Good morning. We're going to get started this morning with an invocation led by Pastor John Midenorf of OKC First Church of the Nazarene. And that will be followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Alexis Goodson representing Girl Scout Troop 424. Please stand as you are able. Gracious God, you have told us how we are to live and move. Today, may our city council fully embody for us what it means to walk humbly, to love justice, and to show mercy. While you and your grace do all the things that only you can do, may we extend your grace by doing the things you've called us to do. So in every vote, every conversation, every decision, no matter how large or small, may these men and women be fully aware of your presence and fully aware of the opportunities they have to serve and support the people of Oklahoma City. So grant them wisdom and the imagination to remember the names and the faces of people who will be impacted by the work of this council today. It is our prayer that as a result of that same work that we would all enjoy a fresh supply of hope and possibility. It's in your son's name we pray. Amen. Will you all join me in the United States Pledge of Allegiance? Attention. Salute pledge. 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. >> Well, thank you, Pastor Mindorf, and thank you, Alexis. I call this meeting of the city council to order. And we have some items under item uh three, office of the mayor. And I will make my way to the front to make those presentations. All right. Maybe we'll start with our friends from public transit, which is a significant part of the room. If all of our public transit professionals would come to the front of the council chambers, you can go on both sides. Well, coming up is public transit professional appreciation day and of course we are very proud here in OKC of our uh transit department. We know it as either Katpa or Embark. It goes by many names but uh but most importantly it provides a very valuable service to the people of Oklahoma City. Um and it does it professionally and with a smile. And so we'd like to learn a little bit more about it by hearing the words of this proclamation. I'd ask the clerk to read it. Whereas public transit benefits all residents by reducing traffic and parking congestion, improving air quality, and making our city more equitable and accessible to all. And whereas Embark public transit professionals manage a fleet of vehicles each day, maintain on-time route performance, collect fairs, assist residents in understanding and using the transit system, and play an integral role in driving the community of Oklahoma City forward. And whereas the duty of an embark bus operator is to safely maneuver transit vehicles through unpredictable traffic, tough weather conditions in very tight spaces while exercising caution and following the laws of the road to maximize the safety of passengers. And whereas Embark street car operators are entrusted with the safe and efficient operation of modern street car vehicles along fixed routes in the heart of the city, navigating through busy downtown streets, interacting with pedestrians and cyclists, ensuring timely service for residents and visitors, maintaining smooth operations that connect key districts and support the vitality of our urban core. And whereas Embark mechanics, street car technicians, service persons, and parts people provide expertise in the cleanliness, preventive maintenance, and upkeep of Embark's fleet of buses, vans, shuttles, and street cars for the safety of our customers, visitors, and community. And whereas embark facilities and maintenance staff provide for the preservation and cleanliness of bus stops, street car and BRT platforms, the transit center and public transit facilities through the heat of Oklahoma summers and the harsh conditions of winter storms. And whereas the embark support staff and administrative administration provide excellence in customer service, dispatch and ensure the integral role of public transit to the transportation of residents and visitors to the neighborhoods and districts of the community. And whereas embark public transit vehicles travel in excess of 4.2 2 million miles and facilitate nearly 3.5 million passenger trips annually in the greater Oklahoma City area. Now therefore, I, David Holt, mayor of the city of Oklahoma City, do hereby proclaim March 18, 2026 as Public Transit Professional Appreciation Day in Oklahoma City. >> Thank you. Well, we do in fact appreciate uh the many folks uh who serve our city in this capacity and they are led by Jesse Rush, our transit director, and we'd love to hear a few words from you, Jesse. >> Thank you. Appreciate that. Uh first, thank you, mayor, city council, city manager. Appreciate the proclamation. Appreciate the recognition today. Um so, this year we're actually celebrating 60 years of public transit being a a public service in Oklahoma City. So, public transit's been around since 1903, but it was until 1966 when the Central Oklahoma Transportation Parking Authority was formed. That's our board that manages our day-to-day operations. Um, we've been branded as Mass Trans, uh, Metro Trans and then in 2014, we were branded as Embark. Uh, we've been pro providing public transit in Oklahoma City. Um, so just to provide a little bit of context of what we do, right? So, it was mentioned that we carry about 3.5 million folks every single year. That's about averages about 10,000 uh folks every day. And so to put that into a little bit more additional context, that's about 10,000 cars that are off the road, right? Reducing that congestion on the roadways, reducing that greenhouse gases as well. Uh the folks that are joining me up here today that represent our uh Legends program, which we launched back in 2020. Uh and they really exemplify our core values of being safe, being there, being open, or being kind. and really going above and beyond just the day-to-day of what they do, whether it's, you know, making sure that someone can safely get to their appointment um in providing that access. And then um just to give a little bit more context of how we step up. So the city, you know, we we oftent times have uh extra duties and we often step up. And so good example of that was that the recent uh winter weather that we had here in Oklahoma City, our folks never missed a beat. We never missed a single hour of service. we were always there to make sure we were there to provide that access. And then finally, just to wrap up, I just like to point out that, you know, [clears throat] whether you use public transit or not, it is likely that you interact with someone every day that does. And so, it's very, very important the services that we provide. And I just want to say thank you to everyone here and everyone back home that is out there driving the buses or maintaining them. And so, again, appreciate that. >> Absolutely. Let's hear it for our transit professionals. [applause] >> Thank you. appreciate you. Thank you. >> All right, why don't we have Tammy come on down? >> [clears throat] >> So Tammy Maxwell is somebody quite well known to those of us in the mayor and city manager offices, but uh we would like everyone to learn a little bit more about you, Tammy. And so I would ask the clerk to read this resolution. >> Whereas Tammy Maxwell has been a city employee for 14 years and serves as an administrative coordinator for the city manager's office. And whereas Tammy consistently delivers highly accurate, reliable work that requires minimal review. And whereas Tammy upholds respect always and demonstrates service first by maintaining a calm professional presence while managing a high volume of public calls and challenging interactions with accuracy and care, ensuring each person feels heard and supported. And whereas Tammy exemplifies one city, one team by assisting with multiple projects across teams and helping ensure shared success. And whereas Tammy embodies keep getting better by staying organized, refining her processes, and embracing new responsibilities as opportunities to grow. And whereas this council desires to recognize Tammy Maxwell for her dedication professionalism and commitment to the residents of the city of Oklahoma City. Now therefore, be it resolved by the mayor and council of the city of Oklahoma City that they do hereby thank and commend Tammy Maxwell, March 2026, South Oklahoma City Kowanas Club employee of the month. >> Well, thank you. Now, uh this is a resolution. and we'll handle that and then I think your um your boss wants to talk a little bit but uh let's first see if we can get a motion in a second. Uh please cast your votes. Uh I wish to vote I >> also vote yes. >> Passes unanimously. Um and then before you have the floor. So you do get the final word here. I think uh that's why you got to be careful. >> [laughter] >> I think the city manager. >> Yeah. I I just I don't try to interject in these typically, but Tammy does work in our office and she just does such great work and so quietly too. Just like she doesn't draw attention. She's not looking for anything extra, but just comes in every day doing her work and faithfully serving. She has played a significant role with the public safety partnership working with Andrea Grayson and she's she's just a good person. She makes the city of Oklahoma City a better place to work and makes all of us better. So, thank you, Tammy, and congratulations. >> Thank you. Yes. [applause] And I I have to add, I noticed this mentioned in the resolution about managing a high volume of public calls. I feel like I owe you a personal thank you for all the people you've probably talked to on my behalf, but um we would love to hear some words from you, Tammy. And so, the floor is yours. I am honored to receive this um award. Um it wouldn't be possible without the incredible team in the city manager's office and the support of my family. >> All right, let's hear it for Tammy. Thank you. [applause] >> [applause] >> Okay, now we have uh why don't we bring uh Major Guthrie down. Where's Major Guthrie? Come on down. Now, once a year, we of course, you know, we do the monthly um employee of the month, which of course was just Tammy, but we also do the firefighter of the year and police officer of the year. And uh this the year we're referencing is 2025. I know that was a couple months ago, but you know, it takes us a minute to this is this is an arduous process. We had to we had to spend the first quarter figuring out who would in fact be the firefighter of the year. And so we would like to learn a little bit more about Craig Guthrie. And so I would ask the clerk to read this resolution. >> Whereas Craig Guthrie has been a city employee for 13 years and is a major in the Oklahoma City Fire Department. And whereas Major Guthrie exemplifies professionalism leadership and collaboration consistently strengthening relationships across city departments and partner agencies. And whereas Major Guthrie is highly organized, detail oriented, and holds himself to exceptional standards, reflecting positively on the department. And whereas Major Guthrie served as the heart of the city coordinator for the fire department and participated in the city's leadership Q program, demonstrating creativity and commitment to teamwork. And whereas during a recent leadership Q session, Major Guthrie went above and beyond to ensure success, earning praise from the city's chief human resources officer for his exceptional efforts. And whereas Major Guthrie provided critical support during a leadership transition, maintaining continuity of operations and high standards while working out of classification. And whereas Major Guthrie contributed significantly to key departmental initiatives, including implementing the Fire Rescue Academy online training platform and transitioning the fire rescue evaluation instrument to the fire SPO. And whereas this council commends Major Guthrie for his exemplary leadership, professionalism, and dedication which have positively impacted the fire department, the city, and the community. Now therefore, be it resolved by the mayor and council of the city of Oklahoma City that they do hereby thank and commend Major Craig Guthrie, the 2025 South Oklahoma City Kowanas Club Firefighter of the Year for his outstanding service and commitment to excellence. >> Thank you. Now, this is a resolution. So, let's see if we can get that motion and second. There it is. Please cast your votes. I wish to vote I. Passes unanimously. Well, Major Guthrie, thank you so much for your service. I'm glad it could be recognized today. Um, and we would love to hear a few words from you. The floor is yours. >> Sure. >> Okay, that was a lot. U first of all, uh, thank you, council, Mr. Mayor, uh, city manager, assistant city managers that are here. Um, I'm humbled by this. Uh, Fire Chief, Deputy Fire Chief Smiley and, uh, Chief Frasier. Um, here with me is my family and friends. Um, means a lot to me that y'all are here um, supporting me. So, I just want to say thank you to everybody and I'm very humbled by this. Thank you. >> Absolutely. Thank you. Let's hear it for Major D. [applause] Thank you. Okay, now if Sergeants Smith, Pickle, and Franks could come down. Well, similarly, you three are sharing an honor as the police officers of the year 2025, and we would