[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] legis mayor we need to get order the mayor's about to speak sir go ahead may we live where's marus where's the manager [Music] okay they want to I want to call the um February 26 2024 council meeting for the action review session of our meeting to order and we'll start with our City attorney for introductions a good evening Patrick Baker City attorney Ed drgs district 7 V LA mayor Dante Anderson mayor protim district one dle ARA at large good evening James Mitchell at large all right so I think that um we have a couple of things that um I would say if we have our consent agenda and so um do we have any reports or questions that have been presented to you the staff Miss Marie yes ma'am and I've gotten a chance to talk with council member um Mayfield on her questions and a couple of other folks but does anybody else have any outstanding questions that I haven't covered I don't see anyone with other questions um do you have a a handout for us yes ma'am it's at everyone's seat if they want to look over that okay does everybody ah yes agenda item questions all right are there any comments or does I know that I have a request that we have consent items n 13 through 45 may be considered in one motion except for those items that may be removed by a council member and I understand we have one for a separate vote as well as a comment that can be made B before a vote on the um any motion so yes ma'am we also have 45 who what that's been deferred 45 has been deferred um the fire station um which is item 30 would be a comment by Miss watlington but let's see if we can get a motion on the floor for and number 17 the separate vote was I'm sorry you're right I have it written down here 17 it's Firehouse 30 that's what you were referencing I know figure that out today okay so um the separate vote was there an item for a separate vote no ma'am I had a item for comment on 17 the firehouse 30 from Miss watlington would was wan to make a comment all right is there a motion to approve the consent agenda 13 through 44 item 45 has been deferred by staff and um if we can get the motion on the table then I will recognize Miss Waton so moved we have a motion second all right so miss watlington your comment on station 30 fired to station 30 item 17 thank you madam mayor for the record Victoria watlington serving at large I just wanted to comment um because I know there's been a bit of conversation around um how we go to business and what that means in terms of mwsb support um I will be supporting this particular um procurement item tonight but I do want to lift up that I absolutely expect to see a continued Focus around how do we um update our procurement methods such that we can um support more mwsb in our community being the largest city and the state we look around um at some of our peers and see that they have made great strides in economic Mobility through um mwsb participation and so I'd like to see us do do do more frankly uh so just wanted to make sure that we noted that at the top of the year thanks all right very relevant comments thank you Miss watlington um so with that we have the motion on the floor any other comments yes s Miss azir thank you Madame mayor so item number 30 is for all electric firehouse and that's one of our first ones I wanted to highlight that um it's certainly um this further shows our commitment to our CF goals to transition to to transition towards low carbon future uh where we have a go goal of going carbon free by 2030 for all of our internal facilities so this is a bold step forward and I appreciate the work that fire department and our sustainability staff has done to make this goal um a reality step by step thank you all right thank you any other comments caring none with a motion I'm sorry did someone say something oh okay so we have a motion on the floor for the consent items all in favor please raise your hand anyone in opposition hearing none that passes unanimously so that takes care of our consent agenda and so now I'm going to turn it over to the manager thank you mayor and members of council we have two items on the action review tonight a spectrum Center uh update for you and also you have asked in the past where we are with our arpa funds we want to do this comprehensively and look at all of the federal funds that we've been uh receiving uh since the pandemic both the the um there's about $300 million worth of funds that we have received from the federal government with two-thirds of that going out into the community in various um methods uh so mayor what I'd like to do if there aren't any questions I'd like to turn it over to uh Tracy Dodson to talk about the Spectrum uh Center you know update one thing I I do want to say before I turn over to Tracy we did um you know talk in general about um how we would move forward with this and so tonight we'll provide a presentation update to you um if there are some additional questions um I'm recommending that we have those at the March 4th Ed committee meeting with the goal of being able to get this across the well that's not the right I'm mix and metaphors it's not a goal line uh to score ho we get finish hooping um by by the end of March but again the concept talk to you tonight talk to you next Monday at the uh Ed committee meeting uh with the goal of uh finishing up at the end of March okay you heard the next steps and so we'll now hear from Miss dson great thank you good evening every um here to give you just a quick update it was a couple years ago that we were in front of you um on this and so we'll remind you what the 2022 agreement looked like and then actually what the new proposal that came in in late 23 we've been working on it since it came in with the new ownership compare them and then let you know our recommendation to move forward so in 2022 you approved um 250 15 million for arena improvements as well as 16 million for a per performance enhancement facility which we call the PEC um if you remember when we made this vote there was about $173 million that of work that was obligated in the arena doing the additional work plus the investment in the PE allowed us to extend the lease from 2030 to 2045 also in 2022 we talked about the PEC potentially having two locations one at the CTC Redevelopment which you see in the yellow box in the bottom image or uh the red box which was the gravel lot and 50% of that gravel lot was part of that 2022 agreement going into a little bit more detail on the 2022 I mentioned the 275 million but this the city city was going to be building the PEC under that agreement and so we were responsible for construction delays we were responsible for providing parking some that was designated solely to the Hornets some that was shared from like an office user to um them on the events and evening events um as I mentioned the two locations on the PEC the city would own the PEC and the Hornets would have leased it from us and then we would have shared in the PEC naming rights as we dug into the 2022 options option A which was at CTC had the 60 million towards the PEC had Incorporated the PEC into a mixed juuse development if you remember we always said that was a Transit development first um it was about a 78,000 ft facility it had 350 parking spaces that I mentioned and it required a delivery by Q 2027 Q before excuse me 2027 option b was half of the gravel lot they had a first right on the remainder of the lot the requirements of the facility and the parking were both the same now as we move into the new approach and this really came about um with the new ownership they had a bigger vision and it came to us in late last part of last year um they had a bigger vision for a bigger worldclass facility they wanted to actually invest more and they desired to control the development so that they could get an earlier delivery they are targeting now to have a 2026 Q4 2026 delivery they also requested that they shift some of the 60 million that we had committed for the PE over to the arena which is our owned facility in addition um the PC was going to require 60% not 50% of the gravel lot because it was going to be a larger facility as I mentioned deliver it earlier then they also asked to have the development rights of the remainder of the gravel lot this was to do additional development um that would contribute to the vision of the of the district that we've talked about and the last piece was that they wanted to keep and not share the naming rights specifically to the PEC so that's a lot let me show you how we start to compare this when we look at it um it's important to note that the investment from 2022 to 2024 was still the 275 million we shifting 30 from PE to the arena but remind you that the 173 was always obligated under our original contracts the 2022 proposal had the Hornets investing in the cost overruns in the arena that remains true but now you have a much more significant investment from the Hornets around the PEC from 7 to100 million so you're getting the total Hornets investment is the cost overruns in the arena as well as the investment into the PEC and you can see there the total project jumps from approximately 275 to anywhere between 345 and 375 the TR a lot development rights were 50% under the old agreement now it's 60% plus the additional development rights so essentially it's the whole the whole deck or excuse me the whole block um and now you have an estimated tax revenue from that new development that would be generated whereas before when we own the facility that was not the case and again as I mentioned we said we think that the development of the remainder of the lot would contribute to the larger uh District Vision on the far right you'll see I tried to kind of simplify a little bit what are the tradeoffs so under 20122 we're relieved from the parking requirements and the maintenance repairs cost overruns or late fees we gain 250 parking spaces for our city employees which we currently use on the gravel lot in exchange we're providing the additional 50% of the gravel lot and the city does not share in the naming right when you total all this out we really come out about 5 million in the better between 2022 and 2024 so with this there are funding adjust adjustments of where the sources are coming from we would look to use 30 million from tourism funds to put into the arena um part of this comes from more affordability in the fund when we were in front of you in 2022 we were coming out of covid and the funds had not fully recovered the way that they have now so there's more affordability in the fund the remaining 30 million for the PEC we're looking at new rent that was a part of the 2022 agreement that's coming to us from the Hornets as a as a possibility as well as still the possibilities for sponsorship Revenue it's just that our timing has gotten somewhat disconnected with the delivery of all the pieces within the district so our staff recommendation for this is to pursue this new proposal decree it decreases the city investment in the PEC and increases city-owned money City money in our city-owned asset the horn the value of the Hornets give exceeds the value of the gravel lot as we kind of talked about the longer schedule at CTC creates risk for the penalties this expedites development potential and tax revenue for the gravel lot ultimately we hope driving more tourism opportunities and more development can contribute to the district Vitality as we've mentioned before and lastly as the manager started tonight we're really here with getting some Direction getting some reaction from you as the manager said the next step would be to continue this Council discussion next week and eventually coming back to you to vote on the new PEC agreement and with that I will stop for questions meeting that I think I hope that this would be a meeting Mr Mitchell is a vice chair that others can certainly view um the public as well as people in the community but I would also say any council member should have the opportunity to participate in that review as well so if that's okay um so I will start I saw Miss chair I'm sorry we're going to start with Mr Mitchell and then Miss Mayfield and then miss ashir uh Madame mayor thank you uh first kudos to city manager and to Tracy I think our last conversation this was one thing the council wanted to see was something in writing and I give council member aim cedit to see the side by side comparison 2022 2024 uh this is uh for me very uh easy for me to read and follow particularly when you look at slide if Trac you can go back to slid I think seven um I I think slide seven is very telling for us that is a better deal and put us in a better situation when the new owner is going to commit between 70 100 million and more important the tax that will generate is 18 million so I look forward M mayor to your point inviting all council members to the public to March 4th committee discussion thank you staff all right Miss Mayfield thank you madam mayor thank you Miss Dawson for the presentation I just want to make sure that when we have as these conversations are happening that we also get to hear whether it's at the committee meeting from our city attorney's office because I want to make sure that we are having our legal representation on the front end versus staff and counsel signing off on something and all of the language is where the meet is at so I want to make sure that we have a chance to hear from our City attorney whether he has any comments now or at least at committee so that I can know for me where we are with the logistics legally and what the expectations cuz again me just looking at the even though yeah I've been around for many years we approved a lot of things saying we were initially obligated to have a have $173 million obligation well at the end of the day 173 from 245 is still 72 million that's out there now we've talked about where it would be allocated and how it would work I would just like to know that our legal representation is at the Forefront of all these conversations and not on the back end well I think that um you and I must have been on the same page because I had a long conversation with our City attorney this morning and talking about what we um should be doing and I guess the question is I think that we planed to have a conversation tomorrow um with the legal the manager and Ed to see where we were where we are and to go through but I I have to remind all of our all of us we should always remember that the City attorney signs off on these contracts and there's a reason and I think that I'm going to turn it over to Mr Baker but I think that what we're trying to do is make sure that you get the proposal and then when if their Council if the council understands it clearly understands what the options are or has questions about it the C City attorney will address the questions I believe at the council meeting I mean the committee meeting as well m is that where we will be Mr Baker that that is correct um as the