[Music] oh [Music] uh council meeting and I am going to ask councelor Harrison to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge alance to the plag 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 um next we had the consent agenda and I believe there was one item pulled but that no longer needs to be pulled right thank you so much um no I'm not going to pull F1 now we had this amazing uh followup to questions that we had over the weekend for the agenda items and I just wanted to uh first of all thank the how quick it was to get those responses so thank you guys so much I think as we move forward and we streamline how these questions get answered um we got this at 11:05 so I had already submitted for that to be pulled so if there's any way how we can all work together to get those answers prior to 11:00 so I don't keep pulling stuff um that doesn't need to then I'd be really interested to do that but no I do not need to pull anything thank you thanks councelor Jones move to approve second okay any other discussion on the consent agenda if not all in favor say I I all oppose nay right so unanimous and then we go to the report and recommendation of the Planning Commission good afternoon vam Walter Planning and Development I am joined as usual by the Planning Commission chair Glen Miller we have a handful of items to walk through with you today in advance of that a preview of upcoming holidays that you might want to be aware of uh my review of this did not find any conflicts with future uh schedule meeting dates and we currently don't have anything scheduled for public hearing at this time uh what we are recommending today is four items uh for public hearing on March 4th that's a month from today at the evening meeting and I will just note that uh the first item there is e1224 old Cruz Road and mil Bernie Road it's a very large assemblage it includes a concurrent annexation you will see that on your consent agenda next week with a recommended or at the next meeting excuse me uh with a recommended date to match whatever action you take today so that those will show up on the agenda together whether you uh go with March for a different day so that first request z122 24 old Cruise Road and Old mil Bernie this is a very large request and it ties right smack dab in the middle of the conversation you had at your retreat about annexation and peripheral de development and so um our plan is to bring forward to you a little bit of a different presentation on this one so you have some context that ties into those issues you were discussing uh at The Retreat just to help you inform your decision right recognizing that we need to help you with more information than we've been providing previously so again recommending uh and this is uh outside the uh etj in is adjacent to RiverTown and eligible for annexation because of a um and therefore zoning because of an adjacency to a city-owned property that is not in our corporate limits Planning Commission recommended approval by a split vote again recommending that March 4 public hearing and we would bring the annexation at the same time the second item c3224 this is a request uh for change to conditions for a a property up in the Triangle Town area the commercial commercial entitlements um the the conditions are really what's changing here so this is a uh um but the applicant has advise me they would like to defer setting the public hearing to your next meeting so not the March 4 date that we published in the agenda uh this item on lford road is a request for just under three acres to go from residential one which requires about 40,000 sare ft uh per unit historically to r10 with conditions this is uh consistent with the future land use map and Planning Commission recommends approval and then we have an item on Chapanoke Road this is uh going from industrial mixed use to a commercial mixed use District uh with Tod and some increase in height as well and some conditions this is inconsistent uh with the future luse map but consistent with the plan overall as well as Urban form particularly the urban form map and Planning Commission recommends approval this is a property that is planned for affordable housing with some public support from the county uh so again recommending a March for public hearing date what questions can I answer for you before you take action to set public hearings go ahead um the dates look fine for the three cases old Cruz lford and Chapanoke to me unless there's other thoughts from the table um and then we just ask that Su the Sumer Boulevard case be brought back as a special item so revisions can be made and we'll set the hearing at our next meeting all right so I'll second that motion any other discussion or questions for um Miss Walter y thank you so much it's not uh my question isn't necessarily related to these zoning cases but for having blay right here in the next term I see that there's a lot of turnover that's going to be happening over the next few months in Planning Commission and you don't need to answer it right now but I'd really love to hear from you about what you uh I think there's three or four that's coming up what are we needing on that board you know we don't have a leas on directly to the Planning Commission so I'd really love to understand what in expertise you know is it is it environmental is it affordable housing you know what what do we need to be looking for as we look for new placements on that board so I just uh charge you with letting us know and so that we are well informed as we begin to replace those thank you that's a great question um I got a heads up that we might be receiving that question so I've actually reached out to um some folks at the Planning Commission and um I believe we asked that question at the table as well to get some feedback um I can tell you big picture what's worked really well I'm coming into my sixth and final year myself um is that uh we did have a diverse portfolio of different backgrounds and as time went on we learned to really trust each other that this person would have um an opinion from this perspective and the other and um we could kind of just go around and let each person add and improve on the case um and we didn't always agree and we thought that that was healthy and good and split votes are important uh and we could just have a good outcome in that way so um that being said to your point we have three or four coming up imminently and we might have at least half of the Planning Commission turnover this year or within the next 12 months um so with some of the uh backgrounds that are um that are coming off the commission I'd say the first thing that we'd want to look at for New Commissioners is looking uh confirming their time availability and capacity that needs to be a very threshold level of um really thorough understanding from them about what's going to be required because it is as you know immense um in terms of the board and commission work um the next uh we contined to hear experience and housing and development in general at all income levels and housing types understanding housing affordability and attainability um to make sure there's a sufficient Market apply at diverse income levels and housing types so when it comes to developers both traditional large developers or micro developers um have worked well in the past in the Planning Commission uh Realtors uh would be great and also uh those in real estate Finance to offer those different perspectives um with a common thread being that we are really looking for someone who can help communicate complex development issues to the public at large so any of those professionals that have to interact with the general public on a regular basis would be very helpful um and then other specific expertise uh someone with experience in architecture would be very beneficial to the commission that we have had um a few of those we've been so lucky to have those especially when it comes to text changes we can largely defer to their expertise on you know I can as an attorney I can sort of big picture text changes but when it comes down to any specific numbers on how far back something is supposed to be as we're writing the new text uh changes for the udio that's we always defer to The Architects there and we do have um at least one rolling off and perhaps uh the second within the next year as well and then finally I am the only attorney on the Planning Commission and my term is up this year also so um I believe there was one before me and he was helpful um so making sure that that hole is also plugged awesome thank you so much you're welcome all right uh any other discussion or questions for the presenters if not all in favor of the motion say I all oppose nay motion passes thank youall thank you thanks okay next we have the report and recommendation of the city manager good afternoon mayor and Council just one item today under the manager's report and it is an update of the Raleigh eback um rebate program we have staff here from um Raleigh Department of Transportation Mason chambley here to present this item hi everyone good afternoon Council uh Mason shambley Transportation Transit and I'm here today to talk about uh the history of the ebbi rebate program and then opportunities for some potential additional funding that we have for it um so I kind of go through discuss the history of the program where we are now kind of the status of it and then the potential funding so first before we get into the program I just want to level set to what an ebike is it's a relatively new industry a lot of terms are changing and so these are some of the common ones just in case folks get asked questions or these terms come up uh the first one is class one and these will all denote the types of ebikes so class one meaning um pedal assist function which turns off when the bike reaches 20 M an hour so the motor kicks off and it can only exceed 20 M hour by human force uh Class 2 is similar except you can have purely throttled mode up to 20 M an hour uh so that means someone doesn't necessar have to Pedal it but they can throttle it up to that limit but if they want to go faster they'll need to pedal and then finally class three is pedal assist only similar to class one but that motor turns off at 28 miles an hour and if to