join him so mr halston if you would come to the well bring your your guests with you good evening sir if you will place your left hand on the bible and raise your right hand and repeat after me please i hugh holston do solemnly and sincerely and sincerely swear that i will support i swear that i will support and maintain the constitution and maintain the constitution and the laws of the united states of the united states and the constitution and laws of the state of north carolina not inconsistent and that i will faithfully discharge i will faithfully discharge the duties of my office as a member of the city council as a member of the city council of the city of greensboro north carolina greensboro according to law according to law and according to the best of my skill and ability so help me god congratulations again sir thank you we would like to officially welcome mr holston and mr holston if you have some words uh i'll say again thank you for uh the honor of serving the city of greensboro the residents of of all the districts i'm looking forward to the opportunity looking forward to the the energy and the excitement that i've already heard from the members of of council and members of staff and just excited to get going happy to be here thank you thank you and i'd like to thank your family for attending i know that they've they've traveled a distance from raleigh and i'm sorry charlotte and we're happy to have them here and take part of this ceremony absolutely love you so i'd like to say welcome back to the katie dorsett council chamber but i think it's the first time that we've actually officially met under the new name and it has been noticed outside and it looks beautiful coming in so again welcome to the katie dorsett council chamber tonight's meeting is a partial opening of the council chamber with a continued option to participate virtually due to capacity restrictions a limited number of residents are allowed inside the council chamber for specific items of interest following the conclusion of items or topic of discussion residents will be asked to leave to allow room for other residents to enter the chamber due to the guilford county indoor mask mandate all attendees will be required to wear masks and i do have mine right here it's just easier to hear me with it when i take it off in the interest of safety public forum and agenda items speakers will have two options to register to speak before council residents may continue to register via the jot form on the city website by 5 pm the day prior to council meeting or residents may sign up to speak by 6 15 the day of the meeting using the q minder kiosk just outside the chamber door please see our community relations manager gary campino at the courier desk for assistance council procedures for the meeting to comply with requirements by the state in regards to zoom meetings and to provide an optimum experience for the public council will verbalize motions on all votes and it will be conducted by roll call vote council will also implement an electronic voting method using our new escribe agenda management platform each member of council must vote unless there is a direct con conflict we do allow and welcome speakers to address counsel at the public forum meeting council respects the right for the public to speak about matters of concerns that can be addressed by council each speaker will be allotted three minutes comments that seem to be intended to incite unlawful behavior will be deemed out of order zoom participants are requested to mute their microphones until they are called upon to speak the city of greensboro is committed to promoting an environment that is free of discrimination bias and bullying thus harassment words jokes actions or comments based on an individual sex sexual orientation race ethnic background age religion physical condition or other legally protected characteristic will not be tolerated in order to be considered written comments must be submitted online through the city's website at www.greensborohyphennc.gov we have a consent agenda for items g 1 through g 8 which are a grouping of agenda items that are voted on with one single vote to expedite what are believed to be routine and non-controversial items any council member may withdraw an item from the consent agenda due to a conflict of interest or for the purpose of voting no items removed from the consent agenda for discussion will be placed on the november city council business agenda this meeting does include closed captioning depending on the length of tonight's meeting we will take a short recess around 7 30. this is now time for our ceremonial or presentation items item number one is a resolution honoring the memory of the late walter t johnson jr and that will be read by mrs hightower mrs johnson if you would like to stay here with us that would be great if you want to join your family that is up to you too okay mrs hightower thank you um if the johnson family wants to come forward as i read and then i'll um present the resolution i think do i have the resolution to present to them or did y'all still leave it i didn't see it so if you all want to come forward anyway that's fine um resolution honoring the memory of the late walter t johnson jr whereas on july 24th 2021 this community lost one of his outstanding community leaders with the passing of the late walter daniel johnson jr whereas mr johnson a native of greensboro north carolina graduated from james b dudley high school and matriculated to north