our contracted consultants to go and make it happen. So, so first of all, uh the we'll start with the federal legislative issues. So, really the only item that has been um added this year, well, there's a couple of items, but the uh Los Angeles 2028 Olympic events that will be happening in Oklahoma City looking toward advocating for resources to support both security and transportation because we believe those needs are going to be significant. Um, another then the next item that's new is the uh is to advocate for the affordable housing solutions uh which is the there's a bill that has passed the Senate and could now be considered by the house once they open the government again. Um and that's the road to housing act of 2025. and that would provide some resources for both affordable housing um and for cities ac across the country to to address that issue. And then on the next slide under our support and monitor issues, um not really many changes there, these are all um items that we have have looked at in the past or have uh included in our support issues in the past. Um and then on the next one, the next slide for support and monitoring uh issues. This the to continue to uh support the authorization of the national flood insurance program. Um I'll also call out ensure retention of the tax-free status for municipal bonds. That's a significant issue for both Oklahoma City and really all cities across the nation. So then we can move on to our state legislative issues. So this is just kind of a recap of what happened last year. Some of the key items. So the first item is that we amended the open media act to include the sale, lease or acquisition of real property in the list of things that could be discussed in executive session. previously you could talk about it if you were um considering selling property but not for the or if you're considering purchasing property but not for the sale. And so uh that bill that law just became effective on November 1st. The next item was to amend the statute um to allow nuisance abatement to move forward when a property is repeatedly used for criminal activity and that also became effective November 1st. Um, Senate Bill 562 um, amended the statute to increase penalties for assault of a public employee in the course of their duties for transit workers. And this is an item that we've had on our support list for several years. Um, and it was championed by the um, the transit group, the statewide transit organization. And so we were just in a support role, but that was also uh, successful. And then Senate Bill 898 would simplify the business relationship affidavit in the competit competitive bidding act and that made it all the way through the legislature but was vetoed by the governor. So we'll be looking at opportunities to potentially get an override um of that this year if the opportunity presents itself. So under our priority issues for 2026 again [clears throat] again adding the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic events um to monitor basically looking for potential areas of collaboration uh that would be helpful for that endeavor. And then that's the only new item that we have on the priority issues under initiative items again the to try to um do the simplifying the business relationship affidavit clarifying the provisions of the energy energy discrimination elimination act. And then so new this year the ones that are underlined um we are looking to certify behavioral health health case managers that work for the city's mobile integrated health team. So the way that this is structured in the statute to be certified you have to work for specific uh agencies or entities and that didn't include anything in the municipal area. So, we just are wanting to modify that to include that for um our health team and then also for Tulsa's health team or any other city uh in this in the state that wants to um have a mobile integrated health team. Then the next item would be to update the statutes to address explosive materials. And this is just to cover some different loopholes or different areas police are finding that um that people are be getting more and more creative with explosive materials and how um they do harm basically with those. And so to try to tighten up some of the some of the definitions for explosive materials so that they can move forward um with preventing those activities. And then the third item is to update the reporting threshold for traffic accident reporting which is these we always kind of run into this issue with things in statute when they they're put at a dollar amount in like 20 years ago. So it's at a $500 level. So just increasing that to a level that makes sense um for a reporting threshold for those. And then under our support items, the new one this year is to support efforts to invest in mental health services. that's a significant area um that needs support in our state and so just including an item to um to do that. Under our issues to monitor uh there was a significant change to the TOR claims act in 2025 that also went into effect November 1st. So, we haven't seen that impact yet, but we need to monitor that and we may need to um suggest uh suggest changes if once we're seeing kind of the actual impact from that um change and that is all I have. I just want to say that Jane does a tremendous job with this with these issues before the legislature. She is going to be really busy this year, especially with the Olympics. And so I personally wanted to thank you and at this time I'd move for uh approval of 4A. >> Thank you. We've got a motion for adoption of the federal agenda. Is there any comments or questions? Hearing none. We've got a motion and a second. Cast your votes. [clears throat] >> We're working on it. It's fine. >> It's good. >> He says it's good enough. Take that away. >> It's good enough. >> Passes unanimously. And then uh 4 B is the state legislative agenda. Any comments or questions? Hearing none, we entertain a motion. Maybe you can get this one in this time, Mark. >> There we go. >> There we go. Motion in a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. All right. Thank you, Jane, for all your work and everybody who contributed to that. >> All right, item five, our city manager reports. Mr. City Manager, >> thank you, mayor. We have the first quarter report from visit OKC. Don't have a presentation on this today, but it's in your packets if you have any questions. Be glad to work with Zach and his team to uh get information on that. We also have the sales tax report. And on this sales tax report, this is for October. Um, and you can see as you look at this that sales tax is down 1.8%. You know, we've just been on a little bit of a up and down with with sales tax down 1.8%. Still trying to find a pattern of where we are. Um, still in a good position because of coming with the championship and some of what we've seen with utilities that that's been a big boost to us to kind of help us ride this out. Currently, if you look between sales and use SA, use tax also has been down and was down again this month by almost 4%. I think it was four or 5%. Um, it's almost 5% actually down combined. We're still about $500,000 above target for the year. So, still in a decent position, but I think the trend is just one we got to keep monitoring to see where we'll land. We projected a little bit below 2% growth for this year. So, we're just slightly above that, but um just something we've got to keep monitoring [music] and we'll make sure we keep reporting with you all as we go forward. And the budget office is working on doing projections going into the next year to get us prepared for our budget. So, they're working through that work right now and we'll just keep all this in mind and keep you all updated. That's all I have. >> All right. Thank you. That brings us to item six, Journal of Council Proceedings. We have items A and B we could take with one motion. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item seven, request for uncontested continuences. Listed on the agenda is on item 9A, which will be deferred to November 18th. Anything else, Mr. City Manager? >> We have several items on today. And uh starting on page 13 11A is SPUD 1751. This item has been withdrawn. Continuing on to page 15 um 11K1. Item A, all these items that I list out in the next couple will [music] in the next few items will be stricken. Item A is 2145 Southwest 60th Street to rework for a new owner. Continuing on page 15 on unsecured structures, item 11 L1. Item B, 20 1291 Northwestern [music] Avenue to renotify. Item C, 3615 Northwest 15th Street, the owner is secured. Item D, 1504 Northwest 35th Street to rework for a new owner. And item F, 2145 Southwest 60th Street to rework for a new owner. Um item on page 16, item 11, M1, abandoned buildings. All of these are stricken for the same reasons they were previously. Item B, 3615 Northwest 15th. Item C, 1504 Northwest 35th. And [music] item D, 2145 Southwest 60th Street. That's all the items that I have. >> Actually, that was that was a first for me. I want to clarify on item K, the dilapidated structure. Our only item was >> was Yes. >> stricken. So, okay. So, we'll just not have a K today. Okay. All right. Well, that will be the order. Uh item eight, revocable permits and events. Item 8A is a revocable permit with the SKD Events LLC for Riverfront Grand Prix um at the end of this month using property along the Oklahoma River. And we have Mike Loren's here. >> Good morning, Mayor and Council. just here to answer questions and I would like to just first just extend a thank you of appreciation to