go faster you'll need to uh pedal it yourself uh additionally some of the other terms you may come across as cargo style ebikes um and those simply just mean one that have the ability to carry a larger load you know 50 60 PBS on top of the rider or can be used as a family vehicle to carry children or carry groceries to and from additionally um kind of the price range of the ebikes that's important issue when we're handing out rebates uh the budget models can range from a couple1 sever hundred um from online retailers all the way up to several thousand doll for high-end cargo bikes uh when we're looking at what local retailers are selling for those entry models in person in the stores we're looking at about a12 to $1,300 range and that's for a class one ebike uh and then the pictures below there just kind of have images of what a cargo bike looks like and it's it's a very varied type of category um so getting into the program itself this was started with an additional $150,000 plus um contract expenses for program Administration so that allowed us to issue 75 income qualified vouchers and then 75 standard vouchers uh that program was provided through the Energy Efficiency and conservation block grant through the department of energy the federal level um that was a one-time non-renewable formula grant so we awarded that on a one-time basis we weren't able to renew that and so kind of led us today to seeking new funds and a little bit more what our vouchers are so we have two types and each have kind of a different goal so the first one is the income qualified that's valued at $1,500 um it's eligible to permanent City of Raleigh residents who have a household income at or below 80% of the area immediate income and then 18 years older um for a household of one that 80% Ami comes out to about $668,000 a year and then it goes up as just additional household members are added and then standard vouchers are valued at $500 those are just eligible to any permanent Raleigh resident to are who is 18 years or older um the one caveat that I will mention with these is that valuation and that funds can be used towards the direct cost of the bike but it cannot be used to pay sales tax um and we communicated this with uh potential applicants and those who received it so at the time of application uh folks were made aware of it and then when they received it if they received one they were made aware of it again and our bike shops that are participating were also made aware of that to make sure they weren't uh inadvertently uh putting sales tax towards the voucher funds uh but as an attempt to kind of overcome that limitation if someone was to say with the $500 voucher um got one of the $1,200 models know there's an extra $300 valuation left over to make sure people were maxing out that money um they could put the additional amount towards safety equipment or security items so thinking of a helmet or a bike lock or tools to repair it kind of anything they would need to safely and securely operate that vehicle um but the sales tax requirement does still require or apply on those items as well so far to date uh all of the vouchers released as of January 13th uh we release them in three staggered batches 50 vouchers per release uh those were December 4th December 31st and then January 13th um recipients are notified three times by their preferred communication method either email or text um they're given the initial notice when they're awarded the voucher uh 30-day reminder that they have 30 days left to redeem it and then a 10day reminder when they have 10 days left to redeem it um and as of February 3rd we have a total of 65 vouchers that have been utilized 52 in the income qualified grouping and then 133 in the St grouping a little bit more about the unutilized voucher since we still have quite a few out there initially voucher voucher recipients at 60 days uh from the date of award to utilize a voucher if they did not buy that expiration date it would be considered forfeited by the program standards uh then our thirdparty technology vendor will randomly select new recipients uh from the current pool of qualified applicants and that clock will start over uh with the intent being tried to give out as all of the money as possible get it many bikes into the hands of residents as possible um because of some of the slower uptake on this we've extended the deadline for batch one by 30 days from uh February 2nd which was this past Sunday up to March 4th uh and then batches two and three those deadlines will also be extended by 30 days 30 days um and so existing and new recipients have 90 calendar days now to utilize those vouchers and then if they don't it'll continue the same process we'll draw new ones and continue on so that leads me to uh an opportunity we received and this is through the Bloomberg American sustainability cities Grant uh in 202 in November 2024 the office of sustainability collaboration with our department um were awarded $80,000 in funding for the ebike rebate program um and this is non-federal funding uh just want to make sure everyone's clear on that uh so this non-federal funding it's private funding uh and then all money from this will be allocated towards additional vouchers in the applicant pool uh we estimate roughly 60 to 80 additional vouchers will be awarded with the funds um kind of at the end of the at the end of the day um and that leads me to kind of the final slide here and this is just seeking Council recommended action and that's to authorize the city manager to execute all required Grant documentation to authorize a budget amendment in the amount of $80,000 to appropriate the grant funds um and I'll happy to take questions because I know I went through a lot in a relatively short period of time yep questions for Mr chambley counselor Patton yeah this is um this is great to see and I had wondered how many vouchers had actually been redeemed and and traded you know used on a bike how many bikes were in the world um so I was gratefully answered that question um I'm curious if you have further information on a couple things one for people who have not redeemed their voucher or like didn't redeem their voucher in their time do we have feedback on why they did not so we don't have feedback yet we are intending um at the full end once all deadlines have hit to put out a survey for folks who both have redeemed it to get their use behaviors and folks who didn't redeem it to figure out why um I can add briefly that um I reached out to some peer cities earlier this is kind of in line with the first round of program so Tampa had a 54% Redemption rate on their first go round uh and then Columbus Ohio had a 65% Redemption rate on their first around which puts us roughly in that same category um and so we're in talks with those to kind of take from their lessons as well as as what folks tell us in our program on how to improve and do you have any feedback on or like any initial um musings on how people are using these bikes like for instance are they getting them accessing them for recreation or Transportation are they getting cargo bikes or other types Etc so for the first part of the question we don't have any data yet on how people are using them that'll be part of our 3 to six month followup um on the types of bikes people are using we are collecting that data I don't have it in front of me um but I'm happy to share you with you like the class one two three types of redemptions okay councelor Jones with the 60 to 80 new bikes that uh we'll be able to would that be another application process or are we just going to go to the people who weren't awarded and go through that list that are on the wait list so it'll be the people who are already applied in that pool um just continue the pilot program and we initially had about 1,300 qualified applicants wow so we have quite a quite a big pool to draw from thank you yep counselor are we tracking the demographics from you know where they fall within Ami where in the city they may live um other information so that in the so that we can ensure that we are diversifying the pool of recipients yes so we are tracking all of those categories um I don't have the kind of the full breakdown here but we'd be happy to to share uh both for applicants in general and then who received them their data thank you you're welcome councilor Lambert Melton I just had one followup and then I was going to make a motion to accept um two things uh it's my recollection that when we approved the initial uh pilot that part of the consideration for folks receiving the vouchers is they were going to return data to the city about how they're using them um to help us I think make some infrastructure improvements and sort of detect Trend so that will be coming to us soon yes in the next few months and then anecdotally I had office hours this past Saturday and someone who came to my office hours actually has just utilized an ebike voucher and she told me that that morning she had gone to get groceries and was able to take her ebike to do that um when previously she would have done it by her car uh because it wasn't safe and so that's one person and one confirmed fewer C trip that I can uh I can bring to the council table um and thank you for going out and finding some additional funds it sounds like we still have a great deal of need and so let's keep working to find additional funding sources but with that um I would move to um uh accept the grant documentation and authorize the budget amendment second okay any further discussion or questions if not all in favor say I all oppose nay thank you thank you awesome and in the mode of efficiency that's all I have today all right I guess we should say thank you to the Bloomberg philanthropies for that generous Grant okay so next we have the report and recommendation of the Raleigh Arts commission good afternoon mayor and Council thanks for having us I have um two speakers to introduce to you today Mary silver the chair of the Raleigh Arts commission and Angela Lombardi um the chair of the public Art and Design board you ready good afternoon um mayor Cal and council members um my name is Mary silver and I am both an Arts educator and a practicing artist I am privileged to serve as the chair of the Raleigh Arts commission and