carolina agricultural and technical college now north carolina and t state university where he served as student body president and in the reserve officer training court rotc and graduated with a degree in engineering physics whereas following his college career mr johnson served in the united states air force usaf but deferred service in order to enroll and become the first african-american student to enroll in duke university school of law in 1961 whereas following law school mr johnson returned to the united states air force as captain in the uniformed services justice and advisory group u.s jag corp in newburgh new york whereas after serving his country he began his career back in his hometown of greensboro north carolina as a solicitor now known as an assistant district attorney whereas mr johnson was a pioneer who left a profound imprint in the community the first african-american chairman of the greensboro public schools school board in 1974 worked as an adjunct professor at duke university law school and north carolina central school of law and held membership with the black lawyers association greensboro bar association academy of trial lawyers and the inmate grievance committee whereas in 1980 governor jim hunt appointed mr johnson to serve as the first african-american chairman of the north carolina parole commission whereas as a lifelong member of providence baptist church mr johnson served several terms on the board of trustees and as the attorney for the church was a member of the omega sci-fi fraternity incorporated for over 60 years the greensboro sports council the greensboro men's club the sigma 5 fraternity boule the unite the university of north carolina greensboro board of trustees the gold helmet club the dudley alumni association the north carolina a t alumni association the greensboro planning commission was a proud male participant known as a driftwood of the greensboro chapter of the drifters incorporated established by his wife evonne johnson in 1972 and many other organizations whereas he was a founding member of gargo chemicals incorporated and built affordable housing in northeast greensboro whereas mr johnson frequently pays taylor white mca to work out had a love of books has supported not only north carolina a t f athletics but most importantly anything involved in his family whereas mr johnson's achievements as a trailblazer will be remembered along with his infectious smile and laughter an enduring love of family and a character that garnered respect and admiration from friends and now therefore be it resolved by the city council of the city of greensboro that the city council wishes to express his condolences and offer his sincere appreciation and gratitude for his many years of dedicated service his legacy will be remembered by the outstanding contributions he has made to the community and that a copy of this resolution shall be delivered to the family of the late walter t johnson jr as a symbol of the gratitude of the people of greensboro resolution sec so that has been um moved and seconded i believe that was moved by mr wader and seconded by dr wells um council please vote and mine is not in the meantime we will take a voice vote mrs hoffman yes mr holston yes dr wells yes mrs johnson yes i am a yes mrs abusa waiter yes mr outland yes mrs thurm yes and mrs hightower yes and that passes nine to zero sharon would you like to give that to the family well i don't see our resolution um where where is it i will provide an official copy for the family so we will but if you want to come forward and speak you're certainly welcome to say words at the podium someone let me tell you something your father had a lot of accomplishments there's no way you can be quiet to have read all of that and to know what he'd done and what he left behind is outstanding i was so impressed when i read everything he did um i'm telling you and so as a resident of the city of greensboro and a black citizen i'm thankful for his accomplishments to this community and what he stood for he certainly is a trailblazer that i don't think many of us can ever uh live up to um good evening my name is lisa johnson-tonkins city of greensboro i think 802 ross avenue and i am the daughter of um ivonne and walter johnson and on behalf of our family um we just thank you for the kind words my father was a was a wonderful father a wonderful husband a wonderful grandparent and i would say an outstanding member of this community and he loved greensboro and he loved his wife and his children his grandchildren and so i just want to say thank you much sharon thank you so much um for that you know i've been here a long time and i've read a lot of resolutions and you never think about the person that you have lived your life your life long partners that you would be hearing that but i i do appreciate it and i appreciate my family coming and thank you council i appreciate it yes yvonne i want to thank you for sharing walter with us i want to thank the family for for sharing their dad their grandfather one of the most moving experiences i had was at his funeral and to hear his children and his grandchildren really speak of such love and admiration of their grandfather their father and i know i left wanting to be a better person because of the legacy he left not only to the city but more importantly the legacy he left to his family i met them when they were dating and some known them for a long time and we also neighbors they're right up the street from each other but um