love to learn a little bit more about you. And so I would ask the clerk to read this resolution. >> Whereas Sergeants Samuel Smith, Chad Pickle, and Clinton Franks have served as city employees for 7, 19, and 25 years, respectively, and are assigned to the Oklahoma City Police Department's Hefner Division. And whereas these officers comprise the Hefner Division Crime Unit: Crime Reduction through Intelligence Managed Enforcement, exemplifying dedication and professionalism in reducing crime and safeguarding Oklahoma City residents. And whereas the Hefner Division Crime Unit gathers and analyzes data to identify crime trends and hotspots, disseminates intelligence, and develops action plans in collaboration with patrol officers, investigative units, and local and federal partners. And whereas in 2025, the Hefner Crime Unit led four major jugg investigations tied to 16 incidents and over $78,000 in losses, resulting in eight arrests. Dismantled a Romanian skimming crew, recovering extensive equipment and more than 100 cloned accounts, preventing a widespread financial loss. coordinated with partners to disrupt an ATM jackpotting crew responsible for over $100,000 in local losses and $40 million nationally. Spearheaded Operation Grinch, resulting in five arrests, 32 charges, recovery of $45,000 in stolen property for 16 victims, seizure of eight firearms, and removal of a large quantity of methamphetamine. And whereas the Hefner Division Crime Unit's leadership, coordination, and innovative use of technology strengthen public safety, return stolen property, remove dangerous firearms and narcotics, and disrupt criminal networks. And whereas, this council commends the Hefner Division Crime Unit for their remarkable accomplishments and unwavering commitment to protecting the community. Now therefore, be it resolved by the mayor and council of the city of Oklahoma City that they recognize and commend Sergeants Samuel Smith, Chad Pickle, and Clinton Franks, the 2025 South Oklahoma City Kowanas Club Police Officers of the Year for their remarkable contributions, outstanding leadership, innovation, and unwavering commitment to public safety, and service to the residents of Oklahoma City. >> Thank you. Uh well, this is also a resolution and so I would ask the council to make a motion. Have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. I wish to vote I passes unanimously. Well, this um this was a really good resolution because it like it made it very real the work that you're doing. Uh I think for all of us it also means we're going all going to have to Google jugging later but um but uh but it really I think uh illuminates the importance of our police department's work and certainly you are exemplary examples of that. Um I believe that it is um Sergeant Smith that was nominated here to be the spokesperson for the group and I see you came prepared. So Sergeant, the floor is yours. >> Well thank you Mr. mayor and thank you city council for this award and a special thanks to the Kuanas Club who sponsors this award. My partners and I are especially humbled and honored to stand here today and be recognized. I'd first like to thank God for keeping our officers safe and for giving us the opportunity to serve. I would also like to thank our wives who are in attendance today for their steady support. And while the three of us here are being honored, I would like to acknowledge that the success of our team is the result of many who support us. As a legendary John Wooden said, "A player who makes a team great is better than a great player." Over the last year, we have had several officers who rotated into the unit temporarily and assisted in our operations. Starting with Sergeant John Pittz, Sergeant Danny Arbellas, Sergeant Cody Lewis, Sergeant James Blood, and Officer Zach Lucas. I would also like to acknowledge our police analysts for the countless hours that they have devoted to our team. A special thank you should be given to Captain Ben Weir for this award should equally be his. Captain Weir is an elite leader. He is the epitome of this department. Without his leadership and guidance, our unit would not have the success and growth that we have experienced over the last year. Captain mentors us and strives to make each one of us a better leader, a better officer, and a better man. He is the type who writes a personal letter to your family thanking them for their support of his officers. He is the type of leader we should all desire to model after. So, thank you, Captain Pier. Policing is not always easy. It demands patience and pandemonium and compassion in conflict. It requires us to see people in their worst moments and respond with respect. And this award reminds me that what we do matters. Each life we impact, each citizen we serve, each victim we help find justice is what drives us to do our job each day. Let's continue to do that. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Let's hear for our officers of the year. [applause] All right. Well, that concludes um office of the mayor and there are no uh items from council today. So, that brings us to item five, city manager reports. Mr. City Manager, >> thank you, mayor. Uh we don't have any formal presentations this morning. I just did want to make a couple of comments on two of the reports that are on today. First, sales tax report. Um it was a good month. Um it was just, you know, continuing on basically where we projected about 2% growth. We talked about it before that normal growth is more like 3 to 3 and a.5% growth. So, we're still well below that. Uh but on target, a little bit above target actually between sales and use tax, but we continue that up and down trend that we've had that Russell talked about at our budget workshop that uh we've already got the check actually for next month and it's flat with no growth. And so, we're seeing 2% here. We're a little above target. We eat into a little bit of that next next month. So, just continuing to monitor that. It's just it's that continuing uncertain economic times. I think with what's happening internationally right now, um gas prices definitely, we were talking this morning about it, we'll definitely have a negative drag on um on just local retail. And so just as we continue to go on, we're monitoring and trying to manage the budget and working towards presenting the budget to you at the uh end of April. Um so we'll continue to monitor, important to you. I did want to also recognize the revenue enforcement report. This program is actually run out of our city treasur's office through the finance department. I just appreciate the work that they do. We actually started this do doing this work many many years ago [clears throat] as a result of an audit from our city auditor's office that created this work and just want to acknowledge um that influence a positive influence for us as we're you know the goal that we have one of the goals we have of keep getting better and uh appreciate the team in the uh treasures office that does this work. The only other report that we have on is claims and payroll and that can be found on okc.gov. That's all that I have. >> Thank you. All right. 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. Um, we have listed on the agenda item 11B and item 11D, which are both deferred to March 24th. Is there anything else, Mr. City Manager? >> Yes. Beginning on page 15, dilapidated structures. This is item 11 L1, item E. All the items that we list on these will be between unsecured and dilapidated will be stricken from the agenda. Um, 8 8636 Northwest 111 Street. The owner has made the repairs. Continuing on page 15, item 11, M1, unsecured structures. Item D, 1900 Northwest 10th Street to rework for additional openings. Item E, 112 Northwest 28th Street to rework for additional openings. And then item F, 2121 Northwest 29th Street, the owner has secured. Um, on page 16, we also have item 11P. This is our film incentive. Uh, that we're still going to come forward with this. We're going to defer this one to a uh April 7th. We'll still come forward. Just had some delays in some of the other process and so we're going to bring this one back on April the 7th. And that's all the items that I have. All right. Item eight, uh, revocable permits and events. It is that time of year when this agenda is robust. And we'll start with item 8A was a which is a revocable permit with the Heartland Racing Company for the GoGirl Run OKC on March 21st. Um and Morgan Danker with the parks department is here to answer questions. >> Yeah. So the permit is located out of state. So I figured I'd come up and answer any questions. While this is a run to support women, men are allowed to participate. So they encourage anyone to participate in the run. but they're there to celebrate and support women. They'll start over at Riverport and go down the South River Trail. They have a for kiddos, they've got a half mile, a full mile. Then for the race on Saturday, they've got a 5K and a half marathon. >> Thank you. Uh this crosses into WS 4, six, and seven. So, anybody should feel welcome to jump in. >> I just I have a quick question. This is Go Girl Run. >> Yes, GoG Girl Run. And it's a series. So this is the Oklahoma City >> portion of the run. So there's four other loca or three other locations. >> Has it ever been rung girl run or was that a different thing? >> I think that's a different one. This is go girl run. There was another girl run similar a couple [clears throat] years ago, but this is a different one. >> Excellent. Well, thank you. I I uh think it's going to be a great event. We appreciate it very much. I'll move for its approval. All right, we have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Okay, items BCD and E are all River Sport Foundation events on [clears throat] the Oklahoma River. Um, Central Youth Rowing Championship, OKC Youth Invitational, rowing scrimmages, and Youth Rowing League Championship. And we have Trisha Downey here. And please feel free to just kind of roll through all four and then we'll take individual votes after your comments. >> I sure will. I'm not sure the order on the permit. I'll go in. >> Oh. Uh, Central Youth Rowing Championship is first up. >> The first one is the CYRC. CYRC. Central Youth Rowing Championship is a regional race at Riverport. It is US rowing sanctioned. They have uh the US rowing attendants come and oversee everything to make sure it is run smoothly. We're expecting about 800 competitors from one two Arkansas Colorado Kansas Louisiana Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Texas, and of course Oklahoma. The top performers get a chance to pro compete at the youth national championships which is in Sarasota, Florida in June. Um, Riverport of course has teams there. It's a three-day event and uh we expect about 2,000 people. So, this is a real heads and beds event. A lot of restaurants, a lot of uh teams walking around. um great spectator event because of all of the different uniforms and the high competity level. Um so we all >> welcome you to come in um May 1, two and three. >> Great. >> The next one would be the OKC youth invite, right? Yep. The OKC youth invitational is a scrimmage basically. It is preceded. It precedes CYRC to get these youth in the mode of competing of how to put the boat in, how to get to the spot. This is where the start is. This is what you're going to hear when you start and this is your level of competition. You're going to compete against other other schools, other teams, other clubs. And you know, this is kind of how you rate. So this is where you need to improve. It is April 12th. 500 youth rowers from five states are expected to come. Uh the riata is free. They do charge $10 for parking and the proceeds go to the Oklahoma City uh youth invite uh expenses. So it's a great uh reason for kids to get their feet wet into the competition realm of things. The next on the list are the rowing scrimmages, I believe. And um the first one is March 21st. It is called the OKC rodeo. Um >> our our river sport youth management over there decided to have something local where uh the newest of the new can try. And we invited a couple schools. Um we expect about a hundred participants, the closest being Tulsa. a very low-key, nothing fancy. This is where you get in the water and go down. A good day for the kids to be outside and compete. On the March 27th and 28th, the University of Central Oklahoma is running a scrimmage against the writers of Milwaukee School of Engineering. And um I'm going to guess that they're going to be extremely happy to be there because, you know, it's going to snow in Michigan this week. So, uh, again, very low-key, just to practice. The reason I have to come up for a revocable permit is just in case there's a bunch of kids on boats playing a a game or something, we have rights to the river. It's an exclusive use permit. So, nothing special, but we would like exclusive use. And last on the list would be our youth rowing league spring. Uh, River Sports mission is to build community through rowing and paddle sports. And on May 16th, we'll probably have 700 in attendance, 200 competitors. This would be all local, middle, and high school kids. Um the the Youth Rowing League gives the Oklahoma City area kids the ability to learn a sport, uh be part of a team or club. Um each school