everybody that has been so helpful from parks department to visit OKC uh in the last three this is our third year now here uh been doing this event for 32 years uh first 28 was in Fort Smith Arkansas I moved to Oklahoma City uh to work for Integris about 7 years ago and then three years ago moved my event over here too and it's been great for us uh I know it's been been great for the the property owners there. And uh the riders love it. We have a lot of guys coming up out of Texas. Um and actually we looked last year nearly 70% of our riders live more than 50 miles from Oklahoma City. So we're bringing in a lot of guys from out of town and uh we we even we don't hire too many people, but we were able to hire a couple of local folks last year to help us out over there and hope to be able to continue doing that this year. >> Does one of your writers live in Oklahoma City? Is this your thing, Todd? Is this something you would race in? Is this [laughter] >> Okay. >> Oh, this is pedaling. Okay. Wait, what is this? Oh, this is a This is a bicycle race. >> Mocycles and four-wheelers. >> Oh, okay. I heard racing and I thought of how Todd's little dangerous hobby over there. [laughter] >> Yeah, I've I've got the same problem. I've been riding dirt bikes for 35 years now. So, >> Got it. >> What time does that start? >> What time does that start? Uh it starts at noon on that Sunday. Uh sat well Saturday and Sunday both. Four-wheelers at noon on Saturday and bikes are at noon on Sunday. Sunday's the bigger of the two days. Uh probably twothirds of the event is actually on Sunday. >> Thank you. >> All right, Councilman Pennington. >> Um well, it sounds like it's very exciting. Um uh Councilman Stone, are we going? We are we both going to go? >> Oh, yeah. >> Okay. >> You can ride on you ride on the back and I'll [laughter] be good. >> I'm scared of that. I would love to have you come out. Uh, heck, we we'll we could let you start the race and, you know, be the the uh the the local celebrity to to celebrity starting. >> Celebrity is a strong strong word. Um, that's right. >> But that's right. >> I [laughter] don't know about that, but >> that's the best part of the whole thing. I'm telling you. >> Well, it does sound cool. Well, with that, I I move approval. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Item AB is a revocable ride ofway use permit with Ventures Endurance Events to hold the OKC Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving um on North Harvey. And we have Melissa Hodkins. Hodchson. >> Feel free to state your name. >> I'm Melissa Hodgson. I put on the Oklahoma City Turkey Trot, formerly known as Turkey Tracks. We've been doing it for, I believe, about 14 years. Um, and with the increase in Turkey Trot popularity across the United States, um, we've grown to about 3,500 um, last year, and I think we could have got more had we not kind of freaked out and just turned off registration. So, we are anticipating a good crowd. working with the police um and making sure everybody's safe. Uh it it starts like he said on Fifth and Harvey and runs down um through the most the prettiest parts of the the of the city like Heritage Hills etc. Um this year we are benefiting the urban mission as we have in the last couple of years which I think is pretty much everybody can agree is needed right now. Um, we start at 8:30 with the onem 5K starts at 9:00. This year we added three kids races that start at 10:00. Um, I mean that's it. Do I have any questions? That last year the the costume contest was epic. Um, yeah, it was our biggest one. So, this is very exciting. >> Thank you, Councilwoman Hman. I can affirm uh that the costumes are always really wonderful to see. So, um very fun event. Appreciate you all for hosting it and I'm happy to move for approval. >> We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Okay. Now, we'll recess council and convene as the Oklahoma City Municipal Facilities Authority. We have items A through K. We could take with one motion. There is uh there are no presentations. Got a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. We'll adjourn OCMFA and convene as the Oklahoma City Public Property Authority where we just have claims and payroll item A. But we'll go ahead and take a vote on that. Got a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. We'll adjourn OCPA and reconvene as the city council. We're on item nine, the consent docket. Um, item A was already deferred. Uh, we have a presentation on item X. Is there anything else that a council member wishes to pull out for separate vote, comment, question? Hearing none, we'll start with that presentation at X. Kenny Sudel with the Alliance for Economic Development will give us introduction on this um ordinance that's making adjustments to [music] the Classen Corridor uh revitalization project plan. Kenny. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Kenny Sudel with the Alliance. Uh this [clears throat] morning uh the item is to uh introduce an ordinance and set for final hearing on November 18th for an amendment to the class and corridor tax increment financing district. So, just as a reminder, this was one that we created back in 2024. Basically, what we're doing is as we created that, you know, we sort of had to draw a line and uh draw the maps and and and get that created. And subsequent, we've had different folks reach out that, you know, said, "Hey, you missed this property or that property." So, this is really just a pretty minor amendment to come in um and add a handful of properties that have some development potential. So, as a reminder, there's really two different maps. The first map is the increment map. That's the area where the taxes are generated for the TIFF district. Um, what we're showing there on the map in front of you and up on the screen is the areas with the purple circles are where we've added some parcels to the increment area. So, these are parcels that uh potentially could be developable and, you know, would be able to access their uh property taxes uh to help make a project happen. The other part of that is when you create a TIFF is you draw a project map, a project area map, and that's a map that is where the money can be spent that's generated. And so typically that's a larger map. So the areas that are kind of highlighted in the yellow uh dotted lines or rectangles, those are the areas that we're adding in to the project area. And really there's a couple of them that we're adding because the where we're expanding the increment area, we had to also expand the project area. But really the majority of these are where we started adding in there's some different schools and a city park so that in the event in the future if there are funds left over as we were amending this we started thinking well we want to make sure those are in that we could potentially spend funds on those areas as well. Um, as as you know, we've had a history of working uh with our partners, other taxing jurisdictions to uh do projects when there's money available. We also are able to do public improvements there. So, that's really the major change. Along with that, we also had to uh update the budget. So, in the project plan, the budget changes as well. And that is to reflect one just we kind of did an update uh of where costs are, but also adding some additional properties in. So that's the total budget moves from 87 million to 68 million. As a reminder, that budget is something that when you create a TIFF, you have to just do your best to estimate what you think would be generated and spent over 25 years. So I will tell you we are probably wrong, but we do our best to uh estimate this. Um so with that, be happy to answer any questions. That's really what we're doing here. There's a lot of changes in the project plan in the actual item because you have to replace all these different maps. There's maps that you have to show what the land use is, the building age, the typologies, all these different things that are part of uh making sure something qualifies to have a tiff district. So, all those had to be updated as well. Happy to answer any questions. >> Uh oh, I'm sorry. No, thank you. Uh, two things actually. Uh after Kenny's done, I think it might be worth our time relatedly to hear about item S. Um I knew I was missing it. uh what will a uh potential developer need to do to I know we have this and this will item S will speak to this question in a lot of respects but as these parameters now come into a more uh more tangible existence what will a developer need to do along that corridor uh should they have a project idea [clears throat] what's that process look like for them >> so if somebody has an idea on one of these parcels that's in the increment area. Um they would need to reach out to the alliance or to Joanna's office and we basically will just hold their hand from that point. We'll we meet with people all the time. We work through the process of you know look at what the proposal is. We look at help with estimates on you know what the increment that may or may not be generated to to kind of figure out what the possible incentives could be. We also work through uh with the developers and uh looking at their budget, their performance etc to make sure that a it needs incentive and b you know how all that works and structures with their financing etc. So it's one of those we really just encourage folks to reach out to my office or to Joanna's office and we jointly work with them to kind of take them through the process. What's this particular process going to look like considering what and thank you for that