mr johnson was a trailblazer i remember when he was chairman of the school board i remember when he was doing other things that um african-americans were not doing being the first to go to the law school and just many things i always think of them as a power couple because both of them have done so many out outstanding things so yvonne i know i know it must hurt but we we want to let you know how much we honor and think of your your husband and the children we were all impressed at the funeral the wonderful things that they said about their father it just made all of us say we want to be better parents so that our our children will have that legacy that he left so thanks for allowing him to serve greensboro you know madame i just wanted to say uh the first couple of times i met walter i was just truly truly impressed by his uh chivalry uh the way he spoke to everyone when he spoke to you you felt like you were a very special person and that really meant a lot that's a talent that many don't have and over the years got to know him a little better three vaughn and the family and you know he he just leaves a legacy in each one of them that that you know it can never be um i i don't know it just uh is something that living on through them his legacy will live on so thank you for sharing him with us thank you [Music] resolution honoring the memory of the late gladys faulk shipment whereas on september 13 2021 this community lost one of its outstanding community leaders with the passing of the late gladys fork shipment whereas mrs shipman born and raised in greensboro started a family in 1960 at the age of 15 proceeded to continue her education and graduated from james b dudley high school in 1960. whereas in her fight to end racial injustice and gender inequality mrs shipman participated in the wolverworth segregated lunch count of protests in her youth and later employed workers in her company needing a second chance in life whereas ms shipman lived a life of service to the community dedicated her life to her faith and was a long life member of new light missionary baptist church whereas working as a home health aide she saw an opportunity to purchase and grow a small home care company established several offices throughout the state and grew the company into the largest minority owned home care industry in north carolina whereas mrs shipman served as president and chief executive officer of shipment family life care incorporated employed thousands from the community and cared for undeserved underserved elderly and disabled residents across the state of north carolina where has she lived a life of adverse advocacy advocacy in both greensboro and throughout north carolina served as the first woman vice president of the north carolina chapter of the national association for the advancement of colored people the first woman president of the naacp greensboro chapter with a two-time winner of the naacp mother of the year award board member and founder of the international civil rights center and museum was the recipient of the civil rights advocacy training institute the mega w evers award the austin jones international civil and human rights award and the greensboro sit-in gala unsung hero award the recipient of the north carolina ent state university hall of fame honorary award of excellence the james b dudley high school hall of distinction the greensburg chamber of commerce women in business award mcdonald's african-american achievement entrepreneur award the ecpi college of technology humanitarian award and received many other recognitions and awards now therefore be it resolved by the city council of the city of greensboro that the city council wishes to express his sense of loss and offer its condolence sincere appreciation and gratitude for the many years of dedicated public service by glady gladys volks shipman the legacy she leaves will be remembered by the people of greensboro and that a copy of this resolution shall be delivered to the family of the late gladys falk shivman as a symbol of the gratitude of the residents of this city the city of greensboro and state of north carolina for her many contributions to this community and beyond i don't know if any of your children are here porsha did call me or any of them here okay good you can accept it well we got we don't we don't have an official one tonight but you will get it but you could come come forward and say some words before she did call and she's out of town and couldn't get back but she said her sister might be so move the resolution move the resolution second second yes [Music] yes yes yes yes yes [Music] thank you my name is trevor shipman mcintyre i'm my mama's last of six and very proud and honored to be here uh today i'd like to thank you all for the achievements that you called out and honoring her today with the resolution we are all three very proud i have my baby brother archie shipman and my oldest brother albert shipman uh jr and my mom's first cousin nancy wissett we stand here and a host of grandchildren and office staff you know shipment family care we're in the house we we have we're in our memory in memory of gladys shipman shirt that we made um when my son made a couple of weeks ago and we just stand and every day we are in honor of her when we open those doors to serve the community we want to make her proud because she's made us proud and we're thankful that we're here again today anybody else want to see anything yeah i'm assuming his firstborn and our first employee