to support its mission of fostering a vibrant and inclusive Arts community in collaboration with the public Art and Design board the Arts commission serves as an advisory body dedicated to advocating for and celebrating um the Arts throughout the city of Raley thank you mayor Cowell council member Harrison as our Council leaz on and all council members for your continued support and investment in the Arts so we decided to give you you all have our um annual report in your packets I'm sure but I just thought I would put out a few highlights um of what we were able to accomplish with your support this year um last year um we were able to provide opportunities for hundreds of artists engage thousands of students in art classes and provide creative experiences for the community Through grants and programs by the numbers um we've added 16 artworks to the municipal art collection which now has a total of 70 73 artworks um issued 29 calls for artists install 49 exhibitions and organized 163 events provided professional opportunities for 797 artists and to get really microscopic with you um fired 1,158 kils to make $14,400 objects from 65,000 lbs of clay at pullan and satoma art centers um the commission is responsible for helping residents create artwork in the community we also host events to celebrate the creative Community including um the medal of Arts which all council members and the mayor are invited to attend um we also host events to celebrate the creative Community including um 12 medal of Arts to local artists and arts organizations and creative leaders since the award program started in 1984 the commission has given 177 Raleigh medal of Arts um for transformative imaginative and Innovative achievements in um in the local practice of Art we also support local artists by facilitating their involvement in public Arts initiatives such as the streetery murals project um our Arts Partners one of the Arts commission's most important responsibilities is making funding recommendations for nonprofit Arts and Cultural organizations last year the commission over oversaw 2.94 million in annual Grant Awards and multi-year Lease agreements including 2.4 $2.4 million in Awards to 39 nonprofit Arts and Cultural organizations the nonprofit arts and culture industry generated 516 million in annual economic activity in Raleigh or Arts organization in Raleigh are also the focal point of our community um our cultural voice and what connects our residents the Arts commission is investing resources to ensure these organizations thrive in the future while they face steep increases in rent and venue costs um staff turnover and burnout ensuring universal access to the Arts um corak work plan highlights um include and in your packet you have the full work plan to review um we are excited about our goals and strategies with your help that we could accomplish this year um the Arts are essential to Raleigh's cultural and economic vitality and we are committed to ensuring they Thrive our focus is on five key priorities leadership advocating for the Arts by increasing Investments implementing public art plans in amp simplifying artist voices in City initiatives belonging expanding access to advancing Equity diversity and inclusion in the Arts sustainability strengthening Raleigh's Arts ecosystem expansion and enhancement and connection I look forward to working with you um the Raleigh Arts commission and the public Art and Design board to ensure that every individual in the City of Raleigh has access to vibrant arts and cultural experiences in the city of Raley thank you very much for your attention and I now introduce Angela Lombardi chair of the public Art and Design board good afternoon um I'm Angela Lombardi chair of the public Art and Design board and artist myself uh thank you so much for having us here today so public Art and Design board is always very busy uh this year's no exception thanks to the Investments the city makes in public art so right now we are managing 24 active percent for art projects um in various stages of design fabrication and installation we are overseeing design approvals for Raleigh's six artist and residence programs two of those are the brt corridors West Western and Newburn we have two nature preserves where we are hosting Artisan residents at those nature preserves with programming and their art making um two document documentarians and residents um two and also a new Dix Parks collaboration with the Conservancy for an artistan residence that has just been chosen we have an exciting new call that just ended uh for another Artisan residence working directly with the City of Raleigh sign shop to create um family friendly friendly and vibrant wave finding throughout the City of Raleigh using the Department's um facilities which is really exciting for us in terms of what the artistic vision is going to be using those materials and resources so we're very excited about that okay so for our highlights um we have a full profile of 24 active per for art capital projects plus special projects including more pedestrian safety murals Street Aries and seek righ art projects the board will continue to work with the Arts commission to implement the public art strategic plan to continue to expand Community engagement support local artists through artists and residencies in Special Projects uh managing that portfolio of 24 active per for art projects and Implement public art in the 2022 Parks Bond projects um we will continue to document Raleigh's community Through projects with the documentarians in Residence um and manage the public art projects ongoing I think so here we have a slide talking about those um G rally stations in the brt projects we've been able to work with uh different artists and who have overseen the vision for the individual ual locations along the corridors and we're thrilled with their work um we have managed 11 artists creating artwork for those 19 wake brt bus stations along Newburn um and two Artisan residents for the southern and western Corridor projects uh those projects involve a lot of community engagement a lot of people are um being asked how they use those bus stops and the artists are synthesizing those ideas to create really impactful and useful and hopefully inviting uh new bus experiences for people here we can see some of the art that you might see out and around town uh New oberin Road Tower there um Shandra Cox just finished that and installed we have the Raleigh stories at Peach Road uh Community Center and again as uh Mary silver mentioned the street Aries and so we'll have more Street Aries popping up all over Raleigh um beautifully decorated by these artists all right any comments or questions y do we have questions for Miss silver or Miss Lombardi or Sarah Powers yes councelor silver angel I just had one question about temporary art how do you distinct permanent from temporary and if you can give an example so the public is aware what is the temporary art sure I'll use the example of the SE Crawley projects and so those are um temporary art projects that receive um you know proportionally smaller budget and that have a very designated um lifespan in terms of materials possibly they are more um performance art or social practice art where people are engaging with the community for the duration of that project um as opposed to the larger capital projects yeah thank you I I just wanted to say we have just started looking at work plans for all these volunteer um citizen committees and what you're doing is just incredible I mean 24% for art and the Arts commission so the fact that we have dedicated volunteers doing this amount of work and just incredibly thoughtful um in how you're doing it and just love the the sensitivity and and um work that you're doing I so I just had two questions um you've got a a 10 year strategic plan you adopted 2016 so does that mean we're in the process of uh refreshing that or is that this year next year um and then also um you showed a number of just you know a lot of dat detail in your presentation but just is there a map of all these public art locations across the city and pictures so that we can all sort of see uh some of these amazing pieces I'll let there power answer that question cuz she is working on that so two questions one about the Strategic the public art plan or Raleigh Arts plan taken about the map we are sort of wrapping up the cultural plan having the public Arts strategic plan finish and starting that implementation and all the other major planning initiatives including a plan for Wake County we'll sort of dovetail when those are all kind of finished that will be a great start to the next one but most of the items are pretty much done except for a couple scary ones but we've got supplemental planning efforts to get those sort of thought through facilities and things like that that are a little bit more big picture in terms of mapping and finding the public art we have a couple things on the website they're not perfect but where they're always going um we've just enriched all the public art pages so that you're not just going into a database but if there's a current or recent um work of art you'll be able to see it with multiple photos of it and information about the artwork so so the things that people are kind of seeing those big transformative projects that they're really noticing there'll be a whole page dedicated to them and those are going from there's going to be a call for artist so the artist is selected to the project page as it's going through connecting to public input to also you know now you're seeing it this is what it's for and we're we're working on mapping it we have a collections management system and an GIS map too that are a little more interactive but they don't have all the tools that we know people want to do especially as we get oral histories and great um sort of secondary or actually primary content that we'd love to share as part of those projects too so good um councelor Pat um question about the brt art and then this might uh you might be able to answer more broadly about all public art but particularly I'm thinking about the brt stations and I love the idea of uwing them with art but also they are uh they need to have some informational ele like people need to understand