conversation goes today we'll certainly be writing notes about things the main thing is to make sure the council has a clear understanding as to what it's being asked um so that there's no you know coming back a year later with wait a second you didn't tell us this or or that uh and that's a Communications that that I've had uh with with the uh city manager in particular making sure that he and I are on the the exact same page in terms of what's being disclosed so there's clarity as to what this deal uh is as opposed to you know a situation where we're showing you the highlights um and you may not quite understand some of the other aspects of the deal all right so that's to be prior to the committee meeting the manager this we need to get our legal Team all signed up okay um and so now miss ashir thank you Madame mayor I agree with Mr Mitchell I appreciate um Tracy and her team for providing all the details side by side comparison and also providing agreement we have updated terms uh that was part of our package that is very helpful um so this was our homework for the weekend which I and I I took notes I have 12 points that I want to mention um so and number one uh is including local apprenticeship programs that we have in our city how can we encourage uh our local apprenticeship programs to be part of this renovation process okay well we had the in I mean local apprenticeships we had not considered into the work so far we also we obviously have the mwsb um commitment that we have that we've done um but we can talk to the team about where we are in local appren ships as well yes so uh I would like to advocate for in addition to the mwsb commitment that we have local apprenticeship commitment as part of our updated terms cuz we have Workforce devel velopment initiatives uh and we got to ensure that we have our local Workforce uh being part Transit focus on Transit doesn't change that is our number one priority so I think going back to that point um with this new proposal we have to figure out a way to ensure that we have um we have a plan for our transit station renovation um so when I say Transit CTC specifically so on one of the slides uh you had shared with us that um PEC naming rights um sorry so yeah just keep uh this slide where you have $30 million under the PEC 2024 column so we are going from 60 to 30 that's part of The Proposal um and uh in this proposal the city will not be owning the PEC building it will be owned by the new management or the new ownership so why invest $30 million if uh if we don't own the building so I I I think we're we're trying to stay hold to our commitment of the 60 million um we got comfortable again with moving some of when the ownership shifts we got comfortable with moving some of that over to the arena um because that's our owned asset um but we still felt like we have that commitment to the PE which is a part of keeping them here until 2045 yes I I get that there is a longer term commitment to 2045 and that was part of our original deal um so why not have all towards Arena versus the PEC um when we have Arena as part of our ownership um you don't have to answer it today if that's something you need to take time to uh but I I just I'm trying to wrap my head around uh an asset or the building that we do not own but we are committing $30 million towards it and then I know in the original deal we had in 2022 we had the naming rights for both the arena and the PEC is that right no we we we never had the naming rights for the PEC no we we never had the Hornets have always owned the naming rights for the arena what we were looking at Future Revenue potential in was District naming rights and things like that around the arena part of which was the PEC now in the 2022 agreement we had it where the city and the Hornets would share specifically in the PEC naming rights 50/50 and so when they when they made the switch they asked to own all of the naming rights for that we can still look for revenues out of the district naming rights and things like that like we had originally contemplated so we had 50/50 so the $60 million originally that we had anticipated from the naming right um was it 60 in 2022 yeah we thought over the course of of the lease extension um and the district that we could generate the $60 million right so out of that now uh we are we are giving up on the naming rights for the PEC yes which was just one piece of how we calculated the 60 okay so I guess I I just need to see the math uh where we very we look at what we are gaining uh versus what we are giving so we have 50% gravel lot so the so this is not just where the money is being used and where the money is coming from it's more than that uh we are providing the development rights to the other half of the gravel lot that we didn't have before uh which is worth roughly $16 million and then we are also giving up the naming rights on the PEC so I see there is a match somewhere that shows the net net gain is $5 million towards the city but I'd like to see the math that here's the $16 million that we are uh giving up as part of the gravel lot half half of that and how we are getting to 5 million I think that's that's what I'd like to see as part of the math um certainly I appreciate the commitment of 7 to 10000 million uh towards the towards the PEC by the new ownership that we didn't have before I think that is important I certainly appreciate that um but I I just need to see the math also also um there was a slide on the naming rights where we had 6 uh $60 million anticipated so in future I think we need to be conservative as we factor in the sponsorship numbers um because I remember when they had a presentation back in 2022 Ed and I used to serve on that committee well Ed still does I do not um and the whole proposal the naming rights proposal just sounded too good to be true uh and now we are seeing that it's not we're not going to meet those projections and we are having to tap into our tourism fund capacity to address the requests I think we need to keep that in mind moving forward uh also have there been any conversations on the rent payments for the PEC it's part of the overall equation the new proposal we have not discussed rent payments in the PEC because they would own the PEC so we had discussed in the 2022 agreement there was an increased R rent payment from the Hornets yes I saw that um but not on the on the PEC now they will own the PEC and what we're looking at our investment potentially being like an operating agreement operating fee that would cover that remainder 30 but they're not paying a rent on the PC yeah but yet we are paying $30 million towards it we had originally agreed to put 60 into it and now it's now it's 30 yeah okay yeah so um as I said I appreciate the increase investment from the new ownership I'd like to see the math behind how we arrived at 5 million total net benefit um that's about it thank you so much thank you thank you so now um Mr D thank you mayor um I had a lot of the same questions as Miss Ajira so for my own reference I created my own kind of reconciliation and therefore Miss I can show you those numbers I'm sure we all do no but I've got it 4.73 to be exact uh what I will say about this is um it it is still in my mind kind of confusing to try and take these various data points and consolidate them into an overall understanding of the deal so for my own reference what I did is I created a spreadsheet expanding on that one that has all of the numbers in it and it does foot down to the five million and uh I won't go into much detail about that I'm happy to share it with anybody that uh is interested there is an issue about ownership um it's true and uh the only thing I will mention is our ownership of the Arena has not been a great prize when you get down to it so owning more assets that basically uh obligate us and don't pay us uh is a questionable sort of benefit of ownership and that's why in my mind I'm not too troubled by the idea great you guys own it you know uh uh you own it you pay for it you pay property tax on it and uh we don't have another day like the one we had a couple of years ago where we get handed a bill for for you know maintenance and upgrades so I think that's an issue we can work around but miss admir you're absolutely right to point it out uh I was concerned about that as well um when you go through the itemized list you've got parking you've got uh the gravel lot you know we we were we had offered 16 million for the gravel lot before and now we're offering the rest of it what does that look like but when you get through all of that uh on one piece of paper you come down to a $5 million favorable variance what that number represents in large part is obligations that we would have if we just stuck to the 22 agreement right so we are avoiding liabilities that would emanate from the 22 agreement and that is a lot of the value that the 24 agreement brings to us so we do provide the grav a lot but we get back some parking uh and when you go down through that step by step you can actually replicate the $5 million because I mentioned this slide doesn't like it says $5 million in the corner but where's that in the numbers uh I can show you what that number comes from uh there's also in addition to the 5 million there is a property tax Prospect over 15 years that we wouldn't have under the 2022 agreement so that deserves to be recognized as well so my conclusion is um the situation isn't great I would say to the extent that what we're learning is that there are some obligations we have as a result of the 2022 agreement and I don't like that frankly but the truth is that those commitments are now being mitigated by the New Deal and when I look at the overall sort of public interest here and the benefits of this new proposal working with these new owners and I look at the numbers my bottom line is that uh I'm inclined to support this based on what I know so far so uh if people would like to see in more details how I got there I'm happy to uh circulate a copy of this or talk through it with you but uh it is possible to get all of the numbers everything you've heard about on one piece of paper and see how they add up thank you thank you Madame mayor um I actually agree with Mr Driggs and his points about uh removing risk in this new deal so we're we're not obligated to uh some of the details that was in the 2022 deal which is which I think is a plus um the other piece that I I'd like Tracy that you had on slide seven here is you know the fact that we are we are giving up the gra travel lot however in return we're getting um two ta potentially two tax entities that will be on the books right and you have estimated a 15-year um lease term of $18 million potentially from tax being generated but of course that can go out in the future as well so there's additional dollars potentially to be had there my question is around the line item that says total Hornets investment and cost overrun 70 to $100 million I believe when we spoke to that last time that we uh were discussing this we were unsure where those that 70 to100 million how that would be allocated to either the arena or the PEC do or both do we have any Clarity on that so their answer is that it's pretty much all going to the PE um because they're we're reducing our investment in the PEC they're increasing and they're taking that 30 million that we've moved over plus the additional investment now having said that there's been some inconsistencies that I've challenged them on with different work that's going on in the arena when you really get into the details um and waiting to hear back on that okay okay I you know I know that there's been investment in the arena but there's other space um that the arena could potentially have additional investment that would unlock the opportunity to have larger events uh temp pole events um that we could have here in the city of Charlotte for for the first time so I'm I'm hoping that you'll continue to work and negotiate with them on that particular aspect but thank you for this information and for the quick turnaround thank you for has question thank you madam mayor Miss Dawson I did for getet to ask what was our previous Community commitment so we with the spaces that we invest in there's usually a commitment for Community Access do you and if you don't have it I think you know it but if you don't then that would be helpful do you remember what the previous 12 days do you know how many of those 12 12 days will actually utilize I don't I do not think in my last conversation with crva that we're utilizing a lot of those days um and I will point out that it when we did the 2022 agreement it does specify things like going after college tournaments CIAA it does call out things like that in there as a part of the 12 days um but I don't think that we're using a whole lot of those days so that Mr manager is a different conversation for any of our facilities we need to ensure that those days because I know council member Mitchell because I get the follow-ups from where groups have reached out wanting to access and running took quite a few obstacles to access so one we need to know why days are going underutilized and what can be done to mitigate that but also thank you for providing that additional information because nowhere in the paperwork do we talk about what that Community commitment is and if we're looking at selling what was once a asset because we say the numbers work out and they will now have full responsibility along with that 15E it would be helpful if we can have a very clear commitment on actually utilizing all 12 of those community that Community Partnership days and or looking at we see if we can increase that because we have a number of now that we have all the major sports here we have a number of colleges and high schools that are imagine if we help we're able to hold some championships or different things that right there could be a different conversation when we talk about Community benefit but we need to get to the core of why are days why have days gone gone under utilized and make sure that we fill that Gap to make sure they are are utilized to if anything I want us to say we ran out of days versus they are not utilized but it will be helpful to know that language of what that commitment is to our Charlotte and Regional Community I thank you mayor I would add it's not just the sports it's the graduations and things like that so I I all right yeah so all right so miss Molina and Miss Johnson came in and we talked about questions that we have Miss watlington I just want to make sure anything Mr barari any questions I I would just comment for the public we've we've had discussions just for full context this deal came before us as you've seen in 2022 um the reason why I ended up supporting it then uh a bit grudgingly was that uh a a prior Council kind of handed us a bit of a challenge and it wasn't what do we want to do based on nothing or some kind of tethering investment option with