provides one volunteer, one adviser and gathers up the kids kind of the the cat herder of the group but we provide the coaching and the practice time once or twice a week and we do compete twice a year. Um any Oklahoma school metro area is welcome to join the program and it's free for schools who demonstrate a need. And I've said this every time I come up here. It's my favorite because your brother who's a teenager comes and watches, your grandmother, your aunt and uncle. It's a regular little local party of families. And these kids, one I spoke with said, you know, look at me. I'm I'm I'm 13. I weigh 60 pounds. I'll never be a football player. I'll never make the basketball team, but I'm part of a team. I've got a uniform. I get to see my friends, you know, a couple times a week. Um, I get to compete. Rowing's not hard. It is hard in a matter of you're using strength and you're developing strength, but it's the motion once you learn it. It's a matter of coordinating it with your team. Uh they're not on phones, they're not in on video games, they're outside getting fresh air. And it's just a joy to see all these kids happy to be part of a team. And um like I said, River Sport only has to come for a revocable permit if it's outside our property, if it's on the river, if it uses a trail. So you will not see a permit for our our our canoe kayak racing race that end of May or excuse me end of March where we have 160 competitors from 17 uh countries come in. Um that's a free event. So that weekend if you want to um see how it goes before the World Championships in July and the Olympics in 28. It's a very similar setup but not so fancy just kind of a basic. So, kind of a regular season game as opposed to the national championships. Um, and quite frankly, it was a super honor to see the MVPs of Oklahoma here today. Made me happy to be here. So, that's that's all I have. Do you have any questions? >> No questions, but very grateful for the work that's happening um along the river and with Riverport and um really excited about all the opportunities that we are investing in young people. Um, one of the things that I've learned since being on the River Sport Foundation board is that um, one of the great ways for female athletes to get scholarships is by rowing. And so it's a really I'm trying to steer my daughter into doing it. I have not succeeded so far. So I need all the help I can get, but um, it's really great the work that that's happening there. And so I'm happy to move for approval. >> Thank you. And the municipal counselor mosied over to tell me it is his opinion we could do one motion for BCD and E all together. So may I take that? So moved. >> So So moved. Great. >> All right. We have a motion in a second to approve items B, C, D, and E. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Item F is a revocable right-of-way use permit with downtown Oklahoma City Partnership to hold the Midtown Walkabout on April 11th uh on Walker. And Jakey Dobs is here. >> Good morning. Hi, I'm Jakeie Dobs. I'm the Midtown District Manager for Downtown OKC Partnership. I'm here for Midtown Walkabout happening on April 11th um from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 pm. This is a district-wide celebration of our local businesses. We have a vendor market along Walker Avenue from uh Parkplace to 11th Street. There's a break in the uh road closure to allow access for the street car. And then we start the road closure back up um by Waffle Champion going up to 12th Street. So this allows us to have some uh vendors along the street, free programming for families and um guests. We have live music throughout the district and uh programs and different activations happening at different businesses. Any questions I can answer for you all? This is our 11th year in this event. >> I was going to say this is a become really a main state of mainstay of Midtown. So, um happy to move for approval. >> Thank you. >> Wonderful. >> Have a motion. Motion and a second. Cast your votes. >> Passes unanimously. Thank you. >> Thank you. Have a good day. Item G is a revocable ride ofway use permit with Red Coyote Running and Fitness to hold the Lucky Coyote 5K on March 22nd on Park Place and we have Melissa Hodgson Hodgson here. >> Hi everybody. I'm Melissa Hodgson. Not many people can say that um correctly. I'm here for the Lucky Coyote on March 22nd. Um it begins on park and goes down Walker through Heritage Hills and um Mista Park and then comes back down to Midtown. It um sorry it benefits or supports the uh cleats for kids. That's all I have. Are there any other questions? >> Yeah. No, that's great. That's uh Councilwoman Hammond. >> No questions. Um always excited to have these different runs in the ward. So happy to move for approval. One day I'll get better at this. I promise. >> You have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. >> Passes unanimously. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Item H is a revocable ride ofway use permit with Redbud Foundation to hold the Red Bud Classic April 11th through 12th uh 63rd between Penn and Grand. And we have Kristen Hersome here to speak. >> Hello. Thank you guys for having me. Um we are coming into our 43rd year of the Redbud Classic. Um this year the event [clears throat] will be on April 11th and 12th uh benefiting Oklahoma Project Woman. Uh they provide breast health care to uh non-insured Oklahomaman. Um we will begin the weekend on Saturday with our bike event uh closing down a portion of 63rd from um Penn. Yep. Pen to uh Grand and then it'll be kind of a controlled um in the intersections by OCPD uh and other officers out to Jones and back. [clears throat] Um and then we have our running event on Sunday uh just a small road closure portion um for Oklahoma City and the rest is in Nichols Hills. So any questions? >> No. But uh we this crosses at least the Oklahoma City portion into wards two and seven. So feel free to jump in. >> Well, congrats [clears throat] on how many years did you say? >> 43. >> Oh, that's great. Um I had memories and I just checked to make sure I was right. Congratulations. In the next few years, thanks to voters approving 2025's bond, we will be resurfacing uh 23rd Street uh between Penn and Western over the next few years. Give those runners a little bit better um safety out there. So, that's just wanted to add that context and just thanks for being a part of W and seven. Move for approval. >> We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. passes unanimously. Thank you. Okay. Now, we'll recess the council meeting and convene as the Oklahoma City Municipal Facilities Authority where we have items A through E. We can take with one motion. Have a motion and a second. cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Now we'll adjourn the OC MFA and convene as the Oklahoma City Public Property Authority where we have items A through C. We could take with one motion. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Now we'll adjourn OCPA and reconvene as the council where we are on item nine, the consent docket. We have a presentation uh on items V and W um and BJ. Is there anything else that a council member wishes to pull out? >> Um yes. Can we vote separately on item D as in dog? >> Okay. Anything else for separate vote, comment, question? Hearing none, we'll take it in order, which means we'll start right there with item D. If we could get a motion. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. passes six to one. Next up is item V and W which has a presentation. >> Yes, Kenny Sudel with the Alliance for Economic Development will give us an update on both of these items. They're related and uh talk about the annexation deanexation process. >> Thank you, Mayor and Council. Kenny Sud with the Alliance. Uh just as a reminder, the the next these two items we're talking about are really um just uh effectuating an o MOA that was approved back in December of 25 between Oklahoma City and Yukon. It's also my understanding Yukon has been taking their steps and doing their side of things which includes kind of the reverse of these two things. So I'll take these in order. Uh item V is actually a detachment or deanexation of some property and this is in U ward one kind of right east of Yukon Parkway south of Northwest 23rd Street. It's about 24.76 acres. So again, this was recommended uh this was agreed to in that December memorandum of agreement. Um it it was approved by the council's ad hoc annexation deanexation committee February 24th and planning commission recommended this on February 26th. So basically it would just be detaching those two parcels that are on uh the left hand side of your screen. Um item W is kind of the companion item. This is property that is actually owned by the Oklahoma City Industrial and Cultural Facilities Trust, which is a city uh trust. Um and it's about 148.71 acres south of I40 west of Gregory Road just west of C Page Airport. So this is currently in the city of Yukon. So this would be they are have taken their action to deanex it and then this action would be us annexing it in uh to Oklahoma City. Same dates it's it this also has been uh recommended by the ad council ad hoc committee and the planning commission on the same dates as well. So with that, be happy to answer any questions, but it's pretty straightforward. Just one's DNxing some parcels, the others is is annexing. >> Thank you. >> All right, moving on to Before we get to the presentation on BJ, I did want to point out it just always deserves special mention because it is certainly not something we see here a lot, especially to this degree. But item BC, a donation from the Arnell Family Foundation to support our maps for mental health crisis center. The donation amount up to $3 million. And certainly this follows the Arnell Family Foundation's uh previous generosity that we recall all the way back to the maps for conversation in 2019. Um just just remarkable. We're talking about at this point tens of millions of dollars that have been specifically donated to support our maps for projects from the Arnol family foundation. So just had to publicly express that gratitude. We also have a >> add to that please quickly. Yeah. Um you know this is the Robert Rabbitz crisis center who is a dear friend of mine and I am so excited about this because it's going to increase the bed potential from 16 to 32. So what a wonderful gift. Thank you >> indeed. All right. And then finally on the consent docket, we have a presentation for item BJ. >> Yes, David Todd, our maps director, will give an introduction on this item um and present. This is the first of our uh uh beautifification projects. And this is a preliminary report. So I'll let David introduce the item. >> Good morning. [clears throat] David Todd Maps, program manager. That's correct. This is the preliminary report for the first of our beautifification packages and hope to be bringing you many more here real soon. But Kayla Copelan is here to take you through this preliminary report. >> Good morning, council mayor. Thank you for having us today. My name is Kayla Copelan. I am the principal landscape architect of Copeland Design Collective. We're honored to be sharing uh the the phase two and first implementation package for the beautifification project. We're partnered with Gernzie also here today. We'll start at the beginning. Uh earlier in May 2025, we approved the master plan for the beautifification package. These projects that we are presenting today were phased out within that master plan. So, we will be looking at the preliminary report for um a couple projects at the airport um and a couple projects around Reno and Eastern area. So, we'll start with the the airport um area. We will be looking at the Bessie Coleman Garden um and the airport approaches. The map on the screen uh will show you kind of our locations that we are looking at for these projects. Uh Bessie Coleman Garden is close to Ameilia Heheart Lane. um right off of uh Terminal Drive and then we also have the airport approach off of Meridian right off of Airport Road 240 area where we have some existing landscaping the Bessie Coleman Garden. Uh we are thrilled to show you guys today the the renderings. Um we are looking at creating a plaza that honors our uh very own Bessie Coleman. She has roots in Oklahoma City um as the first uh black indigenous woman to receive her pilot's license. Um she attended Langston University um and we are thrilled to honor her and her legacy. We were just discussing as a team this is actually a 100redy year anniversary since her passing. So what a great time to honor her. Um through the garden design we wanted to really step into her shoes. what would she like to see? Her passion was her plane, which was the JN4D by uh Jenny biplane. So with our concept, we are actually going to model a true scale version of her plane. Uh the top wing will be elevated into the sky. Um so people can actually feel the scale of her her actual passion of her plane uh and what she experienced. the on the ground we will have a footprint of the remainder of the plane where people can learn about parts stand in her actual seat and get that feeling that she experienced up in the sky. The garden section will be also inspired by her love of flying. We are looking to simulate some of the clouds in