that is a bus stop and so they have to have some cohesion and and Clarity so how how do you think through a approving art that also has enough cohesion and Clarity for people to understand like these bus stops look enough alike that I understand they are all bus stops I'll start okay um I think one of the most special things that um Kelly mzn and Sarah Powers have done in planning this process for the brt is that there is a lead artist that does serve to kind of um act as the glue the cohesion for the artists that are then selected so that's specifically the Newburn Corridor um and the main thrust of the art on that Corridor is the history of Raleigh and the history of Newburn Avenue in particular and so as you go along to each stop you're going to see a little bit learn a little bit about the history through through you know say pavement stamps or the designs on the um windscreen railings um the designs on the glass and so it is um not a lot of different separate things there are separate artists that have worked on different elements but it is all tied together through that idea that um this is a wonderful way to uh as people are waiting they're being informed about the history of Raleigh through Visual Arts as well in the uh Western corridor is a little bit different there's another artist working on that um who did a lot of really great Community engagement um she brought chairs and I think cake out to some bus stops and sat and talked to people about their use experiences and what they might you know be interested in either learning about in terms of the communities that fall along Western Boulevard um and I think the things that she really found were noise was an issue safety is an issue um and so you know looking at it through an artistic lens but really think thinking about the usability of those as bus stops as well yeah okay yep yeah I was just going to make a motion to approve your all's work plan and thank you for your great work second all right any further discussion if not all in favor say I I I all oppose nay great thank you so much thank you yeah okay we are moving through the agenda we do not have any report outs of committee so I will go to uh report from the mayor and city council and just to shake it up we'll start with you councelor Sil oh mayor I actually think um the transportation and Transit committee is going to meet this month um so the chair would need to announce the meeting but you're not going to be there at the meeting right that's right so transportation and Transit committee will meet this uh we'll meet Thursday February 27th from 3: to 5: here in council chambers I myself will not be in attendant so council member Lambert will um chair the committee and the topic will be the um NC doot High crash intersections and pedest improvements at East waterer Mill and Atlantic Avenue then I just wanted to flag one thing one of those topics or maybe both um were referred to committee by council member Harrison um council member Harrison has expressed an interest in attending the committee meeting and the chair will not be present so I was just going to make sure it's okay or request that council member Harrison could actually join us at the table and just is like a a substitute Committee Member for that for that month I defer to the City attorney I don't know how that works okay I just want to make sure everyone that was on board at the council table so and I appreciate the topic and um Council Harrison's uh leadership on this I know it's been uh a lot of public concern around some of these intersections um both vehicular and pedestrian so thank you yeah looking forward to us okay now we'll go to councelor Sil thank you uh first I just want to share my excitement about an item that was approved on the consent agenda D3 for Smoky Hollow to move forward final design uh just have a request this is a $19 million investment that is so critical to fulfill promises about having more parks in our city so I'd like to meet with the parks department again not to change anything but get a better understanding of the Smoky Hollow park in particular all the edges West Street Capital peace there's a street dorch I'm not sure I'm pronouncing it right to the North and then the plan Department with this huge investment is certainly now uh increased value surrounding this property and want to understand the planning context to see how after investing City taxpayer dollars of 19 million we could just have a better understanding about what is a return on investment for some of the surrounding plans in the area so if we can have just uh welcome a joint meeting with both the parks department to understand a little bit more in depth about the park design not that I'm going to change a thing very excited about it uh but just want to understand the edges of how the Park meets the streets and then secondly just understanding the planning context as we look at a major addition to expanding our Downtown North along Capitol Boulevard that's it for my concerns okay you want to keep going down this way um yes keeping with tradition some good stuff that we did through the consent agenda today um we accepted a grant from Duke Energy to provide 300 weather radios to Raleigh communities for better emergency preparedness um we authorized some property acquisition so that we can add 14 bus shelter stops in the goale system including two on Perry Creek Road um we also authorized a bid for spots would drive and Durant nature preserved stream restoration we reduced speed limits on Laurel Shire Drive and um made line of sight adjustments on more more gaus Drive in Falls River I don't know how to pronounce that um anyway also um I am hosting office hours this Saturday February 8th from 10: to 12: at Bedford food and drink in the Bedford neighborhood also happy Black History Month everybody a reminder that black history is American history and um the mayor and I actually had an opportunity to attend um an event honoring will Graves and um he was a civil rights attorney who helped L the groundwork for the historic Brown versus Board of Education um decision later on uh also congratulations to wake Med on getting approved for 21 additional hospital beds and two operating rooms at the at Big wake Med um council member branch and I were honored to speak in support of their funding requests um I'm going to have to keep advocating for the additional needs at wak Med North but that's a topic for another day um and lastly I know these have been some busy and chaotic times and there may be folks out there who've been feeling uneasy or unsure and I just wanted to take my time to reiterate that I and I believe the rest of this Council stand Resolute that the City of Raleigh is a place for all people no matter where you came from or who you love you deserve access to Parks clean water good sidewalks safe housing Transit and all the other services that we offer and so I will continue to do everything in my power to make sure it stays that way well said I have no report just want to St thank um the staff for a great Retreat I don't think we've been back since um y'all put that on for us it did a phenomenal job uh thanks for the folks over at method for hosting us I think it gave an opportunity for folks in the community to really see one of our um sort of UND underserved Park spaces and so it was really really great but I know the staff put a lot of time and work in so I just wanted to say thank you for all of your hard work right Council Harrison yeah just a couple thank you as well um I mentioned at The Retreat um we had a public safety incident in uh District D and it was so well handled by Raleigh Police and I just thank you all again particularly to officer gillick for his courage and we had a vigil in the neighborhood impacted a lot of neighbors came out it was a wonderful time to be together it meant a lot to me um I also want to thank the transportation department for allowing me to do a ride along with the loose slea collection team that was a lot of fun um I whenever we're you know thinking about you know policy it really helps to be grounded in the work so um thank you for uh letting me come and hang out um and I'll just uh I guess follow um I guess council member Patton um happy Black History Month I've been reading uh Martin Luther King's book Where Do We Go From Here chaos or Community I'm going to choose Community every time thanks definitely um one to thank staff for definitely definitely a great Retreat also I want to recognize um Kasa for the grand opening of King Ridge um thank Mayor protm Fort um for the remarks that she gave um at the event as well as well as this past Saturday I read a proclamation from the mayor at the post Center for a terrific teeth day and making sure that our young people um know the importance of a healthy teeth because healthy mouth leads to a healthy body cuz it's all connected and I also want to mention on F because this is different normally I do my district SE meetings or the district SE meetings on Saturdays but for the first time we're going to have a district c meeting in the middle of the week it's going to be February the 12th at 6:30 p.m. and it's going to be at caer Road Park um so we're trying to do things a little different to reach the citizens where they are so there would be a a conversation about District C February of the 12th at 6:30 at Canta for Road Park I look forward to all the residents coming out um to have that conversation and there have been many more to come thank you so much um I want to First mention uh District East community meeting which is on the same day in time as District C so we'll have competing meetings and we'll come back with okay um so our district e community meeting will be on February 12th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at our regular place lusina at restaurant um the second thing I want to mention our decoding democracy book club now has 25 members I'm super excited about and currently we'll be meeting at uh on February 15th from 9:30 to 11:30 at Overland Regional Library if you're interested in learning more to sign up uh please head over to my website which is christina4 Ry uh and that's f r spelled out.com and then lastly I want to give just a update to the community on cac's cac's are a big