the Hornets it was spend 173 million because you contractually have to and you get nothing or spend a bit more and be able to negotiate some benefits into that we were able to take that unfortunate situation and turn it into something that made a little more future sense not kicking a can down the road for another Council and then ultimately with new ownership now have an opportunity um to get more investment in from uh this leadership who wants to invest more who wants to do more uh really by just requiring us to move some things around which either ends up net neutral or to the positive in a small amount um I've said before to staff and others directionally this makes sense to me there's two things I need to do for my own vote in diligence wise that's left one is um because we've seen the side by sides and in greater detail to date uh with numbers uh they they add up to me it the question is what assumptions went into sizing them and so I have one diligence point to go in and say what value was placed on this versus that some are softer than others and uh I don't expect any surprises there but I haven't done that work yet so uh I have to complete that before that's done and then secondly and most importantly this point is um what is the will of the hospitality community and industry locally and with Muhammad and others uh in leadership in that area I look forward to publicly hearing from them and what their will is in relation to attacks that largely sits on their backs and uh and then we can come I can personally in my own way come to my conclusion on how to vote there but I think it's important for the full context because this is a long story that has been around for a bit um as to how we originally we in this position and now what we have to do all right so Miss Johnson do do you have any questions thank you okay Miss Molina um Madame mayor I'm actually pretty neutral I've actually already talked to staff that's kind of how I like to do it gotten my questions act spoken to manager Jones so I'm at a pretty good place all right so the manager if we go to this next step side um I'm going to just say um that what I have heard is that we have some questions to address and and the staff has has those questions there's some things that people would like to see but I think before we start doing much more of a deeper dive into it we need to have some direction for to proceed so um I'd like to see Hands of those that are ready to proceed for the information requested tonight as well as the committee meeting to be held next week I'm sorry so just for thank you M for clarification I thought this was just a report out it's going to go to committee and then it comes back you need what from us tonight well I was saying have you do you have any additional questions that you want to ask or anything else because we're giving the Ed committee a list of these things I think Miss asir said she had 12 but I only have five so we're going to have to go back and look at that and see where the other six are or I'm seven are but I think that what I'm just saying is that you've heard the additional information so Mr Jones I think that would be in committee discussion yeah thank you mayor rers of council I guess to test it a little bit tonight we I didn't hear anything that would say this is horrible let's not move forward um we were going in the right direction and I think that's important for our partners to hear that and there will be some additional questions at the committee meeting next week and then with the opportunity potentially um move this thing forward at the end of next month okay everybody agree with that all right thumbs up up at least that much all right so thank you very much Miss doson um I think that ends that part of the agenda for tonight what's our next step Mr Jones Okay so mayor the last item that we have for uh the action review is just the update on the American Rescue plan I I do believe that you have the presentation Sean's presentation in front of you and uh we'll start with that you just want to use okay the keybard okay great thanks appreciate it yeah good evening everybody Sean Heath from the city manager's office just have a few slides here as manager Jones alluded to during the pandemic there were two major pandemic relief bills that were passed by Congress first was the car's act and then second was the American Rescue plan the car's act came about in March of 2020 and you can see the city of Charlotte received about 155 million under the cares act originally the dispersement deadline was December 31st of calendar year 2020 that was changed at the very uh last week of the year so most of that 154.50 million substantially all of it was spent by the city of charlot during calendar year 2020 with the American Rescue plan there was a much longer Runway given to States and C cities and counties that received funding and so the American Rescue plan passed in March of 2021 we received two installments first in May of 2021 $7.8 million and then in May of 2022 $7.8 million both the car's Act and the American Rescue plan provided a fair degree of flexibility in terms of eligible uses so in the gray boxes there you can see there were a number of investments in City operations those really focused on investments in buildings including HVAC from an employee safety perspective investments in technology really for example enabling a remote work environment and then investments in employees so for example during the car's period in particular premium pay for First Responders was something that was done in the light green shaded areas if there's a headline here on this slide it's what manager Jones referenced earlier this evening of the total cares act and arpa funding that we re received under these programs over 200 million was devoted to community facing Investments that was about 2/3 of the overall allocation that was received this slide takes both the arpa one and arpu installments and bundles everything together and there are really two primary points here one is if you look at the dark gray shaded rectangles on the right part of the slide here this is how the community facing Investments were distributed across three broad categories so Community Vitality was a bit of a catchall category but just to give you an example of some of the key programmatic areas in that category digital inclusion the umbrella Center not not for-profit operating grants various investments in food security and food access and then some youth programming as well in the jobs Business Development and M wsbe a whole range of programs there that that fall under Tracy and Daniel Frasier's leadership and then with housing and anti-displacement there were about a dozen Investments uh associated with that $47 million for example pepper pepper tree is a Noah Project on the east side of town the expansion of the Charlotte Rescue Mission and housing support grants which you'll recall from a few months ago in organizations like freedom fighting missionaries and heel Charlotte so those are just three examples out of about a dozen in the housing and anti-displacement space arpa funds must be obligated by December 31st of this calendar year and then expended by December 31st of 2026 so just a reminder as I made some of those examples in the various Community facing investment categories all of those would have been projects or programs that staff brought to city council over the last few years seeking Direction and guidance and then ultimately a vote on your part in order to allocate the funds so we could get to work putting the money to work one question that that I get fairly often is how much is left so the sole purpose of this slide and this is taken in the total balance column the same information from the previous slide across those investment priority areas what is the unallocated balance as of today so just for example housing and anti-is placement total balance was 47 million uh unallocated balance is zero so all that means is that over the course of about 12 to 18 months we've brought in specific investment opportunities in the housing and anti-displacement category that Council has approved and now we're in various stages of implementation for all of those projects you can see the only unallocated balance inside of that original arpa uh amount of 141 million is $3 million in the Jobs business development in mwsb space that's been earmarked for Workforce related Investments so as Daniel Frasier continues to work on and then ultimately activate the Workforce Development strategy that this provides her a little incremental capacity to move that forward the very bottom row here one thing that manager Jones mentioned in calendar year 2023 is that there is arpa interest accumulating on the unspent arpa balance it was a little over four million I think the last time it was discussed in a council meeting in 2023 the current balance is sits at about 6.75 million today um the unallocated balance so to speak is 5.7 million and the difference between those two is a $1 million Council approved investment associated with the corridor's business opportunity hubs that was a November of 2023 Council vote one thing I would mention as we're leaving the slide keep in mind there there really three stages of making an arpa investment first is going to council with the idea and receiving approval so that's the count that's the allocation stage second is getting to obligation or encumberment and then third is actually spending the money going from Council allocation to then the obligation to then spending the money can sometimes take a bit of time it really depends on each investment and what level of of program design was necessary some of our investments went through formal RFP processes which can take a bit of time time for for all the right reasons and then we have contracts orus in place for these Investments and that can take a bit of time as well for all the right reasons so allocated obligated and then dollars out the door are really the three three stages of of making this money putting this money to work next step so in March and April what we will do at the staff level is a scrub of all of the arpa projects the open projects with un obligated balances and the purpose of that is really to ensure or confirm that any project that's been allocated but has a unobligated balance that we feel like we have a clear path to get to the obligation by December 31st of this calendar year if for some reason we identify some projects where that does not appear to be the case then we would bring those those back in for a conversation on how to potentially redeploy the funds I don't have any any news to break on that this evening that's really going to be the focus of what we're doing in the March and April time frame um in some form or fashion we'll do quarterly updates with Council over the remainder of the Year depending on what we need to share and and what if any actions are required by Council those will either be in in written form or or back here in Council Council meetings and then at some point in 2025 we'll provide a funding impact update keep in mind since the expenditure deadline is December of 2026 uh once we get to January 1st of 25 that doesn't mean every single dollar will have actually been spent but obviously there'll be an interest in having a sense for how many households how many small businesses how many nonprofit organizations how many Workforce Development Partners have been positively impacted by the arpa funds that the city of charlot has put into the community so that was a real quick tour of where we're at today just wanted to to give you a sense for what's going on and where we're headed I'm free to answer any questions Mr Jones so um I I I know there'll be a bunch of questions just a few things one um thank you Sean and Teresa and Ryan the whole team that's been monitoring that use these funds two I don't know if people say thanks enough to the council I want to say thanks to the council especially with the cares funds that that money came as a surprise and I think we were it was only for cities with more than a half a million people I think there were only like Atlanta they gave Atlanta so I think we may have been you know like 45 46 cities that that that got it and what you did is you said let's get this out into the community and so you were able to get a lot of funds out out into the community those 2/3 going out into the community versus you know onethird staying in for City operations is somewhat unique most of the other cities use that money for their own operations as opposed to um you know getting it out into the community where it was needed it I'm I'm going to try to preempt Mr dggs because I think there's a question that's going to come up you guys are very very good in trying to make sure that you utilize These funds in a way that were one time in nature and not something that would not be um sustainable unsustainable in the future so just a thought process around that is very good I will tell you that I know that um there are things that we left on The Cutting Room floor whether it was you know change please or there have been some conversations about carrying some other opportunities that are out there one of the things I would say is as you talk and continue to talk as sh it laid it out there there sometimes they're rfps sometimes they're not rfps so I just don't want there to be a a big uh let's say piling on of something that's good in terms of what what we're trying to do but bring it up to your attention last thing I'll say is that clearly you're not we're not going to spend every dime of some of these um let's say initiatives and anything that while it's been obligated if there's a balance it's going to come back and that balance is going to be provide you with another opportunity so I just tried to create a little bit of a runway for the discussion to that a lot of great things have happened a lot of great things that happened in the community and um I will turn it back over to you mayor all right so um we had a number of people to raise their hands so we'll start on this side Miss Johnson thank you Madame mayor I just want to say uh thank you Sean and thank you Mr Jones um for the the fiduciary and uh just the the diligence and the oversight of those dollars it was for those of us who were on Council during the pandemic council member watlington and I uh we went into the pandemic um isolation like 90 days after we were elected so that was just a very stressful time time but we were flexible and we adapted and it was just an honor to be a part of that and to see those numbers um just just thank you thank you for the work I it was an honor to do that work to to maintain a city during that time um there there's always something I'm always reaching out to Sean for you know for some need but um I I look forward to continuing to work with you and to to continue to get things done thank you all right Miss Molina um thank you madam mayor I didn't