considering we have TIFF and then as we're about to hear uh we have this nearly million dollar grant that we've won uh competitive grant that involves uh you know really making class a true transit oriented uh development corridor. How are we going to be intentional in meeting the develop redevelopment needs of Classen via, you know, I we have bond options now in terms of the affordable housing funding there, but then also uh the tiff. I'm just trying to be this is new for us I think in a lot of respects having this grant that's asking us to study this corridor but then you have this tip and I'm just trying to figure out because I've had people who live in the Asian district for instance or just in the neighborhoods along class and saying hey I I I really I'm excited about this opportunity but how do they get involved in not just bringing maybe one particular project but trying to see how that project might fit into a more grander vision a bigger vision a coherent vision a cohesive vision for the redevelopment of class. >> Well, I think I'll I'll answer on the uh micro level, maybe Jeff answer on the macro level on you know this this tip just puts one tool in place. This is just a slight expansion of that tool that we've created. But I think Jeff, if you want to take the question about I assume items is the um the grant on the class and corridor study. Is that what we're asking? But that I think that would be a more broad and general look at what other types of tools what other you know kind of that strategic vision. But I'll let Jeff cover that. >> Um yeah. So Jeff Butler, planning director. Good morning. Um would you like me to just kind of explain a little bit about the grant to start off >> that? Yeah. Yeah. Treat me like I'm seven. Go for it. [laughter] >> Um so [clears throat] yes uh as you mentioned it's about uh just under a million dollars. It's from the Federal Transit Administration. Um, and it's given the budget, of course, it's it's enough to do a pretty comprehensive uh plan of that corridor. So, it'll include a lot of different things. Um, kind of to your point in question, um, it will include a a vision of the area. So, uh, literally visuals, uh, but a lot of, uh, description about what the area should be in the near and long term. um how people can um what the most appropriate um types of development would be in any given area and specifically is focused on transit oriented development. So of course we have the new BRT there uh which is uh why the FTA is interested and involved. Um, the goal is really to make that BRT, one of the goals to make the BRT as successful as possible. Uh, to increase wrership, to help folks who live in that area and who will live in that area be able to get to work, to to school, places they want to go, to help that corridor be as healthy and thriving as possible. So, that would include um some increased appropriate density specifically around uh the major transit stops. Um it would also include we will be focusing on uh affordable housing in that area. Making sure that density that does come into the areas is um integrated well and compatible with existing neighborhoods. Um uh working to make sure that we also have um kind of tailored our incentives a little bit more. Um we've heard that um uh there's there's a desire to focus a little bit on um maybe some helping smaller developers. Uh so not just the large developers uh but some smaller ones too just just because we um ideally on that quarter there's plenty of room for developments both large and small scale. Um so I think uh it would be a great opportunity for those that are interested whether it be residents or uh potential developers to be involved in the process. Uh we want to have a substantial uh engagement process as part of this plan. >> Thank you for that. When does that engagement when do we anticipate that engagement process starting? >> Uh good question. Um with the RFP going out it it'll be a little bit before we get all the timelines uh kind of nailed down. So the first step will be to get a a consultant on board. Uh we'll kick it off. We'll we'll kind of get that all scheduled out. We'll develop with them the public engagement process, which as I said, um being a pretty comprehensive planning process, we'll be able to do quite a lot from meetings to surveys to pretty much everything. Um but I it will I think it will go um for for quite a few months. U a plan of this size is probably going to be 18 months or so. And I think it's items S&T and I think that's it is that RFP gives us an opportunity we wouldn't otherwise have to really I mean we could do outreach and make sure we're communicating. This will be a very um significant investment of outreach to make sure all the property owners have the opportunity to engage in this process. And so I [music] think it's going to give us a really great opportunity to kind of advertise what the opportunities are there as well as everyone thinking together on the vision for what that corridor will be. I think that's great. And then an item that's in our affordable housing study that I would request us uh I think it's in chapter 7, one of the implementation stuff. It's about increasing the uh small developer capacity. I think I'm getting that language right. But I think when we're doing that outreach, when the consultant's doing that outreach, I think we have opportunities for people who live along the corridor who are not who maybe don't currently come from the development world, but might have a vision for redeveloping, rehabbing an existing property or doing infill, but they might lack kind of the knowledge of how to do that development work. And I see this as an opportunity. I remember Richard Macauen of course coming up to the podium there during uh the accessory dwelling unit conversation and his words were democratize his industry right bring in people who might not come from the development world into the knowledge of how to redevelop in their own neighborhoods and I think this corridor is a great example when you have people from Putinham to Helm farm to the Asian district who have vision but maybe don't they might lack the knowledge of how to do that and how to access TIFF funds or bond funds. And so I just want us to be very intentional about that engagement. And I would really request that whoever is an item t this professional consultant I think engaging in that sort of work is going to be kind of vital to people feeling like they have had a say in the direction of this corridor. >> Yes, absolutely. >> So those those are those are sort of things. The other thing I just wanted to bring up is I I'm worried because I saw on OKC talk uh that uh the CVS at 23rd in Classen I I hear whoever owns that property has uh moved to redevelop this abandoned CVS as an O'Reilly's. And you might think that's all good except think of the footprint that an O'Reilly needs and it's going to go in that building all to the north of that building and go to any O'Reillies in the in the metro and ask yourself, do they need all that parking? So, you're going to have all of the a sea of parking to the north of this abandoned CVS that is now going to become an O'Reilly. I guess the one from Western is moving. Um, and I'd love for this to be verified. OKC talk uh has reported that they have requested a permit through the city. I'd love to know if that's true. And then I'd like to know if we have the opportunity to work with them because as you just heard, if we're talking about increasing uh affordable housing, which we have funds for here, if we're talking about improving the density in the area uh along a transit uh route where we've made this $28 million investment in the BRT, we're now about to have just all of this parking that could actually be ground level retail and two or three levels of housing above it. And we we we weren't able to get out. I tried I got I was on this horseshoe asking about this area, but we weren't able to get out ahead of it to work with whoever owns that property right now to ask them how they could redevelop that vital intersection in a way that truly meets the the ask of the people for housing there, affordable housing there and for retail. And so I'm just wondering is there still some way that we might be able to uh you know maybe break up that parking lot for instance like and turn it into a retail opportunity that could uh help with the sales tax that you were referring to earlier. City manager I I just think that's a huge problem what's just happened there at that intersection. >> So Kenny and him his team have engaged with the owners there and trying to have some conversations with them. [music] We could reach out to them. I I'm not I'm like you. I don't know that I could confirm. I'd have to check check with staff to see if that what that process is or how far [music] along they are with that. But we can certainly continue the conversation with them. >> And again, no shade to O'Reillies. I'm just saying like there there's a way to be a better neighbor as they're moving into that that redevelopment opportunity there. So, but thank you all for walking through this. This is a lot of complicated uh almost surgical work that we have ahead of us. I'm excited to do it with you. very grateful for the work you all did to secure this grant and I'm grateful for the the tiff and and to the council members for your your faith in this um makes me excited to see what you all are going to do on the southside by the way over in Capitol Hill with the tiff as well. So thank you. >> Okay, thank you. That uh concludes items that were going to be presented or had a council inquiry. So we can adopt a consent docket now. A motion and a second. Cast your votes. Would Councilman Councilwoman Avers have you? >> Okay. Passes unanimously. All right. Item uh X is the concurrence docket. Can take all these items with one motion. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. I called that item X. It's actually item 10. Item 11, items for individual consideration. Uh, item A was already withdrawn. Item 11B, uh, there's a couple uh, things here. This is a, uh, ordinance on final hearing. It was recommended for approval reszoning 1736 Northwest 15th from R2 to SPD 1766. And then there is a amendment to the master design statement for this item. Uh, Councilwoman Hammond, no one is honored to speak. >> Yes. Um, I've spoken with the applicant and staff about this amendment. Um, and it's pretty just simple modifying the setback. So, I'll move for approval on the amendment. >> We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes on the amendment. The item at B1 >> passes unanimously. >> And then I will move. >> Are you wishing to speak or you >> I'm on the applicant. >> Oh, okay. >> I know. if I need >> if you're good with us just approving it. It sounds like that's where we're headed. So, >> sounds great. >> You're good to go. Um yeah, I'll move for approval on the um ordinance itself. >> Okay, got a motion and a second. Cast your votes. 11B2 passes unanimously. All right. 11 C is an ordinance on final hearing. It was recommended for approval resoning 11701 ER from double A to SPD 1773. Councilman Pennington, knowing it's time to speak. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, [clears throat] I'm just going to go ahead and move approval. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item D is an ordinance on final hearing that was recommended for approval reszoning 3726 Northwestern from SPUD 905 to SPUD 1774. Councilman Cooper known to sign up to speak. >> Is the applicant here? Oh, yep. He's got that look on his face like he's excited to get some steps in. He wants to talk about the context of this proposal. We've discussed it, but please share with the public. >> Good morning. David Box, 525 Northwest 11th Street. Uh so this is a resoning to allow the uh Vine Community Church to remain. Uh they've been there for about 20 years. When we were uh originally hired, we were hired to represent them in uh renegotiating their lease. Uh what we discovered in that process is that the use of a church is actually not permitted. And so what we're seeking to do is reszone it to allow the commercial use to remain, but also so that their use is a uh legally permitted use on the site. no protest and it was unanimously recommended for approval by planning commission. >> Well, thank you for that and appreciate you meeting with me because I was very confused like this. They've been here for a minute. So, um I didn't understand at first. So, I appreciate you uh providing some clarity and I would move for approval. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> unanimously. Item E is an ordinance on final hearing. It was recommended for approval resoning 1900 South Portland from I2 and SODD to SPUD 17775. Uh Councilwoman Hammond, no one assigned to speak. >> Um I will move for approval. [clears throat] >> Right. We have a motion and a second. cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item F is an ordinance on final hearing recommended for approval that reszones 512 South Mustang Road from SPD 1648 to SPUD 1776. Uh, Councilwoman Avers know and a sign of speak. >> I hope there's something patriotic going there. Got a motion and a second. Cast your votes. [snorts] >> That's unanimously. Item G, ordinance on final hearing, recommended for denial, uh, reszoning 12516 Roberts Road from double A to SPD 1763. Um, this was deferred from October 21st, and there is an almost universal level of protest, which means that if someone were to make a motion for approval, that would require seven votes. Councilman Pennington, no one to sign up to speak. >> Thank you, mayor. Um, the applicant and the neighbors are still meeting. I think we're very close actually. So, um I'm going to move for continuence to the November 18th meeting of the council. >> All right. So, we have a motion to defer the item for two weeks. Motion in a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item H is an ordinance on final hearing that was recommended for denial closing a portion of the right of way for Northwest 12th adjacent to lots 22 and 23 in block three of class Marquette edition uh near Francis. Councilwoman Hammond. No one is signed to speak. >> Um I will move uh for denial to accept the recommendation. The motion is to deny. And we have a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item H is denied. Okay. Now we're at item I. This is the first of two meetings for this uh proposed ordinance change. Um, I think we have a presentation on this and also this will also cover item J as well. >> That's right. Um, Matt Bogs is our city treasur. Appreciate Matt's work on this with his team. There's two items, I and Jay, that will make these changes for a credit card fee. And I'll let Matt explain the changes we're proposing. >> Uh, good morning. Thank you, Mr. City Manager. What we have before you today is a proposed uh amendments to chapters 52 and 60 of the Oklahoma City Municipal Code that will uh implement a service fee on certain credit card transactions within the city of Oklahoma City. For a little bit of background, let's see. Sean, can you Okay. the um we the city contracts with a credit card processor that handles all credit card transactions that h happen within the city of Oklahoma City. We have what's in the credit card industry known as 25 merchant IDs. So 25 separate places where we accept credit cards. Uh during fiscal year 25 there were an estimated 720,000 credit card transactions that took place for a total of about $40 million. What comes with that is there is a service fee or there's a fee that's charged to us, an implementation fee for these. Uh in fiscal year 2025, it was estimated that there were our fees were $1.2 million. Now, if the proposed changes take place that we're presenting today, it would reduce those fees by about $95,000 per fiscal year. Now the first question you might have is why only 95,000? The we're limiting this to certain areas where we accept credit cards primarily uh permits, fees, and lodging taxes. These three areas make up 75% of the fees that are charged. Um so this is going to exclude so not included today. So it's excluding parking meters, court cost, parks, animal welfare, those type items are not included in this. This is mainly those hotels, permits and and certain things from the schedule of fees because those are high transaction volume at the same time high uh sales dollar volume with those. Now uh next slide. Now what legal authority do we have on this? State statute does allow for a service fee under 14A uh 2211. And for definition of a service fee, it's a mechanism that's authorized by governments to cover the cost of processing transactions. Now, this is important because it's not a search charge. Now, a search charge is where you might have with every uh fee that you have, they would just tack on a certain dollar amount. That's not what this is. by the card holder agreements that we have with the Visa and Mastercard and within state statute and within our credit card processor, we can only recover that amount which is charged to us. So it covers those processing transactions. That's a that's a really important distinction as we talk about this change. Um on the uh next slide we have let's see okay a 2.7% fee that is set by our credit card processor. It would need to be displayed at the point of sale for both in-person transactions and online transactions. And these next two points are really important uh for this discussion. Uh the fee is on a separate transaction. So for a $100 uh transaction that takes place, there would then be a separate dollar $2.70 fee on top of that. There would also be no fee charged if a credit card is the only accepted payment method. So for all of these uh transactions that take place, there is a no cost version for this. An example would be for our hotel taxes, they can pay by credit card. about a third of our hotels do, but twothirds currently pay by a we have no fee for paying by a so there's always a no cost alternative in all of these situations. And and so really we're talking about our current process. So so what happens? What does that look like? So every day when uh customers pay by credit card, what happens is each day overnight those funds are then deposited into the city's bank account. At the end of the month, our credit card processor calculates the fees throughout the month and then debits that from our account under the new proposed changes. If this takes place for those merchant IDs impacted, what would happen is the same transactions would happen. There would be a second transaction that would be the service fee. Those would still get uh the original transaction would still be deposited into the city's bank account. The only difference is at the end of the month, the processor would no longer debit the fees because those had already been covered by the customer throughout the month. That's really the only area we're going to see that change uh from this end. Uh next slide. So looking at we're not we're not living inside a bubble here. We're we're used to this. So, GFOA does recommend uh governments to authorize a fee to promote financial sustainability because really what that does is it aligns the costs with where those are covered because uh currently those costs are subsidized by the the general fund on that. So, this more aligns where the costs come from. Uh there are other municipalities that you have a credit card fee currently. Edund, Norman, Sand Springs, Claremore, and Chalkaw to name a few. Uh in addition to this, there are numerous state agencies that charge a service fee and uh really so in summary um the proposed changes have an effective date January 1st, 2026. There there is some backend stuff that has to happen with uh because a lot of these are online transactions and we've been working with our IT department and with the development services department on getting uh things set up for this. It does follow GFOA best practices and current best practices of other uh governments within the state of Oklahoma and the estimated general fund savings would be approximately 95,000 per year. Um with that I'm happy to take any questions. >> Thank you. All right. Well, there's no questions or comments. Um we can introduce it. This will be set for a final hearing on November 18th. Um, and that is item I first. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. And then related is item J. And same situation. Introdu introduction today. Final hearing November 18th. A motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. All right. Item K was previously struck, so there's no hearing or resolution for that. Item L is L1 is the public hearing regarding the unsecured structures remaining. Several were struck. Uh Amy, has anyone signed up to speak? >> No, they haven't. >> They have not. So, we'll advance to the resolution at L2 declaring that the structures are unsecured. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Uh 11 M1 is the public hearing regarding the abandoned buildings here listed. I think we were just down to one item 1A. Amy, did anyone sign up to speak on that item? >> No, they didn't. >> They did not. So, we'll advance to the resolution declaring that that building is abandoned. [clears throat] Got a motion, a second. Cast your votes. Uh, word eight. Is that what's Mark? Sorry. >> Passes unanimously. All right. Item N is a joint resolution with the Oklahoma City Economic Development Trust approving an allocation not to exceed $766,263 from the assistance and development financing budget category of the class and corridor revitalization project plan for a project at Browns Bakery the Browns Bakery redevelopment project 10th and Walker and uh I think we've got some presentations. >> Kenny will uh Kenny Sudel with the Alliance for Economic Development will introduce this item, introduce the developer to present the project. Good morning. I'm just going to give you a really quick overview of what the actual deal is on this. So exciting at you know 10th and Walker the Browns bakery project. So this is in the class corridor tiff which we discussed earlier. Um this is about a $10.3 million project. The requested incentive would be $766,263. That would be the not to exceed amount and it would be structured as a pay as you go. So you they pay their taxes in they get a percentage back and that would be structured as 95% of the property taxes being uh provided back in years 1 through 5 and then 80% being provided in years 6 through 15. So it would end at year 15 or when it hits the 766 263. So that's brief overview on the actual incentive. I'm going to turn it over to Chris Fleming to kind of walk you through what this project actually is. Thanks, Kenny. Chris Fleming, 11:01 North Broadway. Morning. Um I'm bet everybody's here maybe's had a donut from B Brown's Bakery in the past. Um this is a redevelopment of that project um which is the right um kind of triangular shaped piece here on the map. So kind of the past state of it. Just click through Joanna. So, it's historically Clyde's grocery store, uh, built in the early 1950s with the TGNY next to it. Um, the Clyde's Grocery Store is going to be a future food and beverage use. Um, it's going to have a commissary bakery in it that supports the Summer Moon Coffee franchise in Oklahoma City. And then it'll have a front of house that will have a a cafe type style of dining with it. We are using historic tax credits on this project. um we have that um is all approved and contrary to what some believe there are some people still working in the federal government right now. Um so that's good that they're doing that for us. And um we've got after tax credits about $8 million project. Um estimated completion is the first quarter of this year or next year, excuse me. and uh Kenny kind of spoke about the structure, but the the cash on cash returns without the TIFF um are pretty abysmal and then they get less abysmal with the TIFF. So, let's turn on the screen. Be glad to answer any questions. >> Thanks. All right. Well, then we could take up if there are no questions or comments, we could take up this resolution found at item end. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item O is a joint resolution with the Oklahoma City Economic Development Trust approving an allocation not to exceed $2,533,025 from the assistance and development financing budget category of the class and corridor revitalization project plan. Um this relates to the Eddie building project at 10th and Northwest 10th and Classen. >> So we thought we'd just redo the whole area. So this is right across the way. Um, this is the former MSA site at 10th and Class Drive. And so mixeduse development with 48 apartments, 13,000 square foot of commercial space. It's it's over a $20 million project. Um, the request is uh 2,533,025. That would be the not to exceed amount. Similar to the last one, it would be structured as a payin, you know, payout. If they build it, they pay their taxes. They would how we would proposing to structure it would be 95% of the taxes returned property taxes in years 1 through five and then 80% years 6 through 15. So like the previous one, it would end at year 15 or when it hits the uh not to exceed amount of the $2.5 million. So with that, have Chris come back up and tell us about this part of the project. Um, this is right across the circle from the previous project, former MSA headquarters. Building had been raised a couple of years ago. We were partnering on this project with Klay Farhaw, um, whose family has owned the property for a long time. Um, additionally, with this project, um, we're going to close Classen Drive and create a park in that area and from the from the traffic circle to Dwey. the traffic circle. We're working with uh various city departments and saw a piece of public art on uh in the roundabout and so it's going to be a giant piece of cake uh maybe the largest piece of cake in America. Um so if that's the case, we'll tweet about it and it'll be fun. Um, so that's kind of a vantage point from actually the Browns Bakery site looking to the northwest and just kind of click through Jay kind of some befores and afters with renderings. So there's an idea of what the the park area could look like. to the northwest end of the park area um is an amphitheater and so there'll be an opportunity for um public events that you know live music and other things that are there kind of an aerial looking back to the southwest or southeast there again 13,000 ft ground floor retail 48 apartments. um interesting about the apartments, especially the the 516 foot onebed units, um those are really affordable by design. And so even even with call it market rates of rent, the monthly payment is such that you know we can we can be in the the price range of what would be affordable for this area and be on the low end of the price range. And there'll be 87 on street or on-site parking spots, including 16 umish of new onre spaces as we're working through the the site plan there. Um again, Kenny mentioned the deal structure. Um with no tiff, again, really uh tough returns and then with tiff, it gets a little less tough. Um including the park costs, it's around $21.3 million. And we would estimate uh completing that in the first quarter of 2027. Any questions? >> Okay, >> thank you both. >> I do have a question. Maybe I don't know which one of you might want to help me with it. So again, going back to the affordable housing component of the TIFF, I'm curious were is there any conversation was there any conversation about tapping into the affordable housing component of the TIFF here? >> Um, that's a great question. Um, the the challenge that we feel on that is some of the compliance hoops that live with that beyond I mean this is just general developer feedback. some of the compliance hoops that might exist beyond are difficult for us as developers. I mean we would have to hire like people to keep track of stuff and so we have not engaged on that side of it and so I think just again general conversation maybe not specific to this project. um figuring out how to make compliance pieces with the affordable housing component um more more frictionless is helpful to to develop. Okay. I guess >> and so the let me we we did not use it on this project is the short answer to this project. >> I guess and I I mean I like the project. I especially like what you all are doing with class and I guess my it it some confusion just remains for me in so far as like so what you're describing some of the hurdles that would be in front of you. >> So why we didn't do it? Well, and it's more of a almost not maybe it's almost not from your end, maybe it's from the economic alliance or the city end is like if there are these hurdles facing a developer, what are we doing