space in my heart and we are excited to move forward I have been speaking with the chair uh Robert Rice and we are trying to find a date that works for us so that we can continue this conversation monthly they were I was at present at two CAC meetings over these last week uh and I really want to send a big thank you to our community engagement department so T sh Mosley thank you so much for helping uh explain what the city services are how that coincides with cac's and how we can continue uplifting that conversation so um let's keep going I promise you it is on the Forefront of everyone's mind here been talking to the mayor as well as other counselors about what we want to do moving forward um but we are very excited about what's to come for CAC so thank you [Music] guys so it was two weeks ago today that officer gillick was um shot and so uh I'm just thinking of him and I'm praying for his continued uh healing and I know everybody here um feels the same way and we just appreciate the police um for what you do and then um I just want to back up counselor Jones on the CAC comment I appreciate her leadership on this issue and it is front of mind and I know that our new assistant city manager Nikki long who is very familiar with this community and um uh knows many of the folks in the cac's will be working with us on that and um councelor Jones is the lia on so we are making progress and know that um that is something we need to continue to to work on so uh more to come soon on that okay um next we have appointments good afternoon good early afternoon today um first off as human relations commission one regular vacancy jarma Allen received two votes and Dr Mary Allen Kelly received six so Dr Kelly would be appointed human relations commission to alternate vacancies Helen sporan received eight votes so would be appointed and I will bring back the one remaining alternate um if you would like I can carry over the uh the nominee under the regular category yeah okay Raleigh Transit Authority one alternate vacancy Colin Beamer received seven votes uh however council member Lambert Melton did nominate William mckenny so it is up to you all as to how you'd like to proceed I think the person who received the vote should uh move forward I I think I misread that as two vacancies I crossed it with the human relations so I will hold my nominee for the next opening because I know he has an interest in serving and he would be a great asset okay under nominations first is bicycle and P pedestrian advisory commission four regular vacancies here kind of two different buckets first um Joe Caruso um and Brian Thomas are both eligible for reappointment and would like to be considered and then there's two members Mary Joe gallenbeck who does not wish to be considered for reappointment and Pier Tong who is not eligible for reappointment due to length of service um all members will continue to serve until replaced but you do have the two that would like to be considered move to reappoint uh Joe and Brian second okay um all in favor of the motion say I I all oppose nay passes all right so I'll bring back the two regular vacancies for uh bicycle and pedestrian advisory commission next is design review commission one regular vacancy resignation has been received from regular member Jason Dale past practice has been to elevate the longest serving Alternate which is svia Seria dvara and declare an alternate vacancy per Council direction information was included in the agenda packet regarding her attendance move to elevates zavia second okay any other discussion if not all in favor of that motion I I I'll oppose nay okay all right so I'll bring back that alternate vacancy for the design review commission next is environmental Advisory Board one regular vacancy term of lamama King is expiring and she would like to be considered for reappointment move move to reappoint Second any other discussion if not all in favor of the motion say I I oppose nay right lastly Planning Commission two regular vacancies to announce today um as we as was alluded to earlier Dean Allen Reigns and Clarence man are expiring Mr Reigns does not wish to be considered for reappointment and Mr man is not eligible due to length of service again per city code both members will continue to serve until replaced and as requested earlier staff will work to gather information from the commission and consolidate with what was um what the chair mentioned earlier and include that on the ballot going forward for this category um there are just a preview for the year there are four additional expirations this year on Planning Commission two of which are eligible for reappointment not sure yet this early if they would like to be considered um but we do have four more later in the year Madam mayor y um I would like to nominate Jessica k katran um she's an architect um had a good conversation good meeting and I think her information is already in board dos okay that's it thank you okay any other questions from Miss Pritchard all right next we have the report and recommendation of the City attorney thank you mayor at your January 24th uh Retreat the council discussed public comment and ask the staff to come back with some proposals as it related to three different uh areas the first was clarifying the purpose of public comment to revise the digital media process and to revise the public comment session held on second Tuesdays of the month and so with that I'll begin as it relates to clarifying the purpose of public comment several of you mentioned that often times speakers come and they ask questions or they make comments and then they look to you for a response and so how can we try to ensure that people understand that this is really their time to come and speak to the council it is not an opportunity for the council to engage in debate but simply hear from from the citizens and so as a part of that what we discussed was adding additional information to our website that makes it clear that what the purpose of the public comment uh section is and explains that it is indeed your opportunity to hear from the citizens as well as mayor when you open the public comment section have you read a statement which again clarifies what the purpose of the public comment is then as it relates to revising the digital media uh we've had lots of discussion or there was lots of disc discussion at The Retreat about the digital media concerns about some of the images and things that are displayed during public comment and there was so the proposal was that we would do away from displaying that digital media during the uh speaker's time but certainly want to create an opportunity if there are images or things that citizens speakers would like to share with the council how best to do that one option was for staff and we would go back if this is the interest of council um to have that Media email to you in some some type of format if that is council's interest then staff based on your direction would then work again to look at what that um looks like certainly uh I don't mean to speak for the IT director but I know um that there's always a concern about clicking on unknown links and that is one of the ways that many times uh email systems and digital systems in general become corrupted is is related to Links so we certainly if that's the interest of council would spend some more time on what that exactly would look like the other alternative was to uh let speakers know that they could bring 11 copies or whatever number of copies uh to ensure that you all receive it as well as the clerk the manager and the City attorney then third as it related to uh the third option of looking at perhaps doing something differently on that second Tuesday which is dedicated uh solely to uh public comment we provided in the information uh that we shared ahead of this meeting and in your agenda packet uh the clerk did compile a chart which reflects um the time that was spent uh at each of those sessions and so again it would be up to the council as to whether you wanted to uh reduce that time that time currently is set at 3 hours um but certainly uh council could look at whether they want to reduce that time as well as there was some discussion about whether you would change the time uh from 7:00 to sometime earlier uh that evening and so with that mayor thank you attorney McDonald um for the timing did you have a suggestion I know I don't know how long work sessions usually go but would I know we discuss maybe 5:30 maybe 6:00 p.m but I would sort of defer to staff we typically try to plan a work session around an hour hour 30 minutes max to give enough time in between meetings for count to um get a snack go to the bathroom things like that so we leave a 30 minute Gap in between okay so I would think maybe 6: PM it sounds like would be if if we were going to change the time maybe um that would be the proposal but um okay well are there questions first off for the City attorney from members uh yeah go ahead councelor Lambert um I had a question about the present um I'm in support of changing the policy uh to prevent things from being broadcast or displayed I do think though that having visual aids at times is really helpful and so I do want to have them be able to get to us um City attorney mentioned possibly an email to the council before I'm wondering if this is practical for it um when we get the voicemail public comments those are collected externally and then before the meeting they're uploaded to the agenda and so if you anyone wanted to read the voicemail public comments us or anyone who's accessing the agenda online could pull them up um you mentioned issues with links and contaminating uh the software uh currently we accept the presentations somehow through it and then they pull them up in here is is it would it be feasible to just continue to accept them in a similar way uh but then just attach them to the agenda under public comments the material that we receive because then when we're sitting here we could pull them up and anyone at home could pull them up but if they choose but it's not being um it's not being broadcast in the same is that is that a possibility uh good afternoon uh mayor and councel yes that's definitely a possibility the other thing we've looked at is the format that