ain't cook half time knows i just want to thank y'all so very much uh that y'all remember some of the things my mom has done and some of the things we're going to continue to do we're going to continue to do we're going to try to educate and get people certified and get them working and do the best we know how to do that's what she want us to do thank you so very much all right i'm honored to be here for my cousin's sister cause she was just like a sister to me and everything that i know about caregiving she taught me and the song say give me my flowers while you live she passed out a lot of flowers while she lived to regardless of your race or what she pass out flowers which is the love that she had for the community family and friends and also to say let your work speak for me i can truly say that i watch my cousin i'm 68 years old but i watch my cousin let the work she was doing speak for her and i just thank y'all for giving her the honor that she deserves and work for and continue to pray for the family and give us strength to carry on thank you thank you i remember when i ran for mayor and miss shipman came and i think it's the first check i ever got for a thousand dollars about fell out but she was a great supporter she encouraged me and uh just offered whatever i can do if you need me to do anything and i was always grateful for her support and what she did in this community i mean she gave a lot of people work a lot of people jobs made it possible for people to take care of their families so i honor her and i thank you all for being here because she is truly worthy of being honored and that's i served with mrs uh mrs shipman on the simpkins pack and that was my first uh encounter with her she always had a joeville you know she was she and and like to live big i really enjoyed her for that when i read all of the things that she had accomplished and thinking that she started a family and didn't let that stop her and then took advantage of the opportunity to take that small business and make it a major industry in north carolina i'm truly impressed as a woman she was a strong woman and you should be proud just seeing all of you here in the green t-shirts lets us know that she had she touched your life and so we're glad that gladys shipman was a part of the city of greensboro so i would just like to say you know miss shipman um she was a character and y'all know um i served under her when she was the naacp president here and um sometimes we bump heads and she said sharon you ain't gonna tell me and we would you know and i said yes ma'am of course but um i'm very appreciative for how she loved this community and she served this community and i'll tell you you know one thing we when i first got on council and i was talking to the chamber and they were talking and i said what what kind of businesses are you all supporting and uh in my community and they showed me this book and the shipment wasn't in it and i said well do you know about my family care i said right down the street and she all over the state so we have a gym right here in our community that's hiring and doing good things um and pointing that out because sometimes people don't get the recognition of they deserve because of where they are um and it's up to us to ensure that that happens so i'm very proud to know mississippi i'm gonna miss her in the parade and her cadillac you know she liked the style um and so it certainly was good to see her every mlk parade with the trail of cadillac's behind her that was her signature but i know she had a big heart and so she will be missed so thank you you item number three is a resolution declaring saturday november uh november 27 2021 as small business saturday in the city of greensboro and it's so hard to believe that we are talking about november and the holidays already this year seems like it has flown by even with all of the challenges that we had whereas the city of greensboro celebrates small business saturday a day to support diverse independently owned local businesses that help create jobs boost the economy and keep greensboro thriving whereas supporting independently owned local businesses demonstrates a conscious commitment to our economy creates goodwill within greensboro and helps to create jobs for local communities to preserve their unique culture whereas elected officials in all 50 states including other united states territories advocated for small business saturday consumers across the united states spent a record high total of approximately 19.8 billion in 2020 at independent retail tailors and restaurants on small business saturday an average of 67 cents of every dollar stays in the local economy whereas according to 2020 small business saturday consumer insight survey 97 of shoppers recognize the positive impact of shopping small and 85 percent of them reported they encouraged friends and family to do so whereas the city of greensboro works closely with president zach matheny of downtown greensboro incorporated to aid our small business owners so that they can not only survive the effects of the pandemic but to thrive with new initiatives such as open streets friday night live outdoor dining retail revitalization grant and rebuilding greensboro program and numerous other outdoor community events whereas shopping locally will support business owners neighbors and friends our city's infrastructure and will increase financial security for business owners that are struggling through the pandemic and ensuing monetary losses whereas