realize we were going to go around but uh no I'm good thank you Madame mayor um although I wasn't a part of uh the 2020 you know uh Council from you know the time that I've come on until now I'm very happy with a lot of the decisions that we've made around the arpa funding um what I find now however and uh Sean you and I we've talked about this uh we have more community members who are interested now in accessing this funding as a result of hearing that we've awarded funding to others um and I get asked constantly like hey is there money in the city to help us do you know said thing that's going to benefit the community and so now I think the challenge is going to become you know as we look at how we make decisions for these dollars going forward um like what is the will of the council is there is there certain buckets is there certain intentions um are there certain deliverables that we're trying to fulfill um I mean and I know it'll be an array of you know needs because we have so many um and I don't I don't know if we should do it on kind of a case by case we feel good about this one basis going forward especially considering the amount that we have left um so I'd like to think about some level of rationale like from you know a council based position and how do we execute on um the remainder of these dollars as we you know look forward to the deadline that's you know coming forth and um you know working with you know my colleagues here on the council to see what those thoughts are I think that's a great idea to have the council look at priorities look at programs and and come to some decision before we actually start talking about the money yeah that that would be very helpful we'll see where we can do that Mr Mitchell Madame May thank you just to followup Sean kudos to the work your team is doing but I would like to see as the mayor just mentioned that when you bring back all those projects if you can make sure the projects related to one of our priorities I think that would keep us focused on the work we did in January that we're committed to our priorities so if you can show that bucket and where that project aligns I think it' be helpful for us to to make sure we're focused on what we committed to thank you Madame mayor M ASA thank you madam mayor great work by the entire city of Charlotte team I remember I was on council with council member Johnson watlington DRS and others um it was just uh so much amount of funding to distribute in such a short time frame and I remember we had ad hoc committees there were three committees so I I felt like um it was like a gold rush um having to get this funding out in no time so to be able to have to help been successful delivering this dollars out the door in very short amount of time speaks of volume to uh the team that we have um couple of comments at our last budget governance and intergovernmental intergovermental Relations Committee council member mayfel actually asked for this report and I know she had specifically asked about um the list of organizations and how arpa funded um how far we have come along so this is really good um in terms of allocation so you you walked us through you walked us through three phases Mr Heath allocated obligated and spending so allocation is done we only have $3 million that's already dedicated or earmark for Workforce Development um so really Council uh council's job is done now we are looking at them obligated to ensure that all the funding is on track to be spent otherwise we will have to send money back uh to federal government so uh I appreciate your team's leadership in being proactive to ensure that we are going to have all these funds that are obligated be spent by the deadline um and U Mr Jones uh thank you for mentioning it again that this is a one-time spend because uh this was a very special scenario where we got so much funds from the federal government so I know there are organizations that are coming to City asking for additional dollars so I think we need to be mindful of that that we this was just one time that is we do not have that kind of funding available in order for us to continue that continue that to be good stewards of our public dollars I think that message needs to be very uh vocal in our communication as we go through this obligated and span discussion because organization needs to create a plan that they are able to sustain the operations of this onetime spent without having to come to City uh for additional or additional funding with that a great job thank you I think thank you Miss azmir that's a really important consideration that we really have to look at what are we trying to have in our priority and sustainability as a result of it so I think Sean has really fully aware that as we go through this process it needs to be with a look towards you know best the best way to get the work and done but also to do it in a way that's most sustainable all right mayor proam thank you Madame mayor um Sean thank you for the presentation it is really remarkable when we look at the dollars and how they were allocated ated to areas that are our priorities so specifically $47 million for housing and anti-displacement and $32 million for uh Business Development and small B small businesses I think those are significant dollars that um go to real issues and challenges in our community but I also just wanted to just highlight um the other the other um handout that you had where you you did a highlight of the arpa nonprofit support and care support and so you know these things just happen actually really immediately over the last year or so where you know Hill Charlotte was awarded $2.25 million freedom fighting missionaries Westside Community Land Trust and one of the things that I get really excited about is seeing the investment in the food security and access because it's a reality that we have food deserts throughout uh the city of Charlotte and um these two organizations work directly to mitigate that issue so kudos to the team um and kudos for this uh having this presentation because I think this does actually give us a blueprint of how we can pivot very quickly uh to infuse dollars in in in the community uh when we weren't necessarily meaning to do so right so uh great work and thank you thank you madam mayor thank you Madame mayor so looking back I remember when I got a phone call from Mr Jones who said Mr drgs $150 million just landed in our account and I'm not sure why and my immediate thought was hooray sidewalks for district 7 uh so but it's good to remember that initially there was uncertainty about exactly how this worked what you could use it for when you had to use it and they said you can't replace Revenue with it so we thought all right um and then I remember we had one conversation we said well let's see PPE that's $3 million and maybe some AC improvements HVAC improvements that's $6 million and you know we kind of wondered uh what are we supposed to do with $150 million and then we determined that it was possible to offer relief to the community with it and that was a a major turning point you may also recall that there was initially some impatience why why aren't we getting that money out why aren't we getting it out and we took our time and we did it right so uh just want to especially recognize that we can look back now on how we disposed to those funds and feel good about it uh and and I think that was uh you know the the thing that I would say right now uh as we look ahead we're not going to be able to do the things that we were able to do during arpa so even though I fully appreciate your comment about we didn't make commitments um but there there will be people may have gotten over used to this and we're going to have to live within our means uh so uh that will be our challenge going forward but I think this chapter in which we were able to do the things that we did with this money is a credit to the city thank you sir thank you Madame mayor Sean Teresa and Ryan thank you for that you done thankfully thankfully for me I was on vacation when yall had to deal with all of this so during that time period so I would like to know and you may or may not be able to answer this question who responsibility is it for the businesses that receiv received some of those dollars through support their checkin for their balance St statements for lack of a better word does that come through the city since we would have passed through or is that the federal government cuz unfortunately we've heard seen we've all seen a number of Articles over the last year or two of companies that were tagged for not spending those government dollars appropriately so are we tracking that yes as the recipient of the funds ultimately the compliance obligation falls on us what that compliance obligation looks like really depends on the nature of the investment um just to give you three quick examples so for pepper tree for the Noah that I mentioned before when we made that $8 million investment the way that we structured the contract really looked identical to what you would be accustomed to with the traditional Housing Trust Fund investment so contractually there was an obligation that the deed restriction be in place for ex number of years a certain Ami mix source of income protection and then we have an asset management team that would monitor the compliance with those contractual requirements with housing support grants like what we're doing with freedom fighting missionaries in heel Charlotte we have explicit contractual language that outlines what the funds are expected to be used for and then those nonprofits have reporting requirements to provide us with information on a periodic basis to demonstrate that they're using the funds as intended then it's Our obligation to to review those reports and then for something like the community resilience fund which is included in the handout that was at your desk when you sat down those are really by Des design meant to be operating grants for nonprofits so we weren't funding specific programs we really providing support for salaries and rent utilities and that sort of thing but in each instance we have a contract and anou in place that outlines the eligible the intended uses of the funds and they have record retention requirements so that's just a long-winded way of saying ultimately it's on us as the recipient to adhere to the requirements uh but exactly what it looks like depends on the type of investment that was made so for the OPA funds thank you for that overview I'm thinking about specifically the cares act part of it because we were able to support quite a few small businesses so I want to make sure that we the city have put ourselves in a strong position where we have checks and balance balances in place in case any of those individuals that figured out how to write the right language to get access to funding that that funding actually went to a viable business and not to friends and family Sean I think you may have been at housing when this happened so uh council member Mayfield uh funds went to the foundation for the Carolinas they got dispersed and then we had um an audit done from the internal auditor on that we did find you know a problem here or there but with all the money that went out it was not that significant so we did have that review so we've had one and we don't need to do another one since all of the car act money is allocated and gone since we really funed that through foundation for the Carolinas our focus is really on the oper dollars well I would say well don't want to get in front of Sean I just know that one area was a big concern there's a bunch of questions about loans versus grants and I don't want to dig that up again and so we were that's why we intentionally had um Greg go in and do a review um but there are other reviews that happen depending on how we put the language and the contract and things of that nature if I got that right Sean so if if Madam chair doesn't mind a BG I just think it would be helpful for us to at least get an update on where we are just to ensure that not only do we stay in compliance but that our partners stay in compliance as far as the Opera dollars as a few of my colleages colag have already mentioned there is going to be conversations I mainly see it for those that receive the larger dollar amounts thankfully mine's not in this group so I'm not going to be fussing about that one but those that were able to receive a substantial amount are probably going to if they haven't already started reaching out will'll be reaching out soon as we have budget conversations so as consistent as we all can be that opit dollars was a onetime opportunity and possibly look at how we can support you in identifying other ways for funding ahead of time might be useful but this is a wonderful presentation of just continually continuing to show stewardship of dollars that come through our city and also continues to align why we have a AAA Bond rating and why we qualify for so many grants and are set up for financial success even with all the growth we're seeing thank you madam mayor Miss watlington thank you madam mayor um thank you to everybody who was around in 2020 it wasn't always fun I mean it was not always fun um just a couple of things for me I would like I'm Sorry Miss wat you're fine you're fine um a couple of things for me as we think about what to do with this remaining dollars and I'll start with a question as I as I think about where I might like to lend my support um as we think about things that really would allow us to best leverage these dollars whether it's dollars for private investment or it's um value ad projects for things that are already existing where a little bit of additional incremental dollars will make a significant um change or projects that are ready to go now that we can avoid um future increases because of the time value of money uh land purchases things like that that's where I'm really interested to see how we can um leverage these dollars or even things like consultation or um Consulting dollars for data collection we've talked many many times about getting the data about our mwsb spend on past major um project investments in Economic Development and that's one that I know we keep going back to because we want to find out things that hang around year-over-year are the things that I would love to see us consider how do we use this um this pot of money to go ahead and do and or something that's going to allow uh interest bearing um on what we invest so that is actually my question is I look at the interest that we earned that's now a significant amount of money obviously we don't have the the principle there um but is it possible or do we already have accounts that we are able to invest dollars in and then earn interest and spend that as a revolving fund so I would say council member watlington a couple things one is the uh there's no clock on the interest money okay so that can you can take as long as you want to decide on