these come into uh we know that email is like the number one attack Vector but we also have tools in place to protect us but we want to make sure that there's also a human that's like going through and vetting through that material before we distribute it to council yes so I mean I would propose that we accept it they V you vet it and then it's attached to the agenda um before the meeting and so it it it could you know we have a list of speakers and if they submit material then the agenda could just say speaker 15 presentation whoever wants to pull it up at home or at the table I think that's going to be easier than us managing emails coming in and for folks at home who may want to access the picture or whatever is being submitted that may be helpful to but it I think it eliminates the um the broadcast element and certainly if it were a sensitive topic uh someone at home who doesn't want to see it would not click it but people who do can and so I think it is provides maybe a middle ground if if I could just from I like the idea and my question is kind of for staff sending it having it on our servers cuz right now it's kind of on that one laptop that's kind of connected to to the network you can do it but once you email it or put it in the agenda it's now within the server kind of within the system um you have the word withth all from a technology standpoint one to filter if there are any viruses but two we have the memory the storage um at not a high cost to cuz we could have 30 people sign up all 30 well say have 15 of them could have presentations or even 10 depending on how long a video is and how they sent it over to you do we have the skill the technology know we have the skills the people but do we have the technology in place for it uh sure that's a great question so the way our system works is that it only stores one copy of the video and then as we distribute it over email it actually creates a link in the background to that single place in storage and so it's not like we're replicating it multiple times so I really don't have a concerned about the storage really the concern is the first click the first person that clicks on that object to bring it into our infrastructure that's where the security con concern comes in okay so if I could just interject um some of the things we talked about as well would be what format that's in whether it's a PDF whether it's a JPEG um if it's a a video then uh the size of that video those those type of things so if that's the interest of councel those would be the things that Mark and I along with the rest of the staff would worked to try to um work out and make sure that they that the rules submission rules are clear um because as uh council member Branch just mentioned someone wants to send you a 20 minute movie um that's probably a little extreme but my point is how many um the size of that and those type of things can I interject as a followup yeah we I just want to clarify um I envisioned it being PDF or JPEG and then could be attached to the agenda all right councelor silver and then councelor Patton I had concerns around the similar uh issue about just security took about an hour session yesterday on all sorts of fishing and so I understand the concern so I had a couple of question questions one um would this be part of public record that has to be stored forever it's a public comment but just wanted to know in terms of just long-term storage uh I'm sure we could limit it by size uh because that's not uncommon but now because of public comment you know if it's part of a public record one how long do you have to store it my second question is on just the acknowledgement that someone understands that there is no back and forth exchange and I guess this is for the IT director you know very often you fell out of form and as a box you have to check to acknowledge you've read it before you can actually submit is that possible uh I like the fact that the mayor will disclose it because not everyone in the audience or watching may know that that that there is no exchange between the speaker and counsel so the first question is could there be kind of a dis forced I agree before it can officially be submitted and uh again just want to find out if there is a this part along with their comment is that part of the public record that has to be saved and stored for whatever period of time the law allows uh so the first question about the uh check mark As far as a consent yes that's certainly something that we could look into and as far as the public record I think I would defer to the City attorney as far as the public record itself yes it would be no different than people who come and speak now and there is already a disclaimer on the box when you submit for a public comment that you have read the rules of deorum that's already on the website okay so we did too yeah counselor Patton yeah for sure um so I I am supportive of the the first part where we clarify the purpose of public comment giving both more more information and Clarity at the time of the signup and then at the time of the meeting um I am sensitive I've been vacillating on the digital media um component of this this discussion um I am sensitive to the idea that we're we're governed by FCC regulations and that we stream these meetings on uh Channel 12 and on YouTube and on web WebEx is that one of them so and that each of those have different rules and that that creates these complications and um compliance issues and so um I do like the I do however also think that the digit the things that are displayed while some sometimes sensitive often are both valuable for us and the members of the public and the audience who would be watching and so I I would like staff to explore opportunities to come up with some Middle Ground perhaps like Council marber Melton has suggested that whether it's like a flat image and perhaps not videos but jpegs and um photos can be compiled into a single PDF that might be available in the backup or something like that so I could support that or whatever permutation of something like that that um is appropriate as far as um limiting the time I I still cannot support that you know based on the chart that is provided to us since when we made the changes about a year ago almost to the day um we've seen a precipitous drop off in the amount of time that has been allocated the number of speakers and um so it seems to me like the thoughtful changes we put in place a year ago have had their intended outcome and so I would um prefer to leave things as they are right now do you have an opinion on the change time of the meeting um yeah I've been thinking about that one too I I could probably support an earlier time if we did not curtail the total time we know that we have speakers who are arriving as early as they can from their previous engagement their work or whatever and so we were going to move it forward I wouldn't want us to move it forward and also shorten it because we certainly would um I think then at that point be CL closing some doors so that's kind of where I stand on that thank you um mayor Pon for yeah excuse me getting back to the issue about um the limitations on time again I would like to see us kind of come into alignment with um our peer and other cities and communities um to be quite Frank and transparent you know certain issues don't really have um we're not really in a position to weigh in or make decisions about certain issues that folks want to bring and present to us I think what we ended up seeing is that a lot of folks would come because we did have so much time you did not see that really happening in other jurisdictions because there were limitations on what people were able to go and come in and do and so um limitting limitting the amount of time and bringing us into alignment with other communities I think would be um better for folks who've got pertinent issues that they want to raise that we actually could take action on or actually do something about so um I would like to see some recommendation from the city attorney's office about a time limitation and and kind of put bringing it into alignment with our other peer communities councelor silver uh let me go to all three I too agree with the disclaimers of font both on the website by the mayor is certainly appropriate I am struggling with the digital media I'm willing to accept a size limitation and limited to PDF and jpeg um and so I am concerned one about storing it whatever the law allows for a public record uh so that is something I certainly want to and I don't know what the appropriate size is uh and not to suggest that they can also offer paper copies if they so choose um so one is that I one I'm I'm just I believe that we should have that uploaded and at the discretion of both the public and the council to see it on the last one I think in appropriate maybe two hours we did have a full analysis of all the jurisdictions and I think that uh Raleigh was on the liberal and generous side of public comment but looking at the trend I think there were only a few meetings that went in excess of two hours but everything was below so I think that would be appropriate and having said that you know starting at 6:00 which means from 6:00 to 8: on the extreme end that's if the time is filled up uh that's what I put on the table uh as a suggestion okay yep counselor uh Jones uh just going through how I feel about the four I have them four I'm in support of clarifying the purpose of public comment for doing both option one and two uh since we already are already doing option one adding it to as a as the mayor mentioning at the beginning I can support the rest of it I cannot I am opposed to revising our digital media process I hear the concerns um um but I'm still in opposition to it uh revising public comment section that uh is there a possibility for us to see this chart to show the chart so the public can see that uh within on T1 are we able to bring that image up onto the screen Luke you're talking about the chart that shows what other municipalities do in the way of cuz it's already in the it's already in board docs so I'm just wondering if we can look at it um kind of echoing what counselor Patton referenced uh over a year about a year ago to the day is when we uh made those changes and we've