when we have $15 million in the tiff directed toward affordable housing? And I'll just remind everyone, especially if you weren't there at that nearly hundred people attended uh community uh meeting of creating this TIFF, uh it wasn't me the one screaming about the affordable housing first and foremost. It it was the residents in attendance. So, I'm just curious like if we're hearing from the developer world that there's these hurdles then >> what are we doing to address them? And in this instance, it doesn't sound like we did anything to I'm not trying to be mean. I'm just saying like >> well and and maybe to your point, Councilman, I I think it'd be worthy to have some meetings with Kenny and Chris to see what we can do to remove the friction as Chris said because we want more affordable housing in all of these areas. These are going to be wonderful spaces. Very excited about the growth of Midtown. So, I think if we can just be a part of from a policy perspective improving um conditions so that more developers will actually take advantage of it. So, I think it sounds like a great follow-up meeting opportunity for us. I'm curious. I don't know if the city manager has any thoughts on it, but I >> Yeah, I'll let Kenny weigh in, but I think, you know, one of the things that we have is like we've got to ensure that they remain affordable and we got to have some kind of reporting that we have, but I think we can discuss ways that we can make that as as workable as we as possible as long as we can ensure they continue to be affordable. >> So, I would say this one, and Chris would probably have to answer, but the size of this one's probably one issue because it's only 48 units. So that makes it by nature a little difficult. But affordable housing is something we work on with a lot of different developers. I will tell you that the challenge what it is is they're agreeing and putting covenants in place to forego revenue so to charge a lower amount but the building costs are often the same. You know maybe there's a few less amenities or something. So to fill that gap in the revenues tiff is one tool. I will tell you today we need tiff on market rate. Market [cough and clears throat] rates don't even cover and we have uh several projects that have even gotten tiff and then they've canled and not gotten, you know, market rate projects that have gotten, you know, some pretty good tiff incentives. I'll use an example. Alley's End, the the building that's under construction right now over on um Fourth and and Broadway. Um you know, that was one where there was TIFF in it. There was also ARPA funds in it. We also had they put the developer put um low-income housing tax credits into it. We also had to do a very unique structure where one of the uh uh alliance entities, the redevelopment author, it's actually a city entity um bought the land and leased it to them over a very long period of time. So on that one is a great example of a a affordable housing project that it and I think I named just there four or five different actual things that we had to put into it. And then what I think um Chris is is mentioning is is then there's some difficulty and you know it's different than just leasing a normal property. You've got to ensure that the folks meet those income, you know, restraints and things. And so there's just additional um overhead that goes into managing a property like that. So it's it's not an easy answer and TIFF is not a silver bullet for that. TIFF's not even a silver bullet right now for market rate and and and this is going to change over time. You know, sometimes the markets will get better, sometimes it'll get worse. But I think it it's kind of back to um Councilman, you know, having the affordable housing dollars and the Gul bonds. Those are things we could layer, but I think a lot of times we've got to find multiple tools to try to layer onto these projects. And that's just the reality of it. Um, and I don't know what else to say, but I think the the layering and, you know, there's probably ways we can work with some of the finance authorities and others that implement the rules to try to make this as streamlined and easy as possible for developers, but I think it's it's an economic question most of the time. Are you going to add >> one more thing to chime in there to to help on it? Um Kenny's right on the size of this one. It being 48 units is hard to have the compliance piece kind of pencil out the ongoing compliance piece. But then also just kind of to be aware when it comes to the affordable housing number um or the continuing on with affordable housing. if you're you're basically setting your cap on rent at some level, but the operating expenses continue to rise and some of the operating expenses are out of control um out of your control. So, like property insurance being one of those, it's a major issue right now. And so, what we've observed with affordable developer uh people that we know is that they have to hold their rents right here and their prop and their their expenses are continuing to rise on operating basis. And so they're they're just getting squeezed into literal bankruptcy in some instances despite the assistance that's there because the assistance maybe helps on the upfront piece, but it hamstrings them on the ongoing piece. And so it's it's a it's a real I mean it's a real challenge. So but I'd be glad to talk offline more about it or or whatever, but it be you know it's a great discussion. I I appreciate you all walking us through that. I guess where I'm at is I hear I do I hear everything you all are saying. I've heard these conversations now for several years. I'm obsessed with them. I talk about them from this horseshoe. I guess my question is knowing what we're hearing from a developer, a local developer is Where are we then in finding the policy solutions which are many of them are outlined by the way in the affordable housing study right but where when are we going to craft the answers the solutions that we just heard to this issue so that these items don't keep coming to council without some sort of affordable housing component. So, for instance, I mean, I talked with a counselor in New York City just uh a week ago, sorry, about a month ago. He's running for Congress now. Represents like the Midtown area. um they just passed u a package there in New York City, the heart of New York City, where it it's got an affordable housing component to it that says when you do like a literally a development like you're doing right now where 30% of the units have to be uh at x amount of the area median income and then the rest are market, right? They did that. They just did that. They just did that like a month or two ago. So I guess that's where I'm struggling here is like where are we then in doing s putting in place similar parameters if there and I understand this is all complicated. I completely this is not me trying to be like nitpicky and and and judging and these things. I'm literally trying to get us some forward momentum here because I think there's an urgency when it comes to affordability right now. Uh, I just think these issues will always come before us because the market it es and it flows and and we've been going through a really difficult time the last few years with interest rates and we're hoping to see some light at the end of the tunnel, but um I I I talk to developers all the time and that it's it's like was mentioned by one of the two of you, there's this layering process and it is complicated and it's it's getting funds from several different sources. And with the market and with Congress changing from time to time, those layers come and go. So I I don't think one sizefits-all. I don't think you can correct it with one thing. They may have been able to do it in New York. I don't know about that here. Uh I really believe this is going to keep coming back to us again and again is all I'm saying. >> You're not wrong. And just to move us out of New York territory, I mean there's I could point to us examples in Virginia like there are other places that are that we've been studying that we can be addressing this. So I guess that's more my question is I understand the layering. I guess that's what I'm asking for going forward is like when these projects when the when a developer comes to us with one of these proposals, how can we be better at crafting the different layering with them to get them what they're trying to achieve to get us to meet our needs to be able to say, "Okay, it's not going to just be the tiff, but it's going to be the bond and it's going to be this the state tax credits." like help the developers to be able to do what we know our affordable housing study says we need doing. >> I'm I'm hoping one day soon you'll go get to go through that layer layering process with a developer and see it's it's months not days and then it's met with rejection. It's met with having to go back to the drawing board. It is incredibly complex. >> Yeah. And I think too we're we're glad to sit down and have conversations about it. Some of these are not easily solved. They're just not. And I think some areas are going to be tougher to do. And I think this like everyone has said like the changes in the market as it goes up and down have benefit us. We have been successful in areas with doing. Ali's End is a great example of that. Um the fairgrounds flats is another example that we've been successful with it. And I think we continue to have these conversations. Having Shannon on now with affordable house, you know, focusing on our housing. I think that brings another voice to this that