that um and Sean I apologize as I'm repeating something you said back in October September when we brought it to your attention initially we were concerned about safety and having money for things that were related to Public Safety in general so we're getting to the point where you know we're going to get a budget in front of you with a bunch of initiatives and things of that nature but to I guess to get to your your point I think having it there gaining the interest um is is fair and you can be nimble with it so that if you do have some projects that are top of mind that you want to implement um I I I would just recommend and until we really have a plan to leave the interest where it is now right and building upon that rather than spending all of it once we decide what it is that we're interested in it would be great if we could leverage those dollars to continue to earn interest so that we can continue spending for projects that would obviously be smaller in size but just somewhere that we could be generating additional revenue does that make sense absolutely yeah thank you before I know Miss Johnson would like to speak again but before we do this it is almost time for our um to go downstairs to the chamber um tonight we have the same situation with the Palestinian um Community coming out to speak so I just want you to be aware that um we've been working with cmpd on how best to secure and be safe in in this um evening and so we are going to to um have people come in and speak we have um many speakers to come in we'll have our 15 speakers 2om minute limit but if we have a situation where someone is being disruptive we will have police officers in the um chamber and they will be asked to be removed there will be no like go sit down or please stop because that is just not being workable for us so I just want to make Council aware of it that we're going to um do this because I do believe that we have to maintain our safety we've talked about this or with the manager with he's talked to the Chief and our officers that are here with us today we will have to go downstairs and we will have to walk through is that is are they in the lobby or and they're in the chamber and the lobby chamber in the chamber now so we need to go in around the back side and go in and be certain of um everybody getting in there and let's start off really soon so that we can do this because it is the public forum that the first well not after our ceremonial programs and I will talk a little bit about conduct in the chamber as we are doing this so please I'm sorry Johnson was next oh that's true that's right Miss Johnson thank I'm sorry um thank you to follow up to what council me member ashme said she mentioned the subcomm I'm sorry she mention we had a lot of subcommittees during the during the pandemic and I wanted to know could we follow up that might be an opportunity for our new employee that we hired that's going to be following up on different things to take a look at some of the recommendations from those subcommittees and kind of check in and see where we are where we are I'm thinking specifically we had a subcommittee for the eviction expungements and we talked about that and that's still a very necessary kind of program that we need in our city so if we could take a look at that work from and the recommendations from the subcommittee from the co subcommittees and make sure we implemented those and kind of follow up on those that would be great thank you m Mayfield mayor I had a um clarifying question for what you were sharing do since as the mayor you have discretion to move things around is there a possibility for those that are not speaking on one particular issue for all of them to be able to go first so that we to help eliminate or to try to mitigate the outbursts that happen when only certain people get up to speak those that are not speaking on the particular International issue let them go ahead and share their concerns with us first and then we hear from everybody else I I we did talk about that and how to do it so we have five people that are coming for the animals and that's our group and then we have seven people on Palestine and then we have another five people on I I can't remember no it's not the landfill people are they're the City attorney is going to take care of the landfill people for us so he's got a whole engagement thing but the last part of our list but we also have something that's not related to any of those I think so that's why I was wondering if we if you can make the executive decision and we support the executive decision of letting those individuals that's not talking about international relations give them the chance to let them go ahead call them down first cuz don't nobody know what's on our list but us and we have the discre that's what I'm sorry even that we have the discretion out but we do have the discretion but I've done this and that discretion part nobody really believes in it and so there will be people that are watching this because of the way that they saw the list come up there's a lot of things that people do and so I think we go with our list because if we start changing it it just becomes more of a difficult situation so um I think we're all ready to go downstairs and we will um do our very best to make this a safe environment for us [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] all right good evening everyone I'm I'm going to call the Charlotte City Council business meeting to order for February the 26th of 2024 um we'll begin with introductions and we'll start with our city clerk Stephanie Kelly city clerk good evening I'm marer Molina I represent District 5 good evening I'm Renee Johnson and I'm honored to represent District 4 good evening everyone James Mitchell at large Marcus Jones city manager by LS mayor good evening Dante Anderson mayor protim district one Ed DRS district 7 T car District Six Lana Mayfield council at large Victoria wington council at large Patrick Baker City attorney thank you very much um we begin our meeting with an invocation and expression of inspiration and tonight I'd like to begin to start this off with the recognition that this weekend the city of Charlotte lost a longtime city council member Lynn wheeler reflecting on Lynn's contributions to our community one cannot help but help to be inspired by her unwavering dedication and profound commit to Public Service Len was a registered Republican who believed in her party and her City I think she always put the interest of our residents first and the party second she was the essence of leadership not through grand gestures or flashy speeches but through her entire time as a council member she forged relationships fostered collaboration as a former council member she really made a big difference and a lot of that we still talk talk about today she was very active in our Economic and Development work and as well she brought back our Coliseum from Tavola Road and moved it down to our Center City while Lyn had faced a lot of challenges and F setbacks she never wavered in her convictions and her support for the things that she thought was correct so first I'd like to say let us honor her memory by continuing the work she started by Bridging the divide and by building a strong and more united Charlotte for generations to come now I'd like to recognize council member Malana Mayfield to share some remarks thank you Madame mayor for those of you that may be in the audience or maybe watching that new L that was around in Charlotte when ly served on Council for 14 years mind you and and the fact that she was Forward Thinking the a lot of people would say that Arena vote is the vote where the community said we're going to go another Direction after in which she was not reelected but that never stopped her work in community so yes most know that I am a proud Democrat and ly was a very proud Republican ly was family for me for many years we shared a lot together I am thankful that I was able to speak to her earlier last week and I was there with her and her daughter along with Matthew rhoward and Kenny Smith was right there along the way for me to say my goodby to her on Saturday prior to her transitioning at 10:17 that evening when we say that the work of public service does not have a party affiliate ation the relationship that meline Lyn wheeler and I had was just that we discussed politics we discussed life we discussed this beautiful city we discussed her making a bold decision at a time where it was almost unheard of for a woman to be as bold as she was and to love this city as much as she had yes there are a lot of you in this space tonight to share your concerns I am going to ask you not to give a moment of silence to be respectful respectful of the process we all get to share our thoughts we all get to share our concerns but I do not get to over rot your feelings for mine the one thing of nothing else that I learned from a many year longterm relationship with someone who is older from a very different soci socio economic background from a very different conservative upbringing and service to this community is that there is space for all of us to have a voice but we must be respectful in order for that to happen so mayor thank you for giving me a moment to honor my friend and I know her good friend is watching with Daisy right up front cuz those who know Lynn know her baby was Daisy who is spoil writing her little puppy but to Lisa and to Gray you have an amazing mother and Lyn had said years ago Lisa and I were joking about it and she said she was going to go at 80 we talked on Tuesday on Thursday was her birthday she left us on Saturday but I know she is in heaven trying to interview everybody she can and talking to Julian Bond again and all of her other friends that are there and she's healthy and no longer in pain so to the family that knew her that loved her I say thank you you can find online there will be a memorial service this coming Saturday at 11: show up to give your love and support but more importantly in community let's be respectful because this service job is not an easy one but she did it with Grace with power with strength and with love of this city thank you thank you so one of the things that Lyn wheeler would always say especially to young women that were coming up she would always say just remember that Grace what's the dancer's name Grace Kelly Kelly Kelly you know danced with Fred a stair and she did every move he did in backwards and with heels on in heels thank you all right so with that um we Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers said that sorry thank you Ed I'm I'm not I'm not aware of Ginger Rogers very often so Beyonce I would have been okay with so um now let us begin with our pledge of allegiance to the flag please stand if you would I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you tonight we on behalf of the entire Charlotte City Council there's an audience members be civil and courteous you heard Miss Mayfield's plea I hope that you will remember it and abide by it speakers are encouraged to address the city council and should not respond to audience members likewise audience members should not Jer applaud or interrupt speakers all attendees we ask you to be polite respectful and listen to each other so we can ensure everyone has been heard since this time of our last meeting we have had to establish a protocol for disruptions at council meeting and so what we do is we call two people down we have two podiums at front and we call you in the order that the clerk's list includes and so what we're doing if the speaker does not stop at the end of the time allocated which is 2 minutes then we will ask you to leave the podium what's different here is that the speaker does not stop you will be escorted out of the chamber because we are violating the violating gs1 143-30570 situation that we're incurring and for disruptions we are doing the people's work and it's all the people then while everyone in this room is has a purpose and intent to be here there are people that are watching us on television on the city's line um all of the operations that we have it's online or on the city's government Channel and we need to respect all of each of us as we do this work and provide everyone the opportunity to hear and have the city's business so with that we're going to go ahead and start with our public speaking list and I'm going to call down all right our first speakers are Sandy Chlor and eileene Ortega panzella panzanella Miss chory come please take your time be careful the steps can often be very steep um Eileen Ortega panzanelli where all right so she would so our next speaker would be Alex canastas holiday it's good it's good to see you hi oh the grandbabies there the grandbabies are doing better than their grandma ask it don't use it your two minutes go ahead please begin yes uh good evening mayor vs city council and Spectators I come to you this evening with a bequest of our beloved departed judge Shirley Fulton even though she's departed um I'm coming to you to ask for a unified proposal of our Queen City I want us to be put on the map of freedom and Justice and Bridging the Gap between two communities here in Charlotte North Carolina which are East Boulevard and West Boulevard which I see as a racial divide I'm here to petition the city and staff to help in connecting East Boulevard and West Boulevard into one uni F bridge to rename it to judge Fulton way with one with this being done we're not asking for monetary funds but we're attempting to generate more revenue for our Queen City here in Charlotte North Carolina and by doing this just a moment I propose that we immediately if not sooner uh establish and celebrate the honorary judge shley Fulton day annually on February the 10th which was already designated and D dictated to her and I hope that um we'll hold services and awards and events honoring volunteers and Good Samaritans of the Queen City on that particular day that was already established for judge Shirley Fon so in turn all of us um when I'm sorry so in turn for all she's done and dedicating her life work we'll Place her name on a few blocks East and West Boulevard thank you that's your time is up please just if you want to leave us remarks you can certainly email them to us and we will get them and be able to get back with you thank you so much thank you all right Miss holiday good evening my name is Alex castanas holiday I've had many monikers through throughout the years but my most important titles are mother lifelong charlan and co-founder of Windsor kittens a small but tenacious new Rescue on a mission to help Community cats in East Charlotte I want to First Express our gratitude for every effort that the city has made thus far to provide Partnerships and services for trap noodle return or TNR across Charlotte and Mecklenberg County I also want to express the urgency with which our communities need your help to further prioritize these efforts in 2023 