the sky with very native uh uh plantings that are um light and fluffy that will help you you can touch them with your hand and feel the softness. So we're trying to stimulate that as well. Um the garden will also have several other shade structures um where people can gather, picnic and watch the planes on the runway. This was been a really wonderful collaboration between the maps department and the airport to come up with this vision um of honoring Bessie. We'll have interpretive signage um as well on site where everybody can learn who Bessie Coleman was, what her plane was all about, maybe even some of her acrobatics she was known for in the barntorming um that she's famous for. We'll have public binoculars. We're looking to make this multi-ensory with including an outdoor speaker that connects to the control tower, public radio, so those actually watching the airplanes take off and land can also hear the communications also occurring at the airport. We have two site locations right now. Um, option one and two are shown on the screen. This is all pending an FAA approval um for fence relocation, but they're very close to each other and we are uh working with the airport closely to finalize this. The airport approach um is on the northern side uh approach to the airport off a meridian [snorts] um close again to the interstate. We have some existing landscaping there right now that just is aged and we are looking to revamp that and beautify that. Um the symbols on the screen were inspired by Wy Post Winnie May's uh plane. The symbol is also used at our airport for our logo and branding. So we felt like it really meshed well together with some Oklahoma history. We're [clears throat] looking at bringing the landscaping closer to Meridian which will help it feel more grand. We're going to add layers and elevation to the landscaping which will also bring that wow factor. Um we're looking at materials that are um raw, so maybe some quart steel, some uh local stones, bringing in those colors and textures that you see all around our airport in our renovation there. Um and bringing it to the front. Native plantings will also be used um to make sure that this project is low maintenance and not needing a lot of water. We're going to be very conscious with that as well. Moving on to Reno and Eastern. Um we have two locations as well. Site location one which we'll start with uh is located at um Reno and Lincoln. Think about it where uh a lot of people enter uh the Boat House District. Um also location two which will be uh the bridge crossing at uh off of First American Boulevard. We'll be looking at that as well. Here's the existing site for Reno. It's right now a lot of spaghetti interstate uh overpasses. Um because of the the shading and the intense rains that fall off of these interstates, the center median really was a a focus item for us to beautify. So we wanted to come in and let me explain this a little bit. So the top rendering uh is what what the ground floor looks like or plan view. The top the bottom rendering is with the overpasses. We just remove them on the top so you can see what's underneath. Um but we're looking to include a serpentine beautiful structure uh that uh will be uh around 12 feet tall at some of the highest points. So, it will it will have a serpentine look as well that will meander through the columns. Um, we're looking to use a lot of rock here. We were in a collaboration with the parks department. They maintain this space right now. Trying to come up with decisions and maintenance items that are so beautiful. So, you'll see a lot of rock. We're looking to grout that rock in. We're we we're looking at using an aggregate mulch that we can use a binder so it's not shifting around. We want things to stay in place here. Um a view again of some of the uh sculptural elements and boulders, native plants here too. Again, shooting for that low maintenance, trying to help our staff when possible and keep our city beautiful with our natural colors. We're also looking to uplight the columns and bring some uh high brightness and and light um into this space. Um, so the columns highlighted here, they're shown in white right now. Those are the columns we are seeking to uh flood with color. The First Americans Boulevard is our last project with phase 2. Um, right now there is a barriered off kind of pedestrian pathway um that has no lighting. Um, it is um a beautiful view actually of our river as well. Um, and with the fan bridge that was just completed recently, um, we took some inspiration from that. So, we're looking to bring um, some light here and some, um, beautifification through some panels. So, these panels would be individually bolted onto the bridge, the existing facade, uh, with an underlit LED light. So, we're looking to also include a fun pattern that represents um Oklahoma City, but also complement the Horizon District. So, we're working with them because this is one of their uh portals to um their site as well. Um, another thing that we are keeping in mind through this design process, we as we are developing and finalizing the pattern uh for the ped this existing bridge um we are looking to make sure padlocks cannot be attached to it. We are looking to make sure if uh maintenance is needed, it's easy access. So these are all things that we're working through right now um as we are hopefully headed into CDs. These are our budgets for the construction estimate and the maps for budget. This is also including a 10% contingency right now in our numbers. So we are healthy right now with our budget and have wiggle room as we finalize and move forward. But if you have any questions I'm here to answer them and thank you for your time. >> I've just got a quick question on the Bessie Coleman thing. >> Is that and it looks like it's located really close to the 99. So, have y'all coordinated that with the 99's group? >> Uh, we have worked with Mr. Moulder and he uh assured us it would not be an issue with the 99th. >> Well, no. I mean, I know it won't be an issue. It's Yeah, the 99's right. It's female pilots. >> Oh, right. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I was thinking of something. Um >> to me it's like they would be perfect to like kind of coordinate with to hopefully >> we did back in the master planning stage and this is where we landed um and the council implementation plan council was the one who focused on the Bessie Coleman aspect. We did actually contact Bessie Coleman's one of her living relatives. Um she's been interested. She is the grand niece I believe. Um, and we have talked to her about this and and uh shown her some of the draft uh examples, but we have not worked directly with the 99th since the master planning stage. >> So, I would just say I don't know if Bessie Coleman is in the 99s or not. I would assume that she probably is. Um, and I would love it if y'all reached out to the 99s just to see if they have any additional input or things they might want to include in there. So, >> we we'll give him >> a great idea. >> Okay, great. Thank you very much. >> Any other questions or comments? >> I'd just say like there's just tremendous value for the city, but it is historically the kind of thing that it seems like uh all governments struggled to fund and so MAPS was just the absolutely perfect platform for this. And I'm just really really excited and people are they'll they may never know when all this is done where this all came from, but they'll certainly appreciate it and it's it's good work. So, thank you. >> Can I also just add uh well echo those comments, but the Reno work, you know, that JFK neighborhood um when they were here advocating for better protections in their neighborhood and we had a whole conversation on this horseshoe about this was ahead of the bond about what we could do here. And so, it's really really wonderful to see that coming to to Ward 7. So, I just want to uh applaud those neighbors for being here that day and their advocacy and um to city leadership for kind of hearing them and me that day. Uh cuz I think I even brought up a map on the screen. Uh so, this is great. I mean, I just say it's a wonderful entrance into our city, but it's also a really nice exit into Dell City and Midwest City where I grew up. I think I drive that to go see my mom all the time. So, I think it's it's good work. >> Thank you. By the way, David, I hate to put you on the spot, but um another aspect of the beautifification of that bridge as you approach FAM is the lowwater dam that would put water on the east side of the bridge. It was just purely for aesthetic purposes. Um what's the timeline on that? >> Uh well, we've been working on that and still working with the core. Um so I I like you said on on the spot here. I don't have a date for you, but I'll get that for you. >> Okay. Thanks. All right. Any other comments or questions on item BJ? Thank you. Uh hearing none, we can now adopt uh the remainder of the consent docket. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item 10 is the concurrence docket. And we have items A through X we can take with one motion. >> [clears throat] >> We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item 11, items for individual consideration. Item 11 A is an ordinance on final hearing. It was recommended for approval resoning 745 Southwest 119th from O2 to C3. Councilman Hinkle. No one no one has signed up to speak >> and I need to recuse. We have something to do with this property. So >> Oh, okay. >> I'll take it. >> But have you asked anyone to carry it for you? >> Yeah. Okay. >> Councilman Stone. >> All right. Now that he's gone, u it was certainly recommended for approval. It's just commercial space there. So I will move for its approval. We have a motion in a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item B was previously deferred. Item C is an ordinance on final hearing. It was recommended for approval reszoning 9705 South Chalkaw Road from double A to PUD 2123. Um, Councilman Stone, we do have a handful of people who have signed up to speak. Mayor, I need to recuse from this please. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you, Mayor. Mr. Box, do you want to go ahead and start first and just kind of give us an outline again of the project and then we'll have the uh people that wish to speak. >> Good morning. David Box, 525 Northwest 11th Street here on behalf of the applicant. So before you is a a PUD uh that is located just west of Chalkaw Road and north of an existing subdivision. Um this is a bit of a unique case in that uh the street we're going to connect to is an existing neighborhood street. Now why we're connecting to it is because it's a public street. Um and it's a public street named Jamie Way. And you can see that Jimmy Way extends from a culde-sac on the south up north and is stubbed to the property to the north. Um, now luckily council doesn't have to deal with subdivision regulations. That all happens at the the planning commission phase. Well, these subdivision regulations that we have for Oklahoma City require interconnectivity between neighborhoods. That's considered a best practice. The reason there's a stub there is because it would have been absolutely required at the time that the neighborhood to the south was developed and platted. So you'll see that the neighbor to the south is zoned RA. What we seek to do through this PUD is an RA PUD meaning minimum of 1acre lot sizes, meaning we are matching the development style of that to the south. The biggest complaint that we have faced is that they don't want us to connect to their street. They believe that Jimmy Way is their street. It's not. It's your street. It's our street. It is dedicated to the public. it is maintained by the city of Oklahoma City and what we seek to do by connecting through their neighborhood is absolutely appropriate and frankly if we try to not connect the city's planning commission would likely deny that. Um interconnectivity has become a massive concern amongst planning commission members over the last say decade and every time that a developer seeks to not connect it is met with um disapproval by planning commission. We have no other points of access to the east, uh, to the north. Sarah, would you mind going to the aerial? Maybe you don't have the aerial. Well, that's not very helpful. That's okay. Um, anyways, the only point of access that we have is through Jamie Way. We match the development style. We match lot sizes. U connecting to the public street is of course the proper way to do this. This was recommended for approval uh by your planning commission. There were a handful of technical evaluations that are listed on your uh memo, all of which we agreed to. We engaged with the neighbors at Mr. Nis's office and we were met with uh an inability to find compromise. It was simply go away. So, there's not a whole lot I can do representing a client when the um choices go away. So, here we are with a recommendation for approval. Happy to answer any questions. When it says that the maximum residential density within the pod is a half of a unit per acre, >> that's taken in the entire property. Is that correct? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. So, the average is one acre lots. >> Well, I'd say the So, not the average, the minimum lot size allowed within the PUB is one acre. >> One acre. Okay. All right. Thank you, Mr. Box. >> Yes, sir. Would you like to hear from the residents now? All right. Darald Patterson. >> As stated, my name is Daryl Patterson and I live at 14501 Southeast 98th Street. Um, my property is really backs right up to that to that deal. About 15 years ago, I got called into a meeting at Boeing St. us and said they're going to expand Oklahoma City big time. Want to know if some of us would go down and and they said, you know, uh we're about 2 years off, but uh so I said, "Okay." So my wife went down. She called me and said, "Man, I found this perfect place. You would not believe this. It's beautiful. It backs up to this ranch." And anyway, she went on and on. I said, "Well, if you like it, let's go ahead and buy it." So anyways, we had a builder come out. We were the first ones out there. And so, so when he built the house, they had to go through a two-stage permit, which he didn't understand because we're kind of up up in the air, but we were awful close to 98th Street. I said, "I think this house is too close here." I said, "What? They put that road through?" "Oh, no. They they only put the road in because of that retention pond, you know, because that's all flood plane and they're not going to build there." Well, anyway, so let's talk about that retention pond. When I first moved there, I didn't have any problem at all. Any brain, nothing. So, let's fast forward. 30 houses are in there now. Most of the spring I have to rent a pump to pump that water out. It comes 30 to 35 foot into my backyard. Now, I can go ahead and maybe try to fix that without putting a dyke in or whatever. But here's what I don't understand. And I've seen Chalkaw Road flood multiple times. And I know where flood planes at cuz I checked all this out before I moved. If you put 17 houses there with concrete houses, where is that flood plane going to go? That water is going somewhere and and right now Chalkaw Road is flooded. 104th is flooded. So to me, it's going to run around there. I am very concerned about this. Somebody really needs to look at this. And I want to close with this. Like I said, I'm from St. Louis and they were trying to expand South County, Southwest County. It was all flood plane, you know, people moving out of St. Louis, whatever. So they went ahead and proved it. There was two counties that said we can't have this. one county uh really fought it. Well, they went ahead and approved it. They put levies, dikes, they did all this stuff. The neighborhoods come in, but here was the problem. Here comes Super Walmart. Here come Home Depot. Here come Lowe's. Two outlet malls. We were okay for two or three years. We had a torrentious rain. And you know what? The engineers did their jobs. It didn't flood there. 5 miles down, it flooded towns that never flooded before. And houses became worthless. Lawsuits started flying. finger pointing started going on. And the only thing I would caution on, uh, like I said, I'm not from here, but the only thing I would caution you on, somebody needs to look downstream. See where this water is going to go. It's going somewhere. And that little flood plane that's measured right here, when those houses come in, it's coming up. >> Or what about the neighborhood on Anderson? Do they know anything about this? I just think it needs to be checked out, you know? So, that's all I needed to say at this point. So, thank you. >> I'm sorry. Can you give me your address again? Yeah, it's at 14501 Southeast 98th Street and we're we're right on the corner and every and that and that pond sets here and the property is right behind us and I've looked down there and seen water laying there. >> Are you east or west of uh what is that Janeway? >> The Jamie Way. I'd be west. >> Oh, Jamie Way. Yeah, sorry. >> Be west of that. >> My contacts are missing. >> Yeah, >> on the west side. But our picnic area, I'm going to have to let it grow up because there's I don't think there's any way that's going to I mean, there could be water there because like I say, we've sat out there before and I've seen water lane in that valley. Now, you put 17 houses there. What's going to happen here? Where's it going to go? Has anybody studied that? >> Thank you. I appreciate it. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Patricia Patterson. Morning. Um, my name is Patricia Patterson. I live at same place he does, 14501 Southeast 98th Street. And, uh, when we built our home several years ago, we were, like you said, we were the first ones to build there. And we had our choice of lots. We chose the one we did because it backed up to that large ranch behind us, which they told us was in a hundred-year uh flood plane and no one could build on it. We were thrilled when the neighborhood started filling up. We felt so blessed and fortunate because we really had the best of both worlds. We had a wonderful neighborhood full of neighbors that uh would watch out for each other, but at the same time, we could go behind our house where we had cleared and feel like we were out in the country. Um, we've had lots of family gatherings back there, Easter egg hunts, picnics, cookouts with our kids, grandkids, and friends. It It really is our forever home, and my husband and I love to sit out back and listen to the birds and enjoy being outside. But this new development is going to totally destroy, in our opinion, that peaceful place. Instead of looking at the fields of flowers from our backyard, we'll be looking right into a busy road, lots of heavy construction equipment for years as they build these houses and eventually a lot of houses and people. The biggest reason we chose that neighborhood and that lot specifically was because it was so peaceful and far away from traffic. Even after people started finding our beautiful area and moving into their dream home, it was still a neighborhood small with a lot of charm. There are young families, there are retirees, and there are always lots of neighbors and kids uh out walking and playing. If this new development comes in [clears throat] using our entrance, the traffic will more than double and all the heavy construction equipment and big trucks going back and forth through our neighborhood to get to their neighborhood will be unbearable and dangerous. Then after the houses are built, there will be way too many people and cars for our one entrance. their neighborhood will only have their traffic, but since they're using our entrance to get to their neighborhood, our neighborhood will have our traffic and their traffic. It could definitely be a safety issue with all the school-aged children, bicycles, school buses, and especially during severe weather or any kind of emergency. It doesn't seem right. If they have to be there, which I hope they don't, they should have their own entrance. I have talked to all of our neighbors and they are in agreement. They do not want this to happen. I have a petition full of names and addresses of the ones who got the letters and all the residents of Whitney Ridge because it will affect them all. We love our home. We love our beautiful neighborhood and we don't want this development to come through and risk losing the peace and safety we have now. >> I respectfully request that the city council deny the zoning application for HUD 2123. And if the application receives further consideration, the developer at the very least should be required to provide independent access rather than utilizing Whitney Ridge Roads. Thank you for your time and thoughtful consideration. >> Thank you. Thank you, Z. Williams. >> That's uh Chief Williams. Okay. How you doing today? Thanks, council. Um, thank for your time today. Um, my name is Z. Williams. I live at 14425 Southeast 98th. Uh, that's the very back of Whitney Ridge on that 5 acres. Um, I'm also the builder developer of Whitney Ridge and um, a current fire chief. And I only say that to to let you know I have a little background in the subject we're going to speak about today. Um, in this case, you know, it's been an eye openener for me how this works, but you know, we receive I receive a letter from the city of Oklahoma City that tells me that the property uh to the south of us is going to be I'm sorry, to the north of us is going to be reszoned. So, we show up at the planning commission. That's really all the letter says to show up if you oppose. And you're given a couple minutes at the planning commission to kind of plead your case. And um of course you're going against Mr. box over here which knows exactly what he's doing and um so I feel like the planning commission didn't really get to hear uh all the the issues um which I understand that you know during the planning commission there was multiple concerns brought up with the flood plane emergency access and egress aerobic sept septic systems too close to the flood plane minimum floor elevation requirements traffic and access concerns this being a deadend one one way in one way out entrance I I think uh Mr. Box presented some fancy word that says that it makes it safer because it has an island. And that's not true. If you if you actually do the measurement, it's one way in, one way out. Um with very little time, we still got one of the commissioners to vote no on this project. Um and the key questions I have for the council are, you know, how does this project benefit city of Oklahoma City? Um it doesn't bring utilities. It doesn't bring infrastructure. The applicant has proposed private wells, private septic, no public utilities, no new infrastructure, and it's asking to use our roads to enter a a new subdivision. Um, I thought, you know, the typical purposes of a PUD, which they have this labeled, you know, was thoughtful traffic access and circulations, protection of natural features, uh, and flood planes, uh, and de development that bene benefits the surrounding community and the city of Oklahoma City. And this does none of those. Um, you know, we've I've I've spent a lot of time and and hard work making this development what it is today. We have a great, you know, golf cart community. >> 30 seconds remaining. >> H >> houses built from anywhere from $500,000 to a million dollars. Some of them just being finished to find out that this quiet neighborhood is now going to have a subdivision off the backside of it and change the whole landscape for absolutely nothing for two guys that want to get into the development business. So, I I ask that you please decline this uh proposal. Thank you for your time. Thanks, Chief. Blaine Nice. >> Bla nice, 100 North Broadway, Oklahoma City. Um, I represent the neighbors that just got out here and a few more. And council mayor, appreciate your time today. Um, they've kind of in a nutshell explained what some of the issues are. In fairness, we did meet with Mr. box at my office and try to have some other meetings. Excuse me. Um, schedules didn't allow that time of year and um, Mr. Box has indicated there may be some room for some some compromise. I would request that this be deferred and allow us one more chance to meet with him and his client. Um, I understand there's some things he can control and some things he can't control as well as myself and my client. So, um, I would just ask that it be deferred and give us one more chance to meet. I don't think he objects. I know he's not going to get up here and say, "Yeah, I'm all for it." But I I do think he wants uh the council to be comfortable when they vote on this and see if there's one last chance we can work out some compromises. That'd be my request. >> Thank you. >> That concludes the people who have signed to speak. Councilman. >> All right. Well, I appreciate everyone coming in today and enjoying the meeting, but actually coming in and and uh sharing your thoughts on this project. And I certainly understand your concerns on it. Um, mayor, I'm going to go ahead and make a motion that we defer this thing um because I'd like to, I guess, be involved in the discussion a little bit myself. Um, but I'm going to ask that we defer it to April 7th. with my schedule next week, I'm not going to be able to spend the time that I need on it. So, >> can I make a comment? >> Sure. >> Before we before we vote, just a few things. Um, one, I I hope that Blaine and um the planning department and uh public works can talk to our neighbors about their concerns about flooding. Um the city very takes very seriously the issues of drainage and there's a very thorough review process that occurs and so I think our neighbors raised some legitimate concerns but we also need to make sure that they are being made aware of the efforts that the city is going to take. I'd say the the second thing um is about the street access. Um that is standard practice for the city of Oklahoma City to encourage people to connect neighborhoods. So, I do think it's important for our neighbors, even though they might not like it, to be aware that that is the standard policy that the city uses is that if it's a public street and there's a street stub, people are entitled to have access to it. So, that's all. >> Thank you, Councilman. Mad, one more thing. Uh on the issue of drainage, uh when you all review that, I think I heard someone mention Anderson Road uh being a potential uh consequence of the development. And that has my attention because I grew up essentially at 15th in Anderson, which further south, but that was the road that we took to go out, you know, whether south or north. Um, so I'd like when you do that deeper dive, I'd like to know like what what are the surrounding areas? How might it affect them too? It would be useful to know. So that neighborhood's moving way east. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Well, if there's no other comments, we could take this motion to defer to a item C to April 7th. A motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. All right. Item D was previously deferred. Item E is an ordinance on finally hearing. It was recommended for approval reszoning 1310 Northwest 3rd from R3 to SPD 1802. Councilwoman Hammond, no one has signed up to speak. >> Yes. This is um just an application to do some uh single family and and duplex units. So I will move for approval. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. [clears throat] Passes unanimously. Item F is an ordinance on final hearing. It was recommended for approval. Reszoning 2720 South Avenue from I1 to SPD1803. Councilwoman Hammond. No assigned to speak. >> Um yes. This is just an application uh for an automotive dealership. There were some tees that were um addressed at the planning commission and approved. So I will um make a motion to approve a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item G is an ordinance on final hearing. It was recommended for approval reszoning 1120 Northwest 56 from R1 to SPD 1804. Um, Councilman Cooper, no one is signed to speak. >> And yet right down the aisle looks like someone are you representing or are you the applicant? I need to recuse. >> Yes, I represent the applicant. >> And we're going to have a recusal. So, just one moment. Please play some elevator music in your head if you want to. Okay. >> My name is Joe Croell, 100 North Broadway. I uh represent the applicant BDB Properties. Uh we are looking to uh construct two homes at the lot at 1120 Northwest 56th Street. We um spoke with the neighborhood beforehand and they have a lot of similar developments along this same street in this neighborhood and uh Rob Littlefield, the neighborhood association president. Um and the other neighbors had some input for us that we incorporated into our application. Uh the planning commission approved it uh subject to some technical evaluations that we are in full agreement on and that um mainly is just to wrap up and codify the uh requests of the neighborhood. And um we think this is a really good infill development project that will um increase density and uh utilize some existing urban space that is uh um right in the middle of Oklahoma City. And so we uh ask for your approval. >> And if you have any questions, please. >> Well, my first question is uh and thank you for your context. The amended technical evaluation, do I need to is that now baked in? Do I need to do anything extra here? I mean, I see it right here. I see the three amended technical evaluations. I just don't know if I need to have separate votes. Okay, cool. Um, neidato mosquito. the fact that you've spoken with our W 2 traffic commissioner, the president of the neighborhood association, and spoken with the neighbors uh who um when Chesapeake of course was doing their expansion, this was when this neighborhood really activated and organized and has a lot of involvement in everything from mitigating drainage concerns to getting that right amount of infill and uh density, right? That where it's appropriate and compatible. So, you've said all the magic words, at least uh for me for now. So, I would move for approval. >> All right, we have a motion and a second for item G. Cast your votes. >> Counciloman Avered. Sorry, I should have been off the clock. >> Passes unanimously. >> Thank you. >> All right. Item H is an ordinance on final hearing recommended for approval resoning 1201 Northwest 49th from R1 to SPD1 1805. Councilman Cooper, no one has signed up to speak. >> Is the representative present by any chance? >> Why don't you come on up? >> Oh, okay. >> Yeah. Tell us about this. It's a very similar approach. >> Yes. Um, we are >> Oh, you'll want to give us your name and address and see how you're fine. >> My name is David Asip with Art Development and um we are taking this lot and splitting it into two and um we also met with the neighborhood association and uh agreed to some things that they wanted to see. No flat roof, some you know entries on the side and I think it's all in the application. Yeah, I think it's a similar we have the amended technical evaluations here. Cool. No. Uh and again a very uh as you're quite aware now very well organized neighborhood and I'm glad you all were able to chat. So I would move for approval because this is the sort of infill that I'd like to see and the sort of conversations I'd like to see with neighborhoods. >> Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. passes unanimously. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Item I is an ordinance on final hearing. It was recommended for approval resoning 1400 Southwest 14th from R1 to SPD 1806. Councilwoman Hammond Noan is signed to speak. >> Yes. This is um just a few more duplexes. So I will move for approval. We have a motion and a second. cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item 11J is an ordinance on final hearing. It was recommended for approval. Reszoning 2445 Southwest 40th from R1 to SPD 1807. Councilwoman Hammond, no one assigned to speak. >> Um yes. Again, a few more duplexes. That's um some infill um on the south side. So happy to move for approval. I have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item K is an ordinance on final hearing. It was recommended for approval establishing a special permit to operate use unit 83000.33, drinking establishments in the Brooktown core development and downtown parking overlay districts. Um, Councilman Pennington, no one has signed to speak. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, yes, this was already a nightclub. That was one building and then was split into two is my understanding. I'm looking at Sarah to affirm what I'm saying. And so, um, having talked to the property owner, they do need an emergency. So, I'm going to go ahead and move for move approval and move the emergency as well, but it's previously been, um, a nightclub already. They just split it up. So, >> Okay. So, you're saying you're going to want the emergency on this? Yes. Okay. Well, first up, we'll take the, uh, approval. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. And now the motion for an emergency. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. passes unanimously and with the necessary supermajority to pass the emergency. All right. Item L1 is the public hearing regarding the dilapidated structures here listed except for those previously struck. Amy, has anyone signed up to speak? >> No, they haven't. >> They have not. So, we'll advance to the resolution found at L2 declaring the structures are dilapidated. >> We have a motion in a second. cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item M1 is a public hearing regarding the unsecured structures here listed except for those previously struck. Amy, has anyone centered to speak? >> No, they haven't. >> They have not. And several advanced to the resolution found at M2 declaring the structures are unsecured. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. passes unanimously. Item N1 is the public hearing regarding the abandoned buildings here listed. Amy, is any sign to speak? >> No, they haven't. >> They have not. So, we'll advance to the resolution found Vin 2 declaring the buildings are abandoned. Have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item 110 is the public hearing regarding the adventure district business improvement district. Uh Amy, has anyone time to speak? >> No, they haven't. >> If not, um this is actually the second of two meetings uh that this item found at O2 has appeared on the agenda. Um we do not have a presentation u but item O2 is a resolution creating the adventure district business improvement district uh special assessment district number 14 etc. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Okay. Okay. Item P was previously deferred, which brings us to item Q, a joint resolution with the Oklahoma City Economic Development Trust approving the allocation of geolo limited tax bonds uh in an amount not to exceed $400,000 to the Delaware Nation Economic Development Authority uh in exchange for a commitment of approximately 410 new quality jobs. And we have a presentation. >> Kenny Sudel with the Alliance for Economic Development will introduce this item. >> Thank you, Mayor. You pretty much covered it. Uh it was a $400,000. This is our strategic investment program. This comes from our uh economic development gold uh bonds that the voters have approved. Uh was happy to that Delaware Nation Industries uh brought this forward. This this was a expansion. They do have a current presence over in Classen and was really excited to learn more about them, but this was something they were looking at some other markets and we were able to get them to keep this here and expand. And so again, it's 410 new jobs. These are really IT, cyber security, uh engineering type of jobs. Beginning wages of 87,650 is the average wage. And so with that, that's the very quick uh overview on the deal, but I'll turn it over to Whitney Hood with Delaware Nation Industries is here to give a presentation about them, a little bit more about the company. >> Good morning, Whitney Hood with Delaware Nation Industries and Investments. Thank you, Kenny. Um, like he said, we are uh an Oklahoma City based company. Uh, we are in the old American Fidelity building um over at 19th and Classen. Um, we've been in Oklahoma City about 14 15 years now. Uh, we are a 100% tribyowned u entity. We are owned by the Delaware Nation of Oklahoma which is based in Anadarko. Uh, you'll see here on the slide, this is pretty busy. Uh, there's a lot of information here. Uh, some key points. We are located in 34 states nationwide. Uh we do provide IT, cyber security, engineering um and some AI consulting services uh to the US government uh predominantly department of defense uh FAA uh some of our uh entities um in other states, Department of State, CDC, uh we serve a lot of these entities nationwide. Um since I joined the company about 5 years ago, uh we have uh grown 4x. So we had about 450 folks. Uh when I started, we're now over 1,700. Um so this is an expansion on that growth that we have already experienced. Um like Kenny said, uh part of our growth is going to be at our corporate office here in Oklahoma City. Uh securing new not only personnel but also infrastructure um and IT for our corporate shared services team uh that are supporting the folks doing the really important work uh in the field. You'll advance the slide. Thank you. Uh so who we are uh we have been named uh a top workplace here in Oklahoma uh the last four years we have won uh the number one top workplace in Oklahoma three of those four years uh and that is part of our mission vision values uh is to support um not only uh the Delaware nation but also uh the US government and so that is really critical to our culture uh it's critical to how we hire folks um and also to this expansion and so what we are doing uh not only are we investing the capital uh in our in our corporate office um about 470,000 over the next 5 years uh but also adding 410 new jobs uh predominantly in that IT engineering and cyber security space. Um we did uh look at some additional locations for expansion. We do have current operations in Dayton, Ohio, San Antonio, Texas, Atlantic City, New Jersey uh being some of those that we considered. But uh because of our indigenous roots here in the Oklahoma area and because our corporate office is here, this really uh was a natural uh place for us to expand. Um and certainly uh the public private partnership uh doesn't hurt uh either. So we appreciate uh the trust support uh of this expansion. And then finally, you'll just see a few pictures here of kind of some of the work that we do. We do a lot of hiring out at Tinker Air Force Base, also the Mike Monron Aeronautical Center. Uh and then at our corporate uh headquarters here in Oklahoma City. Uh we're also very involved in the city of Oklahoma City. Uh from uh just a volunteer perspective, we contributed about 190 volunteer hours um in the Oklahoma City area last year. uh we do a lot of outreach uh that impacts the veteran community um our native uh partners as well and then also uh some of the uh services that help those who are experiencing homelessness here in Oklahoma City as well. So I appreciate the opportunity to present this to you. One thing I will clarify uh because I know it comes up a lot uh in our industry, these are W2 jobs. Uh they are not contract jobs. They are W2 positions that are um held by DNI. uh we pay their benefits, we provide their PTO, we provide their supervision and we really do try to integrate them um into our culture um and and bring them on board um even if they haven't necessarily been in Oklahoma City before. Some of these folks are moving here for the first time. Um and so we're excited to welcome them to our community um and really have them be a a productive part of Oklahoma City. And I'll be happy to take any questions. I see none, but very grateful for this commitment and continue increasing activity from the Delaware Nation here in OKC. Thank you. >> Absolutely. Thank you so much. >> All right. Well, then we could take up the resolution if there are no further comments. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. passes unanimously. All right. Item R is a joint resolution with the Oklahoma City Economic Development Trust approving an allocation not to exceed $2.5 million from the residential development budget category of the Northeast Renaissance redevelopment project plan. This is for the uh Pearl housing project uh at Northeast 23rd and I35 and we have a presentation here as well. Thank you, Mayor Council. Kenny S with the Alliance for Economic Development. So, [clears throat] this is a a project with a proposed incentive out of TIFF number nine, which is the Northeast Renaissance TIFF. Um very excited to talk about the Pearl project and um uh basically this is about a $15 million project. uh to rehab and redo some unused uh apartments right now that are that are currently best described probably as burned out and not being used. And uh 132 units uh the the incentive would be structured as a payin payout. So they would pay their taxes into the district and what it would be structured as is to receive a 95% of those back for years 1 through eight dropping to 85% for years 9 through 10 and then 75% for years 11 through 13. So again this is uh near um I35 and and just south of 23rd Street by between Grand Boulevard and I35. And so with that, I'll have Kathy O' Conor is here on behalf of the development group to give an update about this wonderful project. >> Thank you. Kathy O' Conor with the Coalign Group on behalf of tower management to talk about our project at the Pearl. So the project, as Kenny said, is located just south of Northeast 23rd off of Graham Boulevard and I35. Um it's an apartment complex that's been vacant for many years. Some of the buildings have been vacant for decades apparently. Um we are going to take the units and completely renovate every unit. Um there's 132 units. They're all town homes, so they're all two and three bedrooms. Um and our plan is to set our rents in a way that they will be affordable. So these are just some of the floor plans of what the renovated units will look like. Um, just go through the pretty pictures and these are not pretty pictures. This is what the units look like right now. Um, as I mentioned, the the project is in pretty bad shape. The the tower management group has been doing some work to clean the property up. It doesn't look like this right now. These pictures were taken last summer. Um, but we have been working hard to clean the property up and keep it secure before we can get our building permits and start the renovation. some some more images of what the renovated units will look like. And this is kind of the site plan of the project. Um we plan to spend about a little bit over $15 million on this renovation. Um so um as you can see the construction contract is about almost n a little bit over $9 million and the acquisition is about three and a half. I wanted to provide this chart to you that shows what the affordable rents are, what rent levels are in Oklahoma City. That these are the rents that the city was using for its um general obligation limited tax bond funded affordable housing program. And as you can see, two and threebedroom units at 60% of AMI are still $1,200 and almost $1,400 a month. So, this project will fall well within that kind of 60% AMI affordability limit. I will point out and just for full disclosure, there are no affordability requirements in our agreement with the city or or we don't anticipate that there will be, but we do plan on um maintaining that level of of affordability. This is just a more detailed construction budget. Um, one of the things that we do plan on doing is spending some money on the outside to build some amenity spaces like playgrounds and um, benches and things for the residents to use. Um, as Kenny mentioned, our request is for $2.5 million from the Northeast Renaissance TIFF. It would be structured as a a pay pay in and pay out structure with 95% paid back during years 1 through eight, 85% in years 9 through 10, and then 75% in years 11 through 13. And one of the things to note is that this this tiff is will expire in year 13 or we would have probably tried to go out a little bit further. And I believe that's about it. Any questions? Um, thank you Kathy for the the presentation and always excited for us to be bringing great new housing into Northeast Oklahoma City and particularly an area that is so blighted. If you have not driven by or walked by, it is in terrible condition. Um, so I'm glad to hear that there will be a commitment to making sure that there that these units are affordable. Um, I do also think it's important that we have market rate as well. So I it's really important to mix incomes in the areas that we're creating so we're not concentrating poverty again in northeast Oklahoma City. So um appreciate the efforts here and look forward to supporting it. >> Thank you. >> Um may I ask why we don't include the affordable housing um written into the the the proposal itself? Like what what is that about? Well, I think on this particular one, and that's a really good question. We had some of this discussion, you know, prior to today, but this was not brought to us as an actual affordable housing project. I think it's a side benefit on this particular one. They're not pursuing like LITC housing, you know, tax credits or things like that that would require that. They're not asking for GOL money that um, you know, would require that in our program. So really on a TIFF project, I would say this one normally from what we've been looking at other residential projects, um this this one is is well within what we're looking at on market rate. And I think part of that has to do with, you know, the location and the condition and being able to um them being able to purchase it at, you know, a reasonable price. But I would also say, you know, kind of cautionary. We think, you know, they think they can get it done at this level. Um, I think you guys have a lot of work to do once you get in there. And I'm I'm hoping they can get it done at the 15 million, but I think this is, you know, to their benefit, it's trying to show that, you know, they can do this with some, you know, minimal TIFF help, but it's they're not using sources that necessarily require it. But, you know, at the end of the day, that is a a policy call. We don't typically, you know, impose these from tiff. Um, usually it's other sources that are specifically dedicated to that um affordable housing market. Uh, but I do think this one also probably has some dynamics of the location also is going to act as a little bit of a limiter on on um um the rents as well. Will there be uh Thank you for that. Will there be going forward uh regular updates? Could you like um Yeah, just regular updates on where we are with the rents at this um facility or this this this housing. >> Typically, you don't ask developers to do that. Sure. >> Back to you on rents. You can always look them up online because they'll be posted and available for anybody. Um I think that the incentive is more tied to the level of investment that we're making and not necessarily to affordability. >> Sure. >> Um I I ask for two reasons. One to Kenny's comments typically right there's not that affordable housing carve out. However, and this isn't necessarily related to this TIF, but it's bringing to mind the class tiff wherein at the request of residents, right, we carved out $10 million for affordable housing and we've already had a project come to this council led to a whole conversation with our our good friend Chris Fleming, right? Um, so we didn't put it there when the the the TIFF itself has that carve out in it. We didn't do it there. We're not doing it here, which le and so that's my first kind of note is that when will we like I get I understand what Kathy is saying, but when we have a TIFF on class that does have that carve out, that strikes me as an opportunity for that language. I I would agree with that and we'll work with Kenny on that that that if it's >> the difference being that that one has the carve out specifically for affordable housing. This one does not. So this one is like any other project. So I think in that we probably would have more requirement in that. And I think as we're meeting with developers and talking about some of the challenges with affordable housing housing, it will inform us better and how that we can work with them to help them be successful with it, but make sure there's some accountability with it as well in the areas where it's require it's called out as a part of the project. >> And and I do think it's worth saying I mean that's exactly right, Craig, but also you know we have to have developers that control the properties that are willing to do an affordable project. I mean if they come if you know a property owner comes forward and they feel like they can't make that work or that's not their what they do. I mean affordable housing projects are completely different than market rate and the management often the the capital stack and financing structure. So we do need to find more um developers that are interested in trying those things because they do they are more complicated. I think you agree with that >> ex exponentially more complicated. So, but our intent, you know, in signaling that like in the class and tiff is to try to bring about more of those projects. And I think signaling that just the reality is they'll need more tiff on an affordable project than a market rate would theoretically although there could be other absent other tools I guess absent LITC, absent Gulp bond funding, absent other programs. So >> yes and so to be very clear in what I am noting here is and I hear all that and we've we've had this discussion we're having these conversations my request is when a developer especially specifically with class comes forward with an affordable housing proposal that we make sure that that language is there which leads me to my second concern right um you talk about councelor Pennington the disinvestment whether it's an infrastructure or housing at that particular intersection. Well, a lot of residents now have lost some faith, right, that we are going to deliver. So, when we say things like in this instance like we're going to have and I love what you're doing, Kathy, I think it's good work, but part of the reason why I was asking about the the come back and check in is that there and and you know, Kathy and I, we've talked offline about this. We need more rooftops precisely in W 7 in the urban core generally, but especially in W 7. I just want to make a note of caution here that when we speak about what those monthly rents are going to be that are not market rate but that we're going to do the affordable housing in this public space and then 5 years from now I'm not saying you would but I'm saying 5 years ago if they're not then that hurts the trust that people would have in the private sector in this instance right and those of us up here on the council. So that's why I'm speaking about this is I think we're in a a wonderful opportunity moment as a city, but we have to be very um intentional about how we speak about these things and then how we follow up on them. That's all I'm that's all I'm saying in this moment. >> Yeah. And we certainly agree if we have whether it's TIFF or gold bonds, if it's an affordable housing, it's represented that way and that's what's brought forward, they will have those requirements embedded in the economic development agreements. Um, and I think Joanna, they're generally 20-year uh commitments to those levels of of rents. So, >> I'm just going to say one more thing though about TIFF because I've watched this for a long time. Sometimes you have to have market rate projects be extremely successful before you can fund the affordable ones because they don't generate enough increment to pay for their own subsidies. So, just keep that in mind. You need a little bit of both. Any other questions? Okay. Well, we can take up the item then. Of course, it is item R. We have a motion in a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. All right. Item S is a resolution approving amendments to the city of Oklahoma City housing programs policies for loan and grant programs funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. We have a presentation. >> Hello council. My name is Todd Smith. I'm the federal programs manager for the H planning department and before you today is an amendment to our current policies that we have in place. Uh, you know, the the big big part of this is sometimes we have to make regulatory changes. Um, today we're we're looking at um changes that we've made [snorts] to three major things is and one of those is we're removing an old uh general repayment loan program that we had for years and we're replacing that with a an emergency home repair program to the policy there and providing some guidance in that. Second thing is we're doing is a uh or giving our director of development uh