seen that dramatic change with the most signups being on October 8th with 39 signups so I continue to resist to insist that reducing the available time allowed for public comment will prove nothing the work we did last year has been has seen the desired outcome and anything further is unw warranted um in and then in terms of the fourth one we have people coming in late to every session and the mayor has had to go back to the beginning of the list just to ensure that everyone who has signed up has had the opportunity to speak in addition to oh thank you so much here's this chart so if we look at February 13th um we have the first three so the January 9th to 16th that was prior to our Council Retreat and that's when we had those really big signups and then after this February 13th you can see as we go down the list dramatically decreases and um you had a small bump on October 8th but everything coming down to December 3rd has gone to 7 so anything reduction reducing that time is um it just feels not not fair uh to me and then just winding up my last comments on that if we're every meeting having to go back to the beginning of the list that tells me that people if we made it earlier give them another the people who are already signing up it might give them another impediment to having to come here earlier um so I would be in opposition to those three the only thing that I would have support for would be clarifying the purpose of public comment thank you so I'm definitely I think the sign up Mark that you understand the rules is is key um from the video aspect you know being an it I lean on the fact that we have to be good stewards of our technology make sure it's safe but also we have to realize the FCC has rules um and that we already have received some letters previously um about some of the imagery that has been shown so excuse me so for me I'm good if we find another method I want us to find another method in which the council can receive the information um but I still have to be good stewards of the overall I'm I would be good with 2 hours um you know we speak until the last person present speaks um we know things do come up but I was also one of the ones that stated that I wish we went back to the first meeting which started at 7 and we could do it so I just that would have started it at 7 we wouldn't be having the the issue about what to do on this second Tuesday so I just wanted to make sure I'm consistent and making the point there okay yep yeah um thanks Karen for bringing back some of this information to us um on yeah my side of things um I can understand the need or desire perhaps to remove um uh imagery um you know uh still making sure though that it get gets to us so if folks are you know providing information with PowerPoints that we can get that kind of information but in a PDF file um you know I recognize that some some images can be challenging um to to see um but at the same time you know we are here to listen and I want to ensure that everybody who wants to come and talk to us about good bad or ugly going on has that opportunity so that's where I am not in favor of limiting the time I think we've already done a good job at um you know figuring out how many minutes you know given the number of signups and it's been um pretty calm um so I don't want to change that I'm open to a change in the start time um if 6 PM is better but I'd also like to hear from the public and I know we're going to have public comment next Tuesday so that might be a good opportunity to hear from everyone um we've been getting a lot of emails about this topic and I appreciate um that folks are reaching out yep councelor Lambert Melton I was going to start making some motions okay well and I I will just say uh you know in terms of this topic I heard a lot about this during the entire campaign including after you know yall made reforms and I recognize you spent a lot of time on it um I think it still has challenges and the the digital media is the most concerning to me um I said I've had a good friend who's a who's a therapist and she said you know just it's horrendous to be broadcasting stuff that is so um potentially violent and disturbing to unsuspecting people you know on on a public broadcast and um so that's the thing I have these strong us and I think that has also driven some people away from City Hall they do not feel like they can come down here bring their children engage youth in the city because of some of this imagery and some of the behavior in City Hall so um I think it you know you could say it ain't broke don't fix it I think it is still somewhat broken and um that is a widespread right feedback that I got during the campaign so I think that's why we're talking about this um and I understand there will be very you know a lot of different opinions I can say having served on this uh Council 20 years ago you know a lot a lot of things have changed we uh you've you know added a lot of time added a lot of Citizen committees the one thing I can say for certain I think everybody on this committee is an active counselor we listen now in so many more channels than we used to right I mean the social media the hearings I feel like this this city is extremely open to public feedback and will continue to be um and these uh trying to sort of work through what is the best thing that serves all the citizens of Raleigh um is part of what we're trying to do here so um with that um councelor Lambert Melton if you have uh a proposal and I don't know whether you want to take these things separately or together I was going to take them in turn I'm going to try to use my mediator skills that bring us to consensus I'm also happy to let the mayor make any motions if that's what you were intended to do but um I'm happy to take a stab at it so for the first part the clarifying the purpose of public comment that seems very straightforward so I would just move to accept the city managers sorry city attorney's proposal for both of those options second yep second councelor silver uh any other discussion on that one sounds like okay all in favor say I I all oppose nay okay on the second part about revising our digital media process I would move that we Implement a new process um that would allow for folks to submit uh PDFs which could include you know PowerPoint presentations you can download those as PDFs and uh pictures so jpeg that would be um accepted through our city departments and then um uploaded with the agenda as backup material so that we could look at them during the public comments and the public can also look at them during the public comments we firm the amendment that there would be a size limitation established sure whatever size limitation that uh RIT staff uh believes to be appropriate I would just add that the intent is to allow folks to um upload sort of I guess static um visual aids that could be supplemental to their comments so that would be that motion second any other discussion on that one just a question if I may are you asking staff and Communications and I saw Robin get up a few minutes ago to vet to determine what is appropriate to attach or not because that that that's an issue um no I mean I don't think I I don't think we can vet content that's right but just like if it's a if it's a virus don't attach it but like I don't think this is going to be much different than what we currently do now because it it comes here to this device and then gets broadcast so instead of broadcasting it would just come in and then be attached to the agenda right a little different but I just we just need we just needed clarification as to what staff's role in this process is do not attach anything that is going to be malware but it has to be content neutral correct City attorney yeah Okay Okay so we've had a motion and a second um thank you for the clarifying question any other questions or discussion well before we move on Robin did you have something you wanted to say okay okay I was making sure she said keep me out of this okay all in favor of that motion say I I all opposed nay right okay so that sounds like a seven to one vote on that one um okay next was the uh time yeah I mean I kind of bounced around on this one um I hear Council report saying we need to be more in line with what other cities do quite frankly if we try to be more in line with other cities do we would be going down to like 30 minutes and I don't think there's any appetite for that um I've heard some folks say the two hours at 6 I would support that I think that's a good middle ground um you know one thing about that chart is I do agree that if you look at the data we have not gone longer than 2 hours except for one anomaly and so it would seem that if we did 2 hours from 6:00 to 8: still provides evening opportunity for folks who maybe need to get here after work honestly I think it may be a little more flexible so folks could come after work and then get home rather than having to wait around until 700 um and the 2 hours would comfortably fit all of the public comment that we did for calendar year 24 except the W in J on January 16th which I again I think that was a rarity um so I I I yes so I I would move for um public comment beginning on that uh that evening Tuesday at 6 p.m. um for two hours second okay any other discussion on that one yeah I just want to add again I really do think we should hear from the public before we move on this one you're talking about changeing the time yeah yeah yeah I just want to second that um I think that it's kind of insane that we're changing it before we've heard directly from the public yeah I would Echo a desire to to table this part of it for a couple weeks um you know there's a there's a handful of options you know there's shorten it and move it earlier we could just shorten we could just move it earlier um or or we could remain the same right and um there has not been an opportunity for the public to weigh in on this since we saw it so it would be my reference to table that component until um till our next meeting okay councelor silver I don't know if you accept a friendly amendment that we proceed with the two hours but in terms of the start time we defer that until we hear more from the public I know I've received maybe about 2030 emails and you know so I know I'm getting