three our partners at friends of feral felines estimated they prevented the birth of 5,454 kittens on the streets of Charlotte I want you to consider what 5,000 kittens would look like if they were all in this room right now would it be cute absolutely would it also present a public health concern yes it would as we know budget planning season is underway we want to urge the council to consider line item funding for TNR as well as County program for Community cat services although some may not see this as an urgent need I assure you that there is a linear connection between underserved areas and the number of cats living outside and on our streets Animal Control is constantly using their valuable time responding to issues related to these cats and I know that because organizations like winds or kittens are often the next call neighbors make to ask for help so we want you to know that we are here and we are ready to do the work we've already committed to the labor of this animal control effort in our own communities and we're grateful for the Partnerships currently in place but we need the commitment from the city we love to bring this effort home thank you for your time and consideration thank you our next our our next speaker is Jesus dalala té and followed by him was is Liara McKinny are you here present I see Liara mckenny all right next I'm sorry just a quick question if there's anyone outside we have someone that steps out yeah there's someone out at the front um so our next speaker is Randa eldaria eldini thank you Mr T would you like to go ahead and begin your two minutes sure uh good evening city council thank you for having this my name is Jesus delatore and I am a member of the Charlotte Running community and as well as a Mobility safety Advocate uh I'm for starters I'd like to thank uh city council and cmpd for the increased presence that we've seen on the Greenways with the Personnel constraints that they do have Runners have reported feeling safer as well as more comfortable using the Greenways at all times uh as well as well to the city and county for the work that has been done already on the Greenways like the mile markers at M Creek Greenway the info boxes at Al macalpine Creek Park as well as parks and wreck for their outstanding work clearing out the debris on the Greenways after the flooding that we had uh recently I'm here to talk about keeping running Mobility safety on the conver keep the conversation going uh events that have taken place remind us why we need this the 15-year-old that was assaulted at 4 Mile Creek Greenway last August and a month earlier two 60y roads in the same area and in most extreme cases most recently uh lak and Ry the ug student in Athens Georgia that was killed while running initiatives that we've taken to help keep the mobility safety forward is we have quarterly safety meetings or open forums where intendance has grown steadily for that as well as presence here at the City Council meetings Runners are a determined group of people and when we have a goal we don't really know how to stop because that that goal feeds another goal that feeds another goal at these meetings we discussed Mobility safety what it means to us and ideas that we might have one of those ideas that came up was with CPCC the sustainable Technologies department has worked on a prototype for a solar powered lighting system that they can use on the Greenways uh that's a senior project that they're moving forward we've been in contact with several groups like sustain Charlotte Vis Vision zero and most recently C dot with Tamaro blue uh to help getting the information out and keeping safe on the Forefront of everyone's Minds uh we do have an invitation to everyone for uh next more Forum April 8th thank you thank you very much if you have remark well you there on your phone email us send it to us thank you all right um Miss Elder reini good evening mayor lyes and City Council Members my name is Ronda eldini and I'm a Palestinian American and a citizen of meinberg County for over 35 years I grew up here and I love this constantly evolving and growing city I'm a civil servant and have worked with the disadvantaged citizens of our city for over 30 years the reason I'm here tonight is to ask for acknowledgement to hear you say Palestinian lives matter that we're just as important as Ukrainian lives we are grieving we're mourning massive loss of life but we're also in disbelief that this is literally being aired live by victims and nothing is being done to stop it we are angry at the complicity of our government and other Western governments and the complicity in bias of the media which is downright upsetting and inexcusable it is day 142 with over 30,000 killed over 67,000 injured and more than 177,000 orphan children were're over more than 10 ch ch excuse me 10 children per day have lost one or both of their extremities if they survived the initial bombing Every Day brings a new heartbreak every day we hear and see families destroyed in the most grotesque manner one day it's a hospital Hospital attack days before that it was a little girl's deformed body dangling from a wall or a set of siblings watching their father burn right before their eyes after an air strike and so much more the death and destruction we are viewing every single day is unbearable all the babies and young children mothers and fathers grandparents everyone who's died they've mattered the Palestinians who've been killed are so much more than numbers they were the they were teachers and Medics and journalists entrepreneurs students science scientists parents artists this pain is even more acute because there seems to be no end in sight and even though most Americans join us in our call to save lives these are not ordinary times this is a genocide being committed right now and how you respond to it will resonate throughout history now is the time to be on the right side of History so that when those who come after us ask thank you very much for we ask you to stand up for Humanity our next speaker is Sam polar and Dana alhassan Mr po polar s Sam polar and Dana Alan's outside can I grab her and with no yes she can come down she needs to come down immediately good evening my name is Sam po um we're here tonight to ask you to join the city of Durham in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza I grew up here in Charlotte at Temple bethl Charlotte's reformed synagogue I'm here tonight as a citizen of District 5 as a proud anti-zionist Jew and as a representative of char Jewish voice for peace chapter most importantly I'm here tonight in solidarity with the Palestinian people you may have heard the term never again it signifies that we will not allow ourselves or others to be subject to what we went through during the Holocaust never again for anyone I want to make it abundantly clear that standing against Israel is not anti-semitic there are masses of Jews around the world who unwaveringly support an immediate permanent ceasefire in Gaza Judaism has taught me that to save one life is to save an entire universe each lost life is the loss of an entire universe we cannot stand by and watch this happening without action frankly I shouldn't even have to convince you you've already heard from countless members of charlott's Palestinian Community begging you to see their humanity and urging you to pass a ceasefire resolution it is not anti-semitic to desire freedom and justice for the Palestinian people being silent in the face of genocide side that's anti-Semitism in the upcoming weeks you have two choices you can choose not to consider passing a ceasefire resolution for the city of Charlotte or you can consider passing the resolution of these two choices it will only tell us one thing about you and yes it's that simple because what's right is simple Justice is simple and what do you have to stand to lose your home will not be destroyed your family won't be buried under Rubble your children won't die of starvation this is not a life or death decision for you if you choose not to consider the ceasefire resolution you will be remembered as the city council who chose genocide instead of Justice I am masses of other Jews standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people here in Charlotte and around the country urge you tonight to please choose Justice thank [Music] you I understand this but please I can't can't hear the next person to speak so please give us your name and Dan Hassan thank you you have two minutes I will not be complicit with genocide these were the words of us Airman Aaron bushnel as he set himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy yesterday to condemn the US backed Israeli genocide being carried out against Palestinians since October 7 over 30,000 Palestinians have been murdered by Israel including family members of Palestinian Charlotte residents thousands are missing stuck under the rebel my fellow Palestinian friends call me worried for their cousins having no contact for weeks assuming the worst for over four months the world has watched the collective punishment of Palestinians as Israel has dropped over 25,000 tons of explosive on GZA the equivalent of two nuclear bombs at what point will each of you decide to condemn the genoci idal and indiscriminate killing of the Palestinians in the words of ml there comes a time when silence becomes betrayal every moment that you remain silent and complicit in the face of genocide more blood is on your hands I do not know by what standard of morality you can abide by and allow the atrocities committed by Israel to continue instead of using our taxes to fund education healthc Care and housing the state of North Carolina sends over $90 million a year to Israel the Charlotte City budget also does not fund people's needs millions are spent on the police and criminalizing homelessness instead of investing in our basic needs I urge the city council to be an example of how our tax dollars should be spent to put the people's needs first and not on oppressive regimes it is your moral duty to not remain silent as our tax dollars fund genocide and ethnic cleansing each of you sitting up here has the opportunity and responsibility to call for a seize to the bloodshed shed Aaron refused to die for the racist for us imperialism for Zionism free Palestine he chanted something the people of the world have been saying for 75 years the end of your remarks thank you not let their deaths be in vain all right our next speakers are Salwa Muhammad and jabriel huff thank you Miss muhamed yes please which button do I hit T you don't have to that microphone will work for you all right good evening my name is SWA Muhammad and I am a retired CMS school teacher of 25 years I stand here before you today on behalf of the Palestinians in Gazza who are voiceless right now who are going through a brutal coldblooded horrific genocide every single day I'm asking you to pass a permanent ceas fire resolution I want to make sure that you understand that this is not a war this is a genocide an ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people that began over 75 years ago not only are they bombed but they are being stared to death deprived of Medical Aid and clean drinking water there are videos of children calling for their parents missing limbs on hospital beds who are told that their parents are gone some of them shake uncontrollably shocked some say calmly they will join their parents in heaven soon you should know that because there is no medical supplies children are forced to get amputated without anesthesia my mind and anybody's mind cannot comprehend the horror that they are experiencing on a daily basis the inhuman daily sorrow death starvation and more again I'm asking the council to pass a ceasefire resolution not just for a few days whole Bloodlines have been wiped out children sniped on the street their parents shot trying to reach them most of the hospitals bombed 94 universities bombed over 200 journalists targeted and killed part of a concerted effort to um halt documentation of war crimes many doctors and nurses have been killed there are many stories I could go on and on about this um there are reports of Israeli forces kidnapping women beating them imprisoning them killing them and various forms of sexual assault this is not a war this is a genocide what if these women were your sisters your daughters your nieces your aunts your mothers what would you do there are over 25,000 orphans many injured Without Limbs 14,000 children killed please pass a resolution you have the mic thank you good evening Council we understand that previous councils did not address such resolutions but this is a new Council it's a new day and now it's the time to pass a ceasefire resolution I just need to clarify a few things from previous meetings from The River To The Sea it's not a call for genocide against Jews or Israelis it is a call for justice and freedom for all those who live from the river to the Sea not just Israeli Jews but all Zionism is a branch of racism white supremacy it is not rooted in Judaism as a matter of fact it was started by an atheist so we are not against Jews millions of people throughout the world are waking up to the horrors of Zionism they are Marching In the streets and yes they are calling for a SE fire just as we witnessed during the uprisings after the murder of George Floyd many white Americans began for the very first time to acknowledge racism white supremacy and the horrors it produces if it is allowed to go un checked while many of their efforts were token it was still a turning point the Zionist Israeli genocide on Gaza must be the turning point for those who must come to terms with the horrific horrors of Zionism unchecked Zionism is indeed racism do not claim to be Against Racism if you support Zionism and genocide over 30,000 have died and a half a million displaced while in 1948 when they left they took Keys like these but now they have nothing not even a key to come back to because everything is being destroyed that's why we're here tonight to say we're calling for a ceasefire now free Palestine from the river to the Sea our next speaker is Caitlyn white our next speaker is Caitlyn wman asman and de dimma a sh please give us your name Caitlyn Whitman Osman thank you good evening mayor and members of city council why should we care I imagine that's what you might be thinking yeah over 30,000 Palestinians being murdered by the Zionist state of Israel is sad 12,000 of those deaths being children is sad 2 million people in Gaza being actively starved and displaced is very sad but what does that have to do with us the city council of Charlotte my name is Caitlyn I was born and raised in Charlotte as were generations of my family before me I have no direct ties to Palestine and there was a time when I asked myself these same questions uh out of curiosity by a show of hands who in this room pays taxes okay it is our money that is funding the mass murder of the