the city of greensboro passed a resolution adopting the city of greensboro local preference policy for certain types of city contracts to ensure the best overall value in the procurement of goods and services whereas the city of greensboro wishes to offer support to local business members to drive economic growth to create jobs and boost the a local economy whereas advocacy groups as well as public and private organizations across the country have endorsed the saturday after thanksgiving as small business saturday now now therefore be resolved by the city council of the city of greensboro that the greensboro city council hereby declares saturday november 27 2021 as small business saturday and urges the residents of the community and communities across the country to support small businesses and merchants on small business saturday on that day and throughout the year move the resolution second second moved by mrs johnson seconded by miss abuse awaiter council please vote and we will take a voice vote as yes i am a yes mrs johnson yes mrs abuzawader yes mrs hightower yes mrs hoffman yes mr halston yes mr outling yes mrs therm yes and dr wells yes and that does pass nine to zero madam clerk do we have miss wu on the phone on the call no ma'am she has not joined the meeting okay we will make sure that we get it to her and um small business uh saturday is also known as shop small and it is great that we have such a wide array of businesses that we can support here in the city of greensboro not only downtown but throughout the city and so as um you're thinking of your purchases please keep in mind our local small businesses who have really shouldered a big burden through throughout the pandemic any other then we will move on to item number four which is recognizing november 19 2021 as international men's day in november 2021 as international men's month mrs johnson yes mr roser um you can come up and whereas an idea developed in the early 1990s to tackle gender inequality and focus on inclusion and appreciation between men women and children whereas to build an awareness that the role of men in our lives affects our relationships marriages youth families and communities whereas a time to reflect on the educational political social technological scientific athletic religious and economic contributions men have made to society whereas the need to focus on progressive and positive interactions with women and children along with strengthening our neighborhoods schools and places of worship whereas the opportunity to advance the dialogue of unemployment sexual abuse drug and alcohol dependency lack of education domestic violence and mental instability whereas this day is celebrated in over 80 countries whereas the six pillows include one focusing on men's and boy's health two improving gender relations and gender equality three promoting healing and forgiveness four highlighting male role models five improving men's role in the community family relationships and child care and six promoting basic humanitarian values whereas the city council on behalf of the citizens of greensboro wishes to recognize november 19 2021 as international men's day and november 2021 to be recognized as international men's month now therefore be resolved by the city council of the city of greensboro that the city of greensboro recognizes thursday november the 19th 2021 as international men's day and november 2021 as international men's month hello there moved by mrs hightower seconded by dr wells um council please vote and for the record imes mrs johnson yes mrs abuzawader yes mrs hightower yes this is hoffman yes sister holston yes mr outling yes mrs thurm yes and dr wells yes and that passes nine to zero down mayor brian um mr james rosa is isn't um we started the rosa foundation i'm a board member of that foundation and um he's here to speak on behalf of this resolution my name is james rosa executive director and co-founder of the rosa foundation thank you mayor pro tem this is very important to us um in our community men's are not being recognized men that are making positive changes in our community are not being recognized and and i feel that it is my duty to do that um and this is to dedicate all the men's in our community are making positive changes fathers grandfathers uncles stepfathers that are stepping up to the plate to help our youth in our community our wives mothers and we usually have an award ceremony but this year we are postponing it because of covet we're going to have it next year march 5th at the grand over um and i want to say thank you to mayor pro tim miss mrs johnson for for allowing us to name one of the awards after her late husband walter t johnson jr and it's called the walter t johnson jr ward of excellence um is that's going to be our highest award in this in this award ceremony and we're also going to be giving out two 1 000 scholarships for the performing arts at this ceremony and again we just want to on behalf of the rosa foundation we want to thank you thank you and i want to thank you for all the hard work that you've been doing throughout our economy especially in the last 18 months when it's been so terribly difficult we appreciate all you do so that is the end of our resolutions and i do want to take the prerogative of the chair and ask the police chief to come up and um speak i had asked him if he could talk about uh this past weekend as we all know it was a an especially difficult weekend and i thought it would be appropriate for the