director of planning I'm sorry the ability to increase our our cost as costs go up labors go up we need sometimes to have that flexibility to on a per project basis to go up as well with that and so gives him that ability and also provides the ability for us to do reconstruction when it's feasible for [clears throat] us. So, and the third thing is we're doing we're allowing our u acceptable bid range to be uh to each program to allow us some flexibility so we don't have to keep constantly going out the bid back out the bid back out the bid to hit that acceptable bid range. Um and then um obviously this has all been approved by the citizens uh CCCD meeting. So, I'll take any questions you guys have. >> Thank you. We can take up the resolution now. Item S. Have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item 11T is a joint resolution with the Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust amending the procedure for privately constructed oversized water man extensions. Um, and there is presentation. >> Yes, Chair Mclofflin with the water utility trust and the water utility department is actually going to [clears throat] make this presentation. This was approved previously by the uh water utility trust. Mayor and Council, um, policies A1 and B1 guide how Aquit participates in the cost of privately constructed oversized water and sanitary sewer mains. Both policies were originally adopted in 2002 and have not been updated in more than 20 years. Um, this update brings participation amounts in line with today's actual construction costs by introducing cost ranges based on pipe sizes uh while keeping the minimum required diameters uh at 12 in for water and 8 in for sewer. The resolution authorizes the general manager to negotiate participation costs when pipe diameters exceed uh the range covered by fixed pricing. Uh, it also allows the general manager to administratively adjust participation amounts over time based on current and historical pricing data. That's it. >> All right. >> Thanks, Jared. >> If there's no questions, we could take up the joint resolution found at item T. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. All right. Item U1 is a resolution authorizing the municipal counselor to confess judgment without admission of liability. In the case of uh Bruner as administer of the estate of McCoy v. City of OKC, executive session is not requested. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item V1 is a resolution authorizing the municipal counselor to confess judgment without admitting liability in the case of Cochram and John's v. City of OKC executive session is not requested. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item W1 is a claim recommended for denial uh at 1A. Executive session is not requested. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item 11 X1 is a claim recommended for approval. Uh item 1A executive session is not requested. We have a motion, a second. cast your votes. Passes unanimously. That concludes votes for the day. We're now at item 12. Comments from council. W 2. >> Yes. Uh I believe residents are aware of this, but I just wanted to remind everyone this evening at Bellau Library in W 2, our OKC planning department is hosting uh a conversation about uh coming updates to OKC's zoning code. That's going to be from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. this evening. Uh this is especially important for people who live within the central part of the city. Um, so if your neighborhood right is in that central part, you really want to try and be there tonight, I would I would very much love to see you there. Um, on that note, I have received some data regarding uh why it's important for us to revisit our zoning code at this moment. This actually builds on our recent, very recent conversation we were just having about our housing needs. Uh, bear with me some statistics here. So, first, and I know there are other counselors up here who are interested in this particular thing, which is evictions. W 2 has some of the highest eviction rates in the area. And let me give you some numbers. 6,15 eviction cases filed in 2025. One more time 6,15 eviction cases filed in 2025. of those cases, 3,89, right, resulted in a property owner being able to remove the tenant, right? And we know, we know, right, that when we have conversations with tenants about their rights and responsibilities, and it's really both of those words, it's their rights and their responsibilities, right? And when you have legal representation present for that tenant as well that oftent time at times, excuse me, a mediation can occur between the property owner and the tenant that results in a the person being able to remain housed and b the property owner being made whole. It is a win-win and we really need to uh figure out how to partner with county government and city government a bit better here uh to address these numbers. I mean 6,15 filed eviction cases. That is wild. That is wild. And it helps explain your homelessness, right? We know that that cycle of housing insecurity, eviction leads to too often the cycle of homelessness and poverty, right? Um so those are some numbers I wanted to bring to you. I also wanted to bring the following numbers as well. Uh we've learned from data that there are 32,919 homes or buildings right in W 2. Of those 15,261 are renter occupied. That's 46% of W 2. 46%. Right. Troublingly, right? Right now, the median income, excuse me, the median rent in W 2 is between $876 and 1,022 a month, which means that more than 70% of those renters are paying more than the HUD recommended 30% of their income on rent and utilities. That's what we mean when we talk about people being costburdened right now. And then as you heard at the very start of this meeting, which I was listening to closely, the very start of this meeting because of world events like a war, right, in Iran and across the Middle East, we're seeing rising gas prices with promises the war will end soon. But in the interim, the very residents, the 70% of those renters who live in W 2, who call W 2 home, are going to have to deal with rising gas prices. Thank goodness at the start of this meeting, too, we have Embark providing the public transit services, which they are providing. Thank goodness this council has approved those improvements to public transportation because that's going to be an option that I think some residents are going to be looking at with these rising costs. So, I just wanted to connect those dots between rents and transit, right? That it's very important that that we know that. And so, ultimately, that is u going to get me to a letter I looked at when I went back to my office a little bit ago um from someone who's of a different political party than me. And the letter that they sent was uh from someone who serves on our regional transit authority who mentioned how our current administration in the executive office has uh put a ban on future uh Wall Street uh involvement in purchasing our precious housing inventory. I have the worst news for everybody and so too does our RTA um representative and anyone following housing, right? It is a small proportion right of the private equity that is responsible for why we are in the situation that we are in terms of our uh housing crisis. Unfortunately, it's a lot of smaller investors and medium-siz investors both within the state within the city and with that and uh outside of the state who are doing this right. And that executive order that the executive branch has passed does not affect the existing private equity um firms that have purchased the existing properties. It doesn't retrofit make right those properties and make them available for the firsttime home buyers. What I am saying it only affects the future. So the answer thank god is found in our bond with the $50 million for affordable housing that's part of the solution. The tiffs these are the things. So that's why when I speak up here uh with a sense of urgency about meeting our housing needs, it is because of the 70% of the renters in W 2 who are paying more 30% more of their income right on on their on to live to have a roof over their head right so I look forward to as city manager Freeman said meeting with um the developers big and small to figure out how we can do more of this infill development particularly around transit. So, it's transit oriented development on places like Classen, soon to be Martin Luther King and Shields, right? And with those two new BRT routes, soon to be in Ward 3 if voters approve the RTA heading out um toward your uh neck of the woods, right? So, I just wanted to connect some big dots and give you some numbers to be thinking about and I want word two to know that I am obsessed with these numbers. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Word three. Word four. >> Word five. >> I just want to thank Scout Troop 1042 for inviting me out to speak to their little kiddos. And you get some amazing questions from 8-year-olds like, "Did you ever get eaten by a bear?" So, it it was a lot of fun. They had a lot of nice things to say about Councilman Cooper. It was in your ward. So, it was >> Yeah. Got pizza for the kids. It was It was a great a great evening. being an ex scout. It was a lot of fun. So, thank you. >> Word six, board seven, board eight. >> Yeah, I think this is directed to you, Craig. Yesterday, uh I received from the NLC, the National League of Cities, a notification that the uh Senate is moving forward with historic housing legislation. It says a significant comprehensive housing package is advancing in Congress. And uh I think we need to be looking at that. Two things jumped out at me. Number one is it has substantial bipartisan support. And number two, it says and for local governments, the package does not present preempt local land use or zoning authority and and avoids unfunded mandates. The chairman of that committee says that he believes zoning decisions are best made locally and not in Washington DC. And so as that moves down uh through the Senate, I I sure would like to get some briefing as to how that could impact Oklahoma City, please. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. That brings us then to item 13, citizens to be heard. And we have Bobby Lee Allen. If you wouldn't mind stating your name and address and keeping your remarks to three minutes or less. >> Hello, my name is Bobby Allen. Middle name is Lee. Born in St. Angelo, Texas, July 20th, 1967. And in full disclosure, I am a candidate for president of the United States for the 28 election. as declared and to my best to my understanding I am a citizen of W 7 the Douglas Apartments. Is that you? Thank you. And I'm here because the city of OKC has updated the status of my request from received to closed. And how many different ways and how many different ways have you done that to me? And it's not just me because if it was just me then I could say that's a personal attack on Bobby. But it's not. If you go to your OKC.gov services action center request, you'll see every single one of them that you look at that is closed. The only comments there is the city of OKC has updated your request, the status of your request from received to closed. And that as mentioned on my note, that is a catalyst of apathy for voters. And as our mayor election just showed us back in February, how many registered or unregistered voters do we have in Oklahoma City? And how is that number anywhere close to 38,000 of the people that are actually engaged in voting in Oklahoma in the city? And then other things that are big and then there's this most of you should have received this. I don't know. Did this come out? And that is sad because there's a lady behind a glass door that received an envelope directed to you on March the 2nd with 10 of these to pass out to you and the city council and the mayor and I only have five of them left. This is my not condiment ketchup. I am the wondering wonder. I walk around the city because I am a pedestrian and I discover things and I find things beautiful and wonderful and I report them. And this is what I would call a syllable soundbite. So somewhere in that office from March 10th, March the 2nd, today is the 10th, you should have a envelope that has 10 of these. And this is a syllable of sound bites. So the idea behind this is it just gives you enough of the news to call the phone number on the back to say, "What in the world are you talking about?" So we can have a big conversation. And who is going to want to wander the streets of W seven with Bobby to say, "Okay, what's wrong with these sidewalks? And how long is that possum going to be laying on the beside the sidewalk stinking up the whole neighborhood? And how come nobody knows about anything? How come this didn't make it to you from your secretary?" That was handd delivered and I signed in. So there's evidence that I was here and that is terrible. that that voice and how many times do I have to say the city of OKC once again has updated the status of my request from received to closed and then when is it not even received by the person it's targeted and thank you my name is Bobby Allen candidate for president of the United States. Amen. >> Thank you. That concludes citizens to be heard which means you're at item 14 adjournment and we are adjourned.