we can continue to have conversations with developers and with our team to look [music] at what we can do, but it's trying to make sure that we're also still ensuring that we're maintaining that affordability. >> Yeah. And Councilman Stone Cipher, to literally your point, I just about a month ago asked to have a sit down. I'd be happy to do it with Chris, but I literally Jonathan Dodson has lit has asked for a similar thing. So, I'm ready to do that. I guess that's what I'm saying is I'm ready to do that. I have been ready to do that. I'm excited to do that. I'm happy to sit and learn. I don't have all the answers. >> He He's good at it. >> So, I think that'll be good. But I'm just saying going forward, I think it is incumbent upon us through economic alliance and the council that when these projects that involve housing come to us that we have exhausted to the best of our ability all the different layering that's going to be possible to meet these needs. That's what I'm asking for. I don't want to keep having these situations come where it's like, well, we couldn't we couldn't figure it out. Um okay. >> Sit down with sit down with Tim Strange about Alli's End about the local neighbor that pitched a huge fit and cost him $2 million more just to change the color of brick that was going on the outside of the building. >> Well, and look, I can tell you all across this country, there's what they call nimiism. um uh people saying that they don't want they I want affordable housing but I need it built somewhere far away from me uh and and that which is strange because the schools that their children are going to are right there so certain the teacher be able to afford the housing in the neighborhood where they're teaching the student and I think oftent times people misunderstand who needs affordable housing um and so that yes no I I hear those sorts of complaints Um, so, >> oh, I'm sorry. Um, I'm sorry. Just one more thing. This, this idea though, it worries me and we we need to focus on this part of it, too. If we're, if I'm hearing you correctly, you're saying that once we start getting a lower number of something like 47 units, then it becomes more difficult. But that should be a huge concern to this council, especially when we're talking about the class corridor or Capitol Hill where we have a history of forplexes, duplexes, eightplexes, these historic buildings that I say define the character of a lot of the urban core. And if what Chris is saying is true, and I have no reason to believe it's not, then we're going to have a hard time replicating affordable units that look like the history of this city. And I would challenge us that that's something we're going to have to figure out. We can't just build a 100 unit apartment complexes all the time. It really does need to be a a diversity of a range of housing from the duplex to the four to the eight to the 47. And if I'm hearing you say you're having that concern and issue, then that's something we got to be very intentional about um as well. I'll just leave it at that. The only thing I would add to that, I'm not disagreeing with you at all, but when you talk about the gentrification of the neighborhood, right, you're increasing the the price of that housing. >> Say it one more time. >> Yeah. When you're sitting there spending a lot of money beautifying areas, okay, you're also raising the price of that housing in that area. I wish Shannon was here because she just spoke on this at our affordable housing town hall. So, on the one hand, I hear what you're saying. This is why it's important when we're doing those developments, like if he were going to go into Capitol Hill, for instance, or over on Classen. That's why it's going to be important that X amount of the units inside his uh development are at an affordable housing rate so that as things are rising over there, there's an affordable component where people can still live in that neighborhood, can still afford to live in that neighborhood. Do you see what I'm saying? That's why I'm so obsessed and spending so much time up here speaking at length trying to have units in there that are affordable. That's the only way we're going to be able to avoid this gentrification that you're talking about because there are developers who without coming to any government who are going to come over there to Capitol Hill and Class and they're going to build out of uh price range projects that are going to contribute to that gentrification. So, we have this moment of intervention that's in front of us that's possible. I hear you is what I'm saying and I'm trying to figure out ways to help intervene in that. Todd, >> if there's no further discussion, I'll move for approval of this item. >> All right, we're on item P to remind No, I'm sorry, item O to remind you. This is a joint resolution and we've got a motion to adopt. A motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item P is a resolution authorizing the calling and holding of a general and runoff election in the city of Oklahoma City for the purpose of electing the mayor. Uh election dates are February 10th for the general, April 7th for the runoff. Also worth noting that filing is December 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. There's no presentation. It's fairly straightforward. We can take a motion. We have a motion and a second. cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item Q is a resolution authorizing the life and legacy of Robert Bob Ravitz and naming the maps for mental health crisis center, the Oklahoma City Robert Ravitz [music] Crisis Center. Um, sometimes namings come from the top down, sometimes they kind of bubble up from the grassroots. And so I think David Todd's here to tell us a little bit about the uh evolution of this proposal to name uh one of our crisis, >> right? [clears throat] Uh thank you, David Todd, MAPS program manager. Um, each of our facilities that have operators, we we give them the the right to name the facility has been done with many of our facilities and this one is is being requested through the operator and the significant benefactor for the project to honor Mr. Ravitz uh with his service towards mental health and um I think it's listed in the resolution all the different uh groups and and organizations that he served with and I think it's very very appropriate at this time. >> Yeah. I'd like to just make a brief comment. Um I first met Bob the first year I passed the bar. We worked on many projects whether it be with the bar association and lawsuits. I always went to him for guidance. But in about 1990, we moved to this neighborhood and my neighbor, separated only by offense, was Bob Ravis. And I would see Bob in the neighborhood, wonderful family, wonderful wife, Diane. Um, the one thing I want to say about Bob, um, he is one of the greatest lawyers I ever met. I went to him often for advice. He was courageous. He was tenacious. Uh he never gave up on helping the unrepresented. And I can't think of a better name for this crisis center uh than for Bob being recognized and his family being recognized. U I hope to move this item forward. >> Well said. Bob was a icon in the community. We're very grateful for his life and legacy. Any other comments? If not, we'll see if we can get a second on that. Got a motion in a second. Maybe. There we go. One more time. [clears throat] Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Okay. Item R is a resolution approving the incurrent incurrence of indebtedness by the Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust and uh we have a presentation. >> Yes, Dennis why with public financial management or PFM is our uh financial adviser, municipal adviser and has been for a very long time for the city as well as the water utility trust. Really appreciate their partnership with us. He's going to give us a presentation on the request for incurrence of indebtedness here. Also want to recognize um Vanessa Aguilar who leads the finance team and utilities. Appreciate her work and leadership in this as well. >> Thank you. Good morning, mayor, council. Uh this is I think the last step in our journey to get the financing together for the water utility to complete its CIP. If you remember back in April, we increased the size of the commercial paper program from 350 to 500 million. uh that's with uh SNBC or Sumattomo Bank. The capacity was raised to assist with the appropriation and spending needs of Aquit. Uh a refunding was uh occurred on October 23rd to restore the capacity in the commercial paper program, but a very successful sale. So, uh refunded 50 million in commercial paper and raised 150 million in new money. The new money is to help us bridge uh the funding needs over the next 18 to 24 months. And it just so happens that the refunding uh closes on Thursday. So, as I said, this is the final step and this is the bank note program that we've looked at in the past and we're successful this time. Uh this is also to provide additional appropriation spending capacity for the water utility. We received two responses to our RFP. Uh after evaluating the responses, uh Bank of Oklahoma had the best response, the most cost-effective response for $175 million bank note program. Uh we started the process in July. Uh responses were due in August. We negotiated documents in September and October and tentatively tentatively plan to close the the bank note on November 18th. Since I did a market update last time I was here, I thought I'd just circle back real quickly on that. Uh the uh Fed lowered their borrowing rate 25 basis points on September 17th, and I mentioned that