Palestinian people the US sends over $3 billion a year to the settler state of Israel our money is building the American bombs that are carrying out these atrocities and it is our government that continues to vetto the un's call for a ceasefire as taxpayers of this country we are all responsible but still what does this have to do with you city council officials every time this Topic's been brought before you you said you don't pass resolutions of a political nature and I have to say with most of you being elected politicians this has been confusing and frustrating response uh according to your website the city council's job is to oversee the general administration of the city set the budget and create policy and so as your constituent I am asking you to do your job and create policy and yes join carbo and Durham and say that Charlotte does not support this country's active involvement in genocide we want a ceasefire now we want an end to our tax dollars being used to carry out these atrocities and instead of putting our resources into funding our communities uh and while I'm up here and into the militarization of our City's police force and the commitment that cmpd will not train with the Israeli occupation forces this is not a religious issue as the resolution says there is no place for islamophobia or xenophobia in this movement this is an ethical issue and as policy makers of Charlotte you have placed yourself in the role of shaping and encoding our City's ethics so be courageous and do what's ethical divest from genocide invest in community ceas fire now free [Applause] Palestine know you have two minutes thank you dear city council my name is dimma Rashid I'm a 10 years resident in Charlotte today I'm speaking before you and continue to urge you to open introduce and pass ceasefire resolution in um your inbox while you may not see this way the snowball impact that each local Municipal can have by showing us its solidarity and impactful on a greater scale my experience with the genocide occupation is not far for me I am one of the Palestinians who suffered from that cruel occupation was born in Jerusalem and I'm not allowed to go visit there while Jewish any Jewish person in the world can go and buy a house I actually take a Palestinian house by force and live in it and support by Israel and our tax money here growing up in the West Bank always threatened by occupation you never know who is going to be killed next or who's going to be tortured or taken to prison the sounds of gunfire and losing family members to the occupation was normal to me as a child we were in heaven compared to what's going on in Gaza in an earlier meeting an Israeli falsely claimed that we are we are here and we hate them and she was talking about spreading hatred but we don't hate anyone we never do we just want to leave in peace live in peace with them we want to have the same rights I want to have my own house without being burned or kicked out of I want to go to Jerusalem and visit and pray like everyone else I don't want to be stopped on checkpoints I want to be able to go to school without being shot at and which I I went through that through my childhood your pride yourselves on social justice and equal rights for all how can you be silent during this genocide would you have been silent as MLK marched would you have been silenced as Hitler killed 6 million Jews would you be silenced during the Vietnam War what does it take to break your silence join cities as such as Chicago thank you thank [Applause] you all right our next our next speaker is gray Matt our next speaker is our next speaker is gray Madre and Rohan k k an please tell us your name hi my name is gry Madre and I'm here on behalf of the Charlotte Metro Democratic Socialist of America as one of its elected co-chairs I'd like to say first off that we're in total support of the ceasefire resolution being promoted tonight um so last year Charlotte Metro DSA decided to Canvas bus riders at the Charlotte Transit Center and we knew already that the bus service levels were down since the outbreak of covid-19 but we learned from firstand experience of those who depend on cats how this affects their day-to-day lives embarrassment when you fill out a job application and check the box saying you have reliable transportation knowing it's effectively a lie having to build an extra hour into your schedule each way just in case and when you can't do that getting fired due to the fact that the bus system has failed to get you to work time and time again this needs to end there's people lives and their livelihoods that we're talking about like we're talking about their health struggling to get get your prescriptions and groceries having to wait unsheltered in the hot or cold for a bus that never comes we're talking about housing can you imagine not being able to pay your rent after losing your job because the bus system didn't work the way it's supposed to which by the way we absolutely support the housing Justice Coalition and their effort to Institute tenants rights to council no one should be losing their home over any of this Charlotte Metro DSA supports Mass public transit is crucial for the city's working class because it's a substantially cheaper safer and more dignified form of transportation than our current car centered infrastructure provides our vision is for Charlotte to have a reliable transit system that serves the needs of everyone not only in getting to work uh but getting to the doctor to the store to a park or just to your friend's house to guarantee accessibility to the city as a right of residency and that's why we this year in Charlotte Metro DSA are launching what we're calling the Charlotte for public transit campaign we've been speaking at tsac and MTC meetings and we'll continue to do so until cats improves headways reduces late arrivals and builds out shelters at the bus system but we call on new Council to not only push for these demands towards cats but to plan also for a city where public transit can truly flourish and if you're watching this listening if this work excites you please do join DSA Democratic Socialist of America because a better world is possible and let's build it together thank you ran ran thank you hello everyone uh my name is ran keani and I'm an eighth grader at Provence Day School have you or someone you know ever needed to see a specialist doctor in Charlotte but couldn't because you couldn't get an appointment soon enough or because that type of specialist wasn't available in your area myself and my partner Milan Mishra who is here today are to talk to you about equimed a solution to help you address a problem of UT significance in the realm of pediatric Rheumatology the prevalence of healthcare challenges in the Charlotte area paints a grim picture with profound consequences with only two pediatric rumatologist available within a 450 mile radius outside of Charlotte Specialists are stretched too thin to provide adequate care and furthermore the fewer individuals opting for specialist careers create a cascading effect on patient care to address these challenges equimed proposed the development of a computer system designed to triage and prioritize patients based on historical and real-time data by categorizing patients into different buckets and considering factors like severity and demographic background the system will provide Specialists with precise information on patient urgency and therefore leads to more efficient scheduling and management leveraging technology ecomed seeks to create a more Equitable and Healthcare System in uring equal access to timely diagnosis and treatment for individuals and underserved communities thank you for your time thank you our our next speaker is speakers are Arthur Griffin and Roosevelt Washington outs is Roosevelt Washington here Mr Washington okay then our next speaker would be Cassandra Lily you see thank you than you okay can have good evening Madame mayor uh Council Mr manager my name's Arthur Griffin and I serve you all as your county commissioner at large however tonight I'm here as a private citizen who resides at 16822 Cross Haven Drive you know a picture is worth a thousand words so what you're seeing right now in front of you is a picture of the event that occurred in November of this past year here uh as a result of living in a Communications Dead Zone there was a huge delay in getting First Responders to put out the fire so I got involved to try to find out what was the cause of that and what I found out is that it's more than just the First Responders it's your boys and girls in blue uh our guys and girls that are in green uh because when officers get outside of their police cars they have an inability to communicate with the handheld radios so this is a critical issue for us in terms of health and safety in that part of the county what I'm told by your staff is that this problem has been going on for years I just found out about it in November so I need your help in fixing this so that we don't lose property and lives in the future because we are in a Udo and etj we piling a lot of new residents and developments into this Zone where we lack Communications health and safety let's make sure that no fatalities are occurring because we have not provided that safety the pictures you have one is from November but just yesterday First Responders could not make could not communicate and that second picture is from a first respondent from just yesterday communication problems still exist the third is just a document in terms of a dead zone in terms from your staff where you can't communicate outside of these vehicles and the fourth piece is just I request that I need your help to make sure that there's a credible program that's in place to fix the problem and that there's a moratorium on other developments until such time we can make sure that public health and safety is addressed thank you Miss L Council thank you for the chance to address you today my name is Cassandra Lily and I'm a veterinarian working at a lowcost clinic in Charlotte I help our neighbors care for their pets and I'm here to ask that you do the same by making Charlotte mecklinburg Animal Care and Control an indeep independent city department and increased funding for a new adequately staffed shelter animal services has a highly respected leadership team known across the country for Progressive programming it is Foster Centric it provides an infield services to keep pets and people together and it's actively increasing spay and neuter efforts despite doing all of these things as well Animal Services Services faces significant systemic challenges Animal Services should be designated as its own City Department as it provides a unique service to our community being housed under the police department creates an unnecessary bureaucracy and hinders life-saving work it discourages many community members from visiting and volunteering an independent department will have the autonomy and resources needed to stay at the Forefront of best practices and will be more welcoming for all community members our city also needs a new shelter the existing structure is outdated and is been built in the 1990s it was designed around euth in Asia since then our population has doubled and now we try to focus on life-saving measures by granting the necessary funds for a new shelter and designating animal care and control Animal Services as an independent Department we can solidify Charlotte's commitment to compassion responsibility and progress I encourage each of you to stand together in support of a brighter more Humane future for Charlotte thank you thank you is is Rosevelt Washington in the audience just wanted to make sure all right so our next two speakers are Lily Taylor and Robert Rosenthal I'm sorry we have one more so it is Lily ly Taylor are we going to check on the two that we wer here for Miss Taylor absent I just got all right our final speaker is Robert Rosenthal oh we have one more right after that my name is Robert Rosenthal I'm a Jewish resident of Charlotte and publisher of the progressive Jew on substack my grandparents siblings died in the Holocaust after being forcibly confined in the woods ghetto today gaza's Refuge majority population is being forcibly confined in a ghetto Israel is overseeing Gideon Levy the Israeli journalists called Gaza a concentration camp like my family members in Wood inhabitants of Gaza are being displaced starved and executed for the Palestinian people this is a holocaust Israel is indeed committing genocide much of the world was indifferent to the ethnic cleansing of Europe's Jews if you believe you would have responded differently to the showa here's your chance to demonstrate that as a kid I was taught that Jews always stand with the oppressor and never with the oppressed I'm sorry I was as a kid I was taught that Jews always stand with the oppressed and never with an oppressor what Israel is doing to the children women and men of Gaza is unje and immoral please support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza think it of think of it as the Jewish thing to do thank you thank [Applause] you so I want to thank you this ends our public forum and now we will go to the council's business agenda for today um thank you for your attendance um feel free to stay and watch the city's business if you would like to um but we are going to go ahead and start the action items that we have on our agenda fre free free Palestine free free free palese free free free Palestine free free free palese city counil you're a liar City counil you're a liar SE fight fire city council you're a liar city council you're a liar fire we're going I I hear you we're going to start the public business feel free to stay if we will right [Music] so know offic I want to say that we have a protocol if you are disrupting if you are disrupting the meeting please leave if you are violating GS 44 143 31817 and we are ask asking our officers to have you join the [Applause] [Music] podium what do we want coun what do we want C what do we want to counil thank [Music] you [Music] okay Madam clerk do we have any speakers for the Clos session how they H do we have any speakers for the item seven public hearing on certific tickets of participation financing for equipment and public facilities no ma'am if we don't have any we're going to second we close we have a motion to open and close the public hearing and um do I have a motion to approve the installment financing contract not to exceed 137 million for equipment acquisition and construction of an improvement to facilities so moved second all right any comments or questions hearing none all in favor of the item please raise your hand all right anyone opposed all right the next item is item number eight um it's the policy section do you have a report for us Mr Jones mayor while I do not have a report I've I've spoken with the city attorney today and there are a number of uh issues that have come about