chief to address good evening mayor and city council thank you for the opportunity to speak we certainly had a challenging weekend as i was up late last night i was reminded when i was watching the local news station and for the first approximately six or seven minutes they went over all the incidents that we had over this previous weekend just to refresh everybody's memory we had a shooting on randolph avenue we had a homicide on edwards road where a man was found deceased in the roadway we had another shooting on clifton road that individual is currently in critical condition we had a double homicide in the area of bright street near warren street we had a shooting on gate city boulevard we had another shooting on wendover avenue and we had a shooting i'm sorry we had a stabbing on martin luther king drive at julian street and about a week ago another young man 20 years old was found deceased in the area of holden and gate city boulevard in that general area so in the last week we've had four homicides and as i was coming up here you know it's really hard to put everything in context and to try to make some sense of it but i remember in june of last year i'm sorry july of last year july 7th to be exact we sounded the alarm and said we we have an issue with violent crime and we had had seven homicides in seven days late last year we sounded the alarm again and some on council uh stood with us as we did a press conference to to bring attention to it again and we at that time we were at um we were in the high 50s i can't remember the exact number but uh my point is this we had a record homicide year last year we ended up with 63. homicides for the year i did a violent crime presentation a few months ago at that time we were trending in a better direction although we did have some violent crime and we were significantly down in homicides at this point we are at 45 homicides for the year last year this time we were at 46 homicides so we are trending in the same unfortunate direction i talked about a lot of things that we were doing within the police department which included a violent crime strategy to some degree some of those things have worked but as we all know that policing is certainly not the ultimate solution to figure out this violent crime picture as of this date we've actually taken 1542 guns off the street which is a 60 percent increase from where we were last year last year we were just over 900 guns so we are doing some things that are getting the guns off the street but the guns are still here and they're still being used a lot of times we set the res we hit the reset button when the year starts over we were at 63 last year everybody was like let's get to 2021. you know it kind of hits the reset button well the thing is you really can't hit the reset button for these families that have lost loved ones and i know all of you on council have have spoken with families who have suffered personal loss but i'm not going to hit the reset button over the last 20 months that i've been the police chief since january 1 of last year we've had 108 homicides in greensboro we've had 108 total and all of those lives were valuable especially to their families but one statistic and i don't have it completely broken down but one thing i want to make you aware of is that 91 of the 108 victims were african-american and most of them look like me that's the only way i can put it in context and it lets you know that there's something going on in our community and communities all across the country but right here there's something going on in our community that we we don't know how to fix right now we're going to keep doing police work obviously and we're going to try to staff up our agency obviously everyone knows we're operating with some vacancies right now and we are doing some things to try to mitigate that but at the same time when these things come up oftentimes we want to we want to have a conversation a conversation is good but i'll be honest with you i've had a lot of conversations with people and nothing has come out of those conversations and we need to look as a city from whatever position you're in we need to look as as a city and determine what is it that we can do different and i'm not talking about what we can do different in 2022 i'm talking about what we we can do different this week tomorrow later today uh whatever makes sense but what i'm saying is that we've got to go out and take some actionable steps uh people that pick up guns to solve their solutions it didn't just start today whenever they picked up the gun there's something happening early on in society in our community that causes people to pick up guns we've got to figure out something that we can do differently to try to solve this and we've got to figure out a way to work together on this and we've also got to look at how how is it that we can influence other bodies whether that's state or federal because certainly there's a gun issue i just said we we've had a record year this year 1 542 guns we've never taken that many guns off the street and the year is not done yet and they're still coming into the community so as we look at this i've i've talked about police strategies i've also talked about things going on in the community around resources and what is it i assume that's a fire fire well should we get out of here i think i think we have to thank you we're gonna have to yeah we'll come back that's all right mayor i need to declare a recessive um motion to recess my affirmation yes