last time. The Fed also on October 28 and 29 met and lowered rates another 25 basis points, which is good for the short end of the market. Uh the Fed chairman also mentioned that it is not a foregone conclusion that rates will come down again in December. So there's a possibility they could have a pause uh see what the markets do over the next couple months. Of course, we haven't seen as much economic data as we did prior to the shutdown. So that could be one possible reason uh to find out more information about employment and inflation. Um, so what we're seeing in the market now is short-term rates come down and due to uh investors wanting an inflation premium, we're seeing longerterm rates move a little bit higher and the market pivoting off the 10ear. So we're seeing a steepening of the yield curve. And with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Well, if there's no questions or comments, we could take up the resolution. [snorts] We have a motion and a second. Uh I would note that six affirmative votes are required to incur indebtedness and seven to require to wave competitive bidding. Please cast your votes. passes unanimously and with the necessary votes to incur indebtedness and to wave competitive bidding. All right, that brings us to item S. We have a claim recommended for denial. Executive session is not requested by staff. We could take a motion on that. Motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item T is a claim recommended for approval. Executive session is not requested by staff. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. That concludes votes for today. We are item 12. Comments from council. Word one. Word two. There we go. Yeah. Uh, yes. Uh, I wanted to speak to anyone in W 2 right now who might be struggling with uh, food access. Uh specifically, I wanted to point you to some resources uh as we're facing uh SNAP benefit reductions by half right now. Um so here are some options for you. One, I'd like for you to consider uh 211. And when you go there, you're going to see some information about food pantries. You could also go to the Mental Health Association of Oklahoma and on their page uh you will find a basic needs moment where you'll see food pantries uh and information about how to contact them uh ranging from the regional food bank etc. Uh, I can tell you it was quite a troubling site to go on my Instagram and see one of the mosques in Wu um there on St. Clair uh to see them have a line of vehicles uh down St. Clair all the way to Northwest Expressway, 39th Expressway. Uh and they were saying this is an increased number of people accessing their services than what they normally see. I've had students reach out to me um even prior to the SNAP reduction um who have not had regular access to to food. And so when you hear me up here speaking about affordability, it is because it's something I'm hearing and seeing in word two. And so I just wanted to bring that to everyone's attention. Um, so again, Mental Health Association of Oklahoma, check out the basic needs section for any resource uh, information. Same for 211. And then I'll just conclude by pointing out uh, when it comes to SNAP, uh, there are stories we tell and often those stories are about fraud and abuse. But I would remind everybody that 2thirds of people who utilize SNAP are children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. And then the other vast majority have at least one full-time working member in their household. Uh it's from PBS that is also from John's Hop, excuse me, John Hopkins. Um, and so I'll also point out that even though spending for that program is around $99 billion, you often get about $187 per participant per month. So it's a few dollars uh meal per person um per day. And we've just cut that in half for people. And so that's why I'm seeing the long line of cars outside of a mosque. And so I'm really really grateful for uh the places of worship and the nonprofits which have stepped up uh in this moment. Mayor, let me also just say I heard your comments recently uh at the United representing the United States Conference of Mayors and just talking about the absolute silliness of not having an operating federal government. I really appreciate that. >> Yes. I just want to add Oklahoma City 136 years without shutting down. [laughter] We're solid streak here. >> There was something about your remarks that drove that home for me that there's this dysfunction at that level of government that we're we don't have I'm not saying we're not perfect here that we are perfect here. I'm saying we do have some things to do, but this dysfunction and I think it's often rooted in the stories we tell. I think there's a cruelty in what's happening at the federal level. And um but I just want people to know there are resources here in the city and if you struggle with accessing those resources, please reach out to any of our council members office and we'll we'll do our best to help connect you to those services. So thank you so much. >> Thank you Ward for >> Thank you, mayor. I would just like to uh wish my wife a happy birthday. Today's her birthday, which means >> uh tomorrow's our anniversary, 40 42nd anniversary. I know I look pretty young for that, but um it's basically it's nice because it shows that she won the lottery like 42 years ago. So [laughter] anyway, thank you. That's it. >> Well, though I hope that no one would spend their birthday watching a city council meeting. In the event that she is, I wish her happy birthday as well and happy anniversary to both of you. Ward five. >> I'd like to send condolences to Maryanne Stone for 41 and a half years of living ill. Um, and I'd also like to send condolences to Kenton Sudel cuz his Blue Jays lost. But I want to give congratulations to Debbie Miller who was the recipient of one of the women of the year awards from the journal record and thank the Oklahoma City Economic Development Department for the great it's a senior apartment complex uh below medium income that they just built at 74th and I44. 43 units, brand new, beautiful. I Ruben cut it yesterday. same people who built what's across the street from the fairgrounds. Um, great group of people, neat project for South Oklahoma City. That's it. >> Thank you. W six. W seven. >> Um, yeah. I just just wanting to while we always try to recognize staff that are doing amazing things. And of course, before I say that, congratulations to the Stones um for their anniversary. I need all the advice I can get to last 42 years. So, you're gonna have to talk to me about that. Um, I I want to uh really thank um our director of development services, Brock Row. Um, we had a great meeting with some of our neighbors in far greater far northeast Oklahoma City. Um, they have a lot of concerns about infrastructure. Um, he very graciously came to meet with uh me and some other neighbors, handled them so well in the way that he just graciously dealt with them. So, Brock, if you're listening, I just want to say thank you to you for the great work you're doing in our city. Um, I also want to thank our mayor and all the all the team for the work that's done around the sitin uh monument in downtown Oklahoma City. If you have not been, it is incredible. Um, what a testament to um the history that we have made uh in Oklahoma City and the way that we've helped change the nation. Um, and I thought, mayor, your remarks were awesome. It was really great. So, that one was one for the one for the ages. So, um, really excited about that event. We had hundreds of people there. So, um, please make sure you go by and see that. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations, Todd. Thank you. >> All right, that concludes comments from council. Item 13 is citizens to be heard and we have one, Ronnie Kirk. My name is Ryan Kirk. My address is 2328 North Missouri. First of all, I'm going to say I am not a prejudice man. I was mixed married for years. Aie Jung Su Makulla, Miguel Rodriguez, my stepson. I mean, my son-in-law, Mr. Mayor, when you spoke at the monument, you spoke from your heart. The words you said is the words people been wanting to hear for years. Forgive, forget, let's come together. That's what they've been wanting to hear from a man in power for years. 100 years. You said everything you talk for almost 30 minutes. I say he's not reading no script. This is coming from his heart in his mind. And yes, it was. And I want to thank you for that. But today, I want to talk about those poems. When Mr. wind was thrown down by the police from his man. He was frustrated trying to figure out why he got stopped. He's frustrated. He was throw down on the ground and head bus wide open. He died last month. And the young lady in Washington got tased by the police. She said, "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus." That mean I forgive you in the name of Jesus. That was no intention of her throwing that water. It was just saying, "I forgive you." But in this state here, so that won't continually happen. He need to replace the old tasers, check them, repair them, or do whatever's needed. So, we won't keep hearing this throughout this state about this simple thing that y'all can fix. And I want to say thank y'all. Mr. Mayor, the city needed the words that you spoke. It was well received from everybody. Everybody. Not just the white, black, but the whites and everybody. Well received. Well, thank you for taking us into a future that we can live in. Thank you. >> Thank you for your kind words, Ronnie. Well, that concludes item 13, which means we have arrived at item 14, adjournment, and we are adjourned.