about the um landfill I believe he's mailed to you so if it's fine with you mayor I'd like to seat my time to the City attorney all right thank you uh Mr manager wanted to let you all know and on Friday I gave you some information about where this particular matter stood and the matter that I'm talking about is Sanders partnership lcid versus city of Charlotte uh this was a matter in which uh the applicant uh Sanders partnership uh had petitioned for a variance uh in Rel relation to uh their their particular property on 7040 Pleasant Grove Road this has been a matter of considerable uh public interest and concern uh and in this particular case there was a Udo Board hearing uh that was conducted back on July the 25th uh on the regarding the variance uh and ultimately the board voted against the VAR variance in a 3-2 vote uh that uh particular uh decision was appealed by the applicant in a um there was a hearing that was conducted um on the appeal on February the 1st and the court issued their decision uh late last week on February the 15th directing the board to issue uh the variance basically reversing the board's 3-2 vote uh to issue the variance and directing the board to issue the variance uh honor before uh I believe it was February the 29th now normally uh the city would have 30 days to appeal a particular decision but given the direction of the Court uh we felt that we couldn't wait the 30 days and we uh did file a notice of appeal this afternoon uh which should stay the um it's not often that I get Applause I'm not quite sure what to do with that just moment sir I am going to soak that in um but but I just wanted to let you and the public know that that the notice of appeal has been filed uh that should stay enforcement of the order and I will keep uh the council I want to make sure that everyone understands it's the council the city that is my client here but I'm happy to keep the uh the neighborhood uh apprised of the situation and we'll work on the communication uh for right now just email me directly patrick. Baker charl nc.gov uh and we'll figure out a way to make sure that you all know what we know as we're going forward and I'll keep everyone uh updated in that regard so I know that Miss um Janette Wilson signed up to speak but because it's not on a formal agenda the communication with the um City attorney is the best way for us to continue to look at this issue and get it resolved so with that um I think Miss watlington wanted to speak to this yep um I thank you for the update um Mr attorney my question is longer term what what is the status of what we've discussed previously in terms of how do we address the fact that this was even allowable in first place so that's a longer conversation that's probably not subject to me giving you a quick answer we are working with staff about that this is an unusual situation um but we will be bringing some information to council um as we go through this particular matter so is does it is it something that's within the city's Authority or is it something that we're going to have to take to Raleigh or DC I'd like to get back with you on that um for for certainty I just don't I am I am working on the notice of appeal and making sure that every the status quo can be maintained for right now but there are subject matter experts who aren't here tonight that can walk you through that I'd like a um upd can you add that to the list of followup formally I'd like to see that so I think that we have that yes so am I passing this around I know I'm sorry sometimes people hand me paper and I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this could I just I had um Miss Mayfield next and then we'll Mr Mitchell and then Miss Johnson thank you Madam mayor so Mr Baker Council M Mitchell and I were at a number of the community meetings when we first brought this to the attorney's office attention to look at what potentially can be done so thank you for the work your office has done my follow-up question is we are in the process of updating the udl as needed cuz the Udo is a living document once it was identified that they are talking about potentially using live ammunition that is literally right next to residential Community seems like we would have some language that protects our residents as well as now that we have adopted the Udo there we have some specific language of what is considered neighborhood one what's considered neighborhood too seem like if we did not capture possible landfills or new Landfield some land Fields have been there for a while that we have the opportunity now to look at strengthening the language in our Udo for no new based on the development and the needs of the community Now versus having Landfield right in residential because one we have the seap we have environmental potential challenges we already council member Mitchell and I had had learned specifically of a young girl who was at8 she was still health healthy and running around just a few short years the impact of what was going in that Landfield has now potentially put her into in a position where she is going to be in the wheelchair for the rest of her natural life there has to be some language that can be utilized and if it is okay through BG for us to look at once you are able to identify where this clearly Falls or if it's a combination for us to work with our legislative Aid Mr Dana Fenton and our legislative team to see if we can get both Congressional as well as state support to protect Charlotte residents and our surrounding area Okay understood thank you madam Mr Mitchell uh let uh Madame may I just want to Echo councilman Wallington and Council Mayfield sentiments about this but I want to remind Council uh for the first time about 6 months we did pass our ordinance I just circulated a copy for all of us and for the citizens this ordinance allow does not allow landfill to be built by residential we we able to put it his own classification now called ml-2 so we took the first step that we can control but I support council member Wasington Mayfield that we can do something more at the state and Congressional level so uh thank you all for your persistent and uh let me say Patrick thank you uh I think I called you Tuesday and you quickly got on with your staff so thank you for filing Appeal on behalf of the city council thank you sir thank you Miss Johnson talked about was communication how he he's going to keep the residents surprised and so that I know that that's one thing that you're going to be working on if and and you'll look to see if there's a public way that we can do this I want to piggyback off what my colleagues said and I know that effective what 61 2023 I think with the new Udo that landfills won't be able to be in residential areas but how I hope we as Council can do something uh as an exception for this especially when we hear that there are safety issues I mean we if we can dig deep and see if there's a way because we wouldn't allow certain things in residential areas so rather whether or not we had or rather or not we had a policy that addressed it specifically if it's a safety issue and we know it's a safety issue and it's a foreseeable issue it seems like there's something that we have a duty of care to provide to our residents so I would if even if um the judge comes back and says that it's a policy issue and they can move forward as a safety issue how do we there has to be I hope there's something in the law that allows us to apply something to protect the residents thank you mmea yes thank you Madame mayor so I agree with what my colleagues have said about this um in terms of adding it to our federal and state legislative agenda the council member May's request I think it would be good to have a staff's memo on this to get everyone up to speed because um certainly there are council members that attended the neighborhoods meeting when that issue first uh had um brought to our attention but there are new council members that have joined so I think it would be important for us for all of us to be on the same page certainly Allison and her team have done whatever they needed to do but now I think what we need to do uh in terms of advocacy at the state level uh we need to really get up to speed uh so whether that can be referred to the committee um but certainly our State Legislative agenda Mr Fenton is here he'll remind us all that it is a living and breathing document if Council decides to uh decides to U add this to our legislative agenda certainly we can discuss that at our next committee meeting uh in fact we have the next committee next agenda item on Federal and State Legislative agenda so I think it would be very timely all right Mr Baker anything else yep got it all right everybody all right thank you very much thank you for your attendance here tonight and your patience with us as we walk through things that we're trying to do that may have slipped through so thank you very much all right our next um item is the 2024 Federal and State Legislative agenda this comes out of our um budget governance and intergovernmental Relations Committee um and it is item nine so the motion is to approve the budget governance and intern International intergovernmental Relations Committee recommendation to approve the 2024 federal legislative agenda and uh the 2024 State Legislative agenda I'll turn it over to miss hashir thank you Madame mayor first I want to recognize Mr Fenton and his efforts along with our lobbyist team at the federal and state level I appreciate the work that they have done and based on the council's feedback over past last week uh Mr Fenton has been working around the clock including weekends to tie this up for us um and it reflects everyone's feedback uh and recommendations I appreciate the recommendations mayor provided Mr Dres Miss council member and the committee members uh council member Mayfield Mitchell bukari and council member Brown so I think this is a our federal and state legislative agenda puts focus on infrastructure uh Mobility uh specifically our Economic Development affordable housing digital divide addressing digital divide um and I hope that Council will support this at both at federal and state level so I I move this forward to I move action a and action B to adopt and approve we have a second for the we have a second um any discussion hearing no discussion all in favor of the motion please raise your hand thank you very much anyone oppose all right thank you thank you very much thank you to the work of the committee um that you've done I know it's always a moving Target um I know that um Dana has been spending a lot of time trying to figure out how we could possibly work through the things that we have with the state and the federal government and so thank you very much to everyone for your participation and consideration for the things that we just discuss thank you mayor and councel oh thank you Dana all right all right the next it probably I think you won't get calls on weekends anymore from Mr Fenton at least for lob good job din right all right the next item is item 10 is is there is there a motion to reallocated up to $1 million from of the Housing Trust Fund to support to support from the evoked living at Mars field multif family affordable housing development to further the support development of of the evoke living at Valentine multif family affordable housing development Valentine so moved second all right you got lots of seconds any discussion hearing none oh miss Johns I'm Sorry Miss Johnson and then Miss Mayfield um I was just going to ask for a Ami breakdown of the project there anyone that can talk about that I thought it was I read it in the agenda I read it too I just wanted the public to here or if we can 6% 6%% May protim has the numbers you want to read them mayor Pro well it's it's in our sorry it's actually in the agenda under the explanation the second bullet point hey Warren good evening Lang if you would just go ahead and tell us what the sure it's it's 12 units at 30% uh it is 32 units at 60% and 16 units at 80% Ami 30 60 okay I apologize Warren with housing and Neighborhood Services okay so 12 units at 30% 12 units at 30% 32 units at 60% at that 16 units at 80% for 60 units on this site okay thank you that's all the questions thank you m mayor yes uh thank you madam mayor I just wanted to highlight the work of Rebecca and Warren uh they've certainly been very I I've started serving on housing and Safety Committee in past since beginning of this year I've certainly been very impressed with the with their work uh data driven and evidencebased and um this is the affordable housing in Valentine um certainly we don't see many of them but I just wanted to highlight like that um that we do have affordable housing we are trying to have affordable housing in all parts of our city so uh appreciate Mr Drake's uh support on that um and welcoming a new residents in district 7 thank you Miss Mayfield thank you madam mayor and how about this thank you for this presentation but I just want to make sure that I'm clearly understanding what we're saying is to reallocate up to a million meaning that the current project that was funded that we funded at $9.2 million off of morrisfield there is a possibility it might come in under budget so it might well the contingency dollars so it could be 3,000 it could be anywhere up to so what we're the request for tonight is is to ask for us to whatever that savings is for us to reallocate that to ensure that we get this development which has a 75e affordability which I think is our longest out of any other the projects in our Balentine area for our workers that's what we're talking about yes ma'am that's all correct again um they're going to realize some savings on this project because of the funding that they're using they're required to hold a very large consistency on this project and so what you're doing with this action is you're just authorizing the manager that any savings that they do realize can be transferred over this project um to to move the Valentine project forward wonderful thank you for that clarification all right we have a motion all in favor please raise your hand thank you I think anyone oppose congratulations I know right right so the next item is item 11 is there a motion to adopt a budget ordinance appropriating $1,271 from the Municipal debt service fund Debt Service fund to the Capital Equipment fund for the purchase of vehicles for the city's new civilian crash investigation program have a motion and a second any discussion hearing none all in favor please raise your hand all right thank you um so we now have the appointments to the Waste Management Advisory Board Adam clerk yes ma'am um George White was appointed to the waste management Advisory Board all right Mr White congratulations look forward to I'm sure with the the work of the committee all right so with that um I do believe that is the end we have a motion for baby all right anyone oppose C we already I just want [Music] to