a sense of what I'm going to hear we're going to hear some you know variations of for and against but if it helps the conversation move forward I just recommend we just move on to two hours uh as the schedule and then if there's more public comment about the start time 6:00 uh I'd be comfortable with that Amendment if you would accept it um I'm fine with whatever I I I I think if we're going to wait and then we should just wait on this I think that no I think the data shows with the two hours right that that will accommodate like yeah I I agree I mean my concern is is I don't want to be snippy but we've I mean I've personally been on two or three phone calls with members of the public we've all received email EMS I mean we could performatively wait until the next public comment I don't think we're going to get consensus one member of the public may say start at 9:00 p.m. one may say start at 5 when may start say start at 6 like I I just want to put this to bed and so I would be fine voting today on 6 for two hours if that's not the consensus then that's fine I do agree the data supports two hours so we could table part of it or not I I do not think we're going to have any more Illuminating information if if we hold this that is just my my thought on it and let me after hearing that I'll remove my my Amendment okay so any more discussion if not all in favor of the motion say I I all opposed nay okay so we have four against three four four yeah coun uh agreement with two hours so I support motion you what I'm not in agreement with two hours so I cannot vote okay mik oh sorry what hour limit are you I would be in agreement for like an hour so well okay mayor so just so we're clear just so we're clear the motion on the floor was for 6:00 p.m. and two hours correct and that M that motion did not pass because it was 4 to four right right okay okay okay all right well thank you for the debate and it sounds like we will um not bring back um are you and I I'll defer to uh mayor PM Ford are you interested in bringing this back for further conversation around time or you just feel like this was not aggressive enough and therefore uh I don't know that my opinion is sorry I feel like I'm talking to y'all I forget y'all out here I'm sorry um I don't know that my opinion is necessarily going to change I do know that other council members think it may be beneficial to have more dialogue so if folks want to bring it back but the dialogue may not necessarily sway my vote so well one sorry one thing we could do is um you know I'm not opposed to getting more feedback I just I'm not sure that waiting to the next public comment session is really going to give the type of feedback that anyone may need to feel comfortable um I mean we could put a survey out about start time or something or maybe we already have that data I I don't know but I just feel like we need to provide Clarity and stability and I don't want to continue to debate about what time will it start how long will it go I feel like we need to just make a decision I do think data supports 2 hours that seems like a compromise but we may not get to five votes on making that change and then the start time same thing um well I do think we did last time we had this discussion we ran a survey am am I right about that there was a questionnaire that people filled out some years ago prior to um I think you all coming on board and at that time we got lots of concerns from folks who worked who felt like 5:30 was a better chance and at 7:00 they were not coming they weren't going home getting their kids and taking care of what they need to take care of home and then coming back to a meeting so the data is about 50/50 um with the younger folks which at that point we were trying to get um more people engaged in the process they were like we're we're we may come right out right after work but we're not going home and coming back because of dayc care and all of the other things well mayor yep well since the two combined failed let me offer a motion that the time be changed from start time of 700 p.m. till 6:00 p.m. which means the status quo would be that the maximum would be from 600 to 9:00 second okay and then I'm just still I'm just trying to understand mayor uh protim Fort so you wanted to go to three to one hour correct okay and so you don't want to just rce to two you don't feel like that's enough to vote for that for his no I mean so well the status quo right now is three hours so it's right so some reduction but it's it's anyway so we can do it in two parts I second like I don't have a strong feeling about the start time and I do think that should be if you had a survey um I don't know whether we have that information we could make this decision um based off of data I mean I felt like the two hours was based off of data um the start time I just I haven't seen that data so it's harder for me and I don't have strong opinions we I think we're all just trying to be helpful to the public on what is what is the best time for them yeah so I could agree with a earlier start time okay if if you want to break it up bated it and not have two motions so that was a motion well and I'll just add that if we did the earlier start time if if we've been going traditionally an hour hour and a half two hours if we keep it at three and we still finish after an hour and a half or two it's the same outcome so if if we just adjust the start time we may just be able to leave the duration alone and whether we get it out or not I I do agree to one point that mayor PM brought up was that perhaps the um wide amount of flexibility we have provided is um cultivating an environment that is um causing some of these anomalies whereas other jurisdictions are not having that cultivation because uh because their rules are a little tighter and so that's a perspective that I actually had not really appreciated before so I appreciate you bringing that up and so if I can add we have um taish L Mosley here who can speak to the data from when we canvas the community around what we're best start times or what worked best yes good afternoon May Council Taisha Mosley with the community engagement department and so it looks like we brought this item back in May of 2023 and we did um a couple of things we had a conversation in January of that year at your retreat um the community engagement board was involved in this discussion so they did some work around public comment and um put out a survey about in March um and then there was another a second poll that went out in May of 2023 so just really quickly um one of the questions on that poll was what time works for maximizing participation during public comment uh the survey gave the option for 6: p.m. and for 7 p.m. um the majority of your respondents uh said 700 p.m. but it was a survey that was open for May 12th to May 28th there were about 300 participants and again that survey was was the was the only form of um engagement for it um there was some different information about demographics that we collected um and so at that time we gave some different options which got you all to the format that you have now yep what was the percentage uh I know you said they chose but what would do you have the percentages um there were 73% of respondents that preferred 7 p.m. and 27% of respondents that preferred 6 p.m. okay thank you TAA will you say the date of that survey again I'm sorry the year speciic April of 2023 was the second poll uh the there was also one in March of 2023 and I can pull the I I just need to go find the the data from that one so we did we did two polls on this particular Topic in 2023 I mean based on that I would say we just leave it at 700 p.m. because that was the preferred time and then we're also not confusing by you know changing okay all right was a fun exercise yes I will withdraw the motion okay all right so I think um City attorney unless you uh anything else we have concluded that conversation okay thank you all right next we have the report and recommendation of the city clerk good afternoon mayor and Council uh one two items today first one is a followup from your discussion at the last meeting and it would be appropriate at this time to designate the alternate members for two external agencies the um Capital Area Metropolitan planning organization and the central Pines Regional Council move for approval second any other discussion if not all in favor say I I all oppose no okay and the second item in your agenda materials were some um minutes packages from from previous minutes be appropriate to adopt those move for approval second all in favor say I I all oppose nay all right so that passes thank you all right so we now have a motion to go into close session uh is an order pursuant to General statute 14338 do11 A3 to consult with the city attorney in order to preserve attorney client privilege and to consider giving instructions regarding the handling and or settlement of a potential claim in the following matters City of Raleigh versus Clark Brothers LLC the City of Raleigh versus Mary J Rogers and the City of Raleigh versus Carolina realy second second right all in favor of the motion say I I all opposed all right so we are now in Clos session [Music] oh [Music] a [Music] n [Music] oh oh oh [Music] oh oh oh oh [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] o oh [Music] n [Music] pap [Music] [Music] pap I [Music] o o oh oh oh [Music] oh oh [Music] oh [Music] a [Music] a [Music] n [Music] oh oh [Music] [Laughter] [Music] a [Music] he [Music] o o [Music] o oh oh [Music] n [Music] oh [Music] oh oh oh [Music] a [Music] n [Music] he [Music] he [Music] n [Music] n [Music] ah [Music] [Music] n [Music] n [Music] a [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh oh [Music] oh oh oh [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] he [Music] o [Music] a [Music] la [Music] [Music] n n [Music] o oh oh oh oh oh oh [Music] oh oh [Music] n m [Music] oh oh he [Music] [Laughter] [Music] a [Music] oh [Music] o [Music] o [Music] p oh oh n [Music] oh oh oh oh oh [Music] [Music] a [Music] oh [Music] he [Music] n [Music] n n [Music] oh [Music] n [Music] oh [Music] oh oh oh oh [Music] he [Music] he [Music] the direction staff on the items listed in the closed session motion Council will reconvene at 7 p.m. [Music] o